Stealing the Pen: Kirin's Primordial Lotus

Chapter 524

Gong Yuanzheng stared at Zhuo Yichen intently, and saw him moving swiftly across the martial arts arena like a flash of lightning. Every movement he made was as natural and smooth as flowing water, and the cloud sword in his hand drew beautiful arcs in the air, sometimes like a dragon emerging from the sea, and sometimes like a phoenix reborn from the ashes.

Every time he swung the sword, Zhuo Yichen was able to perfectly combine strength and skill. The blade flashed coldly in the sun, but then softened in an instant, as if it was not a murderous weapon but a fine work of art.

The guards patrolling around the martial arts arena and the servants cleaning the surroundings were all attracted by Zhuo Yichen's wonderful sword dance. They forgot to applaud, to cheer, and even to breathe, and were completely immersed in Zhuo Yichen's world of swordsmanship.

Suddenly, a round of enthusiastic applause broke the silence, and Gong Yuanzheng came to his senses and found that the entrance to the martial arts arena was already crowded with people. There were members of the Demon Collection Team, who looked at Zhuo Yichen in amazement; there were also Xie Yuchen and Gong Shangjiao, who were supposed to be talking in the hall, who were also attracted by this wonderful performance; in addition, the servants and guards of Zheng Palace also gathered around, wanting to see the charm of this peerless swordsmanship.

"Yuanbao's swordsmanship is getting better and better!" Xie Yuchen praised sincerely, "I think it won't be long before he surpasses his father!"

When Zhuo Yichen heard this, his face turned slightly red. He quickly put away the Yunguang Sword, walked to Gong Yuanzheng, and pulled him to Xie Yuchen.

"It's not as good as my brother said!" Zhuo Yichen said with a smile and a humble tone, "If I want to catch up with Brother Ling, I still have a long way to go!" His voice revealed his admiration for Zhang Qiling.

Xie Yuchen would not lie, he knew Zhang Qiling's strength very well. Zhang Qiling was not just his father, but also his guide who taught him many things. Xie Yuchen knew Zhang Qiling's abilities very well.

Although Zhuo Yichen's swordsmanship was also taught by Zhang Qiling, he also had the Bingyi swordsmanship passed down by his father Bingyi, plus the blessing of the Yunguang Sword, its power should not be underestimated. At least, Yuanbao's swordsmanship can be on par with Zhang Qiling, or even better.

Gong Yuanzheng, who was standing by, heard Zhuo Yichen's words and immediately echoed, "Second brother's swordsmanship is the best among anyone I've ever seen!" His eyes were flashing with admiration for Zhuo Yichen, as if Zhuo Yichen was the swordsmanship master in his mind.

Zhuo Yichen looked at Gong Yuanzheng helplessly, smiled bitterly and said, "Yuanzheng, how many people have you met? The world is so big, and there are so many masters. We should understand that there are always people better than you."

However, Gong Yuanzheng was somewhat dissatisfied with Zhuo Yichen's words. He retorted: "But I just think that my second brother's swordsmanship is unmatched, except for father!" His words were full of trust and affirmation of Zhuo Yichen, as if he did not believe that anyone else could surpass Zhuo Yichen's swordsmanship level.

Seeing the atmosphere between the two people becoming increasingly tense and a fierce quarrel seemed to be about to break out, Xie Yuchen secretly said in his heart that it was not good, and quickly changed the subject: "When I passed by the small kitchen just now, I seemed to smell a special fragrance. I wonder what delicious dishes the chefs of Zheng Palace have made today."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ying Lei immediately took over the conversation excitedly: "Haha, that fragrance comes from the dishes I cooked! The dishes I cooked are all the dishes that everyone likes to eat! I have asked someone to bring the dishes to the living room. If you don't eat them now, they will get cold soon! These dishes must be eaten while they are hot. The taste will be greatly reduced if they get cold!"

As Ying Lei spoke, he enthusiastically invited everyone to go to the hall to taste his cooking. Bai Jiu also echoed him, and everyone walked towards the hall together.

Before we even reached the entrance of the hall, the tempting aroma of food was already wafting into our noses, causing everyone to speed up their pace involuntarily. Once we entered the hall, the rich aroma made us salivate, and everyone's faces showed an eager look of greed.

However, just as everyone was happily preparing to feast, Gong Shangjiao seemed a little out of place. He frowned tightly, as if he was quite disgusted by the smell of the meat dishes in the room.

Although he wanted to turn around and leave this uncomfortable place, when he thought of Zhuo Yichen, Xie Yuchen and the others, he suppressed his inner resistance and forced himself to ignore the smell of meat lingering at his nose.

Xie Yuchen naturally noticed Gong Shangjiao's discomfort. He raised his lips slightly, revealing a gentle smile, and explained for Gong Shangjiao: "Master Jiao, I have always heard that you like to eat vegetarian food. I guess you are not used to the meat dishes that Yinglei prepared today? Why not ask the chefs of Zheng Palace to prepare another meal?"

Gong Shangjiao's heart tightened when he heard this. His face turned pale, and he seemed to be quite resistant to this proposal. He waved his hand and said in a somewhat stiff tone: "No need to bother!"

He paused, took a deep breath, and continued, "My love for vegetarianism is just a habit I had with my mother in the past. Later, when I was doing business outside, I encountered too many assassinations and saw too many corpses, so I had an extreme reaction to some meat dishes. But I have never had any big requirements for food, so I..."

At this point, Gong Shangjiao's voice suddenly dropped, and his eyes became somewhat dim. Seeing this, Xie Yuchen's heart moved slightly, and he seemed to be able to feel the pain and helplessness deep in Gong Shangjiao's heart.

Gong Yuanzheng stood aside, with his arms folded across his chest, listening quietly to what Gong Shangjiao said. His brows furrowed slightly, and he was obviously dissatisfied with Gong Shangjiao's eating habits. Although he knew the reason why Gong Shangjiao did this, he did not think it was a good choice.

Every time Gong Shangjiao came back from outside the palace, his body was always covered with scars, not only obvious external injuries, but also serious internal injuries. These scars made Gong Yuanzheng very distressed. He didn't understand why Gong Shangjiao was so desperate and even ignored his own body.

"Brother, I know you've become tired of meat because of Madam Ling and Brother Lang Jiao's death, but you can't treat your body like this!" Gong Yuanzheng finally couldn't help but interrupt, with a hint of worry in his voice, "If you only eat vegetarian food every day, your body will collapse!"

He stared at Gong Shangjiao closely, hoping to see some signs of change on his face. However, Gong Shangjiao just glanced at him indifferently and did not respond to his words.

Gong Yuanzheng felt helpless. He knew that Gong Shangjiao had a stubborn personality and it was difficult to change his mind once he made a decision. However, he was really worried about Gong Shangjiao's physical condition. He didn't want to see Gong Shangjiao fall ill due to excessive dieting.

Gong Yuanzheng's feelings towards Gong Shangjiao are quite special. He is neither as close as ordinary brothers nor as indifferent as strangers. He will silently pay attention to Gong Shangjiao's every move, care about his life and health, but will not interfere too much with his decisions.

Bai Jiu curled his lips and muttered in disdain, "What is Master Zheng afraid of? A martial arts master like Master Jiao has internal strength to support him. How could his body collapse just because he ate a few pieces of less meat?"

Ying Lei was sitting next to Bai Jiu. After hearing Bai Jiu's mumbling, he immediately covered his mouth and said, "Xiao Jiu, don't talk nonsense! That's because Master Zheng cares about Master Jiao. Otherwise, why would he be scared of such a small matter?"

Gong Shangjiao ate the meal in silence. He just sat quietly beside Gong Yuanzheng, watching Yuanzheng's brother chatting with Xie Yuchen, Zhuo Yichen and everyone else present, except him.

After lunch, Gong Yuanzheng did not talk to Gong Shangjiao, but took Zhuo Yichen with him and went to the small garden of Zheng Palace for a walk. The sun shone through the gaps between the leaves, forming patches of mottled light and shadows, and the breeze blew gently, bringing a little coolness. The two of them strolled in it, enjoying this moment of tranquility and comfort.

Tired of walking, they returned to the dormitory to rest for a while. Gong Yuanzheng lay on the bed, closed his eyes, and let his body fully relax. Zhuo Yichen sat quietly beside him, looking at his peaceful sleeping face, and a gentle emotion surged in his heart.

At the same time, Xie Yuchen followed Gong Shangjiao to Jiao Palace. As soon as he entered Jiao Palace, he was attracted by the low-key and restrained decoration here. The decoration inside the house is simple and grand, without too much luxurious decoration, but reveals a unique taste.

Xie Yuchen carefully observed all this and had a deeper understanding of Gong Shangjiao's frugality. He couldn't help but sigh, "Master Jiao, why are you so frugal?"

Gong Shangjiao smiled slightly and replied calmly: "I just think that life doesn't need to be too extravagant, it can be simple and plain."

Xie Yuchen shook his head and continued, "However, your frugality does not seem to be recognized by many people in the palace. Apart from the servants and guards who receive monthly salaries and are grateful to you, the palace guards and elders seem to only regard you as a tool to provide them with a rich and luxurious life."

Gong Shangjiao's smile did not disappear. He said calmly, "I know they are only superficially convinced by me, but so what? As long as they still need me to provide them with the current quality of life, they will always be under my shadow and will never have any chance to turn things around."

"Water can carry a boat but it can also capsize it!"

Xie Yuchen took the teacup handed over by Gong Shangjiao, "Compared to your palace's new swordsman's so-called photographic memory. If he wants to participate in the imperial examination, with the palace as a backer, maybe he can really make a name for himself."

Xie Yuchen sighed helplessly, picked up the teacup and took a sip, then slowly put it down, frowning slightly, as if he was not satisfied with the taste of the tea.

"What a pity!" he sighed, "Who would have thought that Gong Ziyu would become the leader of the palace by accident?" He shook his head, revealing a trace of regret, "However, your new Blade Master is a man who knows nothing. Apart from his insignificant photographic memory, he has no other strengths. This is undoubtedly an extremely fatal weakness!"

Gong Shangjiao listened to Xie Yuchen's words without expressing any opinion. He just quietly picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then put it down, his movements gracefully and calmly.

"This is the new Rain Pre-Longjing tea this year. Young Master Xie, you may want to try it." Gong Shangjiao said with a smile, his tone calm, as if he was not affected by Xie Yuchen's words at all.

However, Xie Yuchen had no interest in Gong Shangjiao's proposal. He didn't even look at the cup of Rain Pre-Longjing tea and directly put down his teacup.

"Pre-rain Longjing may be a rare and good tea for you, but to me, it is just an ordinary stuff." Xie Yuchen said lightly, "Even my family doesn't use such tea when entertaining guests." His words revealed a hint of disdain, as if Pre-rain Longjing was not at all in his eyes.

Facing such a provocation, Gong Shangjiao did not show any anger at all. He raised his lips slightly and said slowly, "Of course! How can the palace be compared with the Hua Mansion? However, Master Xie, you should also know that for martial artists like us, if we want to get the best tea, it takes a lot of effort."

His words revealed a kind of helplessness and emotion, which seemed to imply that it was not easy to get good tea. However, Gong Yuanzheng might be confused by Gong Shangjiao's trick at this time.

But unfortunately, the person sitting opposite Gong Shangjiao at this moment was not Gong Yuanzheng, but Xie Yuchen - the young head of the Xie family who was only eight years old but had already relied on the power of his father and father to control the entire Xie Mansion.

Gong Shangjiao still didn't expect that just a simple sentence like that would be enough to make the person in front of him relax his vigilance.

"Mr. Jiao, what you said is not true! Yuanzheng has a lot of good tea. Every time we send something or Yuanzheng comes back from Tiandu, we prepare cartloads of tea for him."

Xie Yuchen quietly pushed the teacup on the table away, "What's the matter? Didn't Mr. Jiao get the gift that Yuanzheng prepared for you?"

Gong Shangjiao did not feel embarrassed after his lie was exposed. "Yuanzheng naturally prepared a gift for me, but how can a few gifts compare to each other between brothers?"

Xie Yuchen and Gong Shangjiao were facing off against each other with equal strength, and the situation between Zhao Yuanzhou and Li Lun was not much better.

"It's been a while since we've had a sparring match. Why don't we take this opportunity to have a sparring match?"

Li Lun was too bored staying at the palace gate, so he proposed a competition to Zhao Yuanzhou.

Zhao Yuanzhou also readily agreed to Li Lun's request, "Of course you can! I wonder what the prize is?"

Li Lun pulled something out from his sleeve, "This is my prize! So what about yours, Zhu Yan? You can't just have mine while you, the one who proposed it, don't prepare anything!"

Zhao Yuanzhou looked at the small and exquisite sundial model on the table and took out something from his pocket.

"Donghuang Bell!"

Li Lun looked at the small and exquisite mini bronze bell with a determined look in his eyes. In an instant, Li Lun followed Zhao Yuanzhou with full fighting spirit to an open space far away from the palace gate.

Before Zhao Yuanzhou could stand firmly, Li Lun attacked first.