The Martial God who started at Mantuo Manor

Page 175

On the other side, however, lay the decadent land of the Six Dynasties, where people lived in a drunken stupor, completely unaware of the impending collapse of the empire.

This scene is filled with an absurd yet realistic beauty.

Just as the clamor of the docks was about to reach the heavens, a quiet and peaceful atmosphere prevailed in a private room by the window on the third floor of one of the most elegant restaurants on the banks of the Qinhuai River.

The wafting incense smoke isolated the noise from the outside world.

Daisy sat by the window.

Her attire today could be described as simple, even conservative.

She wore a moon-white silk dress with a high neckline and buttons fastened all the way to her beautifully shaped chin. The long sleeves covered her wrists, and the hem of the dress reached the ground, completely concealing her once stunningly beautiful figure, leaving no trace of it.

Her face was bare, without any makeup. She held back her cloud-like golden hair with a simple wooden hairpin and wore a headscarf, leaving only a strand of golden hair on her forehead.

Even so, she couldn't hide the mature, alluring charm that seemed to emanate from her very bones.

She wasn't sitting upright and dignified, but rather leaning back in her chair in an extremely languid manner.

The seemingly conservative clothing, because of her casual posture, outlined a breathtaking curve on her chest.

Dai Qisi didn't even glance at the man beside her.

She turned her entire body to the side of the window, one elbow resting on the window frame, her hand supporting her cheek, her gaze fixed on the vast, sprawling fleet of ships, as if drawn by a magnet.

A breeze blew in through the open window, ruffling a strand of golden hair that had inadvertently peeked out from her forehead and stirring the hem of her simple long dress.

She was like a fine jade sculpture gazing into the distance, indifferent to everything around her.

That allure that emanated from her very being, now, because of this extreme focus, settled into a profound and dangerous serene beauty.

Zhang Cuishan sat upright, feeling a strange sense of embarrassment.

He cleared his throat, but the other person didn't react at all.

He followed her gaze and his heart skipped a beat.

On the Qinhuai River, hundreds of giant ships were quietly moored, their masts forming a forest that blocked out the sun.

Flags fluttered on the boat, and the Beggars' Sect's cloth bags, Emei Sect's Tai Chi symbols, and the names of various security escort agencies rustled in the river breeze.

But the most eye-catching one was the character "王" (king) embroidered in gold thread by the black-clad barbarian.

Countless laborers and porters moved like ants between the boats and the shore, carrying grain and supplies.

The scene is majestic and magnificent, full of masculinity and power, like a battle song about to be played.

As he looked at it, a surge of righteous indignation welled up within him.

He was also a passionate man of the martial arts world, and seeing such a heroic act for the country and its people, he couldn't help but feel his heart surge with emotion.

He slowly stood up, walked to the window, looked at the scene, and couldn't help but murmur: "A hundred boats race down to the south of the Yangtze River, iron chains across the river transform it into a plain."

"Not for the glittering dreams of the Six Dynasties, but only for the defense of Xiangyang!"

His voice was clear and resonant, filled with heartfelt admiration and pride. An impromptu short poem perfectly captured the hopes and mission carried by this fleet.

The verses echoed in the elegant room, their lingering resonance still present.

Dai Qisi, who had been silent all along, finally reacted.

She didn't turn around, or even glance to the side, but let out a very soft sneer, so faint that it seemed like Zhang Cuishan's illusion.

Then, she lazily turned her head. In her beautiful, Persian cat-like eyes, there was no trace of being moved by the poem. Instead, there was a hint of knowing amusement and... pity.

"Zhang Wuxia, what a fine piece of writing."

Her voice was flat and calm, as if she were commenting on a decoration that had nothing to do with her: "However, poetry can't fill an empty stomach, nor can it frighten away the Mongol cavalry."

She paused, shifting her gaze from Zhang Cuishan's face back to the fleet, her tone as casual as if she were discussing the weather.

"I've already relayed the message about the marriage proposal on your behalf."

Whether that old bastard Yin Tianzheng acknowledges my favor or not is his business.

But let me make this clear from the start!

She gently knocked on the window frame, making a soft tapping sound, and said, "Now that I've already helped, whether it works out or not, you have to lend me a hand in the blessed land!"

Zhang Cuishan felt that the passion that had just risen in his chest had been completely extinguished by Dai Qisi's few words, which were spoken lightly yet with each word as firm as iron.

He stood there stunned for a long time, his gaze shifting blankly from Dai Qisi's face to the magnificent view outside the window.

After a long pause, as if talking to himself, or as if he had finally found a topic to escape his current predicament, he spoke in a dry voice: "Dai... Senior."

The younger generation wonders, does such a place truly exist in this world... like a paradise on earth?

The question came so abruptly and so out of the ordinary that it momentarily put the tense, transactional atmosphere to a standstill.

He seemed oblivious to the slight twitch of Dai Qisi's eyebrows as he continued speaking, his voice tinged with a deep bewilderment: "Although the scriptures of Wudang Mountain have mentioned it many times, and even my master has told us fellow disciples several times, there are indeed some secret realms in the world that cannot be described in words, worlds within themselves... However, having traveled the martial world for many years, I have never seen or heard of anyone who has ever truly entered them."

When he said this, he looked like a scholar caught up in an academic problem, his eyes filled with a bewildered yearning.

Dai Qisi looked at him.

A hint of surprise flashed across those lazy, Persian-cat-like eyes.

Immediately, that surprise transformed into an overwhelming, almost overflowing smile.

"Pfft!"

She couldn't help but chuckle softly.

The laughter was soft, clear, and melodious. In the otherwise deathly silent private room, it was like a small, honey-coated hook that scratched Zhang Cuishan's heart mercilessly, making his already flushed face instantly burn as if it were about to bleed.

"A blessed land?"

She repeated those four words, her voice rising slightly at the end, carrying a hint of something that was hard to tell whether it was mockery or pity.

She looked away from his embarrassed face and slowly shook her head, as if looking at a child who asked, "Can we pluck the stars from the sky and eat them?"

Instead of answering his question directly, she changed the subject and brought up a completely unrelated topic.

"Zhang Wuxia!"

Her voice returned to its languid tone as she slowly asked, "Do you know... about the mechanical arts of the Gongshu family of the Great Qin?"

Zhang Cuishan was taken aback, then nodded subconsciously: "Master Gongshu Ban's mechanical skills are ingenious, and I am naturally aware of them."

"Know?"

A mysterious smile played on Dai Qisi's lips. She extended a slender index finger and gently shook it. "No, you don't know. Or rather, no one in the world knows."

Without waiting for Zhang Cuishan to ask any further questions, she continued talking to herself, as if she were telling a bedtime story that had nothing to do with her but that she knew by heart.

"The craftsmen of the Gongshu family can make wooden kites that can ride the wind and stay on the ground for three days."

He could create wooden figures, chariots, and horses, just like real people.

People say this is the limit of human capability, a crystallization of wisdom.

But what they didn't know was that these...were not human skills at all.

Her voice was low, carrying a bewitching magic.

"Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, the ancestor of the Gongshu family, who was later revered as the 'Sage of Craftsmanship', accidentally stumbled into an ancient secret realm while chasing a strange beast in the Hundred Thousand Mountains."

That place is the one you described—a true 'paradise on earth'.

"That place is not within the mortal realm of the Nine Provinces. The mountains are metal mountains that move on their own, and the rivers are mercury rivers that flow with liquid light."

He didn't find any white-bearded old sage there, but only a long-collapsed ruin filled with artifacts left behind by 'predecessors'.

"A gear that can operate on its own and never stop for thousands of years."

A crystal that can gather sunlight and unleash lightning.

And then there were... metal plates engraved with intricate patterns that no one could understand.

"That ancestor Gongshu, after a lifetime of hard work, only managed to understand a tiny, very basic part of those diagrams."

He brought those furs back to the mortal world, which was enough for him and his descendants to create those mechanical creations that have been famous throughout history and revered as miracles by later generations.

The story is over.

Inside the private room, you could hear a pin drop.

Zhang Cuishan was completely stunned.

His mouth was agape, as if a thunderclap was rolling through his mind.

This legend is so incredible, yet it perfectly explains those magical skills that cannot be explained in historical records!

Dai Qisi looked at the utterly shocked expression on his face with satisfaction. Just as she was about to state her conditions, Zhang Cuishan seemed to finally recover from the shocking secret and eagerly asked first, "Then... what exactly does Senior want? Could it be... the mechanical arts of the Gongshu family?"

Dai Qisi looked at his nervous yet curious expression and gently shook her head.

Her red lips parted slightly, as if she was about to say something, but a sharp, short scream suddenly came from outside the private room!

The scream was heart-wrenching, filled with the fear and resentment of someone on the verge of death. Like a red-hot steel needle, it instantly pierced the tranquility inside the building and the clamor outside.

The two of them looked out the window at the same time!

Amid the chaos at the dock below, three figures tumbled and fell from a large ship that had not yet fully docked. They scrambled across the water, stepping on sampans and debris, and desperately ran toward the shore.

The leader's right shoulder had a gaping hole, a bloody wound that went right through it!

Half of his body was stained blackish-red, with thick blood plasma mixed with bits of flesh hanging from the edges of his wounds. With every step he took, dark red blood gushed out like a fountain.

Behind them, seven or eight figures dressed in matching black outfits silently leaped down, like cheetahs hunting their prey. Their toes barely touched the water's surface as they moved with ghostly speed, relentlessly pursuing their prey!

As the distance drew closer, one of the men in black at the forefront flicked his arm, and a beam of dark light shot out with a soft "whoosh," striking precisely in the back of a fleeing man ahead!

Before the man could even utter a sound, his entire body lunged forward, and a larger burst of blood exploded from his chest with a "poof," revealing a blood-stained black arrowhead protruding from his chest!

He staggered and fell face-first into the Qinhuai River, a murky mess of oil and fish. He struggled for a moment, then went still. Soon, a large patch of turbid crimson spread around him.

The pursuers didn't even glance at the corpse, and rushed over it, stepping over the still convulsing body!

One of them flashed his long sword and slashed off the leg of another escapee who had just stepped ashore, cutting it off at the thigh!

"what!"

Another blood-curdling scream!

When Zhang Cuishan saw this scene, his eyes widened in fury, and his blood rushed to his head!

In broad daylight, the sky is bright!