Chapter 24: The Xuanjia Guards

[Are these the Xuanjia Guards?]

These Xuanjia Guards were the personal guards who had always followed Jiang Zhenting. Moreover, they were veterans who had retired from the battlefield. Each of them was filled with murderous intent and possessed remarkable combat skills. The lowest level among them was at the realm of Soul Lord or Martial Lord. This time, two Martial Lords and one Soul Lord had come.

Jiang Li couldn't sense the realms of the people who had come, but he could feel the pressure emanating from them.

His heart tightened.[Are they here because of what just happened?]

However, he still remained calm on the surface. Jiang Li stood up, clasped his fists slightly as a salute, and said respectfully,"I wonder what brings the three of you here?"

The Martial Lord who was in the lead looked Jiang Li up and down and said coldly,"Fifth Young Master, there were strange fluctuations in the mansion just now. We've been ordered to come and check if there are any suspicious persons. I hope you'll cooperate, Fifth Young Master."

His divine soul had been completely repaired just now. At present, apart from being a bit weak, there were no other flaws, which just matched his frail body. Thinking of this, he replied honestly,"I will cooperate with you to the fullest."

That Soul Lord extended his divine soul to sense it. After checking, he found that Jiang Li's divine soul was indeed intact, just a bit weak. Considering that Fifth Young Master's constitution had always been like this, he didn't take it to heart.

He then released his divine soul again to explore the entire courtyard. After that, he nodded to the two Martial Lords to indicate that there was no problem.

The leader said,"Sorry for the disturbance. We'll take our leave now."

Jiang Li let out a sigh of relief after watching the three of them leave.

[Fortunately, there's the Yang Jade. Otherwise, I would have been doomed. It's not easy to cultivate today. I'll just study books for a while.]

On the other side, after all the commotion, two suspicious people were actually found.

After Jiang Zhenting returned to the mansion, the captain of the guards informed him of what had happened that day.

"Whose people are those two suspicious ones?" Jiang Zhenting had an imposing manner even without getting angry.

"They are people from Prime Minister Wei. However, those two are of low status and didn't have time to do anything yet!"

"Then deal with them!"

"Yes!"

"Master, that sneaky person who probed with divine consciousness hasn't been found yet!" Afraid of being blamed by Jiang Zhenting, the captain of the guards spoke cautiously.

Jiang Zhenting just waved his hand and said,"It doesn't matter. That person's divine soul was injured by the Soul Sealing Array in my courtyard. I'm afraid he will die suddenly in a few days. Instruct everyone in the next few days to strengthen the patrols."

"Yes!" The captain of the guards accepted the order and took his leave.

Jiang Zhenting looked at a painting in the study and murmured,"It seems that some people can't hold back anymore!"

Since his divine soul was damaged that time, Jiang Li found that after his divine soul was injured and then repaired, it seemed to have become stronger. When he extended his divine consciousness outward, he could perceive the surroundings more meticulously. He could even clearly sense the movements of a tiny ant under the eaves. This made him think of a phrase.

[Breaking through after being broken]

Although it wasn't that much of a "break", having his divine soul injured was no small matter. Could it be that he had a constitution where he could break through just by getting beaten? He didn't have such perceptive ability before, and there were faint signs that his Soul Realm was about to break through. He felt that it wouldn't be long before his Soul Realm could break through to the Great Perfection of Soul Scholar. He would find an opportunity to try other things. He definitely couldn't touch the things in his own home anymore as it had already aroused suspicion.

He might as well continue practicing swordsmanship and boxing. His physical body couldn't be too weak. Currently, his Martial Realm was only at the Great Perfection of Martial Student.

Besides Soul Cultivation, there was also Martial Cultivation. Some cultivators couldn't transform spiritual power into soul power, so they could only continue to cultivate spiritual power. Besides combat techniques and cultivation methods, it was mainly used to strengthen the skin, flesh, muscles, and bones.

Just like the Soul Realm, the Martial Realm is also divided into nine major realms: Martial Student, Martial Warrior, Martial Master, Martial Lord, Martial King, Martial Saint, Martial Immortal, Martial Venerable, and Martial God! Each major realm is further divided into four minor realms: Initial Stage, Intermediate Stage, Advanced Stage, and Great Perfection.

Although Soul Cultivation and Martial Cultivation are two different cultivation systems, there is no distinction between superiority and inferiority. It mainly depends on the cultivator's own strength. In the same realm, Soul Cultivators and Martial Cultivators each have their own wins and losses when compared. Jiang Zhenting is a Martial Cultivator, but he is also one of the top experts in the entire Great Han Dynasty.

In the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve.

To show imperial grace, the emperor would hold a grand banquet in the palace on this day and invite ministers, their children, and family members to enter the palace to celebrate together.

Jiang Zhenting and Lady Wang took Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yuerong into the palace. As for Jiang Yan, due to his duty, he needed to guard the imperial palace on this day.

Although Jiang Yuerong was born of a concubine, she was favored by Jiang Zhenting, had high talent, and there was an intention to form a marriage alliance with the young marquis of the Dingbei Marquis.

Naturally, she was also taken to attend the palace banquet.

When he was a child, Jiang Li also looked forward to the day when he could be taken by his father along with his mother to attend the palace banquet.

As he grew up slowly later, he came to understand that with his current status, he would never be qualified to be taken into the palace by Jiang Zhenting in his lifetime.

The only way was to make a name for himself one day and win the emperor's favor.

However, at the annual palace banquets, there were always various officials or their family members, big or small, who were punished due to all kinds of accidents. What's more, there were even those whose entire families were executed, and a deadly curse was placed on the whole family, preventing them from reincarnation for all eternity.

Those people would use all kinds of underhanded means to get ahead.

"Keeping company with the emperor is like keeping company with a tiger. It's also a good thing to stay away from those people's intrigues."

Jiang Li didn't care at all about what would happen at the palace banquet.

However, what he didn't know was that there was someone at the palace banquet who cared about him.

Behind Emperor Xuanyuan, a beautiful imperial concubine was lost in thought as she stared at the position where the people of the Duke of An's family were seated.

At this time, Jiang Li was sighing in his own room.

"The new semester is about to start. In the past, it was okay that others didn't know I was a Xiucai. Now that they know, those who usually dislike me will probably be jealous to death!

It seems that there will be no peace in the days to come!"

The largest and best academy in the Upper Capital City is the Imperial College. Generally, imperial relatives and the children of noble families study there.

However, the threshold for enrolling in the Imperial College is quite high. An unfavored concubine's son like him in the family definitely doesn't qualify.

Jiang Li had always been studying at the clan academy of the Duke of An's Mansion.

Since there were numerous collateral branches in the Duke of An's Mansion and quite a number of clan descendants, they jointly founded an academy with the Li and Wang families. The Jiang family still held the power.

Although it was a clan academy, the quality of teaching was also good. There were many teachers who were famous scholars from noble families, and many other students came to study there out of admiration.

Jiang Li thought that the biggest advantage of this clan academy was that he didn't have to pay tuition fees!

This was quite friendly for him, a poor guy!

"Forget it. Why think so much? Just deal with problems as they come!"

After several more peaceful days, the day of the new semester was approaching.

Jiang Li planned to buy some stationery.

He got up, tidied up his appearance, tied his hair up high, wore a long blue-green robe, looking exactly like a handsome young scholar. Then he walked out of the room and headed for the study.

The study was located in the Wenyuan Workshop in the capital city. It was a place frequented by scholars and literati. It had rare and unique copies of books, as well as all kinds of stationery including brushes, ink, paper, inkstones and books, and all of them were of high quality.

Jiang Li stepped into the study. The fragrance of ink filled the store. The four walls of the study were lined with bookshelves, and all kinds of classics were dazzling. He walked straight to the counter. There was an old man with white hair in front of the counter. When he saw Jiang Li coming, he greeted him with a smile.

"Young master, I wonder what you need?" The old man asked with a smile.

Jiang Li replied respectfully,"The new semester is coming soon, so I'm here especially to buy some stationery."

The old man nodded and said,"Please follow me."

He led Jiang Li to a shelf beside them, on which various inkstones were placed. Just as he was about to start promoting them,

"Oh~ Isn't this Scholar Jiang~" A sarcastic voice rang out from behind.

Jiang Li didn't need to turn around to know who the speaker was.

[Wang Yaozu, Lady Wang's nephew and Jiang Cheng's cousin. Usually, he often hung out with Jiang Cheng and gave Jiang Li a lot of trouble. He just entered the study and ran into such a nuisance. It was even more unpleasant than stepping on dog poop. I should have checked if it was an auspicious day today.]

"What's the matter? Are you, Wang the idiot, planning to ask me for some knowledge?" Jiang Li turned around and taunted.

People who hung around with Jiang Cheng couldn't amount to much. Of course, he was also someone who cared a lot about his face. Being called an idiot to his face, his expression immediately darkened.

"You're just the least favored concubine's son in the Duke of An's Mansion! Who gave you the guts to shout at me?"

A few days ago, Jiang Cheng had just complained to him that he had been thwarted by Jiang Li and couldn't do anything to Jiang Li for the time being.

This time when they met, he thought of helping his cousin get back his dignity.

He hadn't expected that after becoming a Xiucai, Jiang Li had become a lot bolder.

Jiang Li ignored his ranting and planned to walk around him.

Seeing Jiang Li like this, Wang Yaozu became even angrier.

"Today, if I don't teach you a lesson, I'll change my name!" With that, he directly rushed over, waving his fists.

Jiang Li wasn't in a hurry. In the past, he often suffered losses by taking advantage of his weak body, but things were different now.

Wang Yaozu had practiced for so many years, yet he was only at the Great Perfection of Martial Student.

Not to mention how Jiang Li's Soul Realm was, just his Martial Realm alone was already a match for him.

Just then, Jiang Li took a sliding step with his feet, twisted his body slightly to one side, and dodged the oncoming punch. Wang Yaozu didn't manage to rein in his strength and staggered forward two steps. Jiang Li then used his divine soul to give a mental jab, causing Wang Yaozu's legs to lose strength instantly. He stumbled several times and crashed into the shelf where the inkstones were placed.

At the same time, Jiang Li separated a wisp of his soul power and gently bumped against Wang Yaozu's divine soul without leaving a trace.