Chapter 14: CH 14

Lan Shanyu smiled enigmatically, but didn’t say anything more. He opened the jade fan and fanned himself languidly. The fan was made of royal blue snow brocade, and a pattern like a peacock’s tail feathers could be faintly seen on it, embroidered in transparent snowsilk thread. 

Chen Ziqi felt that there was something vaguely familiar about this man. His eyes travelled up to the guan on his head, and a candle lit up in his mind. This guan had nine sapphires, each about the size of a bean. Each sapphire was held up by a thin silver wire, and fanned out like a peacock’s crown feathers… it was almost exactly the same as the High Priest’s.

Under Chen Ziqi’s constant gaze, Dan Yi did his best to continue deporting himself properly, sitting up straight and ensuring that his movements were elegant. It was a little tiring, but he persevered.

The gift-giving ceremony was still ongoing. Luo Hongfeng, the Qi Confederate Head,  came forward. “Today, my grandson is being crowned as Crown Prince. I certainly have to give a grand present befitting of this joyous occasion,” he said, smiling broadly.

He clapped his hands together, and a squad of nine men walked into the hall. They were all dressed in black martial outfits and had their faces covered with black cloth. Only their eyes could be seen.

“These men are guards trained by the Liuhe Sect. They are my gift to my grandson,” Luo Hongfeng said in ringing tones, stroking his beard.

The Qi Confederate had four main sects under it – the Kongming Sect, the Liuhe Sect, the Jiyang Sect, and the Suxin Sect. Luo Hongfeng came from the Liuhe Sect, so the guards that he trained would naturally come from there.

Luo Hongfeng might have called these men “guards”, but it was clear that they were not just ordinary guards, but the far more formidable shadow guards*. Their movements were far too fluid, and they were abnormally inconspicuous, as if they had no presence at all.

*T/N: Shadow guards, or anwei (暗卫) are the Chinese equivalent of ninjas. They are highly skilled at martial arts and are often used for espionage / other secret or sensitive missions.

The Zhenlong Emperor’s expression darkened. These shadow guards were all highly skilled martial artists, and also appeared to be skilled at concealment tactics. He, the Emperor, wasn’t dead yet! Giving the Crown Prince a gift like this was extremely disrespectful to him.

However, Luo Hongfeng wasn’t the least bit concerned about the Emperor’s unhappiness, and continued to make a big show out of giving the shadow guards to the Crown Prince.

“Brother Luo has been generous indeed. The Sword Alliance doesn’t have such great resources, and can only give this broadsword to your Highness. We hope your Highness will not be offended,” the Sword Alliance Leader Huang Huacan said, removing the broadsword from his back, then throwing it down casually. The sword was very heavy, around a hundred jin* in weight, and it vibrated with a loud humming sound as it landed point first, piercing easily through the hard stone floor. About three inches of the sword were embedded in the floor, and it stood straight up in the very centre of the main hall.

*T/N: 1 jin is equivalent to 500g.

The audience gasped in surprise. That sword was still in its scabbard when it left Huang Huacan’s hands*, and it had gracefully unsheathed in mid-air to pierce the incomparably hard bluestone floor as it landed. Huang Huacan had not moved from his seat when he tossed the sword in a seemingly casual manner earlier… How powerful was he, to have managed to do this?

*T/N: I’m actually not sure whether the sword stuck into the bluestone floor with the scabbard still on or not. The raw directly translates into “The sword had a scabbard, and the floor was incomparably hard bluestone slabs.” I am assuming the scabbard was unsheathed from the sword mid-flight, because a sharp scabbard defeats the very purpose of having a scabbard in the first place…

Luo Hongfeng had nearly been struck by the falling sword earlier, and was extremely displeased. “We are in the palace today, and it’s not appropriate for you to address me as ‘Brother Luo’, is it?” he said. The Emperor was Luo Hongfeng’s grandson-in-law, but was Huang Huacan’s son-in-law; Luo Hongfeng was technically the elder as such.

“Wasn’t this the rule of address that Brother Luo set when I became the Sword Alliance Leader?” Huang Huacan said, pretending to be confused. This Luo Hongfeng usually liked to give the impression that he was young, and now he wanted to pull rank as a so-called ‘elder’? He wasn’t buying it.

“Lin Guogong’s heartfelt gift is greatly appreciated. I will treasure this broadsword,” the Crown Prince said, trying to defuse the situation. He motioned for his servants to pull out the sword. Two young eunuchs went over with a tray and pulled at the embedded sword with all their might.

“Heave ho!” The eunuch’s individual efforts were to no avail, and after some discussion, they decided to try pulling the sword out together. The sword still did not budge.

“Your Majesty, I have a suggestion to make things more lively. Would your Majesty care to hear it?” the Sword Alliance Leader said, after observing the eunuchs for a while. They were still making awkward efforts to try and dislodge the huge sword. 

“You may proceed,” the Emperor said with a forced laugh.

“I’ve heard that even the youngest prince has started practising martial arts. How about we let each of the princes try to pull the sword out? I will reward the prince who succeeds with two Swordsmen.”

The ‘Swordsmen’ he spoke of were essentially sword-wielding guards trained by the Sword Alliance. People training in sword arts could use the Swordsmen to fight for them, and they could also ask the Swordsmen to train them. Amongst all the princes, only the Second Prince was practising the sword arts, and it was obvious whom Huang Huacan intended to gift the two Swordsmen to. He probably saw that the Crown Prince had obtained nine shadow guards, and did not want his grandson to lose out.

The Zhenlong Emperor raised his eyebrows. He was always happy to see the two leaders at odds, and so agreed with pleasure.

At this time, Ah Mu was applying himself assiduously to his food. He was suddenly pulled up by eunuchs and asked to go try dislodging the sword. He had no idea what was going on, and he stood confused in the centre of the main hall, a chicken leg still in his hand.

“Dianxia, leave the chicken leg for now, do try pulling out the sword first,” the eunuch said, taking Ah Mu’s chicken leg from him.

Upon having his food stolen, Ah Mu immediately screwed up his face and prepared to cry.

“Hahaha…” Some members of the audience could not help laughing quietly at this sight.

Dan Yi frowned disapprovingly as he looked down at this scene from his position on the dais. The Imperial family had really weakened to an alarming extent.

Ah Mu obviously couldn’t even make the sword budge an inch. The Tenth, Ninth and Eighth Princes each tried in turn, all to no avail. The Tenth Prince had made such strenuous efforts that he had even fallen over during his attempt, much to the amusement of the onlookers. 

“Little Seventh, you’re up,” the Third Prince said, giving Chen Ziqi a derisive push.

Chen Ziqi staggered from the unexpected push. He was rather annoyed by this and the whole situation that he had been thrust into. Their martial arts lessons had essentially only comprised striking the horse riding stance, and his Elixir Field* had not even activated yet. He was obviously going to make a fool of himself trying to pull out the sword.

*T/N: In xianxia novels, the Elixir Field (or dan tian 丹田) is the source of martial arts powers. Without it, usually people cannot practice martial arts.

He turned to look at the Second and Third Princes. Their mothers, the Empress and De Fei, were both from the Sword Alliance, and would certainly support what the Sword Alliance Leader said. But it rankled of injustice; their schemes did not have to involve making him suffer this embarrassment!

Chen Ziqi clenched his fists and stared at the broadsword for a moment.

This sword was four feet long and four inches wide. It looked to be extremely heavy. Even if he somehow managed to pull it out, that 100 jin sword would probably crush him under its weight the moment it was dislodged. There was no way this would end well.

Dan Yi watched Chen Ziqi intently. As he did so, the hand grasping the small jade flute clenched tighter and tighter. He had half-arisen from seat when Chen Ziqi opened his mouth.

“Just get a chisel and chisel the sword out of the floor. Wouldn’t that be much easier?” Chen Ziqi said, standing apart from the sword and pointing to the cracked bluestone slab it was lodged in.

Everyone was dumbfounded. Dan Yi sat back down.

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“Seventh Prince, I said pull…” Huang Huacan protested. This was not what he had planned at all!

“Lin Guogong didn’t say that the floor could not be chiseled away,” the Crown Prince cut in. He instructed his newly obtained shadow guards, and they went forward with chisels to work on releasing the sword. The great broadsword swayed, then fell to the ground with a crash.

Silence reigned in the main hall.

“Clap, clap, clap.” Dan Yi applauded in a deliberate manner.

“Hahaha, this Little Seventh is really more intelligent than most,” the Crown Prince praised. He instructed servants to retrieve the sword, then turned to Dan Yi. “Shizi thinks so as well?”

Dan Yi glanced at him. “Nn,” he acknowledged in a non-committal manner.

The Crown Prince smiled in satisfaction. This Phoenix King’s Shizi might be cold and aloof, but still gave him a lot of face. By sending his son here, the Phoenix King had probably intended for his son to get close to him, the Crown Prince, right?

Just like that, Huang Huacan’s plans to gift the Second Prince with Swordsmen were derailed by Chen Ziqi. The Second Prince looked upset, but didn’t say anything. He returned to his seat, and even said a few supportive words to Chen Ziqi. “After the banquet is over, I’ll help you make sure the Swordsmen are sent over to you,” he said.

“Thank you, Second Brother,” Chen Ziqi said, giving him a brilliant smile, as if there were no difference between receiving two Swordsmen and a jiulianhuan. The Second Prince felt a painful pang in his chest.

Dan Yi raised a hand. Lan Shanyu, who was standing behind him, took out a red sandalwood box from his sleeves, and offered it to the Crown Prince. 

Everyone was curious as to what the Cloud Palace’s gift was, and stretched out their necks to get a better look.

The Crown Prince accepted the box and opened it. Three small sandalwood tablets were placed neatly next to each other. The front of each block was gilded with a complex pattern in the shape of interlocking clouds. He picked up one tablet and turned it over. It bore the word “Heaven” on its back in gold letters.

“If you bring these tablets to the Cloud Palace, you can exchange one of these for the answer to a Heaven-class question,” Lan Shanyu explained conscientiously.

The audience, who had been confused until then, gasped loudly in unison. What made people truly fear the Cloud Palace was not its control over the Arcane Sects or the Dan family’s incomparably powerful martial arts, but the fact that the Cloud Palace was omniscient. It knew everything that happened in the land, from the secret policies of state set by the Emperor to the minutiae of what your neighbour’s wife had said to her husband the other day. One only had to pay the price the Cloud Palace exacted if one also wished to have this information. 

Questions were divided into four classes. In descending order, these were “Heaven”, “Earth”, “Raven”* and “Canary”*. Each class attracted a very different price, and which class the question belonged to depended on the importance or difficulty of obtaining the information in question. 

*T/N: The third and fourth classes are called xuan (玄) and huang (黄) actually. Xuan means black, but translating it as “black” doesn’t give the same feeling as xuan, which is a fancy way of saying “black”, so I decided to call it “raven” – again, because we’re dealing with a bunch of birds. Huang clearly translates to yellow, but it looks out of place in the English translation, so I have decided to translate this as “canary” instead, in keeping with the birdy theme. Canaries are yellow! :3

Money often could not buy the answer to a Heaven-class question. There were times when the price was a person’s life, and at others, the price would be a rare treasure. Being rich did not mean that you would be able to afford a Heaven-class question.

Therefore, Dan Yi’s gift of three Heaven-class tablets was truly priceless, and a great show of generosity.

The Crown Prince’s elation on receiving this invaluable gift was obvious to all. He carefully put the tablet he had been examining back into the sandalwood box and gave it to his eunuchs with stern instructions to keep it safe.

Once the gift-giving ceremony ended, the music and dance performances began. The Zhenlong Emperor bent over to speak to Dan Yi.

“The Phoenix King has agreed to let you stay in the Imperial palace for a while. Since you and the Crown Prince seem to get along well, why don’t you stay with him in the Eastern Palace whilst you’re here?” the Emperor asked. He motioned to the eunuchs next to him to offer Dan Yi a plate of chicken wings.

Dan Yi regarded the chicken wings in front of him silently.

The Crown Prince was very happy when he heard this. He raised his chin a little in pride. “The Eastern Palace has been recently renovated and is very spacious. The Shizi can stay in the Shuangxue Hall,” he said, in tones that indicated he was doing Dan Yi a great favour.

Shuangxue Hall was the largest guesthouse in the Eastern Palace. This represented the best that the Crown Prince had to offer, and the Crown Prince thought that offering Dan Yi this hall to live in was the very pinnacle of good etiquette. 

To the Zhenlong Emperor, it seemed like sending Dan Yi to the Imperial palace to study with the princes was akin to him being a hostage of sorts, and showed that the Phoenix King was subject to the Imperial family’s control. Also, he thought it would be good if the Crown Prince and the Phoenix King’s successor could start building the foundations of a good relationship.

“I will stay in the Danyang Palace,” Dan Yi said. He pushed aside the plate of chicken wings, and picked up a cherry to eat instead.

“This…” The Zhenlong Emperor was rather reluctant to agree to this.

Danyang Palace was the palace built for the first Phoenix King by the first Emperor of this Dynasty, the Taizu Emperor. All the successive Phoenix Kings had lived in this palace when they visited the Imperial Palace thereafter. Even the name of the palace suggested that it was built specially for the Dan family to live in.

However, the current Emperor was very unwilling to let Dan Yi live there, not least because the Danyang Palace was very close to his Zichen Palace. The Cloud Palace servants were all highly skilled in martial arts, and he wouldn’t sleep well if these people were stationed so near his own sleeping quarters.

“I’m only bringing two maids with me,” Dan Yi said, as if he had heard the Zhenlong Emperor’s thoughts.

“Haha! How can two maids possibly be enough? Zhen will ask the Empress to send some eunuchs and palace maids over to wait on you,” the Emperor said, relieved. He raised a hand and gestured to the Head Eunuch of the Imperial Palace, Eunuch Yuan. “Get people to tidy up Danyang Palace now,” he instructed.

Author’s note: Mini-theater

Crown Prince: Why don’t you want to live in the Eastern Palace?

Birdie Gong: It’s shabby

Crown Prince: Why do you only look at Little Seventh, but not me?

Birdie Gong: You’re ugly

Crown Prince: … Old Seventh, what do you think?

Qiqi: My Laogong is absolutely right!

Crown Prince: (vomits blood) … …

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