Chapter 152: Reunion

Yan Liqiang, who previously stayed at Weaponsmiths Quarter before, went upstairs to the same small courtyard he used to live in.

After the long chat with Qian Su, Yan Liqiang’s understanding of the situation of Gan Province’s bureaucracy and the Ye Clan had deepened. At the same time, he became increasingly certain that Ye Tiancheng most likely wouldn’t be able to keep his position as Pingxi’s Prefectural Governor. However, it was still unrealistic to completely overthrow Ye Tiancheng through this incident.

The Ye Clan of Gan Province was deeply rooted and complicated. Among Ye Tiancheng’s generation alone, there were many members from the Ye Clan working in the bureaucracy of Gan Province and every single one of them fared well. Yan Liqiang heard about the ‘Three Ye’ from Qian Su. The so-called ‘Three Ye’ were the three representatives among Ye Tiancheng’s generation from the Ye Clan of Gan Province, and they held the highest official rankings. Ye Tiancheng was the Prefectural Governor of Pingxi Prefecture, Ye Tianhao was the supreme judge of Gan Province’s Law Enforcement Office, and Ye Tianfa was the Military Governor of Weiyuan Prefecture. With the ‘Three Ye’ from the Ye Clan occupying the military, government, and judicial system, how could such a wealthy and influential clan possibly just let Ye Tiancheng take a fall in Pingxi Prefecture and be unable to get up from it again?

Not only that, according to Qian Su, the Ye Clan also seemed to have some connections to the current Grand Chancellor of the Great Han Empire. With such a powerful figurehead behind them, only a few people in all of Pingxi Prefecture dared to lay a finger on the Ye Clan.

It had only been less than five years since Lei Sitong assumed his position as the Provincial Governor of Gan Province. For a newly appointed Provincial Governor, it was inevitable for Lei Sitong to be scornful towards the Ye Clan. One was a powerful outsider while the other was a local tyrant. It was nearly impossible for any conflicts or friction to be absent between both parties.

According to Qian Su, the newly appointed Provincial Governor had a certain influential figure from the Great Han Empire’s Doyen Assembly behind him. However, Qian Su wasn’t too certain about this piece of information either because he had also heard about this from someone else; he didn’t really know the specifics of it. Although Qian Su’s position allowed him to catch wind of a lot of information about the bureaucracy, there was still a limit to how deep he could dig.

Even so, the information that Yan Liqiang got from Qian Su was sufficient. At the present stage, his ‘revenge’ would come to a perfect end as long as he got rid of Ye Tiancheng. He didn’t wish to further create more troubles either. After all, the main objective of his ‘revenge’ was self-preservation — for the sake of self-defense and also to protect his family and friends; he had completely achieved it now. Refusing to let Ye Tiancheng and the Ye Clan go would only put himself and the people around him once again into new danger, hence reversing the entire situation.

If it weren’t for Ye Xiao and Wang Haofei, perhaps he never would have crossed paths with Ye Tiancheng and the Ye Clan during his entire lifetime. Both parties were from two almost completely different worlds. As an ordinary commoner, he could care less about the Ye Clan or the people who had their backs. Now that Ye Xiao, Wang Haofei, and the rest were dead, the possibility of any conflicts or him crossing paths with the Ye Clan had vanished without a trace. As for the future, he would leave it until the time came.

Perhaps at this point in time, even the Pingxi Prefectural Governor, Ye Tiancheng, still felt wronged. No matter how hard he racked his brains, he probably couldn’t understand why so many things had happened in the matter of just a few days, which in turn suddenly set him on fire.

Tonight, Yan Liqiang slept soundly upstairs, undisturbed by any nightmares.

When he woke up early next morning and completed his morning regime, he went to have some breakfast in the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s dining hall, just like he did in the past. After that, he ascended the mountain alone and resumed practicing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing at the same old spot.

In the past, Yan Liqiang had to make up some excuses to cultivate on the mountain. But now he no longer needed to make up any excuses because everyone in the Weaponsmiths Quarter knew that he was a student from the martial arts academy. Naturally, as a student from the martial arts academy, cultivation was top priority. Not only did the people of the Weaponsmiths Quarter find it natural to know that Yan Liqiang was going up the mountain to cultivate, a few of the managers and stewards even went out of their way to remind everyone to not wander up the mountain to avoid distracting Yan Liqiang from his cultivation. They informed everyone that the area near the summit would be Yan Liqiang’s private cultivation area for now.

This was the VIP treatment from the Weaponsmiths Quarter!

It was going to snow tomorrow. The weather on the 17th day of the eleventh lunar month had turned cold, especially on the mountain. Many plants had already gone dormant. The air temperature on the summit was much lower, causing one to shiver in the cold. Yan Liqiang came to the mountain summit dressed in just a light martial training garb which was easy to move around in. At the beginning, he could still slightly feel the chilliness. But after he started practicing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, he no longer felt the coldness in the air. The invisible Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth came pouring forth from the crown of his head before they started cleansing his five viscera and six bowels, as well as his muscles, tendons, meridians, and bones. His entire body was slowly heating up as a pleasingly warm sensation of soaking in a hot spring washed over him, making him unable to feel any coldness at all.

Yan Liqiang focused on his training wholeheartedly. His current goal now was to progress into a Martial Warrior with the fastest speed possible and thus complete the most important transformation in his life.

In one morning’s time, Yan Liqiang had practiced five rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. By the end of his training, the muscles, tendons, and bones in his body were burning hot. Every muscle in his body undulated and trembled like dragons that were awakening. Every joint in his body felt as though they had lubricating oil applied to them — he felt more agile when he moved around. Yan Liqiang even felt as though he could control the movement of every vertebra in his backbone…

Based on his ‘past’ experience, Yan Liqiang knew that he could already touch the barrier of the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage. If he kept going at this pace, within a week’s time at most, which was about another seventy or eighty rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing, he would be able to make it through the Stretching Tendon and Extending Bone stage and establish his dantian at the same time, thus progressing into a Martial Warrior.

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After practicing a few more rounds of Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing and seeing that it was already lunchtime, Yan Liqiang descended the mountain to grab his lunch with everyone else.

After lunch, Yan Liqiang didn’t return to the mountain again. He played push-wrestling in the courtyard where the soldiers stayed with Zhou Yong and the rest instead. Less than an hour after the game started, a soldier who was standing guard at the entrance of Weaponsmiths Quarter ran into the courtyard.

“Young Master Yan, your father has also arrived at the Weaponsmiths Quarter!”

“Oh, my father is here? Where is he?” Yan Liqiang pretended to be surprised. In actuality, he knew already that Yan Dechang was going to turn up today.

“Yes, he just arrived at the entrance of the Weaponsmiths Quarter. The Quarter Master sent me to inform you!”

“Alright then, have fun brothers. I shall go meet my father.”

“Alright, go.” Zhou Yong and the rest smiled at him. “We’ll continue this again next time!”

After bidding farewell to the soldiers, Yan Liqiang jogged out of the courtyard where the soldiers stayed and made his way toward the Weaponsmiths Quarter’s entrance. In just the blink of an eye, he was once again reunited with Yan Dechang.

Yan Dechang was wearing a fur coat and appeared to be travel-worn. He had just entered the Weaponsmiths Quarter and was talking to Qian Su. Behind him was a guard with the surname Xu, whom the Yan Clan had just employed recently, pulling a horse carriage behind him.

“Father…” No matter how calm Yan Liqiang pretended to be, his nose couldn’t help but sting a little when he saw Yan Dechang’s weather-beaten face once again.

“Ah, Liqiang. Why are you here?” Yan Dechang had a look of surprise on his face. He didn’t expect to see Yan Liqiang here at all.

“Young Master…” The guard from Yan Clan who was pulling the horse carriage hurriedly bowed to Yan Liqiang.

Yan Liqiang kept a low profile when he was in Pingxi City, and he appeared to be just a plain and hardworking man. However, the Yan Clan in Qinghe County had changed a lot. It was now one of the top influential clans in the county. It was truly not overly excessive for the guard to address Yan Liqiang as ‘Young Master’.

“There was nothing much going on at the martial arts academy these two days, so I came to visit Uncle Qian. I was actually planning on returning home to visit you in another two days!” Yan Liqiang smiled. He took a deep breath and tried to hold back his tears which were about to fall. “Oh right, why are you here too, Father?!”

“Hahaha, don’t tell Liqiang first, Senior Martial Brother. Let him have a guess…” Qian Su interrupted them with a smile.

Yan Liqiang smiled and glanced at the horse carriage. “I’m guessing that Uncle Qian must have found some business for our blacksmith store back at home and you are here to deliver the first batch of goods today, Father. Don’t tell me someone has taken a liking to the kukri knife I left behind…”

Qian Su and Yan Dechang exchanged looks with each other. Both of them didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to readily make a guess.

“Forget it, I admit defeat. I really wonder how you brought Liqiang up, Senior Martial Brother…” Qian Su shook his head and sighed.