Chapter 80 Flying Knife
Chu Zhiyuan first picked up a flying knife.
The cicada-wing-like flying knife didn't seem to be sharpened; touching the tip and the blade, it was not sharp at all.
He felt that it shouldn't be.
Cheng Tianfeng couldn't possibly carry two unsharpened flying knives as toys, could he?
After injecting true qi, a sense of perfect harmony arose.
But the flying knife didn't change.
The tip and the blade were still as blunt as the edge of paper, with no sharpness at all.
He flicked his hand.
The flying knife fell onto the desk opposite him, bouncing off at an angle with a "bang" and falling to the ground.
Chu Zhiyuan was puzzled and raised his voice, "Zou Fang."
Zou Fang, who was standing opposite him, floated over, picked up the flying knife, and handed it back to him.
Chu Zhiyuan carefully examined the flying knife under the lamplight.
It was as thin as a cicada's wing, the texture was hard, icy, and heavy, as if cast from cold ice.
There was a trace of texture inside; judging from the texture alone, it looked like a leaf.
It looked very much like half a willow leaf cut off, then fitted with a knife guard and handle.
The knife guard and handle were simple and unadorned.
These textures were unlike Feng Wen's and other strange characters; they were just some textures, like channels for conducting power.
He immediately tried to circulate the Gang Qi of the Sword Washing Art and poured it into the flying knife.
It was still useless.
He tossed the flying knife, his extrasensory perception constantly focused, constantly discerning, but to no avail.
It seemed like just two ordinary unsharpened flying knives.
But he was certain that if they were useless items, they couldn't possibly be on Cheng Tianfeng's person.
His extrasensory perception hadn't detected anything unusual either; it was the first time he had encountered this situation, which only made him more interested and curious.
He put the Flying Dragon Pearl aside and circulated the third level of the Dragon Transformation Art within his body.
Although it was far less rapid than absorbing the Dragon Bone's aura, he couldn't always rely on the Dragon Bone.
In the future, there would be no way to fleece the Emperor, and there wouldn't be many opportunities to obtain the Flying Dragon Bone.
When it was worn under Cheng Tianfeng's neck, it had a moist luster, but now it was dull and unadorned.
Having lost its spiritual light, it had also lost its wonderful uses.
When it had spiritual light, there was a layer of mist that blocked his perception, but now he could see through it completely.
After a long while, he put down the three jade pendant fragments.
No wonder Cheng Tianfeng didn't look for them afterward, letting Huang Cheng send someone to secretly take them to him.
They probably had no meaning to keep.
They were no different from ordinary stones, with neither patterns nor power, undetectable and could be treated as waste stones.
Such a miraculous thing, once broken, actually became like this; it seemed that the key was the contained spiritual light.
He was disappointed, but he still didn't give up, putting the two together to discern.
The flying knife was very handy, making him eager to try it out, so he simply opened the window and shot the flying knife out of the window, towards a rock in the artificial mountain in the courtyard, again and again.
With his extrasensory perception, he could constantly adjust his hand movements to continuously calibrate, making his shots more and more accurate.
He shot out one knife, then another; as soon as the second knife was shot out, the first knife was already picked up by Zou Fang.
Zou Fang was as elusive as the wind, her speed was extremely fast, sometimes by the artificial mountain, sometimes in front of him, back and forth without stopping.
After shooting thirty-two knives, Chu Zhiyuan could already achieve perfect accuracy.
However, he knew that the current accuracy was due to constant calibration; when he woke up again tomorrow morning, he would probably have to recalibrate.
Only when the muscles in his hands had memory could he truly achieve unfailing accuracy.
While calibrating, he still discerned the two knives and the jade pendant fragments, and found that under the moonlight, the two knives had undergone some slight changes.
The jade pendant fragments, however, were no different.
A faint power entered the two knives, giving them a subtle luster, barely visible to the naked eye but could not escape his extrasensory perception.
He speculated that being illuminated by the moonlight for a month would be enough for the flying knives to show a visible luster.
However, he couldn't wait a month, so he placed both of them on the stone table in the courtyard, even allowing the Listening Wave Courtyard to extinguish its lanterns for the first time, letting them bathe in the moonlight.
Since he had been alone in the courtyard, the Listening Wave Courtyard had maintained bright lights, as bright as day, and was not allowed to have darkness.
At this time, in the darkness, the two objects lay quietly on the stone table.
Chu Zhiyuan began to rest.
This day's experience made him feel like he had lived a year, full of gains and exciting and stimulating.
"I stab! Stab again, I stab again! Haha!"
"Amazing!"
"So amazing!"
Since returning to the Duke's Mansion, to the painted boat in the back garden, Xiao Ruoyu had been excitedly waving his sword, imitating Chu Zhiyuan's swordplay.
As if he had transformed into Chu Zhiyuan, beating Cheng Tianfeng again and again, feeling happy and unrestrained, and occasionally laughing up to the sky.
Xiao Ruoling watched him vent with a smile.
Two little maids excitedly inquired about the situation at the time; they were not qualified to enter the Fengtian Hall and were waiting outside the palace.
Now, listening to Xiao Ruoyu describe the scene at the time, they also felt excited.
Duke Anguo was already sound asleep, having drunk too much wine at the banquet, being thoroughly plied with alcohol by the other seven of the Eight Great Dukes.
They were envious and jealous, so they turned their jealousy into cup after cup of toasting, while saying good things and pouring sweet words into his ears, making him tipsy and accepting everything.
Having a son-in-law like this, he felt heroic and had unprecedented confidence, so he was not afraid of anyone.
After drinking two cups of tea, Xiao Ruoling smiled and said, "Alright, Little Tiger, it's time to rest; you have to get up early tomorrow to practice."
"Sister, aren't you happy?"
"Happy."
"But you don't seem excited at all, as if you had expected it; did you get the news in advance, Sister?"
"No."
"Then you're still so calm; no wonder it's you."
Her elder sister had always been calm, unperturbed, and rarely moved by anything.
"It's just a sparring match; winning or losing is normal."
"This is not just a sparring match, it's also a major event concerning whether we marry a princess or marry off a princess.... Marry a princess?"
As Xiao Ruoyu spoke, his expression suddenly changed, and he quickly said, "Who's marrying a princess?"
Xiao Ruoling asked, "Don't you know?"
"I seemed to have heard something, but I didn't hear it clearly."
"He's marrying a princess; afterward, he's going to Great Zhen to choose a princess, marrying the princess he likes."
"But he already has you, Sister; you're already engaged!" Xiao Ruoyu quickly said.
No wonder his elder sister wasn't very excited; there was actually this!
Xiao Ruoling smiled.
Xiao Ruoyu quickly said, "That won't do; there can only be one primary wife for the heir, and it must be you, Sister!... I absolutely won't agree to a Great Zhen princess being the heir's primary wife!"
Xiao Ruoling sighed, "That depends on the Emperor's decree."
Seeing Chu Zhiyuan vent her anger for her was indeed very exciting, but she didn't expect that he would also marry a Great Zhen princess.
Although the two were only engaged and hadn't had much contact, and had no feelings for each other, they needed to slowly cultivate feelings after marriage.
But no matter what, he was her husband, and there was a kind of unwillingness, as if someone had taken something of her own.
Xiao Ruoyu said, "Then let Father write a memorial tomorrow."
He wouldn't agree, and his father would never agree either; they must argue on the basis of reason, even the Emperor couldn't mess around, he should at least talk about first come, first served.
This was a major event concerning his elder sister's life, and there was absolutely no room for compromise.
"Well, go to sleep first," Xiao Ruoling said.
Xiao Ruoyu said, "Then you should go to sleep early too, Sister, don't overthink things, there's always a way."
"Little Tiger has grown up, and knows how to comfort people," Xiao Ruoling pursed her lips and chuckled.
". Then I'm leaving," Xiao Ruoyu glared at her unhappily, feeling that he was being superfluous and worrying needlessly; his elder sister didn't take it to heart.
He floated out of the painted boat, stepped on the lake water, floated away, and disappeared.
Xiao Ruoling came to the bow of the boat, looking at the shimmering lake water under the moonlight.
The lake water reflected the moonlight, peaceful and serene.
Under the moonlight and the faint lake light, her beautiful face was slightly raised, her eyes deep and blurred.
After a long while, she couldn't help but sigh, and fluttered up, like a cloud leaving a cave, drifting away.
