Regardless of what Huo Qi thought, unless Shen Yuan-yao herself backed down, he would have to grit his teeth and face this public challenge.

This was a world of cultivation, after all, and even the civil officials in the imperial court were cultivators. Prime Minister Pei Qing-yan, for example, was at the peak of the first rank.

Someone like Lu Xing-zhou, who used to struggle to gain respect in the Yama Hall, wouldn’t be taken seriously even if he held a civilian post; people would look down on him from the bottom of their hearts.

Huo Qi had been a third-rank official for over two years. If he were to avoid fighting a girl who had only reached the fourth rank two months prior, in plain sight, the entire capital would brand him a coward by tomorrow.

As for two important officials fighting in the street, the Emperor would surely be enraged. In any case, Shen Yuan-yao started it, and she bore the greater fault.

Huo Qi waved his hand, stopping his retainers, and said calmly, “Since General Ying-yang has such an elegant interest, I, Huo, can only risk my life to accompany a gentleman. Please.”

Even Lu Xing-zhou didn’t immediately understand what Shen Yuan-yao was doing and quietly asked, “What’s going on?”

Shen Yuan-yao grinned and patted his shoulder, “Getting revenge for you.”

“Why do you have to jump in? You’ll be in trouble for this. I can handle it myself… Hey, hey, hey?” Before he could finish, Shen Yuan-yao had already made her move.

A sweeping whip kick, and the wind blades were like knives.

Suddenly, the wind howled fiercely. Many spectators nearby had their hats blown off, the lanterns outside the Huo residence creaked, and the plaque swayed.

Huo Qi was startled and quickly raised his arms to block.

The kick landed on his arm with a stinging pain, as if it had been chopped by a knife. At the same time, an electric current surged through, leaving his arm numb.

Huo Qi inwardly cursed his bad luck as a second consecutive kick went straight for his midsection.

The onlookers watched with delight. The female general’s valiant and forthright stance, her straight and slender long legs—fighting really looked good.

Many people here had also seen Lu Xing-zhou fight, with similar consecutive flying kicks. At the time, they found it elegant and graceful, but now, seeing her, Lu Xing-zhou’s fighting looked like a roadside spectacle in comparison.

While others found it beautiful, Huo Qi, who was receiving these consecutive kicks, certainly didn’t.

He even felt a deadly killing intent.

Was this truly just someone newly entering the third rank?

What was this bizarre power… And Shen Yuan-yao’s martial arts were also unusual. They weren’t from the Shen family’s inherited style nor the standard routines of the Zhen Mo Si. To outsiders, it looked ordinary, but only those within the exchange could perceive the profound trajectories and impact points, as well as a speed and explosive power beyond what this level of cultivation should possess.

The swaying lanterns and shaking plaque were not the result of her full power; on the contrary, they were merely slight overflows of her restrained strength.

How could outsiders know how difficult those two kicks were to endure!

Super-grade combat techniques?

“Bang!” Huo Qi blocked a kick to his chest with his palm. The force of wind and thunder surged through him, and he couldn’t hold his ground, stumbling back several steps. His heel then caught on his own doorstep, and he almost fell.

Before he could regain his balance, a fist came straight for his face.

Huo Qi narrowly dodged, and with the same motion, threw a punch at Shen Yuan-yao’s lower abdomen. This was the only opportunity he had found to retaliate since the fight began.

Shen Yuan-yao revealed a slight smile.

Huo Qi inwardly thought, “Not good,” as a sharp pain shot through the tiger’s mouth area of his punching hand.

It turned out that Shen Yuan-yao’s punch was just a feint; the real killer move was a knee strike. As his punch went out, he precisely presented his tiger’s mouth to her knee. His punch’s momentum was deflected, and the knee continued without hesitation to strike his lower abdomen.

Huo Qi instinctively bent forward, letting out two “ho-ho” sounds, nearly vomiting.

How could he be allowed to do that in the middle of a fight? Before he could even fully bend his waist, a punch landed squarely on his eye socket.

Huo Qi-gong, the eldest son of the Huo family, was sent spinning in the air by a punch right in front of his own house, then landed “bang” on the steps.

Shen Yuan-yao still wasn’t finished. She strode forward, bent down, stepped on him, and threw another punch: “That’s for tying me up!”

Huo Qi: “?”

Second punch: “That’s for snatching the servants first.”

Huo Qi: “…”

Third punch: “That’s for calling me ‘uncle’.”

Huo Qi: “How about I call you ‘father’?”

What was all this about? Aside from snatching servants, I don’t understand anything else! Even if it was about snatching servants, that was Father’s doing, not mine.

The Huo family retainers on either side suddenly woke up from their stupor and rushed forward to separate Shen Yuan-yao: “General Shen, let’s talk, let’s talk! The duel is over, and my young master concedes!”

Shen Yuan-yao knew when to stop. She clapped her hands, turned around, and slipped away: “So useless, don’t play dead!”

The onlookers felt as if they were in a dream.

It was over just like that?

Huo Qi-gong, the eldest son of the Huo family, who had been a third-rank official for two years and was over thirty, was publicly thrashed by a girl in her early twenties who had just entered the third rank—and it only took three moves!

Qi Tui-zhi once again wore his smile of “not worrying about scarcity, but about uneven distribution.”

You think I have good psychological resilience? That’s because several times I’ve had company.

“Brother Qi.” Lu Xing-zhou’s voice came from behind him: “Haven’t eaten, have you? Want to grab a bite together?”

Qi Tui-zhi paused, his expression a little strange: “I’m a bit of a jinx now. The Huo family is scrambling to distance themselves from me, and you’re inviting me to eat?”

Lu Xing-zhou smiled slightly: “Why not?”

Qi Tui-zhi looked at Pei Chu-yun beside Lu Xing-zhou, then turned to look at Shen Yuan-yao, who was peeking from a street corner, and suddenly laughed: “Alright.”

Lu Xing-zhou thought to himself, “Your psychological resilience is truly excellent. These people have all beaten you, and you can still casually eat with them.”

Dinner was at the Yan-yu Lou, with Miss Pei still hosting.

Qi Tui-zhi walked into the place where he had once been beaten, and sat in the very seat where he had been beaten, full of emotion.

The Lu Xing-zhou family sat around the table, all eyeing him like curious children.

Qi Tui-zhi’s expression remained unchanged: “Why are you all staring at a loser?”

Shen Yuan-yao reached out and stroked the pig in Ah Nao’s arms beside her, as if comparing whose skin was thicker.

Qi Tui-zhi understood her performance art and said calmly, “In terms of inner strength, General Shen is stronger… Beating Assistant Minister Huo right outside the Huo family’s gates, not to mention how Grand Tutor and Marquis Huo will react, just with His Majesty, General Shen will likely be punished immediately. Yet, she eats here without changing her expression.”

“So what?” Shen Yuan-yao was not only indifferent but also felt refreshed, as if long-held constipation had finally been relieved. She leisurely picked up a sparerib and ate it with relish: “Am I supposed to starve to death if I don’t eat? I can’t possibly pack up and run away over something like this, can I? The Huo family is a first-rank family; is my Shen family not a first-rank family?”

Qi Tui-zhi: “…”

Seeing Lu Xing-zhou, Pei Chu-yun, and even the child all happily eating, seemingly oblivious to him, and the child even feeding the pig, Qi Tui-zhi again felt a very strange sense of incongruity.

You know you’re a first-rank family, too… You’re all prominent people, yet you’re so casual, as if you don’t fit in with the entire capital’s atmosphere.

In fact, all these people were third-rank and didn’t need to eat. Qi Tui-zhi, on the other hand, was not third-rank and was starving, but he sat there, not daring to pick up his chopsticks.

After a few breaths, Qi Tui-zhi couldn’t hold back anymore and asked, “What is the reason the County Lord sought me, Qi?”

Lu Xing-zhou wiped his mouth and sighed: “Why don’t you eat? Are you afraid I’ll poison you? If you don’t eat, we’ll beat you again. This time, Ah Nao will do it.”

Qi Tui-zhi finally picked up his chopsticks.

“That’s more like it,” Lu Xing-zhou said, “Actually, there’s nothing else… I’ve been in and out of the capital several times, but I haven’t really made good friends my age. Originally, my elder maternal uncle… err, originally, Young Master Pei was quite good, but there’s a bit of an awkward situation, you know.”

Qi Tui-zhi glanced at Pei Chu-yun. He was also awkward; he had once tried to pursue Pei Chu-yun and got beaten for it.

Of course, that had political implications; he didn’t actually have any personal feelings. The direct daughter of the Pei family was simply not someone he could dream of; no sane person would. Initially, it was because of Prince Jin that he had to brace himself. Now that Prince Jin had fallen, there was no need to mention the past.

But the question arose: while the Pei family’s direct daughter was beyond anyone’s imagination, how dare you have one on each side?

Qi Tui-zhi thought for a moment, then sighed, “A swan naturally does not flock with sparrows.”

“No need for such flowery words. You, Qi Tui-zhi, are certainly no sparrow, at least not in your heart.” Lu Xing-zhou laughed: “A quasi-third-rank in your twenties, how many such people are there in the entire world… And you’re a student of the Imperial Academy, not from the martial examination path, truly accomplished in both civil and martial arts. I can see the shadow of Prime Minister Pei in you.”

Qi Tui-zhi hastily said, “How dare I compare myself to Prime Minister Pei? County Lord, please do not overpraise me…”

Lu Xing-zhou tilted his head and looked at him for a while: “You used to be so spirited. What happened?”

Qi Tui-zhi lowered his head slightly, saying nothing.

“It’s not that bad…” Qi Tui-zhi said with a bitter smile, “It’s just that the sect’s path has reached its end, and people are thinking of change. The only super-grade techniques in the world belong to the Tian-yao Sacred Land and the imperial family. Entering the imperial court is a path for the sect’s transformation, and I, Qi, bear great expectations. But with Prince Jin’s incident, forget about the expectation of soaring to high positions; it’s even a question whether I can even enter the court at all.”

As for whether Prince Jin had committed any truly treasonous acts, there were none. It was just that various accusations were piled upon him, and his “unfilial piety” and “transgression” greatly disappointed Gu Zhan-ting, who directly gave up on him. So, the actions of Qi Tui-zhi and his “henchmen” didn’t amount to much; there were no substantial charges. At the time, Qi Tui-zhi, seeing the unfavorable turn of events, fled first. After the storm passed, no one truly held a grudge against him, and he was still a legitimate student of the Imperial Academy.

However, it was easy for people not to hold a grudge, but difficult to promote him. Now, wherever Qi Tui-zhi went, he was met with cold shoulders from people who avoided him. The Imperial Academy’s autumn graduation was over, and normally, a top student like him would have been assigned a good position, but he had yet to receive any arrangement.

That’s why he was anxious and sought out the Huo family.

The Huo family had also been very close to Prince Jin. He had shared drinks and meals with Huo Qi and Huo Heng many times. He braced himself and approached them, relying on their past acquaintanceship, but Huo Qi, though smiling, agreed to nothing.

Qi Tui-zhi, disheartened, planned to return to the mountain to become the young master, then he was beaten by Shen Yuan-yao and invited to dinner by Lu Xing-zhou.

Seeing Lu Xing-zhou’s casual attitude towards dining, Qi Tui-zhi’s heart stirred. Could this person be trying to recruit him?

He tentatively said, “After Prince Jin’s affair, everyone avoids me, Qi. County Lord, you are dining with me, do you not care?”

“Care about what? You haven’t committed any crimes, what could possibly implicate me? Surely no one would try to associate me with Prince Jin… Ordinary people might not know, but anyone with a bit of sense surely knows that I, Lu Xing-zhou, am Princess Zhao-huang’s person?”