Chapter 249 - 132: Marquis’ Guest, Helping You Enter the Mansion Courtyard and Become a ’Qi Cultivation Grandmaster

Chapter 249: Chapter 132: Marquis’ Guest, Helping You Enter the Mansion Courtyard and Become a ’Qi Cultivation Grandmaster

HISS, HISS!

An ebony walking stick sprayed forth Dragon and Tiger Qi. The old woman in black who had suddenly appeared was cloaked in scorching hot air, like a raging furnace that burned with ceaseless vitality.

Although she was old, her face a web of unavoidable wrinkles, the surging blood-qi she had cultivated at her peak was a clear sign that she had once been glorious.

And the words she spoke...

When Ji Xiu, carrying the Sword Plaque on his shoulder, heard them, his expression froze.

The Beicang Marquis’s Mansion, the Young Lady Heir Xiao Mingli?!

He had heard that title before!

Previously, when Duan Chenzhou was discussing geniuses with him and teaching him the principle that ’there is always someone better, a heaven beyond the heavens’...

...he had said that if one were to name the greatest prodigy to come out of Jiangyin Prefecture in the last sixty years...

...it would be ’Marquis Beicang’ Xiao Pingnan!

This man had not come from one of the Great Clans. In his youth, relying solely on his bare fists, he had beaten the disciples of the Grand Lineages to become one of the Prefecture Students.

In the triennial grand examination, he successfully earned the rank and title of a Prefecture Official, becoming a Grandmaster. From then on, he was simply unstoppable...

He entered the Vassal Towns, stepped through the Realm Gates, and with a great bow, hunted for Buddha Soldier Immortal Armor. He earned the moniker ’Three Arrows Conquer Tianshan Mountain.’ In the Great Xuan’s final campaign to banish the Outer Dao, he was made a Marquis for his merits and tasked with guarding Beicang!

Even in Cangdu, he was a figure of great renown!

Take, for instance, Cangdu’s most celebrated Fenghua Tower.

The White Jade Capital, which the Noble Generals of the Great Xuan considered a great honor to ascend.

And the Juvenile Dragon Stele, which ranked prodigies from all under heaven—even those from the Celestial Pillar and the Giant Houses...

Beicang Marquis Xiao Pingnan had been on all of them before the age of thirty.

Sometimes, a single name or title is enough to make people beat a hasty retreat.

And this Attendant from the Water Monarch’s Mansion, who served the Dragon Offspring, was clearly one of those who had been intimidated.

When the Nine-Scaly Attendant heard the old woman in black—whose eyes seemed to hold a Dragon and a Tiger, and whose voice was shockingly powerful—mention the ’Beicang Marquis’s Mansion,’ she was stunned speechless.

Others might not know the name ’Xiao Pingnan.’

But as someone from the Water Monarch’s Mansion, she knew perfectly well that this lord, who held the rank of Marquis, had another duty...

...to stand guard over the East Canghai!

To put it bluntly, he was a top-tier powerhouse who could drink and converse as an equal with her own immediate superior, the Lord of the Mansion!

Legend had it that Xiao Pingnan had been utterly devoted to his wife, who came from a Giant House. They had only one daughter, whom he doted on. In her day, she too had joined a great sect, possessed phenomenal talent, and became a Grandmaster at an early age, proving herself no less capable than her father.

However, she later met with disaster. Her foundation was almost entirely destroyed and her legs were crippled. A wide search for a National Master to heal her proved fruitless, and she could only live a secluded life on borrowed time in Jiangyin Prefecture, rarely showing her face.

But even if her reputation as a prodigy was no more...

...her father, after all, was still like a brilliant sun at its zenith. He held a peerless Title and could easily live for another two or three hundred years.

Relying on that sterling reputation and the lingering might of her father, this ’Miss Xiao’ could live to a ripe old age in peace, with no one daring to provoke her.

’Just what is the story with this poor boy from some rural county? How can he possess the Bone Tempering Chapter of the True Dragon Nine Transformations, wield a Sword Plaque imbued with the Qi Number of a Title, and also be on such good terms with the Beicang Marquis’s only Young Lady Heir that she would dispatch a Grandmaster who has reached the Dragon Tiger Realm to come here in person!?’

The Nine-Scaly Attendant was in a dilemma.

She looked at Young Master Bai Shuo, his handsome face as cold as frost.

Then she looked at the oppressive presence from the Beicang Marquis’s Mansion...

Her throat bobbed a few times. She looked at the heroic, spirited youth in black, her gaze lingering on the Sword Plaque that made her heart pound. After a long moment, she said with resignation:

"Young friend, the Young Lord is of noble birth, and this is a matter of great importance. I have been searching the seas for a long time. Upon finding him, I confess I grew anxious and acted recklessly."

"But the Dragon Descendant Treasure Skill is a secret of our mansion. If you cannot clearly explain its origin, and the Dragon Monarch were to call you to account..."

THUMP!

The old woman in black struck the ground again, her tone mild.

"The Great Xuan appointed the Water Monarch’s Mansion as the ruler of the East Canghai, but as far as I know, the True Dragon Nine Transformations is not a Secret Inheritance exclusive to your branch."

"The world is vast, filled with countless Outer Daos."

"Could the lad not have found this inheritance from some other side branch or lineage? Does it have to be that he stole it from your Water Monarch’s Mansion?"

"A Dragon Attendant is merely an attendant; after all, you don’t possess True Dragon Blood. But this young man here is the genuine article. He has refined a Dragon Descendant Treasure Bone. Although the Dragon Blood Marrow he has produced is exceedingly faint..."

"...if one day he breaks through the Three Great Limits, solidifies his Qi Dao Foundation, and forges a Treasure Body..."

"...how can you know he won’t use that as his foundation to evolve toward a True Dragon Treasure Body?"

"When that time comes, his cultivation will have grown so profound that he, in his human form, will stand shoulder to shoulder with the Ancestral Dragon. Forget a Dragon Attendant like you—even if a great personage from the Water Monarch’s Mansion itself were to come..."

"...in terms of bloodline nobility, they might not even measure up!"

"At that point, who represents the true Orthodoxy of the True Dragon Nine Transformations will still be anyone’s guess."

Her hoarse, deep voice carried a chill that was intensely pressuring.

But to Ji Xiu’s ears, the old woman’s words were music, putting his heart at ease.

’It’s true that the origins of this Treasure Skill wouldn’t hold up to close scrutiny,’ he thought. ’But who passed down the Mortal Transformation: Soaring Dragon Gate? My Ancestral Master, Wang Xuanyang!’

’Back in his day, Wang Xuanyang roamed Jiangyin Prefecture, having broken through the Six Great Limits. What immeasurable might! If you people have a problem, why didn’t you go settle the score with the old master back then?’

Ji Xiu grumbled to himself.

’It seems not everyone in the Water Monarch’s Mansion has Bai Shuo’s discerning eye for talent,’ he mused. ’These great, established powers often have too many rules. It’s inevitable that those within them are constrained.’