Lord of the Desert

Chapter 463: Covenant
The next day was the ninth day of July.

Dingxin Jingshe is only three blocks away from the Shenjing Zhangwuyuan Yamen.

Hong Fan asked Shen Hong to deliver a visiting card early in the morning. He thought that the dean was busy with affairs, but he unexpectedly received a reply in the afternoon, asking him to meet the next afternoon.

In terms of style, the Shenjing Martial Arts Academy was not much different from that of Xijing, with both having red walls and black tiles, and even the copper-green gate lions had their front paws polished. However, it was much larger in scale, with a length and width of more than a hundred feet.

The person responsible for receiving Hong Fan was waiting outside in advance.

His name was Shen Yunxiu, he was about forty years old, slightly plump, with a friendly face, and he claimed to be the chief of the military department of the Shenjing Martial Arts Academy.

With Hong Fan's current status and position, he is naturally not qualified to ask the Zhangwu Academy to open the main gate for him.

After entering the side door, the first thing you see is a wide square paved with stone slabs; a two-meter-tall statue of Xingshi stands in the middle, with a human face and a beast body, with wings on its back, and vajra raised in both hands, glaring at people passing by.

"This statue was made of mountain copper by the first headmaster himself. It is red and majestic, and will not rust for a hundred years."

Shen Yunxiu introduced.

Hong Fan passed by the statue and saw a line of large regular script characters carved on the base with his fingers.

【Practice supreme martial arts, and be angry for justice.】

The two walked inside, passing the main and secondary yamen of various lines. They saw that there was often a special auxiliary room next to the main hall, in which copper pipes in different directions could be seen protruding from the ground, and personnel in special uniforms held documents and read at the pipe openings.

Hong Fan was naturally curious.

"They are the unique ears of the Zhangwu Academy."

Shen Yunxiu spoke with pride.

"My department monitors martial arts throughout the country, and the files and documents are as vast as the sea. However, the office occupies such a large area that if the communication and inquiry were entirely dependent on manpower, the efficiency would be too low. So several decades ago, the then headmaster found a device to design and bury this copper tube voice transmission system, so that two departments separated by 200 meters can communicate instantly."

"Of course, the information transmitted by the ear clerks is of a lower level of confidentiality. There are many warriors coming and going in the government office, and each of them has outstanding hearing ability. The key documents must be sealed with wax before they are transmitted."

Hong Fan nodded in praise.

After another hundred meters, a huge iron building five or six stories high appeared behind the northwest wall.

"Young Master Hong, that is the Cangwu Pavilion."

This time, without waiting for any questions, Shen Yunxiu took the initiative to introduce himself.

"The pavilion contains all the martial arts and killing methods collected by the Zhangwu Academy. On the top floor, there is a copy of the "Purple Sky Dragon Transformation Sutra" and the original "Yi Mu Qinglang Sutra". The former was sent by Emperor Cheng a hundred years ago to establish the majesty of the Zhangwu Academy, and the latter was sealed by the dean himself ten years ago..."

Guan Qimai's office is located deep inside the eaves.

The hall is ten meters high and the house is more than ten feet wide. It is grand and majestic, forming a courtyard of its own. Only the white bird droppings scattered on the tiles and the squirrels lurking between the brackets with their eyes wide open somewhat destroy the atmosphere.

The middle door on the stone steps was wide open.

Shen Yunxiu stopped outside the hall and bowed towards the inside of the hall from a distance.

Just as Hong Fan was straightening his clothes, a voice was heard from inside the hall.

"Just come in."

He went in as he was told, and the first thing he saw after crossing the threshold was the bookshelves that filled the space and the materials piled on top of them.

The sunlight coming through the windows was cut by these obstacles into tiny blocks of light on the floor.

Hong Fan walked around a row of bookshelves and saw two strips of old, faded red paper pasted on the main hall with a couplet written on them.

[I wish for a peaceful life, with no heroes left behind me. 】

These fourteen characters were written in rough handwriting and with untidy parallelism, yet there was an indescribable stubbornness and arrogance in the strokes of ink.

Guan Qimai was standing behind a wide table in the corner of the hall.

He was wearing a thin, breathable gray linen shirt and no crown. His graying hair and thin figure revealed his old age. He looked even more like a country bumpkin than Gu Yixin who was not carrying a gun.

"Just wait a moment."

While writing furiously, Guan Qimai raised his head and looked at Hong Fan.

Although this man looks old, his eyes make him look like a young man.

"Tian Huai, go to Juzhou to meet Pan Yucheng and ask him to weigh the importance of this matter again."

Guan Qimai kept on working and spoke to the person standing behind the table.

Hong Fan turned his eyes and saw that the man had phoenix eyes and thin lips. He was wearing a straight official robe and looked to be about fifty years old. He was none other than the "Mr. Tian" whom he had met once in the winter of Huaiyang State a year and a half ago.

At that time, Hong Fan didn't know that he was Tian Huai, the deputy governor of the Shenjing Martial Academy and the "True Lord Yuhua" who ranked 82nd on the Earth List.

As for Pan Yucheng, he is the grandfather of the Third Prince's wife, the 33rd on the Earth List, the top of Juzhou, and the second-world celestial being, with the honorific title "Qian Kun Fu Shou". "Understood."

Tian Huai replied briefly, nodded with a smile to Hong Fan, and then left the hall.

"You come."

Guan Qimai said that after writing a letter, he blew on it and put it aside, then took a new piece of white paper.

He watched Hong Fan walk to the table and temporarily stopped what he was doing.

"I don't have a chair here. Even if you are a good cultivator, you don't need one."

Hong Fan nodded.

Facing alone a martial arts master known for his hot temper, he felt somewhat pressured.

"I know everything about your life in Shengzhou. It's amazing. I'm much better than me who could only imitate others when I was a Taoist."

Guan Qimai praised.

"I am very happy that you are willing to come to the capital. I have thought of two futures for you. Please listen to them."

He suddenly changed the subject, and his tone was like a towel that had been wrung out of water, as if the two of them had worked together for many years and no longer needed any polite greetings.

"The first option is that you will be transferred to the Shenjing Martial Arts Academy as a full-time position, and you won't have to worry about martial arts techniques. With your fighting ability and skills, you will be able to get a good job in either the Siwu Department or the Chawu Department. When you have experience, you can help me like Tian Huai did."

"As for the businesses you already have, I can help you keep them as a reward for your contributions in Shengzhou."

There are four lines of power in the Martial Arts Academy, the Department of Administration, and the School of Supervision. Except for the one "Academy" which has not been made clear yet, everyone in the world knows how powerful the rest are.

This condition is not bad.

But from Zhu Zhanran, Xiao Ji to Guan Qimai, Hong Fan had received too many "too good" conditions - considering Guan Qimai's personality and temper as well as his martial arts prowess, he had to worry about being constrained by him in the future.

It is not easy to reject a martial saint.

While Hong Fan was considering his words, Guan Qimai had already spoken.

"If you don't want to, then you want to follow the original statement, which is the second way I mentioned, and let the purple ribbon ride all over the world."

"You want the second half of the Blazing Explosion Code, right? According to the importance of this martial art, you need to help the martial arts academy complete seven tasks. Considering your meritorious service in Shengzhou, I can exempt you from three of them."

Guan Qimai's fast pace of conversation strained Hong Fan's mind.

It took him a split second to realize that the achievements the other party was talking about were Blazing Star covering the rear, killing the Queen Insect, and the God of Fire repelling the enemy.

"Sure as you wish."

Hong Fan agreed immediately.

"Okay, let's do this."

Guan Qimai is a man of his word.

"The hospital will provide each Purple Ribbon officer with a residence, uniforms, weapons, subsidies, etc. You can go and contact Shen Yunxiu who is waiting outside."

No tea, not even a seat.

The conversation lasted only a few minutes, but everything that needed to be said was said.

Hong Fan left the hall in a daze, still pondering in his mind - today, neither the size of the four matters was discussed, nor was there any discussion on what would be considered a success, and there was not even a written contract...

But it is indeed unlikely to imagine that an innate being could deceive a martial saint.

Shen Yunxiu, who was outside the door, was not surprised to see Hong Fan come back after a while.

From other sources, Hong Fan learned that the purple ribbon subsidy mentioned by Guan Qimai was only two taels of silver per month, and in addition, two yellow-level weapons could be received every year.

It was shabby, of course, but it was much better than the Red Ribbon Cavalry - at that time Hong Fan did not even have this little subsidy, and even the Red Flag's horse rations had to be provided by themselves.

Then the two of them went to see the residence allocated to them in the hospital.

The courtyard house with only one entrance is located in a remote area of ​​the eastern part of Shenyang. It has a main room and two side rooms, with a stove with a roof but no walls outside.

Although this house looks simple, it is sold for over a hundred strings of cash. Even compared with houses of the same size in the center of Jinhai City, it is five times more expensive.

According to Shen Yunxiu, if this courtyard was moved to a prosperous area near the imperial city, the price would double.

Hong Fan naturally refused.

There were three covered rooms in total, which could not even accommodate Shen Hong and a dozen other guards, not to mention Hongqi and a number of horses.

(End of this chapter)