Chaotic Times and Disasters: I Hunt Down Martial Arts Masters and Become a God

Upon hearing Tian Jingming's words, Fu Qing was stunned. Standing on the edge of the cliff, snowflakes fell one by one onto his hair and shoulders.

The great man's poem flashed through his mind, and he immediately smiled.

"Then, let's write a little ditty for Marshal Tian..."

Tian Jingming laughed heartily, "Hurry up, hurry up..."

Fu Qing gazed at the vast expanse of white below the mountain, with the Dulin River flowing slowly across the distant grassland, and spoke.

"The scenery of the Northland is breathtaking: a thousand miles of ice, ten thousand miles of snow..."

Looking beyond the Great Wall, all that remains is a vast expanse of white; the Yellow River, both upstream and downstream, has lost its mighty flow...

The mountains dance like silver snakes, the plains gallop like wax elephants, vying with the heavens in height...

On a sunny day, the red-clad beauties and white-clad figures are exceptionally enchanting...

Tian Jingming's fingers tightened around the cloak, his eyes filled with surprise. He was completely unaware that the envelope in Zhou Tie's hand had fallen to the ground...

"This land is so beautiful, it has attracted countless heroes to vie for its favor..."

-

"Alas, Emperor Qin, though of noble birth, lacked literary talent; Emperor Kangxi, though of noble birth, was somewhat inferior in poetic flair..."

"A generation of pride, the Great Khan of the Di Kingdom, only knew how to bend his bow and shoot eagles..."

"All that is past; to find truly remarkable figures, look to the present!"

Inside the palace courtyard, Emperor Jingyuan, dressed in a Taoist robe, suddenly opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them, and looked at his attendant through the gauze curtain.

"What's the name of this word?"

"Reporting to Master, it's called 'Qinyuanchun: Snow'! It's a new work by Commander Fu of Iron-Blooded City..."

"Snow..."

The old emperor rose, lifted the gauze curtain, and stepped out. "What a fine poem! It has even more spirit than 'Song of the Soldier'... To see who the truly great men are, look to the present..."

"Hehe... Very well written. I didn't expect this warrior to have such literary talent... Have you investigated his background?"

The old eunuch Feng Bao followed the old emperor, his back hunched. "Fu Qing was born in a mountain village on the outskirts of Ironblood City. He was unremarkable until he was nineteen. A year ago, he followed the daughter of Shen Cang, a former disciple of the Medicine Palace, into Ironblood City, and then joined the army..."

"Initially, he was only at the fourth level of Body Tempering, but now he has reached the fourth level of Meridian Opening. Commander Tian's battle report says that this person recently killed Helian Yunshan, the guard of the Di Kingdom's Uncle King, and has reached the sixth level of Meridian Opening..."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Jingyuan, Ling Yushu, was taken aback for a moment, but then regained his composure.

"Battle bodies are extremely rare, perhaps only one in a hundred years, so it's not surprising that some are unusual."

"What you're saying is true, Master..."

Feng Bao smiled and said again,

"It's just that the child won't live past five years. Suwen from the Medicine Palace said that Fu Qing carries the Five Internal Organs Temple in his body, and is most likely a descendant of Prince Feng. It's such a pity..."

"The stomach churning!"

Emperor Jingyuan abruptly turned his head, staring intently at Feng Bao. "You just said—'the temple of five internal organs'?!"

Feng Bao, who had never seen his master so out of control, was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, "Yes, it was personally examined by the goddess Suwen, so it must be true."

After a few moments of stunned silence, Ling Yushu calmed down, turned to look at the imperial city beneath her feet, and murmured something.

"Yes, Suwen should be right. I never expected that the lineage of the Prince of Zhenbei still has descendants. It's truly... astonishing..."

...

The day Fu Qing's convoy arrived in Jingjing was a rare sunny day.

The city wall was ten zhang high, and Zhuque Avenue was wide enough for eight horse-drawn carriages to run side by side. Pedestrians on the street were dressed in fine clothes, and an old man selling candied hawthorns passed by the carriages carrying a straw target full of candied hawthorns.

Song Nini, holding her daughter, leaned against the car window, looking around curiously. To her left was a three-story restaurant with big red lanterns hanging at the entrance, and to her right was an arms shop with a crescent-shaped halberd taller than a person displayed at the entrance.

She exclaimed in surprise and slapped Song Yawei's arm hard.

"Sister, look! A knife even taller than Zhou Tie's!"

Song Yawei glanced at it, then looked down at her son in her arms, smiled, and said, "Baby, your dad is going to be a high-ranking official here."

Tian Jingming had already arranged for someone to pick him up at the station. At the end of Zhuque Street, turn right into a quiet alley. Deep in the alley is a large mansion with three courtyards and a plaque uniformly issued by the military hanging on the vermilion gate.

Passing through the front hall leads to the main courtyard, behind which is the inner courtyard, and behind the inner courtyard is a small garden.

The garden had several weeping willows and bamboo, and a small pavilion had been built by the pond. It was more than ten times larger than the courtyard in Ironblood City.

Song Nini carried her daughter and walked around the yard three times. There was a well outside the east wing with a well pulley on the well platform. There was an osmanthus tree at the entrance of the west wing with a stone table and benches under it. There was an open space in the backyard that was just right for planting jujube trees.

She excitedly announced that she would plant two jujube trees here, one bearing green jujubes and the other bearing red jujubes.

Song Yawei put her son on the bed and opened the window. "Now we finally have a home."

Fu Qing nodded. "Yes, this is our home."

...

That evening, a clerk in a dark blue official robe, accompanied by two attendants, delivered the martial arts academy admission documents and the military commendation order to Fu Qing.

The commendation order listed the military exploits of Ironblood City: the suppression of bandits at Blackstone Ridge, the protection of grain at Blackwind Gorge, the slaying of a general at Wolf Fang Village, the defeat of the enemy at Eagle Gorge, and leading eight hundred cavalry to sweep across the grasslands—each item was written clearly, and the order was stamped with the vermilion seal of the military headquarters at the end.

Fu Qing folded the commendation order and placed it on the table. He noticed a note underneath the document with a line of small print:

Your Majesty has other important matters to discuss with Commander Fu. Please come to the palace for an audience in three days.

"To enter the palace for an audience?"

Fu Qing looked up at the clerk. "What is it?"

The clerk bowed and smiled, "This humble official was unaware; it was His Majesty who personally gave the order."

Fu Qing put away the documents and, after seeing the clerk off, sat in his study for a while.

The emperor personally intervened in the affairs of a border deputy commander, who was merely a fourth-rank border general. There were plenty of people in Jingjing with higher ranks than him.

Why did Emperor Jingyuan insist on seeing him?

He recalled what Suwen had said: the Five Internal Organs Temple was a unique Gu poison of the Feng clan... If Ling Yushu knew about this, then this summons would not be as simple as a reward.

Considering that Suwen and Tian Jingming had conflicting accounts of the matter, he couldn't help but wonder which version the emperor knew.

...

Before entering the palace for an audience, Fu Qing first went to the Martial Arts Academy to report for duty.

The Martial Academy is the highest military academy in Jingguo, occupying a large area south of Jingjing City.

The courtyard wall is two zhang high, and on either side of the gate stand two iron-cast warrior statues, one holding a knife and the other holding a spear. The names of all the martial saints since the founding of the martial academy are engraved on the base of the statues.

Fu Qing paused in front of the statue, suddenly thinking of something—perhaps among these names were Feng Changyang's comrades, or perhaps generals who fought alongside the Feng clan in the northern border.

The deacon led him through the training ground toward the martial arts academy.

On the training ground, the newly admitted disciples were doing their morning exercises. Several instructors stood on a high platform watching the formation, and every now and then someone was punished by having to run with weights because of their disorderly formation.

Passing through the training ground is the main hall of the Martial Arts Academy, and behind the main hall is the independent training ground for the elite classes.

The deacon explained the rules as he walked:

The various branches can compete with each other, but they cannot cause death. The results of the competition will be recorded as military merits, and those who fail the quarterly assessment will be demoted.

No sooner had the deacon finished speaking than a sneer came from the side.

"Is this the mountain man that Marshal Tian recommended?"

Fu Qing turned his head and saw a young man in a brocade robe tapping his palm with a folding fan, looking him up and down. He was in his early twenties and had a fine jade pendant hanging from his waist. He exuded the air of a scion of a noble family from head to toe.

Behind him were several equally well-dressed young disciples, each glancing at Fu Qing out of the corner of their eyes, as if they were looking at some novel object.

"Pei Qing, from the Pei family of Jingjing."

The young man closed his folding fan and pointed at Fu Qing with it.

"I'm very curious to know what connections you used to get into the martial arts academy? The academy stopped accepting students last month, but unexpectedly, an imperial decree came yesterday, making an exception for you."

It's no wonder Pei Qing was indignant. The Martial Academy was the highest institution of learning in Jing Kingdom. Most of its students were from aristocratic families, and the remaining one or two percent were members of the royal family. Even for high-ranking officials, getting a spot was extremely difficult, let alone for Fu Qing, who came from a mountain village.