In those days, five friends who shared life and death together, everyone raised their cups under the moonlight and drank heartily, young then, with the gentle wind, after killing a city’s great thief, the city’s people held a lantern festival, and lotus lanterns swayed in the flowing water, seeming even brighter than the stars above.
They sat by the riverbank, listening to the laughter of the people as they drank.
The spirit of youth, the gratification of a knight in the Martial World, second to none.
One of them had to return to the Imperial Palace, a marquis with unparalleled martial arts, which made the Emperor uneasy about his throne; the eldest brother had to return to the battlefield, wielding the long spear of Martial World delight in combat.
His cultivation, much damaged, highly skilled yet the first to die.
After breaking the Iron Futu with the Hooked Scythe Spear, the aged general returned to Jiangnan where once he had released lanterns with friends, in a haze, he heard a girl playing the zither from those times, the tearful veteran thus composed the Breaking Formation Song.
The young monk had to return to his hometown, saying that many people there were starving.
Said many were bullied, said the monks there were too shallow-rooted, only he could save them, he said he wanted to become a living Buddha, and if he couldn’t recognize them after the Empowerment, not to blame him, he didn’t want it that way.
Consider that the young monk of that time died.
The Mad King raised his cup, entering the Court, the general said, ’Wrapped in horse hide, a soldier’s fortune.’
The dark-skinned young monk scratched his head, saying,
’If I don’t enter hell, who will?’
During the last Taoist’s engagement to a young girl, none of the three attended.
Gongsun Wuyue lowered her eyes, not thinking about these things, her voice gentle:
"Do you want to go to the Academy?"
Li Guanyi replied, "I promised Elder Zu to return his Taoist Sacrificial Officer’s talisman, to tell the Innate of the Taoist that he had glimpsed the path of Innate in this life, and looking back at the end, he did not regret."
Gongsun Wuyue smiled, "He would say that he does not regret."
"Do you know the current situation of the world?"
Li Guanyi thought for a while, answered, "A little bit."
"After all, I am not very old."
Gongsun Wuyue pondered for a moment, looking at the young Taoist, she explained for Li Guanyi:
"Great changes are underway, Chen Country and Ying Country have been containing each other, but now, the third ranked general contains the Turkic, the Western Regions dealt with by the Regent King, the conflict between Ying Country and Chen Country won’t be far off."
"My Gongsun Family has Piaomiao Pavilion and the mechanism techniques passed down from our ancestors."
"For three hundred years, we’ve only operated in the Martial World, making a name with our swords and mechanical techniques."
"Because in ancient times our ancestor was feared by lords and kings for the power of his mechanical techniques, sentenced to death, the remaining descendants fled into the Martial World, concealing their names for decades, slowly gathering and creating a family enterprise."
"Learning from our ancestors’ lessons, our line does not involve itself in court affairs, the manufacturing of mechanical devices also remains within the Martial World, not taking part in conflicts of the state, that’s to preserve ourselves."
"Thus, even though I, Chengbi, and Big Brother Zhou have good relations, one a marquis of Chen Country, and one a War General of Chen Country, we did not side with Chen Country."
"In such circumstances, the Gongsun Family, relying on the Martial World, both Chen Country and Ying Country would buy large mechanical devices through the Martial World channels from the Gongsun Family, which serves as a tacit understanding."
"Both countries allow us to remain neutral, if the Gongsun Family sided with one, it would be difficult to continue surviving, but now, I observe that the era of competing heroes might soon end, and once the world is stable, it would be difficult for the Gongsun Family to stay unaffected alone."
Gongsun Wuyue’s fingers gently touched the sword, she fell silent, then explained:
"Originally my brother wanted to try integrating powerful mechanical devices into the Martial World, planning to use our Martial World status to protect the family, but underestimated the wickedness of Martial World hearts, leading instead to a massacre of the innocent."
"After that event, the custom of Martial Arts Alliance Hierarch began."
"Martial Artists with such powerful mechanisms pose a greater threat to civilians."
"A true man from Taoism secretly investigated the source of the massacre and, in the end... my brother felt responsible for the disaster caused by handing Gongshu mechanisms to Martial Artists of the Martial World, and committed suicide to atone, the Gongsun Family suffered heavily and declined."
"The Taoist real man also did not anticipate my brother’s reaction, broke his sword as well, but died under the mechanical techniques."
"That was Elder Zu’s master’s brother."
Li Guanyi remained silent, just from these few sentences, discerning the turbulent conspiracies in the Martial World, he guessed that this event happened after Elder Zu and Gongsun Wuyue’s engagement, and in a twinkling, Gongsun Wuyue’s brother committed suicide, the Taoist expert dying under the Gongsun Family’s mechanism.
Even if Gongsun Wuyue and Zu Wenyuan could see through the conspiracies and causes,
The two of them could no longer walk together.
Afterward, they drifted apart over 60 years.
Six decades have passed.
One now a revered Taoist Sacrificial Officer, one the female Family Head of the Martial World’s Gongsun Family, a Taoist in the Academy with lowered eyes, whether she could still see the female knight of this world in the Martial World.
When Gongsun Wuyue spoke of the past, her tone was much more subdued:
"I took my nephew as my adopted son, he is Feixue’s father."
"The mechanical techniques of the Gongsun Family can pose a threat to ordinary civilians against Martial Artists entering the realm, and for a Martial Artist wishing to enter the realm, it requires years or even decades of rigorous training."
"No Heroic Ruler would allow the techniques of the Gongshu line to remain in the world."