The Inverted Dragon's Scale

Chapter 415: Snatching talent in public!

Hearing Chu Xianda asked about Li Muyang, many of the people present had an abrupt changes in expression.

Standing with the group of stewards, Li Yan’s face was crossed with shock. He did not expect the superior Emperor to mention his son’s name. He knew that after Li Muyang’s battle with the Sword God of West Wind the matter would not end there; however, he had only been worried about retaliation from the West Wind Sword school, and had never thought that even the Emperor would be so interested in this matter.

Li Yan had not experienced many battles in his life. He was Gongsun Yu’s driver, before and was now a steward of Grandfather Lu Xingkong——His current achievement could be said to be the pinnacle of his life.

Therefore, when he heard his son’s name coming out from the extremely unreachable important person’s mouth, he had a very absurd and very unreal feeling.

Luo Qi was standing beside Miss Gongsun Yu, and both turned pale when they heard Chu Xianda ask about Li Muyang. Luo Qi was angry and scared, while Gongsun Yu was a little calmer, though she was similarly worried about Li Muyang’s safety.

The two women exchanged a glance, and in the end could only keep quiet.

Such matters could only be handed over to the men of the family for them to deal with.

Li Shinian who was standing beside Li Muyang, took her brother’s hand in a firm clasp and whispered: “Brother, it’s all right. He’s just asking——”

Although Li Shinian was comforting Li Muyang, it was clear that she was more nervous and worried than him.

“This man is the Emperor, the Emperor of the state, the chosen one of heaven and earth——”

Li Muyang tightly held his sister’s cold little hand, and whispered: “yes, it’s going to be all right.”

When Chu Xianda said the Lu family has little people, Lu Qingming was just embarrassed and sullen. When he deliberately mentioned Li Muyang in front of other people, Lu Qingming’s eyes were surfaced with an intense killing intent.

“What does this man want to do? Do you really want to destroy my entire Lu family?”

Other unwitting people also shifted their gaze to Li Muyang.

There were some envious, some worrying, and some who were gloating over his misfortune.

In any case, all eyes were gathered on Li Muyang.

With a hearty laugh, Lu Xingkong looked at Chu Xianda and said: “I was about to introduce him to Your Majesty. I didn’t expect your Majesty to suddenly mention him. Your Majesty, do you remember the young hero who saved General Xu Da?”

“I naturally remember.” Chu Xianda’s face darkened a little again. How would I not remember the person who ruined my plan and wiped out my Monitoring Division? I had even dreamt of killing him several times before.

“The youngster stood up against injustice. At that time, I asked your Majesty to reward the young hero. But Your Majesty has been busy and dismissed this matter.” Lu Xingkong pretended to not notice the expression on Chu Xianda’s face, continued: “Later this youngster got into Starry Sky Academy and had been training diligently there. Congratulations Your Majesty on having this young talent to protect the West Wind and this pillar of this country.”

Chu Xianda was still wearing a smile on his face, but the smile had turned cold, his eyes flashing fiercely: “Since my kingdom has this young hero, then I also want to see for myself——where is Li Muyang?”

“Li Muyang.” Lu Xingkong called out. “Come and meet Your Majesty.”

Li Muyang composed himself and no longer avoided, waded through the crowd and strode toward the main hall with his head high.

He stopped before Chu Xianda and knelt down, saying in a loud and clear voice, “O pay respect to Your Majesty.”

“Lift your head.” Chu Xianda said.

Li Muyang raised his head, calmly meeting Chu Xianda’s gaze.

Chu Xianda’s gaze was like an eagle, also like a sharp arrow, jerked in Li Muyang’s direction, as if to jab his pupils.

Li Muyang quivered inwardly at the gaze, but remained calm and collected, trying hard to maintain a mellow attitude as he looked Chu Xianda in the eye.

He had no selfish intentions, and also no regrets.

Whether it was his fight against Cui Zhaoren on the boat, or his duel with the Master of the Still water sword school Mu Yubai in Tiandu, it was just to protect his own life.

It was not attributed to personal grudges, nor was it beneficial to him.

If he were in the same situation again, he still would have done the same thing.

There was no other path he could follow.

Chu Xianda’s serious face suddenly bloomed into a smile. “This boy is not afraid in the face of the Emperor and is calm and collected despite everyone focusing their attention upon him. As expected heroes come from the among the youth.”

Li Muyang bowed to express his thanks, “Thank you for the compliment Your Majesty.”

“Hm. You are Li Muyang?”

“Yes. Your Majesty.”

“You were the first in my West Wind imperial exams, you and I should have met earlier?” Chu Xianda looked at Li Muyang with a gentle smile on his face.

A little puzzled look came across Li Muyang’s face, what does this mean? Is he going to bribe me?

“Your Majesty is right.” Li Muyang, without much time to think it over, gave an appropriate answer.

“As far as I know, Muyang has only been cultivating for one year, right?” Chu Xianda asked, looking at Li Muyang.

Li Muyang was slightly startled, though still maintained a calm outward appearance, and responded with a smile: “My official cultivation time is very short, but my Little sister Shinian was accepted by an old Taoist as disciple and was taught the ‘Art of the Breaking body’. When my sister was practicing, I also copied her blindly——-so you could say that I have a few years of cultivation foundation.”

It was only after Li Muyang came to Starry Sky that he knew that the greasy old Taoist in fact has quite an impressive background, and that the ‘Art of the Breaking body’ was an extremely powerful secret cultivation technique of the world. But he deliberately did not mention the name of the Taoist, and only stated the name of the technique, which should help him avoid that difficult to explain fire pit for a while, right?

As expected, many people in the room looked slightly astonished after hearing what Li Muyang said.

“Are you saying that your little sister learnt ‘The Art of the Breaking body’?” Chu Xianda naturally knew the origin of ‘The Art of the Breaking Body’. “Your sister is a disciple of Taoist spiritual master Ziyang?”

Li Muyang took on an innocent and shameless expression, uttering puzzledly: “Taoist spiritual master Ziyang? I don’t know who Taoist spiritual master Ziyang is. I only know a greasy Taoist, who forced me to drink some extremely horrible medicine juice time and time again——but he indeed did take my sister in as a disciple and taught her a set of cultivation technique called ‘The Art of the Breaking body’.”

In this way, all the eyes were gathered on Li Shinian.

“This girl is actually a disciple of Taoist spiritual master Ziyang? I’ve never heard anyone say that before——”

“How would Taoist spiritual master Ziyang take in a female disciple? However, ‘The Art of the Breaking Body’ really is Taoist spiritual master Ziyang’s famous unique skill——

“Some people call her the fourth Bright moon of Tiandu, and some people call her a lowly servant girl——but this girl’s background is unexpectedly so impressive——”

Taoist spiritual master Ziyang was one of the seven Taoist spiritual masters.

Given the influence of the Taoist school in the entire divine continent, although the identity and status of Taoist Spiritual master Ziyang was not higher than the Emperor, it was comparable to the thousand year old Buddhist school.

Since Li Shinian was able to become his disciple, then she’ll have power to gather supporters in the Taoist school.

In this way, Li Shinian’s status among the four bright moon was no longer inferior, no longer lowly, and on the contrary, comparable to the three other women.

“Since she is a disciple of Taoist Spiritual master Ziyang, I also want to meet——” Chu Xianda was more and more unhappy. Before he had made a move, that boy’s background was already exposed. If he were to send someone to behead Li Muyang, then the Taoist spiritual master Ziyang would resend him, right?

Although it was said that the Buddhist and Taoist schools do not ask about worldly affairs, but that was because they do not want to ask. If they wanted to ask it would make things incredibly difficult. He was the Emperor of the state, and at that time he would need to give them a suitable explanation.

So, following Lu Xingkong’s summon, Li Shinian also squeezed through the crowd and stood in front of the Emperor.

Li Shinian also bowed down. Chu Xianda had to tell the siblings to get up.

Li Muyang and Li Shinian stood side by side in front of everybody. The male was clad in a white robe, handsome and confident. The female, in a red cloak and white dress, was delicate and cute.

Standing together, the siblings were like the moon among a vast sky full of stars, like a cluster of winter plum blossoms in a world of ice and snow, incredibly dazzling and delighted the eye.

Luo Qi and Li Yan were delighted to see their children standing in front of the platform.

Seeing the pair of beautiful children close at hand, Lu Qingming and Gongsun Yu were also full of pride.

Chu Xianda looked at Li Shinian, asking: “Is Taoist Spiritual Master Ziyang well?”

Li Shinian honestly confessed: “Reporting to your Majesty, I have not seen Master for several years. The last time I parted with Master, he mentioned that he needs to avoid a calamity, and to this day, I have not received any news from him. However, I believe that Master is certainly healthy and there is nothing to worry about.”

Chu Xianda nodded, once again confirming the identity of Li Shinian.

If he asked how Master Ziyang was and this girl answered causally without thinking, that would make him doubt the girl’s identity.

After all, Ziyang was a well-known figure in the divine continent, and his whereabouts were widely watched.

Chu Xianda knew that he was cultivating in secret, and had not paid attention to worldly affairs for many years. It fitted perfectly with what Li Shinian had said.

“Next time you see spiritual Master, give him my regards.” Chu Xianda said, smiling. “Many years ago I met him once and I extremely admire spiritual Master.”

“Yes, Your majesty.” Li Shinian bowed her head.

Chu Xianda then shifted his gaze back onto Li Muyang. “So you have the foundation of ‘The Art of the Breaking Body’, that explains why you could defeat the God of sword of West wind after a short period of cultivation. When I heard that there was a youngster who battled against my God of sword of West Wind on the streets of Tiandu, was undefeated, and severely injured Mu Yubai, at that time I was thinking which youngster was it, I did not expect it to be you Li Muyang——”

Chu Xianda smiled at Li Muyang: “When your study at Starry Sky finishes, is Muyang willing to serve the Kingdom?”

Li Muyang immediately responded, “I am willing to.”

“Haha, good, as long as you return, I can give you a high official position and generous salary, rare treasures and cultivation books, precious elixirs and medicines. I guarantee on the Chu clan’s honour that the Li family will become one of the top clans of my West Wind Kingdom.”

Lu Qingming’s eyes grew cold. This was snatching talent in public, undisguisedly ruining the relationship between Li Muyang and the Lu family.