Chapter 33: You Are My Personal ATM!

A beautiful day begins with an ATM.

Li Wenxuan woke up on a brand-new dark red peony-patterned bed, only to hear the arrogant and boisterous shouting of Tang Qi coming from the street. He had always warmly welcomed this behavior of people screaming while coming to deliver money to him.

However, Li Wenxuan did not don his uniform as a Centurion of the Punishment Bureau. Instead, he selected a brand-new set of fine brocade robes from his wardrobe, dressed himself, and hurried out. After all, the blood-red cloak of a Punishment Centurion was far too intimidating; Li Wenxuan was not entirely sure that this spoiled young master would still have the audacity to be so arrogant if he saw it.

The courtyard was deserted, blanketed in snow that had fallen the previous night. Beyond the waist-high wattle fence, which was also piled high with pristine snow, stood a group of spoiled young noblemen on spirited horses. The landlord, who should have been out working by now, had his doors bolted shut. Even so, Li Wenxuan knew that behind those tightly closed doors, there were undoubtedly several pairs of eyes closely monitoring the commotion outside.

These pampered young aristocrats from the capital were the type to turn any place they visited into a state of chaos. Li Wenxuan offered an apologetic look toward the landlord’s closed door and said, "They are here for me; it has nothing to do with you."

A gap in a slightly ajar window revealed a pair of bright, watery eyes peeking out—much like a small creature fleeing from a hunter, hiding in a crevice of stone, only to cautiously poke its head out to look around once the coast was clear.

Li Wenxuan crossed the snow-covered courtyard, which reached his insteps, and opened the gate. He tilted his head, glancing at Tang Qi, who held a red-tasseled spear in his hand with another strapped to his saddle. He was a man of his word, it seemed; he had truly brought a spear. Beside him, a group of spoiled young nobles sat atop their horses, their noses held so high in the air that they seemed to be "looking" at Li Wenxuan through two dark, cavernous nostrils. As a result, not a single soul could be seen on the street; everyone had been scared off and had taken a detour.

For a moment, it was silent. Yet, Li Wenxuan clearly heard the phantom echo of the words: "So you're the brat named Li Wenxuan!"

"Here!" Tang Qi flicked his arm, and the red-tasseled spear whistled through the air straight toward Li Wenxuan.

Li Wenxuan quickly raised his hand, gave his arm a slight shake, and caught the spear firmly.

"Mounted jousting?" Li Wenxuan asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"Yes! Mounted jousting it is!" As Tang Qi spoke, his eyes swept toward the stable. Seeing the little red horse, he nearly ground his back teeth to dust. His hatred for Li Wenxuan deepened. *My little Red's stable is better than the room you live in! Ever since she followed you, she’s been living in this drafty shack? On such a freezing, snowy night, who knows how much she’s suffered to survive this! You! I want to kill you! Little Red, just you wait; I will surely save you from this sea of bitterness! I will ride you just like before, and we shall see all the flowers in the capital once more!*

Li Wenxuan said, "My courtyard is spacious, wider than the street outside. Care to come in?" He turned around, smiling at Tang Qi, and added, "Though the snow hasn't been cleared, so it’s quite slippery. You’d better be careful!"

"Slippery? Trying to scare me? Who’s afraid of whom?" Tang Qi shouted, lowered his head, and rode his black-maned horse straight into the courtyard.

He picked a corner, wheeled his horse around, grabbed the spear from his saddle, and glared with gritted teeth at Li Wenxuan, who was sitting on the little red horse three or four yards away.

"Brat! Take my spear!"

Tang Qi roared, spurred his horse forward, and charged at Li Wenxuan with his spear raised. Li Wenxuan gave a light chuckle and squeezed the little red horse’s flanks. The horse let out a spirited neigh and charged forward to meet the attack.

The four young noblemen who had come with Tang Qi pulled up their horses outside the fence and began to cheer:

"Brother Tang, kill him!"

"Brother Tang! Knock him off his horse, humiliate him, and trample him into the dirt!"

"Brother Tang is mighty, the emperor of the spear!"

Li Wenxuan heard these arrogant shouts and couldn't help but spare a glance even in the heat of battle. These spoiled brats weren't entirely useless—at least their flattery was quite top-notch!

"You dare to be distracted!" Tang Qi was furious. This fellow seemed to not take him seriously at all.

"Dealing with you? I could do it with half a mind!" Li Wenxuan laughed, his own spear thrusting out in an instant with a sharp, piercing whistle, meeting Tang Qi’s incoming weapon.

*Clang!*

The two red-tasseled spears locked together instantly, the tassels being shorn away like tangled hair. Li Wenxuan felt the sheer, heavy force of Tang Qi’s technique. With his current frail body, he knew many peerless spear techniques that could easily defeat Tang Qi, but he simply lacked the physical capacity to execute them. He could clearly see the flaws in Tang Qi’s style with his own keen insight and experience, but knowing them was useless—his own thrusts were too slow to capitalize on them in a single strike. In short, this body was too weak.

However... to overcome the strong with the weak, to conquer force with softness. Li Wenxuan had already tried this once, and he had done it beautifully.

His spear gave a sudden tremor. A mysterious technique, one Tang Qi had never seen before, erupted with an aura that seemed to tap into the very essence of the Dao of all things.

*Taiji Spear Technique!*

Tang Qi had been brimming with killing intent, roaring like a tiger descending a mountain, unstoppable! But suddenly, that strange feeling he’d had before being beaten into unconsciousness in the street washed over him again. *Why... does my fierce, peerless strength feel like a stone sinking into the ocean the moment it touches his spear?* Even more bizarrely, why did the opponent’s spear seem to have developed a magnetic pull, winding around his own so tightly that he couldn't even pull it back?

*What in the world is going on? Does this brat know sorcery? No, force can break all techniques! Watch this!*

Tang Qi’s martial arts were inherited from his father, the Great Wu General of the Front. His mounted spear techniques were the same. Feeling the opponent’s spear becoming increasingly fierce, Li Wenxuan’s mouth curled into a mocking, indulgent smile. *This guy... he never learns! Has he forgotten how he was beaten last time?*

Tang Qi, caught in the fray, attempted to use raw strength to break through the technique, acting with reckless abandon. The four young nobles watching from the fence saw Tang Qi suddenly "power up" and began to cheer excitedly.

"Finish him!"

"Spearing that little thief is a walk in the park for Brother Tang!"

"Brother Tang will surely become the next Spear God of our Great Wu!"

*Damn, these brats can really talk!* Li Wenxuan maneuvered his spear, parrying and sticking to Tang Qi’s seemingly unstoppable strikes, while glancing at the spectators again.

"Damn you! I’ll kill you!" Tang Qi noticed this and roared even louder, his fierce spear work speeding up by thirty or forty percent. *How can you be so dismissive of me?*

However... after some thirty rounds, Tang Qi’s arms were sore and numb, his throat was parched, and only one thought remained in his mind: *This brat knows sorcery!* No matter how much strength he put into his thrusts, it was all in vain! Every strike, powerful enough to shatter stone, hit the opponent and instantly vanished, leaving him with the strange sensation of a toothpick stirring a giant vat.

*Wait? That’s a bit of an odd comparison, but that’s exactly what it feels like! Damn, am I going to lose again? Little Red! You... you’re sweating! Can’t you just feign a mistake, stumble, and throw this brat off?* Tang Qi had already started appealing to the little red horse’s sense of loyalty.

But the chestnut horse ignored Tang Qi’s pleading eyes entirely; instead, it carried Li Wenxuan with increasing ferocity, darting and striking with a level of enthusiasm it had never shown Tang Qi before.

"I’ll fight you to the death!" Tang Qi’s eyes were bloodshot; he fought with complete disregard for his own safety. But though he seemed fierce, his technique was already falling apart.

"Oh no, the young master is going to lose again," the Chief Eunuch muttered to himself. The Martial Emperor shot him a reproving look—could he not see that Tang Qi’s father, the General of the Front, was standing right there? What a tactless man.

As expected, after the Chief Eunuch spoke, the General’s already dark face turned even darker, perhaps even a shade of green.