BXBX NOVEL Chapter 232 - 232: Teaching Dumdum Spearmanship (1)
Chapter 232 - 232: Teaching Dumdum Spearmanship (1)
In the Pei residence, the maidservants were bustling about doing their jobs. Zhe Yunli, who had woken up early, was standing by the lotus pond and slowly practicing health-maintaining boxing with her martial mistress. Meanwhile, Third Lady had brought out maidservants early in the morning and ran to the vicinity of the Pei residence to busy herself with buying a new house.
At the entrance of Heavenly Water Bridge, a black horse ran out of the bustling streets and alleys, galloping toward Jasper Pavilion in the east of the city.
Ye Jingtang was riding on the horse. He was wearing an exquisite black official robe, a belt inlaid with white jade around his waist, a silver crown on his head, and long boots. He was meticulously dressed from head to toe.
The big white bird had been pulled up early in the morning and was still not awake. It was squatting on his shoulder and dozing off. Unlike usual, it had a small black scarf around its neck with patterns embroidered on it to highlight its special identity as an ‘official bird’.
The robe had been sent over early in the morning by Dumdum. It was the official robe of the deputy commander of the Black Office. However, the Black Office was not under the framework of the Six Ministries. This official position was considered an internal court official and belonged to the emperor’s close subordinates. It was roughly equivalent to the level of a deputy director of the Eastern Depot.
Because the bird had also made great contributions, Dongfang Liren had specially cut a small piece of cloth for the bird. It looked like a scarf, but when tied to the bird, it looked like a small black undergarment.
Although Dongfang Liren was very considerate, the bird didn’t appreciate it. It was squatting on Ye Jingtang’s shoulder while dozing off and kept chirping and cooing along the way. It probably meant: It’s such a hot day, but you still wrapped me in a piece of cloth. Are you preparing to make lotus leaf chicken?
Ye Jingtang understood what the bird meant, but he felt that it looked pretty good, so he didn’t let the bird take it off. He galloped ail the way to the Black Office.
The sun was shining brightly, and the blue sky was clear. On the street outside the Black Office, there were craftsmen everywhere, repairing the damage from yesterday’s battle.
Ye Jingtang dismounted from his horse in front of the door. Many chief constables from the Black Office came over to congratulate him. They kept calling him ‘Sir Ye’. There were even familiar chief constables who jokingly called out ‘Sir Bird’.
Ye Jingtang was only in his early twenties, but he was directly appointed as the second-in-command. If it were anyone else, they would definitely be treated as the Prince of Jing’s boy toy.
Although the actual situation was pretty much like this, other than the first four of the Six Fiends, no one else in the entire Black Office was a match for him. The respect of many chief constables was not fake. All kinds of flattery almost stunned the bird.
After Ye Jingtang finally finished socializing, he arrived at the Jasper Pavilion behind the Black Office.
Dongfang Liren knew that Ye Jingtang would come this morning, so she specially waited in the hall of Jasper Pavilion.
Ye Jingtang brought the bird in and saw the tall princess in a slender python robe holding his Black Qilin Spear and practicing spearmanship in the martial arts grounds.
From the moves, Dongfang Liren was practicing a spear technique from Ya Province. Because her height was not inferior to a man’s and her limbs were slender and well-proportioned, she didn’t look awkward holding the spear at all. Instead, she looked valiant and heroic.
Looking at the strength of the moves, Dongfang Liren’s spear momentum was nowhere close to that of Third Lady Pei, the current successor of the Overlord Spear. At the very least, it wasn’t worth mentioning in the same sentence.
Ye Jingtang stood at the door and looked at Dumdum’s focused expression as she played with the big spear. His eyes were indescribable. He felt that Dumdum looked as good as yesterday when she stood on the city gate tower and hummed a tune.
“Chirp chirp-”
Fat-Headed Dragon was wielding the spear so fiercely that the bird didn’t dare to approach. It stood on the threshold and greeted her.
Dongfang Liren’s spear paused. She turned around, looked back, retracted the spear smoothly, and stood up straight with the full aura of an expert. “You look much more pleasing to the eye in this robe. Come in and practice the spear with me.”
Hearing this, Ye Jingtang naturally didn’t refuse. He let the bird take a stroll in the garden by itself. Then he entered the hall of Jasper Pavilion and picked up the Roaring Dragon Spear, which was as black as black jade, from the display rack by the wall.
After weighing it slightly, he found that the quality of the Roaring Dragon Spear was indeed extraordinary. The spear length was similar to Third Lady’s Overlord Spear, but it weighed less than four kilograms. When he shook the spear slightly, he could see that the spear shaft was extremely tough. The spear tip trembled slightly and let out a pleasant hum.
Buzz!
Dongfang Liren walked up to him with the Black Qilin Spear in her hand, her eyes quite proud. “This spear was forged with the painstaking efforts of several famous artisans. It took four years just to make the spear shaft. It is made of silver silkworm silk obtained from Northern Liang layered over each other. Each layer was joined with glue, dried, and wrapped in another layer. From the inside to the outside, more than a hundred layers were glued together before it was finally made into the spear shaft. Just for making this spear, I was chased and scolded by the officials for several years. They said that 1 was extravagant and wasted money…”
Ye Jingtang could tell how ridiculous the craftsmanship of this spear was. The only flaw from head to toe was that it was expensive. The cost of making it was absolutely astronomical. He smiled and said, “1 feel that the materials used for this spear are too solid. I feel that it’s a loss no matter who 1 hit. It’s more suitable to be a ceremonial weapon…”
Dongfang Liren stood with the spear in hand and said heroically, “A weapon is a weapon. Since I’m lending it to you, feel free to use it however you want. If you really leave a few gaps on it and place it here in the future, I can introduce it to others and say that they were left behind by Xuanyuan Chao and Duan Shengji. It’s better than just saying nothing.”
Ye Jingtang didn’t stand on ceremony anymore. He carried the priceless Roaring Dragon Spear to the center of the hall, spread his legs, and assumed the Cauldron Supporting the Crushing Spear Stance. “How does Your Highness want to practice the spear?”
Dongfang Liren held her spear with both hands and raised it horizontally beside her, her stance as firm as a rock. “1 use Ya Province’s Roaming Dragon Spear. This spear technique was created by ‘North Cliff Spear King’ Chu Hao. After the former Spear Chief passed away, before Duan Shengji took over, Chu Hao once fought with the successor of the Overlord Spear. It’s said that his attainments in spearmanship are not inferior to the Overlord Spear. Hmm… Let’s not fight one-on-one. Show me the Overlord Spear first..”