Chapter 3: The Bingzhou Official Seal

"Miss Liu."

Pei Su turned his head and raised his cup toward Liu Zhi beside him.

She let out a delighted cry and quickly lifted her blue-glazed cup, clinking it against his.

She drained it in one go, and Liu Zhi's face had already flushed crimson — whether from the wine or something else entirely was hard to say.

"Miss Liu doesn't hold her liquor very well..."

Pei Su teased her lightly. Liu Zhi's face turned even redder, the flush spreading all the way to the tips of her ears, and she murmured softly, "...Mm..."

Pei Su kept his smile, but his gaze shifted subtly, sweeping toward the guard standing watch at the entrance.

Damn it!

Little Sister Liu had never been this close to a man before!

Zhao Lan stood at the doorway, ostensibly on guard duty, yet his eyes kept drifting covertly across the seats in the main hall.

More precisely, they were fixed on the center table — on Liu Zhi, daughter of the Liu clan.

Watching the girl he secretly admired engage so warmly with a stranger, an inexplicable fire stirred in his chest.

When his gaze passed over the man in the dark python-patterned robe, a flash of hostility crossed his eyes.

Beyond his feelings for Liu Zhi, there was also a measure of envy he was reluctant to admit.

The Heir of the Northern Marquis — Pei Jiumu — this celebrated prodigy whose name shook the world, Zhao Lan had of course heard of him.

Before, he had seemed a distant figure, someone Zhao Lan never thought to compare himself to. But seeing him in person, the comparison came unbidden.

And that comparison left him wishing the ground would swallow him whole.

In terms of cultivation, word was that the Heir of the Northern Marquis had already reached Profound Origin Perfection, while Zhao Lan had only just broken through to Profound Origin.

What made it even more mortifying was that Pei Su was only nineteen this year, while Zhao Lan was already twenty-six. Only a true cultivator could understand the gulf that gap represented — it was nothing short of the difference between heaven and earth.

As for appearance — Zhao Lan couldn't compete there either. He had to admit that Pei Su's face was a gift from the heavens themselves: flawlessly handsome, without a single flaw.

And as for status and standing...

Even Zhao Lan, who was not easily embarrassed, felt his face burn. The man was the eldest son of the foremost noble house in the Imperial Capital, the only son of a marquis whose might shook both court and country.

Whereas he himself was an orphan with neither father nor mother, raised by a blacksmith. Had he not made something of himself through cultivation, he wouldn't even have been allowed through the gates of a provincial office.

Zhao Lan gritted his teeth in silence, a knot of frustration lodged in his chest.

If that Young Lord had designs on Little Sister Liu, how could he possibly compete?!

No... Little Sister Liu wasn't that shallow. As long as I keep treating her well, she'll surely be moved...

What does being a young lord or a marquis's heir matter, compared to my sincere and wholehearted devotion!

With that thought, Zhao Lan felt the tension ease from his body.

Yes!

When it came to love, what mattered was mutual feeling.

He, Zhao Lan, might have nothing else — but he had the resolve to walk through fire and water for the one he loved, without a single regret!

"Young Lord! Actually, actually, my father isn't entirely opposed to practicing archery..."

Liu Zhi leaned in slightly, speaking in a low, halting voice.

"Oh?"

"Really!" Seeing that Pei Su was interested in the topic, Liu Zhi's heart leapt with joy, and she quickly continued.

"When my brother and I were eleven, Father personally taught us to draw the bow and shoot arrows. It's just that..."

Her expression dimmed.

"My brother and I were too dull in aptitude — we couldn't learn even half of Father's archery skill."

"Lord Liu's archery is extraordinary and peerless. There's no need for you to sell yourselves short."

Liu Zhi still didn't dare meet Pei Su's eyes, her fingers nervously clutching the hem of her sleeve.

Though the others at the table were toasting and chatting among themselves, they were all quietly paying attention to the exchange between Pei Su and Liu Zhi.

Liu Gongyun took a small sip from his cup, his gaze drifting with quiet thought.

How could he not notice his own daughter's lovestruck expression? He could only sigh inwardly —

That was the eldest legitimate son of Duke Pei's Manor, the sole heir of a marquis! Countless daughters of noble families across the realm had tried to climb that branch and failed.

The grand banquet came to an end amid laughter and cheer.

Many guests insisted on making themselves known to Pei Su before departing — even the high officials who had shared his table wore expressions of genuine warmth and enthusiasm, turning back to bid farewell every few steps.

Only once they had left the provincial office and boarded their own family carriages did they let the stiff smiles fall from their faces, wipe the nervous sweat from their brows, and resume the cold, composed bearing of a household patriarch.

Inside the Governor-General's Office, Pei Su followed Liu Gongyun into a secluded study.

"Uncle Liu, Jiumu has come this time with a matter to discuss."

"Please speak, Your Lordship."

"I wonder if Uncle Liu has heard of the theft of the divine blade — the case that shook the entire court twenty years ago."

At those words, Liu Gongyun's body gave a start and he immediately rose to his feet.

"Of course!"

His face showed astonishment, his voice booming like thunder.

"I was at the Northern Pacification Marquis's residence at Tianque Pass at the time. The court had dispatched the Feathered-Forest Guard to escort the divine blade Dragon-Sparrow, but a traitor emerged from within — he seized the blade and fled..."

Liu Gongyun paused abruptly at this point, lowering his voice.

"Could it be... that there is news of that traitor...?"

Pei Su gave a slight nod.

"Good! Good!"

Liu Gongyun said the word twice in succession, his brows lifting with excitement.

"That traitor seized the blade and caused the deaths of so many of our brothers in the Northern Pacification Army..."

"This matter is of grave importance, Uncle Liu. I cannot reveal too much. Only Elder Wu and I have been assigned to this mission, and we may need the assistance of the provincial intelligence apparatus."

Liu Gongyun nodded firmly.

"Rest assured, Your Lordship. Here is my Official Seal — if you need anything, simply ask."

Pei Su took the Official Seal, a quiet smile passing through his eyes.

Leaving the study, Pei Su returned to Zhuyang Tower, the lodgings Liu Gongyun had prepared for him.

The moment he stepped through the threshold, a gravelly, aged voice sounded.

"Young Master."

The speaker was cloaked from head to toe in a black robe, as though the entire person had melted into the shadows.

A hood obscured the face, leaving only a pair of cold, sunken eyes visible — eyes that radiated a deathly stillness.

An ordinary person who met that gaze would crumple to the ground within three breaths.

Any Bingzhou official with a decent memory would have found the figure familiar.

When Pei Su had arrived at Lin'an Commandery in his vermilion carriage, it was this black-robed elder who had served as the driver.

Among the Gentleman's Six Arts, driving holds its place — and the one entrusted to drive for the young master was hardly an ordinary person.

"The Bingzhou Official Seal."

Pei Su casually tossed the seal — the highest symbol of authority in the province — into the air, and in an instant the elder caught it within the folds of his black robe.

"With this seal, we can mobilize Bingzhou's provincial intelligence network. But the clan has its own hidden agents and spies — why not use them instead?"

A young girl in a blue-and-white dress approached from a distance, her voice clear as jade.

It was Pei Su's personal handmaid — Banxia.

"Concealment."

The black-robed elder rasped out the single word and said nothing more, his tone utterly frigid.

"Because this concerns one of the clan's schemes, and you don't want outsiders to discover or investigate it. By using the Bingzhou Official Seal, with Elder Wu's strength and movement arts, even if someone with ill intent tries to trace it, they won't be able to connect it back to the Pei clan — isn't that right?"

With that last line, Pei Su was already watching the black-robed elder with a half-smile.

"The Young Master is perceptive."

"Elder Wu, I am already nineteen. The divine blade Dragon-Sparrow, Xiao Lin's flight — what secret is truly hidden within all of this?"

The black-robed elder was silent for a long moment.

"The Master said: once Xiao Lin is captured, he will reveal to the Young Master the truth of Dragon-Sparrow's journey north."

Pei Su paced slowly through the hall.

"Twenty years ago, I had not yet been born. His Majesty abruptly entered seclusion at Kongtong Mountain, throwing the court into chaos. Chen Mang of the north, under the banner of 'driving out treacherous ministers and marching on the capital to restore the throne,' mobilized his forces and invaded southward. The Empress stabilized the court and conferred upon my father the title of Northern Pacification Marquis. He engaged the Chen army at Tianque Pass, while my grandfather proposed at court that Dragon-Sparrow be sent north..."

His voice recounted the events of twenty years past as recorded in the historical texts — facts known to everyone, something even children in the Imperial Capital could recite by heart.

"I grow ever more curious about what exactly the clan did back then."

Pei Su smiled faintly.

Twenty years ago: the Son of Heaven entered seclusion, the Empress held power, the Chen King invaded from the south, the marquis pacified the north, the Battle of Tianque Pass was fought, and the divine blade was stolen.

A string of extraordinary events — each one rare in a hundred years — had erupted in rapid succession within a short span of time. The entire court had been thrown into a panic; officials in the Imperial Capital had gone to morning court each day with hearts in their throats, their nerves never settling...

Pei Su knew that the clan's hand must have been behind all of this. What he didn't know was just how far that hand had reached.

"The Young Master may look forward to finding out."

The black-robed elder gave a rare, thin, cryptic smile, his voice dropping low as if rising from the depths of the underworld.

"It is a secret of monumental proportions..."

"Monumental indeed."