The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 30

*Three Moon-Eclipsing Kills*?

Zhao Li’s hand stopped, her interest immediately piqued.

[*Three Moon-Eclipsing Kills*: An exclusive martial art of the Brocade-Clad Envoys of the New Dynasty. First, sever the limbs. Second, break the skull. Third, tear out the heart. Its internal force is hard, fierce, and exceedingly vicious.]

In Zhao Li’s age of firearms and modern weaponry, martial arts had become something extremely remote.

Beyond seven paces, the gun was faster.

Within seven paces…

The gun was still faster!

No matter how skilled a martial artist might be at scaling walls and racing across rooftops, one shot within range would put them down.

On missions, Zhao Li’s people carried ultraviolet lamps and bullets made with red saltpeter and cinnabar. They offered far better value than close-quarters combat.

If something truly could not be handled, calling for support and having artillery scour the area was hardly unusual.

The neighboring country of the Great Northern Bear had even launched a nuclear weapon at a haunted village.

In that age, firepower was not necessarily truth, but it could solve most problems—and the people who created them.

Martial arts had lost the soil they needed to flourish.

This world, however, possessed martial arts and a true wandering martial underworld.

Even so, no one could launch themselves skyward by stepping on one foot with the other or overturn mountains and seas with a wave.

Martial arts here still obeyed the basic laws of reality.

Newton could sleep soundly.

A large pile of objects clattered out of empty air.

Yellow talisman paper, white candles, black donkey hooves, peachwood…

On top lay a blue booklet and a red fruit about the size of a lychee.

The moment Zhao Li picked it up, she caught its fragrance.

[Constitution Fruit: When consumed whole, increases the user’s constitution by five points. Slightly improves physical ability, strength, and recovery speed.]

After reading the full description, Zhao Li’s plan to split it with Shen Yan and Lu Zhao and exploit a bug instantly died.

She poured a cup of tea, rinsed the fruit, and stuffed it whole into her mouth.

[Constitution +5.]

The fruit had no unusual flavor. It was sweet and sour like a tiny plum, only without a pit.

Chewing, Zhao Li wiped her hands and opened the blue booklet.

She waited a long time, but no system notification appeared to tell her that she had gained a skill.

She looked at the simple drawings of little figures inside the book.

She was shocked!

She had to learn the martial art from the system herself?

Wasn’t it supposed to work like this: obtain a martial arts manual, hear the system go *ding*, and instantly master it?

[The lazy host indulges in unrealistic dreams of gaining rewards without labor.]

Refund!

Zhao Li was furious. What kind of garbage system was this?

The moment she mentioned a refund, the system fell silent and pretended to be dead.

After raging uselessly for a long time, Zhao Li still ended up sprawled over the table studying the manual.

To her surprise…

She could not understand it.

Sink the qi into the dantian. She knew where the dantian was!

But how did one sink qi?

What did it mean to circle the Guanyuan point and run twice through the Qihai point?

She stared blankly.

Who was she?

Where was she?

Why was her system different from everyone else’s?

After sitting in a daze for a while, she slapped the booklet back onto the table.

This was deliberately making things difficult for Fat Tiger!

Zhao Li sat on her stool. The longer she thought, the angrier and less willing to accept defeat she became.

She swiftly changed her clothes, pinned up her hair, threw on her fur cloak, and went outside.

Zhao Li had decided to phone a friend.

Inside Pear Garden Courtyard, Zhao Li lived in the western guest wing, while Shen Yan occupied the eastern main wing. A garden separated them.

It was the midday break after the offices closed for lunch. Shen Yan often returned to rest and sometimes called Zhao Li over to eat with him.

She decided to try her luck and see whether he was home.

As she approached the rockery in the garden, a rich voice suddenly said, “Let me see whether you have been good today.”

Zhao Li stopped dead, her eyes widening in shock.

That voice!

Who could it be but her direct superior, Shen Yan?

Yet now his voice was as gentle as honeyed wine.

This situation!

A line flashed through Zhao Li’s mind:

*The mandarin-duck bellyband still hung from that libertine’s belt.*

She pictured Shen Yan’s handsome face, perpetually arranged as though someone owed him eight million taels, in the role of the libertine.

Zhao Li sucked in a sharp breath.

Why did that sound so thrilling?

Reason told her that quietly turning around and leaving was the best choice.

Emotion told her: *Look once. Just one glance! If you do not look, curiosity will keep you awake for the rest of your life.*

While she struggled with herself, Shen Yan’s voice came from behind the rockery again.

“Be good. You must spend more time getting close to her.”

The man’s low voice held a faint husky rasp.

Zhao Li’s curiosity instantly defeated everything else.

Just one glance!

She lightened her steps, rose onto her toes, and crept forward.

Not daring to approach too closely, she leaned against the artificial rocks and poked her head out.

Then she saw something that overturned her entire worldview.

“You have grown much fatter.”

Shen Yan sat sideways to Zhao Li on a garden rock. His normally gloomy eyes had softened.

A smile touched his lips as he looked at the… cat on his lap.

Zhao Li recognized it.

It was the enormous orange cat that roamed the Jingning Guard compound begging meals from everyone.

It could eat an astonishing amount.

The creature constantly blocked roads or leaped onto windowsills to demand food with loud, brazen cries.

Recently, it had come to Zhao Li often. If she did not feed it, it meowed endlessly. If she did, it grudgingly permitted a few strokes. No cat could have been more heartless.

Now that same fat orange cat lay on its back across Shen Yan’s long legs, belly exposed and purring.

Smiling, Shen Yan rubbed its stomach, then scratched beneath its chin with the skill of a true expert.

His long fingers moved through its fur, from belly to back, scratching until the orange cat quivered.

He pinched both ears and massaged their roots.

As Shen Yan looked into the cat’s naturally outlined eyes, he somehow thought of Zhao Li living in the guest wing.

She had shielded him on Mount Jin that day.

At the thought, Shen Yan could not resist lifting the orange cat by its front legs and rubbing his high-bridged nose against its broad forehead.

Watching from a distance, Zhao Li wanted to run over and spray him with tongue-tip blood.

Was this man, doting on a cat like someone possessed, truly her dark and yandere-like superior?

Was he possessed?

Shen Yan was about to give the cat another instruction when he suddenly heard a faint noise.

His expression changed instantly.

His eyes, sharp as a hawk’s, snapped toward the sound.

The young woman he had been thinking about stood there with alarm all over her face. A small booklet had fallen beside her feet.

“I’m sorry! I disturbed you!”

The moment the book slipped from Zhao Li’s arms and hit the ground, her heart lurched.

It was over!

Sure enough, Shen Yan turned his head.

For the first time, she saw the legendary posture of an eagle’s glare and a wolf’s backward look embodied in a human being.

Truly outstanding, Lord Shen. His neck could actually twist that far!

Together with his dark expression, it was terrifying.

While Zhao Li estimated the odds that he would silence her permanently, Shen Yan slowly turned away.

He shifted his body until his back faced her, lowered his head, and said nothing.

The air froze.