"The teacher's first child, I remember, was called... Ning Xi... the Xi in 'morning dawn'..."

The clamorous commotion had gradually subsided. The night wind blew into the room through the open windows, making the summer night quiet. The figures in the room were seated; whether emperor or minister, the reminiscences of the past made reality seem quiet and distant.

"Ning Ji was the second. He was born on the seventh day when the Jurchens invaded south. Ning Yi left Bianliang at that time, implementing a scorched-earth policy. It took a long time to name the child..." Cheng Zhouhai said, sitting halfway on a stool below, "...The name means, 'one who slays the ruler and rebels, a source of concern for the world.'"

"That's... quite related to my Zhou family..." The emperor seemed dazed, sighing senselessly.

"Teacher... why did he send his child here..." For many years, Zhou Pei had been reluctant to mention the title "teacher" in front of anyone outside of Junwu, but at this moment, with the calm night wind blowing, she blurted it out casually.

"Wenxuan probably knows something about this."

"Based on our interactions with Ning Ji, he wasn't sent by Mr. Ning... Among the Ning family's children, Ning Ji has been like a monkey since he was little, restless and mischievous. Mr. Ning couldn't control him most of the time. That's why, during the Southwest War, he was allowed to join Zheng Qi's special operations team..."

"Zheng Qi?"

"Your Majesty is wise."

"Tell me, tell me. Tell me about your past in the Southwest."

"...When we went to Little Cang River, Ning Ji was still young. Later, when he got older, he played well with Zuo Xingzhou and the others... After moving to the Southwest, the children played and fought. In the summer, they liked to arrange formations by the river in Zhang Village, fighting for swimming spots. Ning Ji always liked to join in, fighting back and forth. Ning Xi rarely participated... Later, when the Jurchens invaded south, Ning Ji clamored to go to the front line as a military doctor. Mr. Ning was so annoyed that he had to agree... He wasn't content as a military doctor either. He killed many assassins when he was only twelve or thirteen years old. Later, taking advantage of the urgent war situation, he snuck into Zheng Qi's special operations... That kid didn't hold back when killing Jurchens, he really earned his merit..."

"Truly amazing... I couldn't tell just now." The emperor sighed, recalling the scene of the boy sitting dejectedly in the courtyard. He seemed so innocent. He was right to think of him like Little Chan – although, he was choosing to forget that the boy had just beaten up more than a dozen guards. What bad intentions could a boy in his teens have?

"...Why did he snatch Zhou Fu-yang's candy?" Zhou Pei asked.

"Hmm, youthful innocence, a display of pure youthful innocence." Junwu said, "I was like that when I was young."

"..." Zhou Pei glanced at him.

The other two remained silent. After a brief silence, Cheng Zhouhai said, "Perhaps it's about Zuo Xingzhou."

"...What's wrong with Zuo Xingzhou?"

"Zuo Xingzhou has been working undercover for Chen Shuangran's matter, and hasn't been heard from for several days... Before he disappeared, he met with Ning Ji, so Ning Ji is also looking for him..."

"Start from the beginning."

"Yes... Wenxuan contacted Ning Ji about half a month ago. At that time, Ning Ji and his companions came to the city and set up a stall in Yinqiao Ward..."

The oil lamp made a subtle sound inside its shade, and tiny insects danced around it. In the light of the night, Cheng Zhouhai slowly sorted out the situation, but was frequently interrupted.

"He's been here for so long, why is he only telling me now..."

"What about his companions..."

"Nonsense, nonsense! How can he let a child participate in such a dangerous thing..."

"Teacher's child is in the Southeast, this is a big deal! He can't be allowed to have an accident, Mr. Cheng, don't you understand? And Zuo Wenxuan—"

Cheng Zhouhai tried his best to answer Junwu's and Zhou Pei's doubts, but after a while, the atmosphere in the room became even more serious, entering a more realistic consideration. Junwu frowned, while Zhou Pei recalled her visit to Yinqiao Ward and seeing the stall, connecting everything together. Then, with a frown, she slapped the tea table and stood up, pacing anxiously around the room.

Zuo Wenxuan knelt down, looking utterly regretful.

Cheng Zhouhai stood to the side.

"This matter can be big or small, but there isn't really a foolproof solution... Your Majesty, Your Highness, to put it bluntly, we might not be able to control this child..."

"Yinping and Yue Yun can't control him?" Zhou Pei frowned.

"This child grew up among grandmasters, and has really been on the battlefield... When he has an idea, few people can hold him back..."

"He inherited the teacher's mantle in martial arts, right?" Junwu thought for a moment, "...That's no wonder."

"...Looking at the Ning family's children, that's indeed the case... But luckily, there's a way to barely control him now..." Cheng Zhouhai explained in detail.

"Oh? Is it a girl? Someone he likes?" Zhou Pei asked, "...What's her character like?"

"Ah?" Cheng Zhouhai thought for a moment, "...Seems like she's not bad."

"Character is important." Junwu also thought, and then said, "We can contact her soon and take a good look. Marrying a wife is seeking a virtuous person, this is a big deal."

Zhou Pei nodded.

The room was quiet for a moment. Then Junwu, sitting in his chair, raised his head: "Actually... he snatched Fu-yang's candy, do you think, he and Zhou Fu-yang..." Halfway through his words, Junwu stroked his chin and then waved his hand, "Forget it, let's not talk about it... Hehe..."

Zhou Pei glanced at him, looked out with her hands behind her back, probably feeling that her younger brother's sudden idea was quite unreliable. There was another long silence. Ning Ji's arrival brought many surreal and realistic things to the two members of the royal family, none of which could be summarized clearly in a short time. They said whatever came to mind.

"Where did they run off to..."

"Are the rear guards really arranged properly?"

"Why don't we just arrest him, just lock him up, and not let him leave even if he makes a fuss... The situation is dangerous outside..."

"I won't see him today..."

"Fu-yang should just stay in the princess's mansion. I have to go back to the palace... Later, I need to find some time..."

"Older sister, don't be forceful. Hard methods don't work with children of this age, you have to guide him patiently... We are elders..."

"For his own safety, he won't listen to advice—"

"Can you beat him? Didn't you hear people say that the kid is very fierce..."

"Then I have Yinping and Yue Yun to help me, I have more people..."

"I'm telling you, let Fu-yang go... Sister, you have to listen to my advice..."

As they spoke, they no longer had too many realistic concerns, so they dismissed Cheng Zhouhai and Zuo Wenxuan, and then chatted in detail for a while. The two of them had very important things to do tomorrow, but they seemed less important now. Junwu was actually very tired, and didn't plan to see Ning Ji directly today. He supported his head for a while, but didn't want to go back yet, slowly sharing his experiences with children with his older sister.

"You're the emperor now, you have to have dignity..."

"Just having dignity is just an empty shell, you have to have a method for doing things... Sister, the first time I saw that child today, I felt like he was very similar to me..."

"How are you similar..."

"He's naturally innocent..."

"He asked you to come down for a one-on-one fight, and you didn't go down."

"He was asking Yue Yun, to be fair, Yue Yun has a bad mouth, saying that he's an 'Incubus', I couldn't stand it either. And they're about the same age, it's normal to have a sparring match."

"Alas... what if his reputation as a 'four-foot Incubus', 'five-foot Incubus' is confirmed..."

"They're just ignorant fools, why bother with them..."

"Should we let the Secret Intelligence Division help..."

"Help dispel the rumors? Wouldn't that just spread them even more..."

"Kill all the Green Forest people who dare to say this... There's always a way..."

"Sister, you're missing the point..."

"What's the point..."

"The point is... I'm thinking... Sister, what do you think of Zhou Fu-yang..."

"What are you thinking..."

"They had a lot of fun, Zhou Fu-yang is silly, laughing non-stop when talking about him. Sister, I'm the emperor, this is called a 'peace marriage' in ancient times... That's right, it's a serious matter."

"I don't agree..."

"This child traveled thousands of miles to come here, and he's still being called an Incubus, he must have suffered a lot..."

Words scattered, lamplight flickering. At this moment, a loud bang was heard from the rear of the princess's mansion, and a warning firework exploded. The siblings pushed open the windows: "...Trouble again?" They thought it was Ning Ji having another tantrum, but after a moment, someone reported that Monk Tun Yun had broken in.

After injuring someone, he was forced out again.

They were slightly relieved.

Soon after, Zuo Wenxuan reported: Ning Ji had also chased after him.

With a bang, Zhou Junwu slammed the table and stood up.

"Bring my armor and sword, summon the Imperial Guards." He waved as he went out and downstairs, "I want to surround that monk—"

...

The gong sounded urgently, and the guards responsible for the warning ran through the streets. Half of the princess's mansion had been mobilized.

Tun Yun's gray-black figure flew across the city's rooftops and treetops, like a waterbird flying over a sea of shadows, appearing occasionally and then disappearing into the gloom. Behind him, the experts raised in the princess's mansion were also flying up, chasing and scrambling, creating an astonishing scene.

Ning Ji also ran through the dark, narrow alleys, striving forward while patting the prepared blood packs on his body.

Zuo Xingzhou was dead.

And Tun Yun had come.

Climbing over the wall of the market in front, he could see the figure of the monk looming on a courtyard to the side. A princess's mansion guard suddenly caught up and was knocked down by him.

Ning Ji ran with all his might, calculating the location. The figures of the two extended and curved in the night sky. Until one moment, Tun Yun leaped onto a tall building and saw a young figure in the distance after an alleyway.

That was probably a place where he had been hunted and had hidden to escape, there were no lanterns above the archway, and there was a dim blind spot on the side. Until the commotion spread over, he peeked out from there, spying on the development of the situation.

The two gazes crossed in the darkness for a moment.

Tun Yun casually waved his hand, swatting down the arrow shot from the darkness, revealing his grim teeth.

He pounced like a hawk in that direction.

The young figure fell down the archway pillar like an ape, crouched down, and darted into the shadows of the alley next to him, disappearing.

The night wind surged, and from near and far, whistling arrows sounded in the city's sky. The warning personnel standing at the high spots waved signal flags in the night, and the elites who rushed out of the princess's mansion encircled and spread out. The figures of Tun Yun and the youth disappeared and reappeared in the dark wind along different paths, chasing and intersecting.

Arriving at an alleyway, Tun Yun silently descended into the darkness. In front of the alley was a road by a small river. There were vendors and pedestrians on the road, but the alley was quiet and gave off a strange, fishy smell.

Tun Yun shook his sleeves, making a clanging sound of metal, and said, "As expected, heroes come from young people, you didn't die, it really makes this old monk happy!"

A solemn sound spread from afar. He paused: "I know you..."

In the darkness, a figure instantly crossed an unknown distance and punched him.

With a bang, Tun Yun's kasaya shook, and then his whole body seemed to turn into a phantom, flashing backward in the narrow alley. In front of him, the walls in the alley burst open one after another. Several of his punches caught up with Tun Yun's body, and in the darkness, the sound of metal clashing erupted, and several pebbles were hit by his kasaya and blasted into the trees in the adjacent courtyard.

"White Ape Tongbi?"

The youth's punches were like whips, frantically smashing and advancing through everything, coupled with the internal force that collapsed upon contact. Tun Yun immediately thought of this kind of boxing technique. He originally wanted to display the demeanor of a grandmaster and comment on it, but the youth did not know what kind of movement he used in the rush, and suddenly the fist wind hit his face.

Tun Yun became vigilant, and in an instant, he waved his hands with all his strength. His internal force drove the iron sleeves like opening several iron fans in the dark alley. For a time, the miscellaneous objects in the surrounding alleys exploded, and the walls were smashed. The youth who rushed up fully confronted his internal force, and in a blink of an eye, he rolled out more than ten feet away.

The large sleeves of the kasaya slowly retracted in the darkness.

"Okay, Sun Wukong, I know you have hostility towards us. But your real enemy... is coming soon."

Tun Yun's words paused in the alley. The next moment, someone fell from the sky behind and to his side.

"Go to hell—"

Yue Yun wielded his octagonal chain hammer, and smashed fiercely towards the alley. The bluestone bricks in the alley were smashed open, and sewage splashed everywhere. After the chain hammer landed, it was pulled up again, and with Yue Yun's passionate shouts, it began to tumble wildly in the narrow alley like a giant python. Tun Yun's sleeves smashed open the chain hammer, and rushed into Yue Yun's front,

"The incident between you and me at Nine Immortals Mountain was just a misunderstanding, a quarrel—"

Tun Yun's voice sounded in the fight. His figure and boxing were like lightning and ghosts, and he closed the distance in a few encounters, and then smashed Yue Yun away. Turning his head, seeing the youth fleeing into the distance, he laughed, and rushed to the top of the alley to chase after him.

Crossing a street and alley, the two sides approached again.

"You and the Southeast Dynasty are the real deep enemies—"

In front of the youth, a princess's mansion guard was knocked down. On the roof in front of Tun Yun, a long spear rolled like a dragon and pounced in front of him. It was exactly Yue Yinping's Five Steps Thirteen Spears. Tun Yun did not dodge this time, but directly collided with the tip of the spear with his kasaya, and sparks bloomed in the air.

Behind him, Yue Yun rode a horse through a long street and chased after him.

A blue brick roared and hit Tun Yun's body, and one hit Yue Yinping's butt. The youth rushed up from there: "I'll fuck your mother—"

Tun Yun smashed open the blue brick with his robe, and Yinping also dodged urgently. The two sides sank their lower plates and suddenly broke through the roof in the ding-ding-dong-dong fight and fell into the room. The youth rushed to this side, and also jumped up in the air, and a thousand catty of weight fell, and smashed the roof beams towards the room.

Dust rose, and Tun Yun laughed "Haha". The small house was like three fierce beasts trapped at the same time, and suddenly there were sounds of life-and-death fighting. After a few breaths, three figures rushed out from three directions, and Yue Yun, who had already ran to the vicinity, crashed in with his hammer yelling.

More guards and soldiers were gathering towards this side. Tun Yun smiled, and his dusty body climbed over the nearby houses. Ning Ji also climbed up, and arrows shot around him, which were waved away by Tun Yun. The two looked at the encircling soldiers, and ran in the same direction. In the middle, Ning Ji threw stones at him again, Tun Yun just smashed them away at will, and said: "Today, this old monk cherishes talents, so I will let you see one or two—"

His figure flickered like a ghost, rushed back and knocked Yue Yun off the roof onto the street, and then forced back Yue Yinping, almost knocking the other off the eaves.

Tun Yun

The monk has been in the arena for a long time. It seems to be out of the mainstream in the early years, that is because he indulges in pleasure and likes to muddle along. Relying on his light work and the skills of the iron kasaya, he specializes in fighting the wind, and has unconsciously mixed until today. In fact, being able to mix for so many years, his talent must be high. At this time, he suddenly became fierce, and when he shot, his internal strength was Hun Hong, and it was wonderful to the point of perfection. With the skills of the Yue family siblings, they were also beaten very embarrassed in a few encounters.

Easily brushing away the flying arrow, Tun Yun laughed, and before everyone could encircle him, he flew out a good distance. Ning Ji lurked in the darkness, and when he pounced over, the other side made another wonderful turn to avoid it. Even though Ning Ji had a family education, he urgently stopped and grabbed the other's clothes, but after a while, he was also thrown away by the other side.

"Don't get entangled anymore, I will help you escape."

Tun Yun stood on the roof, smiling with his hands together. When Yue Yun roared and rushed from behind, he stepped forward and slapped his palms out. Only a bang was heard, and Hun Hong's internal strength actually knocked Yue Yun, who was known for his strength, away again.

Ning Ji jumped off the roof and ran along the dark alley. When he looked back, the old monk stood under the dim night, his front was full of pursuers.

At the same time, in the Long Princess Mansion, Zhou Junwu was stopped by a group of clowns, including his sister Zhou Pei, and only half of his armor was worn. In particular, his sister reached out and grabbed his collar, making the whole scene very embarrassing.

"I've been on the battlefield, so I naturally know how to protect myself, what are you worrying about!"

"A thousand gold sons do not sit under the eaves, today's monk is just a jumping clown, that kid went, it is a calculation..."

"What calculation, he's only that small..."

"Your Majesty, the number of Jurchens who died in Ning Ji's hands is probably in the dozens... and they are still elites..."

Cheng Zhouhai and Zuo Wenxuan persuaded earnestly. After dismissing the others, the emperor also had a stern face, and insisted on fighting alongside his little nephew.

Unsuccessful.