Chapter 142: Discussion on Breaking the Dragon Slaying Decree

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

After Ye Jingtang left the Eternal Joy Palace, the sun had already risen above his head.

He held the treasured painting personally bestowed by the empress dowager with both hands and passed through the wall of the red palace. His mind was still thinking about the solution to the Dragon Slaying Decree.

There were many people around the Eternal Joy Palace, and there were also imperial guards patrolling. But when they saw him wearing the Prince of Jing Estate waist token, they didn’t stop him.

Ye Jingtang naturally didn’t wander around. He carried the bird to the imperial stable first.

The Imperial City was very large, and the Prince of Jing had the privilege of ‘entering the palace with shoes on and a sword’. She didn’t need to walk, so the carriage directly entered the palace and stopped in the imperial stable on the side of the Eternal Joy Palace. It was placed next to the empress’s imperial carriage, which was specially looked after by eunuchs.

Ye Jingtang arrived at the empress’s ‘garage’ and searched among the many carriages. Before he could find the Prince of Jing’s carriage, he was attracted by a horse in the horse farm.

There were more than ten horses in the imperial stable, and they were all used by the empress when she went out. One of the red horses had a plot of land all to itself, and the space for it to trot back and forth was much larger than the courtyard where Ye Jingtang lived.

Holding the painting scroll, Ye Jingtang went to the fence to size up the horse. The red horse was shoulder-high and had a shocking figure. Its body was like burning charcoal, and there was not a single strand of unkempt hair. It was very mighty. Compared to this horse, his horse looked like a malnourished foal.

Ye Jingtang used to work as an escort in an escort agency and had spent half of his time on horseback. When he saw this famous steed that was impossible to see in Jianghu, he naturally couldn’t walk away. It was as if he was looking at a beautiful woman with a luscious body. He looked at it for a long time.

The red horse seemed to be well-trained. It was as big as a tiger but had a fairly docile temperament. It walked to the edge of the fence with small steps under the sun and looked down at the bird. “Neigh, neigh!”

This was the first time the bird had seen such a big horse. It was a little afraid, so it hid behind Ye Jingtang and secretly stuck its head out. “Coo, coo…”

Ye Jingtang originally wanted to raise his hand to touch the horse’s head, but he was afraid of causing trouble, so he decided not to. After looking at it for a while, he went to the Prince of Jing’s carriage.

Ye Jingtang sat beside the soft couch where Dumdum usually sat. He opened the small cabinet and found that there were quite a lot of books inside. Other than Tears of a Heroine, there were also a few novels. Above were book reviews of Tears of a Heroine by literati and scholars.

Ye Jingtang was slightly surprised when he saw the opinions of his ‘comrades’, so he naturally flipped through them. In the end, he realized that the insights of the famous people were indeed something. He had never seen the meaning of some obscure descriptions before. It seems that Dumdum’s research is quite deep…

Ye Jingtang nodded and put the book reviews back in their original place. Then he got off the carriage and prepared to leave.

But as soon as he got out of the carriage, he saw a woman enter the imperial stable.

The woman was wearing a bright red skirt and top, without any other colors on her body, only pure beauty. But her even more gorgeous face could overpower these bright red clothes. The moment she appeared, even the summer flames seemed to lose their color.

Ye Jingtang was stunned. He jumped off the carriage and greeted from afar, “Miss Yuhu, why are you here?”

“Chirp.” When the bird realized that Ye Jingtang knew her, it flapped its wings politely, probably saying: Hello, beautiful sister.

The empress seemed to have just discovered Ye Jingtang. She slowly walked over and bowed. “I’m here to take care of Her Majesty’s horses. Young Master Ye, why are you here?”

“The Prince of Jing and I entered the palace, and I received a treasured painting from Her Majesty the Empress Dowager. I’m about to go back.”

“Oh…” The empress blinked and looked at the scroll in Ye Jingtang’s hand. “Her Majesty the Empress Dowager’s painting?”

Ye Jingtang wasn’t stingy. He walked up to her and opened the long scroll solemnly. “Miss Yuhu, what do you think?”

The empress of Great Wei was the complete opposite of her sister. She liked the zither, Go, calligraphy, and painting. One of her usual hobbies was to stamp the calligraphy and paintings of famous people from the previous dynasty.

Seeing Ye Jingtang asking her to appreciate it, the empress was interested and stood beside him to observe. “Hmm… This painting can be said to have both spirit and form. It portrays the artistic conception of the difficulty of making a living for ordinary people in the city in a penetrating and profound way…”

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Brilliant!” Ye Jingtang nodded. As expected, It’s not that my eyesight is poor but that mortals really can’t understand the empress dowager’s painting…

After the two of them chatted nonsense for a while, Ye Jingtang put away the painting scroll and looked at the horse farm. “What kind of horse is this? It looks really mighty. I was shocked when I came here just now.”

The empress had come over because she had seen Ye Jingtang staring at her horse in amazement for a long time from afar. She had specially come to introduce it to this silly boy who had never seen the world. “This horse is called Rouge Tiger. It was born in notherna Yan. It is the king among the ten famous horses, Dark Clouds Treading Snow. It’s the only one in the world.”

Rouge TigerQ… Ye Jingtang blinked and looked at Miss Yuhu beside him. “Miss, you and this horse, both in name and temperament, are quite compatible.”

“I helped Her Majesty choose this horse’s name, so it’s naturally compatible.”

After the empress gave a casual explanation, she went to the entrance of the fence and lifted it, preparing to enter.

Seeing this, Ye Jingtang hurriedly stopped her. “Be careful. If this horse is frightened, I might not be able to hold it back.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve been taking care of this horse. It won’t hurt anyone.” The empress opened the fence and entered the horse farm. The big red horse took the initiative to run over.

She walked to the horse’s side, stepped on the stirrups, and sat sideways on the saddle. Her red skirt fluttered in the wind as she rode slowly across the horse farm. “Giddyup.”

Clack, clack…

The scene of a beautiful woman riding a fierce horse had a unique beauty that combined strength and softness.

Ye Jingtang looked past the fence and praised, “Miss Yuhu, your horsemanship is quite good.”

“Chirp-” The bird nodded.

The empress stopped her horse in front of the fence and turned to look at the cold young master below. “Young Master Ye, your compliment is very insincere. I rode a horse for you to see. Young Master, shouldn’t you compose a poem to show me your thoughts?”

Hearing this, Ye Jingtang frowned. “By the way, Miss Yuhu, you said you didn’t hear the poem I told you last time, but the next day, the Prince of Jing came to my door and almost tortured me. Although it’s nothing serious, your actions feel like repaying kindness with ingratitude.”

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The empress blinked and explained, “Because the poem was so good, I casually wrote it down, and other palace maids saw it. I’m really sorry for troubling you and causing you to be punished.”

Ye Jingtang didn’t argue with this girl and only said, “I’m just a martial artist. How could I compose poems?”

The empress had personally run over. Hearing this, she was a little unhappy. “Young Master, you should remember something, right? Last time, you were so eloquent, but this time, you won’t even say anything. Could it be that I made you angry?”

Ye Jingtang waved his hand slightly. “Miss, you’re being too serious. I suddenly remembered that when you and I discussed martial arts, I might have had some insights. Discussing poetry is really making things difficult for me.”

Hearing this, the empress asked despite knowing the answer, “Is that so? I know a little about martial arts. I just heard from Her Majesty that you were discussing the method to break the Dragon Slaying Decree with the Prince of Jing at the Roaring Dragon Pond. Do you have any ideas?”

This was completely deliberately making things difficult for him.

But to the empress’s surprise, Ye Jingtang said frankly, “The Dragon Slaying Decree is the same as the Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade. They are both extreme saber techniques, but the Dragon Slaying Decree is even fiercer than the Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade. The Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade progresses step by step to become more and more powerful, while the Dragon Slaying Decree only requires a successful start. No one will dare to block a fifty-kilogram saber. Therefore, if you want to break the move, you have to start from the starting stance.”

The empress nodded slightly. “The Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade used to be the fastest saber technique in the world. Even the Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade can’t stop it, so you can only think of a way to take the first strike head-on.”

Ye Jingtang was slightly surprised. “Miss, you look smarter than Ben—than ordinary martial artists.”

The empress jumped off her horse and leaned on the wooden fence. “Knowing the path is one thing. Overcoming the obstacles to create a qi circulation technique and reaching the top is another matter. Your insights must have been thought of by the top martial artists in Jianghu. But until now, no one has been able to break the move, which shows that this path is very difficult to walk.”

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It’s indeed difficult to walk. I pondered for a few hours before 1 got some clues.”

Ye Jingtang found that discussing martial arts with Miss Yuhu was much smoother than with Dumdum. He became interested and handed the painting and book to her. Then he took out the Hornless Dragon Saber and hung it on his right waist. “The Dragon Slaying Decree rests the saber on your back and starts with the Bowing Saber Spring. The first strike will definitely slash down. With the existence of the ‘One-Step Retreat’, this strike can’t be stopped. You can only dodge or forcefully receive it.”

Ye Jingtang stepped forward horizontally, with his left foot in front and his right foot behind to support his body. At the same time, he drew his saber with his left hand.

Crack!

When the saber was halfway out of its sheath, Ye Jingtang pressed his right hand on the back of the saber and raised it forward. “With my right hand supporting the back of the saber and my right foot supporting from the ground, I can withstand the immense force of the Dragon Slaying Decree. The saber is tilted back and pointed diagonally to the right. When the Dragon Slaying Decree slashes down, it will definitely slide to the right, and the force will also decrease. As long as the Dragon Slaying Decree slides out and I push the saber with my right hand, if 1 don’t break his neck, I’ll cut off his right arm.”

After Ye Jingtang finished demonstrating the starting stance, he asked, “What do you think, Miss?”

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Surprise flashed across the empress’s eyes. She got up and walked around the fence to Ye Jingtang. Then she placed her hands on the fence and jumped up slightly. She sat on the fence and lowered her head to size him up carefully. “Using this starting move, at the same level, it is indeed possible to withstand the Dragon Slaying Decree. But without the support of the qi circulation method, this is just a showy but useless move.”

Ye Jingtang shook his head secretly and felt that she was Hu Dumdum. He said seriously, “Since you already know the starting stance, it’s equivalent to knowing the exam questions. You just have to follow the questions and go whichever direction is the most suitable for the qi circulation. However, this thing is more difficult to think about. It will probably take a few days to figure it out…”

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The empress swayed her legs gently and pondered for a moment. “This move of yours can block the Dragon Slaying Decree, but you will draw your saber slower. When encountering the Eight-Steps Frenzied Blade, you can only pull out half of the saber at most before the opponent’s slash is already at your neck.”