Martial Star Ocean - Chapter 5 Scared?

Chapter 5 – Scared?

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“How could that be?” Zheng Longxing traced the three wisps of beard that trailed down his chin, a surprised look on his face. “Isn’t this Li Mu a scholar candidate who passed the imperial examinations? How could he suddenly become a martial arts master? The Strength Unity realm can’t be considered much but it is still enough to mix into the martial arts world. Yet, such people were instantly killed? Could the information sent from the capital be wrong?”

Besides his status as the county commander of Alabaster County, he had another identity – that was, one of the four ceremonies masters of the Bloodmoon Gang.

This mission to assassinate Li Mu had been set in action by him.

And he himself was a martial arts master.

The Strength Unity realm was the very beginning of the road of martial arts. After that was the Energy Unity realm, Concept Unity realm, and so forth. But no matter how it was said, a martial artist that entered the Strength Unity realm should have managed to roughly master his internal energy and could be considered a third-class martial artist in the martial arts world.

The martial artists that the Bloodmoon Gang sent out to assassinate Li Mu were all vigilant and elite disciples. Besides five third-class martial artists at the Strength Unity realm, there was an Energy Unity realm warrior leading them. That leader could be called a master amongst third-class martial artists, and more than enough to deal with an imperial scholar candidate who had yet to reach even 15 years of age.

But, such a force had actually been defeated and two of the gang disciples had even lost their lives in the process.

“It might be because Li Mu’s hidden depths are too deep. I never heard that such a person would know martial arts.” The black-clothed warrior said with a bowed head.

Within Zheng Longxing’s mind, the scene of Li Mu’s performance in the County Administrative Hall this morning appeared.

When the youth sat atop the official’s chair, although he appeared calm, the truth was that he was extremely squeezed and was only pretending to be composed. It was easy to see through, after all, whether it was in aura or action, he was entirely similar to a newcomer. He completely lacked all signs that he was a martial arts master or an imperial scholar candidate. Could it all have been an act?

If he really was acting, then to be able to act to such a degree was far too terrifying. He was surely a deeply hidden individual of his generation.

This time, the reason Zheng Longxing took the risk of having the Bloodmoon Gang assassinate Li Mu midway to Alabaster County City was because he wanted to seize the position of county magistrate.

Within the Western Qin Empire and even the entire continent, martial arts factions and sects all possessed extremely special statuses; they could even almost stand on par with the various governments. Many chief administrators of empires came from backgrounds that originated in sects of the martial arts world. It could be said that the martial world collaborated with the various imperial courts to rule the world.

In fact, even when it came to the law of the land, martial artists were given preferential treatment. Zheng Longxing was originally just a bodyguard, but afterwards he joined the Bloodmoon Gang. There, he performed great merits again and again, eventually rising to the position of ceremonies master. It was only because of his gang that he was able to become the county commander of Alabaster County and take control of military power.

Now, the Western Qin Empire’s political scene was in chaos with corrupt officials running haphazardly about. The land was faintly descending into turmoil.

He had plotted everything in advance. As long as he successfully killed the new county magistrate he could quickly deal with that county deputy Zhou Wu. Then, using the Bloodmoon Gang’s strength, he could absolutely take the position of county magistrate.

Zheng Longxing’s ambitions were endless.

In his eyes, Alabaster County was in an extremely good position. If appropriately managed, this could be his own paradise. He could slowly accumulate his strength and in the future it would be possible to rise even further.

But now, a hiccup had appeared in his plans as soon as they began.

He lost himself in thought within his chamber. Then, after a long time of pondering, a ruthless light finally flashed across his face. “The plan absolutely cannot be changed. It’s not too late. Have the gang send an even stronger master to assassinate Li Mu and kill him off before he is prepared. There can be no delaying my plan.”

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The night quickly passed.

The suns rose up in the eastern skies.

There were two suns in total, one large, one small, following each other up into the skies.

The dappled sunlight was gorgeous, the weather wonderful.

Creak.

The bedroom door opened.

Li Mu walked out from his room. He was in a state of unprecedentedly high spirits.

“Young master, you…” The silly and cute attendant Ming Yue stared at Li Mu with wide eyes. After a brief moment, she screamed and turned around, running as she said, “It stinks, it stinks to the high heavens…! Young master, just what is that dark stuff all over your body and why does it smell like poop?”

Li Mu was left speechless.

For the entire night, he had been cultivating the Xiantian Arts. He had entered a meditative state that he had never experienced before, and like that, the entire night had passed in the blink of an eye. As he walked out of his room he didn’t examine himself. It was only after being yelled at by Ming Yue did he see that his entire body was covered in black dirt that emitted from his pores.

A vile and hurl-inducing smell swirled around his body.

Even he thought he smelled disgusting.

“Somebody, prepare the hot water…I am going to take a bath…”

Li Mu yelled out.

There were workers in the County Administrative Hall that did a variety of tasks. Hot water was quickly heated up and brought to Li Mu’s room along with a tub.

After taking a bath, Li Mu felt much more comfortable.

He was surprised to see that after washing off the black dirt over his body, his skin had become clearer and smoother. When he examined himself in the mirror, he discovered that his hair had grown almost an inch longer overnight and he even seemed to have grown a little bit taller.

“This Xiantian Arts is indeed miraculous. It even has beautifying effects.”

Li Mu said, expressing his heartfelt admiration.

However, he was soon worried.

This was because of his official outfit, there were no other clothes that he could wear.

When he came from Earth he had brought with him sneakers, sweatpants, and a vest. However, he didn’t plan on wearing these clothes again. These types of clothes were incompatible with this world and he would likely be criticized if he wore them. It was best to save them as a memento; they might even come in handy when he returned to Earth 20 years from now.

Thinking it over again, an idea popped up in Li Mu’s mind.

He vaguely recalled that when he wandered through the back county hall, he had found several boxes within the alchemy room. These boxes seemed to hold clothes that he could use as an emergency measure for now. Once he obtained his salary and had money in hand, he could send his two young attendants into the streets to buy a few robes for him.

Damn, this county magistrate felt far too wronged. Not only was he laughed at as a joke on his first day but he was so poor that he didn’t even have a single copper coin to his name.

Li Mu angrily hurried through the rear county hall and towards the alchemy room.

The alchemy room was situated in a quiet location. One had to pass through a secret door in the training room to arrive here. There was a suspended pill furnace in the room, rows of cabinets, low round cushions, leaf fans, medicine drawers, and other such essentials. There was also a stack of neatly chopped firewood in the corner…in short, there were all the necessary items here required for alchemy and more. One could see at a glance that this had all been decorated by the previous county magistrate.

And yet, all these arrangements caused Li Mu to feel just a bit closer to this room.

Because back on Earth, the old conman’s room at Kindled Lamp Temple was also set up in a similar arrangement.

He swept his eyes over the room, walked over to some black wooden chests and opened them.

It was as he remembered; there were indeed several sets of clothing within.

But as he took them out he saw that they were six different colored robes. They were sewn together with great care and one could even see that the stitches were made from golden threads. The different colored robes came in slightly different styles, but one could see that they were embroidered with silver threads and had images of cranes, kirins, pagodas, dragons, phoenixes, eight trigrams, and all sorts of other images stitched into various spots. Moreover, the six robes came with inner shirts, pants, and boots; they were complete outfits, and were even washed clean.

“Oho, it seems that my predecessor was a meticulous person.”

Honestly speaking, Li Mu was quite curious about this predecessor of his who resigned his office to head into the distant mountains.

He quickly put on the inner shirt and a blue-colored robe. It actually fit quite well on him.

The material of the robe was also comfortable to the touch, just like pure cotton.

Li Mu left the alchemy room and returned to his bedroom. He looked at himself in the mirror, satisfied by what he saw.

The youth that greeted him in the mirror was slender and tall, his back straight with a dashingly heroic spirit to him. Draped in the gold-threaded blue robes, it gave him a faintly ethereal atmosphere, as if he really were an immortal of daoist sects.

“Not bad.”

Li Mu was happy with his appearance.

The only flaw was that the sleeves were too large and a bit too long.

If he ran into an enemy and needed to fight, then he would first need to pull up his sleeves.

The question of his clothes could be considered temporarily solved.

A county guard brought in breakfast.

At breakfast, the two young attendants nearly choked on their shock as they saw Li Mu’s appearance.

“Young Master finally looks a bit more normal.” Qing Feng commented, his face filled with relief. He was just like a father that was relieved to see his idiotic son return to normal.

Ming Yue’s eyes were as wide as peach blossoms, “Young Master is very handsome.”

It was afterwards Li Mu learned that in the Western Qin Empire, the major belief was in taoism. Many nobles, wealthy people, and upper class people often wore these robes as their casual everyday wear. As for these types of clothes, they were quite popular and common in general, so it wasn’t strange for the current county magistrate Li Mu to be seen wearing them.

Before Li Mu finished eating, a county guard brought in a message. County Deputy Zhou Wu and others had returned to request an audience and ask for instructions on how to manage the county affairs.

“No, I’m not seeing them. I have no spare time.” Li Mu arbitrarily said, directly refusing them.

He didn’t want to see outsiders in order to prevent his façade from being seen through.

“Ah…Young Master, you must do your due diligence…” The young attendant Qing Feng had a twisted expression on his face.

Li Mu waved his hand and rose up to return to the rear county hall.

Behind him, the raucous laughter of the young attendant Ming Yue echoed out.

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In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

In the lobby of the County Administrative Hall –

“He isn’t seeing anyone again?”

County Deputy Zhou Wu stared at the young attendant Ming Yue and found it hard to understand. He fumbled for a moment before saying, “Does the lord county magistrate not wish to know about the current county politics?”

The silly and cute little girl Ming Yue could be said to have been eating her fill and sleeping in warmth for these past few days in the County Administrative Hall. With her faint red cheeks, she could be called a beautiful little girl. She grinned and said, “My young master said that all government affairs will be handled by County Deputy Zhou; he has no interest in them.” As she finished speaking, she recalled that there were some pieces of roasted pork from this morning that she had hidden away and had yet to finish eating. As she thought of this, she began to drool and quickly turned around and ran away.

“This is…”

County Deputy Zhou Wu and the crowd of officials glanced at each other and could see the stunned expressions on everyone’s faces.

In these past few days they had come here with a plan in mind, and were ready to demonstrate their authority to Li Mu. However, no one expected that the young county magistrate would actually hide away like a little turtle and wave his hands in dismissal without any intention of emerging from the back county hall at all. He didn’t see anyone either. It was unknown whether or not he truly had no interest in government affairs or whether he would embarrass himself and was hiding as a result.

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