The Emperor and His Thief - Chapter 52

The crowd now circled around Lin Xiao and Meng Chen, giving them more space to move while also spectating the upcoming sparring match. Not long after, a guard handed him and Meng Chen a wooden sword. Lin Xiao received it and swung it several times to measure its weight and to have a feel on how the wooden sword will cut through the wind.

Meng Chen watched Lin Xiao’s action and could not help the smirk that formed on his face. “If you want, I can let you have some time to get used to it. I know that a young master like you probably haven’t even—”

“No need. Let us start, ba. Or is it that you need more time to get ready to have your pride trampled down to the ground?” Lin Xiao didn’t let Meng Chen finish his sentence and even shot a question to the other, questioning the other’s confidence.

“You!”

“Again with ‘you’. I believe that you seriously need to brush up on your vocabulary, ah! Don’t you know that in battle, no matter how strong you are, it’s useless if you only fight blindly,” Lin Xiao said as he pointed the tip of the wooden sword towards Meng Chen. “Come at me now. I’ll be sure to teach you a lesson so that in the future, you’ll learn to shut your mouth when you need to.”

“Y–!” Meng Chen was about to say ‘you’ again when he caught himself and bit back the word. In his anger, he quickly brandished the wooden sword and rushed forward, trying to get the first strike on Lin Xiao.

Unfortunately for him, this was all part of Lin Xiao’s plan. A riled-up opponent is always easy to deal with compared to the calm and collected one. Lin Xiao raised the wooden sword in his hand to meet with Meng Chen’s diagonal slash. He then slightly shifted the wooden sword, guiding the other’s sword away from him before he shot his leg out and trip the other to the ground.

With Meng Chen on the ground, General Bing lets out a roar of laughter. “Meng Chen, did you underestimate your opponent? Only people without eyes would do what you did before. Be careful, your General Bai is also here to spectate! If you make him lose face, who knows what punishment awaits you, ah!”

Bai Chenyi who heard what General Bing had said just raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the tough-looking general. Although Meng Chen is indeed one of his men, he did not know what the correlation between Meng Chen losing and him losing face was. If Meng Chen loses, the one losing face would be Meng Chen alone. It should not affect him even in the slightest.

‘Of course, if Meng Chen lose, it means his training is not enough. Maybe I should prepare another training manual for him to follow… now that I won’t be around His Majesty, Meng Chen should at least be capable to protect His Majesty,’ Bai Chenyi thought to himself.

“Also, there are some officials who have stopped to watch you two fight. If you lose in front of these officials, words will spread and when that happens, let alone getting married, they won’t even let their daughters come near you again!” General Bing continued jokingly as he added more oil to the fire.

Hearing this, Meng Chen’s face turned ugly and he quickly got up to face Lin Xiao once more. Gritting his teeth, he made his second move, in which, Lin Xiao only had to move his body slightly to avoid the attack. A light swing from Lin Xiao’s hand and the wooden sword found its mark, hitting Meng Chen on his backside.

“If this were a real sword, you would either die or become heavily injured. If this is the strength of the guards in the Imperial Palace, I worry for His Majesty’s safety, ah!” Lin Xiao said in a mocking tone. “This level of strength is exactly just like a mountain bandit.”

“If you’re that great, how about we fight with a real blade then?!” Meng Chen roared out in anger, to which Lin Xiao only shook his head.

“My apologies. But I do not think that you are worthy of it,” replied Lin Xiao with a smile on his face. “This sword is being lent to me by Shizun. It is worth more than you can think of to me,” Lin Xiao added as he swings the wooden sword to parry another of Meng Chen’s attack.

While the two continued to spar, a shadow guard of the Emperor that was sent to look after Lin Xiao had rushed back to the Emperor’s side to report on what had just happened. Qin Yijun had been working on his memorials when he heard that Lin Xiao is currently having sparring match with Meng Chen.

“Bai Chenyi is letting this happen?” Qin Yijun asked.

“Yes, Your Majesty. It seems that General Bai is also curious about Lin Xiao’s strength,” the shadow guard replied.

“Who do you think will win the match?” Qin Yijun asked as he looked at the shadow guard who is currently kneeling on the floor.

“From what this slave had seen, the match is very much in favour of Lin Xiao. He is using words to lead Meng Chen along. Each time Meng Chen moves, Lin Xiao seemed to have already calculated several steps ahead of him,” the shadow guard answered earnestly. “But…” the shadow guard hesitated to continue, fearing that he might incur the Emperor’s wrath.

“But? But what?” Qin Yijun asked as he narrowed his eyes. “Go on, say what you have in mind.”

“Although it seems that Lin Xiao is leading the match, one could also see that he is overconfident. In a real battle, overconfidence is one’s worst enemy. Not to mention… he is handicapping himself by not moving from his spot. At least, from the several exchanges that this slave has witnessed, Lin Xiao was using his left foot as a pivot, and it has yet to leave the ground,” the shadow guard replied.

Qin Yijun heard this, and he let out a heavy sigh. He stood up and started to walk to the door, intending to leave the imperial study. “Zhen will go and take a look. An Yi, you go and take An Er along with you to look after Lin Xiao. That way, at least one of you will be able to keep an eye on him while the other comes to report to Zhen,” Qin Yijun said to the shadow guard.

“This slave received the Emperor’s order,” the shadow guard, An Yi replied.

Meanwhile, back at the outer court of the Imperial Palace, Lin Xiao’s and Meng Chen’s match had turned even more heated. When Meng Chen realized that Lin Xiao was taking it easy while dealing with him, his attacks became even more aggressive. Unlike before, Meng Chen is now a lot calmer as the match progressed.

Lin Xiao also noticed this, and he also started to think of other ways to deal with Meng Chen. The playfulness in his expression is also gone and he wore a serious expression on his face.

Meng Chen came at him once again, and Lin Xiao raised the wooden sword to block the attack. To his surprise, Meng Chen’s move was actually a feint as the other suddenly crouched down and did a leg swipe.

To avoid this move, Lin Xiao had to jump backwards and took a few steps back to get some distance away from Meng Chen in order to give himself some space to recover from his shock. Lin Xiao stared at Meng Chen who now have a big grin on his face.

“Finally using both of your legs. Do you think I am worthy enough to be your opponent now?” Meng Chen asked. Earlier, when he realized that Lin Xiao was taking it easy, he felt that Lin Xiao is not even looking at him as a worthy opponent. As a guard, he felt as if he was being ridiculed. The more the match progressed, the more he felt that he is losing face. Despite all of this, he still refused to give in and continued to persist.

Meng Chen now understood that Lin Xiao indeed have the ability to protect himself. He also knew that it was him who was in the wrong, assuming that the other is weak which is why the Emperor had General Bai become his bodyguard. Even so, it was useless to cry over spilt milk. He can only apologize properly after this match. But as a man, Meng Chen refused to surrender even if he is already losing. ‘If I am going to lose anyway, then I have to at least lose with dignity! I’ll make him take me seriously!’

Lin Xiao who heard Meng Chen’s question simply raised an eyebrow. “I admit, your determination is indeed admirable. Very well. Since you wish for me to take you seriously, I shall honour you so. Do be careful,” Lin Xiao said as he changed his stance.

With light feet, Lin Xiao jumped forward and he thrusts the wooden sword, aiming straight for Meng Chen’s throat. This was the first offensive move that Lin Xiao made ever since the start of the sparring match. Meng Chen, who was used to Lin Xiao being on the defensive, almost didn’t manage to avoid the thrust.

He moved his neck to avoid the thrust, but he could feel the wind generated from the heavy thrust and it felt as if he had indeed, received a cut to his neck. His face paled as he thought of how vicious the single thrust had been. Meng Chen had yet to recover from the attack when he felt a force on his stomach and before he realized it, his body was forced to fly backwards. Luckily for him, he was quick to recover so he did not embarrass himself further.

“Ah, such a shame…” Meng Chen heard Lin Xiao’s voice. He looked up to the other who was smiling, but Lin Xiao’s eyes were cold. “If that thrust hits, it could’ve been over by now,” Lin Xiao continued.

Meng Chen felt as if that Lin Xiao was seriously thinking of killing him. Suddenly, the wooden sword in Lin Xiao’s hand became one of the dangerous weapons that Meng Chen had ever seen. His hand unconsciously went to his neck, remembering the cold wind that hits his neck as the wooden sword missed his throat.

“What’s wrong, brother Meng? Don’t tell me you are now afraid, ba? I have only just started. From now on, I am not going to defend anymore. Brother Meng, prepare yourself.”