The old man went upstairs. Before Ling Zhang could detect anything, Yuwen Tong briefly squinted his eyes.

"Waiter, another place setting, please," Ling Zhang said to the waiter.

The waiter had some time ago dismissed his previous thoughts from his mind, including the "a fresh flower sticking in a heap of cow-dung" part. Despite the fact that they were a gay couple, that man looking like an upstart master had just now given each of those men a kick sending them flying out of the tavern. 'He's by no means a common person!' the waiter thought.

On hearing Ling Zhang's words, the waiter repeatedly answered "Yes" and quickly left. Soon, he brought another place setting to their table and obsequiously asked, "Would you care for another few courses?"

Ling Zhang tossed a glance at the dishes on the table and replied, "That won't be necessary. You may leave."

There were a tableful of courses, which should be more than enough for three men.

"Please take a seat, old gentleman." Ling Zhang pointed at the seat beside him.

The presence of an outsider made it inconvenient for him to take off his veil hat, so he decided to just sit here and eat later.

Yuwen Tong glanced at the old man and asked, "Your internal energy is pretty potent. How did you come to be knocked over by a childe too frail to stand a gust of wind?"

Ling Zhang was taken aback by this remark and immediately looked at the old man.

Surprisingly, the old man's countenance remained rather natural. He gave a chuckle, took his chopsticks, picked a piece of food and sent it into his mouth. Chewing, he responded, "He's just a young man. I was afraid that I might knock him dead if I mobilized my internal energy. I didn't have the heart."

"You are such a kind-hearted old gentleman," commented Yuwen Tong.

"Alas. I just couldn't help it. Soft-heartedness is my only weakness," said the old man. With that, he took another bite of a dish. It seemed that he was really hungry, since he had gulped down a bowl of rice within just a few moments.

Seeing this, Ling Zhang reached out his hand with the intention to refill the old man's bowl but the old man stopped him and said, "One bowlful is enough for me. Thank you for your kindness, Childe."

Yuwen Tong sitting on the side observed, "Oral thanks show a lack of sincerity. How about expressing your gratitude with something more practical?"

Ling Zhang remained silent. Though Yuwen Tong's words somewhat surprised him, he had always believed that Yuwen Tong was not a man who would do things aimlessly.

Unexpectedly, the old man did not feel Yuwen Tong's proposal inappropriate to the occasion. After thinking for a moment, he answered, "Actually you are right. I can't just freeload and walk away without giving anything in return. How about this? I've got a secret manual on internal energy here. I'd like to give it to you as a gift, Childe."

After saying this, he fished a handbook out of his bosom and handed it to Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong intercepted it and was just about to open it when the old man stopped him.

The old man chuckled, "This is not for you, my friend."

After a rapid blur of movement, the handbook in Yuwen Tong's hand suddenly disappeared. Meanwhile, Ling Zhang felt someone stuff something into his hand. He cocked an eye at it and found that it was that handbook.

The look in Yuwen Tong's eyes slightly changed and he fixed the old man with a stare.

After handing the handbook to Ling Zhang, the old man remarked, "Childe, you are the only one suitable for the internal energy cultivation method recorded in this secret manual. Please see to it that this manual is taken good care of. Don't let it fall into the hands of anybody else."

Ling Zhang kept having this feeling that this old man seemed to have had all this planned out. After thinking for a few moments, he replied, "Thank you."

The old man let out a laugh, looked at Ling Zhang with bright piercing eyes and said, "You stood me a meal, and I but returned the favor. It's about time I stopped imposing on the two of you. So, until our paths cross."

With that, he walked out of the private room and closed the door as he left.

After the old man left, Yuwen Tong remarked slowly, "This man has reached the peak of perfection in both internal energy and lightness skills."

Holding the handbook, Ling Zhang handed it to Yuwen Tong. "Do you want to check it out?"

Yuwen Tong thought for a few moments, shook his head and replied, "There must be a reason why he didn't want me to read it. Keep it yourself."

Hearing this, Ling Zhang withdrew the handbook and asked, "Was it because you had known he'd got this thing on him that you said those words?"

Yuwen Tong smiled, "Who do you think I am? A seer? It's just that the old man was clearly a pretty good kung fu practitioner, yet he acted like a vulnerable victim down there and then specially went upstairs to have a meal. I figured he was definitely up to something, which was why I said that."

'Yuwen Tong's discernment is indeed greater than mine,' Ling Zhang thought.

Ling Zhang took off his veil hat and opened the handbook. He had just taken a glance at it when he froze. And then he was shocked and immediately closed the handbook.

Yuwen Tong looked at him. "What's going on?"

Ling Zhang tightened his mouth into a thin line, stuffed the handbook into his bosom, rose from the seat and walked out of the private room. "I'll be back."

Yuwen Tong's brow corrugated in a frown.

Ling Zhang hurriedly walked downstairs to look for the old man only to find that the old man was nowhere to be seen in the street.

There were only two lines on the first page of the handbook –'A phoenix secluded itself in mountains shall transcend eternity.'

This old man had shown up not long after his mother's parentage come to his knowledge. It wouldn't really be an exaggeration to say that Ling Zhang was shuddering with fear.

'Exactly why did the old man do this just now? He's clearly a member of the Millennium Pavilion, but why did he give me a secret manual about internal energy? Didn't people of the Millennium Pavilion intend to kill my mother? I'm her son. Shouldn't they want to kill me as well?'

Ling Zhang's mind was in a whirl. He was eager to find that old man and have him answer all these questions.

He also wanted to know whether or not Ling Zhaowu had really found the Millennium Pavilion, and why he had never returned home...

However, the street was crowded with people, and he was unable to find any traces of the old man no matter how hard he tried.

In anxiety, he kept walking around on the street aimlessly and fruitlessly.

Yuwen Tong had already followed him out of the tavern. He held Ling Zhang's shoulder and asked, "What seems to be the problem? Is there anything wrong with the old man?"

Ling Zhang shook his head with a heavy heart. He had not yet figured out how to explain this matter to Yuwen Tong, but this old man had already shown up.

"Let's go back to the tavern."

He wanted to find out more information about that secret manual on internal energy. Just now he had been too anxious to find the old man and had not had the time to read it carefully.

Without asking any further questions, Yuwen Tong returned to the tavern with him.

Seeing the two of them return, the tavern-keeper was somewhat stunned. In a quivering voice, he asked, "My guests, is there anything wrong with the food?"

"No. We'd like to order another couple of dishes," replied Yuwen Tong. He ordered another few courses and told the waiter to deliver the food to the private room they had been staying in.

Ling Zhang had barely eaten anything just now.

They returned to the private room. After all dishes were served, they had the waiter close the door.

Ling Zhang, bursting with impatience, took off his veil hat and opened the handbook in his hand.

In the handbook was indeed a mental cultivation method of internal energy, and the handbook also said that this mental method was suitable for descendants of the Phoenix Clan, that they would be able to get twice the result with half the effort and would be almost invincible after achieving perfection of it.

Ling Zhang was aware that he had her mother's blood in him. His uncle had also mentioned something about blood of the Phoenix Clan. But he had always thought that this was merely a fabrication, that those foreseers had merely made up this story to consolidate their position in the imperial court. It had never crossed his mind that this was a real thing.

The mental cultivation method of internal energy recorded in the handbook seemed highly ingenious and profound. Someone had even annotated many paragraphs in detail lest he had trouble comprehending them.

If this handbook was telling the truth, the current conditions were ideal for him to start cultivating it!

However, Ling Zhang soon calmed himself down in the knowledge that people of the Millennium Pavilion were not to be trusted for the moment. He decided not to follow this handbook to cultivate internal energy until he confirmed it was safe to do so.

He believed that Yuwen Tong was, without doubt, the most suitable to help him confirm whether this handbook was problematic or not.

However, with so many confused thoughts in his mind, he had no idea how to explain this matter to Yuwen Tong.

Seeing Ling Zhang raise his head to look at him, Yuwen Tong inquired, "Now can you tell me what the matter with the handbook is?"

Ling Zhang put away the handbook and shook his head. "Please give me some more time. This is of great importance. I need to think it through."

When they had been in Tanyang, there had barely been any occasions when Ling Zhang kept things back from Yuwen Tong. The only thing that he had not yet told Yuwen Tong about was the one that Yuwen Tong had not ascertained to this day.

Feeling that it was inadvisable to let things stay this way, Yuwen Tong decided to make the first move, so he asked, "Does it have anything to do with the martial formations that your family know about?"

Ling Zhang looked at him in surprise. "Why did you connect it with this?"

"Because no member of Ling family is ever known for mastery of martial formations, not to mention that those martial formations are stunningly ingenious, which will cause an immediate sensation once brought to light," Yuwen Tong responded in a serious tone of voice.

Ling Zhang's mouth tightened. After a few moments' thinking, he said, "Those martial formations have nothing to do with Ling family. You won't be able to find anything."

Yuwen Tong gave a chuckle. "I know."

Ling Zhang immediately fixed him with a stare and squinted his eyes. "You held an inquiry into it?"

Yuwen Tong let out a soft cough. "Back at the time when I just moved into the residence of Ling family, I was surprised to see you teach Wang Dashan and others those martial formations, so I sent some men to ascertain it, but they didn't find anything."

With a severe look in his eyes, Ling Zhang remarked, "Stop doing that."

'If by any chance they trace it to the Millennium Pavilion and alarm anyone, things will get very tricky.'

"I'll tell you what you want to know, so stop the inquiry," Ling Zhang informed him.

He knew Yuwen Tong well. Yuwen Tong was not someone who would easily give up what he started. The more difficult it was to find out, the harder he would try, and it was only a matter of time before he traced this to his mother.

Seeing the expression on Ling Zhang's face, Yuwen Tong asked, "You are afraid? Those martial formations, the thing your uncle told you about and the handbook that the old man just gave you, are they all related?"

Ling Zhang held his forehead with resignation. He had known that he should not give Yuwen Tong a single hint, because this guy was amazingly smart and could find a lot of relations between things with merely the vaguest clue.

"Yes. So stop the inquiry."

"The knowledge that you are in some kind of danger unknown to me is unbearable for me," commented Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang sighed. As if his mind was wandering, he said, "So far, I myself have not yet figured out whether or not I'm in danger."

His uncle had told him that people of the Millennium Pavilion were dangerous, but the old man had just gifted him with a secret manual about a mental cultivation method of internal energy.

"Then you are indeed in danger," Yuwen Tong said. "You cannot let your guard down if you are not a-hundred-percent sure."

Ling Zhang inclined his head. "I see. Give me some time to think it through. I'll make a decision before we enter the capital city."

People of the Millennium Pavilion had already found him. Nobody knew what was going to happen next. If he kept concealing this from Yuwen Tong, he would end up being reduced to a passive position.

It was just that he still needed to do some extra thinking so as to find an appropriate way to explain this matter.

Yuwen Tong replied, "Okay."

Fortunately, Yuwen Tong had trust in him and was willing to wait for him to think it through.

"Let's eat. We'll leave after this meal."

Ling Zhang gave a bob of his head. Finally, he managed to dismiss those miscellaneous thoughts and started enjoying the food.

Yuwen Tong went to the tavern-keeper, got something a fox could eat, returned and fed the white fox cub.

And then the two of them left the Wu City.

...

After they left, an old man showed up outside the north city gate of the Wu City, looked in the direction of the capital city, let out a sigh and then headed for the capital city as well.

Meanwhile, news of what had happened in the Wu City previously had spread back to the capital city. By the time when someone had attempted to poison Ling Zhang, it had come to the knowledge of all citizens in the capital city.

Everybody had been waiting to see what kind of action Yuwen family would take. However, it had been half a day, yet there had still been no reaction from Yuwen family, as if they were totally unaware of this incident.

Tao Yi, who had been following the developments all along, angrily jumped up and thundered, "Why are Yuwen family being like this? What is it they're trying to do?!"

While all people in the capital city were focusing their attention on Yuwen family, the caravan from Tanyang finally entered the capital city.

There had indeed been another assassination attempt halfway to the destination, which, fortunately, had been more alarming than dangerous.

It was when the caravan was about to reach the capital city that Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong showed up. Seeing the two of them return safe, everybody felt a sense of relief.

"Young Master, has there been any trouble on your way back?"

"Not really. What about you? Did anybody get hurt?"

Ling Zhang scrutinized Wang Dashan and others one by one and observed that Yang Liuzi and a couple of others had injuries on them. "How bad are your wounds? What did the physician say?"

"Just some minor injuries. The physician said that our constitutions were strong and we would soon recover."

Yang Liuzi and other injured ones embarrassedly scratched their heads. Actually all of them felt that the reason why they had got hurt was because their kung fu skills were not good enough. Yao Yi and his men were all unharmed, which showed a striking contrast that was making the injured ones feel rather awkward.

"Young Master, we are useless."

With a solemn expression on his face, Ling Zhang informed Yang Liuzi and a couple of others, "None of you are useless if you tried your best. Don't belittle yourselves. If you really feel that your kung fu skills are far from good enough to qualify your for your jobs, put more efforts into practice."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Ling Zhang began to consider whether he should hire a master of kung fu to train his security guards after he settled down in the capital city. They had been staying with Yao Yi and other bodyguards of Yuwen Tong's all the time these days, and sometimes even an outsider could tell from the look in their eyes how much they admired their kung fu skills.

...

"The residence has already been cleaned. It's big enough and not far away from Yuwen family, and there's a spacious drill ground, too. Originally, I had wanted to make it more tasteful and elegant, but given that it would be inconvenient for guards to keep the residence under surveillance, I changed my mind and merely planted some bamboo along the yard wall of your courtyard house. There is also a garden in front of the drill ground."

Yuwen Tong handed Ling Zhang the title deed of the residence that he had purchased for Ling Zhang in the capital city.

Ling Zhang put the title deed away and said, "I see."

With the residence ready, he could soon fall to making necessary arrangements.

Before long, the caravan reached the outside of the capital city. There were a lot of people who had come to meet them. Among them, all men were wearing robes and their ranks seemed to be fairly high. The most obtrusive one of all was a female, who was sitting in a horse-drawn carriage. The carriage was unique and very luxurious. Unlike common carriages which usually focused on providing shelter from wind, this carriage had no carriage boards, only four bearing posts, a ceiling and layers of curtain hangings made of gauze which was fluttering in breezes. People of the caravan could smell wafts of perfume carried over by the breezes as well.

Most importantly, there were a lot of palace guards standing at attention behind this horse-drawn carriage and also some eunuchs and court maids in front of it. Only an member of the imperial family was eligible to own retinue of this kind. 'Is she a princess? The Ninth Princess has gone to the Zhaohua Temple. The Eighth Princess is betrothed and it's very unlikely that the emperor has sent her here to welcome Yuwen Tong. And the Tenth Princess has mental retardation. So exactly who is this one? It would be somewhat ridiculous if a young princess comes here to meet Yuwen Tong,' thought Ling Zhang.

Apart from the owner of this sumptuous horse-drawn carriage, there was also a young man wearing a gold hat and a robe with the pattern of a four-clawed golden dragon on it. Though well-featured, this young man had a piercing and somewhat sinister look in his eyes. He not only didn't seem cordial but also sent chills down the spines of people who laid eyes on him. Though unaware of specifically which prince this young man was, Ling Zhang could tell with half an eye that he was a member of the imperial family.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong got out of their horse-drawn carriage together. Seeing this, those people waiting for them came up to them. Even the female in that luxurious carriage got out of her carriage. It was just that she was wearing a veil. Though unable to see her features clearly, Ling Zhang could distinguish the elegant contours of her face. Clothed in rich floor-length attire, she was looking at Yuwen Tong with her sparkling, liquid eyes.