After coming out of Changle Palace, the sun had already risen to the top of the sky.
Ye Jingtang held the calligraphy and painting personally bestowed by the Empress Dowager in both hands and walked through the big red palace walls. His mind was still thinking about the solution to the Dragon-Slaying Order.
There were many palace servants around Changle Palace, as well as imperial guards on patrol. However, when they saw the waist token of the Princess Jing's Mansion hanging on him, they didn't stop him.
Ye Jingtang naturally didn't wander around. He carried Niaoniao and first came to the Imperial Stables.
The imperial city was very large. The Princess Jing had the privilege of "entering the palace with sword and shoes on". There was no need to walk on foot. The carriage directly entered the palace city and was parked in the Imperial Stables on the side of Changle Palace, together with the imperial carriage used by the empress when she went out. There were eunuchs specially taking care of it.
Ye Jingtang entered the empress's "garage" and searched among the many carriages. Before he found the Princess Jing's carriage, he was instead attracted by a horse in the horse farm.
There were more than a dozen horses raised in the Imperial Stables, all of which were used by the empress when she went out. Among them, a red horse had a single room, and the running area was much larger than the courtyard where Ye Jingtang lived.
Ye Jingtang held the painting scroll and came outside the fence to take a look. He could see that the red horse's shoulder height and body shape were astonishing. Its body was as red as burning charcoal, without a single strand of stray hair, and it was very majestic. When compared with his horse, his horse was completely like a malnourished foal.
Ye Jingtang used to escort goods in a escort agency, and he spent half of his time on horseback. When he saw this famous steed that was impossible to see in the martial arts world, he naturally couldn't move on. He looked at it back and forth for a long time, just like looking at a beauty lying gracefully.
The red fiery horse seemed to be well-trained. Its body was like a tiger's, but its temperament was relatively gentle. It took small steps under the sun and walked to the edge of the fence, looking down at Niaoniao:
"Hiss——"
Niaoniao had never seen such a big horse before and was a bit timid. It hid behind Ye Jingtang and secretly peeked out:
"Gugu..."
Ye Jingtang originally wanted to raise his hand and touch the horse's head, but he was afraid of causing trouble, so he gave up. After looking at it for a while, he went to the Princess Jing's carriage.
Ye Jingtang opened the small cabinet beside the soft couch where Benben usually sat. He found that there were quite a lot of books inside. Besides "The Tears of the Chivalrous Woman", there were also several miscellaneous books, on which were the book reviews of "The Tears of the Chivalrous Woman" by famous literati.
Ye Jingtang was a bit surprised. When he saw the opinions of "like-minded people", he naturally flipped through them and found that the opinions of the famous masters were really something. There were some implied meanings in the obscure descriptions that he hadn't noticed before.
It seemed that Benben had studied it quite deeply...
Ye Jingtang nodded secretly, put the collection of book reviews back in its place, and then got off the carriage, preparing to leave.
But as soon as he got out of the carriage, he saw a woman entering the gate of the Imperial Stables.
The woman was wearing a big red dress. There was no other color embellishment on her body, only pure beauty. But her even more beautiful face could hold up this big red dress. As soon as she appeared, the summer sun seemed to lose some of its luster.
Ye Jingtang was taken aback, jumped off the carriage, and greeted her from a distance:
"Miss Yuhu, why are you here too?"
"Ji."
Niaoniao found that Ye Jingtang knew her and waved its wings politely. It was probably saying - Hello, beautiful sister.
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty, dressed in a red dress, seemed to have just noticed Ye Jingtang. She walked over slowly and curtsied:
"I came here to take care of His Majesty's horse. Why are you here, Mr. Ye?"
"I entered the palace with the Princess Jing and received a calligraphy and painting from the Empress Dowager. I'm just about to go back."
"Oh..."
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty blinked her eyes and looked at the painting scroll in Ye Jingtang's hand:
"The Empress Dowager's painting?"
Ye Jingtang was not stingy. He came forward and solemnly unfolded the long scroll:
"What do you think of it, Miss Yuhu?"
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty was completely opposite to her sister. She liked elegant pastimes such as playing the qin, playing chess, calligraphy, and painting. One of her usual hobbies was to stamp the calligraphy and paintings of famous masters from the previous dynasties.
Seeing that Ye Jingtang asked her to appraise it, the empress of the Great Wei Dynasty became interested and stood in front of it to take a closer look:
"Hmm... This painting can be said to have both the spirit and the form. It depicts the difficult situation of the common people making a living in the marketplace in great detail..."
"Brilliant!"
Ye Jingtang nodded secretly - As expected, it's not that I have bad eyesight. The Empress Dowager's painting is really beyond the understanding of ordinary people...
After the two of them chatted nonsense for a while, Ye Jingtang put away the painting, looked at the horse farm, and asked:
"What kind of horse is this? It looks really majestic. I was quite startled when I came here just now."
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty came here because she saw from a distance that Ye Jingtang had been staring at her horse with admiration for a long time. She specially came over to introduce it to this inexperienced young man:
"This horse is called 'Liphu'. It comes from Yanbei. It is the horse king of the 'Dark Cloud Treading on Snow' among the top ten famous steeds. There is only one such horse in the world."
Liphu...
Ye Jingtang blinked his eyes and looked at Miss Yuhu beside him:
"This horse matches you, both in name and temperament."
"I helped His Majesty choose the name of this horse, so of course it matches."
After casually explaining, the empress of the Great Wei Dynasty came to the entrance of the fence, lifted the fence, and prepared to go in.
Ye Jingtang quickly stopped her when he saw this: "Be careful. If this horse gets startled, I may not be able to hold it back."
"Don't worry. This horse has always been taken care of by me and won't hurt people."
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty opened the fence and entered the horse farm. The big red horse immediately ran over.
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty came to the side of the horse, stepped on the stirrup, and sat sideways on the saddle. Her red skirt fluttered in the wind, and she walked slowly in the small horse farm:
"Giddyap."
Clip-clop, clip-clop...
The scene of a beauty in beautiful clothes riding a fiery horse had a unique aesthetic feeling of combining hardness and softness.
Ye Jingtang looked at it for a few times by the fence and praised:
"Miss Yuhu's equestrian skills are quite good."
"Ji~"
Niaoniao nodded.
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty stopped the horse in front of the fence, turned around sideways, and looked at the cold young master below:
"Mr. Ye, your compliment is not very sincere. I rode the horse for you to see. Shouldn't you compose a poem as a gesture of appreciation?"
When Ye Jingtang heard this, he frowned:
"By the way, Miss Yuhu, the poem I told you last time, you said you would pretend you never heard it. But the next day, the Princess Jing came to my door and almost tortured me. Although it wasn't a big deal, what you did really seemed like repaying kindness with ingratitude."
"..."
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty blinked her eyes and explained:
"Because the poem was so good that I wrote it down casually, and it was seen by other palace maids. I'm really sorry that it caused you to be punished."
Ye Jingtang didn't argue with this girl either. He just said:
"I'm just a martial artist. I don't know how to compose poems at all."
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty had come here in person. Seeing this, she was a bit unhappy:
"Surely you remember something? Last time you were able to speak so eloquently. This time you say you can't do it at all. Could it be that I've made you angry?"
Ye Jingtang waved his hand slightly: "You're exaggerating, Miss. Last time I really remembered it suddenly. If you discuss martial arts with me, I may have some opinions. But discussing poetry really makes things difficult for me."
When the empress of the Great Wei Dynasty saw this, she asked knowingly:
"Is that so? I also know a little about martial arts. Just now I heard His Majesty say that you were discussing the method of breaking the Dragon-Slaying Order with the Princess Jing in Minglongtan. Do you have any opinions?"
This was completely a deliberate attempt to make things difficult.
But what the empress of the Great Wei Dynasty didn't expect was that Ye Jingtang directly began to talk at length:
"Like the Eight-Step Crazy Saber, the Dragon-Slaying Order is an extreme saber technique, but it's more fierce than the Eight-Step Crazy Saber. The Eight-Step Crazy Saber gradually becomes more and more powerful, while the Dragon-Slaying Order is such that once the starting move is successful, no one dares to block the hundred-jin heavy saber. So, to break the move, one must start from the starting move."
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty nodded slightly: "The Eight-Step Crazy Saber used to be the fastest saber technique in the world. Even the Eight-Step Crazy Saber couldn't block the starting move. One can only find a way to take the first strike head-on."
Ye Jingtang was a bit surprised:
"You seem to be smarter than Benben... than an ordinary martial artist."
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty jumped off the horse and leaned against the edge of the wooden fence:
"Knowing the path is one thing, but blazing a trail, creating a way to channel inner energy, and reaching the top of the mountain is another. Your opinion must have also been thought of by the top martial artists in the martial arts world. The fact that no one has been able to break the move so far shows that this path is very difficult."
"It's indeed a difficult path. I pondered for about an hour before I got a glimmer of an idea."
Ye Jingtang found that discussing martial arts with Miss Yuhu was much smoother than with Benben, and he also became interested. He handed the painting scroll and the books to Miss Yuhu, and then took off the Chi Long Huan Shou Dao and hung it on his right waist.
"The Dragon-Slaying Order hangs the saber on the back and starts with the move of 'bending the back and flicking the saber'. The first strike will definitely be a downward chop. With the existence of the 'taking a step back' move, this strike can't be blocked. One can only dodge or take it head-on."
Ye Jingtang stepped forward with a horizontal block, his left foot in front and his right foot behind to support his body, and at the same time, he drew the saber with his left hand.
Chua——
The saber was more than half out of the sheath. Ye Jingtang pressed his right hand on the back of the saber and raised it forward:
"Support the back of the saber with the right hand and use the right foot to support the ground to resist the tremendous force of the Dragon-Slaying Order. The blade faces backward and points obliquely to the right. When the Dragon-Slaying Order chops down, it will definitely slide to the right, and the inner energy will also be reduced. As soon as the Dragon-Slaying Order slides out, I push the saber with my right hand. Whether he loses his head or has his right arm cut off, he will be severely injured."
After demonstrating the starting move, Ye Jingtang asked:
"What do you think, Miss?"
"..."
Surprise flashed in the eyes of the empress of the Great Wei Dynasty. She stood up, bypassed the fence, and came to Ye Jingtang. Then she leaned on the fence with both hands, jumped slightly, and sat on the fence. She looked down and examined carefully:
"Using this starting move, at the same level, it is indeed possible to block the starting move of the Dragon-Slaying Order. But without the support of the way to channel inner energy, this is just a showy move."
Ye Jingtang shook his head secretly, thinking that this was also a bit silly. He said seriously:
"Since we already know what posture to use for the starting move, it's like knowing the exam question. We just need to write according to the question. We should figure out which way of channeling inner energy is the most suitable and follow that path. But this is quite difficult to figure out. It will probably take a few days of pondering..."
"..."
The empress of the Great Wei Dynasty swayed her legs gently and pondered for a moment:
"Your move can block the Dragon-Slaying Order, but the speed of drawing the saber slows down. When facing the Eight-Step Crazy Saber, by the time you draw the saber halfway, the opponent's saber will already be at your neck."