Xu Ziling knew that Li Jing had seen through Kou Zhong's ambition, not his, hence he was able to say all these things.
Shaking his head, he said with a sigh, "Who the real brilliant master is, I am afraid only time will tell. When all is said and done, this matter is as simple as contending over the world. If you are just beating around the bush on this topic, I would rather you don't say anything. I, Xu Ziling, have no interest in serving anybody. This is called everybody has his own ambition.”
Li Jing laughed aloud; he even said several ‘Good!' in a row, before calmly walked away.
※ ※ ※
Kou Zhong hurriedly left the Imperial City to rejoin Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan.
This matter has taken surprising turn and has developed rather abruptly.
First of all, Liao Kong Dashi has been using his good friend Wang Bo to announce this matter publicly. This seemingly reckless move was actually a brilliant tactic after careful deliberations.
Perhaps Shi Feixuan was the mastermind behind it.
It was a clever scheme; it would turn whoever stole the Jade Annulus of He Clan into ‘lawless disciple', and thus would become the public enemy of all major powers.
Secondly, it will unite all school and sects of the ‘White Way', who had been admirers of the Ci Hang Jing Zhai, under a common goal.
As an outsider, it would be inappropriate for Shi Feixuan to be directly involved in the dispute of the mundane world; therefore, by having Wang Bo, who had announced that he withdrew from the race of becoming the Emperor, contacting various powers of the White Way, if she could retrieve the Jade Annulus of He Clan and then continued her selection process, the momentum would be even more explosive.
Of course she did not know that the Jade Annulus of He Clan had met its fate and was finished. And now, even if she had the three men fried and had their bones torn, she could not force the Jade Annulus of He Clan to appear.
Ah!
Thinking about it, he felt it was very funny.
When he was about to turn into the main street, a figure ahead of him flashed by and blocked his path.
Kou Zhong focused his attention to look.
Turned out it was a scholar who looked like a clerk. Twirling the moustache above his lips, he nodded and smiled at Kou Zhong. This person's sparse moustache matched his morbid countenance; only it looked grossly disproportionate, making him looked frivolous, but also a bit deliberately mystifying.
His eyes even had yellowish tinge; very unattractive. His belly swollen, a sign of his indulgence of wine and women.
Yet Kou Zhong was certain that the opposite party was a first class martial art master, or at least close to Bian Bufu's caliber.
It was purely an intuition when martial art masters encountered one another; there was absolutely no supporting evidence.
When Kou Zhong was inwardly scolding himself, ‘Do not judge a person by appearances', this sickly-looking middle-aged man saluted and said, "Zaixia the ‘Sick Scholar' Jing Zhaoning, a guest of the Zhi Shilang Mansion, receiving Zhi Shilang's order to invite Kou Gongzi to Zhi Shilang's boat for a chat.” [Translator's note: not sure if it was a name or a title, ‘Shi Lang' literally means ‘noble minister'.]
Astonished, Kou Zhong asked, "How do you know that I am Kou Gongzi? This is the first time we met, is it not?”
Jing Zhaoning laughed aloud and said, "Such a talented person like you, Kou Gongzi, is not necessarily one in ten thousand; as long as someone gives me direction, how could I not recognize you? Kou Gongzi must be joking!”
Kou Zhong sighed dejectedly and said, "It must be because of the Jade Annulus of He Clan. I don't know what ill luck I encountered today, but no matter where I go, I always have this ‘black pot on my back'! But right now I have some urgent work to do, plus I do not wish to deliver a lamb into a tiger's den, so after I figure out a few problems, I am going to pay a visit to Wang Gong. How about that?”
Frowning, Jing Zhaoning said, "Gongzi really puts me in a tight spot. If I fail to invite Kou Gongzi, when I go back, how am I going to explain it to Zhi Shilang?”
Kou Zhong was fired up; he said, "Right now I am already on edge that my brain is smoking; if I had to take care of how you are going to explain to others, aren't you forcing me to my death?”
Jing Shaoning burst out laughing and said, "Kou Xiong please do not take offence, I just wanted Kou Xiong to see Zhi Shilang, or let Zhi Shilang come to see Kou Xiong. Whatever problem you have, you may discuss it with him face to face. As long as the two of you are candid with each other and adhere by Jianghu rules, what is there worth to be worried over, or cannot be solved?”
Seeing he did not get angry, and his words contained ‘hard within soft', on the surface he remained polite and maintained etiquette, yet inside hidden sharpness like a knife blade, Kou Zhong cried, ‘How formidable!' inwardly. He laughed calmly and said, "Based on Wang Gong's prestige, it is only proper that this Xiaozi pay a visit to him. But since Jing Xiong mentioned Wulin rules, you also ought to know that without any reliable evidence, you can't adamantly point finger saying that the Jade Annulus of He Clan is in Xiaodi's possession.”
Jing Zhaoning laughed aloud and said, "Kou Xiong is indeed very interesting and is an outspoken person. But I, Jing Zhaoning, am not someone who goes round the curves and skirts the corners; we do have more than two hundred witnesses. As long as the three of you appear together, there will be someone who can tell the truth from the lies. Buddhism does not do deceit, you ought to be able to trust Jing Nian Chanyuan's Dashi [great master, generic term to refer to Buddhist monks]?”
Kou Zhong groaned inwardly, but on the surface he pretended to be greatly delighted. Laughing, he said, "Nothing can be better than that, ‘as the water recedes, the rocks will appear', the truth will come to light. Before dusk today, the three of us will pay an official visit to Wang Gong; may I ask at which pier does Wang Gong's boat cast its anchor?”
After receiving direction from Jing Zhaoning and crying inwardly calling out for his Niang, Kou Zhong walked away like a wisp of smoke.