CHAPTER 139: CHAPTER 1 WUJI THREE YOUNG MASTERS

If Yun Sheng were here now, she would definitely recognize these two young men as Cheng Bai and Bu Jiuxiao, whom she had met earlier at the Royal Magic Academy.

It was already around midnight, yet Bu Jiuxiao was still rigorously practicing. His reputation as a top young expert of the Wuxuan Wuji Hall was by no means undeserved.

"Practicing day and night, but still can’t even catch up to someone’s toe. Some people, even when they’re just sleeping, progress several times faster than me," Bu Jiuxiao, with his poker-faced countenance, glanced discontentedly towards a nearby wall as he spoke.

On the towering five-meter-high courtyard wall hung a corner of a garment, and a tall, lean figure in a black robe lay on top of the wall. His long hair scattered in the night breeze, and his handsome features shone like the most dazzling piece of jewelry even in the dark night.

The hardship of the training ground seemed to have nothing to do with him.

The young man’s eyes were piercing, his nose was prominent, and his thin lips were sharp. Under his velvet purple robe, his muscles were well-defined, emitting a lazy yet mesmerizing aura that unconsciously radiated from him.

Bu Jiuxiao frowned, and with a flick of his wrist, a spear standing beside him whipped through the air like a spiritual snake, "Whoosh" it went, aiming straight for the young man on the wall.

The young man lying on the wall seemed to be fast asleep, utterly unaware of the spear that shot towards him like a flood dragon emerging from the sea.

Just as the spear was about to hit the young man, he turned over.

The direction of the spear suddenly shifted, plunging into the ground instead.

Instantly, metal sparks flew, and a thick iron brick, as soft as tofu, was punched through, emitting a piercing clang.

Perhaps because the noise was too loud, the young man opened his eyes.

A pair of light grey eyes, in the darkness below, emitted a profound glow.

"Jiuxiao, your aiming is getting worse and worse," the young man’s mocking voice lingered in the open training ground.

The voice was not loud, but it was powerful, and Bu Jiuxiao felt a tightness in his chest.

With a flash, the young man was already standing in the training ground.

"Beiming, Jiuxiao has been pressed by you. Tell me, since you came back to Yujing, how many times have you gathered with us brothers? It took Jiuxiao great effort to invite you to practice a few moves with him, but when you’re here, you’re only interested in sleeping," Cheng Bai laughed heartily as he spoke.

Ye Beiming, Bu Jiuxiao, and Cheng Bai were close friends since their childhood.

Before he was deposed, former Crown Prince Ye Beiming used to study in the Imperial Study Room, with Bu and Cheng also being study companions at the time.

Despite Ye Beiming’s later demotion and significant loss of status, Bu Jiuxiao and Cheng Bai did not distance themselves from him because of it.

After Ye Beiming was deposed, he was imprisoned in the Cold Palace for nearly five years. During this time, only the Vice Hall Director Zhan Li from the Wuxuan Wuji Hall went to the Imperial Palace to teach various princes, princesses, and the progeny of high officials of Great Zhou some basic martial arts.

After the death of Ye Beiming’s birth mother, the elder palace maids were also successively executed.

Palace attendants in the Cold Palace subsequently bullied him, knowing the former Crown Prince had no powerful backing and was blind, often embezzling his allowance and even failing to provide winter bedding and clothing.

Although still young at the time, Bu and Cheng were people of strong loyalty. Despite their parents and fellow royals and officials’ children claiming Ye Beiming was a person of ill-omen, they didn’t care about these words.

When they were slightly younger, they would sneak through the dog holes in the Cold Palace to visit their friend Ye Beiming.

Without their parents’ knowledge, they secretly sent their own bedding and winter clothes into the Cold Palace.

After the death of Ye Beiming’s mother, he became taciturn and quiet. Moreover, being blind, he lived a truly bleak existence.

Bu and Cheng tried to teach him the martial arts they had learned, hoping to give him some diversion.

Unexpectedly, Ye Beiming showed exceptional talent in martial arts; despite lacking systematic training, he surpassed the cultivation of Bu and Cheng within just a few years.

Bu and Cheng had nothing left to teach, so they revealed the truth to the Vice Hall Director Zhan Li of Wu Xuan Wuji Hall, and it was then that Zhan Li unexpectedly discovered that Ye Beiming was a martial prodigy.

Seizing an opportunity, Zhan Li suggested to Emperor Zhou that he be allowed to teach the exiled Crown Prince Ye Beiming martial arts.

On one particular day when Emperor Zhou was in a good mood, combined with General Yun and others pleading for the Crown Prince, he agreed to Zhan Li’s request and permitted him to enter the Cold Palace to instruct Ye Beiming in martial arts.

During the five years of desolate and helpless life in the Cold Palace, it was the company of Bu Jiuxiao and Cheng Bai that allowed Ye Beiming to survive like a weed.

The bond among the three had long surpassed the concept of childhood playmates.

About a year ago, when he was ten, Ye Beiming suddenly disappeared.

Inside the Imperial Palace, no one really cared about the whereabouts of the deposed Crown Prince, and the palace attendants in charge dared not report it, so the matter was kept hidden.

After Bu and Cheng learned of it, they searched with all their might, and Zhan Li also had the Martial Arts Hall’s forces scour the entire nation.

Just when everyone thought Ye Beiming would never return, a few months ago, he came back.

Not only did he return, but he also miraculously recovered from his congenital blindness.

What was even more astonishing was that Ye Beiming’s martial arts cultivation had progressed by leaps and bounds, making him the youngest Marquis in the history of Wu Xuan Wuji Hall.

At the age of eleven, becoming a Marquis was a full year earlier than Cheng Bai and Bu Jiuxiao, who had just turned twelve.

This news was not officially announced in the Great Zhou Court until three months ago.

Led by Marquis Weiyuan, the military officers seized the opportunity to request that Emperor Zhou revoke the six-year confinement order imposed on the Cold Palace.

The former Crown Prince of Great Zhou, Ye Beiming, formally joined the Wu Xuan Wuji Hall, becoming the leader of the Wuji Three Young Masters, with the other two being Bu Jiuxiao and Cheng Bai.

Despite never mentioning it publicly, where he went during that missing year remained a mystery.

But the tacit understanding from growing up together still allowed Bu Jiuxiao and Cheng Bai to perceive some unusual changes in him.

After this return, there was something different about Ye Beiming; his face remained handsomely flawless, but his restored grey eyes reflected a depth of far more complex things.

He had grown significantly taller and his movements had become more formidable and fierce.

And his cultivation had seen an astonishing breakthrough.

Bu Jiuxiao was certain that the current Ye Beiming was not merely at the level of a Marquis in cultivation.

He no longer took action lightly, but when he did, it was earth-shatteringly powerful.

Vice Hall Director Zhan Li once said, only those who have truly experienced life-and-death battles can develop such a temperament.

Ye Beiming now was like a hidden sword in the scabbard, ready to unleash a fatal brilliance at any moment.

"You didn’t invite me here just to spar with Jiuxiao, did you?" Ye Beiming showed a hint of a smile, only relaxing completely in the presence of his close friends.

Even sleeping atop the wall, he could only fall into a deep sleep in front of his two friends and her.

Bu Jiuxiao and Cheng Bai did not know that he had not had a peaceful sleep in a long time.

"Of course not, Cheng Bai and I encountered Crown Prince Ye Beilian and Chen Lianlian at the Royal Magic Academy," Bu Jiuxiao cautiously observed Ye Beiming’s expression.