Chapter 703 — The Young Lord Comes to Court

CHAPTER 703

The Young Lord Comes to Court

“Qu Ming,” the tea seller said. “Young lord of the Azure Sun Sect. Remember that name.”

“Sixty-fourth on the Tianxing,” said the man buying tea. “Peak Deity Transformation already.”

“His grandfather is Qu Hanshan,” said a third man, who hadn’t been asked. “The half-step 6 Mark. Eight clouds at his last sitting. There isn’t a furnace in the Empire hotter than that old man’s.”

“So why is the grandson here?” the tea buyer asked.

The tea seller leaned over his kettle and lowered his voice.

“To put an Azure Sun furnace at the future Empress’s right hand,” the tea seller said.

“Future Empress?” the tea buyer said. “The Third Prince is the greatest genius the Empire has ever had. Everybody knows he’s ahead.”

“He’s ahead,” the tea seller said. “But the Fourth Princess has the First Prince behind her. Same mother. The Empress’s own son, and nobody knows how strong he really is.”

“And the Second Princess?” the third man asked.

“She married the Great General for love,” the tea seller said. “She’s out of it herself. She backs her own blood brother, the Fifth Prince. Thunder Abyss Valley trained him, and he only cares about fighting. Eighth on the Tianxing, and he’s eighteen.”

“Shh! Are you trying to get us all arrested?”

“What? Everybody’s saying it!”

“Everybody isn’t standing next to a watchman!”

Shi Feng walked on past the tea stall with his hands in his sleeves. The whole of Tower Street was talking about the same thing. Yesterday the Azure Sun banners had poured through the North Gate for an hour.

The Sky Pavilion’s main lobby was even more crowded than the street.

He joined the ticket line winding twice around the array office pillar. Ou Jin hadn’t promised him speed. Shi Feng listened to the other men grumbling and waited his turn; every courtyard owner here thought his own need was urgent.

Halfway around the pillar, the doors behind him opened, and the lobby went quiet.

A young man walked in with six attendants behind him.

Qu Ming wore red silk with a gold sun across his back. A steady golden flame rested on his right forefinger. He carried it without effort, letting everyone in the hall see the control. It was an announcement of rank before any attendant spoke.

“That’s him!”

“The Azure Sun young lord!”

“That flame on his finger… is that the Scorching Sun Flame?”

“He keeps it lit all day, they say. Just to show he can.”

Qu Ming didn’t look at any of them. He walked straight across the lobby to the Records Hall’s 3 Mark desk, where Hua Yi was working through her tickets, and stopped in front of it. The man she was serving looked at the flame and quickly stepped aside.

Qu Ming didn’t speak. The attendant at his shoulder did. He was a lean man in his thirties with a hard, quiet face, and his aura was late Deity Transformation.

“Keeper,” the attendant said. “The young lord wishes to see the register of the new 4 Mark. Shi Feng.”

Hua Yi set down her brush.

She rose, came around the desk and bowed to Qu Ming, exactly as low as courtesy required.

“Not at your grade, honoured guest,” Hua Yi said.

The lobby held its breath.

Qu Ming looked at her for the first time. The flame on his finger flickered once.

“The Azure Sun Sect asks,” the attendant said.

“The Pavilion has heard the Azure Sun Sect’s request,” Hua Yi said, still bowing. “A 4 Mark’s register is read at the 4 Mark desk. We regret it, honoured guest. May I offer you tea?”

At the array office queue, Shi Feng laughed out loud.

Shi Feng recognised the exact bow and courteous refusal. He’d received both twice himself. Hearing Hua Yi use them on the Azure Sun young lord delighted him, and he couldn’t quite hide it.

“That’s a beautiful refusal,” Shi Feng said to the man in front of him, quite clearly. “She did that to me last month. I thanked her for it.”

Several heads turned. The man in front of him went pale and pretended not to know him.

Qu Ming turned his head slowly and looked across the lobby.

Qu Ming glanced over his grey robe, bandage and place in the ticket line. Then he looked away. Shi Feng saw no recognition, only dismissal. The young lord had decided a man queuing beside ordinary householders wasn’t worth questioning.

“Yao Chen,” Qu Ming said.

It was the first time he had spoken. His voice was soft and very clear, and it carried through the whole lobby.

“Young lord,” Yao Chen said.

“If the register won’t come to me,” Qu Ming said, “then bring him to me.”

He turned and walked out. Five attendants went with him. Yao Chen stayed behind for a moment and spoke quietly to a junior clerk at the door, who bowed and answered, and then he followed his master out.

The lobby breathed again, all at once.

“He’ll have the 4 Mark in a carriage by tonight.”

“The 4 Mark won’t dare refuse the Azure Sun.”

“I heard he already refused Thunder Abyss.”

“Thunder Abyss isn’t Qu Hanshan’s grandson!”

“The tallest tree catches the most wind. That 4 Mark had better be careful.”

Shi Feng shuffled forward around the pillar. The man in front of him kept a careful distance now.

He had heard what the junior clerk said at the door. It was two words: “Willow Ford.”

Being overlooked pleased Shi Feng. Qu Ming wanted the new 4 Mark badly enough to demand his register, yet hadn’t recognised him standing across the room. For now, he could listen without showing the young lord what he thought of that demand.

When he finally reached the array office desk, the clerk bowed and wrote his application in a fine hand.

“A courtyard ward, Jiang-made, for Willow Ford,” the array clerk said. “Thank you for your patience, honoured guest. The earliest appointment is in thirty-one days. The candidates have booked every array master in the city.”

“Thirty-one days,” Shi Feng said.

“We regret it, honoured guest,” the array clerk said.

Shi Feng took the ticket and tucked it into his sleeve.

“Don’t worry,” Shi Feng said. “I think my visitors will come much sooner than your array master.”