Chapter 61: Rankings List
After the banquet ended, Lu Xiang was dead drunk again, and was helped into the room to rest by Lu Yun and his son.
“Good grandson, you’ve really made Grandfather proud…” The Old Master put his arm around his son and grandson’s shoulders, grinning drunkenly as he said: “Today’s wine was drunk so refreshingly. Grandfather hasn’t drunk this much in many years!”
Lu Xin had a face full of black lines as he supported Lu Xiang, feeling extremely helpless about his father demoting himself a generation. Lu Yun bent down to take off Grandfather’s shoes, smiling at Lu Xiang: “Last month, Grandfather drank quite a bit too…”
“Nonsense, how can that compare to this time?” Lu Xiang blew his beard and glared: “That time it was dull wine, bitter wine; couldn’t even handle a few cups.” He then burst into loud laughter: “This time is different, so refreshing, too refreshing! This old man has never felt this refreshed in his entire life!”
Lu Yun took off Lu Xiang’s shoes, and the father and son supported him as they walked into the room. Lu Xiang continued chattering drunkenly: “No, that’s not right, there was one other time, when your father took first place in the Civil Examination. This old man was overjoyed then too!”
Lu Yun looked somewhat surprised at Lu Xin. Lu Xin gave a reserved smile and said nothing. Then Lu Xiang continued animatedly: “That time’s event was much grander than this one. The Clan Leader came, the Eight Great Stewards came, and all the Elders came without exception. That was truly the most proud moment of my life, and the result was, heh heh…”
The father and son carefully helped Lu Xiang onto the couch, then brought a basin of water to wipe his face. Lu Xiang let out a wine burp and continued incessantly: “Heh heh, got carried away with pride… I said to my Older Brother, ‘You’ve suppressed me for a lifetime, that’s true, but looking at this, from now on it’ll be my son suppressing your son!'”
“As a result, those words made him harbor resentment. When your father offended the previous Emperor, he drove us out of North of the Luo River…” Lu Xiang said with a face full of sorrow, then burst into loud laughter: “Hahaha, Older Brother, Older Brother, who would’ve thought our father, son, and grandson would have a day to kill our way back to North of the Luo River!”
After laughing, Lu Xiang tilted his head and fell into a deep snore.
The father and son stayed by the bed for a good while, and seeing Lu Xiang sleeping soundly, they quietly withdrew from the Main House.
Just like last time, the father and son went to Lu Yun’s room and sat facing each other. Lu Yun brewed tea for him to sober up.
In that instant, Lu Xin felt somewhat dazed, as if this entire month had been an illusion. It was still the moment when his wife and son had just entered the Capital City…
“Father, I’ve seen the Investigative Bureau’s list,” Lu Yun said softly while brewing tea: “Father, your name is on it.”
Lu Yun’s words reminded Lu Xin that a whole month had indeed passed, and their father-son situation had already greatly changed.
“What ranking?” Lu Xin was somewhat curious. Over the past twenty years, the Investigative Bureau’s list had permeated people’s hearts. Even Lu Xin couldn’t help but care about his own ranking.
“Uh…” Lu Yun’s movements paused, then he continued grinding the tea cake: “Last place.”
“Should’ve known…” Lu Xin chuckled wryly: “This is the Investigative Bureau’s usual trick.”
“Yes.” Lu Yun said softly: “They’re waiting for Father to challenge.” Whoever is ranked last on the list would feel very uncomfortable. To deal with discomfort, one can only challenge the Grandmasters ahead and strive to advance further.
“You see it clearly.” Lu Xin agreed deeply: “Zuo Yanqing created this list, inciting countless pointless fights. Countless elites of the Noble Clans have died or been maimed in the struggle for this mere vanity!”
Lu Yun nodded. He had heard from Uncle Bao that when the Investigative Bureau was established, Zuo Yanqing divided the martial artists of the Noble Clans and Aristocrats into four ranks: Heavenly, Earth, Black, and Yellow. He also went to great lengths to rank the Heavenly, Earth, and Black Rank martial artists. At first, the Various Clans didn’t understand Zuo Yanqing’s intentions and mocked him for wasting the Imperial Court’s money on useless things!
But no one expected that once these three lists were released, they immediately caused a huge uproar! Suddenly, almost everyone was discussing the lists, with endless controversy! Everyone said the rankings were bullshit, completely inaccurate!
The ranks were still acceptable. Once True Qi is generated in the Dantian, clumsy force can be eliminated, True Qi can be applied to one’s body, making fists, feet, and movement techniques far exceed ordinary people, thus becoming a Yellow Rank expert!
When your True Qi can reach inside the Five Viscera and Six Viscera, you can manipulate True Qi at will, turning every part of your body into a weapon for killing, or into protective True Qi impervious to ordinary sabers and spears, breakable only by True Qi. That is a Black Rank Expert!
Once you open the Ren and Du Meridians, True Qi becomes inexhaustible, allowing you to fight a hundred enemies, split monuments and crack stones, kill with flying petals, and you become an Earth Rank Grandmaster!
Once you open the Extraordinary Meridians, Twelve Main Meridians, True Qi can be projected outward, killing enemies invisibly from afar. You can break human limits, with Lingbo Weibu, treading snow without trace, leaping several zhang high that arrows can’t catch up to your movement technique, becoming a Heavenly Rank Grandmaster who overlooks all mountains!
Heavenly, Earth, Black, Yellow are distinctly separated, with no room for faking. It is what it is, no arguments.
But the rankings are different. They’re subjectively ranked by the Investigative Bureau, without holding any competition. How can that convince everyone?
Seeing people you usually look down on, people you feel are not as good as you, all ranked ahead of you, many people aggressively went to the Investigative Bureau to argue, why is he ranked above me when we’re both Earth Rank Grandmasters?
The Investigative Bureau naturally had their reasons, but they often left people unconvinced. For example, because he once defeated so-and-so from your clan, and I see you and that so-and-so are about the same, so he’s ranked ahead of you.
The person involved was naturally full of dissatisfaction, saying I’m much stronger than that so-and-so, you can’t be so arbitrary! The Investigative Bureau would say, the ranking is set this way, but it’s not unchangeable.
The person would say, then change it. But the Investigative Bureau said, how can we change it just like that? Otherwise, the other party would be unconvinced too. How about this: you two compete, see who’s higher, and it’ll be clear after one match.
The person would say, just because you say compete, we compete? The Investigative Bureau said, if not, then the ranking stays. The person said, even if I agree, the other side may not. The Investigative Bureau said, you can issue a challenge letter through us. If he doesn’t accept within a month, it’s forfeiture, and we’ll rank you ahead of him.
Hearing this, those without confidence or too timid shrank back. But those eager to try were also numerous. Immediately, dozens of people issued challenge letters through the Investigative Bureau to those ranked ahead. Most were Black Rank, quite a few Earth Rank, and even one of the rare Grandmasters…
This move by the Investigative Bureau was extremely vicious, putting the challenged ones on the fire to roast! If they didn’t respond, they’d be turtles shrinking in their shells, the most shameful thing in the martial Great Xuan Dynasty. Moreover, the Investigative Bureau deliberately gave them a one-month response period, allowing public opinion to fully ferment over such a long time, making it known under heaven, leaving them no choice but to accept!
Thus, competitions among scions of Noble Clans surged, with deaths and injuries increasing. Only then did the higher-ups of the Various Clans pay importance to the matter, demanding the Investigative Bureau stop the nonsense. But the Founding Emperor backed the Investigative Bureau, saying it was a good thing, keeping the bloodiness of each clan’s scions, tempering their martial arts, preventing them from degenerating into wastrel heirs lost in wine and dreams, ensuring Great Xuan’s eternal prosperity.
The Founding Emperor even issued an edict, making the Investigative Bureau’s list rankings an unchangeable ancestral system for ten thousand generations! The Founding Emperor’s authority was naturally incomparable to his descendants. The Clan Leaders couldn’t twist their arms past their thighs and could only shut up. Besides, they were all forged in sabers, spears, and seas of fire; losing a few scions wouldn’t weigh on their hearts. Instead, they felt the Founding Emperor had a point: it indeed helped temper their own clions.
With the Founding Emperor’s support, Zuo Yanqing managed it even more diligently. He spent massive human power and resources tracking the activities of Various Clans’ figures inside and outside the Capital City. Almost every clash was recorded by the Investigative Bureau, promptly reflected in list ranking changes, and posted nationwide! Duel descriptions were vividly embellished through the Investigative Bureau’s official documents!
The common folk loved this the most. Those ranked high on the lists became the talk of their tea and meals, the prominent figures. Whenever rankings changed, they got extremely excited, crowding around the lists, fantasizing those suffocating expert showdowns from the brief descriptions!
As the lists permeated hearts more deeply, clan scions cared more about their rankings, with duels almost daily. As experts valued it more, duel levels rose higher, attracting more eyes… Thus cycling endlessly. In less than ten years, even clan Misses choosing sons-in-law referenced the list rankings.
Naturally, countless grudges and hatreds accumulated under these duels, escalating from personal enmities to spread, filling inter-clan and intra-clan with frictions and rifts—though due to solid common interests, these rifts remained controllable. But once the established situation breaks, those long-accumulated contradictions and hatreds would make these Noble Clans instantly lose their most important thing!
That is, the power to unite hearts…
