Flower Stealing Master

"I personally have no grudges against him." The woman slowly spoke her words, her expression became cold, "It's just that Manchu and I have an irredeemable hatred. He is Kangxi's right-hand man, who accepts bribes and abuses his power. Even if it is not personal, killing him would be a just cause."

The woman secretly added a sentence in her heart, ‘This is probably the last time I will be able to help “him” before I leave. From now on, the two of us will be separated from each other, and there is a high possibility that we will not see each other again.’

"A young, beautiful, and powerful woman who has enmity with the Manchu Qing Dynasty?" Song Qingshu searched through the characters from the original book in his heart. Suddenly, there was a flash of inspiration in his heart, and he leaned slightly to whisper something.

The woman frowned and looked at Song Qingshu vigilantly, "Who is your Excellency and why do you know who I am?"

Song Qingshu calmly glanced at the beautiful woman in front of him, with his eyes full of pity. 

Ajiu was a very pitiful character in the original book. She was born in the family of the last emperor, her country was lost and her family was destroyed. Her own father cut off her arm and she herself fell in love with Yuan Chengzhi. It was a pity that Yuan Chengzhi had already made an alliance with Xia Qingqing. After Chaoyang Peak, she agreed with Yuan Chengzhi to stay on the Tibetan border and waited for him for ten years.

Everyone knows the ending. After ten years, whether it was because of Xia Qingqing or not, Yuan Chengzhi had never gone to look for her anyway. In the end, she became a Buddhist nun.

Ajiu felt that Song Qingshu's eyes were full of strange emotion when he looked at her, and she felt extremely uncomfortable for a moment, so she coughed slightly.

Song Qingshu returned to his senses and awkwardly smiled, "Lady Ajiu must not be suspicious. This one has always been familiar with the happenings of wulin, so I can guess who you are."

"I haven't asked your surname yet. May I know your name?" Ajiu felt that her background and circumstances were clearly known by the other party, but she didn't know anything about him, so she couldn't help but ask.

"This humble is surnamed Song, and my given name is Qingshu." Song Qingshu gave a slight salute and asked to clear the doubts in his heart, "Lady Ajiu and the Manchu Qing dynasty have hatred of spanning the country and family. But now she is risking a war between the Song and Qing Dynasties by assassinating the envoy of the Qing court in the territory of the Song Dynasty. I wonder if she has any other agendas?"

Ajiu noticed his dissatisfaction with her actions in his words, she then assumed that he was a citizen of the Song State, and couldn't help but explain, "Master Song misunderstood. Ajiu had rushed this matter and lacked consideration before, but I had no intention to start a war. Just a few days ago, I inadvertently discovered that Wei Xiaobao had a second mission. His main purpose was actually to deal with Golden Serpent Camp. I was worried… I was worried that the last banner against the Manchu Qing Dynasty would also fall, so I planned to assassinate Wei Xiaobao and contribute to our people."

"Lady Ajiu is probably doing this for Yuan Chengzhi, the current leader of the Golden Serpent Camp." Song Qingshu looked at her with a smile. Although he had never seen Xia Qingqing, he determined that her talent and appearance would definitely not be better than Ajiu. How much determination Yuan Chengzhi had to make when he finally gave up on Ajiu. Although this was unfortunate for Ajiu, but for other men, it was extremely lucky.

After he saw through the intentions of the young lady, Ajiu felt a little embarrassed and shy. After all, she was a loser in the love triangle between Yuan Chengzhi, Xia Qingqing and her.

"I have tried my best, and the rest is up to Brother Yuan. So I can only wish him good luck." Ajiu smiled sorrowfully, then raised her head and said to Song Qingshu, "Thank you for your mercy today, Master Song. Ajiu has important things and needs to rush to Western Regions as soon as possible. I must bid my farewell. If fate decides, we will meet again in the future."

" If fate decides…we will meet again." Song Qingshu didn't have any reason to keep her, so he could only reluctantly watch her fluttering figure slowly disappear into the night sky.

He went back to Yuhua Pavilion, and Wei Xiaobao noticed that Song Qingshu had come back alone. He knew that he hadn't caught the assassin, but he didn't show any dissatisfaction. Instead, he cared about his health and warmly asked him, “Is Brother Song injured?"

Song Qingshu casually replied, "I'm sorry, Brother Wei, this brother failed to catch the assassin."

Wei Xiaobao's expression turned weird, and he thought in his heart, ‘Your martial arts is obviously higher than that of that woman. Maybe you were obsessed with lust, and you secretly let her run away.’

Noting Wei Xiaobao’s expression, Song Qingshu knew that he was suspecting his words in his heart, and ordinary lies might not be able to deceive him, so he had to tell him the half-truth, “I had already restrained the assassin, but it was a pity that a black masked martial artist suddenly jumped out to help her. And the assassin ran away. The man had superb internal strength, strange and clever swordsmanship. By the way, judging from his martial arts skills and weapons, he should be Yuan Chengzhi, the famous ‘Golden Serpent King'."

"Yuan Chengzhi?" Wei Xiaobao took a deep breath. He somewhat believed this explanation in his heart. He thought to himself, ‘I had a secret mission to deal with the Golden Serpent Camp by the Emperor's secret decree. Did that information get leaked?’

"So how does Yuan Chengzhi's martial arts compare to Brother Song?" This was Wei Xiaobao's biggest concern. The reason why Kangxi Emperor and him were so eager to recruit masters from the wulin was to deal with Yuan Chengzhi, a martial artist who was so powerful.

"Why…is Brother Wei going to deal with Yuan Chengzhi?" Song Qingshu was not in a hurry to answer, but looked at him curiously.

Wei Xiaobao wanted to rely on him to deal with Yuan Chengzhi anyway, and sooner or later Song Qingshu had to know about this, so he led Song Qingshu to the house and whispered Kangxi Emperor's secret order to him.

"Hey, Brother Song, you and I have become brothers. We will enjoy blessings and endure hardships together, so I do not want to hide from you." Wei Xiaobao deliberately sighed several times, with a sincere expression on his face. " After I helped the Emperor get rid of Obai, I thought the emperor could sit back and relax, but I didn't know why the Emperor was still frowning all day long. Onc day, I had the courage to ask him what was wrong along with another old man, and then I learned about the Emperor's four secret troubles."

Wei Xiaobao paused after speaking and deliberately asked, "Big Brother Song, can you guess the Emperor's four troubles?"

"The Manchu Qing Dynasty is at a stalemate with Mongolia, and Mongolia should be one of them." Song Qingshu could only think of this one.

"Big Brother Song is really smart," Wei Xiaobao gave a thumbs up, and then said, "However, Mongolia is ultimately an external trouble, and the other three are all internal troubles. One of them is Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi who is stationed in Shanhai Pass. He is quite capricious. The emperor has been worried about him. He worries that he would betray the Ming Dynasty, and hand the Shanhai Pass over to Mongolia. Now he holds hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, including 10,000 of the most elite cavalry troops in the world today, the Guanning Iron Cavalry. So, it is not easy for the Emperor to make a move against him for a while."

"The other problem is Hongli, Prince Sheng Jingbao. The first emperor handed down the throne, he and the current Emperor were the  most qualified princes to be crowned. Finally, with the help of the Queen Mother, the Kangxi Emperor became the Emperor. But Prince Bao has been coveting the throne. He never gave up. He now holds hundreds of thousands of Eight Banners Soldiers, and his son Fu Kang’an is also a good fighter. Those father and son have fought against the Mongolian army on the front line of Liaodong for many years, and their prestige in the army is very high. The emperor is afraid of the possibility…what if they decide to take action? It will be a huge problem."

"This world is really chaotic. Prince Sheng actually became brothers with Kangxi, and they were still fighting for the throne…" Song Qingshu was stunned as if struck by thunder, but what abnormality hadn't he seen during his time here? He quickly accepted all this, joined the conversation and said,

"The third problem must be the Golden Serpent Camp in Shandong. The Shandong rebel forces are very powerful under the leadership of Yuan Chengzhi. The emperor certainly has no worries about Wu Sangui and Hongli for now, so he chose to deal with him first."

"Not bad!" Wei Xiaobao nodded. "The emperor has been trying to suppress the rebels in Shandong for many years. Unfortunately, when the officers and soldiers arrived, they all retreated into the vast mountains. When the officers and soldiers retreated, they came out like mountain rats."

Wei Xiaobao took up a cup of tea to moisturize his throat, and continued, "This motherfu*ker is a huge pain in the ass! Yuan Chengzhi even seized the opportunity to severely inflict losses during the imperial court’s actions against the rebel army several times, making the court very angry. They became even more arrogant after that. Then the emperor gave up on the idea of encirclement and suppression of the rebel army and considered using the method of wulin to deal with Yuan Chengzhi."

"It's a pity that Yuan Chengzhi is also a disciple of the Mount Hua Sect. He is the leader of the Golden Serpent Camp and comes from a famous family. Moreover, His martial arts skills are so high that it is rare in the world. That's why brother Wei and the Emperor are so eager to recruit masters in the wulin." Song Qingshu added.

"Hehe, I can't hide anything from Big Brother Song," Wei Xiaobao smiled, "May I know what happened between Big Brother Song and Yuan Chengzhi just then?"

Song Qingshu didn’t actually fight against Yuan Chengzhi. He could only roughly evaluate Yuan Chengzhi’s martial arts from the original book and Ajiu, and said indifferently, “It was a tie.” 

He knew that if he said that Yuan Chengzhi’s martial arts was higher, it would make Wei Xiaobao look down on him. On the other hand, if he said that his own martial arts is higher, then he wouldn't be able to explain the matter of how Ajiu was rescued. In the end, he could only give a moderate answer.

Wei Xiaobao was overjoyed and said, "Yes, not bad. With Brother Song, a master who can match Yuan Chengzhi, it is worth it to be brothers with you."

Song Qingshu was moved in his heart and took the opportunity to persuade him, "Brother Wei, although my martial arts is equal to Yuan Chengzhi, but now the news that you have to deal with him has been leaked. What’s more, you must pass through the Shandong boundary on the way back to the Capital, and there is also the Blood Saber Sect. Brothers, I am afraid that it will be hard to compete with four hands with my two fists, and I will not be able to protect the safety of my brother."

Wei Xiaobao was taken aback, then he cried out with a look of horror, "This is bad! This time it is clear that the enemies will attack. So, the only solution is to call the army for escort. But this way, the Emperor will definitely be unhappy."

When Song Qingshu saw that it was almost time, he pretended to hesitate and said, "I have a plan. Will my brother listen to it?"

"Big Brother Song, just say it and I will listen." Wei Xiaobao's eyes lit up and expectantly looked at him.

"Brother Wei can make Zhang and Zhao escort the envoy to the north with great fanfare and attract the enemy's attention, and we two will go down to the south."

Before Song Qingshu could finish speaking, Wei Xiaobao interrupted him and asked, "Why go south?" Wei Xiaobao wondered, ‘Is this little pretty boy hiding some agenda?’

Song Qingshu was not in a hurry, and slowly explained with a faint smile, "At the moment, Gusu has a peerless master. If you can convince him to take refuge in the Qing Dynasty, we will be accompanied by another martial arts master. Then you won’t have to fear anyone, let alone the Shandong’s Golden Serpent Camp."

"How does his martial arts skill compare to Brother Song?" Wei Xiaobao asked with half-belief.

"Not inferior to me." Song Qingshu said with a calm manner.

Wei Xiaobao couldn't help but feel his heart move. If he could find such two masters who have such a high level of martial arts, the Emperor would definitely want them. ‘Then he might reward me, with a title of high nobility, and as for entertainment…’  Thinking of all the beauties, Wei Xiaobao didn’t hesitate and laughed loudly.

Goblin: Please consider becoming a patron at Patreon if you enjoy reading my translation. The amount doesn’t matter, your gesture does. It keeps me motivated. Also, if you like the novel, please rate the it on Novel Updates.

This novel has tons of characters, organizations, and unique martial arts techniques. So, it will be too hard to remember them all as the story progresses. I have made a wiki for this.