Volume One: The Youngest Among Three Hundred Chapter 104: The Cunning Marriage

Facing Wu Yuanheng, who had suddenly appeared at the doorway shouting those words, Chen Chang'an truly did not know how to respond and awkwardly scratched his head.

The chubby man, genuinely concerned for his safety, scanned the surroundings and spotted the person who had been prepared to sacrifice his life now squatting on the steps in a daze. His eyes widened instantly, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Chen... Chen Chang'an, you're not dead!"

Chen Chang'an shrugged with a wry smile. "How could I bear to die, Master Wu? But speaking of which, you were just shouting about saving me—how exactly did you plan to do that?"

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Wu Yuanheng cleared his throat awkwardly, straightened his back, and waved his hand dismissively. "I... I didn't have a plan. I was just going to find a physician!"

*Uh-huh... you're not being honest.* Judging by his confident posture and the solemn tone he used when he first walked in, he clearly had an ace up his sleeve. While mocking him inwardly, Chen Chang'an teased, "Master Wu, was my death such a big event that it even managed to alarm you?"

"Hey!"

Wu Yuanheng’s portly frame wiggled as he moved closer, finally sitting down beside him. "After hearing the news of your death, I asked about the circumstances on my way here. You could say it was quite the stir."

"Do you know that the two Deputy Commanders of the Black-Clad Guard, Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong, led men to dig at Ganquan Village for several hours just to find you? In my memory, no newcomer has ever received such treatment. Even when veteran members pass away, they usually just receive a standard financial pension for dying in the line of duty."

"It’s clear they truly value you!"

"Pfft!"

Chen Chang'an shook his head, feigning indifference. "It's not that exaggerated, is it? They just did a bit of digging!"

"It was far more than just a bit of digging!" Wu Yuanheng glanced at him sideways. "To save you, they even unleashed the manifestations of both the 'Wish' and 'Pity the World' Arts at the scene. When that proved ineffective, they went to the Vault of Arms to seek an audience with Wang You."

"Oh?" Chen Chang'an’s ears perked up, his curiosity piqued. "Logically speaking, I was already dead at that point, wasn't I? Does the Supreme Commander of the Black-Clad Guard actually have a way to fix that?"

"You could say so, but there's no guarantee it would work." Wu Yuanheng, usually a man of few words, seemed to treasure this time alone with Chen and answered with uncharacteristic seriousness.

Chen Chang'an was deeply interested. "How so?"

He had always loved digging into strange legends and gossip, especially when it involved the pinnacle of martial arts in the Great Min Empire—the supreme leader of the Black-Clad Guard, Wang You.

Wu Yuanheng patiently explained, "Wang You’s eighth origin art is called 'Ghostly Betrothal.' It allows the effects of an event specific to one person to be distributed among others."

Chen Chang'an: "..."

He was completely bewildered, feeling the same helplessness one might feel trying to understand advanced calculus in kindergarten.

"Sigh!"

Wu Yuanheng sighed, disappointed by his lack of comprehension, and provided an example to clarify. "For instance, if I punch you with a force you cannot withstand, 'Ghostly Betrothal' can divide the damage of that punch into ten equal parts, to be borne by ten people around you. If there were a hundred people, the force would be divided a hundred times, and you wouldn't feel a thing!"

"Of course, there is a prerequisite: everyone must be willing to step forward and bear their share of the damage. It cannot be forced!"

"So, when Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong went to plead with Wang You, it wasn't because he had a direct way to save a life, but because they were prepared to divide the outcome of your 'death' into countless parts and find people willing to bear them. Perhaps if the 'death' was thinly spread enough, it might achieve the purpose of resurrection. Of course, this method has never been tried before, so no one knows if it's feasible!"

"It definitely wouldn't be feasible!"

Chen Chang'an gave a firm denial. To put it simply, the effect of 'Ghostly Betrothal' was like a team fight in a game: if a powerful enemy struck a fragile teammate, you could use the art to split the damage among the whole team so the teammate could escape with a sliver of health.

The key point was that the strike—the "in-progress" state—had to be happening. If the target was already dead, the effect could not be triggered. Otherwise, what would be the point of resurrection gear?

Therefore, the essence of Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong’s request was an attempt to exploit a bug in the eighth origin art, much like his past life's attempt to trick a system by manually changing the clock to claim rewards a day early—it was completely unworkable.

Still, the actions of "Sister Cao" and "Brother Cheng" were incredibly moving.

After digesting the information, Chen Chang'an became even more intrigued by the martial arts master currently in seclusion in the Vault of Arms. He pressed further: "Master Wu, since we have nothing better to do, tell me about Wang You!"

"Him?" Wu Yuanheng tilted his head thirty-five degrees toward the sky, a look of longing on his face, his eyes shimmering with admiration. "He is a martial arts myth. No one knows who his master was. All we know is that he appeared in Chang'an City nine years ago, at the end of the year the Empress ascended the throne."

"At the time he joined the Black-Clad Guard, he was likely at the fifth-grade God-Forging realm. Later, he performed countless miraculous feats, wiping out high-profile criminals, and his cultivation progressed at a rare, staggering pace. He surged directly to the eighth-grade Post-Mystic realm and finally, five years ago, took over the duties of his predecessor to become the Supreme Commander of the Black-Clad Guard!"

After listening, Chen Chang'an summarized his life in eight words: *A rigged existence, a protagonist’s script!*

Once his curiosity was ignited, it grew like a rolling snowball. As soon as he got the answer, another question popped out: "Now that he’s in seclusion in the Vault of Arms, is he preparing to break through from the eighth-grade Post-Mystic realm to the ninth grade?"

Wu Yuanheng shook his head. "At first, everyone thought so. But as time went by, we gradually realized that wasn't the case. Every year at the start of summer, Wang You goes into seclusion until autumn. It seems to be a habit; no one knows why."

"Well, perhaps experts... all have their own air of mystery. Like Wang You, like Sister Cao Wu, and like... me!" Chen Chang'an remarked with shameless confidence.

Wu Yuanheng looked at him with disdain. "What kind of expert are you?"

Chen Chang'an flashed a meaningful smile. "True, I’m not an expert, but I certainly have an air of mystery!"

"Hey!"

This remark made Wu Yuanheng realize a critical issue. He grabbed Chen Chang'an by the collar, anxious and urgent. "Forget that! Why am I wasting time with you? Quickly, tell me, how did you come back to life!"

"Er, I..."

Stuttering, Chen Chang'an tried to recover from the unexpected question, playing dumb once again. "I... I have absolutely no idea. I don't even know how I died, so how could I possibly know how I came back to life?"

"Perhaps it just wasn't your time to die!"

Wu Yuanheng skeptically examined him from head to toe, even patting him down with his thick palms. Finding nothing unusual, he said in surprise, "Given the cultivation levels of Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong, if you had even a shred of life left, they couldn't have missed it. So, the death was definitely real. To return to life for no reason—it's truly incredible."

"It... it is indeed incredible. Even I haven't figured it out myself!"

Not wanting to get tangled in the topic of his "cheat code," Chen Chang'an changed the subject. "Oh, by the way, Master Wu, if I’m back, shouldn't I go to the Black-Clad Guard to report in?"

"Yes!" Wu Yuanheng returned to his usual concise self. "You should!"

Rolling his eyes at him, Chen Chang'an stood up and prepared to head toward the Black-Clad Guard. The Great Min Empire was still a strange, unfamiliar place to him, so he subconsciously cherished the genuine relationships he had formed. Those who had wept or felt sorrow at his death—he had to see them the moment he was alive again.

He couldn't delay!

Wu Yuanheng watched him walk toward the door and followed. "Wait, since you're fine, I should head back to the Ministry of Justice!"

The two walked side by side out of the Su family courtyard, left the Yong'an Ward, and wandered through the bustling streets of Chang'an. Listening to the cries of vendors and enjoying the scents of various snacks, Chen Chang'an remarked again, "It's good to be alive!"

A little further on, they saw a crowd of Chang'an residents gathered, chattering excitedly. They squeezed to the front, thanks to Wu Yuanheng’s massive frame, and saw a woman with a Fujian-style hairstyle, wearing a tight-fitting Japanese dress and wooden clogs, sparring with a martial artist using a saber.

Another woman stood by watching, maintaining the fairness of the 1v1 duel without any intention of intervening.

"Holy sh—" Chen Chang'an’s national instinct slipped out, but he caught himself just in time, adjusting his phrasing for the context of the Great Min Empire. "It's the people from Yingzhou. What are they doing in Chang'an City?"

Wu Yuanheng guessed, "Perhaps it's also related to Wang You. Three years ago, a ninja from Yingzhou named Changdeng Tuoye snuck into our lands, cultivated our martial arts to the eighth-grade Post-Mystic realm, and then turned around to challenge the martial artists of the Great Min's nine provinces."

"At the time, neither the imperial court nor the martial arts world could match him. Countless masters from major sects fell to him, even the current leader of the martial arts alliance, Zhou Yao. In the end, it was Wang You, as the Supreme Commander of the Black-Clad Guard, who stepped in and defeated him by half a move."

"The two made a pact to have a rematch in three years. I recently received news that Changdeng Tuoye has entered Chang'an City. These two Yingzhou girls must have been brought by him."

"Oh? Is that so?" Chen Chang'an looked at the two women with deep, critical eyes. "They’re using the pretext of an 'exchange' to challenge our martial artists, but it's nothing more than showing off. To be blunt, it’s a naked slap in the face and a provocation. Hah, they stole our martial arts and cultivation systems, and yet they seem so proud!"

Wu Yuanheng didn't deny it and added, "It’s also possible that Changdeng Tuoye is using this method to force Wang You out of seclusion early!"

"Bang!"

As he spoke, the duel between the Great Min martial artist and the Yingzhou woman ended. The former was defeated, his saber knocked away, and he was kicked to the ground.

Without giving anyone a chance to breathe, the watching Yingzhou woman clicked her wooden clogs against the ground and stepped to the front of the crowd. She announced in halting Han Chinese: "You, the martial artist of the Great Min, have failed. As agreed beforehand, kneel and kowtow!"

"What, this..."

"Sigh, I’ve long said that martial artists are crude and incompetent things, only knowing how to lose face for our Great Min. If it were a Taoist disciple or someone from the Bashan Sword Sect, they definitely wouldn't have lost."

"Exactly, martial artists are a disgrace to our Great Min!"

The residents of Chang'an were incensed, shouting and scolding. The defeated martial artist, who had indeed agreed to kneel and kowtow before the duel, hung his head in shame, his face flushed red. After a painful internal struggle, he finally began to bend his legs in frustration.

"Wait!"

Just as his knees were about to touch the ground, Chen Chang'an’s voice interrupted. He locked eyes with the two Yingzhou women. "Why don't I spar with you two? If I win, he doesn't have to kneel, and you must kneel and admit in your own words that Yingzhou martial arts are inferior to those of the Great Min!"

"And if you lose?" the watching Yingzhou woman asked, her teeth bared.

Chen Chang'an yawned lazily. "If I lose, I will kneel and kowtow with him, and admit that the martial arts of the Great Min are inferior to those of Yingzhou!"

After saying this, he activated his "Spirit Pull" technique, hooked his index finger toward the saber the defeated martial artist had dropped, and shouted, "Blade, come to me!"