Chapter 81: The Art of Escape

Zhao Xue was utterly shocked; he hadn’t sensed Shen Shi’s movements at all. He only felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and a crushing weight on his chest made it hard to breathe. His feet barely touched the ground as he was dragged toward the tavern.

He struggled desperately, but it was useless. All his strength seemed sealed within him, unable to move, cold sweat streaming down his face from terror. He was the only one who had ever seen Shen Shi alone. In his memory, Shen Shi was just a scholar—perhaps with a bit of martial training. But what did the martial prowess of all the military clans in Great Song amount to? Even the famed Yang family of Tianbo Mansion, he held little regard for. After all, he had learned the martial arts of the imperial family of the Song Dynasty.

Martial arts were divided into technique and inner cultivation. Techniques were the means of exerting force; inner cultivation strengthened the body, providing the foundation for power. He had become an officer not only through connections but also through genuine skill—otherwise, he’d never have dared to venture alone to the Shen family. Yet, when Shen Shi made his move just now, Zhao Xue realized he had no power to resist.

In other words, disregarding techniques and purely comparing physical strength, Shen Shi was at least two entire levels above him. How could this be?

Was it due to an extraordinary gift, or had this man been hiding his strength all along? And why would he do so? Was he the only one, or were all the military clans concealing their true abilities? If it was the latter, the implications were truly terrifying.

No matter what he thought, he was powerless to resist at this moment, forced to follow Shen Shi into the tavern and straight up to a private room on the second floor.

Meanwhile, his soldiers weren't nearly as perceptive. They didn’t notice their officer’s predicament and assumed Shen Shi and their commanding officer were on friendly terms. How could they know that Zhao Xue was nearly coughing up blood in his frustration?

But one couldn’t blame them. Zhao Xue had pulled stunts like this more than once before. Even if things started off loud and quarrelsome, they’d always end with “let bygones be bygones,” or even with the new acquaintance becoming an honored guest.

“You lot, wait outside. Without orders from Lord Zhao or myself, no one is to enter. Isn’t that right, Lord Zhao?”

Shen Shi cared little for their thoughts. As he spoke, he tightened his grip slightly, making Zhao Xue feel as if his shoulder would snap. Zhao Xue’s face turned ashen as he nodded hurriedly.

Shen Shi cast a glance at his father, signaling him to watch over the Song soldiers outside. Today, it was quite possible they’d have to fight their way out.

“All right, now it’s just the two of us. Speak quickly, and spare me the nonsense—I’ve no interest in wasting words with a small fry like you.”

Shen Shi spoke with such confidence that anyone overhearing would think he knew everything. He released Zhao Xue and sat down at the head of the table, looking utterly disdainful as he urged him to speak.

“Your martial arts…” Zhao Xue stammered.

Zhao Xue’s expression was complex; he’d been deeply shaken moments before. Now, he had little desire to assert dominance and instead was eager to probe Shen Shi’s true abilities.

“Heh, after all, I come from a military family. Do you really think I, as a younger generation, am completely without skill?” Shen Shi chuckled, leisurely sipping tea from a fine porcelain cup.

“But…” Zhao Xue was torn, full of disbelief. “Even the Yang family of Tianbo Mansion doesn’t have your level of strength.”

He wanted to say that even the Yangs couldn’t match him, but after being taught a harsh lesson by Shen Shi, he swallowed the words.

“Tianbo Mansion? They’re only into their second century, since Yang the Invincible’s first generation. The Shen family, however, has existed for over a thousand years.”

Indeed, a long family history was the greatest asset.

Hearing this, Zhao Xue nodded instinctively.

Shen Shi continued, “Besides, I wager you’ve only ever competed against the men of the Yang family, not the women. Do you really think you could best one of their female generals?”

Zhao Xue, who had been nodding, was suddenly embarrassed—and more so because he couldn’t deny it. The Yang men were fierce, especially during the battle where their first generation died for the Zhao emperor—a tale known throughout the Song realm. Yet for that very reason, the bravery of the Yang women was even more renowned; for when facing the Khitans, the Yang men had perished, regardless of the circumstances. Dead men, no matter how brave, are of no use.

But the Yang women had defeated the Khitans and lived to tell the tale. From the matriarch Dowager She to Mu Guiying, all had survived the battlefield.

A person’s name casts a long shadow; the men of Song truly dared not provoke the Yang women, and Zhao Xue was no exception.

“If your family is so formidable, why are you in a backwater like Jinhua?” Zhao Xue asked, unable to contain himself despite his embarrassment.

“Heh, it seems you really are just a small fry—still lacking in many ways!” Shen Shi laughed, not bothering to explain further. Instead, he ridiculed Zhao Xue, who, not yet thirty, bristled with indignation.

Strip away his official title, and he was just a young man not yet thirty.

“You don’t believe you’re a small fry? The world has been at peace for too long—there’s no use for martial commanders. Without war, who can say whether we are truly capable or not?”

Shen Shi glanced at Zhao Xue with nothing but scorn, sneering and then lazily sipping his tea, relishing every drop.

Zhao Xue, however, was swept along by Shen Shi’s logic, his mind racing to fill in the blanks. Cold sweat broke out on his back, and when he looked at Shen Shi again, his gaze had utterly changed.

Could it be that these military families all possessed astonishing martial skills, yet never revealed them? Had he not encountered Shen Shi today, he might have been kept in the dark his entire life.

Ah—the ancestral emperor’s “banquet of wine to disarm the generals” was truly a stroke of wisdom.

Emperor Taizu of Song’s famous “banquet of wine to strip generals of power” had always been presented as a symbol of benevolence. But today, Zhao Xue found himself caught in Shen Shi’s web of reasoning, and now suspected it was not benevolence at all, but a necessity.

One Yang the Invincible was already enough to defy thousands—who could say there wasn’t another “Yang the Invincible” hidden among the other military clans?

As a member of the Zhao family, he knew more than most. The martial arts of the military clans really could make a man a match for a thousand. From the Southern Dynasties to Yang the Invincible, such generals were no rarity—including the founding emperor of the current dynasty, famed for his own martial prowess. Even the imperial household’s inner vaults were devoted to collecting the legacies of the military clans.

“Have you figured it out?” Shen Shi almost burst out laughing, but maintained a stern, serious expression as he asked.

Of course, he had figured it out.

The legacy of the military clans was extraordinary; otherwise, the founding emperor would never have disarmed them over a cup of wine. In other words, even if the military clans never used their skills, it was best not to push them too far—lest another “Invincible” emerge, a figure whom none could afford to provoke.

And Zhao Xue was no exception.