All Heavens: From Joy of Life to The Great Feng Night Watchman

The Crown Prince was also taken aback. He had originally intended to propose a martial arts contest for the youths to help Fan Xian gain fame.

Actually, the Crown Prince and Guo Baokun's words were not leaked; this was purely a coincidence.

Because Emperor Qing allowed Li Chang'an to expand the Shadow Guard, Li Chang'an took this opportunity to transfer some of the Luo Wang martial arts elites into the Shadow Guard.

Reopening the martial arts council would allow these individuals to demonstrate their strength in a reasonable way before joining the Shadow Guard.

Another purpose is that if these martial arts elites of the Luo Wang organization perform well, they will be recruited by powerful and influential people in the capital.

Anyway, he doesn't lack dozens of experts, so it's a good thing to be able to plant spies in the homes of the powerful and wealthy.

More than a decade ago, the military council was held every year. Later, when the war in the Qing Kingdom came to an end, Emperor Qing focused on developing culture and stopped the military council.

Emperor Qing thought for a moment, then said, "This is a good thing!"

However, with a major battle imminent, it is regrettable that some soldiers cannot participate.

"How about we start with a martial arts competition for teenagers... with the age limit set at sixteen. Anyone over sixteen can participate, but anyone over sixteen is out of luck!"

Li Chang'an remained calm, but he guessed that Emperor Qing was considering Fan Xian's well-being.

In order to lure out Xiao En about the secrets of the temple, Fan Xian must be promoted quickly.

In the original timeline, Fan Xian rose to prominence because of his poetry and prose.

Now, if Fan Xian has even the slightest redeeming quality, Emperor Qing will help him discover it.

When promoting people through connections, this is basically how they do it to silence public criticism.

Emperor Qing continued, "The martial arts competition for those over sixteen years old will be held after the great victory."

“Prince Yong, your men are highly skilled in martial arts, but there are too few of them, so I will not use them.”

"Let's leave the matter of military affairs to someone else..."

As Emperor Qing spoke, he glanced at the Crown Prince and then at the Second Prince.

The crown prince was filled with regret at that moment, wishing he could slap himself twice. Why did he have to speak last in order to appear calm?

If he had spoken first, he could have easily made the suggestion before Li Chang'an could.

It now seems that Emperor Qing is very satisfied with Wu Yi's proposal!

If the Crown Prince had suggested it, it would have certainly earned him a lot of points with His Majesty.

"Father, I am willing to undertake this task!"

The second prince dared not be negligent either, "Father, I feel the same way!"

Logically speaking, the Crown Prince should be responsible for restoring Fan Xian's reputation, and the task of the Young Martial Arts Competition should be handed over to the Crown Prince.

But Emperor Qing said, "Li Chengze is bored out of his mind lately, so you take care of it!"

"Your Highness, you should hurry up and finish your own business. Don't even think about taking advantage of your Uncle Yong's ideas!"

The prince gasped, his teeth aching from the cold. He had really lost out this time!

Emperor Qing meant that Li Chengqian should not try to restore Fan Xian's reputation by relying on other people's ideas.

In other words, the matter of restoring Fan Xian's reputation through the Youth Martial Arts Conference is now in the hands of the second brother. You can think of other ways to help Fan Xian yourself.

Li Chengze, beaming with excitement, exclaimed, "Father, I will certainly not fail in my mission!"

Father Emperor has given me a chance to win over Fan Xian. Father Emperor is still biased towards me!

Looking at Li Chengqian and Li Chengze, Li Chang'an couldn't help but feel sorry for the two brothers, after all, he had watched them grow up since they were little.

That's not quite right; we grew up together.

That old scoundrel Emperor Qing is making a fool of his own son, inciting him to fight against him, and even helping his illegitimate son in the process.

Their conscience is utterly corrupt!

……

Li Chang'an returned to the Prince's Mansion and told Jing Ni, Wang Qinian, and Xing Yusen about the martial arts discussion.

Hidden in the shadows, Jing Ni oversees the intelligence network, while Wang Qinian, in the open, is the commander of the Shadow Guard, and Xing Yusen is the deputy commander.

The Six Sword Slaves also belonged to the Luo Net. Qingwen and Xiren were by Li Chang'an's side, while the remaining four were under Jingni's command.

"Jing Ni, how many people aged sixteen and under with a cultivation level of rank seven or above are there in the various Luo Wang strongholds in Nanqing?"

Jingni always kept the personnel situation of Luo Wang in mind: "There should be around fifty people who can be transferred over."

"Although they have good martial arts talent, they are still young. There are only three at the eighth rank and about ten at the upper seventh rank."

Li Chang'an said, "Then transfer them all to Kyoto and let them participate in the Kyoto Youth Martial Arts Tournament according to their respective statuses."

"The initial plan is to have 30 out of 50 people join the Shadow Guard and 20 people infiltrate the ranks of various powerful figures."

The elites transferred from various regions by the Luowang (a spy network) have all undergone intelligence training and can directly act as informants.

Wang Qinian said, "I estimate that the top ten in this youth martial arts competition will all be our people."

Li Chang'an smiled calmly, "No, the first place must be Fan Xian, we won't make it into the top three."

"Firstly, His Majesty is determined to promote Fan Xian. If our people perform too well, the inner court and the Supervisory Council will try to harm them behind our backs."

"Secondly, the top three in the martial arts competition will be granted an audience with His Majesty and their backgrounds and martial arts skills will be thoroughly investigated. There is no need for us to create unnecessary trouble."

Wang Qinian said, "Therefore, the martial arts competition for young people is His Majesty's means to help Fan Xian restore his reputation."

"However, for us, it's a tactic to bring our own people into the Shadow Guard."

Li Chang'an continued, "That's right, he has his purpose, and we have ours. They don't conflict."

After assigning tasks to his subordinates, Li Chang'an continued his cultivation, aiming to break through to the Blue-level Pagoda.

Replenishing the Shadow Guards with young martial artists is not difficult and doesn't require much concern.

Having reached the fourth level of the Yellow Rank Pagoda, Li Chang'an's internal energy surged.

Therefore, his progress in cultivating the fifth level of the Azure Sky Pagoda can be described as rapid as a thousand miles a day!

As a large amount of Northern Darkness True Qi circulated in his meridians and acupoints, Li Chang'an's physical strength was once again greatly enhanced!

With the foundation laid by the previous four levels of pagodas, Li Chang'an believed that he could break through to the blue level within three months!

News of the martial arts competition among the young warriors spread throughout Nanqing, and young martial artists from all over gathered in the capital.

A dozen days later, the Youth Martial Arts Tournament began, and all the elite youths of the Luo Wang organization entered the capital.

The strongest among these young people suppressed their cultivation levels during the competition, so they were all ranked after tenth, but within the top one hundred.

Without the threat of the elite young warriors from the Luo Wang organization, Fan Xian indeed had no rivals and ultimately won first place in the Youth Martial Arts Competition.

Royal study room.

Eunuch Hou was beaming as he recounted how Fan Xian had won the championship in the Martial Arts Tournament.

"Your Majesty, you didn't see it! Young Master Fan's true energy is simply too domineering!"

"As an opponent of the same rank seven, he's no match for me in a one-on-one fight. He's truly amazing!"

"All eight of the Second Prince's generals were present, and they all spoke highly of Young Master Fan!"

"Fan Jian also went to the last game, and he was laughing so hard his eyes were practically closed!"

Upon hearing Eunuch Hou's words, Emperor Qing breathed a long sigh of relief. After all, he was his father's son, and he had something to show for himself.

If Fan Xian were truly neither good at literature nor martial arts, Emperor Qing would not dare to entrust him with important responsibilities.

"No matter how good his martial arts are, he is still a brute. I want him to be in charge of the Imperial Treasury, not to protect it."

"But if you are good at martial arts, at least you will have a way to advance in your career. If you are not good at other abilities, you can cultivate them slowly in the future."

As long as you have good martial arts skills, even in the military, you can find a reason to be given a position as soon as possible.

Only in this way can Fan Xian be involved in the team escorting Xiao En back to Northern Qi.

Fan Xian's journey to the capital, the battle between Qi and Qing, the ceasefire and peace talks, and the exchange of hostages—the entire storyline was orchestrated by Emperor Qing and Chen Pingping.

Such a long-term plan will inevitably encounter unexpected events, and the two will have to constantly try to mend things.

Fan Xian's victory as the young martial arts champion finally allows his plans to take another step forward.

"By the way, the second prince handled this matter very well. What is the crown prince doing?"

Eunuch Hou replied, "Both of Your Highnesses are outstanding individuals, each with their own ideas."

"Guo Baokun, a disciple of the Crown Prince, led Fan Xian to challenge the top chess players in the capital and won against three of them in a row!"

"After that, Guo Baokun gave Fan Xian the title of Chess Saint of Daqing, and people challenged him every day!"

"Young Master Fan has been competing in tournaments every morning and playing chess every afternoon, and he has never lost!"

"Guo Baokun also compiled all of Young Master Fan's victories into a book called 'The Record of the Chess Saint'!"

Emperor Qing said with satisfaction, "Good, this kid's more than ten years in Danzhou have not been wasted after all."

"Chang'an is home to the three sages of poetry, calligraphy, and painting; Fan Xian will be the chess sage of Daqing!"

……

Guangxin Palace.

Li Yunrui sighed softly, "You and the second brother are vying to help Fan Xian restore his reputation."