The Invincible Bodyguard Starting by Escorting the Doomsday Imperial Princess Chapter 71 : Chapter 71

Chapter 71: I Strongly Support Your Rebellion!

Luo Li was startled by the sudden turn of events and quickly moved closer to Chen Guan.

The common folk who had been lining up around them instinctively spread out and stood to one side, watching Chen Guan and Luo Li in silence, without showing the slightest panic.

Chen Guan remained seated on horseback, still completely unruffled.

“Search them carefully, every last inch!” Captain Wang ordered sharply, his hands clasped behind his back.

“See whether they carry any demonic aura, and check whether they are spies sent by another nation!”

A soldier leading the inspection imdiately stepped forward. He first circled the two of them once, lowering his nose to sniff.

Then he took the Travel Permit wooden plaque, lifted it before his eyes, flicked it with a finger, and listened to the sound.

No one knew what exactly he had seen or heard, but in the end, he turned with great solemnity and cupped his fists toward Captain Wang in report.

“Reporting to the Captain! No demonic aura detected! The Travel Permit is in proper order!”

After hearing that, Captain Wang cleared his throat and announced loudly, “This captain has always conducted affairs impartially and has never bent the law for personal gain! How could I possibly be swayed by re money!”

“Oh, Captain Wang, you misunderstand! You misunderstand!”

Zhao Lei imdiately put on a look of sudden realization and once more offered the money pouch forward. His voice was not loud, yet it was just enough for everyone nearby to hear.

“This is simply the remaining balance from our last bit of business together. It has nothing whatsoever to do with official matters.”

Captain Wang broke into a broad grin. With the ease of long practice, he snatched the pouch over without even glancing at it and tucked it into his robes with a perfectly clear conscience before chuckling, “Well then... many thanks, Brother Zhao. I’ll treat you to a drink another day!”

Once the common folk saw that this little “procedure” had run its course, they quietly ford themselves back into a line again.

Only Luo Li remained utterly bewildered.

“It was obvious he could have just taken the money directly. Why did he insist on acting out this entire scene?”

But very quickly, she began to taste sothing of the deeper logic behind it.

“However... handling things this way truly leaves no holes at all.”

“Even if my rebellion is exposed later and the higher authorities investigate, he can still claim that he acted strictly by the rules and only let us through after a proper inspection. He would be able to push the bla away completely!”

Captain Wang waved a hand, and one of the soldiers behind him imdiately brought over a brand-new wooden plaque.

“This is your Travel Permit. With this in hand, you should have an unimpeded journey the rest of the way.”

Luo Li accepted the wooden plaque and let out a long breath of relief. When she looked at the silver-armored troops again, a trace of confusion appeared in her eyes.

She suddenly realized that the imperial arts she had studied for more than ten years seed... utterly useless in the jianghu, and before the living reality of human relations and worldly dealings.

Originally, once she entered Great Zhou, what she planned to do would surely bring great punishnt down upon Captain Wang for allowing her through.

Yet by acting out this little drama of “impartial law enforcent” before everyone’s eyes, he had dissolved that future bla into nothingness and had still managed to collect his reward openly and honorably.

After all, acting by the book could not be counted as negligence, whether in Great Yun or in Great Zhou.

Just like that, under the “warm” gaze of the silver-armored troops, the two of them were courteously allowed to pass into Great Zhou without the slightest obstruction.

“Brother Chen, how did you know that Captain Wang was only putting on a show?”

Once they were beyond the checkpoint, Luo Li finally could not hold back any longer and asked curiously.

Chen Guan turned his head slightly and glanced at her.

He knew what she really wanted to ask—how he had seen through a thod like this, one that exploited loopholes in the law to gain both wealth and safety.

This girl had vision, and she had the breadth of mind she ought to have. Her intelligence was beyond question as well. But the so-called arts of rulership she had learned were, in the end, things drawn from paper. She was still too green. After so thought, he finally answered in a flat voice.

“Every inch of ground you walk upon, every stretch of heaven and earth you see, every single person you co to know—put plainly, all of that together is one vast jianghu.”

“The jianghu is not about fighting and killing. It is about human relations and worldly dealings. If you can navigate them, you live. If you cannot, you die.”

“Human relations and worldly dealings?” Luo Li frowned.

Clearly, with her current life experience, she still could not fully grasp the depth of that sentence.

But she had no intention of giving up so easily, and instead asked very directly, “Brother Chen, then what exactly is the jianghu?”

“You can break that word apart and look at it separately,” Chen Guan replied, with a faint trace of amusent in his voice. “Rivers. Lakes.”

“Oh!”

Luo Li seed to catch onto sothing, and then suddenly looked enlightened.

“I understand now! Those rivers and lakes are the lands over which empires contend, the resources over which cultivators struggle, the fortune of a territory, even the faith and offerings of the people. It is every patch of ground I have walked upon!”

“Then why do you say the jianghu is about human relations and worldly dealings?”

“Why do you have so many questions?”

Chen Guan was getting a headache from her and waved his hand impatiently.

“We’ve already entered Great Zhou. You should be using your brain to think about how exactly you intend to carry out this rebellion of yours!”

Luo Li shot him an annoyed glare. “You make it sound as though rebellion is a child’s ga!”

“A child’s ga?” Chen Guan gave a dismissive snort.

In his eyes, this troubleso girl’s attempt to go to Great Zhou and rebel really was one colossal farce.

Seeing that she still looked unconvinced, he sighed. For once, he grew serious, and his voice took on several degrees of gravity.

“Fine, fine. Listen carefully. I’ll only say this once.”

“From the mont you were born, you were already standing inside this vast jianghu. Everything you have seen and experienced along the way is nothing more than human relations and worldly dealings.”

“If you cannot navigate those dealings, then you are fated to be nothing more than cannon fodder.”

Chen Guan pointed back toward Zhenbei Pass behind them.

“That Captain Wang dared do what he did not because he wanted to, but because if he did not, he would no longer be able to survive in his position. And in this chaotic age, the result of failing to survive in that position is death.”

In truth, he felt a certain pity for this troubleso girl.

The mont she was born, her eyes had already been covered.

She was fated to live inside a jianghu designed by others.

“If he refused to accept it, he would die?” Luo Li still looked utterly baffled.

“Brother Chen, could you not explain it a little more clearly?”

Chen Guan shook his head and continued, “If you cannot even understand that sentence, then I advise you to go back to your mountain as soon as possible and honestly live out your life as a pampered young lady.”

“Otherwise, by the ti you are played to death, you will not even know how it happened!”

Though his words were anything but gentle, Luo Li’s heart trembled sharply.

It was as though she had caught hold of sothing.

Could it be that if Captain Wang refused Zhao Lei’s favor and denied Zhao Lei face, Zhao Lei would trip him up later, leaving him unable to keep his position as Captain?

The more she thought about it, the more possible it seed.

After all, Zhao Lei was a Commander of the Great Yun Demon Suppression Bureau, a man who commanded thousands of troops and guarded a region, soone who dealt with spirits and demons all the ti.

If Captain Wang offended Zhao Lei, then Zhao Lei could, with a single word, arrange for so spirit or demon to cross into Great Zhou and then claim that Captain Wang had allowed it through. The bla would inevitably fall on Wang’s head.

And the best solution, therefore, was precisely the little performance he had just staged: neither slight the other man’s dignity nor lose face himself, while gaining both money and one more ally, one more road to walk.

But when she tried to think more deeply about how this jianghu related to her restoration of the dynasty, it was as though a thick veil of fog lay before her eyes. She could see nothing clearly.

“Brother Chen... do you... not want to restore the dynasty?”

Her voice suddenly fell. Looking at Chen Guan, she asked a question that seed to co out of nowhere.

“No, no, no!”

Chen Guan imdiately shook his head in denial, even forcing an exaggerated smile onto his face.

“Quite the opposite. I strongly support your rebellion! The bigger a ss you make, the greater the value of this escort mission becos, and the more money I can earn!”