Amid the extremely unfriendly gazes of those palace guards, Yan Liqiang waited calmly at the gate of the courtyard, completely ignoring the guards around His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. At this moment, Yan Liqiang had no energy or time to care about the feelings of a few small characters. These guards were the legendary masters of the palace, but in Yan Liqiang's eyes, they were only at the level of great martial artists and were completely insignificant. His mind was now full of the discovery of the traces of the evil demon just now, and he was thinking about how to catch that evil demon.
In just a short while, many ways to determine the identity of the evil demon appeared in Yan Liqiang's mind, but after thinking about it, he finally found that there was only one most feasible and least noticeable way to find the evil demon. However, this method would take some time, and he would have to wait another half a month before he could make some arrangements.
After making the decision, Yan Liqiang's agitated mood gradually calmed down, and he waited calmly outside the yard.
In just three or five minutes, the old eunuch and a man dressed as a guard came out and stood in front of Yan Liqiang.
"Is this person Yan Liqiang?" The guard first looked at Yan Liqiang from head to toe very unreasonably, and then asked Eunuch Liu bluntly.
"Ahem, yes, this is Master Yan!" the old eunuch said, "Yes, Master Yan, this is the guard beside His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, just follow him in, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is inside!"
"Okay, thank you, Eunuch He!" Yan Liqiang clasped his fists towards the old eunuch.
"I am also working for His Majesty. His Majesty assigned me to bring Lord Yan to teach His Royal Highness the Crown Prince archery. There is no need for Lord Yan to thank me. It's my duty, my duty!" The old eunuch said this to Yan Liqiang, and also to the guard who came out with him. His words were a double entendre, and after he finished speaking, he gave Yan Liqiang a wink.
When the guard heard what the old eunuch said, his expression indeed calmed down a little.
Yan Liqiang smiled and nodded slightly to the old eunuch, indicating that he understood.
"Let's go..." The guard glanced at Yan Liqiang, turned around, and walked into Zhaowu Court first. Yan Liqiang followed him calmly.
After entering the courtyard, turning around a rockery and a corridor, there was a medium-sized martial arts arena in front of him. There were several luxurious and majestic buildings around the martial arts arena. The person who brought Yan Liqiang in brought Yan Liqiang directly from a porch into one of the halls.
In the hall, a young man who was less than 20 years old, wearing a black training suit, with a handsome face and sharp eyes, was sitting in the main seat. Several guards with calm demeanor stood on both sides of the young man. Everyone's eyes were on Yan Liqiang who walked into the hall.
As soon as Yan Liqiang took one look at the young man, he knew that he was the crown prince, because from his appearance, one could tell at a glance that he was the emperor's biological son, especially his eyes and nose, which were exactly the same as the emperor's. Perhaps because he was young and of noble status, and was accustomed to being flattered, there was an aura of sharpness about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince that was definitely not friendly, and his eyes looked down at him, critical and scrutinizing.
"Your Highness, the person has been brought here..." The guard who came with strict etiquette bowed to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince waved his hand, and the guard stood next to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Yan Liqiang stood in the hall, looking at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince calmly without saying a word or moving. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also looked at Yan Liqiang. For a moment, neither of them spoke a word.
Yan Liqiang's age surprised the people in the hall. They had never seen Yan Liqiang before and did not expect that Yan Liqiang looked so young. He seemed even younger than the Crown Prince.
A bearded guard on the right of the Crown Prince saw that Yan Liqiang had not moved for more than ten seconds, so he stepped forward and shouted at Yan Liqiang, "How dare you! Why don't you salute the Crown Prince when you see him?"
Yan Liqiang smiled, without even looking at the man, but looked at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and said calmly, "A junior teacher is also a teacher. In the Han Empire, there is no rule that teachers must salute their students first when they see them!"
The Crown Prince's expression changed slightly, but he still sat there with no intention of getting up. His eyes looking at Yan Liqiang became even sharper and more interested. He raised his hand, and the two guards beside him who wanted to step forward suddenly quieted down. "You are right. In the Han Empire, there is indeed no rule that teachers must salute students before seeing them. But if you want to be my teacher, you can't just rely on eloquence. Your position as Junior Master was conferred by my father, but if you don't have the ability to impress me, I can also refuse to recognize you as Junior Master and let you leave. My father won't blame me. Here, I have the final say..."
"Your Highness the Crown Prince wants to test my abilities?"
"Of course, my father told me that your archery skills are very high and you can be my archery master. But I haven't seen one yet. There are also archery masters among the guards beside me. I wonder if you dare to compete with these guards beside me?" His Royal Highness the Crown Prince pointed at the two people standing beside him.
Yan Liqiang glanced at the two men. They had eyes like lightning, and their arms and waists were like monkeys. Their hands were long and their knuckles were thick. Their aura was like an arrow shot from a bow, and they were sharp. They were obviously masters of archery. He nodded and said, "How would Your Highness like me to compete with them?"
"I heard that you had a blind duel with someone in Imperial Capital before, but you didn't win. Why don't you have a blind duel today?" His Royal Highness the Crown Prince smiled, his tone somewhat teasing, "But don't worry, a blind duel with me won't result in death. If someone really died, I would have a hard time explaining to my father. The arrows used in the blind duel have no arrowheads, and the shafts are wrapped with cloth. You can have the duel without any worries!"
"No problem!" Yan Liqiang nodded decisively.
"Great, that's great!" His Royal Highness the Crown Prince laughed loudly, then clapped his hands, "Someone, bring up the bow..."
As soon as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince finished speaking, in the blink of an eye, footsteps were heard in the hall, and a group of servants carried five bow racks directly into the hall.
The horn python bows, which were extremely valuable in the civilian and military circles, were like goods hanging on the shelves in a department store for people to choose from. Forty or fifty colorful horn python bows, each with its own merits, filled the bow racks...
"You go first..." His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said to Yan Liqiang, letting Yan Liqiang choose first.
"No need, let the two people around His Royal Highness come first..."
Seeing Yan Liqiang's modesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said nothing, but nodded slightly. The two archery masters beside him walked over and each picked up a horn python bow from the bow rack in front of Yan Liqiang.
For ordinary archery masters, those who can use a horn python bow with more than 10 stones are already considered masters. Those who can use more than 20 stones are already very rare. Those who can use more than 30 stones can be considered as first-level archery masters. There are not many such people in the armies of various places...
The two men picked up a 30-stone horn python bow and a 35-stone bow respectively. Then they looked at Yan Liqiang with a demonstrative look and raised their eyebrows.
After seeing the two people had chosen, Yan Liqiang walked over, then picked up a 20-stone horn python bow from a bow rack and took a look at it...
Seeing Yan Liqiang picking up the horn python bow, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the two archery masters looked at each other with some contempt in their eyes - what archery master, he is just so-so, no matter how much he practices, he can only use a twenty-stone horn python bow.
"Well, this is too light..." Yan Liqiang took the horn python bow in his hand and weighed it, gently touched the bowstring, shook his head, and put it back, which surprised His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and several guards.
Yan Liqiang then took a few more steps, picked up a 30-stone horn python bow, looked at it, and shook his head, "Too light..." After saying this, he picked up a 40-stone horn python bow next to it and looked at it, and shook his head again, sighing, "No, it's still too light, Your Highness, do you only have these horn python bows that are like children playing house? I see that the largest one is only 40 stones, which is really not handy..."
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's expression has changed...
(End of this chapter)