Challenge

Volume One: Luoxia Valley, Chapter 15: Challenge

Qin Fengming dropped to both knees, accepted the treasured sword his Master had bestowed upon him with both hands, and said, his face alight with excitement, "This disciple will certainly study swordsmanship diligently from now on. I'll use this sword to vanquish demons, uphold justice, and bring glory to our sect. I won't disgrace the sect. www..com"

Hall Master Zhang and his wife nodded in satisfaction and waved for him to leave. Qin Fengming kowtowed to his Master and Mistress once more before taking his leave and heading back to his residence.

And so, over the next half month, Qin Fengming learned all the moves in the complete set of the Thirteen Forms of the Willow sword technique. As for mastering it, however, that was still far beyond him.

From then on, Qin Fengming went each day to a secluded spot in the rear mountains of Danyun Peak to practice his swordsmanship. At night, he meditated and practiced the chant. During this period, his Master also often guided him in cultivating the Lightness Skill chant.

When Qin Fengming leaped now, his body was extraordinarily nimble. With a light jump, he could land as lightly as a feather atop a boulder half a zhang high. It seemed that leaping like his little Senior Disciple Sister Ruotong was just around the corner.

After learning the complete sword technique, Qin Fengming became even more diligent. Every day, he went to the rear mountains to practice martial arts at the first glimmer of dawn, returning only after night had fallen.

Duan Meng and Yuan Kejian were equally hardworking. Each had found a secluded place of his own and diligently practiced the secret manual Hall Master Zhang had given him.

Though the three of them lived in the same courtyard, their chances to meet grew fewer and fewer. Yet every time Qin Fengming saw Yuan Kejian, he sensed the hostility in the other man's gaze. But after thinking it over carefully, Qin Fengming could not recall ever offending him and truly could not understand where the reason lay.

Qin Fengming could only shake his head inwardly, set the matter aside, and stop paying it any heed.

In the blink of an eye, a year passed. Every day, apart from diligently practicing swordsmanship, Qin Fengming meditated and cultivated that inner-power manual.

In his spare time, he would also take out the gourd and toy with it. Even now, the gourd had shown no change whatsoever. Each time, he would twist the lid with all his might, only to be disappointed every time. The lid was as if it had grown onto the gourd, unmoving in the slightest.

He would also visit Hundred Zhang Cliff from time to time to pay his respects to his Master and Mistress. Sometimes, he would even spar with his little Senior Disciple Sister. She was exceedingly surprised by how swiftly he had progressed. After only a year, the two of them were already evenly matched, each attacking and defending in turn.

Over the course of that year, Qin Fengming also met both Senior Brothers. First Senior Brother Yang Lan was tall and imposing, with a dark-purple complexion, and appeared to be twenty-two or twenty-three years old. Second Senior Brother Lü Xuan, on the other hand, was handsome and dashing, with eyes bright as stars. He was somewhere in his late teens and, at first glance, bore several features reminiscent of their Master.

Qin Fengming also noticed that his little Senior Disciple Sister was unusually close to Second Senior Brother. Toward First Senior Brother, she offered only polite greetings.

As for Qin Fengming, both Senior Brothers were very fond of him. First Senior Brother gave him a tube forged from refined iron. It was as thick as a thumb and about a foot long, with a soybean-sized opening at the front and a mechanism at the back. It could be attached to his arm and fire three flying darts.

Lü Xuan gave him a small jade sword about the length of a palm. Though it was made of jade, it was extraordinarily sharp.

Although Qin Fengming's life was extremely dull throughout that year, he found joy in it. At times, he did think of his parents and family far away, thousands of miles distant. But one conviction supported him: he had to distinguish himself and master an art. Only then would he have the ability to give his family a better life.

This was the sole purpose that had driven ten-year-old Qin Fengming to leave home and come to Luoxia Valley.

The place where Qin Fengming practiced martial arts each day was a small valley far away in the rear mountains of Danyun Peak. He had searched for a long time before finally discovering it.

Getting there required traveling several miles. At first, there had been no path into that hidden little valley. But after Qin Fengming had traveled back and forth for a year, a faintly visible trail had appeared amid the dense brushwood.

Each day, Qin Fengming set out when the sky had only just begun to show a smear of gray-white. After walking six or seven miles along the mountain path and reaching that valley, dawn had barely broken.

After practicing his swordsmanship for an hour, he would return just as breakfast was beginning.

This routine had never changed throughout the year. Whether the wind howled, rain fell, the ground froze, or snow flew, he had not altered it in the slightest.

On this day, Qin Fengming rose before the sky had brightened as usual. After briefly straightening his clothes, he took the treasured sword his Master had given him, gently pushed open the door, left the courtyard, and hurried toward the small valley several miles away.

Although the sky had yet to brighten, Qin Fengming had walked this mountain path hundreds of times. Even with his eyes closed, he knew where rocks blocked the way and where gullies crossed it. Thus, without the slightest delay, he used the Lightness Skill his Master had taught him and quickly vanished into the darkness.

Perhaps the sky was slightly overcast that day. Usually, by the time Qin Fengming reached the valley, the sky would still show no sign of brightening in the slightest.

Qin Fengming naturally paid this no heed. He removed the long outer robe he was wearing and placed it on a small tree to one side. Then, with a movement of his body, he was about to unfold his sword technique and begin that day's practice.

But just as Qin Fengming bent down to put down his clothes, before he had even straightened up, he suddenly heard a faint "clack" from a mechanism several zhang away beside him.

A streak of icy, feeble light then flashed out from the distant brushwood. Swift as thunder, it shot straight toward the soft flank on Qin Fengming's left.

"Ah, no!"

At the sound of the mechanism, Qin Fengming had already sensed something amiss. When he swept his peripheral vision over the area, that icy glimmer fell into his sight.

At this moment, Qin Fengming could no longer hope to leap aside and evade it. As he shouted, the long sword in his hand, still sheathed, instinctively slashed sharply toward the direction from which the cold gleam had flown...