Phoenix Post

,Latest updates on My Many Masters!

The embarrassment in Young Master Xiahou's heart vanished without a trace in an instant. He shook his folding fan, and his bearing remained as striking as ever. Although autumn had arrived and the temperature was not yet very cold, he still wore a jujube-red coat over his long robe. It looked perfectly natural, instead adding a few touches of scholarly, delicate elegance that instantly outshone Wang Anfeng beside him.

Back then, the handsome courtesan who excelled in qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and possessed both beauty and talent, had written for him, "I was born before you, but you were born after me; you were born, yet I am already old." That had not been accomplished by relying on a few tunes alone. Poor scholars who knew only how to compose music were everywhere, but a scion of an eminent family who was as versed in music as he was, could discuss refined amusements, and was also considerate in the delicate matters of young ladies was a rarity of a century—practically a dream.

It was just a pity that he already had a fiancée.

Even if she was a little girl so foolish that a stick of candied hawthorn was enough to lure her home.

The guards around them were sharp-eyed and adept at reading expressions, and their conduct became even more respectful. Wang Anfeng, however, had little tact; in his manner, he was barely any different from how he treated the youths from Great Liang Village who had smeared mud all over his family's wall. The two chatted as they headed toward Willow Catkin Villa above, surrounded by a large contingent of guards.

Although Wang Bai's scream had drawn away quite a few guards just now, two stern-faced men still stood watch before the gate, their left hands behind their backs and their right hands resting on the hilts at their waists.

Compared with ordinary people, their belts held several extra black iron boxes. The Liu Clan had passed down hidden weapons and Lightness Skill through the generations, and the things inside these boxes were none other than the Mechanical Hidden Weapons that had resounded throughout the martial world.

The edges of those hidden weapons had drunk the blood of countless experts, but the blood staining the hands of these two men could only be greater. Hidden weapons were their arms, but not their only arms. They were the arms of the Liu Clan's Manor Lord.

Nor were they the Manor Lord's only arms.

When they saw Wang Anfeng and the other man approaching, still several paces away, they called out in a deep voice:

"Honored sirs, our manor is hosting a renowned banquet today. Please present your invitation. If you have none, please return another day. Our Manor Lord has already arranged a banquet elsewhere to express his apologies."

Xiahou Xuan gently closed his folding fan. His features were mild, and though he was warm, a faint air of authority clung to him as he said:

"This one is Xiahou Xuan."

The two guards' expressions sharpened at once. They exchanged a glance, then clasped their fists and replied, "We did not know Young Master Xiahou was coming. The Manor Lord has already instructed us that, should Young Master Xiahou arrive, you are to enjoy yourselves to the fullest."

With that, each stepped back, clearing the Great Dao. Xiahou Xuan lightly tapped his folding fan against his palm, then turned and smiled at Wang Anfeng. "Brother Wang, take out your invitation. Since we came together, we should enter together."

Wang Anfeng fell silent for a moment and frowned slightly. Where would he have an invitation? Then he remembered Uncle Li's repeated warnings when he had left—that he must come on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. A sudden premonition stirred in him: perhaps he had fallen into Uncle Li's trap.

It was possible that something unexpected had happened, but in all the years he had known Uncle Li, when had that old man ever suffered a loss?

When Wang Anfeng was little, that old man had once pointed at the blazing sun in the sky and declared with the air of a mystic, "I bet there'll be thunder out of a clear sky at quarter past noon."

Poor Wang Anfeng had been only four at the time. He read books with his father every day—how could he possibly believe such absurdity? He had looked at the grinning Old Man as though he were an idiot, then at the scraps of pork in Old Man Li's hand, and solemnly wagered the sweet rice cake his father had given him.

He could never forget that day.

Thunderstorms filled the heavens, frightening every dog and child in the entire village into wetting themselves at once. It was a truly spectacular sight.

At the time, Old Man Li had claimed he was afraid Wang Anfeng would be frightened, so he had taken apart a pillow and stuffed cotton into the boy's ears. Then, right in front of the four-year-old, he had noisily gnawed the sweet rice cake down to the last crumb, wiped the oily gleam from his mouth, slapped his backside, and sauntered away.

After Wang Anfeng's father learned of it, he laughed at him for a full quarter of an hour. Only after laughing until tears came did he say a single thing. The books Wang Anfeng read at the time had to be revisited many times before he would remember them, but he had etched those words into his heart.

"Beyond every mountain lies another mountain, and beyond every person is someone greater. Anfeng, what you think is happening is ultimately only what you think. Anyone living comfortably is certainly more capable than the part of them you can see."

"Honored sir, if you have no invitation, please attend the banquet at the other location. There is plenty of fine meat, mellow wine, and fragrant tea there. You will certainly not be slighted."

The guard on the left stepped forward and spoke with considerable courtesy. Anyone able to walk shoulder to shoulder with Xiahou Xuan was someone he absolutely dared not slight. Xiahou Xuan, meanwhile, gently waved his folding fan as he watched Wang Anfeng, an amused look in his eyes.

Wang Anfeng hesitated, then clasped his fists and asked:

"May I ask, big brother, is this banquet related to the Phoenix?"

The guard's eyes lit up slightly, and his heart relaxed. He smiled and replied, "When Kun Mountain's jade shatters, a young phoenix cries clear. This time, Willow Catkin Villa is hosting the Phoenix Banquet held once every five years in Wangxian County, inviting numerous young talents to gather and make friends through martial arts."

When the young man from beneath Great Liang Mountain heard those words, he finally confirmed that, after several years, he had once again fallen into Uncle Li's trap. No matter how good his temper was, being duped into running hundreds of miles to fight and compete in martial arts had still left him somewhat annoyed. He gave a cold laugh inwardly and crossed off, one by one, all the fine wine and good meat he had planned to buy for Uncle Li.

I won't buy you a single thing!

Fuming over Uncle Li, Wang Anfeng raised his hand and took out the invitation he had kept close for protection. It was entirely ink-black, with not a single word upon it—only a phoenix spreading its wings as though about to soar. A few sparse strokes conveyed an artistic conception that nearly surged off the page, clearly marking it as no ordinary item. The guard's expression grew even more respectful, utterly devoid of the cold severity from before. He carefully returned the post to Wang Anfeng, then stepped aside.

People always liked to rank things by high and low, superior and inferior. The Phoenix Banquet was famed for gathering outstanding talents, and compared with ordinary invitations, this Phoenix Post, personally drawn by the Liu Clan's head, was far more precious.

Its materials were valuable, while its craftsmanship was even more extravagant. It had to be made purely from refined Internal force, then transformed into art through the martial path, forming the shape of a flying phoenix. Fewer than three or five had been sent out in total, and every recipient naturally had an extraordinary background. A trace of astonishment also appeared in Xiahou Xuan's eyes.

From his appearance and manner, Wang Anfeng truly seemed to come from an ordinary household. But how could an ordinary household possess an invitation like this?

Even so-called Upper Three Ranks experts might earn the Liu Clan's respect, but they might not necessarily get their hands on one of these.

Thinking back to the youth's conduct earlier, Xiahou Xuan found him increasingly fascinating and could not help laughing softly.

The interesting people in this world were generally at odds with the ordinary. There was, for instance, the heartless guest who drank flower wine, the little master who could not read, and that mad Daoist from years ago, who had carried a withered bamboo pole used for hanging clothes into the Daoist sect's ancestral court and gotten drunk, shouting, "The Third Patriarch passed the world's law down! He once said, 'When I behead myself, you will see me!'" If that old bull-nose had seen him, he would have beaten him to death with a single staff and fed him to the dogs, in exchange for peace throughout the world.

The Daoist had died, the little master had grown old, and that heartless swordsman who drank flower wine had never touched alcohol again.

But the martial world was still the same martial world.