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Anyone who traveled the jianghu knew that Old Master Liu of Wangxian County was a ruthless man.
His talent was dull. What others accomplished at seven took him until ten; what others mastered at ten took him until twelve or thirteen to manage decently. He had rarely won a fight in his life, but he had rarely lost at running for his life.
By the time he was seventy, he had outlasted nearly all his peers. By the time he was eighty, his martial arts had reached the level of what ordinary people could achieve after diligently training for over seventy years. The young grew old in the jianghu—how many people drifting through the martial world possessed seventy years of skill? The pitiful daughter-in-law had finally outlasted her mother-in-law, and Old Master Liu could at last be addressed as a venerable senior.
In the fullness of his success, he built Willow Catkin Villa and threw in who knew how much silver, finally securing the right to host this Phoenix Banquet. Thus, for the past five years, Willow Catkin Villa had been undergoing massive construction. Never mind the precious, graceful timber at the foot of the mountain; everywhere in the estate, one could see the care and money invested. Piles of costly materials crowded into view.
"What does Brother Wang think of Willow Catkin Villa?"
Xiahou Xuan stepped across the bluestone floor as he looked at the clustered, bustling beauty all around them, casually turning his head to speak with Wang Anfeng. The latter wore a dirty blue jacket and walked along this silver-paved road without the slightest timidity. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said:
"I don't like it. This estate feels too... too eager."
"Eager? That's a good way to put it."
Xiahou Xuan smiled faintly. He closed his folding fan and used it to support a cluster of luxuriant flowers beside him. The flowers had originally been pale, elegant, and refined, but at that moment he found them rather unpleasant. Even the unseen Old Master Liu of the Liu family seemed hateful to him at heart, and the youth beside him who had made him suffer a setback looked more pleasing by comparison. He closed his eyes and inhaled the floral fragrance, then laughed freely.
"Calligraphy certainly displays the hooks, strokes, pauses, and turns, but its marvel often lies in the blank spaces. Painting certainly depicts mountains, water, trees, and stones, but its spirit often lies in the empty, ethereal places. Garden design follows the same principle. He was indeed too eager."
"The more a person lacks something, the more he wishes to express it. It seems even a man who has lived for seventy or eighty years can't see through that."
Only after finishing did he suddenly shake his head. He tapped his folding fan against his own head, wearing a hint of apology on his handsome face that was not sincere in the slightest.
"Enough, enough. Speaking ill of the host in someone else's home is hardly a good idea. Being driven out with cudgels would be unpleasant. Brother Wang, I'm going to look for a friend. If you have nothing else to do, why not come along? I think he'll surely like your temperament."
"A friend?"
Wang Anfeng was slightly startled, but Xiahou Xuan had already seen the answer he wanted from his reaction. With a smile, he raised a hand and gestured for him to follow.
"Yes, a friend. I came to Wangxian County this time to catch up with him. I heard earlier that he had gone to Tianjing City, only to make a wasted trip. After finally learning that he had come to this Phoenix Banquet, I wrote to Old Master Liu to inform him and hurried here, lest he run off again."
Hearing this, Wang Anfeng felt a strange sense of familiarity, but he had no time to think it through and simply replied:
"Your friend sounds very interesting."
Xiahou Xuan nodded noncommittally.
"Of course he's very interesting. That fellow is rather handsome, but his temperament is bold and unrestrained. His family has passed down the saber for generations, yet he happens to favor Fist techniques. He especially loves his liquor. Once, he chased a respectable young lady all the way down the Great Dao, only to smell the fragrance of wine. He truly is a headache."
Wang Anfeng was slightly stunned, and that familiar feeling in his heart grew increasingly strong and distinct.
A bold temperament, skilled in Fist techniques.
Fond of traveling everywhere, and had just passed through Tianjing City.
An extreme lover of wine...
A handsome youth suddenly sprang into his mind, smiling as he told him, "You and I are bound to meet again someday." His mind instantly became clear as a mirror, and intense joy at reuniting with an old acquaintance rose within him.
So that was it... He guessed on our first meeting that I was going to attend this Phoenix Banquet, which was why he said we were bound to meet again...
Yet amid his joy, he could not help laughing inwardly. At the time, he had thought the youth's attempt to strike up a conversation by asking about wine was overly familiar. But if the man could chase a young girl all the way down the road just to smell her wine, then asking a fine young man like him for a drink was perfectly normal.
"Why are you laughing, Brother Wang? Do you also find my friend truly interesting?"
Seeing the faint smile appear on Wang Anfeng's face, Xiahou Xuan asked with considerable smugness. The latter shook his head and smiled.
"He really is interesting. I think I've run into him several times... He once found me at a herbal-tea stall and wanted to buy the jug of wine at my waist."
"Buy wine at a herbal-tea stall?"
Xiahou Xuan was speechless, but he helplessly shook his head again.
"He really would do something like that."
Despite his helplessness, his gaze toward Wang Anfeng grew somewhat gentler.
For a son of an aristocratic family, friends were something of a luxury. He had even fewer friends than ordinary scions of noble houses, so he valued them all the more. Since that drunkard had sought Wang Anfeng out several times, it proved the boy was decent enough to count as one of his friends. And a friend of that drunkard was naturally a friend of his as well.
When someone else did the same thing, it was provocation. But when a friend did it, what was it? Provocation?
No, no, no. That was called a shared joke.
Back then, the governor's son had merely spoken disrespectfully to him, so he had tricked the man, stripped him naked, and hung him above a brothel for three days and three nights. Anyone who dared plead for mercy had their dog's head smashed in. That drunkard, meanwhile, had gotten him dead drunk and left him sprawled beneath the skirts of the sisters. The next day, Xiahou Xuan was still wearing rouge all over his face, yet they had hooked arms, drunk wine, and listened to tunes together as if nothing had happened—and he had casually thrown out a thousand taels of silver.
The two walked on together. Xiahou Xuan was clever and quick-witted, deliberately trying to draw their relationship closer, and the two naturally found much to talk about. When they passed a small pavilion, Xiahou Xuan's eyes lit up. He laughed outright and shouted:
"You rotten drunkard! Rotten drunkard! Hahaha, I finally found you!"
Wang Anfeng was slightly startled. Looking up, he saw an unfamiliar face turn toward them. The youth was fifteen or sixteen, with swordlike brows and starry eyes, and a nose like a hanging gallbladder. A stray lock of hair over his forehead added a touch of unrestrained swagger. He seemed to have been drinking, his eyes hazy and unfocused. But when Xiahou Xuan came within three paces of him, his entire body shuddered. Covering his face, he wailed:
"Pretty boy?! Wh-why are you here?! We agreed—I absolutely won't marry your sister! If you keep forcing me, I'll drown myself in wine!"
"Hahaha, it's nothing, it's nothing. Just look who I brought you."
Xiahou Xuan laughed heartily and hooked an arm around the youth's neck. Without answering, he merely pointed at Wang Anfeng with two fingers. But the youth shook his head like a rattle drum and cried:
"Seeing me in this miserable state is enough! You even brought an acquaintance?!"
"Miserable state?"
Xiahou Xuan was slightly taken aback.
"You lost again?"
The youth rolled his eyes.
"Can we not mention the 'again'?"
Xiahou Xuan laughed, watching his friend with a hint of malicious amusement.
"You've already competed with him in Fist techniques. What did you compete in this time?"
The youth sighed again, his brows knitted in misery.
"Drinking."
"I thought my drinking capacity was as great as an ox's. I couldn't beat him with my fists, but I never imagined I couldn't outdrink him either."
"I really can't get the better of this Thirteenth fellow..."
Wang Anfeng, who had just stepped forward, was slightly surprised. He asked:
"Thirteenth?"
The youth glanced at him, assuming he was Xiahou Xuan's friend. A friend's friend was his friend, so he answered without reserve:
"Yeah. You don't know the famous Thirteenth Lord?"
Wang Anfeng's face grew hot. He scratched his head.
"I've never gone out before... I really don't know."
The youth was stunned. He raised a hand and ruffled his own hair into a mess, clearly irritated, but he still patiently explained:
"He wasn't originally called that. What normal family would name its child Thirteen?"
"It's just that he excels at the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting; mechanisms and hidden weapons; Lightness Skill, internal cultivation, Fist techniques, palm techniques, sabers, swords, and flexible weapons. He's peerless among his peers, and his capacity for wine is astonishing. That's why he was called the Thirteenth Young Master. In private, we call him the Thirteenth Lord."
Wang Anfeng's pupils widened slightly. He could hardly believe such a person existed. He counted them carefully in his mind: the four arts of qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting; mechanisms; hidden weapons; Lightness Skill; internal cultivation; fists; palms; sabers; swords; flexible weapons; and drinking capacity. Unable to hold back, he asked:
"But that makes fourteen things in total. Why is he called the Thirteenth Young Master?"
Xiahou Xuan sighed.
"Because compared with his peers, he's still missing one thing, so the number was reduced by one."
"What is he missing?"
"Invincibility."
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