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Xiahou Xuan had known Huangfu Xiong since they were seven. He had seen him swing his fists at people and heard him curse while dead drunk, but he had never seen this fellow clearly saying that someone else was no good while making it sound so pleasant. Xiahou Xuan raised his brows slightly and looked at his friend in surprise.
Like a young tiger beneath the mountain, sharpening its teeth and honing its claws as it awaited a bloody slaughter?
Broken down, this meant: although you were a fierce tiger, you had yet to mature. Your teeth were not sharp, your claws were not keen, and they had yet to be stained with blood.
In jianghu lingo, it meant, "Kid, you're still far too green." When saying it, one ought to raise the corners of one's eyes and add a disdainful, arrogant look, then click one's tongue twice. Only then would it have the proper flavor. Spoken in such bookish language, it had none of the jianghu's bandit-like spirit.
Wang Anfeng did not know what Xiahou Xuan was thinking, but he could sense the goodwill of Huangfu Xiong and the others. He answered with a smile, "I did have a few fortuitous encounters and figured some things out. That's all." Xue Thirteen smiled faintly and was about to reply when a bell suddenly rang. Its sound rolled on, dense and continuous, its lingering resonance stretching through Willow Catkin Villa without end. He stopped what he had intended to say and changed the subject instead:
"Looks like the time has come. The arena should already be set up. Everyone, let's talk as we go."
Xiahou Xuan nodded slightly, then glanced at Wang Anfeng again. He folded his fan and tapped it against his forehead, smiling with an unmistakable hint of a headache. "But before that, we need to get this kid changed into a proper outfit." Xue Thirteen looked over Wang Anfeng's clothes, sighed as well, and nodded faintly.
Wang Anfeng was slightly stunned. Looking at the somewhat dirty and disheveled clothes he wore, he felt his face grow warm. He scratched his head and explained:
"This... something happened on the way here, and I got some dirt on me."
Xiahou Xuan curled his lips. With a snap, his folding fan lightly tapped Wang Anfeng on the forehead without the least bit of courtesy. He said:
"Even if they were clean, they still wouldn't do."
Wang Anfeng frowned slightly. "Why not?"
Xiahou Xuan merely lifted the corner of his mouth and turned his eyes away, refusing even to look at him, much less answer. He simply waited for Wang Anfeng to ask him for an explanation. At that moment, however, Huangfu Xiong let out a soft laugh and spoke up once more:
"There's no distinction between people's ranks, but Anfeng, you seem to have forgotten what sort of place this is."
After a slight pause, the young man pointed down the mountain with two fingers. Looking as far as the eye could see from here, one could glimpse the prosperity of the distant county, bustling and teeming as though it lay among the clouds. It made one's heart and mind expand unconsciously. Wang Anfeng seemed to understand, and only then did Huangfu Xiong smile faintly and say:
"This is the Phoenix Banquet, the stage that every martial artist under fifteen in Wangxian County dreams of using to show themselves. Martial artists inevitably eat meat and take pills, while a slightly better set of clothes costs less than a day's worth of pills. Every martial youth throughout Wangxian County has exhausted themselves preparing for this day, with devotion bordering on piety. If you don't even wear a martial artist's outfit and come in ordinary clothes instead, wouldn't that be too flippant?"
"And where would that leave the youths who practice martial arts with such devotion yet had no chance to come? Perhaps you have no such intention, but they don't know what's in your heart. Ask yourself: if you devoted yourself wholeheartedly to something you loved, only to have someone else treat it lightly, how would you feel?"
Wang Anfeng opened and closed his mouth. He truly felt that he had overlooked this point. After one thing after another had happened, he had actually cast his father's teachings to the back of his mind, nearly becoming the sort of arrogant, self-important person who thought only of himself. He sighed inwardly:
"A gentleman is cautious even when alone. Indeed, there's truth in that."
But before he could speak, Huangfu Xiong drawled lazily:
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. If you go up there dressed like that, you'll have offended seven or eight out of ten martial artists below before you even open your mouth. Your odds of losing will instantly increase by thirty percent. Unwise, unwise."
Wang Anfeng was slightly stunned and looked at Huangfu Xiong in surprise. Beside him, Xiahou Xuan was already sneering:
"Idiot. All you can see is victory or defeat."
"Looking at him, today must be his first appearance in the jianghu. He ought to ride the momentum and leave a mark in Wangxian County among his peers—a mark written in bold ink. He must treat it with due solemnity."
"Besides, this world is full of idiots who judge people by their looks. They'll inevitably make an issue of his clothes. Change into another outfit and he can shut those stinking mouths. Why not do it?"
Wang Anfeng was stunned again. Xue Thirteen stopped and said with a smile:
"You two wait here a moment. I brought some clothes with me this time when I came to Wangxian. I have a few pieces I've never worn that I can give to Brother Wang. Anfeng, come with me."
"...Mm. Thank you, Brother Xue."
Wang Anfeng was slightly stunned. There was nothing else he could do but cup his fists and offer his thanks before following Xue Thirteen away. Once the two figures had disappeared from sight, Xiahou Xuan turned around and looked Huangfu Xiong up and down, sneering:
"Don't talk about other people. With that expression and bearing of yours, getting drunk before a fight is flippant enough. Where does that leave those martial youths of Wangxian County?"
Huangfu Xiong stamped on the stones beneath his feet and replied with a hint of drunkenness:
"Where does it leave them? Hahahaha, I'm on the mountaintop now, so naturally they're beneath my feet."
Hearing the implication, Xiahou Xuan said:
"Arrogant indeed!"
Xiahou Xuan tilted his head, his manner languid and unhurried. "So what if I'm arrogant? So what if I'm unrestrained?"
"Fine! Then may I ask why the arrogant and unrestrained Huangfu is taking such an interest in someone he just met?"
With a sharp shout, Huangfu Xiong's body trembled. That trace of drunkenness vanished in an instant. Before his mind could catch up, Xiahou Xuan was already approaching with a cold laugh, saying:
"Speak. Just which wire in your brain got crossed? Since when has Young Master Huangfu, who is as stingy with words as gold except when it comes to wine and fists, started explaining things for other people time and again?"
He even exposed me!
"Uh... well, he is someone Xue Thirteen acknowledges... I-I just thought more highly of him."
"Bullshit. Before you left home, you couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge his elder brother, much less Wang Anfeng."
Huangfu Xiong opened his mouth but could not come up with an explanation. He glanced at Xiahou Xuan's cold smile, sighed, and said in defeat:
"Was it that obvious?"
"Clear as day."
Huangfu Xiong resigned himself after hearing that and let out another long sigh. With a sorrowful, bitter expression, he explained:
"Look, didn't Xue Thirteen say that Wang Anfeng had a jug of fine wine in his possession? If he shared some, he could fight him from dawn to dusk."
"I was just thinking whether I could get my hands on some."
Xiahou Xuan was slightly stunned. Looking at his friend, he slowly nodded.
"Indeed... opportunities to spar with Xue Thirteen are rare. His abilities are well-rounded, yet unlike those senior masters, he isn't completely beyond hope. Fighting him can better reflect what you've learned. If you could fight him for an hour, your Fist techniques would surely advance another step; if you fought him for three hours, your cultivation would certainly break through."
"That would let you surpass what your elder brother achieved back then. Not bad."
Huangfu Xiong rolled his eyes and looked at the suddenly enlightened Xiahou Xuan as though he were an idiot.
"Get lost. Who wants to fight him?"
"With wine this good, of course I'm drinking it myself... I'll drink it right in front of that brat Xue Thirteen and make him watch."
"I can't beat him, so I'll make him die of craving!"
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