Who were those people gathered in the dense woods to the east, fighting?
Were they settling a score, or robbing someone for their money and treasures?
Ye Qin stopped, feeling curious.
He had been in the Herb Gathering Hall for five or six years now, which made him something of a man of the martial world. But he spent all year gathering herbs in the deep mountains and forests and rarely stayed long in the county town. So he had never witnessed one of the martial world's most ordinary sights—a mass brawl—let alone taken part in one.
With his current cultivation, ordinary people of the martial world posed little threat to him. After a moment's thought, he decided to go see the "legendary" martial world brawl for himself.
He pushed off the ground and shot forward, sprinting toward the woods.
In a grove to the east lay a broad grassy clearing several hectares in size. Two groups stood at opposite ends of it, facing each other with hostility.
One group consisted of young men and women in blue robes, sixty or seventy in all, every one of them looking indignant. The other was a much smaller group of young men and women in white robes, numbering only a dozen or two, but brimming with arrogance.
In the middle of the clearing, two young men were locked in a fierce fight.
People on both sides shouted encouragement to the two combatants, with the occasional jeer or curse thrown in.
Ye Qin was slightly taken aback when he saw the large crowd of young men and women wearing the blue and white robes so familiar to him.
These people were none other than the Herb Gathering Hall's outer-hall herb-gathering disciples and inner-hall medicine-making disciples. They were all apprentices between fifteen or sixteen and twenty-five or twenty-six years old; there were no very young children among them.
A ridiculous feeling rose in Ye Qin's heart. He had come to watch a martial world spectacle, only to stumble upon his own people fighting.
At the center of the outer-hall disciples' group stood Yang Yicheng, Xu Zhi, and a few other particularly active young disciples from ordinary county-town families. Sun Ying and Qian Ruoxiu were there too, standing among the outer-hall disciples and glaring furiously at the inner-hall crowd.
The inner-hall disciples, meanwhile, were led by several students from wealthy county-town families, including Cao Yu'an and Zhou Huiliu. Their fathers were well-known grain and cloth merchants in Zhuqi County. In Ping Province of the Wu Kingdom, merchants were still regarded as commoners of low status, but they had money and spent it freely. They also studied more and better martial arts than the outer-hall disciples, so naturally they were always arrogant and looked down on them.
Once Ye Qin had taken in the two groups facing off across the clearing, he gradually understood what was going on.
It seemed this private fight had started because, a few days earlier, Sun Ying and several other outer-hall female disciples had been harassed by inner-hall disciples.
Hostility and conflict between the Herb Gathering Hall's outer and inner halls had a long history; this was nothing new. But this incident had blown up and infuriated the outer-hall disciples. Otherwise, so many of them wouldn't have come here to cheer their side on.
The two young men were still fighting in the clearing.
The burly young man from the outer hall wielded a large cleaver. His moves were simple, broad and powerful, and every slash brought a fierce whoosh of wind. But his stance lacked stability. He had plenty of force, but not enough control. His attacks often went out easily, only for him to lose control of them and strike the ground.
The inner hall had sent out a lean young man wielding a light steel sword. His style was nimble, and his sword moves were tricky. Such nimble swordplay should have been perfectly suited to countering the broad, powerful slashes of a cleaver. But he looked afraid of the burly young man's fierce attacks, worried he might be badly injured if he made a single mistake. He didn't dare get close, and ended up on the back foot, pinned down by the other man's overwhelming, frenzied cleaver strikes.
Ye Qin had never studied swordplay or saber techniques, and he couldn't make out anything subtle about their moves.
The one thing he could tell was that both men moved stiffly and lacked agility. At best, they were second- or third-rate fighters. At that level, it made no difference whether their swordplay or saber techniques were subtle or not. They were full of openings, and a single casual strike would defeat either of them.
With Ye Qin's current strength, watching the two fight was no different from watching children brawl. He watched for a short while, found nothing interesting in it, and lost interest.
In terms of martial arts alone, the outer-hall disciples might not measure up to those in the inner hall. After all, the inner-hall disciples had more time to practice and could afford to buy advanced martial arts manuals.
But in actual combat, the outer-hall disciples spent all year gathering herbs in the wild, often risking their lives to fight wolves and kill tigers. They were far more ferocious than the inner-hall disciples and fought as if they didn't care whether they lived or died. The inner-hall disciples valued their lives and didn't want to meet force with force; they only thought of winning with superior skill. Inevitably, that put them at a disadvantage. And if it came to a mass brawl, the outer-hall disciples had so many people that they could make the inner-hall disciples cry for their mothers.
So whether it was one-on-one or a group fight, the outer-hall disciples were more likely to win. Ye Qin wasn't worried they would suffer, and had no intention of stepping into the fight.
As Ye Qin wondered whether to leave, a breeze suddenly stirred the treetops above him. He sensed something, looked up, and spotted a familiar, nimble figure.
In a nearby dense tree, Feng Xiao crouched on a thick branch like a giant monkey, staring down at Ye Qin in surprise.
"Second Senior Brother, I'd only just quietly used my lightness skill to leap over here and scare you. How did you notice me?"
Feng Xiao immediately lost interest. He widened his already mismatched eyes and continued, "Hey, Second Senior Brother, where have you been these past few days? I've looked everywhere and couldn't find you. A few days ago, you said you'd avenge Sun Ying, but you never showed your face. That's really not very brotherly of you."
Ye Qin replied mildly, "I've been wandering around the county town these past few days, taking care of some things. It took a little time. Besides, there are so many outer-hall disciples; one more or less makes no difference. You and Senior Brother have already gathered this many people. Was I really worried Sun Ying wouldn't get her revenge? By the way, what are the rules for this fight? Can our side win?"
Feng Xiao didn't think much of it and eagerly explained the fight. "We made an agreement with the inner hall to fight thirty bouts, and whichever side wins the most takes it. The losing side has to kneel and knock their heads on the ground before the other side, promising never to provoke them again. What a shame you missed it, Second Senior Brother. Our outer-hall disciples have already fought dozens of bouts against those bastards from the inner hall over the past two days. Haha, we've won thirteen already, and they've only won ten. If we win this one, that'll make fourteen. The inner hall can't even send out any skilled fighters now. If we win one or two more, we're sure to take it. You should've seen them—they're nearly mad with rage."
As an outer-hall disciple, Ye Qin naturally sided with the outer hall, and he was glad to see them doing well. "Heh, that's good. After the inner-hall disciples kneel and knock their heads on the ground a few times, they'll have to keep their tails between their legs from now on. They'll never be able to hold their heads up again."
As the two of them talked in the woods, the fight suddenly took a turn.
"Ah!"
A cry of pain rang out from the fighting ground. The lean inner-hall disciple with the sword had let his guard down, and the burly young man's cleaver had struck his shoulder, opening a gash several inches long. He dropped his sword, clutched his left shoulder as blood gushed out, and was forced to leave the field.
When the outer-hall herb-gathering apprentices saw their side win another bout, they immediately erupted in cheers.
"Beautifully done, Senior Brother Xu Zhi!"
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