A Challenge

Over the past few days, Lu Cheng hadn't spent every waking moment training.

During meals and breaks, he also chatted with Fatty, the Hu Brothers, and a few other people he knew well.

He had gained a fairly thorough understanding of the martial arts forces in Yangcheng County.

At the very top were naturally Heavenly Spring Temple and Emerald Cloud Abbey.

Besides them, the Martial Suppression Battalion, established in Yang City by the imperial court's Zhenwu Guard, was another colossal force.

Though called the Zhenwu Guard, they were really the "Martial Suppression Guard." The reason the Great Fortune Dynasty could maintain its legitimacy was the Zhenwu Guard, spread throughout the land.

At the Yangcheng Martial Suppression Battalion, the chief colonel and his two deputies were all martial artists in the Late Body Refining Realm.

Below them were the various sects and martial arts halls, each with a varying number of Body Refining Realm martial artists.

For example, the Chen Family, the foremost lineage in Yang City, had two martial artists in the Late Body Refining Realm.

Lin Martial Arts Hall, the city's foremost hall, had one martial artist in the Middle Body Tempering Stage and another in the Late Body Refining Realm.

Then there was Four Symbols Martial Arts Hall, an alliance of four halls led by Vermilion Bird Martial Arts Hall and Black Tortoise Martial Hall.

The Xu and Huang martial arts lineages were united as one through generations of marriage.

Further down were minor sects and martial arts halls, such as Three Suns Sect and Cloud Billow Sect, which had only a few Strength-Refining Martial Artists.

These were also the most numerous, the very bottom tier.

But whether they were bottom-tier or not, the people who had come today represented seventeen sects and martial arts halls.

They accounted for fully two-thirds of all the martial arts sects and halls in Yang City.

Among them were four martial artists in the Body Refining Realm alone.

With all of them standing there, the pressure was immense.

It should have been the time when the sun had just risen, and the sky was bright and clear.

But as this crowd arrived, several gray clouds suddenly drifted across the sky, blocking out what little sunlight there was.

Feng Qi, seated at the head of the hall, watched them enter the courtyard. His deep-set gaze swept slowly across each face before he spoke:

"Master Zhang, why have you brought so many people to Long Wind Escort Agency?"

Feng Qi had directed his question at the master of Vermilion Bird Martial Arts Hall, but as soon as he finished speaking, an old man in the middle of the group suddenly lunged forward.

He pushed past the others, came to the space between the two sides, and dropped to his knees with a thud.

Then he cried out in a heartrending voice:

"Lu Cheng, a disciple of Long Wind Escort Agency, used his martial strength to bully the weak and killed my beloved son without cause! I beg you, honored martial artists, to give me justice!"

Boom!

The courtyard erupted in an uproar.

No one had expected the old man to do that.

Who came in without saying a word and immediately dropped to his knees?

What kind of grievous injustice had he suffered?

Once they understood what he had said, all the disciples turned in shock to look at Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng trained from dawn to dusk every day. How had he suddenly become someone who "used his martial strength to bully the weak"?

But the old man didn't look as though he were faking it.

Feng Qi fell silent for a moment, then sighed.

He didn't even look at the kneeling Fish Gang leader. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the Vermilion Bird Martial Arts Hall master in his brocade-red robe, his jujube-red face full of disdain.

"Zhang Rensheng, you're getting on in years, yet you've only grown more shameless."

The master of Vermilion Bird Martial Arts Hall immediately flushed red. Pointing at Feng Qi, he snapped:

"Feng Qi, what do you mean? Your Long Wind Escort Agency prides itself on benevolence and righteousness, but I never thought you'd—"

"You want to be a whore and set up a memorial archway too? Didn't think you'd fail to raise one today, did you?"

Before the master of Vermilion Bird Martial Arts Hall could finish, Feng Ji interrupted him with a mocking laugh. He pointed at the kneeling Fish Gang leader.

"Master Zhang, take a look at yourself. Do you look anything like the head of a martial arts hall?"

"You're a Body Refining Martial Artist, yet you've brought a local thug here to demand some so-called 'justice.' Is that how people who practice martial arts seek justice?"

"And if you really want justice, who will the fishermen who were hounded to death seek it from?"

He was a martial artist in the Body Refining Realm, yet he had gone so far as to invent a pretext, trying to claim the moral high ground. The trouble was, the very idea of his "moral high ground" was a joke.

Feng Ji had thought his words would enrage the master of Vermilion Bird Martial Arts Hall. Instead, the man suddenly burst into laughter.

"Ke-ke-ke-ke! Fine! Since you want to settle this according to the rules of the martial world, then let's do just that."

As he spoke, he pointed at the Fish Gang leader on the ground.

"This is my sworn brother from years ago. His only son was brutally murdered. The poor man has had to bury his own child."

"Today, I'll stand up for him and demand a life from Long Wind Escort Agency. Is that fair?"

Feng Ji gave a carefree laugh.

"Now that's more like it. A debt of blood must be paid in blood, a debt of vengeance must be avenged. That's how martial artists should handle things—cleanly and decisively."

The smile that had been fixed on his face vanished at once, and his tone turned cold.

"But fine, you've made your case. Does that mean I have to hand someone over just because you demand it?"

The master of Black Tortoise Martial Hall was an old man with white hair and a hunched back, leaning on a cane. At this, he planted the cane against the ground and replied grimly:

"How domineering of Long Wind Escort Agency! The whole martial world of Yang City says the three of you brothers can join forces to stand against someone at the peak of the Body Refining Realm. But no one knows if that's true."

"Today, let the seventeen of us test your mettle."

The disciples in the courtyard were stunned.

Not one of these seventeen sects could stand against Long Wind Escort Agency on its own, but together, they were terrifying.

Long Wind Escort Agency had only three escorts in the Early Stage of Body Refining, while the other side had four.

Yet Feng Qi and the two others standing before the hall weren't especially worried.

Their side had one fewer Body Refining Realm martial artist, but the three brothers had grown up together.

With their coordination, they wouldn't be at a disadvantage against four martial artists of the same realm.

"Hmph. Have you all decided that Yang City is too peaceful?"

Just as the two sides stood on the verge of a fight, another voice rang out.

The herald's call followed right after:

"Colonel Shen Yi of the Martial Suppression Battalion has arrived!"

Colonel Shen?

Lu Cheng was taken aback. He immediately thought of the two disciples who had just run out.

He had guessed they'd gone to get help. Now it seemed their reinforcements were the Martial Suppression Battalion.

Long Wind Escort Agency had ties to the Martial Suppression Battalion too?

As he pondered this, several men in fitted martial attire strode into the courtyard.

The man at the front was around forty, with a lean face and slightly narrowed eyes that revealed nothing of his mood.

He swept his gaze across the crowd and spoke evenly:

"I, Shen Yi, have served as a colonel in the Yangcheng Martial Suppression Battalion for ten years, clearing more than a hundred and forty bandit gangs, large and small, from the surrounding area."

"My accomplishments may not be great, but I've certainly put in my share of hard work."

"I'm now facing an evaluation for promotion. At a time like this, you're all threatening to resort to violence. Do you have some grievance against me?"

At the sight of him, Feng Qi and the other two visibly relaxed.

The faces of the dozen or so people on the other side, by contrast, darkened at Shen Yi's words.

The men at the front exchanged glances. Zhang Rensheng gritted his teeth and cupped his hands.

"Colonel Shen, please understand. We didn't mean to cause you trouble at such a time."

"But Long Wind Escort Agency has allowed its disciples to use their martial strength to kill people. We had no choice, so we—"

Shen Yi waved a hand to stop him, then turned to Feng Qi.

"Escort Chief Feng, is that true?"

Feng Qi answered in a low voice:

"It is. Our disciple Lu Cheng did indeed kill two people."

No one had witnessed Lu Cheng killing the Fish Gang's young gang leader or beating Shi Da to death.

But Feng Qi disdained to lie about it. A killing was a killing. Whatever else martial artists might be, they had to be open and honest.

"But the man who was killed was the Fish Gang's Young Gang Leader. He extorted the fishermen and drove people to their deaths. He deserved to die."

"When Long Wind Escort Agency takes on disciples, character comes first. To eliminate evil is to promote good."

"Even if he hadn't tried to kill Lu Cheng, if we'd seen what he was doing, we would have eliminated him all the same."

"Nice speech!" The master of Black Tortoise Martial Hall planted his cane on the ground. "A killing is a killing. There's no need to dress it up with all those excuses."

Shen Yi raised a hand, stopping both sides from arguing, and spoke calmly:

"There's no need to argue."

"Master Zhang, let me ask you: was Escort Chief Feng right? Did you know what evil the Fish Gang had done?"

"This..." Zhang Rensheng was at a loss for words.

From his reaction, Shen Yi already understood.

"You're all prominent figures in Yang City's martial world. Getting into a fight over a local thug—wouldn't that make you a laughingstock?"

The people from Vermilion Bird Escort Agency and the other sixteen factions all looked unwilling to accept this.

Long Wind Escort Agency was strong, but it had originally only escorted goods, so it hadn't had much to do with them.

Opening a martial arts hall and taking on disciples was another matter.

Yangcheng County was a small place, and its resources were fixed.

Every mouthful Long Wind Escort Agency took meant one less mouthful for the others.

They had targeted Long Wind Escort Agency before, but it had never achieved much.

Now that they had finally seized an opportunity, they were naturally unwilling to let it go.

But offending the Martial Suppression Battalion, which represented the imperial court, was another matter altogether.

They were just about to accept defeat for the day when, to their surprise, Shen Yi spoke again:

"Since you keep saying you want revenge, I'll give you a chance."

At this, Feng Qi suddenly turned to look at Shen Yi, only to meet a pair of eyes devoid of all feeling.

"In my opinion, we should follow the old rules of the martial world and settle this with a contest."

"Including Lu Cheng, each side will send out three disciples. The winner gets to decide who's in the right."

"Colonel Shen..." Feng Zhan couldn't help speaking up, but Feng Qi stopped him before he could say more.

Shen Yi glanced at Feng Zhan but kept speaking:

"Still, a contest without stakes wouldn't be very satisfying."

"I hear East Sun Sect gave Long Wind Escort Agency three slots. Why not put those slots up as the stakes?"

"What do you think, Escort Chief Feng?"

Feng Qi's expression changed. He wanted to speak, but Shen Yi's gaze had already turned ice-cold.

The two stared at each other for a moment. In the end, Feng Qi was the one to back down.

"Very well. We'll do as you say, Colonel Shen."

... I'm the cold scene divider ...

P.S. The protagonist didn't get much page time in today's two chapters. I mainly wanted to use this setup to introduce Yang City's distribution of power and its background.

Lu Cheng will reach Minor Accomplishment in Strength Refining tomorrow!