Crouching Tiger Manor, Dean Chen

The voice was gentle in tone, unhurried and methodical.

Yet to Hong Yuan's ears, it was incomparably familiar. It was shockingly his former role model—the former dean of Qingxu Academy, Chen Huanshan, who had run off with one wife, two concubines, and his sister-in-law!

Hong Yuan truly had not expected that a momentary whim would lead him to run into an old acquaintance here.

Listening to the two people inside the room converse, this Dean Chen, after fleeing, seemed to have thrown himself under some faction's banner and was serving some villa master.

Originally, Hong Yuan had come by night to cross hands with Yue Feng, observe his martial arts, and draw out their essence.

Now, however, he was in no hurry. He might as well listen to what the two of them had to say.

Hong Yuan's eyes flickered.

Inside the room, Yue Feng's voice rang out: "Very hard! I used jianghu methods to come and challenge their halls, forcing Zuo Lie and Shi Meng to accept the fights. If I want to forcibly subdue them, they'll have to summon their apprentices and disciples to rise up and attack together."

"Besides, those two have been rooted in Wushan County for many years. Among their disciples and followers, there's no lack of sons from those wealthy households. Even if I force them to submit for a time, later I'd still have to guard against them colluding with the great households and turning on us. That would be even more troublesome."

Chen Huanshan also sighed. "Though there are many good fighters in the villa, there are even more things to be done. What the villa master is planning is hardly just one little Wushan County..."

He paused, seeming to ponder for a while, then continued, "After this, I'll write a letter and send it back to the villa. Hopefully the villa master can dispatch three or five more good fighters over."

"Then many thanks, Mr. Chen." Yue Feng's joy overflowed in his words.

"We're all working for the villa master. What need is there for thanks?"

Chen Huanshan laughed. "In the end, the one doing the hard work is still you, boy Yue. This Chen is merely moving his lips. Fortunately, the situation in Wushan County has already been opened up."

"Yue Feng is nothing but a rough man who knows a bit of fist-and-foot skill. Without Mr. Chen making plans for me, how could I have gathered forces so quickly? I'm afraid I'd still be tangled in ten thousand threads, with nowhere to begin!"

The two people in the room both burst into laughter.

Hong Yuan also smiled.

Although Yue Feng and Chen Huanshan had not mentioned the true names of that "villa" or "villa master," he still had some guesses.

With all under heaven in disorder, wealthy households and great clans all liked to establish villas and build forts to shield their families, so titles like villa and villa master were quite fashionable.

Huang Guiling was one of them.

But one that could be said to have many good fighters, and whose jianghu habits were so thick—that was truly a name ready to leap out.

Even in Yangquan County's Yang Family Martial Arts Hall, Hong Yuan had often heard the apprentices mention that within the territory of Linjiang Prefecture was a great hero named Song Yinglong.

It was said this man was righteous and generous with his wealth, had always loved befriending jianghu heroes, and had spent a tremendous sum to establish a villa called "Crouching Tiger Villa." Any hero who came to his door could be received with wine and meat.

Over the past dozen years, Crouching Tiger Villa's reputation had grown day by day. It was said its retainers already numbered in the thousands, and each and every one of them was a fine man who had tempered his martial arts and possessed no ordinary skill.

It was not that Hong Yuan did not believe there were no people in this world whose righteousness touched the clouds.

He simply did not believe that someone who could call hundreds and thousands of people brothers would be some righteous soul whose loyalty pierced the heavens. Raising this many martial artists who drank wine and ate meat—putting everything else aside, the daily food and drink alone would be an astronomical sum.

Where did the money come from?

When he heard the martial arts hall apprentices mention that Song Yinglong, Hong Yuan had taken it to heart at once and remembered the man's name.

He had no other meaning. He merely felt that this man might be in the same line of work as him.

To open the [Taisui Blessed Land], he had to climb to the peak of power.

That Song Yinglong was squandering wealth on such a vast scale. It could not possibly be purely for charity, could it?

Next, Yue Feng and Chen Huanshan discussed how to crush the remaining gangs of Wushan County, whether to kill or intimidate those gang leaders into submission, how to gather in those gangs' businesses and manpower, and so on.

As well as how to deal with the counterattack from the great households.

After all, no great household was willing to see gang power integrated into one whole, and many gangs themselves were black gloves specially raised by the great households to do dirty work.

Suddenly, the intense discussion inside the room came to an abrupt halt.

"Oh! Noticed, did you? A bit slow, though."

The two guards in the courtyard had been walking back and forth. Even if nothing else, there should have been some footsteps. If the two inside the room had so much as raised their heads and looked outside, they would have sensed something wrong.

One could only say that these two had become absorbed in their discussion, and, feeling themselves under the protection of numerous thugs, had lost their caution.

At that moment, the two people inside the room suddenly began speaking loudly again.

Hong Yuan chuckled, uninterested in listening to the two of them put on an act. He bent a finger and lightly tapped the window lattice.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Good evening, you two. I've come to visit deep in the night, which is rather presumptuous of me. I hope you'll forgive the offense!"

Hong Yuan said with a smile.

The moment his voice fell, all the lamps inside the room were abruptly extinguished. With a faint "chi" sound, like a summer cicada beating its wings, a cold, sharp edge pierced through the window and stabbed toward Hong Yuan's chest with astonishing speed.

Had it been an ordinary martial artist who had entered force, with his vision suddenly plunged into darkness and not yet adjusted, then encountering this nearly soundless, incomparably swift stab, he would probably have found it hard to escape.

But when this strike came stabbing over, Hong Yuan had long since tapped a foot, drawn back, and landed in the center of the courtyard.

Crash!

When that cold, fierce edge missed, it swiftly swept and coiled, tearing and piercing through the front door and windows. Amid the thunderous shock, a tall young man with ordinary features, carrying a longsword in hand, walked out.

Chen Huanshan shielded Yue Feng in front of him, stared at Hong Yuan, and said in a deep voice, "Who are you, sir? When did you arrive?"

As a former outstanding student of Qingxu Academy, Hong Yuan naturally had had dealings with Chen Huanshan, but at this moment, Chen Huanshan could not recognize him.

For one thing, it was nearly midnight; though torches burned around them, the courtyard was still rather dim. For another, Hong Yuan's face was covered.

In fact, even if he took off the face cloth, with his current height having shot up by several inches and his physique and bearing greatly changed, Chen Huanshan probably still would not recognize him.

It did not matter.

Hong Yuan had not come to reminisce.

"I only just arrived, only just..."

Hong Yuan waved a hand and said with a soft laugh, "I heard Wushan County recently produced a young talent, so I specially came to seek a little instruction. Don't worry, as for this 'Crouching Tiger Villa' you were talking about, I didn't hear a single word..."

He tested them with his words. His gaze swept over, and at once he saw Yue Feng and Chen Huanshan's expressions turn gloomy.

In particular, a cold gleam flickered in Yue Feng's eyes. Seeing that all around the residence had already grown noisy because of the broken window, with bursts of footsteps ringing out as numerous thugs surged over.

"Seize him!"

Yue Feng barked harshly, already lunging out first. The longsword in his hand shook, going "swish, swish," its blade seeming to split light and turn into shadows in the dark night, shifting unpredictably, as if it were about to stab at Hong Yuan's face, yet also as if it were aimed at his chest, making its path impossible to grasp.

Dozens more thugs shouted as they charged over one after another. The dozen or so in front had already entered the main courtyard, each drawing weapons and swarming forward to attack.

With a flick of his toe, Hong Yuan sent the corpse of a guard he had killed earlier flying sideways, hurling it toward Yue Feng's attacking longsword.

The two were already extremely close. Yue Feng could not dodge, and hurriedly drew in his sword force, turning his body aside and kicking the corpse away.

Yet his body felt a surge of great force rushing in, forcing him to retreat several steps.

Hong Yuan, meanwhile, crashed backward toward two thugs who were coming to kill him. Lowering his head, he avoided the slashes of two long sabers, then hooked both hands back and fiercely seized the two thugs by the throat.

With a forceful grip, he dragged the two thugs up into the air as if dunking a basketball, then smashed their heads heavily onto the blue bricks of the ground, killing them on the spot.

Hong Yuan swept out a hand and snatched a long saber, strength turning through his right arm as though he had whirled it into a cyclone.

Sharp "chi, chi" sounds rang without pause. The long saber in his hand was like a clear breeze slipping through gaps, not colliding with the weapons in the other thugs' hands at all, yet in the next instant, heart-rending screams rose.

Seven or eight thugs either had their heads fly into the sky, their wrists severed at the root, or both legs chopped off, and they collapsed to the ground at once, wailing without end.

Seeing this scene, the dozens of thugs surging over instantly halted their momentum, fear and panic appearing on all their faces.

These people had only been subdued by Yue Feng a few days ago. What loyalty could there be?

If Hong Yuan had killed a little more elegantly—for instance, slicing throats with his long saber, leaving only a faint bloodline to show—perhaps they would not have been so terrified.

But with heads changing homes, and heads and legs being severed, just watching it made their hearts leap and their guts tremble. How could they still have any thought of going forward to fight to the death?

When joining this new gang, Yue Feng had made promises, raising everyone's monthly allowance, but how many coins was that? What were they risking their lives for?

Some whose courage had been shattered let out a cry and fled in panic, while the smarter ones quietly fell to the rear, hiding their bodies in the shadows.

"A mob of rabble!"

The corners of Chen Huanshan's eyes twitched as he watched, and he shook his head.

Yue Feng steadied himself. Seeing that in the span of a few breaths, the dozens of thugs under him were already on the verge of collapse, when in truth only a dozen or so had died, he too was incomparably angered.

He was just about to shout in fury when he suddenly felt a chill on his face, and heard only a cold shout in his ears: "Sweep Through a Thousand Troops!"

Yue Feng instinctively lowered his longsword to parry. In an instant, a cold saber light soared up, carrying a howling gust of force as it chopped down straight at his head.

"Despicable!"

What happened to the promised Sweep Through a Thousand Troops?

Yue Feng roared angrily and hurriedly raised his longsword to block, but in his haste, he could not muster much strength. He had only just braced it when that long saber smashed down like a thousand-jin heavy hammer. The longsword went "crack, crack," as if unable to bear it and about to shatter.

Yue Feng's body shook violently, and his legs went weak. With a "pfft," he was actually pressed straight down to his knees, his kneecaps slamming heavily onto the blue bricks.

Yue Feng immediately felt a sharp pain in both knees, as if the bones had split apart.

More painful still was the humiliation of being chopped to his knees by a single saber strike.

The long saber pressed down with a crash, forcing the longsword until it was pressed against the top of Yue Feng's skull.

Bang!

Hong Yuan suddenly drew back the saber light and kicked Yue Feng in the chest, sending him tumbling through several rolls, his longsword flung away as well.

Despicable? You, the head of a lowlife gang, have the nerve to call someone despicable? Do you understand the weight behind Nie-style usage of the Seven Waves-Breaking Slashes?

Chen Huanshan's expression changed drastically.

Among the many skilled fighters of Crouching Tiger Villa, Yue Feng could be considered one of the outstanding ones, yet he had never expected him to be so useless against this black-clothed man. Without leaving a trace, he retreated backward into the shadows, already thinking of slipping away for good.

Unfortunately, no matter who Hong Yuan forgot, he would never forget this expert at running away!

His body flipped through the air and landed beside Chen Huanshan. He pressed down on Chen Huanshan's shoulder, the long saber resting against his neck, and Chen Huanshan's knees went weak. He knelt.

"Hero, spare my life!"

Hong Yuan was somewhat speechless. Scenes from the past, when he had discussed the meanings of the classics with Chen Huanshan, flooded into his mind. Back then, he had thought this man had quite a bit of backbone.

"Mr. Chen, you look somewhat familiar to me. Could you be the former academy head of Qingxu County?"

Chen Huanshan's face turned even paler. Not only was he afraid, he also felt so ashamed he could barely show his face, but the saber was still flashing coldly right before his eyes, and no matter how ashamed he was, he did not dare stand up.

"Y-yes... yes, that would be this humble one. May I ask your honored name, Hero, and how you know this humble one?"

Hong Yuan switched to a pleasantly surprised voice. "So it really is Dean Chen! You should've said so earlier!"

He grabbed Chen Huanshan up in one motion, then patted the dust from the hem of his clothes with the back of his blade, frightening Chen Huanshan so badly his body grew even stiffer. Hong Yuan, however, seemed very cordial. "Dean Chen, did you know? You left Qingxu so suddenly that I had quite the time looking for you. To be honest, I once met that sister-in-law of yours, Dean Chen. At the time, it was love at first sight. I admired her greatly... Dean Chen, you didn't take your sister-in-law for yourself, did you?"

Chen Huanshan flew into rage from shame. "Utter nonsense! Chen is, at any rate, a scholar. How could I do such a shameless thing?"

His words were a little too hasty. Then he suddenly remembered the ferocity of the man before him and hurried to make up for it. "Since this hero is devoted to my wife's younger sister, why not allow Chen to act as a go-between and bring about this fine match for you?"

"Then many thanks, Dean Chen!" Hong Yuan smiled, then suddenly changed tack. "Those two precious daughters of yours, Dean Chen—I quite like them too."

"You! You! Absurd! My elder daughter is only twelve, and my younger is only eight! You... you bandit scum! Just kill me!" Chen Huanshan stiffened his neck, forced up his courage, and rebuked him loudly.

"I was just teasing you, Dean Chen."

Hong Yuan chuckled. Chen Huanshan did indeed have two daughters. When Hong Yuan had been at the academy, the girls had liked to sidle up beside him from time to time. The elder daughter was a little older and understood a little about affairs between men and women, so she was somewhat reserved. The younger daughter, however, practically wished she could cling to him and follow him around.

She had even often shared the Chen family's excellent pastries and meals with him, making Chen Huanshan's eyes bulge wide, quite sour with jealousy.

Hong Yuan turned to look at Yue Feng, who had already gotten up in the courtyard, and said, "Rested enough? If you have, pick up your sword and keep fighting."

Yue Feng's expression was wary. "What exactly is your purpose?"

"Purpose? Didn't I say it already? I came specially to seek instruction in martial arts."

Yue Feng did not know whether that was true or false, but at this moment he could neither advance nor retreat. He could only take a deep breath, pick up his longsword, steady his breathing, and say coldly, "Come!"

Half an hour later, Yue Feng was covered in wounds, his nose bruised and face swollen, his legs trembling and unsteady, as if one gust of wind would knock him over.

This Yue Feng came from Crouching Tiger Villa, and had spent years comparing martial arts with the many retainers of the villa. In terms of breadth and variety, he was far above Zuo Lie and Shi Meng.

Hong Yuan had tested weapons against him, then switched to fists and feet, then discussed implements, grinding him down again and again, nearly squeezing him dry. By now, however, Hong Yuan was perfectly satisfied.

"Just one Yue Feng is already like this. Then what about Crouching Tiger Villa?!"

Hong Yuan's heart filled with anticipation.

"How many people in Crouching Tiger Villa have martial arts like yours?" Hong Yuan asked.

Yue Feng panted heavily, his throat somewhat hoarse, but he glared and said, "Heh heh! Crouching Tiger Villa is a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers abound. People like me are countless, and there are quite a few who have reached the second level of force transformation, 'freely sending and receiving.' There are even some who have entered the subtle realm... Since you like martial contests so much, do you dare take a trip to the villa? You'll definitely be satisfied."

Hong Yuan naturally knew there was exaggeration in his words, but judging from his expression, there was probably some truth to it as well. He changed the subject. "Your Crouching Tiger Villa has far-reaching schemes. Presumably you understand all the experts of Linjiang Prefecture. Why not tell me a thing or two..."

A long while later, Hong Yuan leapt up onto the roof and went off into the distance.

Chen Huanshan and Yue Feng, who had recovered quite a bit of strength, looked at each other, both of their expressions somewhat awkward, yet also carrying a touch of "mutual appreciation between kindred spirits."

Both of them had knelt!

One had been beaten until he knelt on the ground, and the other had been frightened into kneeling.

After a moment of silence, Yue Feng spoke. "Mr. Chen, in your view, what exactly did this man come here for?"

Chen Huanshan gave a bitter smile. "I'm afraid it truly was as he said—he simply came to seek you out for a martial contest."

Yue Feng nodded slightly. Then he suddenly thought of something and asked, "Mr. Chen, this man recognized you at a glance and even knew about matters in your household. Have you thought of anything? Perhaps this man is someone you know?"

Chen Huanshan's face darkened. After a moment of silence, he shook his head and asked in return, "Young Yue, I don't understand martial arts. In your view, what level has this man's martial arts reached?"

Yue Feng also stiffened, then sighed. "To defeat me so easily, he must at least be at the stage of 'freely sending and receiving.' And even the experts of this level in the villa are probably not his equal. Only someone who has entered the subtle realm might be able to beat him..."

The two chatted a few more sentences, only feeling that tonight's fight had been rather absurd. Soon, they lost interest in conversation. One went to rest, while the other went to clean up the mess left by the crowd of hired thugs.