"Meet whom?" Ding Songyan asked curiously as he followed Xie Fengchao into his family's carriage.
Who warranted such a solemn introduction from Fifth Young Master Xie?
Xie Fengchao chuckled.
"You'll know when you see."
I'll know when I see? Someone with distinctive looks? Someone listed in the Rivers and Lakes Beauty Register or the Jade Tree Martial Arts Rankings? Ding Songyan nodded thoughtfully and asked no further questions.
A surprise had to remain unknown to be a surprise, after all. As long as it wasn't something bad.
Inside the carriage, where smoke curled upward from an incense burner, Xie Fengchao sat straight and said:
"I don't know what's gotten into Li Linquan. He's been seeking people out to spar lately, but he won't use the Thunderlight Heaven-Splitting Sword. He only uses the most commonplace sword moves, losing again and again, yet still refusing to stop.
"It's only because he's Li Linquan that anyone humors him with something so baffling."
The most commonplace sword moves? Is he trying to recreate the Dao One Sword from his dream? Oh no, I hope I haven't led this Azure Thunder Banished Immortal astray... He's skipping all the earlier stages and trying to reach 'mountains are mountains again, waters are waters again' straight away. How could he gain anything? The more he practices, the less he'll understand... Ding Songyan hadn't expected Li Linquan to be this obsessed with martial arts.
You'd actually practice swordsmanship you dreamed about just like that?
If I gave you a manual of Evil-Warding Swordsmanship, would you practice that too?
"Maybe a passing fancy gave him some misguided ideas. He'll be fine once he realizes that sort of swordsmanship is useless," Ding Songyan replied offhandedly.
Chatting like this, the two reached Xiumei Mountain northwest of Golden Pool Lake.
Though called a