Pan Long had barely returned to the inn from the provincial marquis's residence when he found that Wu Jixing, leader of Qionghua Pavilion, had arrived with her two trusty lieutenants.
The three sat drinking tea at a table near the stairs in the inn's ground-floor hall, waiting for Pan Long to return.
Pan Long had not expected them. He went over in delighted surprise and asked, "I was thinking of visiting you tomorrow. I never imagined you'd come to me first. Has news of my arrival in Guangling City spread that far?"
"Your battle on the Heaven-Reaching River on the tenth day of the second month sent shock waves through the Martial World. The news reached Yang Province around the twelfth or thirteenth," Wu Jixing said with a smile. "Since then, if ten thousand people haven't been watching your movements, eight thousand have. You made no secret of who you were on the way here, and you weren't traveling fast. Of course we heard."
"If your fight against the Demon Blade didn't fully prove your strength, the battle on the Heaven-Reaching River certainly did." She cupped her hands and smiled in congratulations. "From now on, when people of the Martial World meet you, they ought to address you respectfully as True Person Pan."
Pan Long laughed and sat down. "True Person Pan... It sounds strange. Usually the people called that are venerable seniors with white hair and beards."
"Ambition has nothing to do with age, and heroes aren't judged by their origins. Brother Pan, your prowess has earned you the title of True Person."
"Haha, keep talking like that and I'll get a swollen head." Pan Long laughed happily, then asked, "If you wanted to see me, you could have sent word. Why come in person? Is something urgent?"
Wu