When he fought Red One Point in the Central Plains, Chu Liuxiang was still disguised as Zhang Xiaolin. With his outstanding skill at disguise, few people in the world should have been able to see through to his true identity.
But as luck would have it, Chu Liuxiang had run into Red One Point in the Central Plains.
The greatest Chu Liuxiang fan of the age!
"The Thief Marshal delights in stealing hearts, leaving a secret fragrance on moonlit nights... You're Chu Liuxiang!"
Even Chu Liuxiang, disguised as Zhang Xiaolin, froze for a moment before laughing despite himself. "Who are you calling Chu Liuxiang?"
Red One Point in the Central Plains said:
"After a hundred and forty-four of my killing moves, you still haven't struck back, and you're still smiling. Who else in the world could do that but the Thief Marshal, Chu Liuxiang?"
Had Fang Yunhua been there, he would certainly have awarded Red One Point a big red flower. That little speech had raised his own standing while praising Chu Liuxiang to the heavens.
And Chu Liuxiang certainly enjoyed the praise. He took the opportunity to explain his long-held philosophy of not killing, raising his own aura of prestige another notch.
After all, killing took skill, but anyone would give a thumbs-up to someone who could win an opponent over without killing him.
By then, Red One Point, a killer himself, had already begun to be won over by Chu Liuxiang. He repeatedly asked whether Chu Liuxiang truly had never killed anyone. Chu Liuxiang answered with questions of his own, and his philosophical discussion of killing and being killed, pleasure and suffering, won Red One Point over yet again.
Red One Point's affection ↑↑↑
At that moment, the tactless members of the Heavenly Star Gang gathered around. Believing that paying to hire Red One Point entitled them to order him about, they began pointing fingers and barking commands. But in this day and age, whose words carried weight still depended on whose sword was sharper.
And so Red One Point in the Central Plains gave a little demonstration of his killing skills.
Normally, once this encounter ended, a killer so invested in maintaining his aloof image should have withdrawn coldly, displaying the bearing of a true master. But certain butterfly effects caused by Fang Yunhua had made this Chu Liuxiang fan curious about something.
"I heard you visited Mount Hua a few days ago?"
Chu Liuxiang nodded.
Focused on solving the case, he had little energy to spare for rumors circulating in the martial world.
Red One Point, however, was a killer who neglected his proper work. As something of a secret Chu Liuxiang fan, he naturally paid particular attention to any news concerning him.
"I recently heard that you went to Mount Hua to steal a treasure, only to be discovered by the Amorous Young Master, Fang Yunhua. After the two of you fought for three hundred exchanges, you were defeated and withdrew.
"But now that I've seen your martial arts, I find it hard to believe that young hero Fang, with his far-reaching reputation as a womanizer, has the ability to force you back."
Chu Liuxiang rubbed his nose.
He could have guessed that, with so many people watching outside Mount Hua's reception hall, word of their fight was quite likely to spread. But what was this nonsense about his going to Mount Hua to steal a treasure?
Despite being the Thief Marshal, Chu Liuxiang strictly observed the rules of the martial world and only targeted wealthy households. He would never provoke a martial arts sect, especially Mount Hua, one of the Seven Great Martial Arts Sects.
On second thought, however, he felt relieved that the rumor said he had gone to Mount Hua to steal a treasure.
Once the case was over, he could ask Fang Yunhua to help clarify matters. If the truth came out now, it might beat the grass and startle the snake, especially since the Divine Water Palace was involved this time.
If Demoness of the Emerald Sea, whose might shook the world, learned that the theft of her palace's Heavenly One Divine Water had become the talk of the town, there was no telling what trouble she might stir up.
Thus, all Chu Liuxiang could do was keep rubbing his nose and tacitly accept it.
This made Red One Point rather excited.
"How does my sword compare to his?"
"Your swordsmanship is meant to kill. When he attacked me, he had no killing intent. As a swordsman yourself, you should understand that whether a swordsman intends to kill makes an enormous difference to the power of his moves."
By now, Chu Liuxiang had developed some fondness for Red One Point, and he gave a thoroughly objective assessment.
But Red One Point still wanted a definite answer.
Chu Liuxiang thought for a while before answering seriously.
"The Thirteen Forms of the Clear Wind rank among the finest sword techniques of our age, and Brother Fang's compatibility with them is almost perfect. After fighting me, his understanding of those forms rose to another level. If he fought you with the intent to kill...
"Within twenty moves, victory and defeat would be settled-and so would life and death!"
Red One Point in the Central Plains understood the implication: he was no match for Fang Yunhua. Victory and defeat between swordsmen often came in an instant, and he asked no further questions on that subject.
Instead, he posed another question that rather surprised Chu Liuxiang.
"You call him Brother Fang?"
Chu Liuxiang rubbed his nose, realizing he had revealed a small flaw. If the rumors were true, and he had been caught stealing a treasure from Mount Hua and driven off by Fang Yunhua, he would most likely have called him by his full name.
He had no intention of explaining, either. The more he said, the messier it would become.
"I understand." With a metallic ring, his sword slid into its sheath. Red One Point in the Central Plains leaped straight down from the roof ridge and strode away.
Left behind, Chu Liuxiang could only keep rubbing his nose awkwardly, with no idea what the other man had imagined.
In fact, Fang Yunhua's influence on Chu Liuxiang, the man working his way through the plot, went beyond this.
As soon as he returned to the Treasure Ship, Chu Liuxiang told Su Rongrong the whole story of how he had made a new friend, also mentioning the game they had played: "If I were Wuhua."
Chu Liuxiang was unwilling to suspect a friend without evidence.
But Su Rongrong, whose whole heart belonged to Chu Liuxiang and who constantly wished to ease his burdens, would not let that blind her.
She offered two deductions.
First, if they could suspect Fang Yunhua, why could they not suspect Wuhua? The suspicious points they had deduced clearly fit Wuhua as a suspect just as well.
Second, the Divine Water Palace was strictly regulated, and ordinary people could hardly enter it. This was particularly true of the renowned thief Marshal Chu and the Amorous Young Master, whose reputation as a womanizer had spread throughout the world. If either of them entered the palace, Demoness of the Emerald Sea would probably send them packing at once, one slap apiece.
Wuhua, however, had an advantage in this regard.
He was a monk.
Most women rarely regarded a monk as a man, particularly a virtuous figure like Wuhua, who appeared deeply versed in Buddhist teachings and seemed to have dedicated his entire life to Buddhism.
If he had a dark side to his heart, could he not exploit that to slip into the Divine Water Palace and steal the Heavenly One Divine Water?
Chu Liuxiang's rebuttal was, naturally, that Wuhua was universally acknowledged to be an eminent and virtuous monk.
Knowing his temperament well, Su Rongrong merely answered with a smile.
Still, now that both Fang Yunhua and Su Rongrong had brought up Wuhua, Chu Liuxiang could no longer trust him blindly and unconditionally in his heart.
This left him with a heavy heart throughout the investigation. He wanted to uncover the truth, yet feared that the truth would be precisely what he least wished to see.
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