"A seventeen-year-old boy at fourth growth."
"Fourth growth?!" Everyone was bewildered. "What gives a fourth growth the right to stand against Young Master Shang?"
"At the Egret Isle Poetry Gathering." The scholar held up two fingers. "He defeated two fifth growths in two sword strikes."
"..."
"Those two fifth growths were Zhang Huan, the 'Fish Cultivator,' and Yu Yingcai, the 'Mountain-Breaking Scholar.'"
"...Fuck! Who?!"
"And in a test set by the academy overseer, he also stood above everyone else, firmly surpassing Young Master Shang," the scholar said. "Many people say his only disadvantages are his youth and slightly lower cultivation. Otherwise, who truly deserves to be called Bowang's number one would be anyone's guess."
"Most people in the Prefectural City still lean toward thinking he cannot defeat Young Master Shang, but he has already firmly surpassed Young Master Zhang Mozhu and is practically the safest bet for the final four," the scholar said. "And one of the hottest arguments in the Prefectural City right now is which of them is superior when it comes purely to the 'sword.'"
Everyone listened blankly, still finding it rather unreal. "How did someone like that suddenly appear? Is he another mighty dragon crossing the river from somewhere else?"
"Not this time." The scholar smiled, raised his wine, and drained it. "He is a born-and-bred native of our Bowang, competing on Fenghuai County's quota. His registered name is Pei Ye."
After Master Huang and the others finished eating and resting and boarded their ox carts, the children's chatter showed no sign of stopping.
They kept asking whether the person just mentioned was Brother Pei, whether Brother Pei really was that amazing, and when they would get to see him. Some, fancying themselves clever, insisted they had known all along that Brother Pei was so