At dusk, more than twenty boats flying the banners of various factions lay moored in Cangsha River Town's harbor. White Tiger Hall disciples patrolled the docks, occasionally looking toward the center of town.
The town teemed with people. Hundreds of men and women of the jianghu, carrying umbrellas or wearing straw rain capes, had gathered before White Tiger Tower. They watched two youths, no older than fifteen or sixteen, clash fiercely with weapons in hand on the platform outside, braving the rain.
Clang, clang~
White Buddha Song Chi, dressed in a brocade robe, had set aside his usual carefree manner. He sat upright before the tower like a mature, steady elder, occasionally giving a slight nod.
Beside him sat Three-Perfection Immortal Elder Guang Hanlin, known as the "Jianghu Social Butterfly." He, too, was serving as a judge, watching the fight intently.
After watching for a while, he saw one youth lose. The other abruptly halted his descending Eyebrow-Level Staff, then hurried forward to help his opponent up. Three-Perfection Immortal Elder could not help nodding.
"They were seeing red, yet still remembered the martial virtue of stopping short. Southern Heaven really is different from the world outside."
Hearing this, Song Chi's face took on a proud look.
"With Old Immortal Feng presiding here, how could the young people of the jianghu not understand martial virtue and chivalry? Nothing like that damned place, Liangzhou. In fifty years traveling the Central Plains and Southern Heaven, I haven't seen as many vile wretches as you'd find in a single Liangzhou inn..."
"Ah, Liangzhou has always been that way. Still, a harsh jianghu environment isn't entirely a bad thing. Martial arts, plainly put, are killing arts. Those who've licked blood off blades since childhood, treading on thin ice, are far more formidable than ordinary martial