Central Province had been extraordinarily lively these past few days, and everything revolved around two unknown youngsters, Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao.
At the Wang Family estate in Luoyang,
Old Wang had been feeling conflicted these past few days. He had already torn out several tufts of his own hair.
He had thought they were just two greenhorns who had murdered his eldest son.
What now?
They were connected to Shaolin, too?
Reports actually claimed that Zhang Junbao was a Shaolin disciple with extraordinary talent.
That was precisely what frightened him. If Zhang Junbao wanted to return to Shaolin and seek Shaolin Temple's protection, what the hell would his Wang Family amount to?
Fortunately, more news had spread through the jianghu these past few days: that brat Zhang Junbao had only been a furnace boy at Shaolin Temple, and had been driven down the mountain over a misunderstanding.
It sounded as though Zhang Junbao bore a grudge against Shaolin, but if Shaolin Temple merely lowered its head a little and gave him some face, wouldn't he go back in a heartbeat?
Even if he bore a deep, bitter hatred, so what?
That was Shaolin!
Old Wang could hardly be blamed for thinking this way, because Shaolin Temple represented martial orthodoxy and standing in the jianghu.
Across the entire martial world, Shaolin Temple was one of the greatest sects.
He had some influence in Luoyang, but compared with Shaolin Temple, he was like a grain of light trying to outshine the bright moon.
Yet other reports claimed that Zhang Junbao had already entered the Daoist fold and would never return to Shaolin Temple.
Old Wang hesitated, because the Daoist fold was another existence he could not afford to offend.
Never mind anyone else-even when meeting Perfected Li from the local Mount Laojun, he had to nod and bow.
In the wider jianghu, Mount Laojun was only a third-rate sect that knew a little martial arts. They did not involve themselves in the jianghu, only accepted incense offerings.
But that did not mean they would never set foot in the jianghu. Mount Laojun held a very high position within the Daoist fold. Even the head of the Pure Yang Daoist Sect had to respectfully address Perfected Li as martial uncle.
His lack of martial prowess did not mean he lacked status, much less that his word carried no weight in the jianghu.
If Perfected Li wrote a letter asking a few major Daoist sects to help, this vengeance would still be beyond reach.
He was a merchant. Merchants knew no martial arts, but understood the jianghu best.
Because a merchant had to be smooth on all eight sides. Whether dealing with the imperial court or the jianghu, he had to remain utterly respectful and cultivate goodwill far and wide.
Just as he was struggling with this dilemma,
someone entered through the door.
This man was the chief steward of the Wang Family's guards, Zhou Haojie, the strongest martial artist among them. In his early years, he had studied at the Nine Heavens Star-Plucking Pavilion, and his martial skills now ranked among the finest of the age. Old Wang had paid a fortune to hire him.
Of all the guards in his household, Zhou Haojie could be said to command the highest price.
The others received ten taels of silver a month, while those with some reputation in the jianghu received between thirty and fifty. He alone received five hundred taels a month, along with a house and land purchased for him. All his expenses were charged to the Wang Family's accounts, and he also served as Old Wang's personal bodyguard.
Zhou Haojie held a sheet of paper. After entering, he revealed a smile.
"Family head, the whole of Central Province has turned into a pot of boiling porridge."
"And you can still smile?"
"Don't worry. Take a look at this." Zhou Haojie handed Old Wang the letter. "There's hope of avenging the young master."
As Old Wang read the information in the letter, Zhou Haojie added from beside him, "According to our men's investigations over the past few days, neither of them has joined any Daoist sect at all.
"Zhang Qingyuan fled to Central Province as a refugee some years ago. To put food in his mouth, he got hold of a Daoist robe somewhere and made a living telling fortunes.
"Old Seven personally went to the Central Province government office to investigate. The year before last, Ji Province suffered a severe drought, and many people fled the famine to Central Province. Zhang Qingyuan even had an identity token. Heh, he was entered in Central Province's records.
"His identity token recorded: Zhang Qingyuan, native of Phoenix Arrival County, Ji Province Prefecture, aged seventeen."
"So he isn't a member of the Daoist fold!" Old Wang saw hope.
"Of course not. He's just a beggar wearing a Daoist robe. His fortune-telling and all that are nothing but jianghu tricks.
"Around July or August last year, Zhang Qingyuan met Zhang Junbao, who had been driven down the mountain by Shaolin Temple. The two lived in Sanhe Town for over half a year. They seem to have had some fortuitous encounter, and their martial skills improved tremendously.
"Some suspect they might have found the Water-Parting Sword, but that information is unreliable, because neither of their martial styles centers on swordsmanship."
"What does Shaolin Temple say?" Old Wang put down the letter.
Zhou Haojie said, "Shaolin may have wanted to bring Zhang Junbao back, but Zhang Junbao refused."
"So neither the Buddhist nor the Daoist side has anything to do with them?"
"Not exactly. Shaolin Temple still wants to bring Zhang Junbao back to Shaolin. After all, his talent is exceptional. He developed all these martial skills in just half a year. Whether or not he had a fortuitous encounter, that proves he's worth nurturing."
"Then doesn't that mean we still can't avenge him?"
"In principle, yes." Zhou Haojie changed tack. "But a few days ago, Zhang Qingyuan suddenly sent word that in half a month, on the fifth day of the fifth month, he would settle matters with everyone!"
"What does he mean?"
"He means that gratitude is gratitude, and grudges are grudges.
"He'll allow us to seek vengeance. When the time comes, whether he lives or dies, he'll settle matters with us.
"He also invites all the heroes of Central Province to come and watch.
"And on that day, he'll make things clear with Shaolin as well, so he can be free of all entanglements."
"He's a real man!" A blazing fire ignited in Old Wang's eyes.
He was not afraid of Zhang Qingyuan wanting a fight. He was afraid of him backing down.
Wanting to settle every debt and grudge-truly, a newborn calf had no fear of tigers!
Unable to hide his excitement, Old Wang ordered, "Send word out. Our Wang Family accepts this fight!"
"Yes!"
Old Wang looked toward his son's memorial tablet and said softly, "Son, wait for your father to avenge you!"
Both he and Zhou Haojie understood that once their family accepted the challenge, they could no longer use outsiders.
Zhang Qingyuan had brought this private grudge into the open. As soon as their family accepted, it would become a jianghu feud.
A jianghu feud naturally had to be settled by jianghu rules-with a duel.
After the duel, regardless of victory or defeat, death would wipe the slate clean.
And in such a duel, they could rely only on their own capabilities.
Old Wang's capabilities were the guards his household retained, so he could only use his own experts. He could no longer offer bounties and enlist outsiders.
But by the same token, Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao could not seek helpers either. They could rely only on themselves. Those were the rules of the jianghu.
Among the Wang Family's guards, roughly thirty-odd could be called experts.
Zhou Haojie ranked first. There were another thirty or so a little weaker than him, and roughly a hundred and sixty others whose martial skills were not particularly high.
A force of nearly two hundred-however talented those two were, they could not beat that.
In a high-martial world, experts seemingly could fight a hundred, even a thousand or ten thousand alone, killing as easily as chopping melons and slicing vegetables.
Once a forty-meter saber came out, the lackeys had nowhere to hide.
But that referred to top-tier experts.
Top! Tier! Experts!
How talented could two people who had only practiced martial arts for half a year possibly be?
How much internal power could they have?
How many moves could they unleash with their True Qi?
Exhaustion alone would kill them.
At the inn in Xia County, Zhang Qingyuan had already put all his arrangements in place. The fifth day of the fifth month gave him more than enough time.
He was giving the Wang Family time, but he was also giving himself time.
He had devised this to attract more jianghu figures to watch the spectacle and bring everything into the open. Only then would those schemes and plots have nowhere to hide!
How could schemes and plots compare to the satisfaction of doing things openly?
Zhang Qingyuan was very good at flipping the table.
To forge iron, one had to be strong oneself. Although Shaolin was the greatest obstacle before them, and all Zhang Qingyuan's contingency plans targeted Shaolin,
before matching wits and courage with Shaolin, they first had to get past the Wang Family.
If they could not even clear a minor stage like the Wang Family, how would they fight the big boss?
So he and Zhang Junbao had been cultivating every day.
As for their internal cultivation, both had fully completed the transition from internal power to True Qi.
Their Supreme Yang True Qi flowed endlessly, circulating on its own without any effort.
After converting his internal power into True Qi, Zhang Qingyuan felt that he could last longer than before.
At the very least, he could hold out a third longer.
Now, the two mainly studied sword techniques, palm techniques, and movement techniques.
The Nine Yang Palm had nine moves in total.
From Red Sun First Rises to Setting Sun at Dusk, the differences between each move lay not only in temperature, but also in how True Qi was used.
The first move, Red Sun First Rises, transformed True Qi into soft palm force that clung to both palms. Supple but not weak, firm yet unbroken, its palm force continued without end.
The most powerful palm strike was the fifth form, Blazing Sun Shines Upon All.
True Qi gathered in the palm. The more True Qi poured into it, the higher the burst damage when the strike was unleashed.
This was also the move they had used most in their previous fights.
Its high burst damage allowed them to end fights quickly. By the same token, it consumed more True Qi.
Through reviewing their previous combat experience over these past few days and deepening their understanding of martial techniques, the two had gained a more thorough grasp of how to use the Nine Yang Palm.
There were patterns to when they should use the first form, when they should use the second, when they should use a basic attack, and when they should unleash their ultimate.
There was also the Purple Firmament Thunder Ultimate Sword Technique. Although Zhang Junbao had a rich imagination and had made its supplemented and perfected sword moves even more formidable, neither of them had developed sword intent yet.
The sword techniques unleashed by a swordsman with sword intent represented a qualitative leap over those of an ordinary swordsman!
So these past few days, Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao had also been contemplating sword intent, striving to reach a deeper realm.
Zhang Qingyuan did not know whether his own talent was naturally high or whether being with Zhang Junbao had triggered some transmigration system. He kept feeling that he and Zhang Junbao shared some profound and mysterious connection.
He had not noticed it before. Only in these past few days had he become aware of it.
It seemed that whenever Zhang Junbao improved, he would improve along with him. And whenever he improved, Zhang Junbao would follow close behind and catch up.
It was as though...
It was as though a system had bound him and Zhang Junbao together.
Whenever either of them gained an insight into a martial realm, the other was sure to gain the same understanding the very next second.