Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The Dragon King had surprisingly chosen to compete in internal energy. The other people didn’t feel that this was strange but King Shengri and the people around him were all amazed. They all turned their eyes to Dao Nian of the Jade Pure Sect at the same time.
No one was more astonished than Dao Nian. Although there was no direct evidence, he had clearly seen and also thought very clearly that, nine times out of ten, the Dragon King had been injured in the competition last night.
“You are not fooling me, are you?” King Shengri asked bluntly.
“The Dragon King is bluffing. I can’t be wrong.” No matter how hesitant he was, Dao Nian’s expression and tone were resolute. He’d rather gamble once more and he even felt that he had a good chance of winning this time. But he still had to leave himself a way out, so he said, “I’m just not sure about this warrior’s internal energy…”
All the internal energy in the world originated from the Taoist sects of the Central Plains. From the viewpoint of the Jade Pure Sect, there were few kung fu experts who were good at using internal energy in the Norland and the Western Regions. The Dragon King could be considered as one, but still, it was not because how powerful his internal energy was but rather because of how weird it was.
Disgruntled, King Shengri turned his head. The officer at his side immediately snapped, “You frog in the well, do you think that he’s an ordinary soldier? Iron Harrier is the Khan’s close wing guard, one of the seven Eagle Claws of the Royal Court. If he wandered Jianghu, he would have been famous all over the world. Do you think that you nine major sects of the Central Plains are the only powerhouses in the world?”
Different from the customs of the Central Plains, ‘Eagle Claw’ was a compliment in the Norland. However, those kung fu experts of the Central Plains didn’t say anything. But deep in their hearts, they were all unconvinced and even secretly hoped that the Dragon King would win.
As for the wing guards of the Khan and the Eagle Claws of the Royal Court, many people had heard of them and knew that they were seven top-notch masters who had been named after the Raptors, who were dedicated to protecting the old Khan. The Norland people were extremely proud and mystical when talking about the seven masters.
“Hold on, Iron Harrier.” King Shengri was in a bad temper now and felt the need to convince the kung fu experts of the Central Plains.
The officer called a halt to the tournament.
King Shengri looked at these people and asked, “Which of you has the strongest internal energy?”
No one uttered a sound. They had all vaguely guessed at the king’s intentions and none of them wanted to do such a thanklessly foolish thing.
King Shengri revealed a lenient smile. “Well, the Dragon King can save a person by winning a game. I will do things fairly, and give you the same treatment but be even more generous. If any of you can defeat Iron Harrier in terms of internal energy, I can pardon your whole sect, all of your fellow disciples both inside and outside the circle.”
A lot of people became excited all at once. They all had a lot of fellow disciples trapped in the inner circle who were still in grave danger. They could only turn a blind eye to them when there was no way out. Since they had an opportunity now, none of them wanted to miss it.
The four elders of the Jade Pure Sect exchanged a glance and sighed. Without removing the frosty Qi in their body, none of them dared to ask for a fight to save the trapped Dao Lun.
“My Taishan Sect focuses on internal martial arts. Let me have a try.”
“The swordsmanship of the Taishan Sect is not bad, but when it comes to internal energy, our Dragon and Tiger Mountain is the most authentic.”
“The Dragon and Tiger Mountain used to be very strong, but it has been going downhill all these years. How can it be comparable to the Kunlun Sect?”
…
Annoyed and perplexed, King Shengri shouted, “Shut up, all of you!” Then he asked the officer next to him, “You know them well. Tell me, which of them has the strongest internal energy?”
The officer thought for a while before saying, “The Jade Pure Sect was supposed to be best at internal energy, but these Taoist priests are… The Kunlun Sect’s Lu Tianfeng is said to be one of the three masters of his sect. He should be a bit stronger than those third-rate figures from the other sects.”
The officer showed no mercy when he mentioned the sects of the Central Plains. Even the appointed Lu Tianfeng felt ashamed but dared not refute.
King Shengri didn’t even know who Lu Tianfeng was. He pointed to Iron Harrier in the field and said, “Go ahead.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Lu Tianfeng strode to the field and waved to several fellow disciples of his who were still trapped from afar.
King Shengri had never lowered his voice, so many people heard what he said. The disciples of the Kunlun Sect immediately felt hopeful and shouted out ‘Senior Brother Lu’ excitedly.
As one of the three masters of the Kunlun Sect, Lu Tianfeng was actually not very old. He was in his thirties and wore a long sword. As he went to Iron Harrier, he untied his long sword and put it on the ground. “I’m Lu Tianfeng of the Kunlun Sect, and I’m just following Your Highness’s order to ask Lord Tie for some advice about my internal energy. Please enlighten me.”
Iron Harrier wasn’t surnamed Tie (Iron), but he didn’t care. He also untied his saber and slightly nodded, showing that the fight could start.
Gu Shenwei was taking advantage of this opportunity to learn a new martial arts skill. He wasn’t interested in the specific moves of the Seven Circles Seven Apertures Heart Stopping Finger but rather wanted to know how to transfer his internal Qi into the enemy’s meridians without going through the acupoints.
Although he had learned three different sets of internal energy manuals, Gu Shenwei actually knew very little about internal Qi. Occasionally he would compete in internal energy with his enemy but whenever that happened, it was the enemy who attacked and him following to counterattack. When he and Lotus instilled internal Qi into each other’s body, he had to carefully determine the location of the acupoints first and test once or twice before he could succeed.
Old Man Mu didn’t understand why the Dragon King wanted to learn this kung fu right now. Without the various changes of the Seven Circles and Seven Apertures, it was almost harmless to instill internal Qi into the meridians of the other side. But he knew that the Dragon King was very resourceful, so instead of asking more, he beckoned for a guard to hold him up before he whispered the manual of the finger technique he had created into the Dragon King’s ears.
Without the introduction of the changes of the seven moves, the length of the manual was less than half of its full version. Old Man Mu had barely finished reciting when Lu Tianfeng went onstage. As the Dragon King was still dwelling on it, Old Man Mu had turned his attention to other matters. Upon hearing the words ‘Kunlun Sect,’ he couldn’t help but interrupt, saying, “It’s really ridiculous. The Kunlun Mountains is obviously in the Western Regions. As a man of the Central Plains, how can you call your sect the ‘Kunlun Sect’?”
Lu Tianfeng snorted and ignored this strange and noisy old man. The Kunlun Sect was one of the nine major sects of the Central Plains and was located near the capital city. As a holy mountain of Taoism, the Kunlun Mountains was said to be the living place of the Queen Mother of the West, where mortals cultivated and ascended to heaven. The name of the Kunlun Sect originated from this, but it had little to do with the location of the real Kunlun Mountains.
Old Man Mu still didn’t give up. “Ah, I see. You are a man of the Western Regions. You felt that your own country was too weak so you joined the Central Plains, only to find that the Central Plains was also not powerful enough, so you quickly turned to the Norland. Fortunately, there are only these two big countries in the world. Otherwise, the Kunlun Sect wouldn’t even have enough time to catch a breath.
Lu Tianfeng lost his cool for a moment and replied, “I am a man of the Central Plains, and the Kunlun Sect is one of the sects of the Central Plains. It has nothing to do with the Western Regions.”
“Oh, so you and your sect all belong to the Central Plains. Hmm, you remember that well. I have nothing more to say.”
Lu Tianfeng was taken aback. He had only been a bit careless and immediately fallen into the strange old man’s verbal trap. Actions speak louder than words, so he could only recover through action.
Lu Tianfeng looked at the opposing Iron Harrier and seemed to want to concentrate on the contest but his first move actually fell onto Old Man Mu.
Old Man Mu was being careless. He had asked the guard to put him down after telling the Dragon King his finger technique. In order to not disturb the Dragon King, he even took a few steps aside.
Lu Tianfeng’s move was crystal clear in Old Man Mu’s eyes, which he had countless methods to block and counterattack, but his hands and feet were too slow to react. He couldn’t even use his ‘unique skill’ of kneeling and asking for mercy. Because unlike Chu Nanping, Lu Tianfeng was going at it hard.
“Your son has no ass…”
Old Man Mu only had one ‘move,’ but before he could finish saying it, he was hit by a blow and fell down at the foot of the Dragon King’s guard.
Lu Tianfeng hummed. Judging from Old Man Mu’s arrogance and his experience in defeating a master of the Kongdong Sect, he thought that he was a master hidden. It turned out that his internal energy was so mediocre that it was no better than his junior brothers who had joined the sect four or five years after him. “Your Honor, Old Man Mu has offended the nobles, so please forgive me for getting rid of him without your permission.”
As soon as the words fell, he heard a long, weak voice, “hole …”
Old Man Mu stood up with the help of Red Bat and spat out a mouthful of blood on the ground. “Are you using the boasting techniques of your Kunlun Sect? How can you say that you’ve gotten rid of me when I’m not dead yet? Come on, let’s fight again.”
Lu Tianfeng was startled. Even a top-notch expert who was good at internal energy couldn’t directly take a blow like this, not to mention a person with average internal energy. This Old Man Mu really had his own unique methods.
But he had found out the ins and outs of Old Man Mu and knew the other side had no ability to fight back, so he rushed forward for the second time with full strength and tried to kill him once and for all.
Old Man Mu didn’t expect that this expert of the Kunlun Sect was different from the others and would rather act with his hands than speak with his mouth. Oops! He muttered while dodging behind Red Bat. Hearing a scream from the crowd, he hurriedly stuck out his head and saw that the Dragon King had acted.
Gu Shenwei had understood Old Man Mu’s internal energy method and just needed some practice.
The palms of the two collided, and both of them realized one thing.
Lu Tianfeng found that Dao Nian was right. The Dragon King had internal injuries and his internal Qi was in such a mess that it was almost on the verge of Qi deviation, so the Dragon King would be no match for him.
On the other side, Gu Shenwei found that the finger technique Old Man Mu told him was right. He could really instill some internal Qi into the opponent’s meridians without identifying the exact position of the acupoints. The only regretful part was that the internal Qi he instilled every time was too weak to be lethal.
“Do not hit the wrong person. The Kunlun spy should be fighting against the Eagle Claw of the Norland.” Old Man Mu’s mouth never idled. He started shouting again as soon as he was out of danger.
King Shengri, however, wanted more chaos. He called out ‘Iron Harrier’ and ordered him to join the fight.
Iron Harrier was a little younger than Lu Tianfeng and was at the peak of his power. Although he was submissive and reticent in the presence of the lord, he was as powerful as a thunderbolt when making a move, with both palms attacking his two opponents at the same time.
Three people with six palms intersected to form a tripod, each of them against two and none of them willing to ally with another.
Unfortunately, the exciting scene ended in the blink of an eye, with the three of them stuck like woodcarving. Few people could see the violence of the fight.
King Shengri asked the officer near him, “What’s going on?”
“They are competing in internal energy which is bland on the surface. In fact, it’s more dangerous than fists and swords, and the loser may be severely injured.”
“I see.” King Shengri was a little happier but still felt that the scene wasn’t as interesting as the Dragon King and Iron Harrier’s sharp sabers. “How long will it last?”
“It’s hard to tell, but I don’t think it’s going to be long because Iron Harrier’s internal energy is very powerful.”
The officer got it right. As soon as he finished speaking, the first man who could not stand it had withdrawn from the fight.
Lu Tianfeng let out a shout and jumped back. He couldn’t even take a firm stand when he landed. Stumbling like a drunkard who had drunk too much, it took him a long while to find his feet. His whole body, however, was still shivering severely as if he were in the middle of a cold winter instead of the hot summer.
“Good.” King Shengri clapped his hands. This was the scene he wanted to see, “Iron Harrier is really…”
Before he could finish speaking, Iron Harrier also roared and leaped back a few steps. He landed fairly steady but his whole body was also shivering just like Lu Tianfeng.
The Dragon King had won several rounds but the people of the Norland just admired him normally and were not surprised until Iron Harrier was also defeated. King Shengri and those thousand of cavalry were all taken aback at what they saw.
The Dragon King looked better than ever, and even his pale cheeks carried a faint red glow.
“King Shengri, it’s so boring to compete in this way. How many masters do you have? Send them all out.”
It was like a heavy burden of many years had finally been removed, Gu Shenwei felt so relaxed it was like he was a light feather and could fly up at any moment.
