Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee
Since this was the first time Shangguan Fei had ever formally competed in kung fu with others, he was actually more nervous than if he had encountered an unavoidable enemy. He stopped a dozen steps away and assumed an attacking posture, hoping to end the fight with one punch.
“You are more formidable than him,” Shangguan Fei kept whispering to himself.
Yang San, double sabers in hand, despised his timid opponent, but he didn’t lower his guard. The grandson of the Khan had been smashed away with one punch, and even if his kung fu was mediocre, the attacker’s internal energy should not be taken lightly.
As the two sabers slowly spun like a windmill’s blades they buzzed with a low whistling sound; Yang San pressed forwards at Shangguan Fei step by step.
Shangguan Fei suddenly completely lost his confidence. He could find no openings to attack as Yang San’s body was fully covered behind his dual sabers.
His pose began to break apart as a strong instinct was urging him to turn and flee.
“Idiot,” cursed Old Man Mu. The fact that he had just admitted defeat to his opponent didn’t bring about any feelings of shame and neither did it affect his criticism of others. “You’re scared but he’s scared too. He’s actually defending by quickly moving the double sabers. You have no chance to hit him but neither does he. Lure him to attack, get a chance to punch him and… Forget it, it’s not good to kill. Just beat him black and blue.”
Shangguan Fei’s heart relaxed a bit and his legs were not as soft anymore. He carefully moved to avoid the dual sabers while keeping Old Man Mu’s reminder in mind, ‘Lure him into attacking.’
Yang San was not actually a nobody. After being called out of being afraid of a young junior, he felt a bit embarrassed and pressed forward two more steps before he suddenly attacked.
The move was rather abrupt. The saber in his right hand was still rotating which acted like an iron shield protecting his vital parts and only left a very short gap every two rotations. The saber in his left hand suddenly struck out like a snake’s flickering tongue which avoided the other saber with perfect timing.
Shangguan Fei was startled and made a large jump to the right, thinking that his situation was bad. Although the other side had finally made a move, the defense had not been lowered, so how could he find a flaw? He could only ask for help, “Old Man Mu…”
“You fool, fight! What’s the point of running away? Force him to attack and reveal a flaw. Do not let him attack you to his heart’s desire. If you want to live, you have to dash at him.”
To force him into attacking and to lure him into attacking; although it was just a difference of one word, the meaning was quite different. Shangguan Fei secretly blamed Old Man Mu for not saying it clearly, but it was rather difficult for him to approach the enemy in the face of the two sharp short sabers.
As soon as Yang San realized that the opponent’s fear was not a pretense, he seized the moment and attacked even more fiercely with his dual sabers. After ten more exchanges, he simply abandoned all defense and brandished the two sabers at his opponent like the tide surging at the shore, each wave higher than last.
In the eyes of kung fu experts like Old Man Mu, this was the best chance to counterattack. Shangguan Fei, however, was so frantic that he wished he had wings to fly away with, not to mention fighting back.
In the first fight, neither side killed the other. But this Yang San showed no mercy as if he really wanted to kill Shangguan Fei.
Tuo Sai stared at the two’s moves. As long as the kid was killed, his vengeance today would be considered successful and the following competitions would not matter.
Shangguan Ru, after all, cared about her brother, so she couldn’t help reminding, “Hit him in the left rib, watch out for your right side, poke him in the chest…”
But Yang San’s attack was too fast for her to call out the fleeting flaws. His subsequent cuts had already made up for the flaws by the time she finished her words. Shangguan Fei always hesitated in the heart and couldn’t seize the opportunity, which made him become even more flustered.
Yang San became more and more assured. He was determined to cut his opponent into pieces to avenge King Kuari’s younger brother.
Gu Shenwei paid more attention to Yang San. This man’s sabersmanship was quite special and it had to be a unique skill of one of the well-known sects in the Central Plains. Gu Shenwei vaguely remembered that he had heard about it from his father, but he couldn’t recall it now.
At this stage, the crowd was already able to figure out the outcome of the contest, and the only suspense was how many cuts Shangguan Fei would receive.
“Give it up, brother.” Shangguan Ru sighed.
Shangguan Fei wanted to admit defeat, but the other side’s sabers were getting faster and faster, so his dodging speed had to increase correspondingly, which prevented him from speaking. He didn’t even notice that his lightness skill was good enough that he had already dodged forty or fifty moves.
Under pressure, miracles often happen. Shangguan Fei had not been able to ‘force’ Yang San to attack, but in his mind, he had ‘forced’ an idea to save his life.
He attacked, but he still dared not get close to his opponent. Instead, he waved his hand and shot out a hidden weapon.
Yang San was experienced. Although he was a bit surprised, he was not as flustered as Shangguan Fei. With the saber in his right hand blocking out the hidden weapon, he continued to attack with the saber in his left hand.
It had taken a long while for Shangguan Fei to think of this trick. Seeing that it could slow down Yang San’s offensive a bit, he seized the moment and simultaneously threw over a dozen hidden weapons with both hands.
Shangguan Fei’s kung fu was better than he had thought. Once he had an idea, his actions were actually quite steady and fast. Yang San was within five steps of him now but couldn’t move any further. He had to wave his double sabers to block the hidden weapons.
Unfortunately, Shangguan Fei didn’t have unlimited hidden weapons. His reaction speed was good but his skill was poor. All of the hidden weapons he had shot out were straightforward and lacked any variances. He couldn’t hit the opponent at all.
Old Man Mu kept shaking his head. He knew he shouldn’t say this but still couldn’t hold it back. “Prepare to collect his corpse. I’m afraid there won’t be much left to collect though,” he said as he looked up to Shangguan Ru.
Anxious at her heart, Shangguan Ru couldn’t help but look at the Dragon King, hoping that he could think of a way to save her brother. But the Dragon King was staring at Yang San as if he were fascinated and didn’t care about Shangguan Fei’s safety at all.
“Dragon King…” Annoyed, Shangguan Ru pleaded. But before Gu Shenwei could come to his senses, the competition was over.
Not only Shangguan Fei didn’t die, but he had also spat on Yang San’s face.
With dual sabers, Yang San was able to block all the hidden weapons coming from the opponent’s hands. But he wanted a bit more. He had wanted to take one more step forward to kill this coward. If not so, he would not have been careless and hit by a ‘hidden weapon’ from the third direction.
Astonished, Yang San thought that the mouth-spitting hidden weapon was Shangguan Fei’s unique skill. He immediately retreated several steps and wiped his face. When he found that it was only saliva, he felt relieved but then became furious.
Meanwhile, Shangguan Fei also retreated. He moved back even further to Old Man Mu’s side. Only then did he stop and slightly bow, saying, “I thought I was going to lose.”
Everyone was stunned. How could he say that when the contest was obviously not yet finished?
“Come over, I’ll chop you into pieces in three moves.” Yang San ordered, grinding his teeth.
“What? I’ve won, why are you still pestering me? Can’t you afford to lose?”
“You won? How? By spitting?”
“Of course.” Shangguan Fei appeared to be surprised. “If what I spat out was not saliva but a poisonous weapon, wouldn’t you be dead by now?”
“Cut the crap, what you assumed doesn’t make any sense. Saliva and hidden weapon are two different things. As long as I’m still alive, it’s not over.”
Shangguan Fei looked even more surprised, “In that case, how could Gu Da call it a win in the first contest? Long Fanyun didn’t die, and the cut he received was even tinier than a mosquito bite.”
“That’s different. Are a sword and saliva comparable?” Yang San grew angrier as he rebuked. He would rather be stabbed than spat in the face.
“That’s why I said ‘if it was a poisonous weapon’. I don’t want to injure or kill any more people.”
Old Man Mu was impressed with Shangguan Fei and regretted that he had not taken him as a disciple in the Land of Fragrance. So he echoed of his own accord, “Even saliva can kill people. Let me spit at you to see if I can kill you. If not… I’ll never spit again.”
No matter if spitting could kill or not, Yang San would not let anyone spit on him again. “Shameless…”
“I’m shameless? I was showing mercy to you.” Shangguan Fei, though a coward in action, was a general in the war of words. Yang San wasn’t his match in a verbal battle, especially when they were separated by a safe distance.
‘The Central Plains and the Western Regions people are the same, they only talk big,’ thought Tuo Sai with a livid face. “Step down. The Dragon King wins this round, and we’ll get ready for the fourth round.”
Yang San blushed but dared not to disobey the order. It was rather humiliating for him to admit defeat like this, so he pleaded, “I am sorry, your highness. Please allow me to continue the fourth round.”
After spending so much effort recruiting an expert like Yang San, Tuo Sai was also quite unreconciled to the ridiculous defeat, so he nodded and agreed.
“Hey, didn’t we agree to offer seven people on each side, how can he…” Shangguan Fei had just blurted out his objection before he noticed the Dragon King’s stern eyes, so he quickly shut his mouth.
As long as the Dragon King didn’t say anything, Tuo Sai and Yang San pretended to be deaf.
Yang San came onstage again with his dual sabers and was determined that no matter who his opponent was, he would use his unique skills and finish the other side in ten cuts to restore his image.
Knowing that the Dragon King would not let him compete again, Shangguan Fei offered to fight, “Dragon King, do you want me to spit in his face again?”
Gu Shenwei ignored him. He called Chu Nanping out and asked, “How many moves do you need to defeat him?”
“Three.”
Although the two spoke in a low voice, both sides could hear them. Tuo Sai laughed first, and then the soldiers behind him also laughed out loud. Only Yang San, who was already on the court, burst out in anger and shame with his face enshrouded in a killing aura.
Before he came to the Dragon King, Tuo Sai had investigated the backgrounds of the Dragon King’s men. Amongst them, Lotus had the highest martial arts skills. It brought him no honor to defeat this woman, however, and if he lost, he would lose his face. So he proposed to not to compete with women. As for the others, Old Man Mu was a master but he had lost his edge. Long Fanyun, the captain of the guards, was good at fighting on the battlefield but not as well in a one-on-one duel. Shangguan Fei’s kung fu was peculiar, but he was a coward. So there was nothing to be afraid of.
Chu Nanping had once been a personal guard of the Dragon King but he had seldom stayed with him in the past two years. He had encountered with the Golden Roc killers in the Hui Kingdom of Xiaoyao Lake but ended up being taken prisoner. What Tuo Sai had learned so far was that this young man’s swordsmanship was good, but he wasn’t a top-notch expert.
Tuo Sai became even surer of his judgment when Chu Nanping stood out.
Chu Nanping had grown up and was now a boy of sixteen or seventeen years old and had become even more delicate and pretty. But no matter how cold he looked, he still appeared to be tender and weak. The sword at his waist was more of an accessory than a sharp weapon tailored to kill.
Ignoring the laughter, he drew out his sword and looked down for a moment before turning to Lotus, “Can I borrow your sword?”
Lotus was stunned a bit. She didn’t expect that Chu Nanping would borrow the sword from her. She had two swords with her at all times, amongst which the sword with the character ‘Huan’ had broken but hadn’t been discarded. What she used the most was the sword with the character ‘Yun’.
After a moment’s hesitation, Lotus drew her sword and handed it to Chu Nanping with the tip pointing at herself.
Dual swords versus dual sabers.
The reason why Gu Shenwei had agreed to the contest was that he was putting all his hopes on this teenager. But he was also surprised as Chu Nanping had never practiced dual swords before. Why would he suddenly change his mind and compete with a kung fu expert with an unfamiliar martial arts skill and still claim that he could win in three moves?
