HSSB1111: Getting to know each other through sparring?
While he knew that he stood out in the Roving Jade Heavens, Yan Zhaoge was still rather surprised at suddenly being stopped and challenged like this.
He was a guest of the Profound Sovereign and Dragon Spring Emperor’s family, after all.
It was even Long Xueji, a newly ascended True Immortal, who had led him up Pillglow Peak a few days ago.
Before Yan Zhaoge could answer, a disciple of Minor White Peak told him rather awkwardly via sound transmission, “Senior apprentice-uncle Yan, please forgive Senior Wen. With a heart that has always been fully devoted to the sword dao, he has a rather straightforward temperament…”
Other disciples of Minor White Peak also seemed to be secretly communicating with that Wen Daihong via sound transmission.
As Wen Daihong obstructed the path and challenged their guest now, these Minor White Peak martial practitioners generally felt more awkward than furious.
“Subtle Offensive Peak’s Purple Light Cave…” Yan Zhaoge gazed into the skies, recalling some matters.
Yan Zhaoge had gained a plethora of information from his past trip to the World beyond Worlds’ Kunlun Mountain as he interacted with disciples of the Sword Sovereign’s lineage at Northern High Peak’s Jade Capital Crag, like Wang Pu.
This included some matters regarding the Roving Jade Heavens.
The World beyond Worlds had a disharmonious relationship with the Roving Jade Heavens as the lower and middle-tier martial practitioners had nothing to do with one another at all. Still, the higher echelon experts had all sent agents to infiltrate and grasp information regarding the other side.
While they might not be able to learn the specific details, they were still able to get general information, as well as news concerning the recent balance of power.
As a result, even if the news had been slightly delayed, the Dragon Spring Emperor and the other martial practitioners of the Roving Jade Heavens all knew of the major disturbances that Yan Zhaoge and Broad Creed Mountain had unceasingly caused in the World beyond Worlds.
Meanwhile, the World beyond Worlds also had a certain level of understanding of recent matters in the Roving Jade Heavens.
As Wang Pu and the others knew about Yan Zhaoge’s and Yan Di’s relationship with the Roving Jade Heavens, they had hidden nothing when Yan Zhaoge had inquired about it.
From Wang Pu’s words, it could be inferred that the Roving Jade Heavens were not totally united either.
The authority of the Profound Sovereign Gao Qingxuan in the Roving Jade Heavens was even greater than that of the Earthly Sovereign in the World beyond Worlds.
Still, the Roving Jade Heavens did not belong solely to the Profound Sovereign and her family at the end of the day.
Tracing the cause of this, it might even be somewhat related to Yan Zhaoge’s own family line.
While Wang Pu had spoken rather ambiguously, Yan Zhaoge had still understood what he meant.
In having ‘abducted’ his grandmother, Di Qinglian, his grandfather Yan Xingtang had earned the great dissatisfaction of the Roving Jade Heavens’ old Grand Master, the Master of Gao Qingxuan and also Di Qinglian herself.
The subsequent premature death of Di Qinglian afterwards was also viewed by the Roving Jade Heavens’ old Grand Master as the greatest regret of her life.
Despite the general hostility towards the World beyond Worlds after these events, the Roving Jade Heavens was ultimately split between moderate and radical factions.
The stance of the old Grand Master was directly connected to how most of the Roving Jade Heavens’ upper echelons were in the radical faction.
The Profound Sovereign however, was part of the moderate faction. This was not just because of her relationship with the Dragon Spring Emperor. Instead, while she too had been greatly sorrowful over the matter of Di Qinglian’s death, she did not despise Yan Xingtang despite having been defeated by him before.
Of course, the Profound Sovereign was of the minority amongst her peers.
Besides this matter, there were also many other enmities that had cropped up over the years. The culmination of these were what had led to the current situation in the Roving Jade Heavens, where the two factions were heavily divided.
This split was even more pronounced when concerning how to treat the Yan father and son.
In contrast to the current situation, the Lord of Green Duckweed Mountain’s Subtle Offensive Peak’s Purple Light Cave, the Liberal Emperor, was rumored to be part of the moderate faction.
Seeing the reactions of the descendants of Minor White Peak now, Yan Zhaoge felt that this rumour must be true.
The Liberal Emperor, Profound Sovereign, and Dragon Spring Emperor probably had a pretty good relationship since their descendants were all very familiar with one another.
This was why the Minor White Peak disciples generally felt awkward rather than furious when Wen Daihong had come to obstruct and challenge him.
They were clearly like mediators as they calmed him down while also trying to persuade Wen Daihong against it.
Yan Zhaoge observed this neutrally from the side, finding this very interesting indeed.
Since the Liberal Emperor leaned towards the moderate approach with regard to the World beyond Worlds, why had a descendant of his come over to challenge him?
This would undoubtedly make things difficult for those of the Profound Sovereign’s lineage while also potentially affecting the relationship between the Liberal Emperor and Profound Sovereign.
The problem was that Wen Daihong really seemed not to have realised this at all.
It wasn’t as if he was intentionally going against the will of the Liberal Emperor; instead, he was simply being true to what those Minor White Peak disciples had said – fully devoted to the martial dao, as well as a straightforward person.
Although he might not harbour much preconceived dislike for descendants of the Jade Clear and Grand Clear lineages like Yan Zhaoge, he was still rather concerned about how Yan Xingtang had suppressed the Roving Jade Heavens with his sword that year.
Upon learning that Yan Zhaoge had come to the Roving Jade Heavens, he had immediately come looking for him.
One might say that he was a simple-minded person, despite being a lofty mid Immortal Bridge Martial Saint.
Despite being an extremely young genius possessing endless potential relative to his cultivation base, in terms of his understanding of society, this person might not be all that much superior to Han Long’er and Xia Guang.
“How did you know that I was here at Pillglow Peak? And how did you know when I descended it?” Yan Zhaoge suddenly laughed, “It doesn’t look like you have been waiting for me here this entire time.”
Wen Daihong was momentarily taken aback before a hesitant look appeared on his face as he did not immediately reply.
With that, it was not just Yan Zhaoge, but also the disciples of Minor White Peak who knew that Wen Daihong had probably been instigated by others, single-mindedly running over to challenge him before first understanding the situation.
“It looks like this is a misunderstanding, senior apprentice-uncle Yan…” A disciple of Minor White Peak hurriedly tried to mediate.
“It’s fine,” Yan Zhaoge smiled, “Fellow Daoist Wen, is it? In that case, let us exchange pointers, getting to know each other through sparring.”
The disciples of Minor White Peak all looked a bit anxious – no matter what the result, someone would surely lose face!
It would be hard to say if anything might change with the Liberal Emperor who was usually neutral but leaned slightly towards the Profound Sovereign if his disciple was defeated.
“Please,” Wen Daihong did not think further on this as he just solemnly cupped his fists towards Yan Zhaoge.
He was just about to enter a fighting stance when Yan Zhaoge waved a hand, “Because it is just sparring and not a battle of life and death, since you have chosen the time, shouldn’t I be able to decide the location?”
Wen Daihong immediately retracted his stance, nodding, “That’s right, that’s how it should be.”
“Follow me then,” Yan Zhaoge said, striding forth at a virtually indiscernible speed.
Only Wen Daihong could barely tell that Yan Zhaoge was clearly heading in the direction he had come from.
Everyone hurriedly followed, travelling a long way.
Finally, they saw Yan Zhaoge standing there smilingly as he blocked the path of a bunch of sword cultivators of the Prime Clear lineage. Their expressions were unhappy as they spoke, “What do you want?”
“This Yan will be sparring with Fellow Daoist Wen, and will not be disallowing spectators,” Yan Zhaoge said casually, “You can simply watch openly. Why stay here and wait for the results? Isn’t this what you lot have been hoping for in the first place?”
