CHAPTER 96
Shen Qiao paused, recognizing the other, also smiled: “Li-gongzi, long time no see, how have you been?”
“I’m very well.” Li Qingyu was not a very expressive person, that smile just now was quite rare, his smile quickly vanished, returning to this usual calm, unruffled appearance, but one could tell that he was in a cheerful mood.
Shen Qiao’s impression of Li Qingyu was good, that day although the other started off by underestimating him, later did lend him his sword, which assisted him in his victory against Duan Wenyang, he was a straightforward person, but wasn’t good with words, had a bit of a solemn appearance, but in truth was an outside-cold-inside-warm kind of person.
“While I was in Chang’an, I received a lot of help from Su Qiao’s family, and was able to bring Qi-lang out of the ambush, how is your shidi’s family doing now?”
Li Qingyu nodded: “He’s very well, after Zhongnan Sect was forced to join Hehuan Sect, the Su family and some other disciples came to to Qingchengshan, now they are safe and well.”
Shen Qiao sighed in relief: “That’s good to hear, it looks the situation in Chang’an is not ideal, they probably will not be able to return for some time?”
Li Qingyu voiced his agreement: “Dao-xiong how is your wugong recovering, if you have time, will you parry with me?”
He was a fool when it came to the way of the sword, seeing Shen Qiao was like seeing a sheathed, mysterious, sharp, treasure sword, not wanting to relinquish it, desiring to examine every inch of the other person, though not in intent of a filthy origin.
Seeing the other’s bright eyes, Shen Qiao couldn’t laugh or cry: “I…”
He had only said one word before Yan Wushi continued the conversation: “A-Qiao is going to advise his disciples now, I’m afraid he has no spare time to waste on you, if you want to parry, why not let this venerable one advise you.”
Li Qingyu looked at him: “Who are you?”
Yan Wushi’s lips curled: “If you can defeat this venerable one, this venerable one will naturally tell you.”
Li Qingyu’s gaze drifted downwards, paused on the wooden sword he held in his hand, suddenly shook his head: “You don’t use the sword often, your knowledge base broad, in the way of the sword, you’re not as good as Shen Qiao, and as of now my inner qi cannot compare to yours, no need to have a fight.”
Yan Wushi smiled amiably: “This venerable one has never seen someone who knows themselves so well, you can be the first.”
Li Qingyu’s gaze abruptly sharpened, the two looked at each other, he nodded: “Oh this is Huanyue Sect’s Yan-zongzhu.”
Yan Wushi raised an eyebrow: “Looks like you recognize this venerable one?”
Li Qingyu made a noise in the affirmative: “I heard Yan-zongzhu wildly proclaimed himself number one in the world, seeing you today, this was not in falsehood.”
Seeing these two prepare sword and notch crossbow upon meeting, was completely out of Shen Qiao’s expectations, he said: “Yan-zongzhu, Li-gongzi is an esteemed guest of Bixia Sect…”
His sentence was left unfinished, as Yan Wushi laughed: “Then let this venerable one see this esteemed guest’s abilities!”
He stretched out an index finger, fast as lightning, but also graceful and precise, it was indeed the famous spring water finger technique!
Shen Qiao had an impulse to stop him but it was too late.
Over there a big noise, Li Qingyu had only pulled out half his sword qiushui, that half of sword edge was blocked by Yan Wushi’s index finger, after the brief contact, Li Qingyu took three steps back, sword forced back into its sheath.
Yan Wushi then pulled his hand back and stood still, not moving.
The difference was clear.
But this was expected, although Li Qingyu was one of the top martial artists of the younger generation, could still not yet hold a conversation with Yan Wushi, as he said himself his inner qi could not compare to Yan Wushi, it would appear Yan Wushi forced his hand, and was guilty of bullying this wanbei.
Li Qingyu held his sword and folded his hands in respect, pushing down his rage, slowly said: “Yan-zongzhu’s inner qi is domineering, I cannot of course compare.”
With emphasis on the words inner qi, it meant that he considered the only reason Yan Wushi could win, was not due to his technique or skill, but qi level alone.
Prepare sword notch crossbow, on the verge of eruption.
Yan Wushi laughed coldly.
Blocking his next impulse, Shen Qiao had stepped forward saying: “Li-gongzi, the situation with the death of the head of Zhongnan Sect, and being forced to join Hehuan Sect, surely has repercussions in the jianghu, I want to know what happened, I don’t know if Li-gongzi has time to tell it to me in detail?”
Li Qingyu glanced at Yan Wushi, then nodded: “Of course I can.”
Shen Qiao extended his hand to invite him inside: “After you.”
Then said to Yan Wushi: “I don’t know if Yan-zongzhu would like to join us, or has other matters to attend to?”
As Shen Qiao saw it, Li Qingyu was here as a guest, and was provoked by Yan Wushi for no reason, required an apology, if the two really had a fight, no matter who was injured, it would make things difficult for Bixia Sect.
Yan Wushi suddenly smiled, ice melting into spring wind: “You guys chat, I’m a bit hungry, I’ll go down to the kitchens to see what they have to eat.”
Odd. Shen Qiao thought, he couldn’t see through Yan Wushi’s cloudy with a chance of thunder temperament, seeing the other turn and leave, shook his head, returned inside to sit and talk with Li Qingyu.
Zhongnan Sect as a result of this recent calamity collapsed, for a son of a illustrious household like Zhangsun Sheng it was a small matter, with no sect, he could at least return home, but the other disciples that had made the sect their home were quite pitiful, they were forced to make a stand, or acquiesce to Hehuan Sect, becoming Hehuan Sect’s outer disciples, they could also choose to oppose them, flee to other sects, like Qingchengshan’s Chunyang Sect, and with the chance at shijiandahui to stir the undercurrents.
In truth Chunyang Sect had gradually become a third force that could stand against Hehuan Sect and the Buddhist sects, in the north, those unwilling to give in to Hehuan Sect or the Buddhist sects, had come one after the other to seek assistance from Chunyang Sect, and to the south, with the changjiang as a natural barrier, and as Linchuan Sect’s stronghold, Hehuan Sect and the Buddhist sects for the moment had not shown any signs of moving south.
Unintentionally planting willow, willow grows into shade, Yi Bichen at the beginning didn’t necessarily predict this, but Chunyang Sect had been wanting to enter the world, he naturally didn’t have a reason to refuse, hosting shijiandahui at Chunyang Sect, also demonstrated where people’s intentions strayed.
In only half a year, the world’s configuration had drastically transformed, making people sigh and lament.
Li Qingyu: “Shijiandahui will gather many strong martial artists, it’ll be a good opportunity to practice, shizun hopes daoxiong will also attend, reconnect on part of our common daoist sect origins.”
Shen Qiao said: “Including Qi-lang, I have accepted two disciples, they’ve only formally entered training, it’s the time for establishing a strong foundation, if I’m not by their side, I’m afraid they’ll have no one to advise them, and easily go down the wrong path.”
Li Qingyu seemed unconcerned: “When I was small and training, shizun would only teach things once, and let us figure out the rest ourselves, martial training cannot be separate from natural ability, if they don’t even have a smidge of calibre, they might as well spend their lives fishing and farming, it’s a better way to pass the years.”
Although the words were harsh, they were not unreasonable, but with Shen Qiao’s character, certainly wouldn’t be able to say such a thing, he smiled: “Let me think things over, I’ll discuss it with them, and then decide.”
Li Qingyu nodded.
Shen Qiao thought of something: “Has Li-gongzi heard any news from Xuandushan?”
Li Qingyu: “I have not.”
The last Shen Qiao heard of Yu Ai, was his participation in the ambush against Yan Wushi, after that he had not seen the other.
Yu Ai singlemindedly pursued Xuandushan’s return to the top of the daoist sects, but this plan seemed doomed from the start, first with Chunyang Sect taking the winning advantage, then working closely with Tujue, looking to borrow Tujue’s power, but the calculations have yet to pan out, and in the end may just be a bamboo basket retrieving water coming up empty.
After the initial pain of the betrayal, all thoughts related to Xuandushan, Shen Qiao felt it as if in a rain-fog dreamscape, beautiful but not real.
Li Qingyu said: “If you want to return to Xuandushan, I can go ask for shizun’s help.”
Shen Qiao shook his head and laughed: “Thank you, but if I’m not relying on my own ability to get something, in the end it won’t last long.”
Li Qingyu saw that he had his own plan, so nodded, and didn’t add anything further.
The two of them conversed a while, it was approaching noon, the one who came knocking was Bixia Sect’s Zhou Yexue.
“Li-shixiong, zongzhu and my shifu are discussing matters, are not able to host you in-person, so specially sent me to invite Li-shixiong and Shen-daozhang to move to the flower hall for their meal.”
To go or not to go to shijiandahui, was a big deal for all of Bixia Sect, Zhao Chiying must discuss things with Yue Kunchi, to not be able to come herself at this time was only natural.
Zhou Yexue was twenty eight years old, an age where her beauty shone like a flower, she and Li Qingyu’s age were similar, and both practiced the sword, could be considered very suited for each other, if anything could start between them, it would be a beautiful story.
Yi Bichen himself did not marry, but didn’t force his disciples in this matter, Chunyang Sect did not have many women disciples, if in the future Li Qingyu also did not marry and focused solely on the way of the sword it would be no matter, if he wanted to marry and have kids, Bixia Sect’s women disciples were head above the rest in terms of appearance, and was a very reasonable choice, Zhao Chiying let Zhou Yexue come specifically, must have had a thought in a similar vein.
However Li Qingyu did not seem to recognize half a sentiment along these lines, he said: “Thank you for coming, since Zhao-zongzhu is busy, then I don’t need to go, can you prepare two sets of meals for me and Shen-daoxiong, I want to seek advice from him about the way of the sword, I can stay here and eat while we chat.”
Zhou Yexue had never met someone so clueless, glared at the other for a while, eventually said fine, didn’t turn around before stalking away.
After a while, the person who came to deliver their meals was not her but Fan Yuanbai.
Shen Qiao as a bystander saw it all clearly, saw how the young girl was maybe interested in Li Qingyu, but Li Qingyu demonstrated no such intention, he could’t interfere, so pretended not to know.
Today’s cook was not from the base of the mountain, three dishes one soup, the taste very average.
Shen Qiao drinking his half-bowl of soup, mid-way through realized he was drinking fish soup.
And it appeared to be fish head soup….
Looking again at Li Qingyu, Li fish…head, was at the moment with his head bent drinking soup.
Not realizing what was what, Shen Qiao suddenly felt it was very funny, he wanted to laugh, but thought that might be unkind, so suppressed it.
Li Qingyu: “This soup is not bad.”
Shen Qiao gave a dry smile, didn’t know how to respond, could only say: “These vegetables are also fresh.”
Saying this, in his mind suddenly appeared the image of Yan Wushi’s face, but he couldn’t be the culprit.
All things considered, surely the impressive Huanyue Sect zongzhu could not do such a childish thing?
Zhao Chiying quickly made up her mind, she would bring Fan Yuanbai and Zhou Yexue along to Chunyang Sect to attend shijiandahui, Yue Kunchi would stay behind and look after things, Shen Qiao also wanted to stay, but Zhao Chiying also expressed her hope that Shen Qiao could go with them, towards this friend who she had suffered through hardship together, she regarded highly, this time Bixia Sect didn’t have much strength to show, with Zhao Chiying alone it would be hard to make a statement, definitely needed Shen Qiao’s assistance.
Shen Qiao agreed, left Shiwu and Yuwen Song with homework, asked them to train well with Yue Kunchi, Yuwen Song since a young age grew up in an illustrious, grand household, towards Taishan was filled with wonder and boundless curiosity, was quite content, Shiwu was the shixiong, but his personality was gentle, often would go along with Yuwen Song, only for important matters would he insist, the two of them got along well, letting them interact alone, Shen Qiao wasn’t worried.
A group of people packed and prepared, set out on their journey.
The author wants to say:
Shen Qiao: Yan-zongzhu, is the fish head soup your doing?
Lao Yan: A-Qiao, how could this venerable one do such a tactless thing?
Shen Qiao: … (I don’t believe you)