The ground behind them split the same instant their fists collided, and the audience almost lost their footing – save for the man referred to as Great Guardian and Hua Qing.
“Pretty smart of you, bro,” Great Guardian said to Hua Qing, who reactively used him as a shield from the violent blast.
Hua Qing wagged a hand. “You flatter me.”
Reflecting on what he heard, Hua Qing noticed the distinct foreigner accent in the man’s speech. Having come across businessmen from Western Regions, he was sure the accent was the same.
“Yes, I am from what you Central Plainers call the Western Regions. Don’t I look the part?”
H-he read my mind without even looking at me? Man, he actually looks pretty cool in his closed-off posture now.
“There’s no need to act. Although this is only my third visit to the Central Plain, I speak Mandarin back home.”
“No wonder why you speak the language so fluently. It is impossible to tell you a foreigner from your words alone.”
The man grinned. “No need to act as the weasel paying a New Year call to a chicken, with no good intentions. My Mandarin is perfect.”
Says the man who just used the saying incorrectly! Plus, you don’t look the part!
Eyes on the duel, the man inquired, “A man by the name of Lord Wu, Hua Feihua, has become quite famous in the Central Plain recently. Would you happen to know where he is?”
“Uh, I, uh, am not very sure. If you wish to find out more, I can go ask around for you. Stay where you are. I’m going to quickly buy some oranges.”
“Apparently, his martial prowess is on par with Jade Emperor’s fart – amazing.”
“Who did you learn your Mandarin from? Are you deriding me or complimenting me?”
The man finally looked back at Hua Qing. “So you don’t know him?”
“N-no.”
“It’s fine if you don’t know. Tell me.” He extended a finger. “Who’s the boy?”
Ming Feizhen diffused all of the elder’s attacks using circular arm movements, but he had no window to mount an offence of his own. Though the elder’s internal energy was seemingly infinite and skill was superior to the person who massacred Xu Clan, Ming Feizhen was perfectly composed.
Reflecting on all the events he went through with Ming Feizhen until now, it dawned on Hua Qing how surreal all of them had been. “He…” Hua Qing shook his head, smiling. “I don’t know who he is, either, but he is my friend… I think. While I consider him a friend, I’m cognisant of the fact that I’m not qualified to be his friend. I don’t know what he thinks, either. I don’t even know who he is, after all.”
The man took a seat, then passed Hua Qing a cup of wine. “On my last two trips to the Central Plain, I forgot. This time, I’ve finally remembered a Chinese name. My name is Wen Wudao. How about you?”
Hua Qing thoughtlessly accepted the drink that might’ve been the catalyst behind the debacle taking place. “My name is Hua Feihua, I mean, I mean Hua Qing! Really! I swear on my life!”
“Relax. I was only interested in sparring with Hua Feihua. Now that I’ve met you in person, I have a good guess of what’s going on, so we can skip it. I’ve never made a friend in the Central Plain despite three visits. We’ve bathed, seen birds and even drank together. Men don’t need to say any more than this, right? How about being friends?”
Hua Qing profusely nodded right away. “Big Bro, I am at your service. Come what may, I will always be at your beck and call!”
“Big Bro? Hahaha, all right, brother, hahaha. But, uh, are you sure about this?” Wen Wudao clasped his head with one hand. “I’m fairly well known in the Central Plain nowadays as Zhuxing Wuchang. They call me a sword demon or something. Why do you look as white as a sheet?”
“… Ahaha, no, nothing, I’m good. Big Bro, why are you here in the Central Plain and taking a bath at a bathhouse?”
Wen Wudao stretched his shoulders. “I’ve hit a plateau in my training, so I figured I need more sparring. There are plenty of strong warriors in the Central Plain, making it the most ideal place. In Mandarin, we say ‘Erect a solid fence so that dogs can’t come in,’ so that I can break my plateau.”
Are you sure your Mandarin teacher wasn’t out to screw you up?
“Looks like we’re about to have a winner.”
Boom! Ming Feizhen and the elder threatened, each generating smoke geysers upon crashing holes into the ground.
Hua Qing rushed over to Ming Feizhen. “Brother, you all right?! Please be all right! If anything happens to you, what am I supposed to do (read: these guys will bludgeon me to death)?!”
Wen Wudao gestured approval with his head. “I always like a brother with a sense of brotherhood. This ninth brother of mine is a good man.”
The elder’s subordinates also went to check on him, but he had already taken a seat in the hole. In spite of being caked in dust, he heartily expressed, “That was fun, hahaha. Besides His Excellency, you’re the only opponent this old one has had so much fun fighting.”
Ming Feizhen, although breathing slightly harder than usual, managed to recover quickly and evidently landed steadily on the ground instead of crashing into the ground. He pushed Hua Qing aside, then replied, “I haven’t lost. At most, I won 70% of the match.”
“Stubborn, huh? If I don’t beat you into submission today, my name Bai…”
“Branch Leader, we have trouble!” One of the elder’s subordinates whispered in his ear.
“What? Shen Wuzheng is here?” The elder rubbed his chin roughly. “He should’ve taken the bait and gone to Shennong. Why is he back here?”
Wen Wudao exclaimed, “We’ll just fight whoever pulls up.”
“Shut your ignorant mouth! He may looked like a refined gentleman, but he’s pretty much Yan Shisan 2.0 in battle. Fighting him is just asking for pain. Plus, his style is about being calculative; it’s a boring fight unlike fighting this boy.”
“You’re still bitter about losing in that one exchange to him?”
“He only won because this old one underestimated him. If we were to run it back, this old one would beat him. Men, get ready to slink off.”
All of them really took off without even getting dressed.
Whilst running backward, the elder said to Ming Feizhen, “Kid, we’ll fight again the next time we meet. You can have this match, hahaha.”
Wen Wudao said to Hua Qing, “I’ll treat you to drinks next time, brother.”
Not long after they left, Ming Feizhen and Hua Qing heard people sprinting in, followed by Xin Buyi yelling from a distance, “None of you are getting away!” before he saw the two. “You two?”
The two naked and confused young men bobbed their heads in synchrony. “Yes, it’s us.”
Glossary
The weasel paying a New Year call to a chicken – This is a literal translation to emphasise the lack of the man’s understanding of the saying. The one you may be more familiar with is, “When the fox preaches, take care of your geese.” If you still don’t get it, it basically means someone is pretending to be friendly, but they have an axe to grind. It’s incorrect because Hua Qing doesn’t have an ulterior motive; he’s just trying to not get killed.
Erect a solid fence so that dogs can’t come in – As long as you are upright, bad people can’t corrupt you.
Calculative fighting style – Basically, the opposite of a brawler.
