It startled the innkeeper. The shop had only one jar of osmanthus wine left. Even though An Yuan ordered it first, the table beside him was crammed full of people. Each of them was armed and well-dressed, he dared not offend them.
After all, An Yuan and Han Changsheng were just two people, and they were both young. It was easier to talk it out with them. So, he made the decision and gave the wine to the table full of people. It wasn"t uncommon for bars and taverns, it was a basic requirement for him to look after the customers. He thought it would be okay to find some other way to compensate for his mistake, but he didn"t expect Han Changsheng would get so angry.
And Han Changsheng was furious. They ordered the wine first, and the waiter obviously didn"t pay them any attention. As the leader of the number one demonic cult, usually, anyone who met him was either scared out of their wits or treated him as a great opponent. No one dared to treat him like this!
At first, An Yuan wanted to let it go. It was just one jar of wine, after all, and he didn"t really want to drink. However, when he heard Han Changsheng say "do you know who I am", he immediately shut up and stared at him curiously, waiting for him to continue.
Almost all the eyes in the dining hall are focused on Han Changsheng. Han Changsheng was menacing, he wasn"t small. Because he came to eat, he had taken off his straw hat, but An Yuan hadn"t, leaving him with a layer of mystery.
Han Changsheng pointed to himself with his thumb.
"I am…" He took a deep breath, "I am the leader of the Wulin this year!"
Leader of the Wulin… Wulin Alliance Leader… Wulin… Alliance… leader…
Han Changsheng"s reply echoed throughout the inn.
After a few seconds, An Yuan"s chopsticks fell to the ground.
Whoa!
Once the silence was broken, the entire lobby erupted with noise.
"Ladies!" The young man in blue stood to fight, "Are you the leader of the Wulin Alliance? You"re not my father…. Bah! He"d never be as cheap as you!"
"Bang!"
Someone drew their sword and scabbard, shouting, "Where"s that son of a b.i.t.c.h that dares pretend to be the alliance leader Lu? Are you d.a.m.ned tired of living?"
Ten or so people stood up at the opposite table, staring at Han Changsheng and An Yuan.
Han Changsheng: "…"
Although Han Changsheng wasn"t a competent leader, he was a leader that took the honor of his sect more seriously than anything else. He couldn"t help but give his opponent a lesson when they dared to say something bad about his Tianning Cult. This time, though, An Yuan was at his side. If he wanted to keep his ident.i.ty a secret, he couldn"t fight as he wanted. He despised the waiter. He was so eager to attack that he almost shouted that he was the leader of the Tianning Cult.
You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds need to die quickly.
He controlled himself enough to keep from blurting out the truth. Now that everyone had drawn their swords, he couldn"t keep himself alive and make sense of the situation at the same time. To just blurt an ident.i.ty to make him feel less oppressed, to call himself the leader of the Wulin Alliance, was too much.
The real Wulin leader was a man called Lu Honghua. He was the sect head of the promotion sect, Hongyang Sect. What was worse, this guy before him that everyone called young master Lu, was Lu Honghua"s own son.
For a moment, An Yuan"s expression and his internal thoughts both went through a complicated pathway under his straw hat.
What? He hid his ident.i.ty because he was the leader of the Wulin Alliance?! This unbelievable rascal! Actually, I don"t even need to believe it, because he"s obviously lying! What the f.u.c.k, to dare to pull such bald-faced lie?! So, who the f.u.c.k is this guy!!
Yuan Conghu, the eldest Yunxiao Sect disciple, stared at An Yuan with tiger"s eyes. "When you eat, you wear a straw hat to hide your face? You dare not show your true face? I can tell neither of you are good! You must be wanted criminals!"
Han Changsheng sneered. He didn"t expect that young-heroic Lu was the son of Lu Honghua, the leader of the Wulin Alliance. At least it wasn"t the first time he failed to pretend to be someone"s father. To recover some lost ground, he said, "I"m here for your benefit. Everyone who"s seen this man"s true face is no longer in this world."
An Yuan, who was ready to take off his straw hat, had his hand frozen in midair. "…"
"I don"t believe this evil!" The Yun Conghu roared, lunging towards An Yuan.
An Yuan didn"t bother trying to hide, he stayed where he was.
Han Changsheng rose, kicking the stool out from under him just as the guy ran forward. Stumbling over the stool, he fell over the table, his face landing in a bowl of soup. He cried out, his head in his arms.
Han Changsheng sneered.
Although Yunxiao Sect ranked first among the top ten sword sects in the Jianghu, this Yun Conghu was just a disciple. His martial arts weren"t great. A few months ago, Han Changsheng would just barely be able to kick him off. Recently, however, his martial arts had improved a lot. Yun Conghu could hardly be considered a reasonable opponent.
Everyone else thought Yun Conghu was too clumsy to avoid the chair. He stumbled before he could even make a move against the enemy. Only the experts knew how accurate Han Changsheng"s timing was. There was no way Yun Conghu could have avoided it.
Rising, Han Changsheng kicked away the crying guy, then scanned the surrounding people. "This is my house"s young master. If you want to fight my son, you have to pa.s.s through me first!"
An Yuan, who was itching to fight, had already pressed his hand against his scabbard, froze again. "…"
Just then, Han Changsheng had an idea.
Since they were all from the Wulin and the son of the Wulin leader was present, it was an opportunity that couldn"t be missed. The Black and White Impermanence deities told him he had to bring An Yuan to the top of the Wulin Conference. If he could make a show here and now, it could be considered as making progress towards the goal.
Han Changsheng already had an idea of how to make An Yuan stand out. He wronged himself temporarily and pretended to be a hired thug and said An Yuan was his house"s young master. Even Han Changsheng was fierce as a thug, so An Yuan"s status would be praised, too.
Sure enough, everyone looked between An Yuan, who was still sitting, and Han Changsheng, who stood tall and domineering. Wasn"t this the cla.s.sic scene of a hidden boss taking out his good-for-nothing underling? They immediately knew that An Yuan was the boss.
The poor An Yuan just wanted to put his hard work from the past few months to the test, but Han Changsheng"s words left him totally hopeless.
After Yun Conghu fell, several people from the Wulin jumped up to show their faces in front of Lu Wenlin. Some of them were really different, but most were just embroidered pillows. Han Changsheng first had to take out the pillows, then keep the rest away from An Yuan.
In an instant, four of them were knocked to the ground. The rest stood in a stalemate with Han Changsheng. Keeping An Yuan behind him, Han Changsheng kept them away from him. In their eyes, he was trying to protect the Lord.
Lu Wenlin looked at them coldly and shook his head. No matter how powerful Han Changsheng was, there were so many Wulin elders present. Useful fighters were present, just waiting to take advantage of the opportunity. They were selfish. They hoped they"d be the last to show off their skills. Before they got close to Han Changsheng, they would "b.u.mp" another"s arm and "trip" another"s feet and start fighting among themselves. At least Han Changsheng would benefit from it, even one person could easily deal with them. He thought he had the ability to rebel against heaven.
"Ladies!" Wenlin finally opened his mouth, his face dignified. "Stop ha, stop ha! A group of lost eyes things, stop ha!" (You eyesores, stop what you"re doing!)
Under Lu Wenlin"s threat, everyone stopped. If they continued, they"d be the ones disgraceful enough to fight. Even if they could beat Han Changsheng and An Yuan to the ground, they would look like they bullied the weak. They"d be the talk of the town. Moreover, they weren"t sure who would land the final hit, beating each other so senselessly.
Once they stopped, Han Changsheng didn"t dare take advantage of chasing after victory. Raising his head, he looked at them coldly. The look on his face was so fierce, it had them all scrambling to hide. Even the waiter ducked under the table.
The waiter didn"t expect a jar of osmanthus wine would lead to such a big stir. If he knew, he would have drunk the last jar himself and not given it to anyone, avoiding the stir, altogether.
WIthout hesitation, Lu Wenlin stepped forward. A pair of Feng eyes narrowed, looking at Han Changsheng.
Truth be told, the inexplicable guy surprised him. The earlier smack on the table didn"t damage the table, but the four wooden legs were embedded in the stone, making the table look short.
If someone didn"t have the ability, they couldn"t do it. Just then, when he was fighting with the others, he saw his martial arts skills were excellent. Also, the young man in the straw hat had yet to come out.
Finally, Wenlin asked, "Which sect are you from?"
"I am self-taught!" Han Changsheng said.
Lu Wenlin raised his eyebrows, his eyes lighting with excitement. "Let"s compete?"
The others thought Han Changsheng was pretending to be Lu Honghua, but Lu Wenlin didn"t think so. He thought that Han Changsheng was deliberately provoking him. He said that he was the leader of the Wulin Alliance in front of the actual leader"s son, proving that he wanted Lu Honghua"s status.
He must be confident in his martial arts.
Lu Wenlin was a complete martial arts maniac. He didn"t care much about things in the Jianghu. He preferred to pursue higher martial arts attainment than to sing with the other Jianghu people.
The only reason he got together with so many people was that his father threw him out to cultivate his ability to communicate. Otherwise, Lu Honghua was worried that his son would become overly fond of his sword and call it his grandchild instead of giving him actual grandkids.
Han Changsheng raised his eyebrows. Someone challenged him, and, as the leader of the Tianning cult, he refused to shrink back.
"Don"t damage the inn," Lu Wenlin said, "Let"s go out and contend."
A swordsman refused to accept this, "Young-heroic Lu, why do you have to do it yourself? I"ll teach him a lesson for you!"
The other people of the Wulin responded one after another, and the situation reached the point of tension.
Finally, Lu Wenlin frowned and said, "The cat under the covers, it"s rippling the soup! Stand back!" (This is unpromising and humiliating, go away!)
Angry, they cut down Han Changsheng with their gazes but dared not speak again.
Since Lu Wenlin was a complete martial arts maniac, his martial arts were excellent. He liked to fight with powerful people. Ordinary people, he didn"t waste his time. If he proposed to fight, it was only against someone skilled.
Whenever he was just having a meal, someone would always try to fight with him as a way of trying to stay on his good side. As a result, Lu Wenlin would refuse to give them any face and always turned them down.
Those who were refused lost not only their face but the face of their sects. Thus the audience never expected the guy who dared pretend to be the leader of the Wulin, who claimed that he had no Sect, would single-handedly gain Lu Wenlin"s interest.
"I"m not afraid of you, let"s fight!" Han Changsheng said, still arrogant.
When they left the inn, An Yuan followed them out. On the way, someone tried to take advantage of him, but Han Changsheng slapped his hand away before he could even try. Under his straw hat, An Yuan"s expression was conflicted.
Does this weirdo care so much about me, he wants to protect me from even being touched by others? But, when it"s just us, why is he always so irate? Is he shy?
When they left the dining room, Lu Wenlin"s eyes shone with excitement. Drawing his blade, he called, "Come!"
Lu Wenlin was very confident about his sword. Back in the day, his father ascended to the position of the Wulin alliance leader only by walking alone in the Wulin with his mastery of wild mirage swordsmanship.
It was called the wild-phantom sword style. It was fast, giving the opponent a mirage as they fought. It was hard to catch the real blade, and the opponent would be defeated even before he regained his senses. It was a unique skill of his sect. The wild-phantom sword style was mysterious, unlike that of many other sects" styles.
It couldn"t be revealed. Sometimes, Lu Honghua even spoke about martial arts and taught secrets of his wild-phantom sword style to the public.
But, even if they knew how to do it, few could perform it.
The technique challenged the skill of the pract.i.tioners, so few could handle it. Lu Wenlin was twenty-three years old, but his martial arts talent was far higher than his father"s. As it was, he almost surpa.s.sed him. He was called the "Little Phantom Sword" by the Jianghu.
Among his peers, not a single opponent could match him. He"d also defeated many famous predecessors, and was regarded as the star of tomorrow.
Holding his sword in both hands, Lu Wenlin lowered his head to focus, his face serious. He could only win, never lose. When he fought another, this is what he would always tell himself.
Han Changsheng, however, was quite different. He still looked like a fool. Drawing out his Longyin sword, he looked at it. There was grease on the blade.
The previous night, he used it to kill and eat a hare. He couldn"t find a wooden stick, so he used what he had, the sword. After stringing the hare, roasting it, and eating it, he went to sleep, forgetting to clean the sword.
Seeing his carelessness, Lu Wenlin knew he was being undervalued by his opponent. Frowning, he held his tone steady and said, "Let"s start."
Han Changsheng was still looking down at his sword.
Seeing him like that, Lu Wenlin was not polite. Raising his sword, he shouted out, then rushed for Han Changsheng!
Quickly taking a cloth from his pocket, Han Changsheng wiped down the sword edge, then threw the cloth toward Lu Wenlin"s chest.
It was just a piece of cloth. So Lu Wenlin didn"t try to dodge it. He weighed his sword like a beautiful light and shadow.
Suddenly, his legs grew soft, his face green as he fell to the ground.
Raising his sword, Han Changsheng waited for the hit but saw that Lu Wenlin had fallen. He frowned. "So, you"re that useless?"
——The cloth Han Changsheng used to wipe his sword was nothing special. It was only the sock he"d worn for the past half a month. On their journey, An Yuan refused to wash his clothes. Though he"d bought dozens of extra underwear, he didn"t buy enough socks, so he just had to swap between a few pairs. After wearing them, he stuffed them into his pockets. He"d just so happened to grab one to wipe his blade.
Now that his opponent had fallen, Han Changsheng shrugged his shoulders and sheathed his sword, intending to go to dinner.
A group of the Wulin people rushed forward, surrounding the fallen Lu Wenlin. Nervously, they called out to him.
"What"s the matter with you, young-heroic Lu?"
"Did the b.a.s.t.a.r.d poison you?"
"Young-heroic Lu, I"ll help you teach him a lesson!"
Just as someone was about to rush Han Changsheng, Lu Wenlin shouted, "Stop! Don"t fight him! He"s mine… Let me…"
Before he could finish, his head bowed, as the dirty sock was stuck near his mouth. His eyes rolled back, and he pa.s.sed out from the smell of it.