Solution
After listening to Shui Yupeng’s words, Ou Peng smiled loftily and replied, “And why would that not be possible?”
When the other part has taken such a large step back, how could Shui Yupeng not understand what he needed to do? He immediately bowed down and called, “Shui Yupeng greets sect master Ou.”
Ou Peng waited for the other party to bow before he supported him to get up. He said, “Brother Shui is too courteous. Since you are now part of Piaomiao sect, you are also our brother so quickly get up.”
The rest of the people saw the situation and they smiled happily as they walked forward to congratulate the newcomer.
Hence, Shui Yupeng greeted each of them again one by one.
After everyone returned the greetings, Ou Peng made everyone move more chairs over and everyone sat down together.
Ou Peng smiled as he said to Shui Yupeng, “Brother Shui is probably wondering why I chose you instead of someone else lead Luoshui.”
Shui Yupeng cupped his fists and said, “Since sect master has made this arrangement, he would naturally have his own reasons, and your subordinate will follow whatever instructions he receive. However, I do feel strange because there are many people in Luoshui sect down the hierarchy who can replace my position, to choose me over them was really out of my expectations. If sect master could aid this subordinate to understand his reasons, I will listen to them carefully.”
Ou Peng smiled when he heard Shui Yupeng calling himself “subordinate”, and he said, “Brother Shui does not have to call himself my subordinate, our Piaomiao sect is not so stiff and I do not see brother Shui as one. If you do not mind, brother Shui can just address me as his brother.”
Shui Yupeng readily accepted his new sect master’s advice and smiled, “Since sect master have said so, how would this brother dare to do otherwise?”
Ou Peng continued, “Even though the battle between Luoshui sect and Piaomiao sect was very intense, our Piaomiao sect had only dispatched our elite disciples and we did not go too far in dealing with our opponents. And even though Luoshui sect was captured, the number of injuries and deaths was minimized to almost none, and only their hearts suffered a serious setback. What the Piaomiao sect wants to do now is to rebuild the morale of your Luoshui members to deter the prying intentions of other sects, and the consolidate Luoshui’s power as quick as possible again. If the person they rally under is not brother Shui, then not only do they have to rewash the whole sect’s hierarchy, suspicion may grow among the members. Although Piaomiao sect can use our strength to force things to the way we want, it would not be as good as brother Shui leading the sect himself. Our Piaomiao sect has n.o.body who is adept in water warfare so all the matters will still be handled by Luoshui sect members, and the best person to supervise them is none other than brother Shui. If not, I would not have put in so much effort to buy your allegiance to our Piaomiao sect.”
Shui Yupeng was not completely convinced and he asked, “Could sect master be a.s.sured if this brother returns to Luoshui alone?”
“Haha,“ Ou Peng broke into laughter and said, “Brother Shui, suspicious people cannot be used, but one cannot be suspicious towards the people he use. I cannot afford to be suspicious of you if I am entrusting Luoshui to you. However, it is safer for me to have some insurance, so brother Shui’s family need not return with you. Our Piaomiao sect has appropriate residences and is also not too far from Luoshui so brother Shui can return here often in the future. Moreover, I can see that nephew Tiantian possesses good bone and tendons so he might be talented in martial arts in the future. Hence, after this year, I will let Chengyue or Ah-Hai to accept him as their disciple so he can learn our Piaomiao martial arts and in the future, he will be the bridge between our two martial factions.”
Shui Yupeng’s face shifted slightly as he cupped his fist and said, “Many thanks to sect master for arranging so.”
Ou Peng caught the change in expression of the other party and he smiled, “Brother Shui seemed to have misunderstood my intentions, but that is not unexpected. Since I have invited brother Shui to join our Piaomiao sect, I would naturally have to share some benefits with you. Otherwise, how will you be willing to stick through this?”
Upon seeing Shui Yupeng’s doubtful expression, Ou Peng laughed heartily and said, “Brother Shui, there are as many sects in Jianghu as trees in a forest, and each sect would have their periods of growth and decline. New sects will sprout and old sects will wither away as a new generation takes the place of the old. For example, Luoshui sect was not established before two generations or around thirty years ago right.”
Shui Yupeng nodded in agreement and said, “Yes, it has not been more than thirty years. Sects like Luoshui sect are spread across Jianghu, and their numbers are uncountable.”
Ou Peng continued to explain, “Most sects in Jianghu would stay in the wind for only a few hundred years, but there are also some sects who are like cornerstones which are rooted deeply and not affected by the winds of Jianghu. I believe brother Shui is no stranger to them.”
Shui Yupeng smiled and said, “That is of course, those sects like Dalin temple, Chuanxiang church are the giant sects whose histories are counted in the centuries, who would not have heard of them?”
Ou Peng nodded his head and continued, “These giant sects have their own fixed mountains and the few tens of li of area around it would be reserved for their own disciples to live and learn martial arts. The most critical thing is that these core sects have their own martial arts heritage, and all their disciples would learn their own type of martial arts which are superior to ours, and can provide twice the result with half the effort. Furthermore, these core sects would have their own means and ways of choosing disciples to sift out the extraordinary talents from the ordinary population to ensure their own prosperity.”
Shui Yupeng smiled bitterly and said, “Sect master is right, just like how Dalin temple has the Buddha’s Palm and Nianhua heart method which are all household names among the people in Jianghu. The Rohan fist, Erlang fist and other similar martial arts are all lower-tiered martial arts that disciples from Dalin temple would disdain, and Dalin temple’s inner energy cultivation methods are so exclusive that even rumors of them are rare. Our Luoshui sect does not have our own inner energy cultivation method, and I was only lucky in my youth to receive part of an inheritance of an inner energy cultivation method to be able to reach my current achievements in Jianghu. If not, I do not know where I would be, holding a sword and shedding blood to exchange for more days to live.”
Ou Peng said, “That is right, brother Shui’s sentiments echoes most others in Jianghu. Entering Jianghu is easy but learning martial arts is hard. It is almost impossible to achieve a profound level in martial arts without a fortunate encounter or deep resources from one’s sect.”
Shui Yupeng was still puzzled, even though the matters they discussed were Jianghu secrets which the general populace would not know, it was common knowledge about the various sect masters and faction heads, and he did not know why Ou Peng was discussing them with him now.
Shui Yupeng wrinkled his brows but he continued to talk, “Indeed, when I thought back to past, I had left home at the age of ten with the ambition of roaming the Jianghu world. However, my eyes were blindfolded, and I was led by someone to throw my life for a small sect, and after years of fighting and killing, I finally learnt that it were the giant sects like Dalin temple and Chuanxiao church that were the sacred places for martial arts. By the time I found an opportunity to go over there to find a master, I was rejected because of my age. Even though I picked up some skills through countless of life and death battles, I was still thrash that could not even be put into consideration in those people’s eyes. In retrospect, I was too rash and my thoughts were still immature to have wished to obtain some profound martial art or… …”
After speaking to this point, Shui Yupeng shook his head as though he wanted to forget about the past.
Ou Peng could empathize and he said, “Brother Shui is right, Jianghu has always been such that the master picks his disciples and never the other way round. In general, disciples will be picked from a large group of youths where their bones and tendons will be strengthened and their meridians widened. If one was not chosen then, he would not be able to amount to anything even if he had the right qualifications because his meridians would have already set. Even our Piaomiao sect would not accept such disciples, not to mention Dalin temple and Chuanxiang church. Even among the disciples who entered the sect, we would have to check their apt.i.tudes, and some would learn external martial arts and the others would learn internal martial arts, and each person would have their different paths with different results. If the sect you chose did not have a suitable martial art for you, your ten years of hard work would only amount to another person’s training for a year, so how can you build a name for yourself? Thus, the heritage of martial arts of a sect is of paramount importance.”
Shui Yupeng felt dejected as he said, “What sect master says is precisely what is happening. I am envious of those disciples who managed to enter Dalin temple and Chuanxiang church, they are truly fortunate to be able to learn such profound, original martial arts.”
At that moment, first elder Hu who was listening at a side smiled and spoke up, “Sect master Shui, you do not have to be envious anymore, because a good opportunity is right in front of you.”
Shui Yupeng was stunned, he asked, “Elder brother Hu, what do you mean?”
Ou Peng smiled and said, “Calm down brother Shui, while talking about martial arts heritage, brother Shui’s mind has naturally tend towards the giant sects with centuries of history. Actually, there are some martial arts heritages from other weaker sects that managed to survive under the winds of the Jianghu, only that most people are incompetent or unsuitable and thus cannot match up against the giant sect’s disciples. Hence, training in these sects will not be too worse off compared to training in those giant sects like Dalin temple.”
Upon hearing these words, Shui Yupeng’s face frozen before it turned into an expression of joy. He stood up excitedly from his chair and asked, “Sect master, would the Piaomiao sect happen to have one of these martial arts heritages?”
After speaking his question, he looked at Ou Peng’s face in disbelief.
Ou Peng smiled and nodded.
Shui Yupeng sighed out and said, “Luoshui sect is like an infant compared to the Piaomiao sect, to be able to cast our lot with the Piaomiao sect would be my and our Luoshui sect’s fortune. It’s a pity that my meridians have already settled and I cannot switch to the Piaomiao martial arts, it is truly regretful.”
Ou Peng said comfortingly, “Brother Shui do not need to despair, haven’t I offered nephew Tiantian to join our Piaomiao sect? Giving your son the opportunity to work towards a goal which you cannot attain, isn’t it a form of happiness as well?”
Shui Yupeng felt deep grat.i.tude and he bowed once again, saying, “Many thanks to sect master’s arrangement.”
However, his words were truly from his heart this time.
Ou Peng hurriedly got up and supported Shui Yupeng to stand, he said, “Since we are brothers now, there is no need to be so courteous.”
After he finished his sentence, he sent a wave of inner energy and slapped onto Shui Yupeng’s shoulders. A deep and thick inner energy flowed from the latter’s shoulders into the Shui Yupeng’s meridians, unsealing the sealed acupuncture points as it moved across his body because Ou Peng was certain then of Shui Yupeng’s allegiance.
Shui Yupeng could feel the profoundness of Ou Peng’s inner energy and he could not help but feel surprised. There were many techniques to seal the acupuncture points within Jianghu, and each technique required a different method to unseal. If the method used was inappropriate, the consequences on the body will be large. However, Ou Peng did not use any special method, he only knew the method to stimulate the acupuncture points and had confidence in his own inner energy strength because no matter the sealing technique, they were all paper tigers when faced with a deep wave of profound inner energy.