Deputy
After Ou Peng used his profound inner energy to unlock the sealed acupuncture points in Shui Yupeng’s body, the latter realized that he was a frog in its well. The Luoshui sect he headed was nothing in comparison to these large sects with centuries of history, they could not even be mentioned in the same sentence, so he could not help but feel relieved in his current choice.
At that moment, Ou Peng said, “Brother Shui does not have to be too regretful, our Piaomiao sect has uncountable books for your viewing. If you have the time in the future, you can come to the secret books repository for a look. There are many martial arts that you can consider even if the inner energy cultivation manuals are of no use, there are still martial arts that do not have any inner cultivation requirements, and even if brother Shui is still unable to learn them, it will allow you to discern your shortcomings and will still be beneficial to your growth.”
Shui Yupeng bowed in gratefulness, “Many thanks to sect master’s approval.”
Ou Peng patted Shui Yupeng’s shoulders and smiled, he said, “We are already brothers of the same family yet brother Shui is still being so courteous. Aright, quickly go change your clothes, our other fellow brothers from the sect are still waiting for us, and they have been waiting for a long while for brother Shui to join them.”
At that moment, fifth elder Liu who was still sitting quietly could wait no longer, and if not for Ou Peng’s previous sting, he would have gotten out of his seat a long time ago. Upon hearing the former sentence, he immediately jumped up and cursed, “, sect master Shui, hurry and take a shower. By this time, an egg would have hatched from all of our mouths. Hurry, hurry, let’s go drink together.”
Shui Yupeng smiled apologetically, “I will go right now, my fellow brothers can go ahead first.”
Shui Yupeng followed fourth elder Shangguan to the rest area to change his clothes while the other people chatted in joy among themselves as they returned to the discussion hall.
The discussion hall was still filled with laughter and joyful chatter, but everyone was feeling strange in their hearts, why had sect master Ou not returned after leaving for so long, and when was this celebratory banquet going to start?
Ou Yan would look towards the entrance of the discussion hall every once in a while was conversing with big sister Qin in a low tone. Upon seeing Ou Peng and the other people’s return, she finally heaved a sigh of relief, and when she noticed that her brother’s expression seemed to be happier than before, Ou Yan knew instantly that her brother had accomplished another big matter, only what matter could it be?
Ou Peng entered the discussion hall and walked to seat. However, he did not sit down and turned around instead to face the audience, he said, “Fellow brothers and sisters, I believe that you have become impatient from waiting for so long. Well, you can wait no longer because I formally announce that the banquet had officially begun! No one will be spared from getting drunk later on.”
Everyone was even more surprised when they realized that the banquet was going to be held inside the discussion hall, it seemed that their sect master was really happy and they immediately shouted in unison, “Thanks sect master, we will definitely drink to our heart’s content.”
The speech was followed by the people and some attendants carrying the sumptuous food and wine inside the discussion hall, and the banquet was off with a vibrant start.
All the food and wine were brought in not long after, and everyone quietened down to wait for their sect master to make the first toast. However, they were astonished to see that Ou Peng was still sitting comfortably in his seat with no intention of getting up, and some even began to murmur to each other.
Suddenly, two people stepped from outside into the discussion hall. The man in front was someone they were familiar with, it was Shangguan Fengliu of the six Piaomiao tigers, and a white robed man was following closely behind. The man seemed to be slightly exhausted but there were hints of joy in his eyes, his forehead was slightly higher and it presented an unordinary disposition, even though he did not look similar to Ou Peng, both men had striking similarities to each other. The audience instinctively brought their sect master up to compare with this man, but was unable to decide which man would come out better, and they all wondered who could this man be?
When the white robed man followed Shangguan Fengliu all the way to Ou Peng’s front, the latter personally stood up and allowed the white robed man to take his seat. Everyone’s suspicion grew even thicker; who was this unfamiliar man with such high status in their sect?
Just as the crowd was murmuring among each other, Ou Peng stood forward and lifted his wine cup to say, “Fellow brothers and sister in our sect, this toast is to all of you who are seated here today. Under everyone’s combined effort, Piaomiao sect has steadily improved to reach where we are today. I hope that everyone would continue to work in unison to bring our family to an even better position, and every day will be a closer step to greater prosperity. Piaomiao is my home, and its advancement is due to everyone’s effort. Here, I toast to everyone.”
After finishing his speech, he gulped down the wine in his hand in one swallow.
When everyone heard his speech, their spirits rose considerably and they shouted in unison, “Many thanks to sect master, Piaomiao is our home, cheers!”
Everyone downed their wine and sat down again.
Ou Peng lifted his second cup of wine and said, “Before I toast this second cup of wine, I would like to introduce everyone to a person. You all might have not seen him before but I a.s.sure you that if I share his ident.i.ty, you will know who he is.”
When he spoke up to here, he gently pulled the white robed man who was sitting beside and said, “This is the head of Luoshui sect, sect master Shui Yupeng.”
The whole discussion hall suddenly turned still, true, they have not met this man before but Luoshui sect’s reputation has spread far and wide. Furthermore, Piaomiao sect had prepared for such a long time and this banquet was to celebrate their victory against the Luoshui sect, so now that the opposing party head was sitting in front of them, who would not be able to guess the reason why so?”
Upon seeing the looks of understanding on everyone’s faces, Ou Peng nodded in satisfaction and said, “This second toast is for our respected sect master Shi, to celebrate his admittance into our Piaomiao sect!”
His words were like a fire to a candle which immediately set up an uproar of pa.s.sion among the audience. Everyone lifted their wine cups and looked warmly towards Ou Peng and Shui Yupeng. Even though they had taken down the core of Luoshui sect, the latter’s power was not fully a.s.similated to theirs. However, if Shui Yupeng did not cast his lot with Piaomiao sect, there would be future conflicts arising from the dissidence, and injuries or deaths will be hard to avoid. Now that he did so, there would be no need for any further fighting so everyone was very happy and drank their second cup of wine excitedly.
Ou Peng waited for the crowd to quieten down before he lifted the third cup of wine and smiled to everyone, “This third cup of wine is to toast the new deputy of our Piaomiao sect.”
Upon hearing his words, everyone was stumped into silence. Deputy? Strange, why had they not heard of this matter before? Everyone turned their sights towards the six Piaomiao tigers, but the four of them were looking at their noses, and their noses were pointed to their hearts, they were expressionless and only fifth elder Liu Qingyang was exchanging cups of wine with Shi Niu with no one else in their sight.
Ou Peng could feel the whole atmosphere of the hall within the control of his palms, and he quite enjoyed the feeling. Seeing the looks of antic.i.p.ation on their faces, he smiled and explained, “Even though Luoshui sect has agreed to join our sect, none of our own members from Piaomiao are proficient in the affairs over water. For our Piaomiao sect to expand even further, we’ll need to change our bad habit of walking on one leg and expanding our influence by land only. We have to be ambidextrous, to be proficient in both land and water, in order to gain true strength and go on the right path of expansion. Therefore, I intend to use Luoshui sect as a pilot, to be our specialist in water-based “a.s.sistance”. I will give them a high degree of freedom to manage their own affairs, and this policy will hold steady for the next two decades. The future sect master of Luoshui sect will be called “vice chief” and he will also be the deputy sect master of our Piaomiao sect. henceforth, the first vice chief from Luoshui sect will be deputy sect master Shui Yupeng. Come, please welcome him together.”
Shui Yupeng who was standing beside him became dumbstruck, the events of that day had been too stimulating as if he was jumping off a cliff. He was sitting comfortably at the peak of Luoshui sect before being brought down to lowest trough as a prisoner of the Piaomiao sect, and at one point even thought that his life was going to end when the long sword slashed towards him. Unexpectedly, Ou Peng decided to rope him in, and appealed to him and his family in order to work towards their goal of reaching the peak of Jianghu. After pledging himself willingly to the Piaomiao sect, he thought that he would only be slightly more than a figurehead and had intended to partic.i.p.ate in the celebration in a low key manner. However, the previous few sentences by Ou Peng had catapulted him into the spotlight, and he was now standing at a place even higher than his previous position before. He was in disbelief and immediately said, “Sect master, this… this is too frightening. Your brother might suddenly get a heart attack, you cannot play around with him like this.”
Ou Peng laughed heartily and said, “Deputy sect master Shui, do I look like I am joking to you? Our Piaomiao sect is most particular about morals, brother Shui has led Luoshui sect for so many years and his heroic heart is common knowledge to everyone, even the members of Piaomiao sect have much respect towards you. Since you had previously led Luoshui sect, how could our fellow brothers from Luoshui sect be appeased if I do not grant you the post of deputy sect chief? Not being able to enjoy the benefits of a normal member, and having to point their face down in front of them, even someone who is a stranger to Jianghu who call our actions unreasonable if we did that. This t.i.tle of deputy sect master will be conferred to someone from the Luoshui sect no matter what, and now that I have announced it to my whole sect, surely brother Shui does not expect me to swallow my own words?”
Shui Yupeng grabbed onto Ou Peng in an agitated manner and said, “This organization, I have finally found the right place. I have not felt this kind of warmth in the Luoshui sect even after being the sect master for so long. The Piaomiao sect gives me a feeling closer to home, and now that I have sold these hundred and twenty jin to the Piaomiao sect, I hope brother Luo would use me as he wish.”
Ou Peng was equally happy and he grabbed onto Shui Yupeng’s hands and said, “Alright brother, these words from you are sufficient for me. I believe that under the effort of us two brothers, we can catch up to Dalin temple and Chuanxiang church to become one of the world’s largest hegemony.”