"Lin Liushui. Please."Lin Liushui showed off his arrogance then, with his adherence to the courtesy of a superior martial arts pract.i.tioner. No doubt, showing off was one of the things that he did best, Li Changhai half-growled under his breath. Not that he ever missed a chance of doing that.
But the Second Ducal Prince was also aware that this was one of the so-called difficult fights that Lin Liushui had mentioned, the night before:
"If Wu Zhenyang or Wu Zhenyong are present tomorrow, things might get a little more tricky. They are both highly skilled, and I would need to pull out a few tricks, if I had to deal with them. But don"t be too depressed, if either of them step out. Just remember to have confidence in your Brother!"
That was what Lin Liushui had said back then. And Li Changhai felt his heartbeat quickening, as he saw his oldest friend climb up on the dueling stage in the Arena. This was harder than he had thought it would be, when Lin Liushui cautioned him to remain calm.
But how could anyone stay calm in a situation like this? Unless one was made of ice!
Then he heard a soft voice at his side:
"You left without me."
Li Changhai whirled to face the young man who had appeared at his side, staring at the same with his jaw slack. "Qin Feng? Why are you here? I thought you were still asleep!"
*
Qin Feng snorted when he heard the Second Ducal Prince"s pitiful excuse. Did they really think that drinking a few dozen cups of wine would be enough to knock him out for the whole night? That was just wishful thinking! All that it did was make him wake up a little later, and give him a bit of a headache. Nothing that running a cycle of qi through his meridians wouldn"t fix.
But when he finally emerged from his rooms, he had found that everyone had already left, which was enough to really annoy him. That, and having to find his own way to the Arena. In the end, he had simply accosted one of the men that were working in Du Yan"s father"s tavern, and forced him to show the way.
Still, he had got there late. And the fighting had already begun by the time that he got to the grandstand that was in the South. Those were the places that had been reserved for the Du Family and their supporters.
Du Chenyong, naturally, recognized him immediately, once he was notified by his tavern"s waiter. And he had quickly ushered Qin Feng to his seat, to one side of the Li Changhai.
That was when he took the opportunity, to whisper into the Second Ducal Prince"s ear, chiding him for making off without him. And Li Changhai"s excuse was enough to make him laugh.
"As if I would miss something like this. You two are looking down on me a little too much," he growled back at the Ducal Prince, who bowed his head deeply, in repentance.
Which was something that he should do, so Qin Feng ignored it, and turned back to the fight. "So, they have started already? Brother Lin is going first?"
"As he had planned to do. Er ... You weren"t asleep all of last night, were you? You should have heard some of our plans?"
"Only a little."
To be honest, Qin Feng was in a bit of a mood the night before, after he heard that he most likely did not have to take part in the fighting. And that he should just give up, in the eventuality that he had to get on the stage. Which was insulting in itself.
So it should be no surprise to the Second Ducal Prince that he was refusing to acknowledge any that he had heard the night before. Besides, he was too busy wallowing in his own complaints, to pay proper attention to whatever Lin Liushui had been saying.
Not that he was interested in explaining all of that to Li Changhai, that strict fellow. So he simply pointed a finger at the stage, and the fight that was already taking place:
"That"s someone from the Black Eagle Mountain?"
"Yes, it is. That"s Wu Zhenyang, the fifth son of the Wu Batian. They call him the Eagle in the North. According to the ranking boards, he is supposed to be Wu Batian"s weakest son. Brother Liushui estimates that he has a thirty percent chance of beating him in a straight-up fight."
Thirty percent? Those were low odds, in Qin Feng"s opinion. If that was the case, why wasn"t Lin Liushui using his tricks instead? That should make things a little more even, wouldn"t it? Unless the handsome fellow had something else up his sleeves?
On his other side, Du Yan seemed to only have his eyes fixed on the fight, not even bothering to greet Qin Feng when he appeared. Which was rather normal, given how concerned he was. This was going to be affecting his marriage after all.
Not to mention the fact that he had not been present, when they were having that battle planning session of theirs. The one in which Qin Feng was too drunk and too angry to listen.
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"Water Flows Downhill!"
Du Yan half-shouted those words, even as Qin Feng was sitting down.
Lin Liushui"s Movement Technique was something that Qin Feng had seen before, but he had never witnessed the same in a proper duel, and had only seen it used against soldiers and mercenaries thus far. Hence, one might say that he had barely seen Lin Liushui sc.r.a.pe the surface of his family"s famous Movement Art.
[Water Flows Downhill] was the name of that particular stance of the Movement Technique, which he had heard Du Yan blurt out earlier. Or rather, it was half of its proper name. And now that he witnessed Lin Liushui using it against the Black Eagle Sect"s Wu Zhenyang, he could see why it had been said that the handsome man had been given a most suitable name:
The Gentleman of Flowing Water.
Of course, Lin Liushui hated it, so he never used it. And neither did either of his Brothers. QIn Feng had only picked it up listening to some of the soldiers that were in the Second Ducal Prince"s Bodyguard. And even then, they were very cautious about repeating that, in Lin Liushui"s presence.
Which made Qin Feng wonder why there was such a big fuss over something like that. Wasn"t it just a nickname in the Martial World? Since when it counted for anything?
But he quickly threw that to the back of his mind, and concentrated on the duel.
Lin Liushui"s steps flowed like water, and he danced about Wu Zhenyang"s Flying Eagle Movement Technique in a manner that made the latter look as if he was standing still! And he had not even made a single counterattack yet, while he dodged all of the Black Eagle Mountain"s representatives, all of the Northern Eagle"s tricky strikes.
It looked as though he was merely playing with Wu Zhenyang!
Something that did not escape the eyes of all the onlookers around the dueling circle! The expressions on the faces of the leader of that particular Sect turned black too, when it was clear that he would not be reaping the easy reward that he was after.
At least, getting his hands on whatever had been promised to him by that l.u.s.t-driven Royal Prince, as the rumors whispered, was not going to be as easy as he had thought, as the Master of the Black Eagle Mountain had hoped, it would be.
* * *