Book 2 Chapter 16

The Hoa Giang Incident

The sun is shining, the wind is calm, and the atmosphere is quiet.

The sky is high in the silent wind,

The flow of clouds across a tall blue sky is relaxing.

The witnesses spoke in unison.

It was a very sunny afternoon.

The weather on that day is seasonally winter, but not wintry.

Rather, it was a clear, crisp day, like a warm spring day…….

It was just another afternoon like any other, with the sun beating down without a sound. If it hadn't happened, it would have been just another peaceful, sunny winter afternoon. But it was the arrival of the two visitors that made it a very special day for the people of Hoa Giang. It was an unexpected and unplanned visit that no one expected. Uninvited visitors breaking the peaceful afternoon meditation. They were Bi Ryuyeon and Yeom-do. Although they were only two people, the effect they created was disastrous.

Their visit left the Hoa Giang warriors with an indelible sense of humiliation and defeat, deeply imprinted like a burn mark on their minds, a nightmare that would not be forgotten for a long time.

"It's a promise."

Bi Ryuyeon said in a playful voice. Yan Dao nodded in understanding.

"Well, that's half the battle. You've got to keep what you've got."

Again, bluntly, Yeomdo nodded. A satisfied smile tugged at the corners of Bi Ryuyeon's mouth.

"Let's go then."

Bi Ryuyeon turned and walked ahead, with Yin Dao following wordlessly behind. In the direction they were headed, there was a martial manor named Hoa Zhuang.

The main gate of Hoa Giang was supposed to be wide open to welcome everyone. But now it wasn't. It was tightly and firmly closed, unable to be opened. Normally, a prestigious sect of this caliber would open its gates and receive guests from sunrise to sunset, unless there were special circumstances-for example, women were forbidden, the gates were under lockdown, a special ceremony was taking place, the sect was located in a secret place, or the sect's rules forbade it from communicating with the outside world.

Normally, there would be two masters and one disciple in charge of the guests, who would greet the guests at the main gate, record their names in the guest book, and then escort them to the guest hall or to the place of business. This was the law of the land, so it was unheard of for a prestigious school like Hoa Zhuang to turn away a guest in the middle of the day. In principle, it was implicit in the law that one should not turn away a visitor, even if he was a beggar, in order to preserve one's dignity.

However, the reality of the current state of affairs was that even this common practice was not being followed. They were reluctant to deal with dirty, troublesome beggars, and they could not afford to pay the exorbitant costs of entertaining them, so they were selective about who they invited to visit. If all who came were welcomed and entertained, the hoa chief's wealth would quickly be wiped out and the entire household would be forced to live on the streets. So uninvited guests were not welcomed, and invited guests were treated harshly. This was now common practice among all schools of thought.

Even so, this is Namchang, home to one of the greatest forces in Murim. It's a place where even passing beggars have to question their adherence. This is because the vast majority of the beggars here are all members of the Gengli.

This is the reality of life in Nanchang, and if you're a top-notch Hoa Zhang, you'll have a lot of customers every day. As a result, Hoa Zhang's family can't keep up with their guests, so they try to accommodate them as best they can. Until a few days ago, this was certainly the case, and everyone who came to visit was treated graciously, but somehow this was no longer the case.

This meant that something special was going on. The reason for this was Master Hoa Zhang's second disciple, Ganyu, who was about to take the entrance examination for the Heavenly Martial Academy. So for the past few days, Hoa Zhang had kept the front door firmly locked and silent. It was a small gesture on his part, as he wanted his student to pass. In the face of a great test, noise was the last thing a person needed; it distracted them and weakened their concentration, making it more harmful and deadly than poison.

Therefore, in order to prepare his beloved student for the entrance examination to the Heavenly Martial Academy, Ho T'en-shang had kept the main gate firmly locked and silent, as a request for restraint and self-control. At the same time, he had also asked the villagers around him to be quiet and restrained in their behavior. No one in the vicinity was bold enough to refuse Hoa Zhang's request and curiously wander around the castle grounds, so Ganyu was able to prepare for the special entrance examination to the Heavenly Academy in a quiet and serene environment. Even though it was a special selection, there were no losers, so he couldn't afford to neglect his preparation.

The iron gate of the hoa quạt thể thaoThe iron gate of the hoa quạt thể thao was an unspoken pressure that demanded maximum silence. It clearly indicated that there could be no rejection and no refusal. This unspoken pressure has taken effect, and the surroundings of the Hoa Giang are now as silent as if a rat had been killed. The senses of everyone in the hall were on high alert, and the nerves of the gatekeepers were overworked.

Today's gatekeepers were two members of the Hoa Jiang's main armed force, the Tigerless Hall. The Tigerless Pavilion was the largest and most powerful armed group in Hoa Jiang, organized into six groups of two to three men per group. The two men, named Yi Guanzheng and Sun Gongwu, were members of the first group, the Sword Guard, which was rumored to be the toughest of all the groups. The two were vague friends and rivals in the group, secretly pitting their wits against each other in a battle for the position of the next Great Swordsman. But neither of them was in a good mood right now, and they weren't reporting for duty out of a sense of duty. It's a punishment shift, otherwise, who would want to work this tedious front gate duty?

In the middle of the day, the gatekeeper at the main gate was not only responsible for guarding the gate, but also for checking in on visitors to the marketplace, and often having to run errands for them, which was tiresome and exhausting. This was a universal and very common practice in most of the other sects as well, so it was not uncommon for people who had no position in the group to be assigned to this duty, or for people to be put on duty as punishment for misbehavior.

The two were vying for the position of the next head of the sword guard, and were among the most senior members of the sword guard, but their drunken revelry a few days earlier had been caught by Homu Zhujiu, who was patrolling the area, and as punishment, they were forced to stand guard at the main gate for a month. This is the so-called punishment.

Still, they should be grateful that they got away with this level of corporal punishment for drinking alcohol, which is strictly prohibited by the rules. They were punished with a month's guard duty at the main gate and a thousand repetitions of the basic training ceremony of the Fierce Sword Technique, but even so, it was a blessing that their punishment was so severe.

The punishment for drunken bimu - even drunken bimu with a jin sword - was very severe, as even a moment's carelessness could take a life in an instant. Nevertheless, it was only due to the intervention of Homu Zhenzhu, who loved them both, that Lee Guanzheng and Sun Kunwu ended up with such a severe punishment. However, even though they were spared a major punishment, their nerves were bound to be on edge under these circumstances, so they were both in a state of extreme low pressure.

It was at this time that not one, but two uninvited guests visited the Hoa Giang. No questions asked, they were dressed in nondescript biryū kites and a solid red color that was noticeable everywhere they went.

Yidan, with his blazing sun-like eyes, and Bi Ryuyeon, with her plain black robe and tousled black hair haphazardly tied back, were certainly a mismatched pair. In silence, their steps stopped just outside the main gate.

"Zhang!" "Ah (牙)!" "Tiger!"

Ryuyeon read the words on the plaque aloud, character after character after character. The inscription on the front door of Hoa Zhang's house was written in a handwriting that was as brave as a tiger's, and it read, in Ryuyeon's style, "Zhang Aho" (莊牙虎).

"Zhang Ao… what?"

Judging by the Yeomdo, Bi Ryuyeon must have read the text after seeing the flagellum, but the pronunciation sounded strange, so she asked for confirmation. However, when she checked it with her own eyes instead of her blind eyes, it was clearly written as Hoa Zhuang, so why does it say Zhuang Tiger in the middle of nowhere? However, she didn't pay attention to Yidao's question and said nonchalantly.

"Oh, you didn't know? I read from left to right when I'm reading a plaque, and I interpret from right to left. Didn't you know that?"

Of course I didn't. I had no way of knowing.

"Left to right when reading, right to left when interpreting?"

It was the sound of a passing dog snorting and farting. If you shorten it to two characters, it's dog sound, and if you loosen it to three characters, it's dog noise. Yeomdo's mouth dropped open in disbelief at Bi Ryuyeon's ridiculous answer. His eyes glowed intensely as he looked at Bi Ryuyeon, expressing his conviction in a clear and unambiguous manner.

"Crazy!

Of course, he didn't outwardly admit it. Life is too precious to waste…….

"So how do I… read a book?"

She still felt awkward about having to use a semi-honorific title when talking about Bi Ryuyeon, so she always tried to end her sentences with "I'm sorry," but then she made a sharp turn to a semi-honorific title, so it was no wonder she sounded weird. The tone of his voice became completely different. At first, there were a lot of arguments between the two over this issue. However, under Bi Ryuyeon's unrelenting punishment, Yin Dao soon realized that changing his tone would be beneficial to his reputation and agreed to implement the honorific.

"I don't avoid bowel movements because I'm afraid of them, I avoid them because they're dirty," he said. It was as if the words had been created just for him. For the time being, even though he had lost the bet and had become his disciple, he was still using a semi-respectful title to Yi Yun out of consideration for Yi Yun's status in the martial arts and his age, even though it was something he didn't care about at all. In other words, a moderate mutual respect had been agreed upon.

"Of course, I read books from top to bottom, but does anyone else read books from bottom to top? The only thing I read from left to right is horizontal fluid."

The way she looked at him, as if he had no business asking her about something that a three-year-old child would know, was too much for him to bear. He couldn't help but feel that he was being taunted, and his spine felt tingly and stiff. What a strange and bizarre habit. This kind of behavior could be described in just four characters.

Absolute uselessness - absolutely useless.

Yeomdo fell into despair once more as he realized that he had indeed chosen to take on such a ridiculous and vain man as his master. Even with this realization, his vision only grew darker and darker. He had given up trying to count how many times he had felt despair while accompanying Bi Ryuyeon today. Even though the relationship between the two of them was supposed to be for profit, she didn't seem to think so. She was sincerely doing her bidding and pampering her like a true late-stage disciple, and it was the most humiliating thing she had ever experienced in her life.

However, considering his temper, this was a good thing. Other than that, he was still treating her fairly. Still, he was showing her a certain amount of respect, and that's where his respectful tone came from. If I ignored him too much and treated him roughly, there was no risk that he would go crazy, so I think he was calculating to prevent that from happening. Of course, being his disciple and being treated like that by him was already enough to drive him insane. Even if I hadn't been beaten to death by him, I would still have lost my temper and gone mad. The nightmare was still fresh in his mind, so he was keeping his emotions in check.

As Bi Ryuyeon and Yin Dao entered the hall after their private conversation at the main gate of Hoa Zhang, the subject of all the talk, the second disciple of Ho Tian Shang, was busy practicing his martial arts. It was now only a few days until the examination. Night was turning into day, so now he was pouring all his energy into his martial arts training and practicing valiantly. He was putting everything he had into the twenty-six moves of the Meng Hao Fierce Sword Technique, an arcane sword technique.

Even though it was a special examination, it was a given that he would be accepted, but the problem for the preferred candidate was after he entered the Heavenly Martial Academy, where all the strongest martial artists gathered, and if he showed a less-than-stellar performance, what would the people around him think of him? He would be branded as an incompetent who carried the name of the sect.

In severe cases, if you are found to be unqualified, you can be expelled without mercy. Therefore, it is indispensable to practice fierce swordsmanship from now on if you want to remain untouched by others and not be a burden on the gate. Naturally, putting everything aside and devoting all his energies to achieving the greatness of the Meng Hao Fierce Sword Method was the most important thing for Ganyu right now.

His study was interrupted by a movement. There was a brief flurry of activity outside the main gate, followed by a couple of heavy blows. There was a considerable distance between his training grounds and the main gate, but there was no fooling his cultivation-honed senses, which had already been refined to the point where he could pick up even the sound of falling leaves outside of the five gates. Of course, Bi Ryuyeon and Yeomdo were even easier to catch, since they didn't seek stealth. Ganyu Yunxu was worried about what was going on and walked towards the main gate.

"Boom!"

The front door swung open with a deafening bang, and two uninvited guests stepped onto the premises. There was no time to think about it. As the old saying goes, "The good do not come, and those who come are not already good."

Good deeds come from within (善子不來 來子不善)!

Ganyu clutched the zhehodao tightly around his waist as he carried his prisoner through the still-dusted gates. Ganyu was proud of himself for the sword gains he had made in his training. He was confident that he had finally mastered the Fierce Fierce Sword Technique to its peak. But what was he to do? Ganyu was unusually unlucky today. His opponents were two monsters that could not be measured by human standards and would never be seen again in the human world. It was a terrible miscalculation.