A martial arts marvel
Xu Wenchuan was only too anxious to share with Sun Daobai the heroic deeds of his grandson. Hence he painted a picture of the duel between Wandong and Wu Qiujun in detail forthwith. When it came to the culmination of the whole process — Wandong compelled Wu Qiujun to give up on the third move and surrendered cap in hand with his unstoppable momentum, Xu Wenchuan even pounded the table and jumped to his feet with three bowls of wine tossed off.
Sun Daobai went overwhelmed by Xu's vivid description with amazement and appreciation staying in his countenance. His gazed at Lin Xiao with increasingly brighter sparkles in his eyes as if Wandong had been a rare treasure.
"That couldn't be real..." Sun Xiaoya repeated times without number, losing track of how often she cast inquiring eyes on Tang Xinyi.
Sun Xiaoya, nodding heavily, had faith in the genuineness of the whole story. As she set her heart on Wandong's formation methods which could multiply the combat effectiveness of the Fengxiang Armed Escort by ten times. Additionally, it was highly likely that Tang Xinyi had been persuaded by Wandong's remarkable performance in the fair duel.
"For many reasons, Yaoting spared Wu Qiujun without making him formally acknowledge him as the master. But a hundred cubes of raw gemstones of blood steel in revenue, compounded with a thousand kilos of gold, was not bad at all," Xu Wenchuan went on with his story. By the time he put an end to it, the whole pot of wine was already bottom up.
"You termed a hundred cubes of raw gemstones of blood steel and a thousand kilos of gold simply a not bad income? Oh god, that is more than ample! Xu Yaoting, you struck it rich this time!" Sun Xiaoya said in an envious tone, her pupils revolving in her eye sockets. Finally, she showed her true colors — a little money grubber.
So was Tang Xinyi. Just with a thousand kilos of gold could suffice to add another two thousand soldiers to the Fengxiang Armed Escort, which was terribly in need of military expenditures.
"Yaoting did a strikingly good job this time! But given that Wu Qiujun is anything but a magnanimous character, he won't take his defeat lying down after he was terribly humiliated in public. And he's already reached the ninth level cultivation of spiritual energy. Hence he stays a huge menace to our Qingyun Empire. Wenchuan, since you've long reached the peak of the eighth level cultivation of spiritual energy, any signs of breakthrough?" Sun Daobai said. He came back to his senses soon after hearing the buoyant story and cast grave eyes at Xu Wenchuan.
Xu Wenchuan shook his head and responded in an agonized tone, "You see, it's as hard as reaching for the stars to upgrade into the ninth level cultivation from the eighth by virtue of spiritual energy only. That has to be fulfilled by a lucky coincidence."
Though inferior to Xu Wenchuan in cultivation, Sun Daobai and Wu Daozi were fully aware of the difficulty. And Sun Daobai simply inquired about Xu Wenchuan's improvements out of a fluke of mind.
Feeling embarrassed the depressing vibe, Wandong broke the ice and asked, "Grandpa, I identified a sort of resemblance between you and Wu Qiujun in spiritual energy during the duel. Why was that?"
Xu Wenchuan went startled on hearing that. He hastened to ask, "There were only three moves in the duel. How could you tell we're similar in spiritual energy?"
Spotting a tinge of astonishment in Xu Wenchuan's countenance, Wandong grinned furtively. He had Taoist energy condensed in his eyes, which helped him see through everything in the tiny world. Apart from the similarity of spiritual energy, he even got a clear picture of the circulating route of Wu Qiujun's spiritual energy. In other words, Wandong already knew inside and out the most profound meaning of The Cloud-penetrating Strategy. Given it would impose a tremendous conceptual impact on others, Wandong could only beat around the bush rather than laying bare his supernatural power.
Wandong nodded and asked in a faint bewilderment, "Is that wrong?"