After Fang Xing had finished watching the welcoming process, he started to make his way back to the Valley of Hidden Dragon while debating with the golden crow whether kidnapping the person inside the carriage would be considered having big aspirations or simply being shameless. Just as he flew past Danxia Valley, however, he remembered Xiao Mahn hadn’t visited him in quite a while. Elder Qin’nyao must have put her on a closer watch, but since Elder Qin’nyao was at the main peak greeting the important guest, it was also an opportunity to visit Xiao Mahn.
Fang Xing landed and swaggered on towards the valley, but before he even got to the entrance, he suddenly saw an upset-looking Xiao Mahn walking towards his direction with a youth around sixteen or seventeen years following after her. Despite Xiao Mahn’s rather uncomfortable expression and the fact she was practically running, the youth apparently didn’t want to stop talking with her and was actually quite fast, allowing him to follow her closely without much effort.
"Stop bothering me! I’m not going to tell you my name, and if you keep annoying me, I’ll ask my young master to beat you up!" Xiao Mahn had become so obviously frustrated by now that she’d stopped to scare the youth off.
The youth laughed at this and arrogantly folded his arms. "From the looks of your cultivation level, you don’t seem like a servant. Within all of the Qing-Yun Sect, who would that young master of yours be? Tell me who your young master is and I’ll go find him to have your servant status released!"
Still upset, Xiao Mahn was about to reveal Fang Xing’s name, but she soon remembered that Fang Xing was planning on killing Xiao Jianming. Since it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring any more attention to him, she decided to say something else, "I am a Danxia Valley disciple! Be careful or I’ll have Shijie Linyun come beat you up!"
The youth showed a cold smile. "I’m afraid even Shijie Linyun can’t beat me up. To tell you the truth, I am Yu Jie, the fourth disciple at the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute, and no one within the sect aside from Shixiong Xiao Jianming is able to restrain me. You also shouldn’t get upset at me so quickly. I’m not trying to bother you, just asking for your name; once you tell me your name, I will immediately leave without saying even one word more. What do you say?"
"Do you think you’re so handsome? Why should I tell you?" Xiao Mahn stomped her foot and turned to leave again.
The youth suddenly turned and blocked Xiao Mahn’s path with an outstretched arm and a smile. "Without my approval, you cannot leave!"
Xiao Mahn was now furious, and Fang Xing was even more so.
"Motherf*cker, how dare he bully my slave! Goldy, let’s get him!"
The golden crow just happened to also enjoy a chaotic world, and he egged it on with a laugh, "How dare he bully our slave! Let’s get him!"
Fang Xing immediately rolled his eyes. "She’s my slave, not yours!"
The golden crow didn’t respond to this and just spread his wings to fly closer. He’d been working extra hard to practice the skill from the Giant Peng Clan these past few months, and he displayed a great deal of power when he spread his wings. Although he only used a gentle flap, he soon turned into a golden ray of light as he dashed directly at the youth who’d blocked Xiao Mahn’s path. It was as though he was lightning, or even an awe-inspiring sword.
As the youth haughtily looked at Xiao Mahn, he suddenly felt a cold wind brushing up behind him. Feeling a sense of danger, he instantly moved to the side, allowing him to narrowly dodge the golden crow’s two claws aimed towards his back.
"Who are you? How dare you sneak attack me?" the youth immediately yelled in anger as he felt his cold sweat run down his back. He was considered one of the most talented pupils of the sect; since when had he ever received such treatment?
Sitting atop the golden crow, Fang Xing didn
’t answer him and just gave a cold laugh. He extended his hand out towards Xiao Mahn and cursed, "Oi, you’re trying to seduce some pretty-boy behind my back?"
Xiao Mahn was overjoyed by Fang Xing’s sudden appearance, and she had to rub her eyes to make sure it was really him before she jumped up and grabbed Fang Xing’s hand. She moved to sit atop the golden crow as well and smiled in response, "No, I wasn’t. How could he be handsome compared to you?"
"Good taste!" Fang Xing let out a loud laugh. She’d said exactly what he’d been thinking as well.
"Come down this instant, you coward who tried to sneak attack me!" a loud voice suddenly rose up from below before a silhouette leapt up with a few sword lights—from the Qing-Yun Nine Swords—trailing along behind it. When the youth saw Fang Xing pull Xiao Mahn on top of the golden crow and start to chat as though he wasn’t even there, his anger had reached its peak, so he’d jumped up into the air and created these sword lights to try to scare Fang Xing off the golden crow’s back.
"The hell? You dare try to actively attack me first?" Fang Xing immediately grew angry and—with a quick clawing action—the [Saber of Azure Dragon] was drawn into his hand. Without even looking, Fang Xing moved to slam it against the youth.
Pah….
After studying the technique from the Peng bird the past few months, Fang Xing’s speed and strength had greatly increased; although he’d only moved to casually slam his saber in response, the weight of the force was so powerful that it unsettled all of the air around it as it moved towards the youth. Such a thing left Fang Xing’s attacker quite frightened, and the youth didn’t even finish his attack before immediately shifting to guard his front.
Pah….
This time, the saber slammed right against the sword the youth had defensively held in front of his chest, and the blow threw him some hundred feet away. The youth actually wasn’t even able to stand upright during the motion, either; he staggered back a few steps before falling on his rear and sliding out even farther.
By now, a number of disciples had finished watching the "welcome ceremony" the sect had put on for their important visitor. As they were returning to their individual valleys, they all witnessed this scene first-hand and came over to watch, standing from afar and chattering amongst themselves with the occasional snicker.
The youth was now bright red as he clenched his teeth. "You… how dare you sneak attack me again?" He jumped back before brandishing his sword again and dashing back towards Fang Xing. The youth didn’t believe this kid—who seemed to be at least a couple of years younger than himself—would actually have enough battle prowess to knock him so far away. He believed the only reason he’d been sent flying was because of a slightly delayed reaction on his part and the fact the boy’s irregular attack of slamming against his saber. Now that so many people had seen what happened to him, a hint of murderous intent began to rise up from his heart.
"Atop the back of that golden crow…. Isn’t that the third core disciple…?"
"Indeed, it should be him. How did he get into a fight with a disciple from the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute?"
"Who knows? But one is famous for being unreasonable, the other is a disciple from the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute. This is going to be a good show…."
All of the Qing-Yun disciples present discussed the matter amongst themselves, yet none of them stepped forward to stop them; neither of the two combatants looked easy to coerce, after all.
"Really? There’s someone even more arrogant than me?" Seeing the youth come rushing forward, Fang Xing found it both annoying and rather funny. He heard what the onlookers were saying about the youth being from the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute, and—knowing that everyone from that hall studied the Qing-Yun Nine Swords as their discipline—Fang Xing immediately decided to take this as an opportunity to learn more about the Qing-Yun Nine Swords. For this reason, he simply hopped off the golden crow and fought the youth using a third of his combat ability.
CLANG…. CLANG….
Ear-deafening noise rang out as the impressive power of the sword lights and the saber’s power collided.
When the youth saw the force of Fang Xing’s saber wasn’t that strong, he felt reassured in his heart that the boy wasn’t as powerful as he’d initially seemed. The youth increased the speed of his attacks, and the sword lights from the Qing-Yun Nine Swords became stronger and stronger with all sorts of exquisite moves. His sword’s power was quite profound. Sometimes it was like water flowing downstream, others it moved like an unpredictable cloud; it seemed to have all of nature’s power in its movements.
"No wonder he’s the third core disciple. He’s able to evenly match a disciple from the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute at such a young age…."
"He studied under Elder Bai Qianzhang, after all; having this kind of battle prowess shouldn’t come as much of a surprise!"
"I still think Shixiong Fang Xing is a little stronger. The disciple from the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute is using the Qing-Yun Nine Swords, but Shixiong Fang Xing is just using a giant saber with no particular pattern or technique. To tie with that guy is already outstanding!"
As the bystanders watched the duel, there were all sorts of comments with a few who knew a few things trying to analyze it while pretending to be profound and knowledgeable.
The fight between the youth and Fang Xing had drawn the attention of numerous people, including two disciples belonging to the Regulations Department. Because there was a very important guest at the moment, this was seen as a special period of time and the rules were seen as very important. When these two disciples saw a fight had broken out between the infamous Fang Xing and a disciple from the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute, they knew they were unable to do anything about them and immediately sent out Message Talismans to have an elder come over.
The elder arrived just in time to witness the fight between Fang Xing and Yu Jie, and the sight caused him to be astonished as well. "What guts! Do you not know that a very important guest is currently staying at our Qing-Yun Sect? How dare you fight here; do you not want to keep your lives?" the elder loudly shouted when he arrived. "Both of you, come with me!"
Yu Jie returned his sword before sending a hateful glare towards Fang Xing and following behind the elder. Fang Xing felt a little helpless and unwilling, but he soon decided he still needed the status of a Qing-Yun disciple and so couldn’t act too rampant or arrogantly. Although he didn’t want to, he returned his saber as well and followed behind this elder towards the Regulations Hall behind the main peak.
Once they arrived at the Regulations Hall, the elder’s face dropped. He glanced towards Yu Jie and—seeing that he had numerous scratches and scrapes—the anger within his eyes suddenly became far more obvious. He turned towards Fang Xing and commanded, "Kneel!"
Fang Xing was surprised. "Why should I?"
The elder’s reply was stern, "If I tell you to kneel, you kneel. I know who you are, Fang Xing. Even if you do become the sect’s third core disciple in the future, you’re not one just yet. You were confined to the Valley of Hidden Dragon by the sect master, yet you secretly snuck out. This would have been bad on its own, but you even began a fight with a disciple of the Hall of Heaven’s Tribute, and you did so publicly at that. So now I ask you to kneel. Are you refusing to comply?"
Fang Xing naturally didn’t wish to kneel and he gave a cold smile. "If he hadn’t bothered my friend, why would I have fought him? You’re not even going to ask about that?"
The elder’s gaze was not friendly as he coldly replied, "That friend of yours must be just as bad as you are, or else why would he bother your friend but not anyone else?"
Fang Xing’s gaze immediately grew cold once those words were spoken.
It was impossible to tell what the elder was thinking as he forcefully commanded once more, "Now are you going to kneel or not?"
Fang Xing did not speak. He slowly walked up close to that elder, his knees bending ever so slightly.
The elder thought Fang Xing had given in and felt a bit proud; he felt this so-called monster within the sect was perhaps not quite as scary as what people had made him out to be. Although Fang Xing might be able to strut around in front of the normal disciples, he wasn’t big enough to do it in front of an elder like himself.
The elder didn’t anticipate at all that once Fang Xing quietly closed in on him, the boy would suddenly land a slap against his face.
The elder reflexively yelled out, "What are you doing?"
Fang Xing sternly replied, "I want to ask you this: the Qing-Yun Sect is so large, so why did I only slap you but not anyone else?"