Chapter 219: First Day

On the second arena.

Pei Ye and the young man named Feng Guangsui climbed up from the same side.

They were even walking shoulder to shoulder, chatting; one had his head lowered with a forced smile on his face, while the other looked somewhat embarrassed.

In truth, ninety-nine percent of the audience had never seen the true face behind the name "Pei Ye," and many didn't even remember the two characters. Most people had only vaguely heard that there was a very young boy who seemed capable of trading blows with Young Master Qijiao Shang Huaitong in swordsmanship.

As for whether it was true or false, or to what extent this "trading blows" went, everyone was just repeating hearsay, then adding their own guesses and imaginations based on their own biases.

At this moment, on the spectator stands, people were craning their necks, their gazes fixed on the second arena, discussing and guessing which one was that "Pei Ye."

Soon, the answer was revealed—the two separated; the boy in the deep cyan martial robe stood quietly under the red curtain inscribed with "Pei Ye," while the other young man in blue and white attire continued to move to the other side.

No one in the crowd felt any suspense about the outcome of this match. The martial competition always became more exciting in the later days; at this moment, only two things held people's attention: first, the boy's performance, and second, the comparison with Qijiao Shang Huaitong in the same arena.

The only ones in the entire venue truly worried that Pei Ye might lose were likely the dozen or so children behind Master Huang. They were all leaning forward, their hands clenched so tightly—being able to come and fight in the Jin Qiu Wu Bi was the greatest achievement for a small martial arts hall, so the one hundred and twenty-eight people on the field were naturally all incredibly formidable. Pei Ye-ge fighting any one of them could stir up their sincere and genuine worry.

"Why did Pei-ge go up in the first match?"

"Exactly, I wasn't even ready yet!"

"Oh, Chen Erhu, sit down, I can't see!"

"Look, Pei-ge is moving!"

On the arena, Pei Ye first clasped his sword and performed a standard sword salute to Feng Guangsui, then he drew his sword, stepped back, and assumed a proper sword stance.

It was identical to the movements of Feng Guangsui opposite him.

A clear, resonant bell toll was the signal for the match to begin.

Feng Guangsui leaped forward first, the Qi of his eight meridians instantly surging into his limbs. The young swordsman was extremely agile; in three steps, he was already in front of Pei Ye.

The first wave of cheers in this arena was unexpectedly brought about by this young man whom everyone had ignored. Such handsome and agile footwork had definitely exceeded people's understanding of the "First Life" realm.

What was even more rare was that every step was not just about the lower limbs; every time his body lunged, the sword in Feng Guangsui's hand also cleverly completed a buildup of power.

But when he arrived, many people realized that he had not dashed out in a straight line, but in a graceful arc. By means of this arc, Feng Guangsui tilted his body, allowing his sword light to strike upward from the youth's left flank—it was precisely the angle that made the opponent's right-handed sword strike quite awkward.

Just as everyone was applauding this clean and tricky strike, the sword light actually shook again, suddenly splitting into three sword blossoms, precisely pointing at Pei Ye's throat, heart, and lungs—three vital points.

【Three Steps to Pluck the Flower】

Within a single move, there were three brilliant designs, without a shred of redundancy or dragging, all combined into this final attack. It was enough to be called "Good swordsmanship!"

Feng Guangsui was born in Can County and abandoned the saber to learn the sword, not because he had a more brilliant sword master teaching him, but because this was the family tradition passed down for four generations of the Feng family. Now that the older generation had withered away, the Feng Family Sword Hall on the street had long been sparsely populated, but Feng Guangsui had never set down the heavy burden of revitalizing the family business.

Day after day of diligent practice had created this swift and beautiful sword strike today!

Pei Ye retreated a step, flicked his wrist, and raised his sword. With a clear "ding," he blocked the first sword blossom.

Then he retreated another step, leveled his wrist, and intercepted the second.

Finally, he retreated one more step, sank his wrist, and snapped, shattering the last bit of cold light.

Just like the power buildup of Feng Guangsui's three-step approach, Pei Ye similarly retreated three steps to dissipate those three portions of force. When the last trace of sword light shattered, all the force between the two vanished silently, as if nothing had ever happened.

Feng Guangsui was genuinely stunned for a moment, only then realizing that he could actually continue to attack.

So he immediately swung out another sword move. This move still showed the work of a thousand hammerings, but it was indeed not as clever or beautiful as the previous one.

Because just a moment ago, he had thought he only had that one chance to attack, so that had been the most brilliant sword strike he could muster.

Afterward, five consecutive moves were all commendable. Although they inevitably fell into mediocrity, the boy still dismantled them one by one, very seriously. Until the moves worth showing from the "Withered Flower Sword" set were completely exhausted, the boy in front finally flicked his wrist, parried his sword blade, and stopped his sword tip three inches from his chest.

Feng Guangsui was stunned for a while, took two breaths, bowed deeply with clasped hands, retreated two steps, discarded his sword, and conceded.

Compared to the first arena that had stirred up the audience's roars, the contest in this arena was simply tepid. If one only looked at the performance of the two characters "Pei Ye," it could even be called boring. The boy hadn't revealed any exquisite swordsmanship to the people, nor had he erupted with any personal charm. People's expectations for the name "Pei Ye" plummeted quite a bit.

Instead, it was this young man named Feng Guangsui who left an impression on many—what a young swordsman, what solid and handsome swordsmanship!

Regarding Pei Ye's victory, the most persistent cheers on the field came from the first three rows on the west side.

Precisely because they were genuinely clutching their hearts, and having seen Pei Ye-ge retreating step by step in the face of the opponent's attack, when this victory was announced, the children's explosive excitement was especially fervent.

By the time Pei Ye returned to his seat with his sword, they were still happily celebrating this difficult victory.

"Pei Ye-ge, you are now one of the sixty-four most formidable people in Bowang Prefecture!"

"Win one more match and you'll be in the top thirty-two!"

Pei Ye sat down with a smile and complained: "Shout louder next time you cheer; I couldn't hear you down there."

Immediately, several mouths crowded to his ears: "Our throats are already smoked from shouting!!"

Pei Ye bent over, covering his ears and begging for mercy.

After finishing this match, all of the boy's fighting for the day was over. The first day of the martial competition was what people called "Great Waves Washing the Sand." After sixty-four matches, some had come to the fore, while others remained nameless. This was also a day for the audience to get to know the contestants; every name written on the roster would be matched with those figures dodging, attacking, and defending on the arena.

Pei Ye sat beside Master Huang, continuing to watch the upcoming matches amidst the children's incessant questions.

There were no familiar faces in the next three matches. It wasn't until the fourth match that a flash of light, agile emerald color leaped onto the third arena. Pei Ye straightened his body and greeted the children: "Look quickly, it's your Piaoqing-jiejie."

This victory was clean and neat; her opponent was that boy from Cuiyu named Cui Xiaoyan. The young girl didn't leave him any face, driving him to the loser's arena in one move.

"Pei-ge, Piaoqing-jiejie is much more formidable than you!"

Zhang Junxue was also in the third ring, and she went on stage right after Li Piaoqing; her opponent was a saber-wielder from Can County. After exchanging only one move, the young woman pressed the opponent's saber down under her own, and after the man struggled to pull it away three times without success, he had no choice but to admit defeat in embarrassment with a red face, and cheerful laughter erupted in the arena.

Zhang Mozhu and Yang Yan on the fourth arena also didn't spend more than three moves on their enemies, especially the fierce saber technique that erupted from behind Yang Yan's young and reserved face, which left a deep impression on many people.

What slightly surprised Pei Ye was that the big brother of Xiao Qiu—Gu Guang from the stories—actually also walked onto the arena in the thirteenth match, clearly also a member of this year's martial competition. He relied on a saber in one hand, or perhaps because it was inconvenient to draw, he simply didn't carry a scabbard, leaving the bright, cold blade exposed.

Some people were forever sunken in that dark, desolate night, but others had broken through the snow and darkness to walk into this golden autumn. He clearly still wasn't quite used to fighting, but he still cut down the long sword of a Seven Serpents disciple in the eleventh move, taking his first victory.

And the most unexpected match came from the final match of the fourth arena, where the first true dark horse of this year's martial competition was born.

No one had seen this person's appearance; he was clearly a wanderer staying in Bowang. But he didn't take the "comparison before comparison" route; instead, he wore a black robe with the four small but not-so-small golden characters "Qiyun Firm" inscribed on the back. The entire outfit was beautiful and eye-catching.

This person looked to be in his early thirties, unusually relying on a solid iron staff, his temperament silent and formidable.

Qiyun Firm had never promoted this person, and people hadn't taken him too seriously. Especially since his opponent was Zheng Shou Xiao Qiu, a formidable hand among the "Fourth Life" realm; everyone's gaze was gathered on this swordsman.

Xiao Qiu's unique, simple, and powerful sword indeed made countless people's eyes light up. Under his lunging, powerful slash, the sound of the wind rose like a tiger's roar, and invisible air currents carved out a half-moon.

However, it took only one staff strike.

Xiao Qiu's sword style shattered, and he flew off the arena, man and sword together. The man who had aimed for the top four before the match thus stumbled in the first round.

This man named Zhang Zongyuan didn't reveal his true strength, leaving behind the final rich splash of color today on this martial field with his hardness and mystery.

——

"Deliberate! It was absolutely deliberate, do you know that?!" When everyone was walking on the road talking about this person, Zhang Dingyun was still indignant, "Qiyun is just a shameless old fox! We promoted Chang Yue before, and they didn't reveal a single whisper, saying that participating in the martial competition was just casual. It turns out they deliberately hid such a person!"

"Does this hinder anything?" Pei Ye didn't quite understand.

"Of course there is!" the little fatty shouted. "Qiyun is from the neighboring prefecture, coming here to snatch our territory! Do you know how much we spent on publicity over the past month? Now, the expectations of the entire city have been built up by us; everyone knows that the martial artist chosen by the Dingyun Firm is very formidable. If they suddenly spend a huge sum of money to recruit someone at this time, and that person wins against our own under the 'Qiyun' banner, wouldn't that mean all our publicity was just making wedding clothes for them? Wouldn't that be making money by stepping on our heads?!"

". I remember you weren't all about spring flowers and autumn moons, enjoying life; I thought you didn't care about these money-making matters."

The little fatty glared: "What kind of fart talk is that! How could I possibly not care about money-making matters? Spring flowers and autumn moons cost money, damn it!"

"It's fine." Pei Ye couldn't help but comfort him, "The representative of your firm is no longer Brother Chang Yue, but our Young Master Yang Yan—Young Master Yang Yan will definitely win; he is 'Destined to Win' after all."

Zhang Dingyun turned anger into joy, but after all, he was too embarrassed to laugh again, and patted Yang Yan's shoulder full of apologies.

"..." Yang Yan looked at the two of them gloomily.

Li Piaoqing stood to the side, championing the cause: "That's enough from you two; you've been laughing at Yang Yan the whole way."

Only Zhang Junxue, who had just joined them, was still somewhat bewildered.

So Pei Ye very actively flipped the boy around to face her, and then the woman couldn't help but hook the corner of her mouth.

No other reason: the boy was in a precious blue silk robe, with two huge golden characters "Dingyun" written on the front, and "Destined to Win" written on the back.

There was nothing wrong with the slogan or the font; what created this strange comedic effect now was—they were simply too big.

Actually, this couldn't be blamed entirely on Dingyun Firm. While they had sacrificed quite a bit of aesthetics in pursuit of being eye-catching, they wouldn't deliberately let their martial artist make a fool of himself. It was just that the tailor shop had made a fatal mistake when rushing to make this set of clothes—the style was originally designed for Chang Yue.

Chang Yue was tall and big, so the clothes and golden characters were naturally equally wide, but when the martial artist was changed to Yang Yan, the original clothes naturally couldn't be used. Although the tailor shop changed the size of the clothes, in the rush, they forgot to modify the size of the golden characters.

Yang Yan had been staying with Pei Ye and the others for the past few days, so last night was the first time man and clothes had met.

And then after putting them on, they discovered... oh ho, it's over.

So the boy had no choice but to walk onto the martial field wearing these clothes with the "Win" character covering his crotch and the tail of the "Destined" character written on his buttocks, just like a walking advertisement board.

This funny scene and the relaxed atmosphere clearly made the woman feel more comfortable. She walked beside the few of them without saying a word, listening to them laugh and talk.

This was the evening after the martial competition had dispersed; lanterns and candles filled the streets, and little golden lights were reflected in the Moon-Catching Lake.

After the martial competition, tens of thousands of people still had their interest unspent and always needed a place to settle down. Those merchants who had rushed over from a hundred miles away also always needed time to do business, so this lantern market that coexisted with the martial competition was born. After a tense day, the contestants could also play and relax with their friends and family.

The children were in a hurry to go back and continue the "Finger Sword Grand Competition" they hadn't finished yesterday, so Pei Ye went out with his friends. Including Zhang Dingyun, there were exactly seven people from the boat that day.

Pei Ye leaned forward and said: "Junxue, I saw that many Zhang family members came today? Where did they go to play?"

Zhang Junxue was silent for a moment: "I don't know."

Pei Ye walked beside her: "I saw today... you all didn't seem to talk much over there."

"Hmm, there are conflicts." Facing the boy's inquiring gaze, the woman said in a low voice, "About my sister's matter before."

"Oh..." Pei Ye remembered the woman's words before—because of Zhang Junyu's matter, the Zhang family found it difficult to conduct themselves in Xu Gu, so within the Zhang family, Zhang Junxue's branch was again isolated and squeezed out.

"In the past, the Zhang family could occupy seven or eight out of ten spots in Can County, but this time they were only given less than half." Zhang Junxue said, "... It is indeed our fault."

Pei Ye sighed lightly; there was no way to think about such things, as they were always the necessary price to be paid. So he smiled and said: "What about your uncle and aunt? Did they come? Come and eat together."

"They came... but they won't come over. I won't eat with you all either; in a while, you all go upstairs, and I'll go back to eat with my parents." Zhang Junxue said.

Pei Ye smiled and held her arm: "No, it's impossible to let you go."

Zhang Dingyun also leaned forward: "Where isn't it crowded with people at this time? Just eat something casually together."

Ahead was the Willow-Viewing Tower, the restaurant of Zhang Dingyun's family. Now that ten thousand people were looking for food, if they hadn't been notified in advance to reserve seats, the group wouldn't know how far they would have to walk.

Under the persuasion of the crowd, Zhang Junxue finally nodded and turned to call her parents.

However, just as the woman left, the young girl looked ahead and let out an "Eh": "You all look, isn't that the Zhang family?"

Pei Ye looked over. At this time, everyone was walking forward, and only two people were going against the flow of people. It was indeed the two who had shown their faces beside Zhang Junxue on the spectator stand today, but they were not contestants; they should be elders of the Zhang family, and at this moment, they were frowning and talking about something with heavy expressions.

Pei Ye was hesitating whether to say hello, but saw the two look up and see them too. Their gazes lingered on Li Piaoqing for a moment, then immediately turned away, and then they also bypassed them from afar.

"They eat quite fast."

"Sightseeing, I suppose. There's only the Moon-Catching Lake over there where they came from; where would there be any food?" Zhang Dingyun said.

"Aren't you also taking us over there? If there's no food, what are we going to eat? Scoop fish from the lake?"

Zhang Dingyun rolled his eyes and pointed: "Can't you see such a big building? We are going upstairs; they came from behind the building."

"... Oh." Pei Ye shut his mouth. Zhang Dingyun said to eat something casual; he had thought it was a small, broken building, but he hadn't expected it to be such a big one—since someone invited him to eat in such a place, then naturally everything they said was right.

(End of chapter)