Chapter 282: Peak, Ascending, Moon-viewing

The 24th year of Jiajing, August 15th.

Chen hour (7-9 AM).

It was not early, and the sunlight had flowed into the room along the window lattice. After breakfast, the sect leaders and elders returned to their rooms, sitting at the table drinking tea, adjusting their circulation, and listening intently to the sounds outside.

Although this grand event was nominally a moon-viewing banquet, no one would really wait for the moon at night. No matter what that Pacification Commissioner wanted to do, it would definitely not be as simple as drinking and talking on the summit after sunset.

Almost everyone tacitly lowered their voices, and the entire building only had the rustling sound of mountain wind blowing fallen leaves from time to time, with no other sounds.

Suddenly.

Splash, splash, splash, splash—

Dense footsteps, mixed with the crisp sound of armor and scabbards colliding, reached close in a moment. And then scattered in the courtyard like a tide.

Knock, knock.

A knock on the door sounded.

The door opened, and the Embroidered Uniform Guards wearing armor and hanging long swords at their waists cupped their fists and said almost identical words to the heads of the major sects.

"Pacification Commissioner has an order, please go up the mountain to attend the banquet before noon. The banquet starts at Wei hour, you can go up the mountain with familiar people."

"Don't delay the time."

After speaking, these Embroidered Uniform Guards did not leave, but scattered along the path to the summit. Every ten steps, two people guarded both sides of the mountain road, hands on the sword hilts, looking straight ahead.

All Jianghu people understood.

The real play was about to start.

————————

Mount Song is a continuous mountain range with seventy-two peaks, Taishi Mountain and Shaoshi Mountain each occupying thirty-six peaks. The Songshan Sect is located in the middle section of the main peak "Junjifeng," and the location of this moon-viewing banquet is at the summit.

In the mid-autumn season, the grass and leaves were generally green, but they had already turned yellow. Fallen leaves were paved along the mountain road, and footsteps stepped on them, making a rustling sound.

Junjifeng summit.

The surrounding prefectures and counties urgently dispatched manpower and had already arranged this place. There were guides at the south entrance, who would go to ask for identity when they saw Jianghu people coming up, and then lead them to be seated.

By noon, the seats on the east and west sides were filled.

Although it was a grand event that gathered almost the entire Jianghu, there were not many people qualified to sit. The two capitals and thirteen provinces of Great Shu had an average of two or three first-class sects and more than a dozen second-class sects per province, and the sect leaders plus the accompanying elders were only four or five hundred people, so it didn't look crowded after sitting down.

The rest without seats could only stand on the periphery.

Those who could come here could be considered "figures," and for a while, no one was in a hurry to speak, their eyes constantly scanning around.

First, they looked at the seats.

The east and west sides were divided into two batches of seats. The low tables and meditation cushions of the batch near the center looked more spacious, and two or three people could sit. But the batch near the outside was much narrower, only accommodating one person, and the disciples who came with them could only stand on the side.

First-class forces sat at wide tables, second-class forces sat at narrow tables; this seat clearly revealed the things hidden under Jianghu morality.

Many people were unhappy, especially some second-class forces whose "strength" had arrived but whose "reputation" was still lacking, couldn't help but look at the backs in front and slowly rub their weapons.

Because they knew that these seats should still be changeable.

Because in the center of the two batches of seats was a huge arena. Around the arena, weapons were lined up. Swords, spears, swords, halberds, axes, yue, hooks, forks, and even side-door sickles, fans, claws, and judge pens were all displayed among them.

What is the arena for?

For individuals, perhaps it is for sparring, making friends, or resolving grievances. But for a Jianghu force, this thing is mostly used to divide interests.

Who these seats finally sit on, nine out of ten, will fall on the arena in the middle.

Between thoughts, the atmosphere had changed. Everyone was scanning the backs in front with their eyes, and everyone was feeling the cold eyes cast from behind.

Some even cast their eyes to the north.

There was a high platform there.

On the high platform, ten chairs were placed, and six people were sitting.

Sitting in the westmost was Yong Jie, who was closing his eyes and slowly twisting prayer beads. Beside him was Wudang Sect Leader Zhi Qing, who was talking in a low voice with Lao Qifeng and Yu Qing on the side.

The contemporary "Sword King" Bu Ying of the Sword King Pavilion was sitting on the chair with his eyes closed, secretly practicing the "washing the sword with the mind" method. And sitting beside him was—Liu Chengxuan!?

"That's Liu Chengxuan of the Huanhua Sword Sect, right?"

"It's him!"

"What right does he have to sit there!"

"How the hell would I know!"

The Jianghu people below were in an uproar.

Liu Chengxuan heard his name, and his hands in his sleeves trembled. He instinctively wanted to stand up and turn back to say "Otherwise I'd better go down."

Suddenly, a sword stretched out from the side and blocked in front of him.

"Sword King" Bu Ying was looking at him.

"You, are a swordsman?"

Liu Chengxuan nodded.

"You deserve it?"

Liu Chengxuan was stunned.

"What does Your Excellency mean..."

"I mean, do you deserve to be a swordsman?"

Bu Ying's voice was as sharp as his sword.

"After being looked at a few times, you want to roll down yourself?"

"Give me your sword; you don't deserve to hold a sword."

After saying that, he reached out and stretched in front of Liu Chengxuan.

"Held by someone like you, it's not as good as being a hoe."

Liu Chengxuan's face suddenly flushed, he gripped his sword hilt tightly, and stopped moving. Bu Ying looked straight into his eyes; although he didn't operate true energy, Liu Chengxuan still felt as if a sword was pointing at his throat, getting closer and closer.

After a long while, Liu Chengxuan was already in a cold sweat.

"Cough, what are the two doing?"

An Ziyang's chuckle came from behind them.

Bu Ying's gaze shifted abruptly.

An Ziyang walked slowly behind Liu Chengxuan, reached out and pressed on his shoulder, and looked at Bu Ying with a smile.

"What was Your Excellency doing just now?"

Bu Ying didn't answer, just frowned.

"Sword King, I have to remind you, this is not the Sword King Pavilion, don't bring your Sword King Pavilion's rules here."

An Ziyang smiled.

"Here, there is only one person's rules."

"He says who sits here, who can sit here. Similarly, he says who deserves to hold a sword, who deserves to hold a sword; if he thinks who doesn't deserve to hold a sword, even if he is the number one swordsman in the world, he has to put down the sword in his hand."

An Ziyang's smile gradually became cold.

"Your sword is broken, so you want to collect other swordsmen's swords to borrow the sword intent to recast your sword; we don't care about this matter. If you have the ability to go up Wudang Mountain and take away the sword passed down by Sanfeng Zhenren, we can hand over the Tang Men's territory to your Sword King Pavilion."

An Ziyang pointed at Liu Chengxuan's sword.

"But, this sword is not allowed."

He smiled narrowly.

"Sword King, you don't want your sword to break again, do you?"

Bu Ying frowned, his gaze shifted behind him.

The ten chairs on the high platform could already overlook most of the Jianghu people below. And behind these ten chairs, the platform was raised again, forming a platform sufficient to overlook everyone.

On the platform, a huge chair was placed, with shelves arranged all around, and semi-transparent light gauze hung down, making people outside only vaguely see the figure inside.

That person was leaning sideways on the chair, one hand supporting his face, the other hand on the armrest, without any movement, as if resting.

But Bu Ying could feel that after An Ziyang walked over here, a gaze was cast over, looking at his sword with malice.

Bu Ying gripped the sword hilt tightly.

Swordsmen of the Sword King Pavilion all went to the Sword Tomb when they started learning swords, received a sword fetus belonging to themselves, and then warmed and cast it with their own sword intent. As the swordsman progressed, the sword would become sharper and sharper.

Swordsmen of the Sword King Pavilion only have one sword. It's not so much a sword as it is the only companion on the path of swordsmanship.

But four months ago, Bu Ying's sword broke.

It was smashed by someone with a fist.

The culprit of this matter was An Ziyang who was sneering in front of him. And the person who broke his sword was Li Miao sitting on the platform.

Li Miao's eyes were still patrolling his sword.

Bu Ying's fingers gripping the sword hilt had turned white.

After a long while, he gritted his teeth, put the sword into his bosom, moved his body, used his back to block Li Miao's gaze peeking at his sword, and said nothing more.

An Ziyang then smiled, patted Liu Chengxuan on the shoulder.

"Sect Leader Liu, you sitting here is the Pacification Commissioner's meaning, sit down with peace of mind."

"Alright, people are almost here, I'll go say a few words, you sit down with peace of mind, no matter what happens, don't speak, the Pacification Commissioner will handle it."

Liu Chengxuan looked at Li Miao's direction gratefully. Through the light gauze, he vaguely saw Li Miao waving at him. He nodded and sat steadily on the chair.

An Ziyang walked slowly to the front of the high platform and stood with his hands behind his back.

Slowly, the sound below gradually disappeared, and finally became silent. All Jianghu people calmed down, looking up at An Ziyang, waiting for him to speak.

"Cough, cough."

An Ziyang cleared his throat and was about to start reciting, but suddenly fell silent.

Eight months.

From the time he met Li Miao until now, it had only been eight months.

Eight months ago, he was still a dissolute person that Jianghu people looked down on. The so-called "Young Master Lingxu" was only called by people who made money from him, and Jianghu people called him "Young Master Kidney-Deficient" behind his back.

And his methods couldn't be seen, so he couldn't clear his name.

Over time, even he himself got used to being looked down upon, used to that shameless appearance, used to the friendly smile, and used to the attitude of Jianghu people flattering to his face and mocking behind his back.

But now—he overlooked the people below.

Everyone, the entire Jianghu, was looking at him.

The sect leaders of major sects, those big figures he couldn't climb up to eight months ago, were tightly closing their mouths, waiting for his words.

No one would call him "Young Master Kidney-Deficient" again. Now Jianghu people would only respectfully bow to him with both respect and fear, and respectfully shout "Battalion Commander Lord."

Walking the Jianghu at twelve, the things he sought for fifteen years of bloody storms and couldn't get, were held in his hands in just eight months.

All this was because of one person.

He tilted his head slightly and looked behind him with his peripheral vision.

An Ziyang could feel that a gaze was cast over, looking at him.

With this gaze supporting him, he dared to do anything.

"Everyone."

The vigorous true energy of the Wedding Dress Divine Art spread An Ziyang's voice, echoing in everyone's ears.

"Before the banquet starts, I must thank everyone first. It's hard for everyone to travel thousands of miles to attend the banquet. I, An Ziyang, thank everyone on behalf of my Pacification Commissioner Lord."

He cupped his hands casually.

The Jianghu people below were cursing in their hearts.

"Damn it! Hypocritical!"

"Isn't it you Embroidered Uniform Guards who came to our door and threatened us to come! Isn't it you who said 'bear the consequences yourself'!"

"Pretending, your mother!"

They were all thinking this in their hearts, but on the surface, it was a smile.

"Haha, we grass-roots people, being able to attend Pacification Commissioner Lord's banquet is already a great honor, why is Battalion Commander Lord so polite!"

"Exactly, exactly!"

"Pacification Commissioner Lord lives a thousand years!"—This was someone who was used to serving eunuchs, who slipped his tongue, but no one went to correct him for a while.

An Ziyang waved his hand.

"Let's talk about polite words later."

"The moon-viewing banquet is set at Xu hour, it is almost noon now, there is not much time, so I won't talk nonsense anymore."

An Ziyang said loudly.

"My Pacification Commissioner's meaning is that before the banquet starts, there is one more thing that needs to be solved by everyone, so as not to cause trouble in the future, which would become the imperial court's fault."

He raised his hand, gesturing for everyone to look at the arena in the center.

"When you came up, you should have seen this arena."

All Jianghu people sat up straight.

An Ziyang said loudly.

"This grand event, my Pacification Commissioner invited all the heroes of the world, but to tell the truth, there is one thing that has troubled my Pacification Commissioner for a long time. That is—seats."

"Sure enough!"

The Jianghu people below, especially those sitting in the back, suddenly brightened their eyes.

An Ziyang continued.

"To tell the truth, in the past half year, many things have happened in the Jianghu, and all sects are turbulent. Some people have taken advantage of it to rise, some have gradually sunk. The current you are very different from the you half a year ago, but the reputation and seating order are still arranged according to the Jianghu public opinion half a year ago."

"My Pacification Commissioner thinks this is not good."

"But if the imperial court personally comes down to arrange a seating order for everyone, you will not be convinced."

"So—why not let you arrange it yourself!"

Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter—

Several Embroidered Uniform Guards pushed something huge covered with red cloth and slowly arrived behind An Ziyang.

An Ziyang took a step back, raised his hand, and grabbed the red cloth.

"My Pacification Commissioner doesn't like fighting in his life, only likes solving fights."

He said with a smile.

"You are fighting openly and secretly in the Jianghu, it is inevitable that there will be too many casualties, and the Jianghu may not necessarily recognize it. My Pacification Commissioner's meaning is, why not take advantage of everyone being here today and directly set a sequence!"

Splash—

While speaking, An Ziyang pulled hard!

The zhang-wide red cloth flew up abruptly, the true energy of the Wedding Dress Divine Art drummed it to fly up, casting a huge shadow on the ground.

Everyone's gaze focused on the thing under the red cloth.

"Hiss—this is!"

The thing under the red cloth was a wooden board a zhang wide, with red lacquer as the bottom, hanging over a hundred signs on it, six signs hanging high above, with "Shaolin," "Wudang," "Beggar Gang," "Cao Gang," "Sword King Pavilion," and "Huanhua Sword Sect" written on them.

And beside these six signs, two big characters were written in gold lacquer, flying like dragons and dancing like phoenixes—"Peak"!

All Jianghu people had a guess in their hearts, hurriedly looking for their sect names among the hundred signs, and sure enough, they found them. They looked at the side of their wooden signs again, and sure enough, they saw the two characters again.

Below "Peak" is "Ascending"!

Below "Ascending" is "Moon-viewing"!

Over a hundred wooden signs stood, one layer pressing on another, arranged on the wooden board, adding a fire to the hearts of the Jianghu people.

"Today's moon-viewing banquet is not as simple as letting everyone come to drink."

An Ziyang said loudly.

"I will make it clear to everyone, when the banquet officially starts, your seats will not change again—the distance from my Pacification Commissioner, and the distance from the imperial court, will not change again."

"If you want to take a step forward on this board, you can see who is sitting in front of you, and whether his position can convince you."

"If you are not convinced—"

An Ziyang pointed to the arena.

"Then under the witness of the heroes of the world, let him come down!"

"Today's matter, all depends on yourself!"

"Jianghu matters, still need to use swords to speak, to be the most fair!"

"Everyone, please!"

After saying that, An Ziyang turned around, seemingly wanting to leave.

Suddenly, he seemed to have remembered something, turned around abruptly, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face.

"By the way, there is one more thing I forgot to say."

"This grand event, my Pacification Commissioner only invited sects, but didn't have time to invite lone experts, but generally they have all arrived here, just that they don't have seats now."

He looked at the crowd standing around the seats.

"Everyone, lone experts, seniors, I still have some blank wooden signs here..."

An Ziyang reached into his bosom, took out a wooden sign, and raised it.

"If you want to sit down, you can also try to take down other people's wooden signs, and then write your own name on them."

"No need to challenge everywhere, no need to care about breaking the rules. Today I, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, will guarantee for everyone, everyone has a chance to go on stage—this chance, my Pacification Commissioner gives to everyone."

Finally, An Ziyang opened his arms and looked at those lone experts.

"There is one last thing."

"After getting on this board, lone experts."

"Can come to the Embroidered Uniform Guard and have a bowl of imperial grain."

Boom!! ——

Human voices exploded.

At the same time, someone below had an ugly expression, looking at the blurry figure hidden behind the light gauze on the stage.

He secretly thought.

"Pulling the firewood from under the cauldron, changing the world."

"And—take it for your own use!"

"After today, all sects and experts who have moved forward relying on this moon-viewing banquet will no longer have any doubts about this Embroidered Uniform Guard Pacification Commissioner, and will even actively maintain him."

"This strategy is not brilliant, but borrowing the general trend, it is irresistible... tsk!"

He looked at the wooden board, suddenly sneered.

"But, if someone wants to challenge the Huanhua Sword Sect? How do you defend it? And how do you convince everyone?"

He slowly rubbed his weapon.

"You are too crazy."

"This is you, the biggest flaw."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 283 =====