Chapter 14: Speak of Heroes, Who Is the Hero

As noon approached, the market square of Gushan County was unprecedentedly bustling, and the Hongyun Restaurant's two floors were packed to the brim.

The restaurant shopkeeper had invited all his regular customers — for him this was also a good chance to curry favor — and he stood at the door greeting guests, smiling like a chrysanthemum; he was fairly honest, no tricks, and the menu he arranged left Fang Xiu nothing to fault.

Even Pawnshop Shopkeeper Wei could not suppress his curiosity; he arrived early and took a seat upstairs, his gaze sweeping over Fang Xiu from time to time.

A porridge shed had long since been set up at the street corner; two makeshift earthen stoves held two large iron pots of rice porridge simmered thick and soft, and beside them steamed cakes were stacked several layers high — already quite a few beggars were lining up.

Fang Xiu moved the storytelling table to the entrance; the guests who had been invited earlier came up one by one to thank him, and for a while he was overwhelmed; only after the shopkeeper persuaded them did they finally all take their seats, whereupon Fang Xiu sat in his chair and closed his eyes to rest.

The four whole lambs sent by Shopkeeper Wei were now hanging on a rack over a makeshift fire at the door; two chefs and several waiters bustled about, now brushing oil, now sprinkling seasoning — the chefs even had cumin on hand — and before long the aroma assaulted the nose; it could not drift ten miles, but the alluring fragrance could be smelled throughout the center of Gushan County.

Although Fang Xiu kept his eyes closed, he was not idle; using his Supernatural Five Senses and that mysterious intuition, he quickly turned everything within a hundred meters into a Three-Dimensional Dynamic Image, ensuring he could monitor every single person around him.

Before long he distinguished from the scents three beggars who had appeared in the City God Temple last night; that Branch Chief did not show up.

His current appearance was completely different from a beggar's, so those three Beggar Sect disciples did not realize at all that Fang Xiu was the target they were to capture.

After roughly three incense sticks' time, noon had arrived and the roast lamb was about done; Fang Xiu signaled the waiters to carve three of the lambs and serve them to the restaurant guests and the street beggars to share; the Hongyun Restaurant opened for business on time, and the porridge-shed beggars also began lining up for porridge.

At the same time, Fang Xiu waved his hand, and two runners from Shopkeeper Wei's staff unfurled a large banner, drawing everyone's eyes.

The banner bore seven large characters: "Speak of Heroes, Who Is the Hero?"

Fang Xiu lifted the wooden paperweight he had borrowed from Shopkeeper Wei, using it as a wake-up wood, and brought it down heavily on the table, speaking in a clear voice.

"Morality: Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns; Merit and Fame: Xia, Shang, and Two Zhou.

Five Hegemons and Seven Warring States churn the Spring and Autumn; in a moment rise and fall pass through the hands.

Jin and Song a few lines of names; looking north, countless barren mounds.

Forebears sow, heirs reap; what talk of dragons contending and tigers fighting."

Having finished the scene-setting poem, Fang Xiu clasped his hands to the four directions and continued.

"This youngster Wu Mianfeng, today borrowing the Hongyun Restaurant's treasured ground, will meet with all you esteemed neighbors and act as a storytelling master for once."

As his words fell, those in the restaurant who had heard Fang Xiu tell stories before shouted in unison: "Sing a little tune! That Tale of the White Snake — Hangzhou's scenery peerless under heaven, so pleasant to hear."

Fang Xiu laughed heartily and said: "Today no little tunes, no jokes; what this youngster will tell today is — "

He pointed to the banner above his head, gathered Qi in his dantian, and declared loudly: "Speak of Heroes, Who Is the Hero?"

As these words rang out, the voice carried several li; at this moment over a hundred people had gathered around, and the whole venue fell silent, all watching Fang Xiu perform.

"Now, in the martial world under heaven, heroes emerge in droves and martial arts sects stand like forests; in the north there are the two great orthodox sects, Shaolin Temple and Quanquan Sect; in the south there is the Number One Great Clan under heaven, the Beggar Sect, and the Iron Palm Sect founded by the great hero Shangguan Jiannan who once resisted the Jin alongside Grandpa Yue; besides these there are countless knights-errant wandering the world doing chivalrous deeds.

The saying goes: literature has no first, martial arts has no second; one asks: with so many heroes under heaven, who exactly is the most honored? Who is the true hero?

Until a dozen or so years ago, the world's experts gathered for the Huashan Sword Discourse; after ten days and ten nights of contest, the Five Great Masters were finally determined.

Among them, Quanquan Sect Leader Zhenren Wang Zhongyang, suppressing all heroes, was acclaimed Number One Under Heaven.

The other four were evenly matched, only a hair below Zhenren Wang Zhongyang, and were also supreme experts under heaven.

These five were called the Five Greats; besides the one styled Central Divine Tong, Zhenren Wang Zhongyang, do you all know who the other four are?"

Fang Xiu scanned the surroundings; everyone held their breath, waiting for his next words.

"These four are: not far from here, styled Eastern Heretic, the Peach Blossom Island Master Huang Yaoshi;

In the Western Regions, White Camel Mountain Master, ruling alone one side, West Poison Ouyang Feng.

The ruler of the Southern Dali Guo, though an Emperor yet also acknowledging himself a martial world man, South Emperor Duan Zhixing.

The last is that Beggar Sect Chief, Nine-Fingered Divine Beggar Hong Qigong.

Now Central Divine Tong Wang Zhongyang has already transcended; in the current martial world those four have the highest martial arts.

Then let everyone discuss: among these four, who can truly be called a great hero?"

As he spoke to this point, those few Beggar Sect disciples, though scum, still felt honored and interjected: "Naturally it is our Beggar Sect's Old Chief Hong."

Fang Xiu struck the wake-up wood again: "Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi is unorthodox, disdains worldly things, and has always come and gone alone.

South Emperor is not a man of our Great Song, and as an Emperor he does not care to be some hero.

West Poison — that one word 'poison' shows he is absolutely not good people; only this Northern Beggar Hong Qigong truly counts as a hero.

But the one I will speak of today is also a Beggar Sect man; he was the Beggar Sect Chief during the Xining Era when Emperor Shenzong reigned, over a hundred years ago.

This Chief's name is Qiao above, Feng below; in this youngster's view, this Chief Qiao Qiao Feng is the true great hero, peerless in the present age.

You must know that at that time there was no Jin Kingdom yet; our Great Song had the Liao Kingdom to the north and the Western Xia to the west, their hearts to destroy our Great Song never dying; the Song court was weak and repeatedly bullied — it was Qiao Feng who led the Beggar Sect disciples to repeatedly resist foreign enemies, narrowly escaping death countless times; he established seventeen great merits in total, and at merely the age of standing at thirty became Chief of the Number One Great Clan under heaven.

His martial arts were even more formidable; in the martial world he was known as Northern Qiao Feng; a single set of Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms swept away all heroes under heaven, and no one was unconvinced."

Next Fang Xiu told Qiao Feng's heroic deeds from Tianlong; time was limited, so he downplayed Qiao Feng's origins and later-life entanglements, focusing mainly on his heroic deeds and generous heroism, especially mentioning Qiao Feng's love of wine — no wine no joy — and how when facing strong enemies the more he drank the more majestic in bearing, unstoppable.

The Tianlong story was inherently captivating, and Fang Xiu told it spellbindingly; everyone around listened spellbound, even forgetting to pick up their chopsticks for the delicious food before them.

Until Fang Xiu spoke of Qiao Feng, to prevent a great war between Liao and Song that would cause the people to suffer, at Yanmen Pass snapping a long arrow and driving it into his own chest to commit suicide — only then did the surrounding people let out a long breath, all clenching their wrists and sighing.

This long passage of Fang Xiu's took a full half hour; he spoke until his mouth was dry and tongue parched, yet in his heart he was secretly beating a drum — he kept using the Divine Sense Three-Dimensional Dynamic Image in his mind to observe whether the person he was waiting for was in the crowd.

In the first half that person did not appear, and Fang Xiu was anxious to the extreme, almost unable to continue; until the second half, he finally discovered a middle-aged beggar suddenly appear in the onlookers, holding a Green Bamboo Staff, carrying a Vermilion Gourd on his back, and most importantly his right hand was missing an index finger.

At this Fang Xiu finally set his heart at ease; he accelerated the story to its end, turned to face that middle-aged beggar, bowed deeply and said.

"Peach Blossom Island Disciple Wu Mianfeng greets Beggar Sect Chief Hong; this junior dares to ask: is Chief Qiao Qiao Feng a great hero, and how does he compare to you, Hong Qigong?"

One asks: before this chapter, did anyone guess what I was going to do?

Please collect, please follow, please recommendation tickets; this book really has too few readers right now, basic data insufficient, thank you everyone

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(Chapter End)