Li Changjiang flicked his spear with ease, shattering the fist shadows that filled the sky.
Dong Ping’s face changed color in mid-air, and he twisted his body to retreat back to the high platform.
With an impassive face, Li Changjiang advanced with his spear when suddenly, a set of tables and chairs moved across the air, blocking his path.
Above the furniture, a dignified middle-aged Swordsman in a black robe with wide sleeves and two streaks of white in his temples, holding a sword in one hand and pouring wine with the other, laughed carelessly, "Old Water Ghost, you’re still as unreasonable as ever. You show up uninvited and disrupt Dong’s big event. Do you really think you’re the one who calls the shots in the Jianghu? Do you also want to shout, ’Those who follow you will prosper, those who oppose you will perish’?"
This middle-aged Swordsman was none other than the master of Yunmeng Villa, ’Wondrous Swan Sword’ Liu Changfeng.
Li Changjiang glanced at Liu Changfeng with an untroubled gaze and said with a light smile, "Enemies do tend to meet, don’t they? It hasn’t been long since Dong left his home, and he’s already involved with your Yunmeng Villa?"
Liu Changfeng sneered back, "Are you saying you don’t harbor the sentiment of ’Those who follow you will prosper, those who oppose you will perish’? Dong is nothing but a hired hand at your Lianhuan Fort, not a slave owned by the Li Family. Isn’t he allowed to have personal friendships? Besides, I just can’t stand your Old Water Ghost demeanor, I have no particular opinion of Dong. Dong is willing to forgo family ties for righteousness, and my Yunmeng Villa will naturally offer our full support!"
A group of eminent figures in the Jianghu exchanged verbal blows, seemingly more nonsense than substance.
Yet each sought to take the moral high ground, justifying their own actions.
The Jianghu is not all about fighting and killing; there are also human relationships and worldly affairs...
Eventually, it was Li Changjiang who first fell silent.
Not because he couldn’t best the two in a war of words.
But in his position... the more one says, the more mistakes one makes.
"Sharp-tongued!"
Li Changjiang pointed his leveled spear at Liu Changfeng and said, "I ask the fellow martial artists present to bear witness that it’s not my Lianhuan Fort stirring up trouble today, but Yunmeng Villa insisting on picking a fight... If there are casualties, do not blame my Lianhuan Fort for not being merciful when justified!"
Liu Changfeng stood up with a slap on the table and laughed loudly, "If you had just admitted you wanted to bully others, this would all be over. Very well, today Liu will experience the esteemed Li’s superior techniques!"
"Presenting your outnumbering advantage in such a bright light..."
Li Changjiang also smiled, "You’re more accomplished than your father!"
As his voice fell, the people of Lianhuan Fort behind him burst into laughter.
Amidst the laughter, Li Changjiang’s iron spear turned into a point of cold light, drawing a silver line as it thrust toward Liu Changfeng.
Liu Changfeng leaned backward, kicking a round table in front of him, which barrelled toward Li Changjiang with a roll.
The cold light flickered, and the thick elm tabletop shattered into sawdust as if it were a piece of paper.
But just as the table split, a sword Qi sharp as autumn water, accompanied by a dragon’s roar of a sword cry, rolled toward Li Changjiang.
At that moment, Dong Ping leapt up from the high platform, scattering a barrage of hidden weapons, including throwing darts, steel needles, iron caltrops, and even firearms, enveloping Li Changjiang in an onslaught from above.
Dong Ping’s nickname "Eight-Armed Arhat" might give novices in the Jianghu the impression he was simply proficient in a fiercely rapid fist technique, or an unbreakable hard skill.
But the old-timers knew that his nickname came from his use of hidden weapons, seeming as if he had eight arms...
"Now that’s more like it!"
Caught in a pincer attack by the two, Li Changjiang still had the leisure to comment. He retreated a zhang, unfolded his great spear, and a cascade of cold light whipped out with the dense sound of chirping birds filling the courtyard.
The myriad of hidden weapons caught in the spear light were pulverized into dust.
Someone in the crowd exclaimed, "A Multitude of Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix!"
"Autumn Waters Stretching Across the Sky!"
Seeing Dong Ping entangle Li Changjiang, Liu Changfeng leapt forward, brandishing a sword Qi like a bolt of silk, striking toward Li Changjian, who had steadied his spear circle.
Li Changjiang, unfazed, had time to respond to the exclamation of the crowd, "This is the Multitude of Birds..."
Pausing, he twisted his great iron spear, suddenly thrusting it forward, "This is the Homage to the Phoenix!"
At the release of the spear, the chirping stopped abruptly.
A fierce spear force as swift as thunder and waterfall gushed out, forming a pale-red phoenix that soared skyward, ripping through both the belt-like sword Qi and the myriad of hidden weapons.
In the previous moment, Liu Changfeng and Dong Ping, who appeared to have the upper hand against Li Changjiang, saw this and their complexions changed simultaneously.
Liu Changfeng swung his sword to the side at the phoenix, using the recoil to retreat airborne.
Dong Ping, caught off guard in mid-air, could only bellow and throw a punch with all his might, producing a burst of punch force as large as a carriage, clashing head-on with the phoenix.
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"Boom..."
Dong Ping was sent flying back, crashing heavily into the hall behind him.
The relentless phoenix, having torn the high platform in two, struck the entrance of the grand hall and instantly turned the signboard of the Jujing Gang hanging there into a shower of fragments.
"Damn, amazing!"
Yang Tiansheng in the crowd shouted with flushed face, and in his excitement turned to look at his own father, "Dad, that spear of yours..."
Yang Yinghao swiftly silenced his foolish son with a sharp, swift chop to the head before he could finish his sentence.
Catch it?
With my head?
’Damn it, who said this old geezer was already at death’s door?’ he cursed inwardly. ’That spear thrust showed the makings of a Grandmaster!’
After the spear attack, Li Changjiang did not pursue the advantage; instead, he pulled back the spear and stood up straight, looking at Dong Ping who limped out of the grand hall, and said calmly, "We have been a host and guest today. You have been unkind, but I cannot be unjust. Regarding the breach and departure from the fort, if you sacrifice an arm and return what you’ve learned over the years from my Lianhuan Fort, we’ll be even. From now on, you walk on your sunny roads, and we will walk our separate bridges without interfering with each other!"