Chapter 96 Dragon King on the earth had horns
“Don’t worry about it.” Chang Nuo patted Ning Yuan’s shoulder, and said with a smile, “How could I make such mistakes? I used two types of kung fu when I fought with him, even the weapons are different. When I used a sword, I can prevail over him slightly. He admired me very much at that time, and also advised me to take the Martial Arts Test of the Imperial Examination. Later, I dressed up as Feng Yang, fighting with him again with the External Boxing Arts of Wudang Sect, and the weapon I used this time were double hammers. Also, I didn’t go all out. I cannot defend his long sword after 100 martial moves, then I was defeated, so it is impossible for him to catch me when I fought with him. And also, listen–”
Chang Nuo cleared his throat and suddenly changed a completely different voice, “My name is Feng Yang, I styled myself Jun You. I have admired Senior Lu’s fame, ‘a man in white with his Excalibur’, for a long time. You are even more outstanding when I see you today. It’s a great honor to meet you! When I spoke to Senior Lu, I used Feng Yang’s voice. How could he recognize me as Chang Nuo?” After saying this, his voice became much deeper than usual, and there were also some husky feelings of young people in the period of voice changing. It was a totally different person when he used that voice.
Ning Yuan still wanted to find some faults about Chang Nuo for letting him correct his trouble of self-conceit, so he tricked him, “Master Bai once said, your ventriloquism still needs to be improved. Although it sounds like okay if you speak a few words, your voice changes several times in the middle. If you speak a long paragraph, it would sound comical.”
“Really? Why don’t I feel that?” Chang Nuo said confusedly, “I paid a formal visit to the Taoist Sage last time. He praised me as ‘a talented boy’, and also said that I have ‘a promising future’. Alas, who would have thought he evaluated me like this behind my back... When did this happen?”
Ning Yuan stared at his boots and lied, “It is a day after your last meeting. Master Bai once criticized your fickle temperament when he mentioned you, and also said that you’re just scratching the surface when learning something. It is really a waste of your great talent.”
Chang Nuo felt so sad and disappointed when he heard these words. His conceited expression also faded away. Turned out... what he had left in Taoist Sage’s heart was such a bad impression.
In his childhood, he heard that the Taoist Sage Bai Yangbai had the skills of controlling the forces of nature. So, he yearned for those skills and wanted to see that “Dragon King on the earth”. He wondered what his magic appearance was and how many horns he had. Later, Chang Nuo made friends with the 17th Prince Zhu Quan, who used an assumed name Ning Yuan, and then he knew that the Master Taoist Sage, whom even the Emperor could not recruit, unexpectedly became the Master of the 17th Prince, and also imparted a lot of his skills to the 17th Prince.
Chang Nuo admired Ning Yuan after hearing that, and then he pestered Ning Yuan to perform some skills he had learned. Although Ning Yuan thought that he was not a street performer, and he didn’t have to show anything, Chang Nuo was the first friend he ever made in the capital. They shared common feelings appreciating each other, and he also wanted to have a deeper relationship with Chang Nuo. That’s why he shared his secret of being Bai Yangbai’s disciple with him. Hence, in Chang Nuo’s applause, he performed disguise skill reluctantly. Within a while, he had changed another new face, and also had changed another voice to match his new face. This performance obtained praise of Chang Nuo, so he pestered Ning Yuan to teach him these two skills.
Bai Yangbai was proficient in hundreds of skills, among which disguise skill and ventriloquism were his insignificant skills. And Chang Nuo was an important friend and talent for Ning Yuan. Chang Nuo would be helpful if he was imparted these two skills of disguise. Taking this idea, Ning Yuan imparted “disguise skill” and “ventriloquism” to Chang Nuo without permission—-It was not that he didn’t respect the opinions and authority of his Master, but no one knew where Bai Yangbai was. So, there was no one to ask.
2 months later, Chang Nuo had improved in his ventriloquism, but his disguise skill was still poor. Ning Yuan had taught him everything he knew, but Chang Nuo was too stupid to learn the skills, and he couldn’t help him with that.
One morning, the pair of close friends were studying the frontier defense issues and the three strategies for managing Nihon in the Central Secretariat. Bai Yangbai suddenly came from nowhere with servant clothes, pulled a long face and whispered he had lost his money unluckily in the past two days. So, he needed a little exigent silver to win back his lost wagers. Given that he had no children in his whole life, he had to ask for money from his only disciple. Bai Yangbai rubbed his hands and said to Ning Yuan, “If you have enough money, give me 200 or 300 liang sliver; if not, go and borrow 200 or 300 liang from your siblings.” Anyway, if Ning Yuan didn’t give him 200 or 300 liang, he would not leave. If Ning Yuan gave him less than 200 liang, Ning Yuan wouldn’t be his disciple anymore!
Knowing that the old man with a wretched and vulgar expression was the famous Master Taoist Sage, Chang Nuo was speechless in shock. While Ning Yuan was accustomed to his teacher’s words and dressing. But he usually didn’t need to use money in usual, how could he carry a cheque of 200 liang? The accessories on him were all royal stuff. Even if his Master took it to a pawnshop, the shopkeeper who knew the goods would never dare to accept these things. So, Ning Yuan explained the reason and told the Master to come here again in the afternoon, because he had to get cheques when he returned to the separate courtyard for the Princes at noon.
At this moment, Chang Nuo, who had regained his mind, suddenly gave a big bow to Bai Yangbai with a sullen face, saying that he had heard his name for a long time and worshiped him so much, so he hoped Bai Yangbai could accept himself as his disciple, too.
Bai Yangbai glanced at him and immediately refused. According to him, there was a rule in article 71 of Daguomen Sect, saying that they wouldn’t accept disciples who had protruding ears and womanish voice. Chang Nuo didn’t agree, and then spoke in a thick male voice immediately, showing off that he had clearly surpassed the ventriloquism of Ning Yuan, the “genuine student”.
After hearing this, Bai Yangbai was furious, held Ning Yuan’s collar and asked him fiercely, “How could you leak the secret skills of mine to an outsider?” Ning Yuan was about to admit his error to Bai Yangbai and explain the reason. However, Bai Yangbai let go of him suddenly, but took hold of Chang Nuo’s collar and asked if he had a wallet, and could he show it to himself? Chang Nuo showed his wallet to Master Taoist Sage in confusion.
Bai Yangbai opened the wallet, glanced at the denomination of the cheque, and weighed the weight of the silver ingots. After repacking the wallet, he smiled, put the wallet into his sleeve, and then said, “These are the tuition fees for the skills you have learnt. Here is the thing. There is a rule in article 123 of Daguomen Sect: ‘If the skill of the Master is accidentally learned by outsiders, one must ask the other party for the corresponding fee.’” The ventriloquism of Daguomen Sect was totally different from the rough ventriloquism of Jianghu, and long-term use of this skill wouldn’t cause the adverse symptoms of dizziness, dry and sore throat. This skill had been lost for hundreds of years. As the one and the only successor who could use this skill in this world, Bai Yangbai wouldn’t be regarded as greedy even if he charged him 150 liang.
Chang Nuo was glad to hear that he could pay for learning skills, so he delightedly made a bow to the Master Taoist Sage and said, “In fact, I also learned some disguise skills from 17th Prince, but he didn’t teach me well. So, may I ask you for tutoring? And I wouldn’t learn them for free. Master Taoist Sage, please take this little gift.” As he said that, he took out a delicate gold abacus about the size of half a palm, and presented it respectfully with both hands.
Although this pocket gold abacus had a small amount of gold, the production process consumed countless labor. It had a rare and ingenious value that was more than 500 liang. This was a gift that Chang Nuo received from his uncle when he was celebrating his birthday some time ago. The beads on it were quite special and could be taken down as weapons. Chang Nuo thought it was very interesting, so he kept it with him.
Bai Yangbai was grinning from ear to ear, and put the golden abacus in his sleeve. He praised Chang Nuo and said that at first sight, he knew that Chang Nuo was a very talented young man. He was much better than his stupid disciple who went out without taking any money!
Chang Nuo touched his head shyly, couldn’t stop smiling. Then he asked Master Taoist Sage when it was convenient for him to teach him the knack of the disguise skills.
Bai Yangbai laughed twice and patted Chang Nuo’s head heavily, saying, “You are a good boy with a promising future. Therefore, when you learn something, you must digest it, understand it, and have to do it step by step. But I’m kind of busy recently, so I couldn’t personally guide you for your studies for the time being. But don’t worry, Quan (Zhu Quan) is my only disciple. He is free to teach you. You can detain and use him until you learn enough for your 500 liang silver. If his teaching is still unsatisfactory in the end, you can also find Quan to refund the money.” After speaking, Bai Yangbai pushed the thirteen-year-old Zhu Quan into the sixteen-year-old Chang Nuo’s arms. Covering his face with his sleeves, Bai Yangbai flinched out of the Council Palace and fled from the powerful Central Secretariat through the side door quickly.
Every time Chang Nuo thought of this two-year-ago issue, he couldn’t calm down for a long time. He didn’t expect to be lucky enough to meet Taoist Sage Bai Yangbai in person, and also got his praise as “a good boy with a promising future”! Now, Ning Yuan said that the Taoist Sage had criticized himself for being too impetuous and disappointing his talents. How could this not discourage him?
Ning Yuan patted Chang Nuo, called his attention back, and then lowered his voice to warn him, “Actually, I chose to come to Yangzhou City after being hurt by Lu Jiangbei, not only because you are in Yangzhou City. Earlier this month, I received a letter from Master Bai, saying that he would spend a few days at Taibai Restaurant in Yangzhou City. If I need his help, I can go there to find him...”
“Has he come to Yangzhou City, too?” Chang Nuo’s eyes brightened, “Can I meet him with you, Yuan?”
Ning Yuan waved his hand and hinted Chang Nuo to be patient, then kept talking about his arrangements, “In my previous plan, Ming Yue would disguise as me and rush back to Daning to review the troops for me. But with my disguise skill, even the most special face I make could only be 60 percent similar with the original, and the fake face could only be kept for 3 days. It’s hard to say if the spies sent by Lu Jiangbei would see through the trick. So, I thought of Master Bai, whose disguise skill is incomparable. He can make fake faces more than 90 percent similar to original faces, and it could also maintain a long time. So, I designedly went to Yangzhou City to find him for his help. But I was hurt too much on the way, it took a lot of time... I didn’t know Lu Jiangbei has been hiding his strength. He is more powerful than I thought. Chang Nuo, you must remember not to fight with him if you meet him when you are running business in Wuying Tower, but flee immediately.”
Chang Nuo’s eyes slammed, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve never run away in the middle of a fight, but always chased after my opponent! Not to mention Lu Jiangbei, even if three Lu Jiangbei together are here to fight with me, I will be fearless!”
“What nonsense! Can’t you see I have become like this? Why don’t you take it seriously? Although Lu Jiangbei is a strong enemy, he has no major conflict of interest with us. It’s not a wise choice to weaken both sides. So, if you see him in the future, you’d better avoid him.” Ning Yuan glanced at Chang Nuo bitterly, sighed and said, “Can’t you be cautious in business to ease my mind? By the way, does Feng’s Family suspect that you are a fake childe? I’m worry about your disguise skill.”
Chang Nuo flipped his fan open and shook it, saying laughingly, “Don’t worry about it. Feng Yang died at the age of 12 at Wudang Mountain. No one knew that he was died at the time or saw how he looked like after growing up. I was also at Wudang Mountain at that time to learn skills. Four-year eating and sleeping together makes it easy for me to dress up like him in a young age. Even if Feng Yang was lucky not to be dead and got 18 years old smoothly, most of the people in Feng’s Family would recognize me as their First Master rather than him. Ha! When shall we meet the Taoist Sage?”
Ning Yuan shook his head and replied, “I will go to Luo’s Mansion immediately to find a place to heal my wound. Tell Madam Luo that you have some urgent things to do, and let her take me, the patient in your gharry, back to Luo’s Mansion. Then you go to Tabai Restaurant to find Master Bai with Ming Yue, letting him turn you into me, and turn Ming Yue into Feng Yang. After that, Ming Yue returns to Luo’s Mansion to admit Feng Yang’s kindred relationship with Jiugu, and then lives there until I am fully cured. Lord Feng wouldn’t feel suspicious if he learns that his son is gonna spend some days with his closest aunt. There is a maneuver in the Drill Ground the day after tomorrow. It takes 4 to 5 days to drive the gharry from here to Daning. Only you have the skills of Mysterious Footwork, and no one in the world can arrive at Daning in two days except you, so I have to resign this to you.”
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