In a three story tavern, southwest of the human territory, on the 3rd floor by a window looking down the bustling city, a man was drinking his wine, he seemed to be enjoying its taste and fragrance. His expression was peaceful, his face was calm, obviously he’s in a state of relaxing, just feeling his drink and the scenery. The man looked young, but mature, might be a little over thirty, wearing a very ordinary, neat and clean, white robe which could be seen similarly on most martial artists. He didn’t carry any weapon. If one looked at him, one might think this man doesn’t have high cultivation, seems harmless, and probably a young master of some family. But strangely he didn’t have any guard with him.
A tavern worker walked up to him with a smile and offered more wine, “Young master, would you like another bottle of our fine wine and perhaps a few delicious dishes?”
The man looked up and smiled back, “food, no, but you can give me another wine bottle, thank you!” He reached in his pouch hanging on his left waist and pulled out a small silver coin and gave it to the tavern worker, “this is for you”.
The worker was so happy and nonstop saying thanks while retreating. A minute later he came right back with a bottle of wine. The young master is happy with his service. He suddenly asked some questions, “the city seems very bustling and crowded today, do you know why?”
“Ah…yes young master! It's more exciting today in the city because the Jiang family is hosting a recruiting son-in-law competition event!” The tavern man said.
“Recruiting son-in-law competition event?!” The young master showed a hint of surprise.
“That’s right, young master! The competition in cultivation, whoever can go undefeated at least three rounds and has no more challengers, can then qualify to battle the Jiang family’s daughter, one has to beat her first for her to even consider them!”
The young man stared at the tavern worker in a daze and laughed off. He felt the concept was a little bit funny. One has to battle the bride at the end, how hard do you need to beat her for her to accept you?? That isn’t an easy thing to do. Depending on the girl’s attitude, she might not give up at all and you need to continue beating her! that would not be a pleasant thing to do.
The tavern worker suddenly said, “Young master, you should go try that out, you might get lucky and win her over! I heard the Jiang family’s daughter is extremely beautiful, possibly top one or two most beautiful women in this Xi’an city!” (Edit: Xi’an means Western Peace in Mandarin)
“Really!?”, the young man raised his eyebrow funnily. He said, “have you seen her?”
“No, I did not have that luck, I only heard people who came here talking about her, the ones who have seen her only had good things to say when talking about her look. They said not only that her face is beautiful but her body shape is close to perfection! she is ripe for marriage” the worker almost drooled with his voice was a bit loud.
“Haha…let’s stop talking about how she looks, we might be making a fool out of ourselves here...”, the young master glanced back and forth, a couple tables looking at him and the worker.
“When will the competition take place and where is the Jiang family? I will just go enjoy the show”, the young man said.
“You are just right on time young master, it’ll happen tomorrow after the sun goes up, and the arena is located in the central area of the city. You might as well rest here tonight, I will arrange the best room and food for young master! Our tavern inn has very comfortable and spacey rooms, young master, how does it sound?”
“Sounds good, I’ll stay here tonight then.”
An hour later, after finishing his wine the young man was guided to his room. He pulled out a silver tael and threw it to the worker, walked in and closed the door. There were already wines on the table in the middle of the room. On the right side is a bed with comfy looking and big enough for two.
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The young man walked over and laid down on the bed, closed his eyes, enjoying the drunk, dizzy state from the alcohol, his mind seemed to be floating, not very high but enough for him to be comfortable falling into sleep.
The night falls, the city is quite down, everyone is resting, looking forward to the dawn. Most young and old men in the city are feeling quite excited, they all hope they will be the one with the beautiful wife at the end. Some are losing sleep. They couldn’t wait to see the Jiang family’s daughter tomorrow…
…
The dawn arrived. The city streets were quickly filled with steps. Many people gathered toward the central area where a big arena was set up, like a large high ground.
Below the arena, the north side had a row of tables and chairs where the Jiang family members were sitting. Sitting in the middle was a gray hair old man, that is the patriarch of the family. Looking toward that direction one could not miss his demeanor and a strong aura coming from his posture and stoic face. But most people would quickly shift their gaze toward the person next to him. That’s his famous daughter sitting on his left, the one all men in the city wanted to win over today. Most men would lose their mind to her on the fight sight.
She wore an elegant blue dress with white flowers print on the fabric cover from her chest down to the ankle, exposing the fairy skin, thin shoulder line. Her beautiful and feminine look instantly attracted all men within the area, made one wonder that if anyone still remembered she’s actually the final boss after all the competitors a man needed to beat at the end to be with her.
The crowd became larger and larger every minute passed by. It was about time the competition began. Suddenly, a man jumped up the arena coming from the Jiang family side. A middle-aged man wearing brown robe with mustache and sturdy looking, began talking, “Dear heroes! I am Elder Wu of the Jiang family, welcome to our Jiang family’s event today, we are hosting a competition in search for an ultimate hero who can stand out from the mass in term of martial arts and cultivation to match the beauty of our young lady, and finally enter our family!” He smiled.
The crowd went wild and started cheering. Everyone was looking excited with their blood spoiling, their heart beating fast like a war drum. In their mind, all they could see now were the battles they about to have.
From a corner leaning back against a wooden brown pole of a building was the young master yesterday. He had the same white outfit, looking very relax, totally different from what most men were feeling at the moment.
He’s eyeing at Elder Wu and the Jiang family members down below the arena. His face showed no emotions, expressionless, his two hands crossed in front, doesn’t know what he’s really thinking. His left hand had a bottle of wine from the tavern, his right hand was holding a bag of chestnut which he’s eating off slowly.
No more words. The show began. Immediately, two cultivators were impatient and jumped up the arena at the same time. One with a sword, another with a blade, looking fiercely.
No introductions needed, they just looked at each other for five seconds and the blade man immediately leapt up with his long and large blade swinging hard from top down toward the swordman. Everyone felt the power contained within that move. It seemed enough to cut down anything on its path less alone a person with a thinner weapon. And that was exactly what the blade man was hoping to achieve. He wanted to cut down his opponent in one strong move and deal extreme damage even if the opponent tries to block. A more sensible way was to dodge!
Swift steps to the side, the swordman moved out of the blade’s way quickly several meters and twisted his body facing the blade man from the side while his right hand with the long sword moved forward stabbing the opponent who just landed with a hard momentum. Still grounded, the blade man found himself in trouble all of a sudden, it’s difficult to dodge now since he hasn’t recovered from the heavy landing. He swung his blade from the ground to the right side where the opponent’s sword was coming from, hoping to intersect the sword on time, his left hand was now on the ground supporting him, trying to stand up at the same time.
Immediately, the swordman saw that blade coming in an arc, that blade was late to meet the sword’s edge but it was going to hit his hand instead where the hilt was. That would be a trade but the swordman was highly skill, he didn’t want to trade a hit with this desperate mediocre blade movement, his feet jumped up, his upper body pointed toward, he was above the blade man’s blade, his sword continued stabbing, it looked like he was flying horizontally.
Suddenly, a scream was heard, the blade man got stabbed by the sword on the shoulder, pain was unbearable, it lasted for a few seconds, the swordman pulled his sword back strongly, the blade man’s screaming got louder and fell down on arena’s floor, his left hand holding the right shoulder where the wound was, continued agonizing in pain, looking miserably. Just like that the fight ended only after a total of few seconds. Someone got defeated.
Everyone below the arena was stunned but soon recovered from the shock and began chanting loudly, applauding the good fight. The swordsman stood happily on the arena, smiling at the crowd then turned over to the Jiang family direction and giving them a proud look.