The man dressed in green silk robe was a good-looking tall man with long black hair and refined looks. Even his sword was of top quality. Feng was sure that the man had nothing to do with the robber and that there was some misunderstanding going on. Thus, he sheathed his sword in order to not harm the man. The man, however, charged at Feng with his sword. Feng made no move until the sword was only one inch from his nose, then stretched out his hand and grabbed it by the hilt. The man let out a ragged breath.
“Why did you attack me?”, Feng asked.
“Spare me the nonsense!”, the man barked. “You drugged the costumers here in order to rob them and threatened to kill the waiter. This shows how wicked and evil you are! It is my duty as a swordsman to protect the weak from scum like you!”
Feng sighed. “The waiter was the robber, not me. And thanks to you, he escaped.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“If I was the ruthless thief you believe I am, would I still be talking to you? I would have killed you.”
“Well...that does make sense.”, the man admitted as he awkwardly smiled to hide his embarrassment. “I am Chong Yang. I’m a disciple of Changsan Sect. This is the first time my Elders have allowed me to wander the Martial Arts World on my own, so sorry for causing trouble.”
“Well, at least your heart is on the right place. And since you did not mean any harm, I guess we have no reason to fight.”
“Indeed. I have to be going because I have a duel to attend to.”
“Duel?”
Yang sighed. “Our Changsan Sect has a long history of rivalry with the ‘Flying Swords Sect’. Reverend Song had beat their Master, who was arrogant and tyrannical, forty years ago. When that evil Demon Yang Jiang killed Taoist Yao and Reverend Song and we were at our weakest point, Yuan Ning of the ‘Flying Swords Sect’ found the chance to challenge us. Two of my elder brothers accepted his challenge and were killed. I decided to accept his challenge too in order to uphold the honor of our Sect and avenge my fallen brothers.”
“Is there any way I can be of help?”
Yang smiled. “I do not think that you can be of any help. I do not want to beat Ning using the help or martial arts of another Sect. This is a battle between our two Sects. No neutral party should intervene.”
“Look, I do not want to offend you, but your martial arts just are not good enough to beat this guy.”, Feng replied. “You will be killed.”
“No offense taken. I know that my martial arts are only mediocre but I cannot back down. I cannot bring shame to my Sect. Anyway, the duel will take place outside the town in about an hour. Head to the west and you will find me there, if you want to watch the duel.”
“I’ll be there. You seem like a nice guy and you belong to an Orthodox Sect, so it is only right for me to support you.”
About an hour later, Xiao woke up and Feng explained to him the situation. Xiao agreed to follow him to the duel and so they walked to the west of the city. It was midday and the sun was at its strongest. In the unrelenting glare of midday the only shadow was that which pooled at their feet. The heat beat down on their head. After walking for about ten minutes, they saw Yang and Ning preparing for their duel.
Ning was tall of stature and massive and his face was crisscrossed by scars and ugly. Before him, there were twenty swords laying on the ground. Feng was curious as to why he needed so many swords. But one thing he did notice was that Ning was very confident of his abilities and calm. Yang, on the other hand, seemed nervous. Feng knew that calmness and confidence were vital in battle; if one was nervous, he would make mistakes, which could prove fatal.
“Shall we start the duel?”, Ning said. “I don’t have all day to waste.”
Yang unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Ning. “Let’s begin!”
Ning gathered his internal energy and focused it on his hands. He then waved his hands and the twenty swords lying before him were all lifted; he then sent them flying at Yang. With twenty swords coming at him from all directions, Yang was overwhelmed; he parried some of the swords but others slashed him across the chest, thigh and arms. Bleeding and coughing, he was barely able to stand up.
Ning, on the other hand, was smiling. He unsheathed a great sword and rushed forward. The sword was nearly four feet in length. The blade was extremely thick and was obviously quite heavy. As he was about to cut down Yang, Feng leaped forward and parried the attack with his sword. “This is only a duel”, Feng said, “there is no need to fight to death.”
Ning looked at Yang and said with disgust showing on his face, “I will let you live, but only because I do not want to waste my time fighting this idiot. I am delighted however to see that you need a stranger to save your life. Does your Sect not have any competent students?”
Yang clenched his fists and teeth and fumed with anger. “I...”, before he could say anything he vomited blood. He sighed. He knew that he was in no position to attack Ning.
“I will challenge you!”, Feng said to Ning. “I will use only Changsan martial arts, so it will be like facing a Changsan Sect student. I will face you in three hours if you accept my challenge.”
Ning grinned. “Sure. I see no reason to deprive myself of the delight of humiliating once more Changsan Sect. See you here in three hours.”
He then walked away. Yang, hearing this, asked, “Do you know any Changsan martial arts?”
“No...”, Feng admitted. “I do hope that you will teach me some moves now.”
Yang sighed. “Your idea is good but we may as well admit defeat. There is no way you can learn enough Changsan martial arts in three hours to beat that guy. I myself am only mediocre and I cannot teach you much.”
Xiao intervened. “Well, do you have any other ideas on how to beat that guy?”
“No...”
“So, why not teach Feng as much as you can and give it a try? It’s not like you have anything to lose at this point.”
“Alright...”, Yang replied. He then turned to Feng and said, “Listen to me carefully because we do not have much time. Changsan swordsmanship relies on overwhelming strength. The strategy is to overwhelm the enemy with powerful attacks and pound him with one attack after the other until he can no longer take it and his defense is broken.”
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Yang then began instructing Feng on Changsan sword forms. Feng put force behind every move he made. He whirled his sword, making the sounds of a great wind. He then made horizontal cuts with his sword. Loud sounds could be heard, revealing the strength behind each cut. Yang gaped in astonishment as to how quickly Feng was mastering the Changsan sword forms. Feng was sure that he had seen those sword moves before. ‘Before I lost my memories’, he thought, ‘I may have either been instructed on Changsan swordsmanship or fought with Changsan swordsmen. That’s most likely the reason I feel like I’ve seen before those moves.’
“I am impressed.”, Yang admitted and a smile appeared on his face. “Have you been taught Changsan swordsmanship before?”
“To be honest, I do not know.”, Feng replied. “About three weeks ago I lost all of my memories and thus I do not remember my past.”
“Well, I do not care much about it. What I do care about is seeing that bastard Ning getting beaten!”
Soon after, Ning arrived. He placed before him twenty swords and said, “Shall we begin our duel?”
“Lets begin.”
Ning used his internal energy to lift the swords and send them flying at Feng. Feng whirled his sword and parried the incoming swords; only one sword managed to get through his defense and slash him across the chest. Ning was genuinely surprised that Feng had managed to survive his ‘Flying Swords’ attack. So, he unsheathed his great sword and attacked. Feng too attacked and the two swords met; a great clang sound was heard as the two swords collided. Although Ning was the more muscled and massive of the two, Feng had put all his internal energy and strength in his attack, thus forcing Ning to fall back. Feng leaped forward and slashed three times in quick succession at Ning; all his attacks had great strength behind them and a loud whoosh could be heard with each attack. Ning was overwhelmed and forced on the defensive. Striking quickly, Feng stabbed into Ning’s wrist. Ning felt a sudden pain on his wrist and dropped his sword. Feng took the chance to point his sword on Ning’s neck.
“Do you admit defeat?”, Feng asked.
“Yes...”, Ning replied, sweating and trembling in fear.
Feng sheathed his sword and turned around when Ning asked, “Why you didn’t kill me?”
“Because I didn’t need to. I had already defeated you.”
“Feng may be magnanimous”, Yang said, “but I am not.”
As Yang was about to strike at Ning with his sword, Feng stopped him. “Do not stoop on his level. For such an arrogant and vainglorious person, living in defeat and shame is the best punishment.”
Yang hated to admit it, but what Feng said was right. So, sighing and slightly disappointed, he spared Ning.
“I thank you for your assistance.”, he said to Feng and Xiao. “I do hope one day me and my Sect can repay you for your help.”
“No need to thank us.”, Feng replied. “Without you teaching me the Changsan sword forms, I wouldn’t have beaten Ning.”
“I’ve got to go back to my Sect to tell them the good news. So I will bid you farewell.”
As soon as Yang left, Xiao said; “We should go buy horses for our journey. Remember, we got a mission to accomplish.”
“Indeed. I got distracted with this duel.”
“Well, helping Yang was the right thing to do. I am sure Master Xuan would approve what you did.”
Feng and Xiao went back to the town to buy two horses. They bought two white horses of medium size, but which were alert, slender-limbed and muscled. They then left behind the town. The thundering of hooves split the silence of the dirt road as the two horses galloped forward. They traveled for hours before reaching a river, which was flowing swiftly and strongly. A wooden bridge allowed passengers to cross the river but there was a man guarding the bridge. Feng and Xiao jumped off their horses and headed there.
“Who is this guy?”, Xiao asked.
“Don’t know but he seems trouble.”
The man was middle aged, with long black hair and beard, wearing a green silk robe and armed with a Guandao, a pole weapon which consists of a heavy blade with a spike at the back. The blade was mounted atop a long metal pole. The blade was very deeply curved and therefore solely useful for sweeping cuts.
“Whoever wishes to cross the bridge must pay me 20 golden coins!”, the man roared. “Only poor villagers are exempted and you do not look like villagers to me.”
Xiao laughed. “And who do you think you are?”
“I am Gao Yi. Will you pay me?”
“Of course not!”
Without waiting any further, Yi charged forward and with great force slashed his Guandao at Xiao. Xiao was barely able to unsheathe his sword and parry the attack. With two more slashes, Xiao was on the defensive. Feng charged forward with his sword to help Xiao but Yi dodged the blade and with a powerful back kick kicked Feng’s chest and pushed him back.
“Will you pay or shall you force me to kill you?”
Instead of replying, Feng attacked once again. His sword met the Guandao’s blade; a loud sound was heard and Feng was pushed back. Although he had put all his internal energy and strength in his attack, Yi was just more powerful.
“You do have spirit, kid”, Yi said, “but by now you must know that you cannot defeat me.”
Feng knew that Yi was right. Although he had made rapid progress and shown great skill, his skills were still not top notch and he knew that no matter how strong someone is, there will always be someone stronger. So he was forced to admit defeat. “I know I cannot beat you.”
Yi smiled. “I like you; you are pretty good with the sword despite being young, you have spirit and you know when you have lost. I will allow you and your friend to cross the bridge without paying anything.”
“Thank you.”, Feng said. “You are magnanimous and your martial arts are great.”
“You compliment me too much. I do hope that we shall meet again one day.”