Chu Qiuzi was genuinely thinking of Wang Chong's situation. In this world, the great households lived with distinct layers; people of noble status always differed from ordinary folk. Even an impoverished scholar kept a book boy and a maid at his side—this was itself a symbol of status.
Chu Qiuzi truly had no suitable candidate, otherwise she would have prepared a maid for Wang Chong herself. As for the issue of maids competing for favor, it would basically never occur to women of high-ranking families in this world, because it was too far outside common sense; for a man to make such a heaven-defying choice was equivalent to cutting himself off from the scholar-official class, and even in the martial world it would be a shameful act that brought disgrace to his household.
Su Luo Yan beckoned with her hand, and a girl came over. Her beauty was no more than six or seven tenths of Jiang Zhu'er's; her skin was somewhat coarse, and her eyebrows and eyes carried a hint of sorrow—clearly not from a comfortable home. From afar she bowed to the three of them. Su Luo Yan said in a gentle voice: “This Young Master Wang is my good friend; he lacks a proper attendant to serve him, so I am giving you to him. Once you go to him, do not disgrace me.”
Liu Xian assented, feeling fearful and anxious, as if trembling. Wang Chong laughed and said: “There is no need to be so frightened; I will not beat or scold you without cause.” He did not know what else to say. As a transmigrator, by rights he ought to set this maid free, but in a world like this, an ordinary maid, even with some martial skill, would find it hard to live without a master's household—the whole society was like that, and could not be solved by a momentary kindness.
Su Luo Yan sent the maid away, then again accompanied Wang Chong and Chu Qiuzi as they began discussing other matters.
It was only at this moment that Wang Chong learned that the monk with the secular name Chen Ba, now with the Dharma name Xuan Gang, had a most extraordinary background. He was one of the rare martial arts prodigies under heaven, and one who could rise to the innate realm before thirty. His fame was no less than that of the Tujue new-generation Wolf King Qian Luo Yi. Now he had been taken as a disciple by Kong Chan, the foremost monk of Shaolin, and his future prospects were limitless.
The jianghu said that anyone who could rise to the innate realm before thirty had hope of rising to master before fifty, and if one could rise to master before fifty, one might hope to become a grandmaster in this lifetime. Wu-Hook Frost-Snow, Chess-Sword Linglong, Qian Luo Yi, and Great Master Xuan Gang were all such figures, surpassing Fang Jingru, Zhou Yuchen, Qin Han, and even the Qingcheng Six Women by a notch.
Having learned these things, Wang Chong could not help but mutter to himself: “I have fought Qian Luo Yi and Monk Xuan Gang, and neither bout produced a winner. So am I innate or not? What is the standard for being innate?”
This question was too crude to ask at a wine banquet; he planned to wait until no one was around and ask Chu Qiuzi in a roundabout way.
As the three were drinking and well into their cups, suddenly a maid came hurrying over. This maid was different from Jiang Zhu'er—her eyes and brows were alluring, her glances graceful, her every movement and gesture charming and seductive. From afar she called out: “Qian Luo Yi does not believe that Qin Han killed White Chrysanthemum. He brought two women from the Western Regions to an inn to issue a public challenge; Qin Han, angered, accepted, and was struck down with serious injury within twenty moves.”
Su Luo Yan was slightly surprised and said: “Then what happened?”
The maid answered: “Although Qian Luo Yi was surrounded, he had two helpers, and he killed his way out of the encirclement with ease and left.”
“Now it is said that Qin Han killed someone indiscriminately for the sake of fame, passing them off as White Chrysanthemum.”
Su Luo Yan said: “Were there not two victimized young ladies who identified him?” No sooner had she spoken than she could not help but smile bitterly, thinking to herself that she had been foolish.
What respectable girl, after suffering such humiliation, would still show her face in public? It was likely just a servant who came, took a couple of glances, and made a random identification—there was a real chance they could get away with it and mistake the person. If no one kicked up a fuss, and White Chrysanthemum committed no further crimes afterward, the matter would have ended there. But instead, Qian Luo Yi could not bear that someone else had killed this lecher, and publicly challenged Qin Han, so the matter became perplexing once more.
Su Luo Yan focused for a moment and asked: “The members of the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance are all outstanding heroes of the age, and there are several dozen of them. No matter how high Qian Luo Yi's martial arts are, he could not possibly, alone with a single sword, come and go at ease. Who are the two Western Region women who went with him?”
The maid who brought the news answered: “Miss's guess is correct. I inquired afterward, and those two Western Region women are disciples of Safina, the Holy Mother of the Eternal Life Holy Church, the largest sect on the Great Grassland: Snow Mountain Spirit Eagle Huo Qingge, who is on par with Miss and Wu-Hook Frost-Snow, and Grassland Golden Bell Xiao Yiguli.”
Su Luo Yan's eyes instantly turned cold, and she said: “The people of the eighteen grassland tribes dare to enter the Central Plains in disorder and bully my Central Plains as if there were no one?”
“I intend to test the mettle of this Tujue new-generation Wolf God, and also let these two foreign women know that not just anyone is worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as me.” She said to Wang Chong and Chu Qiuzi: “Both of you wait a moment; I will go and return at once.”
Chu Qiuzi quickly said: “Qian Luo Yi has two helpers at his side; I and Young Master Wang will be just right to provide backup for Sister Su.”
Su Luo Yan smiled and said: “Then let us all go together.”
Wang Chong thought to himself: “Is Qian Luo Yi really that formidable? I didn't sense it last time!”
Zhou Yuchen, Qin Han, and others—seven in all—had joined hands, yet Qian Luo Yi had still escaped domineeringly, which was already a loss of face. Wang Chong, alone with a single fan, had fought Qian Luo Yi hard without falling behind, clearly surpassing them in martial arts by more than a notch and overshadowing their brilliance. These people all had a tacit understanding, and none had ever mentioned it to outsiders, so Su Luo Yan and Chu Qiuzi did not know that Wang Chong had once fought Qian Luo Yi.
Wang Chong had also fought Monk Xuan Gang for over ten moves, but Su Luo Yan had arrived a step late. Just then Nan Xinlan had killed Sun Yanqi, and Wang Chong withdrew from the battle; she had not personally seen this scene. Afterward Monk Xuan Gang returned to Jinguang Temple on Mount Yanyun to report to his master and did not mention this matter. Nan Xinlan had just killed the faithless man and was elated, so naturally she did not think of it either. In Su Luo Yan's mind, Chu Qiuzi's reputation was greater, and her martial arts were presumably above Wang Chong's.
In Chu Qiuzi's mind, Wang Chong… after all, he was a lay disciple of Wudang who had not received the true transmission, so his martial arts should be merely ordinary.
Neither of the two women regarded Wang Chong as a main force, and Wang Chong had no such awareness himself. He did not consider himself a martial artist; subconsciously he still felt he was a man of letters—after all, he was a proper graduate of a 985 university in engineering, a proper high-level technology professional.
Su Luo Yan acted without leaving a single leak; after issuing a few commands, in the blink of an eye more than ten people had readied themselves, led out sturdy horses, and set out with her.
For this journey through the jianghu, Su Luo Yan brought four servants and eight maids. The four servants were experts cultivated by her household, all in their forties or fifties, with deep internal force and strong martial arts. As for the eight maids, there was no need to say more—each maid's martial arts had been personally trained by her, and they were even more proficient in combined-attack formation techniques. Even if they encountered a master, they could hold out for a while and carve out a slim chance at survival for their young lady.
It was only now that Wang Chong understood why Su Luo Yan was not afraid to challenge Qian Luo Yi, and why, even knowing that Qian Luo Yi had two helpers with respectable martial arts, she remained fearless—she truly had deep resources.
The group left Pengshan County, and before even half an hour had passed, they saw three exceptionally fine horses ahead leisurely eating grass!
…Qian Luo Yi: Qin Han is not worthy of having killed White Chrysanthemum…
…Liu Xian: Master Ha, am I a background extra, or still a bit player in the eighteen tricks…"}]},
Chapter 24