White Chrysanthemum had committed two more crimes back to back. Li Qingge was now utterly unable to close the case, and even the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance, most of whom had dispersed, came hurrying back. Little Pengshan County bustled once more.
These past days Wang Chong had been hiding out at Su Luo Yan's place, practicing swordplay with Sun Mingke. Every time he sparred with this little brother Sun, he sensed that the boy's martial arts had taken a clearly visible step forward—each gain ever so slight, yet frightening all the same.
Sun Mingke saw it from the other side too: Wang Chong often went days without any progress at all, then suddenly, in the span of a single breath, broke through the barrier. The Holding-Candle Swordplay in particular—one of the Seven Paths Divine Sword, handed down in the direct line of Mount Wudang and famed throughout the world—was plainly a cut above his own Parted Stars Swordplay. Only by leaning on the subtle internal energy of the Nine Mysteries True Scripture could he wrest the fight to a draw.
Wiping his sweat, Wang Chong said to Sun Mingke, "Let's rest a bit first, then have a round of fist-and-foot arts."
It was rare to have so worthwhile a partner to drill against; Wang Chong wished he could practice every hour of every day. His martial arts had come with the transmigration itself—much of the time he knew a thing worked without knowing why, and in a fight he relied on instinct for the better half, forever feeling as though he walked on thin ice.
With Sun Mingke to train against, he felt keenly that his martial arts' own advance was one thing, but his means of facing enemies had improved remarkably.
Wang Chong sat down cross-legged and cultivated his qi in meditation for a while. Yu Zao hurried over, took up a water-dampened cloth, wiped her young master's face and head, then wiped his neck. Sun Mingke watched with boundless envy and thought, "A pity my family is poor and can't afford a maidservant. Otherwise I'd keep one as attentive as Sister Yu Zao too."
Wang Chong meditated a good long while and restored his power to the full. Drawing a deep breath of true qi, he thought: "My original body must have had the finest instruction and the harshest training—that's the only way he could have mastered the Pure Yang Art and stood up to a master like Qian Luo Yi on instinct alone. But his natural gifts must have been ordinary, or he didn't work hard enough. He was plainly older than little brother Sun and must have trained longer, yet his foundation was no deeper."
"I fought Qian Luo Yi to a draw twice. The first time, he was worn down from a long fight and I had broken through in advance; the second time I broke through again and switched to the Holding-Candle Swordplay. Without those two breakthroughs I would be no match for Qian Luo Yi at all—just a little better than the likes of Qin Han."
Wang Chong now understood this world's martial grading as well. Sun Mingke, Qian Luo Yi, Monk Xuan Gang, Su Luo Yan, Lu Yaoniang, Li Qingge—such people all stood at the first realm of innate. Anyone who broke through to innate before thirty was a figure rarely matched in this world, with boundless prospects ahead. To have smashed through to innate already, at Sun Mingke's age—he was simply a genius among geniuses.
The others—Chu Qiuzi, Qin Han, Fang Jingru, and the likes of Sun Yanqi—were all ranked warriors, anywhere from second or third rank to fourth or fifth; still every one of them a master of no small strength.
When he had transmigrated over, he had been about the First-Rank Realm; at some point unknown even to himself he had broken into the Innate Realm, and now he too stood at the first realm of innate.
Sun Mingke had recovered his strength by now as well. Itching for a bout, he called out, "Brother Wang Chong, are you rested yet? Let's compare fist-and-foot arts!"
Wang Chong sprang up, set the Wind and Cloud Myriad Changes in motion, and closed with Sun Mingke.
The two rolled and tumbled through five or six hundred exchanges before Wang Chong drew his palms apart and said, "We'll call this one a draw. Next time, then."
Sun Mingke's internal force was just about spent—another ten-odd moves and he could not have held on. He let out a breath and said, "I always feel you're letting me win, Brother Wang Chong."
Wang Chong chuckled. "How about a wager where I can't go easy on you?"
Sun Mingke cried, "Wager on what?"
Wang Chong said, "Our Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance brothers have traced the whereabouts of one of the White Chrysanthemums. He does indeed favor the Vajra Prajna Palm force, but he is not, as Divine Constable Li and I guessed, a master of the Flaming Brow Swordplay, nor of the Ice Soul Finger. Let's see which of us can kill him."
Sun Mingke cried, "Me, for certain! Last time I nearly had him, and my martial arts have come a long way since. He'd hardly withstand ten moves of mine now."
While the two of them trained in closed seclusion, the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance and Li Qingge had not been idle: it had taken rousing the martial world and the official forces of several nearby provinces just to find this man's trail. Now the Alliance had turned out in force, everyone hoping to claim the credit. Wang Chong naturally had no thought of snatching credit for himself, but if Sun Mingke wanted the kill, he would not stand in his way—he would simply count it as humoring a child.
In high spirits, Sun Mingke went and led out two horses, and the two set off together. Bringing this tag-along little brother along, Wang Chong went first to call on Qin Han.
These past days Qin Han had tumbled from the summit of joy down to the mid-slopes of gloom, and was drinking alone to drown his sorrows, when an inn waiter came dashing up with the news: "Young master Wang Chong is here to see you!" He hurried out at once with a few close brothers to receive them.
Seeing Qin Han, Wang Chong smiled and said, "Brother Qin, why aren't you out hunting White Chrysanthemum?"
A young Chang'an dandy beside him said, "Divine Constable Li says White Chrysanthemum may not be one man. Sun Yanqi was White Chrysanthemum, but there are other lechers besides. Our big brother Qin Han already killed Sun Yanqi, but Zhou Yuchen, First Senior Brother of the Kongtong Sect, keeps up his sour sniping, needling us with words so we can't grab the credit."
After all, someone had "confirmed" that the Sun Yanqi Qin Han killed was truly the lecher White Chrysanthemum himself, so his credit could not be wiped away. Only his share of the name had lost a part, not all of it—the credit was simply much diminished.
Wang Chong smiled. "Big brother Qin Han is mindful of brotherly feeling and won't grab credit. I've no credit to grab. Big brother Qin, just lead the way for me and little brother Sun—that hurts no fraternal feeling within the Alliance."
Then, remembering Qin Han's two thousand guan and the house in Chang'an, Wang Chong winked and grimaced at him for a spell, until Qin Han suddenly saw the light and cried, "Exactly so! I won't fight the brothers of the Alliance for credit, but what's wrong with taking a little trouble to lead the way?"
The whole company stirred with excitement, rising in a clatter and shouting, "Big Brother Qin has it right!" "Why shouldn't we help our own Alliance brothers catch the lecher?"
Sun Mingke watched, smothering a laugh, and thought: "Brother Wang Chong is smooth on every side—he finds his ease wherever he goes."
Once everyone was up and moving, Wang Chong and Qin Han muttered together a long while on the road. When he came back to Sun Mingke, the boy asked, "Brother, how much did you sell this White Chrysanthemum for?"
Though Su Luo Yan coveted no fame, Sun Yanqi had after all been killed by "her," so Wang Chong was bound to give her an accounting. Su Luo Yan had confided the matter to her close friend Lu Yaoniang, and Sun Mingke, as Lu Yaoniang's junior fellow disciple, naturally came to know of it too: Wang Chong had sold Sun Yanqi at a fine price—hence this question.
Some secrets are only ever kept from outsiders!
Wang Chong laughed. "Five thousand guan, plus a small residence in Chang'an. Little brother, when you go back to Chang'an you'll have a place to stay—don't be shy with your big brother."
Sun Mingke grinned. "That's a fair bit dearer than the last one we sold!"
Wang Chong pursed his lips, signaling Sun Mingke to look at a young man in a plain robe.
Through Wang Chong's introductions, Sun Mingke already knew most of the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance's members; he knew this man's surname was Lu, his name Zongfeng, of the Fanyang Lu Clan—and moreover the elder brother of his own senior sister. Not a full brother, of course, but a cousin. Understanding dawned at once, and he thought: "So my senior sister's face stands behind this too."
...Wang Chong: Lu Zongfeng is starting to look rather like a big brother-in-law...
...Lu Zongfeng: Wang Chong, you lecher—how dare you set your sights on my sister...
Chapter 41