Qiao Feng and Duan Yu squatted side by side, staring blankly in a numb daze.
Just then, Qin Zheng emerged. Greeting the Qiaos, he set to work alongside A'Zi and Xuzhu.
As more and more people arrived, Qin Zheng set up a table, put up a sign reading "Registration Desk," and began collecting entry fees while arranging tournament matchups.
A'Zi pushed a crate through the crowd, hawking refreshments at the top of her lungs: "Peanuts, melon seeds, bottled mineral water! Rice wine, cold drinks, eight-treasure congee! Mind your legs, please! Peanuts, melon seeds, bottled water..."
"Name and epithet."
"Cui Lühua, Hibiscus Fairy."
Qin Zheng looked up at her and asked, "Would you like to purchase a bye pass?"
"What's a bye pass?" Cui Lühua asked.
Qin Zheng lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Pay a hundred taels of silver and you advance straight to the second elimination round. Saves you trouble and gives you face. I don't offer this to just anyone."
Cui Lühua slapped a piece of gold onto the table and stepped aside with a haughty smile, exuding an air of a heroine who was rolling in dough.
Dao Baifeng arrived as well. Stealing a glance at the helpless-looking Duan Zhengchun, she smirked and stepped up to the desk. "Register me!"
Qin Zheng whispered, "Out of respect for my acquaintance with Brother Duan, give me a hundred taels of silver and I'll pick a weaker opponent for your first match. Otherwise, if you draw someone like Tianshan Tonglao right off the bat, you might not last a single move before getting killed in the ring. That would be utterly humiliating!"
Dao Baifeng's brows knitted slightly. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "Wait here a moment." She walked over to Duan Zhengchun, demanded the silver, and handed it to Qin Zheng.
Qin Hongmian, the Asura Saber, had also arrived at Leigu Mountain with Mu Wanqing and Zhong Ling. As she brushed past Dao Baifeng, their eyes met, practically sparking with gunpowder.
Qin Zheng's eyes gleamed. Dropping his voice, he said, "Qin Hongmian, right? Give me a hundred taels, and I'll match you against Dao Baifeng!"
Without a second thought, Qin Hongmian coughed up the silver, leaving Mu Wanqing at her side between laughter and tears.
With more and more contestants registering, Xuzhu and Ye Erniang carried load after load of the silver Qin Zheng had milked under various pretexts.
Having watched the entire spectacle, Ye Erniang said with an odd expression, "Is Qin Zheng always like this? How can he swindle money out of literally everyone?"
Xuzhu chanted the Buddha's name. "Amitabha. Wealth is a tiger coming down the mountain; anger is the root of calamity. On the surface, Benefactor Qin appears to be tricking them out of their silver, but in truth, he is delivering them to salvation!"
Ye Erniang's expression grew even stranger. "What kind of twisted logic is that? Are you a fake monk?"
"This humble monk is Xuzhu," he replied. "I entered the monastic order at Shaolin Temple as a child."
Hearing the words "Shaolin Temple," Ye Erniang could not help but shudder. She murmured, "The Shaolin monk I knew was nothing like you..."
As she spoke, Xuzhu's face involuntarily overlapped with the phantom image of Xuanci, snapping her to attention.
Though this little monk was rather homely, how did his brow and eyes bear such a resemblance to Xuanci's?!
With mixed emotions, Ye Erniang asked, "How could your... your parents be so cruel as to send you off to be a monk when you were a mere child?"
"Benefactor Qin said my father made a mistake and suffered retaliation from an enemy, which dragged me into it," Xuzhu said. "However, Benefactor Qin has already found my parents. Once I have fully refined my temperament and character, he will tell me who they are."
Clenching her fists inside her sleeves, Ye Erniang looked at him with anguish. "If your parents were both wicked people, would you still acknowledge them?"
Xuzhu pressed his palms together. "This humble monk has pondered that as well; otherwise, Benefactor Qin would have had no reason to conceal my origins. Later, Benefactor Qin had me read the Samyukta Agama, which helped me understand that I was born of their karmic conditions and affinity, something that cannot be avoided. If they are wicked, I shall use the merit accumulated from performing good deeds to chant scriptures daily for those harmed by them, praying to the Buddha that those victims may ascend to heaven sooner."
Ye Erniang sighed with deep emotion. "It seems you've learned quite a lot by following Qin Zheng."
A hint of veneration surfaced in Xuzhu's eyes. "Hero Qin is the reincarnation of the Buddha! Not only did he teach me the Dharma, but he also taught me the Great Sun Tathagata Palm. This martial art only cripples a person's martial arts without taking their life. This is the true martial art a monastic should practice!"
Ye Erniang: "..."
*This foolish child. For most people in the jianghu, having their martial arts crippled is far more vicious than being killed outright. Especially once their enemies come knocking, they'll truly find that living is worse than death...*
She gave a helpless, wry smile and said no more. As they continued hauling the silver, she asked Xuzhu about what he had gone through over the years.
"Register me too! I want to kill these two women openly before the eyes of the entire world!"
Meanwhile, Li Qingluo had caught sight of Duan Zhengchun and his mistresses. Her murderous aura was so thick it practically condensed into solid form. Slapping her registration fee onto the desk, she drew her sword, ready to storm over and slaughter them.
Qin Zheng stepped in front of her. "Hold on. Your first-round opponent isn't either of them! You have to win your first match before you can face the winner of Qin Hongmian versus Dao Baifeng. If you don't follow the rules, I'll have to disqualify you."
With that, he formed a sword finger, making a posture as if preparing to strike her acupoints.
Li Qingluo gritted her teeth. "Who is my first opponent, then?!"
Qin Zheng pointed to Qiao Dasao beside him. "Her."
Li Qingluo glanced at Qiao Dasao, who was dressed as a peasant woman and looked thoroughly constrained. Frowning, she asked, "What does she do?"
"This is Qiao Dasao," Qin Zheng introduced. "She farms the fields. I was worried we wouldn't have enough participants, so I brought her along to make up the numbers."
Li Qingluo snorted disdainfully. Turning to Qin Zheng, she said, "Hurry up and have her get up there. In my boundless mercy, I'll spare her life!"
With a light tap of her toes, she flew up onto the arena stage.
Seeing someone take the stage, the crowd gathered around at once.
Below, someone recognized her immediately and whispered to a companion, "That's Madam Wang of Mantuo Manor. Around Taihu, her martial arts rank second only to Murong Fu. Who would've thought she'd come too?"
Dao Baifeng glanced at Duan Zhengchun beside her and sneered, "Another one of your old flames, eh?"
Flushed red with embarrassment, Duan Zhengchun said, "Fenghuang'er, you're no match for her. Don't be rash later..."
While the crowd buzzed with chatter, Qin Zheng gave Qiao Dasao an encouraging look. "Dasao, go on up."
Qiao Dasao nodded and walked up the steps. Pulling the cooking spatula from her waist, she said, "Please grant me instruction."
Li Qingluo didn't even bother lifting her eyelids. Gliding forward with a sidestep, she thrust her sword casually toward the woman's wrist.
Immediately after, Qiao Dasao thrust her spatula forward and flipped it, calling out softly, "Flip the spatula!"
A burst of gentle true qi surged from the spatula, instantly flipping Madam Wang onto the ground. Madam Wang felt her body abruptly lose all balance, followed by a heavy crash onto the stage floor, her grip failing so completely that her longsword clattered to the boards.
A moment later, she caught her breath and climbed up, her mind slightly dazed. "Why did my foot slip all of a sudden? What kind of planks was this stage built with?"
This time, erring on the side of caution, she refrained from using movement techniques and instead unleashed an Air-Splitting Palm, striking across the distance toward Qiao Dasao's chest.
Feeling a blast of fierce wind bearing down on her, Qiao Dasao immediately executed the technique Qin Zheng had taught her, thrusting the spatula forward as if stoking firewood into a stove.
"Stoke the fire!"
With a booming crash, Li Qingluo's palm force was shattered instantly. As though struck by a flying battering ram, Li Qingluo flew backward with bulging eyes, tumbling straight off the arena stage.
"A'Luo!" Duan Zhengchun cried out in alarm, leaping forward to catch her in his arms.
The moment her feet hit the ground, Li Qingluo shoved him aside and stormed over to Qin Zheng, her face contorted in rage. "Qin Zheng, you played me! I couldn't even withstand a single move from her, and you told me she farms the fields?!"
Chapter 55