Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 459: Canglong Club Spear King

There is a solitary pavilion on the sunny hillside.

The spring breeze blows, and the straw flies.

At this moment, there was a person sitting in this deserted pavilion in the desolate mountain.

He is waiting.

The person he was waiting for had an appointment with him at noon.

And now, it is noon.

At this exact moment, neither early nor late, a middle-aged man who was not very tall, carrying a long spear, appeared on the uphill path.

Look at this man, wearing a light-colored suit, a felt hat on his head, a grey cloak on his shoulders, and a pair of black boots on his feet... At first glance, he is a wandering man.

However, if you look closer, you will find that this man's appearance can be described as gentle and comfortable, even a little kind, which forms a sharp contrast with his attire and rather domineering weapon.

"Brother Hai, long time no see." The man carrying the gun came to the pavilion, stopped for a moment and took a look inside. Then he casually greeted the person in the pavilion with a fist salute and walked inside.

Normally, if you greet someone like this, it means either your relationship is bad or your relationship is too good.

But this person's relationship with "Brother Hai" does not fall into any of the above categories.

As for the two of them... they had indeed met and talked before, but they were not familiar with each other, just nodding acquaintances.

So, when the man carrying the gun suddenly received a letter from "Brother Hai" recently, saying that he wanted to meet him here, he was quite surprised.

However, he came after all - after all, he had to give face to "Canglongzangfeng".

"Brother Fang, how are you?" Hai Cangfeng saw that the other party was quite casual, so he became casual as well, and just sat down and clasped his fists in salute.

"Alright, alright...what do you mean by 'how are you'? It would be better if you didn't use that trick." The abbot showed a look of disgust as soon as he sat down.

Hai Cangfeng did not respond to the other party's words, but he was not angry either, because he knew: the abbot looked kind, but his words were always so unpleasant to the ear, and the more you argued with him, the more angry he would become.

Besides, Hai Cangfeng came here to ask for a favor, so it would be bad to argue with him.

"Anyway, I had already thought about it before I came here." Two seconds later, the abbot continued, "If you ask me to pay for what you did today, I will tell you directly... All my belongings are this pot of wine and this plate of braised beef..."

As he spoke, he took out a fist-sized paper bag from his arms, untied a gourd from his waist, and placed both items on the table.

"If you don't think it's shabby, I can share a few bites with you." The abbot said as he opened the paper bag and grabbed two slices of braised beef with his hands and threw them into his mouth.

After chewing a few mouthfuls and before he had finished swallowing them, he pouted and said, "If you need my help today, let me say something unpleasant..."

Having said this, he tilted his head and glanced at Hai Cangfeng's right foot, which had been replaced with a wooden prosthesis, and then said, "I'm not your hero Hai, who dares to respond to anything."

What he said was really harsh.

But we have to admit that many times, unpleasant words are the most effective way to express ourselves.

Looking at Hai Cangfeng, he still did not get angry after hearing this, and he followed the other party's gaze, looked at his broken leg, then raised his head to look at the abbot, and smiled and said: "Haha... If I say that I think this leg is worth losing, do you believe it?"

"What do you mean?" The abbot looked at Hai Cangfeng's expression and felt that he didn't mean that "it's worth becoming disabled for the sake of chivalry", but that he meant something else. "Could it be that..." The abbot thought for two seconds and guessed, "...did you realize some new and unique martial arts after breaking your leg?"

Hai Cangfeng still had a smile on his face: "As expected of Brother Fang, you guessed it right at the first try." He paused, then immediately went with the flow and said, "How about it? Do you want to spar with me? See it for yourself?"

Seeing this, some people may think, isn't this hero Hai a bit aggressive? When he first appeared, he went to Xiao Wuji to spar with him. Now he wants to talk to the abbot about something, but he hasn't even talked about it yet, and he wants to fight again?

But in fact, you have misunderstood.

Hai Cangfeng would only propose to compete with others when he felt it was necessary. He was like this with Xiao Wuji in the past, and he was also like this with the abbot now.

As for the abbot, from his words and actions just now, we can tell that he does not attach much importance to material things such as money; as for women...we can also tell from his name that his parents have helped him cut off most of his chances with women in his life.

For a man who doesn't care much about money and women, you can guess what his other hobby is... most likely martial arts; that's why, when Hai Cangfeng mentioned that it was worth breaking his leg, the abbot immediately associated it with martial arts.

To put it bluntly, the person who likes to spar is not Hai Cangfeng, but the abbot. What Hai Cangfeng is doing now is just to please him.

"Great!" On the other side, the abbot was delighted when he heard Hai Cangfeng say that he really had a unique martial art and wanted to fight with him. He quickly stuffed the meat in his hand into his mouth, stood up and was about to grab the gun, "So Brother Hai is looking for me for this matter? That's easy..."

"No, no..." Hai Cangfeng immediately interrupted the other party's monologue, "I came to you because of something else. When I said we should discuss something, I meant we should finish talking about it first, and then..."

"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, the abbot's face changed again, "Hey - you old man, you are very cunning." His mind was really quick, "You are trying to arouse my interest first, and then use this to talk to me."

“That’s true…” Hai Cangfeng saw that his trick had been discovered again, so he smiled awkwardly and quickly pulled again, “Then let me promise you, no matter whether you agree to this matter today or not, I will have a fight with you after we finish talking.”

"Okay, tell me..." The abbot responded impatiently and sat down again.

"Hmm..." Hai Cangfeng nodded, "Well, for Brother Fang, this matter is just a piece of cake. As for me... I was also entrusted by someone to act as a peacemaker."

When Hero Hai mentioned this, his tone was somewhat awkward: "Brother Fang, do you still remember that about half a month ago, you had a conflict with a young swordsman in an inn in Jiujiang?"

"Oh~" After hearing this, the abbot immediately understood, "It's about that kid."

"That's right." Hai Cangfeng continued, "To be honest, that kid... is very close to my distant cousin, and the two kids often exchange sword skills, drink and play together on weekdays.

"That day my cousin made an appointment with him to have dinner at the inn, but he was late due to something, so the boy drank a few more glasses by himself, which led to him causing trouble after drinking and bumping into Brother Fang.

"As young people, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. We were all young once.

"Brother Fang, you beat him up pretty badly back then. He still can't get off the ground. Plus, you told him, 'I'll beat you up every time I see you next time,' which scared the kid pretty bad. Otherwise, I would have carried him here today to make amends for you."

Hai Cangfeng's words were obviously more pleasant to the ears. He just said what the other party wanted to hear, in order to intercede for the young swordsman.

"Hmph..." Upon hearing this, the abbot snorted coldly, "Brother Hai has already said this. If I still argue with that kid, wouldn't it make me look petty?"

In fact, everyone in the martial arts world knows that the abbot is a narrow-minded person.

Indeed, that day the young swordsman drank too much in the store and bumped into the abbot while drunk, and then he was beaten up by the abbot.

This is nothing. In the entire martial arts world, there are at least eight hundred such things happening every day.

But generally speaking, when the young man is beaten until he sobers up and admits his mistake and begs for mercy, the matter should be over.

Especially middle-aged heroes like Fangzhang who are highly skilled in martial arts and have been famous for a long time, basically they will not bother with the other party. Some heroes will even help the other party to heal the injury and give some medicine immediately when they see the other party sincerely admit their mistakes...

With a "whip followed by a candy" approach like this, both parties can meet again in the future. Who knows, the young man may even remember your kindness and go out to praise your chivalrous name.

One day, this young man becomes a hero and understands your approach more thoroughly. Then when he encounters such non-principled minor frictions, he will give others a way out.

This is the way of the world.

But the abbot... he was not like that. After beating the other party until he begged for mercy, he added like a gangster, "I will beat you every time I see you next time." He then snatched the young man's sword, saying that he had confiscated it as a lesson for the other party.

It was not impossible for him to do so, but the key point was that the sword he stole this time was a family heirloom. Although it was not worth much money, it was of great significance to the young swordsman.

So, after a few visits, the young man and his family used their connections to find Haicang Peak.

In fact, is there really such a thing as a "distant cousin" in this matter? Impossible, how could it be such a coincidence? You happened to meet a drunk and violent young man, and he happened to have a good friend who was related to Hai Da Xia?

But it would be easier to talk about it by making up such a cousin, and it would make the other party feel that this young swordsman is more or less related to the hero Hai, and also put part of the responsibility on the fictitious "cousin".

At this moment, although Hai Cangfeng really wanted to say to the abbot, "If you are not narrow-minded, who is narrow-minded?", as a peacemaker, he certainly could not say whatever he thought.

"Hey~Brother Fang, that's not right." Hai Cangfeng waved his hand, "Just consider it as a favor to me. Return the knife that was passed down from his family to him. I'll ask him to come to my house and pay the compensation in person some other day..."

"No need for that." The abbot interrupted, "I don't have the time to waste my time on this kid's affairs again and again."

As he spoke, he began to grope in his arms, and after a few seconds, he pulled out a large stack of pawn tickets.

Hai Cangfeng was also stunned when he saw this guy's actions.

After looking through the tickets for a while, the abbot took out a ticket from the pair, slapped it on the table, and said, "I've already pawned the things, let him use this ticket to redeem it himself."

Hai Cangfeng looked down and saw that the pawn ticket clearly stated the pawn shop's name, address, pawn amount, and period. He didn't say anything more and just reached out to take the ticket.

"Brother Fang is very generous. I, Hai, would like to thank you very much." The matter was done, Hai Cangfeng was very happy and added a polite remark.

Up to this point, it is a typical case of "mediation" in the world.

Many heroes of a certain age and status in the martial arts world may not have to fight with others seriously many times throughout the year, but they have to take on dozens of such mediation tasks, both big and small.

This is naturally one aspect of the world of martial arts.

It coexists with the "fighting and killing" side, because some people, after years of struggle, no longer need to fight and kill so frequently, and they can deal with some problems in a more civilized way.

Of course, whether things are handled fairly and appropriately is a test of the mediator's ability and conscience.

Sometimes, this seemingly "civilized" side is darker and more dangerous than direct fighting and killing.

"What's the point of just saying thank you?" The abbot saw that the other party's work was done, so he started to talk about his own work. "Come and practice your hands with me."

Upon hearing this, Hai Cangfeng gave a bitter smile and thought to himself, "Well, after all, I can't avoid this battle."

Of course, Hai Cangfeng had been mentally prepared for this, otherwise he would not have arranged the meeting place between the two here.

"Then I, Hai, will show you my ugliness. Please ..." After a wry smile, he stood up and took the knife.

"Please." The abbot was very excited now. After saying "please", he immediately rushed out of the pavilion with his spear in hand and stood still in the open space.

Hai Cangfeng followed closely behind, stepped out with his wooden prosthetic leg under his right knee, and limped out.

Seeing this, some readers may ask: Hero Hai can still fight even though he is lame? Could he be using the phrase "newly created unique martial arts" to fool the abbot?
Then you don’t know…

Now, he just limps when he walks, but if he really uses his lightness skills to run, he will be even faster than before.

And in fighting, he has "something new".

Hai Cangfeng was different from Qingxiao. After he lost his limbs, he never thought that he would become a disabled person. On the contrary, while he was still recovering from his injuries, he had already thought about how to maintain and even improve his strength with a wooden prosthetic leg.

So what was his original strength?

Let’s put it this way, even if the current Three-Character King were to fight against the healthy Hai Cangfeng back then, he might not be able to win.

Although Hai Cangfeng's performance in the "Sword and Demon" battle seemed not as outstanding as those talented young people around him, in fact, his comprehensive strength and "stabilizing force"-like existence made his role in the "Seven Wonders of Sword and Demon" no less than Xiao Wuji.

Strong inner strength, rich combat experience, extremely firm will... these are what young people need to emulate him.

The Canglong sword technique that made him famous can be said to be a very orthodox martial art.

There is no trickery involved in this sword technique, it is simply “strong”; this strength may not be as dazzling as some of the strange martial arts that can be mastered quickly, but it is incomparably solid and heavy, because it is achieved through the most orthodox way, that is, through long-term hard training.

Therefore, even though one of his legs was broken, the strength gained through countless trials and tribulations did not abandon Hai Cangfeng.

After getting the artificial leg, Hai Cangfeng adapted to the change very patiently and continued his decades-long hard training... After a period of time, a completely new sword technique was born naturally.

In order to distinguish it from the "Canglong Sword Technique", he named it "Canglong Sword Technique".

Nowadays, Hai Cangfeng's martial arts have improved compared to when he was healthy, but his opponents will fall into unimaginable difficulties when facing a swordsman whose body balance is different from that of ordinary people.

But... the abbot is a person who likes this kind of difficulties.

"The best gun in the world" is not just a reputation.

In this world, for a person who speaks so unpleasantly and is so petty to have such a long-lasting reputation, his real strength must be extraordinary.

Therefore, the outcome of this competition between the two is hard to predict.

And just when they both stood in the open space, ready to fight...

"Fuck you... I'm really screwed. How could I trust you when I asked you to lead the way? And you're lost again!"

"Fuck! What does it have to do with me if the road here is difficult to find? Besides, even if I took the wrong person, so what? Are you in a hurry to reincarnate? Now I just took a detour. How can people make progress without making mistakes?"

"Is that a 'little' detour? That's a high-speed train going in the opposite direction at several hundred kilometers per hour! We need to go around the mountain and walk down the mountain road. You can drive all the way to the top of the mountain for me. You're a genius!"

As the sounds of the two people scolding each other got closer, two more figures appeared on the uphill path.

(End of this chapter)