Sword Roaring in the Sky

Chapter 49: Silence is worse than words

It's rare for Yueguan to come to Changchun. I originally planned to eat at Yueguan three times. In order to finish the manuscript for everyone this morning, I went a little late. Yueguan had already left in a hurry. How sad...

If I don't have 100 monthly tickets today, I can't make up for this meal.

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The grand arena for the Songyang Sect's Seven Clans martial arts competition was situated in a valley, narrow on both sides but vast in the middle, offering breathtaking scenery. In the center stood a stone platform measuring dozens of steps in length and width, surrounded by dozens of reed sheds, evidently built for guests to observe the battle. On either side of the valley, one section, slightly flatter, housed sixty or seventy colorful pavilions. The two highest ones were cyan and purple, the most imposing and majestic. The next six or seven were crimson, each exquisitely crafted. Further down, another section was the same color, less impressive still, arranged in six tiers, connected by stairways. Another section, steeper still, housed only seven yellow pavilions, each seven or eight times larger than the other colored pavilions.

Sun Yanwan spotted a yellow building with the words "Spiritual Sword" hanging high above it. She pointed and asked, "Senior Sister Wei, is this where our sect observes martial arts?"

Taoist nun Wei smiled and said, "These seven yellow towers belong to the masters of the seven peaks. Ordinary disciples cannot go up there."

"Junior Brother Sun is now the master of Lingjian Peak, and that Lingjian Building is your territory."

Without Sun Yanwan asking again, Taoist Nun Wei explained in detail, "The reed shed is for ordinary people in the martial arts world. It's served with hot tea, cleaned in advance every year, and all necessary preparations are made. There's even a famous doctor hired at a high price to supervise it. The colorful pavilions to the east are for the aristocratic families and sects. The daily rent varies depending on the level of the sect. The highest-ranking one, the second floor of the blue and purple pavilion, costs 1,200 strings of cash. However, if Shaochan Temple and Longzang Temple have visitors, they won't be rented out and will be given to the two sects for free."

Sun Yanwan secretly praised: "Look, this is the face of the card."

"Songyang Sect, Shaochan Temple, and Longzang Temple are the three most sacred martial arts sites in the world. Their status is so unique."

Nun Wei said, "The second-floor red building has a daily rent of 600 strings of cash, and it's all taken now."

"The rent for the lower ones varies, the lowest is 120 guan, and they are all locked up with huge sums of money, so there is not much room left."

As Nun Wei explained things to Sun Yanwan, she led him around the valley and introduced him to the Taoist fireman who was working. Sun Yanwan was a modern man, so he had a quick understanding and quickly mastered the various chores. Seeing his rapid learning, Nun Wei was delighted and said, "I have some other things to do. Junior Brother Sun, please take charge for a while. I'll be back soon."

Sun Yanwan readily agreed, but after more than half an hour, there was still no sign of Nun Wei. She immediately realized that she had been tricked and was being drafted by this senior sister.

Sun Yanwan had no choice but to cheer up and supervise the pyrotechnicians to work.

It was not until the evening that a little Taoist nun came running over and told Sun Yanwan to come back tomorrow.

Sun Yanwan returned to Taiyi Temple on Lingjian Peak with a furious look on his face. He didn't want to go the next day, but after thinking it over, he decided to go to the competition venue.

With the experience of supervising on the first day, Sun Yanwan learned his lesson when he went there for the second time. He brought seven or eight Taoist priests from Taiyi Temple and asked them to walk around the valley to supervise the work of the Taoist fire worker. He went up to the Lingjian Tower and practiced comfortably for a day.

Every day, Taoist nun Wei would send a young nun to remind Sun Yanwan to go to "work". After a while, Sun Yanwan became familiar with this young nun and learned that this young nun was Madam Wei's new apprentice, named Yan Sheng. She had only practiced martial arts for seven or eight months and was still learning the Six Arts of Chaoxia.

The Six Arts of Chaoxia are not among the Five Classics and Thirteen Wonders of the Songyang School. It is one of the entry-level mental methods of the Songyang School, which is divided into internal strength, boxing, palm techniques, sword techniques, knife techniques and a kind of light skills.

Sun Yanwan had always believed that the Ziwu Sutra and the Golden Tendon and Jade Bone Fist were standard training for Songyang School disciples. After all, his teacher Zhang Yuanqiao had said, "You learn both when you first get started..."

Only after asking the young Taoist nun Yan Sheng did I know that most of the Songyang disciples were not qualified to learn the Ziwu Jing and the Golden Tendon and Jade Bone Fist. They had to lay a solid foundation in both internal and external skills, and would only be taught based on their talent. Obviously, the "all" that Zhang Yuanqiao mentioned was very subtle.

After knowing this, he felt a little lucky and was even more grateful to Miao Youxiu.

In the blink of an eye, the day of the Seven Clans Martial Arts Competition arrived.

On Sun Yanwan's final inspection of the competition grounds, he suddenly saw Yan Sheng approaching with three or four girls. He went to greet them and was surprised to find that he recognized two of them: the eighth and ninth sisters of the Nan Meng family. He asked, "Do you have any further instructions, Senior Sister?"

Yan Sheng was about to call him "Junior Master Uncle" when he suddenly remembered his master's instructions to avoid mentioning this "Junior Master Uncle" to outsiders. He nodded slightly and said, "I don't have anything else to say. I won't come tomorrow."

"Today...actually, we can leave now."

She also secretly gave Sun Yanwan a look.

When Taoist Nun Wei gave the instructions, her attitude was stern. She really didn't know what not to say and was afraid that some information would leak out accidentally.

Sun Yanwan breathed a sigh of relief. Although it was refreshing to slack off at the venue, it was still not as good as being in Taiyi Guanzizai. He immediately bowed to the Nanmeng sisters. He was now a member of the Xuanhuang Dao lineage, and was considered to have entered the Taoist school. It was appropriate for him to follow Taoist etiquette.

He had nothing much to say to these girls, and he was not familiar with the two girls from the Nan Meng family. He bowed to them out of courtesy and had no intention of chatting them up. He called back the Taoist priest of Xuanhuang Dao who was supervising him and returned to Lingjian Peak in a leisurely manner.

A girl with a round face and a very plump appearance asked, "Whose master's new disciple is this?"

Nan Mengjiu chuckled and said, "His master really has an extraordinary background. He is a disciple of Sima Zhenren."

"On our way to Songyang, we ran into the little butterfly from the Tianji Sun family. At the time, this guy was still dressed as a layman, and he and his senior brother were pestering the little butterfly. I had to step in and chase them away."

"Although Sima Zhenren's disciples are a good match for the Tianji Sun family, I just look down on them."

"What a shame that little butterfly is so ungrateful and still blames me."

When Yan Sheng heard this, he thought to himself, "Xiao Jiu'er, your life is really unfortunate!"

"Uncle Sun Yanwan is the new master of Lingjian Peak."

"Well, his senior brother is Uncle Zhang Qingxi, isn't he?"

"My God, Xuan Huang Daozu, to be able to get entangled with such a person, that little butterfly of the Sun family is truly blessed by several lifetimes of cultivation."

"I absolutely don't believe that it was the two junior masters who were harassing the girl from the Tianji Sun family. It must have been Senior Sun, with his lightning-fast eyesight, who recognized the two men's origins and deliberately allowed his granddaughter to get close to them. He must be very cunning and meticulous in his actions."

"Fairy Lingdie is so scheming! She didn't even mention the identities of Zhang Qingxi and Sun Yanwan, her two junior masters, to a good sister like Nan Mengjiu. It's true that when she meets a good man, she loses the sisterly love."

"Sun Lingdie only complained and didn't break off our friendship with you. She's already very kind."

"If someone interrupted such a good thing for me, I would definitely go back and cry to Grandpa and make Nan Mengjiu give an explanation."

Adhering to the principle that "a thousand words are worse than silence," Little Nun Yan Sheng kept her mouth shut, not daring to utter a single word. This was her master's instruction, and even though she had been close friends with the Nan Meng sisters before becoming their disciple, and even though the other girls had been childhood friends, she was determined not to utter a single word.

She really didn't know that Taoist Nun Wei was actually afraid that the news that "Sun Yanwan was Zhang Yuanqiao's illegitimate child" would leak out...

(End of this chapter)