The young girl selling charcoal, seeing the young prince determined to practice silent meditation, still refused to give up and resorted to provocation. “Xu Fengnian, you’ve even been the number one martial artist in the world. Are you afraid to spar with a mere girl?”
Xu Fengnian kept his gaze fixed on the Confucian scholar with a bowl before him, fully aware of the deception hidden in the girl’s words. Much of what she said was mere illusion, half-truths not worth his attention. The scholar was likely someone capable of restraining the demon Huang Longshi. Otherwise, the fiend Huang Sanjia wouldn’t have hidden so thoroughly, refusing to ascend to the realm of a land-immortal. As for the one truly seeking to subdue him, it was very likely the charcoal girl herself.
Cultivating vital energy, gathering fortune, seizing auspiciousness, and ultimately achieving great attainment—this was a gradual, methodical process. The charcoal girl held a senior position within the Nanhai Guanyin Sect, even being a sword embryo herself, and already possessed considerable fortune. Moreover, she had absorbed Xu Fengnian’s lost luck, making her a bearer of destiny. If she could decisively defeat Xu Fengnian here, fully absorbing his fortune, she might become an unprecedented terrestrial celestial being.
The Tingchao Pavilion housed countless rare and precious martial arts manuals, and also maintained classified records detailing secret knowledge of various sects. Although the Nanhai Guanyin Sect was the foremost sect of cultivators in the south, Tingchao had still failed to uncover any information regarding the “Chaotian Tu” (Heavenward Chart). However, Li Chungan, who had personally driven the charcoal girl’s master back to sea, once mentioned that the woman’s martial skills were impressive, though her swordsmanship was not top-tier. Even when facing him in battle, she refused to employ the ultimate techniques of a cultivator. Thus, her journey through the martial world was peculiar—she met many renowned martial artists and promising youths, casting her net wide, merely to become familiar with them, certainly harboring ulterior motives. Initially, when Xu Fengnian heard the girl’s chatter, he didn’t take her words seriously, focusing instead on recalling the reason why Deng Tai’a once slashed the sea to flood the Guanyin Sect. However, when the charcoal girl called his name a second time, Xu Fengnian immediately became alert. From then on, every time she spoke, she made sure to include his name, making him increasingly cautious.
Additionally, due to Gao Shulu’s mountain-sealing talisman, Xu Fengnian thought of the lineage of talisman practitioners. These practitioners often carried ancestral diagrams passed down through generations, containing knowledge of celestial names and ghostly titles. They would bow reverently upon encountering deities to gain blessings, and slay impurities to accumulate virtue. Thus, whenever they encountered mountain spirits or ghosts, they could directly call their names, accompanied by incantations. Those with profound cultivation could recite secret heavenly spells taught by their founders, invoking divine lightning to strike down the spirits. Those with lesser cultivation could still drive away evil spirits by forming mudras, stepping in celestial patterns, and chanting true words, thereby safely traversing deep mountains and great rivers.
As the charcoal girl was about to speak, Xu Fengnian, for the first time, took the initiative to ask, “Your actions contradict the original purpose of your sect. That old woman from the Youyan Manor said she would bring many cultivators to the northern border battlefield. If I die, you lose your talisman of protection, leading to unforeseen complications. Aren’t you afraid of being captured and returned to your sect?”
The charcoal girl smiled playfully, “A general in the field doesn’t always obey orders.”
The girl clearly sensed the growing killing intent from the man on horseback. She smiled innocently, saying, “A real man shouldn’t fight a woman, especially not the mighty Prince of Beiliang. Don’t take me seriously. I’ll leave now and never provoke you again. I’ll stay obediently on my lonely island in the Nanhai until you die, then I’ll return to the mainland.”
Xu Fengnian leaned down and gently stroked the horse’s mane.
The girl’s face changed drastically as she anxiously cried, “Xu Fengnian, show a little magnanimity, will you!”
In the space of more than ten zhang between them, raindrops froze midair, forming a series of still curtains, visible to the naked eye, like gates descending from the sky, steadily advancing toward the charcoal girl.
Xu Fengnian lightly clenched his fist. Though no rain curtain formed behind the girl, countless raindrops shot toward her back. She swiftly drew an arc with two fingers, and the long scroll painting circled around her, forming a protective barrier. She stared in alarm at the man who should have attained great power yet somehow lost it, exclaiming in fear, “Xu Fengnian, you actually tricked me on purpose?!”
Innumerable raindrops the size of soybeans crashed into the scroll, each carrying fierce sword intent, tilting the rain curtains toward the charcoal girl.
Xu Fengnian gently squeezed the horse’s flanks and slowly advanced. The elite Beiliang warhorse actually stepped onto the path of the rain curtain, gradually climbing higher, enough to look down upon the girl attempting to exploit the opening. Each time the horse’s hoof struck, the scroll surrounding the girl trembled.
Xu Fengnian said calmly, “Everyone in the world has their own reasoning, but some great truths remain the same.”
Yudi Long muttered in frustration, “My master’s fortune is yours to take, yet you still harbor ill intentions.”
Struggling to maintain the rain curtain and withstand the bombardment of raindrops, the girl angrily retorted, “Heaven bestows blessings upon those who seize them. If you don’t take them, you invite disaster! This isn’t something you generously gave me—it’s what Heaven has placed in my hands!”
The master, Xu Fengnian, remained expressionless, while the apprentice, Yudi Long, was truly enraged. Clenching his teeth, the child was unaware that a vast, powerful aura emanated from him—neither Daoist martial energy nor Buddhist golden radiance.
Suddenly entering a state of complete oblivion, Yudi Long gazed intently at the magnificent scroll, eyes burning with intensity. He dismounted and dashed forward, moving faster and more nimbly than a wild horse. He even broke through the thick, heavy rain curtain, which weighed like ten thousand jin. Stretching out his arm, he grabbed the darkly glowing Wang Xianzhi depicted on the scroll and pulled it back. The charcoal girl, rather than being furious at the child’s interference, felt only joy. His intrusion likely caused Xu Fengnian to worry about the child’s safety, weakening his defenses. Thus, the trapped girl now had a glimmer of hope. However, just as she gathered her intent to retreat with the scroll, she suddenly found the long-cultivated immortal chart effortlessly pulled away by the child. The girl’s vision darkened, her anger rising to the point of near collapse. She barely managed to steady herself, opening her eyes to see the scroll split in two. Most of it was now in the child’s possession, while one figure remained behind.
The bowl-placing man was Xu Fengnian.
Xu Fengnian released his energy, allowing the warhorse to gently descend into the mud, unharmed. He instructed Yudi Long, “Put it away.”
Confused, Yudi Long didn’t know how to proceed. But as soon as he focused his mind, the figures on the scroll quickly overlapped, condensing into what looked like a scroll rod in his hand.
The charcoal girl, now panicked, fell backward into the mud, her face pale. Dressed in white, she resembled a ghost wandering at night. She kept muttering in disbelief, “How is this possible? How could this happen…”
Xu Fengnian ignored the arrogant young woman and turned his gaze to the remaining figure.
The figure in the painting, one hand resting beneath the bowl, still in a seated posture, slowly rose, meeting Xu Fengnian’s gaze.
Xu Fengnian asked, “Was it you who secretly instructed Zhao Huangchao to nurture an evil dragon in the Di Fei Mountains? Then you helped Huang Longshi stir up the Spring and Autumn Period? Finally, you remained in the Taian City, and during the struggle for the throne in the old Zhao dynasty, you prevented Old Prince Jing’an Zhao Heng’s adoptive father, Wang Xianzhi, from going to the capital to bolster Zhao Heng’s power? And for all those years of Martial and Literary Rankings, most of them were your doing, weren’t they?”
The still faceless man said nothing.
Xu Fengnian smiled and asked, “Heaven, Earth, and Humanity each have their own fated principles. Yuan Benxi has spent decades watching over the human networks for the Liyang Dynasty. Zhao Huangchao cultivated solitude, shaping the terrain. So, you must be the leader of the northern cultivators. But I’ve always wondered—when Hong Xixiang cut the dying nation’s fortune with his sword, and two streams flowed into Beiliang and Xichu, why didn’t you intervene?”
The man finally spoke. As soon as he did, the entire world, drenched in rain, fell into absolute silence. “Just a debate among celestial beings. I once argued on behalf of the Zhao dynasty, By the Mandate of Heaven. As for you, what do you say?”
Xu Fengnian sneered, “Always thinking you know everything, spouting nonsense.”
The man countered, “Is that so?”
Xu Fengnian seemed unwilling to engage in verbal debate.
The man chuckled, “In the next ten years, there will be four great battles. I only need to win one to emerge victorious.”
After countless years of watching clouds drift by, the man finally stood up, his feet seemingly planting into the muddy path.
Xu Fengnian watched as the man began to walk forward, passing him by, then turning west toward Shu.
Xu Fengnian remained still. Yudi Long looked bewildered, while the charcoal girl’s heart sank into despair.
Xu Fengnian looked up at the raindrops falling through the night sky, each one distinct.
The current course of the world had become clear. The crown prince Zhao Zhuan, with his unparalleled natural advantage, still held the most fortune.
Huang Sanjia and the Northern Liang’s national teacher, Yuan Qingshan, both chose Zhao Zhu.
This man, possibly the true Confucian sage in a century, chose Chen Zhibao.
This was undoubtedly the scenario Xu Fengnian least wished to see.
Xu Fengnian turned to the charcoal girl and said, “Borrowing external forces to seize heavenly fortune is ultimately not sustainable. If you truly have interest in the martial world, let’s strike a deal.”
The girl’s eyes lit up. “Are you asking me to invite the cultivators of the Guanyin Sect to the border to support your Beiliang cause?”
Xu Fengnian shook his head. “I want your entire sect to temporarily relocate behind the defensive line of Jin Qingyang Tomb. And I’ll allow you to retreat from Beiliang if things go poorly.”
The girl was stunned. “Are you mad?”
Xu Fengnian shook his head. “It’s the Northern Liang Empress who has gone mad. I and Beiliang have no choice but to follow suit.”
The girl looked hurt. “How can I travel the martial world alone now? From here to the Nanhai, I’ll have to take detours, thousands of miles. Can you really trust me to go alone?”
Xu Fengnian looked at her.
The girl pouted in surrender. “Fine, fine. I know you’re saying you made that journey alone from the Northern Liang. But you’re a man, and I’m just a fragile woman. If I delay your great plans, I’ll just end up dying somewhere…”
Xu Fengnian smiled. “I’ll have Mi Fengjie, the Master of the Sword-Burying Grotto, escort you south to the Guanyin Sect.”
The girl pushed her luck. “Anybody stronger?”
Xu Fengnian asked, “What do you think of me?”
The girl beamed. “Great!”
Xu Fengnian ignored the muddle-headed fairy and rode off ahead.
Yudi Long followed closely behind.
Leaving behind a girl who stamped her foot in sorrow.
In the rain-soaked night, Yudi Long suddenly called out, “Master!”
Xu Fengnian turned in surprise.
The child grinned, then suddenly didn’t know what to say, scratching his head.
Xu Fengnian laughed. “Now that you’ve accepted me as your master, let me tell you something. From now on, whenever you meet one of those lofty, self-proclaimed fairy women wandering the martial world, fight them. Beat them until they cry and run home.”
Yudi Long nodded firmly.
Because of this lighthearted conversation between master and apprentice that night,
For the next hundred years, not a single person dared to call themselves a “fairy” in the martial world again.
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