Chapter 90

A contest was the best when both sides were evenly matched. The contest between Zhao Da and Li San fell into this category.

The two had already fought for more than a hundred rounds. As the sun was setting, all the tables and chairs had been fully destroyed. The onlookers, except for Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge, had already retreated. All of them were cowering by the doorway, stretching their necks and waiting for a result.

The tea on the table was already cold, so Chu Changge once again made a gesture, “Change the tea.”

When the waiter heard the word ‘change tea’, he wanted to die. God knew he had already risked his life eight times just to change the tea. It was not easy to be a waiter these days. Even if he had a good heart, he couldn’t withstand such a scare!

Although he complained, the waiter still came to change the tea. It wasn’t that he wanted money that much compared to his life, but because he had been at the inn for so many years and had seen countless jianghu people came and went, he had already developed a pair of fiery eyes with golden pupils. The gongzi who shouted for a change of tea was, at first glance, a very powerful man, belonging to the category that was able to kill others invisibly, and not a very good-tempered one. He was sure that if he refused to change this gongzi’s tea, he would let out his last breath before the two fighting lords could ‘accidentally’ injure him.

“Your tea, gongzi. Please enjoy it.” The waiter politely served the tea, then stepped back and waited respectfully, ready for another request to change the tea. Although he was a bit unwilling to do so, it had to be said that this place, right now, was the safest.

Chu Changge first poured the tea into Murong Yunshu’s cup until it was seven parts full, then poured some for himself. After he put down the teapot, he picked up his teacup with his right hand but had no intention of drinking from it. He glanced impatiently at the two who were fighting next to him, and said indifferently, “Since it’s hard to tell the winner from the loser, let’s call it a draw and just let the dealer wins.”

His voice was faint, but was like a sudden thunderclap, causing the two men who were fighting with swords to stop at the same time, and their faces turned deathly pale. The crowd of onlookers looked like they wanted to say that they were not allowed to stop regardless of the outcome, but they were afraid of angering the two fighting men.

“You, who are you anyway? How dare you backstab this Great Master!” As soon as Zhao Da opened his mouth, the crowd suddenly realised that they had not stopped on their own, but rather their acupuncture points had been blocked. This realisation came when they saw the two’s movements were still frozen in mid-air. Zhao Da was raising his sword with both hands to use his ultimate move, Heaven’s Thunderbolt, while Li San’s move stayed at Riding The Wind And Crested The Waves move, which was used to break Zhao Da’s Heaven Thunderbolt.

Chu Changge was still holding his cup of tea. No one saw how he struck them. Only Murong Yunshu noticed that the tea in his cup had decreased a little.

Looking again at Zhao Da and Li San, each had a tiny additional ice bead around their waist, with half inside their clothes and another half exposed.

It dawned on Murong Yunshu that he was using ice-cold true qi. He had used his true qi to condense the tea into ice beads and used it as a concealed weapon to seal Zhao Da and Li San’s acupuncture points. Moreover, the ice beads were still left on their bodies. In other words, if he added a little more force, the two icicles would enter Zhao Da and Li San’s bodies directly. At that time, it would not be as simple as freezing up their acupuncture points.

What amazed Murong Yunshu was that he had done this under her nose and she hadn’t noticed it at all. She had experienced the four North, South, East and West’s qinggong, and the miraculousness of coming without a shadow, leaving without a footprint. She had guessed that Chu Changge’s martial arts must be even more unfathomable, but now that she had seen it with her own eyes, she couldn’t help but be even more surprised.

Unlike Zhao Da’s reckless superficiality, Li San, who came from Feiyang Mountain Villa Sect, had more extensive knowledge. He knew that the person who could stop him and Zhao Da at the same time in an instant was not an ordinary person.

“Since His Excellency has said it’s a draw, then a draw it is. Zhao Da, let’s take a truce today, and we will distinguish our relative superiority in the ring tomorrow.” Li San said.

Without waiting for Chu Changge to answer, Zhao Da jumped in and shouted, “Bah! He’s nothing! This Laozi won’t stop beating you until you can’t get up today!” After saying that, he turned to Chu Changge and shouted, “What kind of hero injures someone else by underhand means? If you have the guts, then untie my acupuncture points and I’ll fight you after I’ve finished with this bastard Li San!”

Having heard what Zhao Da had said, Li San immediately cried out in his heart ‘this is terrible’. Although he extremely hated this boorish fellow, Zhao Da, he didn’t want him to anger the master. After all, the girl didn’t look like a reasonable person, and her companion naturally wouldn’t be an easy person to talk to. If the other party was unhappy, then he would have to go to Western Paradise with Zhao Da. “Zhao Da, you do not even recognise a favour. Someone has controlled you with just one move, and yet you don’t even know that you are being controlled. This means that you are not the opponent of that person. Why do you still need to bring disgrace to yourself?”

“You shut up!” Zhao Da’s eyes widened in anger, “If this Laozi hasn’t tried to set you right by fighting you with all my heart and soul, this Laozi wouldn’t have fallen into the path of a villain! You’re so greedy for life and yet afraid of death!”

Li San was also angry, but because he was surrounded by a master who was still unknown if he was a friend or foe, he had to hold back his anger. He just grunted coldly and said nothing more.[+]

Only when Chu Changge saw that the two men had finally stopped did he make an elegant turnaround. He made half a circle turn on his chair, facing Zhao Da and Li San head-on, with the cup of tea still in his hand. The water in the cup did not move a single jot, and not even a ripple could be seen. Chu Changge lazily put the teacup on the table, slowly raised his eyes, hooked his lips and said, “If you want to compete with me, I’ll give you a chance.”

By then, Li San’s legs had begun to tremble, and his face was full of horror as if he had just seen a ghost. Zhao Da’s face no longer looked arrogant. He only felt a gentle movement of the ice beads that had melted around his waist. The qi and blood in his body suddenly flowed freely.

If it was before, Zhao Da would have thought that someone else had locked his acupuncture points. But at this moment, after seeing the other party’s true face, Zhao Da was convinced that this person was the one who had locked his acupuncture points. This was because, for Chu Changge, this was a simple matter. It was good that he could still be able to see that Chu Changge had unlocked his acupuncture points. If not, he would not be alive right now.

“What do you want us to compete in? Knife, sword, palm, qinggong or internal force?” Chu Changge smiled leisurely as he asked.

That spring-like smile was more frightening than a blood-dripping sword in Zhao Da’s opinion. Although Zhao Da was reckless and irascible, he was not a man who was greedy for life and yet afraid of death. “I can’t beat you, so it’s my bad luck for offending you. You can kill or scrape me as you wish! But first, I want to finish with Li San.”

Li San secretly sighed. Zhao Da, Zhao Da, how could you be so stupid? The whole world knows that if Chu Changge is accompanied by a woman, that woman is Murong Yunshu, the young mistress of Murong Mansion in Jinling. What kind of person is Murong Yunshu? She was the most clever person in the Daye Dynasty in terms of making money! Since she has become the dealer, then this match between you and me is destined to be a draw!

At the same time, Murong Yunshu was lamenting Zhao Da’s obtuseness, but also admired his courage of not being afraid of death. As everyone was aware, all along the way, every jianghu people they met when faced with Chu Changge, all of them would be begging for mercy on his face but curse the most unpleasant words once they behind his back. For Zhao Da to admit his bad luck, somehow made him seem responsible. Compared to the sleek Li San, Zhao Da was more admirable to her.

If you had seen too many respectful, hypocritical people, once a rare man made his appearance, you would view him in a new, favourable light. Even if that man was scolding you, you were still willing to leave him one side of the net open. Chu Changge was this kind of person. And when Chu Changge wanted to let this man live, he would also choose the direction of that life for him――that was, to take him as his people. [T/N]

Chu Changge slightly lowered his eyebrows as he indifferently said, “Li San, there is nothing more for you to do here.”

Li San froze for a moment, then realised that his acupuncture points had been unlocked. He was immediately overjoyed as he bent down and cupping his fist in salute, “Thank you, Leader Chu, for giving me a grace by not killing me.” After speaking, he glanced at Zhao Da and turned to leave.

“What do you mean by this?” Zhao Da looked at Chu Changge angrily, with an expression as if he had received a great insult from the sky.

“As I said, today’s match between you and Zhao Da ends here.” Chu Changge swept another glance at the crowd of onlookers and announced, “The dealer takes all.”

The second half of this sentence actually meant: You all may go now.

The crowd, who were all sensible people, took one look at his posture and dispersed. Although they were unwilling, and even if they were going to lose a bit of their silver, they could not afford to lose their lives.

They blatantly cheat them just like that! The crowd could only shake their heads as they walked away. They really shouldn’t have been too eager in betting with those bandits.

Zhao Da was deeply offended by Chu Changge’s way of doing things that he snorted coldly, and bitterly said, “Despicable!”

Chu Changge paid no attention to his words. He just pretended like he had not heard any of it, as he told him with a smile, “From this moment on, you are my attendant.”

Zhao Da was full of shock and then disdainfully responded, “Although I, Zhao Da, am not a gentleman, I do have a ‘cleanliness’ problem. So I will rather die than be associated with a despicable, vile person like you.”

“Very well. I really didn’t misjudge a person. You are indeed an unyielding man.” Chu Changge nodded happily and stated, “Whether you like it or not, I will be your master from now on.”

“You……” Zhao Da was immediately stifled. “I will not bow down to the likes of you even if I die!” He drew his knife and tried to cut his neck. But just as he lifted his hand, he heard a ‘ding’ and his sword was broken into two parts. “You……” Zhao Da started to stress up.

“I won’t let you die. If you want to die, I’ll let the Kunlun Sect be buried alive with you.” Chu Changge spoke in a light-hearted manner, but there was a sign of anger under his eyes. He was not a good-tempered person and he particularly disliked people disobeying him.

“You……you……” Zhao Da pointed at him with his fingers trembling with anger. Finally, he managed to ask angrily, “You insulted my Kunlun Sect in Shaolin Temple that day, killed my senior brother, the Sect Master, and now you want me to be your slave. Chu Changge, my Kunlun Sect and your Mojiao Sect have always been like well-water that does not mix with river water. So why are you pressing me so hard?”

“Kunlun Sect Master? You mean Li Dao?” Chu Changge nodded thoughtfully and replied, “There is indeed such a thing. Now that you are my Mojiao people, I will tell you that Li Dao tried to hurt my wife. So he deserved his end. ” When it came to the part ‘hurting my wife’, Chu Changge’s eyes suddenly froze with a layer of ice.[+]

Zhao Da looked at Murong Yunshu in disbelief. Only when he saw her nod did he stumble backwards a few steps as if he had received a great blow, while mumbling, “Senior Brother the Sect Master…… how could he strike at an unarmed woman……”

“You should be glad that you are not the same as Li Dao. That’s why you can survive until now.” The person who said this was Murong Yunshu.

Chu Changge said, “Alright, that’s enough for today. Zhao Da, you go and register a room.”

Zhao Da was slightly stunned at his words. After glancing at Murong Yunshu, he sullenly went downstairs.

“What’s he looking at you for?” Chu Changge felt offended.

Murong Yunshu raised his eyebrows and answered, “Because my reputation is not as bad as yours.”

“……”

“Be honest, is this how you get South, East, North and West to join the Mojiao Sect?” Murong Yunshu originally wanted to say ‘forced into Mojiao Sect’. However, after thinking about it, she decided to be ‘a little bit’ polite to him.

“Madam, the moon is nice tonight, let’s go to the roof to enjoy the view.” Chu Changge said as he looked around.