"Didn't senior sister say that she prefers to cultivate her character?" Xi Heng complained.
"But who doesn't like to watch the fun?" Hong Miao smiled.
While the two were chatting, the winner on the stage had already been decided.
The warrior with a loud voice who presided over the martial arts competition read out Xi Heng's name after sending his opponents off the field.
Xi Heng responded by going up to the stage and exchanging fist bumps with his opponent.
The man who was going to duel with her was a tall and strong man who used a sword technique. The moves he used were just some third or fourth-rate sword techniques that were unheard of.
However, it was Xi Heng's first time to compete in the ring. He did not look down on his opponent because his martial arts skills were not well-known. Instead, he carefully observed every detail of his opponent's movements and postures.
She followed the senior sister's instructions yesterday, trying to anticipate the enemy's moves and guess the enemy's upcoming moves through subtle movements.
The strong young man bent over, swung his knife and gathered momentum, staring at me with a sharp gaze, the blade pointed diagonally upwards, and moved his center of gravity forward. His left hand, which was not holding the knife, slapped forward first, and his right arm, which was holding the knife, followed, while he shouted loudly:
"Accept!"
The blade first pressed down, then turned to the left, and the blade and the right foot suddenly turned and stepped on the ground and jumped up.
Spinning in the air, the sword slashed down towards Xi Heng with great force.
However, at this moment, Xi Heng had already raised his sword and pointed it at the enemy's neck.
The swordsman's eyes widened and he immediately lost his momentum. He quickly dropped his sword to try to block the stabbing sword.
However, the sword blade suddenly slashed downwards again, and the cold light of the sword flashed, then disappeared in an instant.
The girl stepped back half a step to avoid the big knife, while the swordsman fell to the ground unsteadily, his legs smashed with a loud sound and he almost fell down, while he groaned in pain in his chest and abdomen.
The man quickly lowered his head to look at his chest and abdomen, only to see that the clothes from his shoulders to his abdomen were torn by a sword mark, and the solid flesh behind the clothes seemed to have just reacted and cracked into a long, thin crack.
The gap was colorless at first, and then blood gradually overflowed, quickly filling up with blood and forming a red line.
"I accepted the challenge, and you lost." Xi Heng shook his head in disappointment and stepped back from the ring.
This man's moves look fierce, but are actually quite crude.
It's okay to intimidate some ordinary warriors with momentum, but as long as you see through their moves, you will find that they are full of flaws.
If you find a flaw, you can take advantage of it and attack, defeating the enemy with one sword.
After yesterday's training, Xi Heng could already easily see through this rough and fierce move - due to the difference in skills between the two, the outcome was decided in an instant.
"..." The man was stunned and speechless as he looked at his blood that kept flowing out and stained his clothes red.
"The saber warrior's heart will be chopped by the sword! The defeat is certain, and the winner will be the red line sword." Xiang loudly announced this.
Xi Heng walked down the stage directly and returned to the side of Senior Sister Hong Miao who was preparing for the fight.
"how?"
"Easily." Xi Heng answered: "The techniques that Senior Sister taught me are very advanced. I can easily defeat most people."
"Don't be proud. This is just one of your tricks. As long as the enemy's moves are so complicated that you can't see them clearly in a short period of time, you will be in a difficult battle again."
"Senior sister is right, but today's battle is over, let's go." Xi Heng felt bored and yawned slightly.
"It's so hard to have a martial arts competition in Jinshi City. Let me watch for a while." Hong Miao pretended to relax.
……
At noon, the morning martial arts competition ended, and Xi Heng finally pulled the senior sister out of the martial arts conference.
Amid the busy streets, the girl looked around at the inns and shops and suddenly said:
"Let's not go back to the hospital early...how about we eat out?"
"I don't have any money." Hong Miao, the person in charge of the Sword Academy, spread out his hands.
"I'll pay..."
"Thank you very much, Junior Sister." The Senior Sister smiled softly, looked around, and stared directly at the tallest and most luxuriously decorated restaurant in the distance. "Let's go to Juxian Pavilion. I haven't been there for a long time."
"Okay..." Xi Heng was a little at a loss when facing this senior sister who suddenly became interested.
Hong Miao took Xi Heng's left hand and trotted over there.
Xi Heng staggered and used some strength to steady himself, then he and his senior sister merged into the crowd.
Two girls dressed as knights shuttled among the people on the street, their skirts fluttering gently with their steps, like two pale pink flowers swaying in the spring breeze.
Xi Heng followed closely behind his senior sister, capturing her silhouette in his eyes:
Her neat black hair was tied into a ponytail, which made her skin look even whiter. Her graceful figure was free and unrestrained as she walked among the crowd of people in different clothes and attires, just like a butterfly dancing among the flowers.
This person's existence is like a spring breeze, blowing through the dusty mundane world and bringing a moment of liveliness.
They entered the restaurant and sat on a terrace close to the balcony.
Strings of small red lanterns were hung on both sides, and the thin red threads hanging from the lanterns swayed slightly.
The sky outside was overcast, but there were still some candles lit in the room, and a few lanterns emitting a faint light.
There was almost no dust on the wooden floor and the tabletops. The tabletops were carved with a pattern of peacock feathers. A waiter handed over a menu. The names of the dishes were all extravagant and grand idioms, making it difficult to understand what they were.
Xi Heng didn't quite understand the names of the dishes, so he handed the menu to his senior sister and asked her to make a choice.
"Pearl Linglong, Inula flower soup, Cherry wine, Sugar-steamed new chestnuts, Shili ginkgo..." The eldest sister named several dishes one after another. It was obvious that she was an old customer.
The waiter wrote down the dishes, bowed and left.
Not long after, a pot of fruit wine in a pink carved porcelain bottle was brought up.
"Does Senior Sister come here often?" Xi Heng couldn't help but ask.
"The elder often brought me here a few years ago..." Hong Miao's fingertips lightly touched the surface of the table: "But now the elder's teeth are getting worse, so he can't enjoy these things anymore."
She turned her gaze back, picked up the wine jug beside her, and changed the subject: "Can you drink?"
"No." Xi Heng rarely drank alcohol.
"Try it." Hong Miao didn't care what Xi Heng answered and still poured a cup and pushed it over.
Xi Heng picked it up, watched the wine in the glass sway slightly, first sniffed it, then put it to his lips and took a small sip.
This cherry wine is not as strong as imagined, and it has a slightly mellow taste when paired with the fruit.
Hong Miao poured herself another glass and raised it slightly towards Xi Heng.
The two glasses clinked together, Xi Heng took a small sip, but the eldest sister drank it all in one gulp.
At this time, the waiter brought a plate of square white pastries from downstairs, with the aroma of osmanthus and cooked chestnuts wafting over.
The black square plate fell on the wooden table, making a knocking sound.
The next moment, there was a sudden loud bang downstairs—
The unopened half of the tavern's wooden door was suddenly smashed open, the carved window frames shattered continuously, large and small pieces of wood fell to the ground, and at the same time there was a series of footsteps.
Before Xi Heng could react, Senior Sister Hong Miao in front of him had already turned her head and looked down, frowning slightly.
"Guo Zheng, don't run away anymore. Hand over your martial arts and I'll spare your life!" A rough male voice shouted from downstairs.
Afterwards, a burly man in black, along with a dozen figures following behind him, walked into the restaurant hall, looked around, and were ready to take action at any time.
In just a few seconds, they all stared at the old man in gray clothes who was drinking and eating beans at a small table in the corner of the hall.
On the right side of the small table was a bamboo hat, and on the left side was a sheathed sword.
The old man seemed not to hear the surrounding noise at all. He was still peeling his fennel beans and sipping them slowly with fine wine.
The men in black glared at each other and stomped towards the old man in groups. Every step they took made cracks in the wooden boards on the ground, making a sound like thunder.
The old man ignored it, finished the glass and continued to pour himself some wine.
The men in black robes came within five steps but stopped where they were, not daring to move forward.
Gradually, a slender figure walked out, came to the table opposite the gray-clothed old man, and sat down.
"Hero, you've been running for so long, and we've been chasing you for so long, we're all tired." This was a slightly hoarse female voice: "We found you here today, you can't escape even if you have wings, why don't we end it here?"
The old man continued to pour and drink.
"What Huang Meishan wants is your peerless inner strength. Hand it over, and we will go our separate ways."
Seeing that the other party still didn't speak, the black-robed woman put her arm on the table again, leaned forward and said:
"You are over seventy years old, and your blood and qi are slipping. You are no longer in your prime. Even if you are a master of Hua Jin, at your age, you can only release two or three moves at most. So what if you can kill one of us with one move? We have ten An Jin people, and you will still be dead when you use up all your strength."
"You are a man of integrity, and we do not want to see bloodshed. Why don't we both take a step back? You hand over your skills, and we'll leave."
However, the other party still ignored it.
The black-robed woman gritted her teeth, raised her hand and suddenly slapped the wooden table. The slapping sound finally attracted the attention of the person in front of her, and then said:
"I know you came to Jinshi City to find a disciple to pass on your skills. Now you and I are in Jinshi City. It just so happens that you came here to learn skills and I came here for the skills. Just pass it on to me!"
After the loud voice fell, the old man in gray stopped what he was doing, raised his eyes slightly, and the gleam in his pupils fell directly on the other person.
After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke:
"The so-called skills cannot be forced, and those who are destined to have them will obtain them."
"This method is meant for me." The black-clothed woman flicked her fingertips, and a sharp knife flew out of her sleeve and was smoothly grasped in her hand.
The knife flower turned smoothly between her five fingers, and the tip fell downward. She grasped the handle of the knife and stabbed it downward.
There was a thud, and the sharp knife penetrated three inches into the wood.
The blade gleamed coldly, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense.
On the balcony, Xi Heng watched this scene, swallowed his saliva, pointed to the open balcony beside him, and said:
"Senior Sister, should we go somewhere else to eat?"
He didn't encounter any trouble at the martial arts conference, but instead encountered this misfortune when he was having lunch at a random restaurant.
The other guests around were all slipping away as quickly as possible, only the waiter and the shopkeeper were still in a panic and at a loss.
Hong Miao picked up the wine jug on the table and sighed. "It's getting more chaotic day by day. Let's go back to the Sword Academy."
……
Chapter 25: Making Charcoal out of Gold and Stone
Xi Heng casually threw two pieces of silver on the table, then followed his senior sister to the balcony. He exerted his strength and used light skills to step out of the restaurant. After landing, he merged into the crowd watching outside the courtyard and left this overly lively place.
Before they had walked a hundred meters away, a thunderous sword chant suddenly exploded in the restaurant, like raging waves in a storm, and bursts of whistling could be heard.
A moment later, the thick wooden door of the restaurant suddenly disintegrated and flew out. The wooden board drew an arc in the air and hit the ground with a bang.
The crowd dispersed in panic, and then a gray figure wearing a bamboo hat rushed out of the restaurant, stepped on the door panel with his legs, and used it as a skateboard to whiz through the wide streets.
The deafening crashing sounds continued, causing Xi Heng, who had already walked a hundred meters away, to quicken his pace.
"Chase!" An angry roar came from behind, and dozens of men in black used their lightness skills to step on the roof eaves and follow like a shadow.
Xi Heng saw the thick door panel sliding towards her quickly and just thought of dodging it when Senior Sister Hong Miao next to her suddenly pulled her.
The next moment, the old man in gray clothes, sliding on the door panel, passed by her.
Dark shadows followed quickly behind, making the entire shopping street uneasy.
"Stop!" The patrolling detectives from the government kept shouting when they saw this scene, but no one cared.
The slender figure among the men in black was the first to catch up with the old man. He also stepped on the sliding door panel, drew the long sword at his waist and started to fight.
The clanging sounds of the two swords hitting each other could be heard one after another.
The girl subconsciously took a few steps back, her heel hit the door sill and she lost her balance for a moment, then she unconsciously grabbed the only senior sister who could provide her with support.
Senior Sister Hong Miao naturally maintained her usual stable posture, and with a gentle pull she slowed down Xi Heng's falling trend.
In the chaos, Xi Heng leaned towards his senior sister and pressed himself against her shoulder.
This didn't stop, she put one hand around Senior Sister Hong Miao's waist, and finally stood firm and breathed a sigh of relief.
In just a few brief seconds, the old man in gray and the man in black had already left, and the sound of the swords fighting was getting farther and farther away.
"Thank you, senior sister." Xi Heng leaned on his senior sister and patted his chest.
"No need to thank me." Hong Miao nodded calmly:
