A Step into the Past

Book 8 Chap 2 - Duel at the School

(From translation thread - Translated by slyphiad...)

Next was riding and archery performance, all were brilliant and pleasing to watch. It could be seen that Zhao Ba took painstaking care to train all of his swordsmen.

Xiang Shaolong thought that it’s a pity, if it wasn’t because Zhao had a muddleheaded king like Xiaocheng, it would have a bright prospect.

Ji Yanran leaned near his ear and said intimately, “I don’t care anymore, from today onwards, I will follow you.”

Xiang Shaolong exclaimed in surprise, “Isn’t it too quick? Did you see that Lord Longyang is staring at us?”

Ji Yanran chuckled, “He’s not suspicious of us, but just jealous of Yanran, everyone knew that neither man nor woman fellow loves unrefined and straightforward men like Mister Dong. If you speak vulgarity with him, he’ll be really excited!”

Xiang Shaolong gave a wry smile, shook his head, “Let me chase after you for another two to three days! Otherwise if a beautiful woman like you can be subdued by a man with just two or three tricks, it could really damage your Learned Lady reputation.”

Ji Yanran pouted, “Whatever suits you then! But I want you to accompany me every night.”

Xiang Shaolong joyfully replied, “Of course, it’s all that I wish for!”

Suddenly, applause could be heard non-stop, the school’s swordsmen returned successively to the seats opposite the stand, leaving only Zhao Ba standing in the center of the field.

Everyone stopped talking and looked at the owner of the training school.

The applause swiftly stopped.

Zhao Ba raised his voice, “Our training school was able to invite the famous master swordsman, Mister Li Yuan, to give us instructions on our swordsmen’s performance, it is indeed our honor. We hope that Mister Li Yuan won’t be stingy in giving us his advice.”

Guo Zhong chuckled and interrupted, “This time it’s all about exchanging pointers, everyone should control the force exerted, I don’t wish to watch any heart-stopping scenes like bones or flesh torn today.”

He and Zhao Ba are close friends, naturally he could tell that Zhao Ba was really furious about Li Yuan’s arrogance, so he made use of his status to advice both parties.

Li Yuan smiled, “Mister Guo, you can relax, I only came here with the intention of having fun, besides, there are also four beauties here! Mister Guo, relax.”

Once he said that, all of the school’s swordsmen were burning with anger. During this period, martial arts was blooming, everyone regarded martial arts and sword skills as a prestigious and important matter, but he instead said that he only considered it as a game, meaning that he holds no regards for his opponents.

Zhao Mu leaned his head toward Ji Yanran and enquired her intention, “Miss Ji, don’t you think that Mister Li Yuan’s words are a bit unwarranted?”

On the other side, Han Chuang snorted, “Mister Li is too arrogant.”

Ji Yanran smiled, “But his abilities are truly extraordinary, he wasn’t lying.”

Those two people didn’t expect that after she had publicly shown her liking towards the Horse Fanatic, she would still defend Li Yuan and were both momentarily rendered speechless.

Xiang Shaolong knew about Ji Yanran’s independent thinking, she wasn’t going to change her mind because of other people. Unless he could win Li Yuan publicly, otherwise in her heart, he, Xiang Shaolong, will never be on par with Li Yuan in this aspect.

Therefore, for this beauty that always had strict criteria for her husband, this will always be a form of regret.

While he’s pondering, that school’s first instructor had already entered the field and raising his hands in greeting towards Li Yuan, said, “I am Dai Feng, please grant me your instruction, Mister Li.”

Li Yuan sized up Dai Feng and blandly replied, “Dong Luzi, come down and have some fun with Brother Dai Feng!”

The crowd’s uproar rose from all directions, no one could believe that Li Yuan only sent his man to accept his challenge, obviously showing that Dai Feng is not qualified to challenge him yet.

Everyone from the school, from Zhao Ba all the way down, were all indignant.

Zhao Mu whispered towards Xiang Shaolong, “Oh no! If Dai Feng lost, Zhao Ba probably wouldn’t be able to hold back his anger and will personally challenge Li Yuan.”

While Ji Yanran whispered in Xiang Shaolong’s ear, “This Dong Luzi and Lou Wuxin are Li Yuan’s most reputable and great swordsmen. They are very famous in Chu.”

Le Cheng who was sitting behind leaned forward and said, “I also heard about this Dong Luzi, allegedly he’s from the Chu Mohist and had travelled to Lie looking for teachers and visiting friends, can’t believe that he’s become Li Yuan’s man.”

At this time, 20 odd year old man who is tall and thin like a pole, with a pale face and no moustache, walked down the stand from the seats on Li Yuan’s side towards Dai Feng and said gently and politely, “Brother Dai, please give direction!”

After Dai Feng returned the greeting, the youngsters brought out the wooden swords and helped both swordsmen wear the armors that protected their head, chest and vital spot at the lower body, as swords are merciless and may cause accidental injury. But this is only effective if the fighters control their force. To an expert swordsman, even if it’s only a wooden sword, it still has the capability to kill and no armor can stand against it.

Two swords met in the air, testing the opponent’s arm strength, then retreating back, demonstrating the sect’s stance.

Applauses were suddenly heard, then stopped.

The crowd all held their breath in silence, looking on in concentration.

Dai Feng stepped in his battle stance, probing and moving towards the opponent, waving the wooden sword energetically, displaying impressive strength.

In contrast, Dong Luzi held his sword and stood erect, immovable like a mountain, only staring coldly at Dai Feng.

Dai Feng retreated two steps back and suddenly roared as he moved forward as quickly as lightning, the sword blade slashed swiftly up into the air, emitting a whistling noise as it sliced thru the air with an unbelievable strength.

Han Chuang and the rest started cheering him on. The warrior school’s swordsmen were even more excited, giving out thunderous support. On the contrary, on Li Yuan’s side, everyone sneered, showing extreme confidence.

This time, Zhao Zhi, who was sitting on the other side of Li Yuan, started to feel regretful. She was purposely being affectionate with Li Yuan, partly because she was indeed charmed by Li Yuan, but mainly because she was trying to anger Xiang Shaolong. But ultimately, she still belongs to the school and naturally she won’t want her own side to lose, but because she was sitting beside Li Yuan, she’s too embarrassed to cheer loudly and is now in a dilemma.

Li Yuan clearly understood her troubles so while everyone’s attention was still on the field, he quietly stretched his hand over and held her slender fingers which she had placed on her thigh, leaning near her ear and spoke softly, “On Miss’s account, Li Yuan definitely won’t hurt anyone from your school.”

Zhao Zhi’s tender body trembled and in her confused state of mind she actually allowed him to freely hold her hand.

Zhao Ya noticed their odd behavior and got closer to them, saying with a slight pout, “Mister Li, you are so caring!”

Li Yuan who has often frequented brothels, was secretly happy as he said with a smile, “Didn’t Lady like my playboy style?”

Zhao Ya shot him a condescending look and sat straight; her heart was again filled with Dong Kuang’s unparalleled heroic spirit and couldn’t help but sigh. She secretly pondered why when she saw Li Yuan fooling around with other women, she didn’t care much about it, but when she saw Ji Yanran only sitting beside Dong Kuang, her heart felt very uncomfortable.

There was a sound “Dong!”, Dong Luzi lifted his sword to parry, at the same time moved diagonally, avoiding Dai Feng’s second attack which came one after another.

Zhao Mu, Han Chuang, Le Cheng and the others are all expert swordsmen. With one look, it was easy to know that not only was Dong Luzi’s arm strength not inferior to Dai Feng’s, he’s also a very good strategist, deliberately not fighting head on so that he can erode Dai Feng’s strength.

As expected, Dong Luzi followed by putting a defensive stance, under his opponent’s chain of relentless attacks, repeatedly dodged. On the surface, it seemed like Dai Feng has the upper hand but in reality, Dong Luzi was in no danger at all, only waiting for the opportunity to counterattack.

A round of supports could be heard from all corners, cheering for Dai Feng.

Zhao Zhi suddenly came out her daze and wanted to pull her hand back but did not expect that Li Yuan would hold her hand tightly and not let go. He even placed the back of his hand on top of her thigh and spoke in her ear, “Do Miss Zhi dislike me?”

Zhao Zhi developed a sense of guilt for betraying Xiang Shaolong and Dong Kuang and looked down, “Other people can see us, you know?”

Li Yuan loftily replied, “A true man stands upright in the world, why should he be afraid of others’ gossip, as long as you don’t dislike Li Yuan, I can assume responsibility for everything.”

This person is very good with words, and also understood how to flatter women. Even Ji Yanran nearly fell in love with him. Zhao Zhi’s does not have much experience about men-women relationship, furthermore, she was angry about Dong Kuang’s heartlessness, so her heart was momentarily confused, thus allowing him to take advantage of her.

Li Yuan knew that they are in public and thus he cannot go overboard so he was secretly thinking of bringing her back to his residence later for some fun. Therefore he did not molest her further.

Guo Xiu’er, who was sitting beside Zhao Zhi, was paying attention to Li Yuan and on seeing that he was flirting with Zhao Zhi, her pretty face changed and felt resentful.

During the warring states period, the distance men and women had to keep from each other was very different from the period after Han Dynasty, where strict Confucian teachings was flourishing. However, it’s still not considered proper etiquette for men and women to flirt in public and Guo Xiu’er couldn’t help but discount her good impression of Li Yuan.

At this time, Xiang Shaolong’s suddenly decided to turn and look at Li Yuan and as luck would have it, Li Yuan was also looking at him. Even though they were separated by 10 more seats, Xiang Shaolong could still clearly see that Li Yuan was holding Zhao Zhi’s hand, and he can’t help but flash a look of hatred through his eyes, extremely furious.

Li Yuan was pleased with himself on seeing that and smiled and nodded at him.

Zhao Zhi followed Li Yuan’s gaze and looked over, straight into Xiang Shaolong’s eyes and she was suddenly reminded of Xiang Shaolong. Her heart shuddered and she forcefully pulled away her hand away from Li Yuan’s devilish grasp.

Li Yuan of course didn’t know about the complicated relationship between Xiang Shaolong and her, and only thought that she was embarrassed for being caught in the situation with him. Instead he gently rubbed her bountiful thigh, before sitting properly and ignored Xiang Shaolong to continue watching the competition.

Xiang Shaolong’s face was furiously stern as he turned back towards the fight on the field, fury burning inside. For the first time, he started to feel the need to challenge Li Yuan.

Ji Yanran saw everything and whispered, “Don’t act impulsively, if you’re hurt by Li Yuan, you’ll have more to lose.”

These few words was like pouring oil into fire, Xiang Shaolong made an effort to push down his anger, after mulling over things for awhile, turned towards Zhao Mu, “Can we send someone to invite one of my family warriors?”

Zhao Mu immediately understood and after asking clearly who this person was, he ordered someone to summon him.

At this moment, Dai Feng had at least given out 40 more moves, and yet he still couldn’t do anything to that Dong Luzi, even the supporting cheers slowly died down.

Dong Luzi knew that the opportunity had come, looked up and smiled as he changed from the defending position to the attacking position, erecting his wooden sword to force his way into his opponent’s sword formation, executing an exquisite and magnificent sword move. He dispelled each move as it came and he kept his sword attacks in a very tight circle such that Dai Feng’s is unable to properly execute his way of brash fighting which uses wide sweeps of his sword.

Zhao Mu and the others all sighed in despair, even Zhao Ba who had absolute confidence in Dai Feng’s skills was frowning.

Zhao Zhi, who was sitting beside Li Yuan, saw that her side was facing danger, came totally to her senses. She secretly blamed herself for not keeping a line between friends and enemies, even letting Li Yuan take advantage of her and felt ashamed towards her Teacher and school. However, if she leaves now, it would be too obvious and she was in a dilemma.

The two fighters on the field exchanged a few more moves. Dai Feng’s previously awe-inspiring performance was never seen again as he constantly retreated in defeat.

Dong Luzi roared loudly, the sword’s shadow flashed by, breaking through his opponent’s flaw, quickly entering the inside of the opponent’s sword moves, heading directly towards Dai Feng’s chest.

Dai Feng was shocked but was unable to retract his sword in time as he abruptly stumbled backward and barely missed this severe blow.

However Dong Luzi is someone who can be merciless once he gains the upper hand. His feet flew and kicked towards the groin and if not for the armor, this kick would have made Dai Feng a eunuch. Nevertheless, it was enough to give him much pain as he cried out in pain, his hand dropping the long sword as he staggered and tumbled, with his hands gripping his groin.

The crowd did not expect that Dong Luzi, who looks so gentle and refined, can be so ruthless once he has gained the upper hand. They all stared at him shell-shocked and for a moment, the whole field was so silent that one can even hear a pin dropped and only the sound of Dai Feng’s moans were heard.

Zhao Ba’s face paled as he stood up and shouted, “Isn’t anyone helping instructor inside to tend to his wound?”

Instantly, they all scrambled forward to help bring Dai Feng inside.

Dong Luzi didn’t look at all regretful; instead he jauntily bowed towards both sides, handed over the wooden sword and returned to his seat.

Zhao Zhi had always had a good friendship with Dai Feng, so she can no longer be bothered with Li Yuan as she glared hatefully at him before quickly following Dai Feng inside.

Li Yuan didn’t even care about Zhao Zhi at all as he smiled suavely, “It’s hard to avoid injury during a martial arts competition, if Master Zhao is afraid of more accidents happening, let’s just stop it all here and let me play host tonight as an apology?”

This time even Ji Yanran could not tolerate what has happened as she quietly cursed, “Li Yuan, you’re too overbearing!”

Zhao Ba’s huge, round eyes were glaring with murderous intent, obviously he was seriously infuriated. Xiang Shaolong was really afraid that he will volunteer to enter the fight himself, so he quickly pushed Han Chuang forward.

Han Chuang understood his meaning and made a hand signal towards his own chosen warrior whom he was planning send for the duel to come forward.

That warrior, called Fu Jianyin, obeyed the order and jumped off the stand as he called out, “Fu Jianyin would like Mister Li Yuan to give me some pointers!”

The whole field solemnly waited in silence to see if Li Yuan would personally accept the challenge.

Fu Jianyin’s stature wasn’t tall but he was strong and stout, his face has some crisscross scars. His appearance looked a little bit scary, but this is exactly the ironclad proof that he had fought in many battles.

Li Yuan displayed a condescending attitude as he languidly leaned half his body against the table next to him and said nonchalantly, “Wuxin! Why don’t you go and learn from the expert?”

The crowd had already guessed that he wouldn’t find the opponent to be worth his time, so they weren’t surprised.

The robustly built Lou Wuxin slowly walked down the stand, briefly bowed and straightened himself arrogantly. After accepting the wooden sword, he brushed off the person who was about to put the armor on him, “It’s not even a battlefield, why do we even need this useless thing?”

On seeing that, Fu Jianyin said loudly, “Since Brother Lou is not wearing armor, I’ll dispense with it too.”

At this time, Lord Longyang stepped in behind Xiang Shaolong and Ji Yanran and delicately whispered, “In this world, is there anyone more arrogant than the Chus? We don’t see such arrogance coming from them when they were facing the Qins. Will Sister Yanran be participating?”

Ji Yanran sighed, “Yanran also find this difficult to accept, but I know that I cannot win against Li Yuan, so there’s nothing I can do.”

Lord Longyang gave an icy snort and did not speak as he returned to his seat. He knew that he himself would be on par with Ji Yanran, so if even she said that she couldn’t beat Li Yuan, there was no way that he could win. At the same time, he decided not to let his chosen Jiaoxu fight so that his man would not be beaten and humiliated.

Zhao Mu turned towards Guo Kai and Le Cheng and sighed, “If Fu Jianyin loses as well, we can only rely on Luo Xiang to redeem our face, otherwise we’ll have to let the Master of the School fight, but I am really reluctant to let this happen.”

Guo Kai replied, “Li Yuan is the number one swordsman of Chu. His men are already so formidable, it’s not hard to imagine the level of Li Yuan’s sword skills.”

At the moment, everyone felt helpless.

Even though Zhao Mu was a master swordsman, but due to his status, it’s not convenient for him to join the fight as it might create a discord between the two countries.

Li Yuan was lucky that he does not hold any official post, otherwise he would not be allowed to fight others on a personal basis without the orders of his King.

************************************************** *

The two fighters on the field shouted out loud simultaneously and violently attacked the other side. Lou Wuxin’s sword moves like the wind, sweeping widely and the sword aura is like the mountain, extremely mighty and ferocious. Almost as soon as they made contact, Fu Jianyin fell into the situation of being badgered.

Xiang Shaolong at this moment caught sight of Teng Yi galloping on the horse, passing through the gate, he reached out and pushed Han Chuang on the back, saying “Go and stop this duel quickly!”

Han Chuang looked like he was in a dilemma because this Fu Jianyin was passed off as a Zhao to enter the fight. If he says anything, wouldn’t it be obvious that Fu Jianyin is actually his man.

Both sides were watching the fight quietly, it wasn’t like before where everyone was screaming their support, the tension was as tight as a drawn bowstring.

Right when Han Chuang was still hesitating, the winner emerged.

Fu Jianyin lost in strength, as he stumbled slightly, Lou Wuxin swept towards his shoulder with the sword and the sound of bone breaking could be heard. As he groaned in pain, Fu Jianyin tumbled forward, and when he got back on his feet, the pain is already causing his face to be wet with cold sweat.

Lou Wuxin laughed out loud, “Thank you for giving way!”

Xiang Shaolong gestured towards Teng Yi who was walking towards them after getting off the horse. The latter understood his intention and shouted loudly from the distance, “I’m Long Shan, Dong Kuang’s family warriors, this brother looks very familiar, would you mind giving me a few instruction?”

The crowd at this time can’t be bothered to find out how Fu Jianyin was being carried out, neither did they notice that Zhao Zhi has just returned to the field and was seated amongst her senior and junior brothers, they were all focused on sizing up this uninvited warrior.

Lou Wuxin looked Teng Yi up and down disdainfully and coldly replied, “If you want to fight, you have to use real swords to able to display real skills.” Teng Yi laughed, “Why not? But Mister Li better send another fighter for me to tire me out a little bit before we can fight or so that it’ll be fair when I fight with you.”

Zhao Mu sighed, “Is your family warrior a moron, he didn’t even know how to take advantage of the situation?”

Ji Yanran smiled, “A Master will have a servant who behaves like him, and this is what a true hero is about.”

Zhao Mu couldn’t help but give an embarrassed laugh, angry at himself for showing that he is not a hero at all.

Li Yuan was afraid that Lou Wuxin didn’t have time to regain his breath yet and when he saw that at Xiang Shaolong did not show any reaction, happily said, “Definitely hero material!” He made a gesture and one of the warriors behind him whose face looked like an ancient copper obeyed his order and stepped out.

Xiang Shaolong turned towards Ji Yanran, “Who’s this person?”

Under the crowd’s expectant gaze, Ji Yanran shook her head bewilderedly.

That person came in front of Teng Yi, and very calmly said, “I don’t like to use fake swords too, what is your opinion?” Teng Yi frostily replied, “Brother, how may I address you?”

That person calmly replied, “My name is Yanfu, I am just a nobody!”

Once everyone heard, not one of them didn’t get stirred.

Xiang Shaolong of course didn’t know who he is, his questioning gaze turned towards Ji Yanran for clarification.

Ji Yanran looked solemn as she replied, “He was originally a famous swordsman from Qin but ran away to Chu because he killed someone. I did not expect him to join Li Yuan. From this, it could be seen that Li Yuan’s influence in Chu is growing by leaps and bounds, no wonder he is so arrogant.”

Han Chuang and the rest started to worry for Teng Yi.

“Clang!”

Yanfu pulled out his glimmering sharp sword, fell back two steps, pointed at Teng Yi and shouted, “Still haven’t pulled out your sword yet?”

Teng Yi was expressionless but a coldness radiated from his eyes as he unhurriedly said, “When the time comes, the sword will naturally be pulled out of its sheath!”

Yanfu was furious as he roared, straighten up the sword and attacked.

Instantly, a cold glare flared, blinding everyone’s eyes.

No one could have expected that the friendly competition between influential officials could turn into a real life and death fight.