The city was as busy and crowded as usual. People were bustling around while the hawkers performed their various antics to attract customers. Many swordsmen would have passed by without giving it a second look. However, to Zhuang Kuen and Liu Xuan, this was a fairyland. They had never experienced all this sight and sounds in their lives as they had never stepped out of their island before. Despite being in their twenties, both behaved like a child the moment they stepped out into the street, exclaiming and pointing in every direction.posted by Phoenix_Aquaris
“Stop `wow`ing and pointing. You guys have been doing it around fifty times already.” Bei Xing laughed amusedly.
Both Zhuang Kuen and Liu Xuan blushed in embarrassment. “Sorry,” Zhuang Kuen apologized, “Lost control of myself… Was I behaving very childishly earlier?”
“No,” Bei Xing lied, trying to divert their gaze away from the passers-by, who were looking at them as though they were aliens. “Enjoy while you can here, it’s time for both of you to have some fun after being cooped in an island for so long.”
This was the reason why we were so eager to leave the island, Liu Xuan thought, looking at Zhuang Kuen, our lives would be so meaningless if we did not see what does the world really look like…
These two must be a couple… Everytime they look at each other and smile, there is romance in their eyes, thought Bei Xing, but he pretended he saw nothing and did not ask anything about it, after all, this is their private matters, why should you interfere, he told himself…
Lost in thoughts, the trio became extremely quiet and walked silently towards their destination.
“Idiot! Stay where you are! Stop being such a coward and face us like a man!”
“How ridiculous! If I were to stay there, I would have been made mincemeat by now, sometimes it takes for wits to be a man too, not just bravery!”
Someone brushed past Liu Xuan, followed by eight tough-looking men wielding sabers. Just when the coward appeared to be running away, one of the burly men did a somersault in air and landed right in front of the guy who tried to escape. The guy shrieked in fright and ran back towards the trio.
This person is none other than Ling Feng.
His gambling addiction was acting up again, and it would mean another few days without sleep if he did not gamble. But when he did, luck is truly not on his side. He lost all the money he had earned for the past few days. Even worse, he borrowed money from the butchers, and had lost them too, and now he had no choice but to escape from the butchers. But he did not know that these butchers know kung fu, now the possibility of him surviving is almost non-existent. It was until he saw the sword on Zhuang Kuen’s back that he knew there is a chance of him living after all…
“Master Swordsman, these butchers are trying to kill me, being a swordsman it is your responsibility to protect the weak, am I right?”
“Are you a man at all, now that you are in trouble you actually pleaded other people to save you? Be a man and take us on!” The butcher shouted. “You owed us so much money now we do not have a place to live, shouldn’t you do something about it?”
Sensing that matters are getting out of hand, Bei Xing cleared his voice, “Benevolent misters, instead of resorting to violence, why don’t make peace with each other? As for now, we will pay you the money the man has owed you, as for you,” he said, facing Ling Feng gravely. “You will have to earn hard and pay us how much you owe, or else we will spare no mercy on you too!”
These words reverberated in the air, which proves how mush internal energy he has, with that, he gave the butchers all his money and wrote an IOU. The butchers left quickly, as they were now afraid of Bei Xing. Liu Xuan, who despised Ling Feng’s cowardice, barked, “What are you waiting for? New Year? Quickly write an IOU and scram!”
Ling Feng laughed, “An IOU is unnecessary, young lady. You have given me a favour and now I will repay you. This master (referring to BeiXing) is injured, surely if I heal him we do not owe each other anymore, is that right?” When he finished speaking, everybody looked at Bei Xing. Even Bei Xing, looked confused, for he had rested at the inn for a long time until he is certain he has fully recovered, how could he be injured? “I am injured? Please enlighten me.”
Liu Xuan laughed, “I am afraid this is a ploy to trick us of our money. He would pretend to heal you of your non-existent illness and thus, he do not owe us anymore. My, isn’t this boy scheming!”
“Well, as you wish, master pugilist, would you mind trying to channel your qi through the shuixue acupoint?” Ling Feng asked politely.
Bei Xing did as he was told, at the beginning, nothing unusual happened. Liu Xuan mocked, “What a liar, there’s nothing wrong with elder Bei…” At that precise moment, Bei Xing screamed. His body was shaking madly while his face was turning blue. Ling Feng stepped in calmly, and inserted a needle into Bei Xing’s forehead without looking. Bei Xing collapsed onto the floor weakly.
Nobody had doubts about Ling Feng’s medical prowess this time. Liu Xuan was speechless, Zhuang Kuen asked Ling Feng about what happened. Ling Feng said, “This pugilist must be suffering from severe internal injuries, someone used an unorthodox skill to heal him, but instead of healing him, this energy fought with this pugilist’s energy dissipating skill as they are of different nature, hurting his shuixue acupoint. If this master pugilist is fighting an enemy, he would die if he accidentally channel his internal energy pass that point. These are the herbs that can cure him, let him take it every hourly, and he will be cured by tomorrow.” With that, he handed some herbs over to Zhuen Kuen and left for the nearest inn.
“Sister Liu, let’s carry elder Bei back to the inn to rest.” Liu Xuan nodded. BeiXing said nothing but he was both impressed and frightened by the physician’s medical prowess. How on earth did he know that I am practicing the Energy Dissipating skill and Shue Yun’s transfer of energy into my body when I was severely injured? And I could feel a mild presence of qi circulating his body. It seemed almost undetectable yet abundant, it looks like he is masking his qi, there is more to the guy that meets the eye.