Danger In Every Step (步步危险)

[Steven Chen]

Danger In Every Step (步步危险)

Prologue

The martial arts fraternity is unpredictable and ever changing. Those who live in the martial arts fraternity are unable to do as they like. After the passing of devil cult's Ren Woxing and mysterious disappearance heaven's number one martial artist Dongfang Bubai, the followers of the martial arts fraternity were able to enjoy a period of peace and quiet. But as the saying goes, evil can never be completely destroyed and good cannot triumph over evil forever. After a group of evil is eliminated, a new group of evil will surface. But in every new generation of the martial arts era, a new hero is born. Danger In Every Step depicts the story of a group of young heroes making their mark in the martial arts fraternity.

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Pugilist *

[Malevolent]

The young lady in your story reminds me of her

Look forward to your next chapter soon

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[Steven Chen]

The young lady in your story reminds me of her

Look forward to your next chapter soon

Lol! Yup I was picturing Liu Shishi when I wrote about the young lady

[Steven Chen]

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Pugilist

There is a famous Chinese saying that goes ‘Above is heaven, below is Hangzhou’. Hangzhou City’s glamour was largely due to the West Lake which was renowned for having the best scenery under heaven.

Zui Sheng Meng Si wine house was considered the best locations in all of West Lake. It was located on the banks of West Lake, overlooking the beautiful scenery of the lake.

A group of people including men, women and children gathered at the lounge. All of them were looking toward the concrete platform in the lake with full attention. They were not there to enjoy the beautiful scenery or drink the good wine. They came to witness the martial arts duel between Mount Hua Sect and Qingcheng Sect.

The competition’s panel of judges comprised of the capital’s magistrate Yang Baichuan and the martial arts fraternity’s chief Duan Bufan. The two honorable judges sat under a pavilion connected to a long stone bridge leading to the riverbank, across the concrete platform.

A gray hair middle aged man in his fifties, dressed in pale brown garment sat at the balcony of Zui Sheng Meng Si wine house drinking wine. He lifted up his head and peeked at the concrete with his dull and tired eyes. He was the proprietor of the Zui Sheng Meng Si wine house.

Standing behind him were his daughter Zhuo Lan and apprentice Li Haoyang. They decided to their daily chores aside to keep him company. It was not the first time a martial arts duel was held at the lake but it was certainly Zhuo Yizu’s first time watching it. The two youngsters’ intuition told them that the duel was important to Zhuo Yizui.

Zhuo Lan was eighteen this year. She looked natural yet beautiful. Li Haoyang was twenty five years old. He was sturdy and handsome.

Zhuo Lan leaned forward and placed a cup of wine on the side table next to Zhuo Yizui’s chair. “Father, have a drink,” she said softly.

Zhuo Yizui turned his head toward Li Haoyang and asked, “Haoyang, what are your views on today’s duel?”

Li Haoyang crossed his arms and said with a smile, “Mount Hua Sect and Qingcheng Sec are both renowned sword schools in the martial arts fraternity. Until we see the two pugilists perform it would be difficult to tell the outcome. Sword moves are static. The one executing the move is alive. Hence, the pugilist who is able to perform his sword moves in a lively manner will be the winner.”

Zhuo Yizui nodded pleasingly. “The art of swordplay calls for fluency like floating clouds and flowing water. Natural and smooth, come and go freely.”

On the east side of the wine house, Hu Qihong self-confidently walked along the stone bridge leading to the concrete platform. Behind him were four men walking single file. They stopped at the riverbank and watched him make his way to the concrete platform.

“Qingcheng Sect’s Head Master Hu has arrive!” a loud voice announced.

The large crowd standing around the riverbank looked toward Hu Qihong. Their faces were filled with excitement.

Hu Qihong stood in the middle of the concrete platform and looked around the surroundings, searching for his opponent. Seeing that his opponent has not arrive he frowned and spat annoyingly. “Mount Hua Sect’s apprentices are not punctual at all,” he mocked displeasingly.

A Qingcheng Sect apprentice standing at the riverbank responded by saying, “Mount Hua Sect apprentices must have decided to pull out because they are scared that they will lose.”

A sudden breeze rustled the leaves. A blurred pale blue figure flew over the trees, glided over the crow and went straight to the stream. The blurred blue figure lightly trod the surface of the stream and strode toward the concrete platform at unimaginable speed.

Zhuo Yizui’s eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped. He was astonished with the blurred blue figure’s movements. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief as he watched the blurred blue figure gracefully stepped onto the concrete platform.

Zhuo Lan noticed the sudden change on Zhuo Yizui’s face. She patted Zhuo Yizui on the shoulder and asked alarmingly, “Father, are you alright?”

Li Haoyang turned his head toward Zhuo Yizui and asked, “Master, is there something wrong?”

“That person’s agility skill is weird…” he uttered in a trembling voice.

Li Haoyang noticed the blurred blur figure’s movements too. “There are skies beyond skies. Perhaps Mount Hua Sect made a huge progress in their agility skills,” he remarked.

Zhuo Yizui narrowed his eyes and stared at the blue figure intently. His poor eyesight did not allow him to have a closer look at the blue figure’s face. He looked toward Zhuo Lan and asked, “Lan’er, tell how does the person in blue garment looks like.”

Zhuo Lan nodded and narrowed her eyes to take a closer look. “I can only tell that he is a young man,” she described.

“There are only two people under heaven who has such weird agility skills. Looks like the martial arts fraternity will have to suffer another round of foul wind and bloody rain,” Zhuo Yizui sighed.

Zhuo Lan and Li Haoyang noticed the sadness on Zhuo Yizui’s face. They lifted up their heads and looked at each other confusingly.

Zhuo Yizui suddenly raised the cup and gulped down his wine before saying, “Let’s just enjoy this interesting duel! The martial arts fraternity issues are of no concern to us.”

At the concrete platform, Hu Qihong took a step forward, glanced toward the blue figure facing him and asked rudely, “Stinky lad! Who are you?”

The blue figure was a young gentleman dressed in pale blue silk scholar robe. His appearance carried an air of elegance. Lightly waving the folding fan in his hand, he looked into Hu Qihong eyes and replied in a cold voice, “Mount Hua Sect’s Linghu Chong.” His voice was clear and tender, sounded like a female’s voice, echoing into the distance.

Judging from the young gentleman’s vocal strength, the martial artists in the area could tell that the young gentleman had very profound internal skills.

Zhuo Yizui was startled by the young gentleman’s words. He abruptly stood up and tried to take a closer look at the young gentleman.

Zhuo Lan and Li Haoyang reached their hands out and grabbed Zhuo Yizui on both sides of his arm.

“Father, are you alright?” Zhuo Lan asked worriedly.

Zhuo Yizui took a deep breath to compose himself and replied, “Yes. I’m alright.”

Back on the concrete platform, Hu Qihong laughed and said, “If you’re Linghu Chong then I would be Dongfang Bubai!”

Initially the young gentleman was indifferent toward Hu Qihong. But the moment he heard Hu Qihong mention the name Dongfang Bubai, he could not help but to lost his composure. Without any warning, he strode toward Hu Qihong and slapped him on both his cheeks four times repeatedly.

Hu Qihong felt a sudden pain on his cheeks while his body swayed left and right. He cried in pain and started pleading the young gentleman to stop.

The young gentleman folded his right hand behind his back and took several steps back.

Hu Qihong regained his balance, gently touched his cheeks in pain and stared at the young gentleman in anger.

Duan Bufan narrowed his eyes and stared at the young gentleman suspiciously. He was certain that the young gentleman was a female disguising as a male. “Young lady, who are you? Why are you pretending to be a male and using Hero Linghu’s name?” he asked authoritatively.

“That is none of your business. I’m representing Mount Hua Sect to take part in this duel,” the girl replied indifferently.

Yang Baichuan slammed his palm onto the chair armrest and snorted in anger, “Stinky lass! How dare you be rude to Head Master Duan!”

Duan Bufan turned his head to look at Yang Baichuan and said, “Lord Yang, looks like this young lady is here to cause trouble. I think we should cancel today’s competition.”

The girl folded her arms across her chest and said coldly, “How about you exchange a few moves with me so that I can prove to you that I’m from Mount Hua Sect.”

Duan Bufan looked at the girl fiercely and said, “I would never use my hands on a female. If you don’t want to end up in prison I suggest that you leave now.”

Hu Qihong interrupted them and said angrily, “Chief Duan, this stinky lass sneaked attack me. I’m not going to let her walk away just like that!” With those words, he reached for the long sword fastened to his waist, pulled it backward toward the air and dashed toward the young gentleman. Letting out a loud yell, he swung his arm and slashed the long sword toward the girl’s neck.

The girl bent her body backward in an arc and took several steps forward to dodge the slash. After that, she turned around, lifted up her leg and kicked Hu Qihong buttocks.

Hu Qihong stumbled and almost fell. He brought his right leg forward to regain his balance and subsequently turned around, with his long sword slashing vertically at the girl’s hip.

The girl gracefully jumped over the blade swishing toward her and reached for the hilt of her saber concealed in the side of her right boot. She swung her arm out in an arc, slashed her saber across the hair bun on top of Hu Qihong’s head and followed through with a kick to his face.

The girl’s movements were so fast that the onlookers only saw a blurry gleam of light slashing through the hair bun on top Hu Qihong’s and a faint image hitting his face.

The hair bun flew off from Hu Qihong’s head flew into the air. He stumbled backwards and landed on his back in pain.

The girl alighted on the ground and pointed the edge of her saber at Hu Qihong’s head.

Duan Bufan widened his eyes and looked at the girl in amazement. “At such a young age you already have such a high level of martial arts cultivation. Looks like old man has no choice but to exchange a few moves with you!”

The girl stretched her left hand out and thrust her index finger at Hu Qihong’s shoulder, sealing his acupoints. After that, she turned around to confront her next opponent.

Duan Bufan leapt out of the pavilion and flew toward the girl rapidly. While in the air, he channeled his inner energy into his index finger and discharged a gleam of energy at the girl. The gleam of energy cut through the air like a knife and flew straight at the girl

The girl was unfazed by the attack. She tilted her body to the left and evaded the oncoming beam of energy. She subsequently reached into her pocket, pulled out a stack of sewing needles and hurled it at Duan Bufan rapidly.

Duan Bufan saw the projectiles flying toward him rapidly. He instantly waved his sleeve and blew the sewing needles away. After that, he alighted on the ground, stretched his left hand out and projected a beam of energy from the tip of his finger at the girl.

The girl moved her left leg backward and shifted her body sideways to dodge the gleam of energy. The speed of her movements was a few sections faster than the incoming gleam of energy.


Duan Bufan knew that too. But that did not weaken his determination. He stretched his hands out one after another, discharging gleams of energy from his fingers at the girl.

Rapid gleams of energy started flying at the girl from all directions.

By the time the girl dodged a gleam of energy aiming at her face, another gleam of energy was already approaching the side of her body. No matter how fast she was, she just could not avoid the countless gleams of energy flying at her.

A cup suddenly cut through the air and flew in between the girl and Duan Bufan. It knocked against one of energy gleam and shattered into pieces. However, the collision did not impeded the energy’s progression. It only reduced its strength.

The gleam of energy hit the girl’s shoulder. She cried with pain while her body flew off from the concrete platform and crashed into the lake.

The onlookers cheered enthusiastically as they realized that Duan Bufan had won. None of them showed any concern for the girl who had vanished into the lake.

“Chief Duan is indeed under heaven’s number one martial artist!”

Duan Bufan showed no excitement over his victory. Instead, he turned his head to look toward the direction where the cup came from and saw Zhuo Yizui sitting at the balcony drinking his wine. “That person sitting there is a martial arts expert,” he thought.

Li Haoyang snorted coldly and said, “He said that he would not lay his hands on the girl earlier but now he has taken her life. Looks like he is another hypocrite that goes against his own word.”

Zhuo Yizui stood up, turned around and walked out of the balcony. “Gentleman? I’ve not heard of that word for decades,” he said with a laugh.

Zhuo Lan looked toward the lake and asked disturbingly, “Shouldn’t we go and look for the girl? She might be still alive.”

Li Haoyang shook his head and said, “She should be dead by now. No one will be able to survive that kind of hit.”

***

[Mandred Skavenslayer]

Good work. I always imagined LHC would end up running a pub. Keep it up.

[Liljanger]

Nice first chapter. Can't wait to see who is the villain.

[Steven Chen]

Good work. I always imagined LHC would end up running a pub. Keep it up.

LHC isn't the main character here though lol. Key focus will be on the two boys and that girl

Nice first chapter. Can't wait to see who is the villain.

Thanks for the compliments

[Eccentric One]

Thank goodness it's not another lhc and dfbb story. Ever since dongfang xue started hers there were many other people here on this forum who did the same and it's getting boring

[Liljanger]

Thank goodness it's not another lhc and dfbb story. Ever since dongfang xue started hers there were many other people here on this forum who did the same and it's getting boring

There is no need to get upset. If you dislike a story just don't read it. I'm sure there are other readers out there that likes it

[Eccentric One]

There is no need to get upset. If you dislike a story just don't read it. I'm sure there are other readers out there that likes it

Martial Odessy seems to be the hottest story around. Looks at the number of people that comments on it. LHC and DFBB is getting old just saying.

[ThatTibiaPlayer]

Interesting ^^

[szfong]

Hi Steven,

Just noticed your fan fiction earlier today. It looks good... In Duke of Mt Deer, the monk mentioned LHC, hence I've always felt, Jing Yong should have revised his story by letting LHC break taboo and happily marry all his girlfriends at the end--like WeiXiaoBao. Hehehe

He can stop gambling after marrying the nun.

It does seems that every time he is around Yilin or nuns in general, bad luck happens. He either gets attacked, accused of murder, assault, and theft, or sustain life threatening injury.

[Steven Chen]

Thanks for the support Liljanger and ThatTibiaPlayer.

Hi Szfong! Thanks for dropping by! There won't' be much emphasis on LHC this time round. But yes he will get his bad luck for marrying one later

I'm in the midst of doing some alterations. Will post it up soon. Hate it when I write half way and a new idea pops up lol

[Liljanger]

Hi Steven,

Just noticed your fan fiction earlier today. It looks good... In Duke of Mt Deer, the monk mentioned LHC, hence I've always felt, Jing Yong should have revised his story by letting LHC break taboo and happily marry all his girlfriends at the end--like WeiXiaoBao. Hehehe

He can stop gambling after marrying the nun.

It does seems that every time he is around Yilin or nuns in general, bad luck happens. He either gets attacked, accused of murder, assault, and theft, or sustain life threatening injury.

YLS is dead...RYY ought to die too. So it's just dfbb and yl left

[Steven Chen]

Please take note that I have done some changes on the header and chapter 1. You can read it http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthre...=1#post1091911

[Mandred Skavenslayer]

Please take note that I have done some changes on the header and chapter 1. You can read it http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthre...=1#post1091911

Interesting rewrite. 1 Yang finger vs Dugu 9 sword and Sunflower Manual. Should make an exciting match. Are 18 dragon palm and toad stance also going to make an appearance?

[Bladebird]

I really like the intro from before. I wish you kept it up. I didn't really like the entrance of the girl. Maybe it's because she feels arrogant and it's not from her POV. I find it interesting that his apprentice isn't as heroic as the master. He feels like a man who likes to avoid conflicts. It could be either his own personality or what Linghu Chong taught him. It would be interesting to see him with the girl. They appear to be opposites at the moment and a complete reverse of Linghu Chong and Dongfang Bubai. Linghu bit off more than he can chew and got kicked in the *** for it. Dongfang didn't really care for strangers but only for her loved ones. If you planning to make them into a pair, it would be a very interesting and sparking romance.