Lord of the Desert

Chapter 483: Winning
By the time everything was settled, it was already 4 p.m.

The setting sun dyed the clouds.

Hong Fan walked down from the inn. Through the gray and white gauze curtain in front of him, he saw the cloth banners of the wine shop fluttering in the wind and the smoke rising into the sky.

He was still thinking about a piece of new information he had just received while chatting with the Feihong Sword Sect.

The fourth genius from Cangxu City arrived today - Qiandianxing from Duanli City - who took the initiative to seek advice from Chu Jiange after paying tribute to the mourning hall. His flying sword was as fast as a shadow, cutting through gold and jade, but in the end it only lasted five rounds.

Hong Fan was unaware of Tang Xingqing's combat power due to the blessing of the magic weapon.

But Tang Shengwang's combat effectiveness had long been stable, and he had seen it many times on the offensive end in Licheng.

Hong Fan walked on the bluestone slabs, following his body's instinct to avoid passers-by, while simulating a fight with Tang Shengwang in his mind.

[The attack speed of Qiansi Nian's flying sword is extremely fast. Five round trips at close range may not even take three seconds...]

After thinking for a while, the sword energy that cut off the bullet at close range that day flashed in his mind, and he had to admit that he was far from being a match for Chu Jiange in the ring.

Annoyed and bored.

A slight burning sensation in the chest.

Hong Fan frowned and stopped, looking inward for a moment as passers-by shivered and glanced at him, then realized that it was his own competitive spirit that was taking over.

【Do I care about winning or losing? 】

He asked himself.

Five years ago, when Hong Fan first came to this world, he had already been practicing martial arts, but at that time he neither respected martial arts nor cared about winning or losing. He just regarded everything as a means to accomplish things and gain fame.

Now, after years of honing his skills in fists, legs, swords and knives, the originally self-disciplined and calm man can now enjoy the escape from life and death in the fight of swords.

He remembered what Qu Luoyi said about him in the heavy snow.

[You are not good at fighting, nor are you obsessed with martial arts. Your mind wanders to and fro, and your thoughts are all kinds of strange and scattered. It stands to reason that such a person would never be able to practice martial arts well, but your progress in cultivation is not only not slower than mine, but your achievements in killing techniques are far higher than mine. It really doesn't make sense.]

"Because I'm cheating..."

Hong Fan laughed to himself.

The west wind swept through the streets, and he strolled among the falling leaves, intersecting with the autumn of Dahua for the sixth time.

At this time, Hong Fan heard a familiar voice from the jewelry shop across the street.

"This hairpin really suits me."

He looked through the gap in the veil in the direction of the sound.

A dark gold hairpin, inlaid with an obsidian as deep as lake water; there is no bead chain hanging on the hairpin head, it is very simple and refreshing.

Tang Xingqing, who was wearing a black gold dress, inserted the hairpin into her hair, straightened it slightly, tilted her head towards the mercury mirror, and then twirled the hem of her skirt, stood on tiptoe and turned half a circle in her boots.

[The fact that he is so interested in this after a recent defeat shows that Xiao Tang has made some progress in the past two years.]

Hong Fan watched the person trying on the hairpin and commented silently, and felt himself lighten and excited.

Only a few feet away, Tang Xingqing quickly noticed the gazes from the flowing street. She turned around and saw a man in white with his head hidden under a veil. At first she looked at him coldly, but then she recognized who it was in an instant.

The last time we met was over a year ago.

She first widened her eyes and smiled unconsciously, but then she thought about how artificial her actions just now were, and her cheeks became a little hot.

"No need to change the remaining money."

Tang Xingqing took out the silver ingot and placed it on the table, then said something to the smiling shopkeeper and walked out.

In the teahouse next door, the two of them found a private room separated by a bamboo fence and sat down.

The white window screen was blown up by the wind, gently brushing back and forth across the short table.

"Aren't you working in Shenjing? Why are you in Cangxu?"

Tang Xingqing held the hot tea in both hands and hunched her shoulders like a black cat.

"Are you here to pay your respects to Zhenzong?"

These days, the incident of the Blazing Star Dragon crossing the river has caused a lot of buzz in and out of the city, but Jiuzhou is vast, and Duanli City and Cangxu City are one in the far west and one in the northeast. It is not easy for the Tang family to receive the news of the death and arrive in time before the burial, so they still don’t know the inside story.

"I went to pay my respects, but that can't be considered my reason for coming here."

Hong Fan smiled awkwardly.

"I am here as a bad guest."

Tang Xingqing lifted her hair, not understanding what it meant.

"Evil visitor?"

The gold paper flower between her brows gleamed against the light.

"I was ordered by the headmaster to lead a team to investigate the tax evasion by Qingdi Zhenzong in early July."

Hong Fan finished speaking in one breath.

"Now? During Senior Yang's mourning period?"

Tang Xingqing, who was sipping tea, was stunned. When she put down the cup, there was a piece of tea leaves on her lips.

"Yes, the headmaster is not particular about small matters. He doesn't care about this."

Hong Fan laughed.

"You came all the way here. Do the Tang family have a good relationship with Zhenzong?"

He asked casually. "It's OK. Our two families both respect sword skills and have been in contact for many years."

Tang Xingqing replied seriously, and suddenly added another sentence while looking at Hong Fan's face.

"It's just so-so, it's just a matter of courtesy, but we don't have any real friendship."

They both laughed when they heard this.

"I heard that you fought with Chu Jiange today."

Hong Fan drank up the tea and added more, and finally couldn't help asking.

"How about it?"

At this point, Tang Xingqing wiped away the blush on her cheeks and shook her head slightly.

"I attacked him four times in a row, but he only defended and didn't attack. It wasn't until the fifth move that he used his sword to cut off the hair near my ear, and I had no choice but to admit defeat."

She recalled with an empty gaze, and her right hand involuntarily reached for Jingnian's sword case beside her.

"Too fast to react?"

Hong Fan asked again.

“Not really. Chu Jiange’s sword energy was very fast, but I was a little afraid to resist it at that time—it was as if his sword energy could even hurt Jing Nian.”

Tang Xingqing weighed her words carefully.

"He and I were sparring in the courtyard. We were only ten steps apart at the beginning. If we were ten feet apart, it would not be impossible for the sparring to last for twenty moves..."

"The Tongtian Sword Scripture is indeed very famous."

Hong Fan heard the little girl's reluctance and echoed her.

"It's been a long time since we last met, so let's not talk about these trivial matters."

He drove out the absurd idea of ​​"testing Mingshen and Chimian Suanni with the Sand Flow Knife" from his mind and asked with a smile.

"I have booked a store in the north of the city. Why don't you come and visit me? You don't have to travel five or six thousand miles back to Duanli tonight, do you?"

Tang Xingqing felt embarrassed and annoyed when she heard that, and glared at him fiercely, but quickly returned to her usual cold look.

"Not convenient now."

She shook her head.

"I am the leader of the team coming home to watch the ceremony. You must set an example and not run around in the next two days. So, give me your address, and I will come to find you after September 25th."

Hong Fan was surprised at her generosity and generosity: "After three days of absence, you should really look at her with new eyes!"

"Hmph, I may not be as good as you in martial arts..."

Tang Xingqing raised her head and snorted softly, looking directly at the majestic Chixing, tapping the sword case lightly with her fingertips.

"But the one sitting opposite you is still the best swordsman in the three counties of Huaiyang in the past ten years!"

When she said this, she was young, proud, and her childishness was full of unyielding determination.

It was the Qiandianxing in Longqiu Town who was so concerned about his status even though he was living under someone else's roof.

······
Two days later, September 25th.

After three months of hanging the sword in the sky, the coffin will be opened and buried.

In the morning, the heroes of Jianghu gathered at the Qing Emperor Zhenzong for a banquet, and they kept silent during the banquet to show respect.

In the afternoon, Xin Wencheng, Zhang Angxiong, Gu Junda and other core members of the sect personally carried the coffin down the mountain.

On that day, dark clouds covered the sky and it seemed as if a crack appeared in the sky.

The burial site was chosen on a majestic mountaintop thirty miles north of Cangxu Mountain, adjacent to the ancestors of the Zhenzong sect. After climbing the mountain, the spectators waited for an hour in the fierce west wind until the auspicious moment when the sun set and the bright red twilight poured over the mountaintop like copper liquid, then the funeral began.

Following the practice of most Yuanci warriors, Yang Cuiwei was buried in a rock after her death - first a square pit four or five feet deep was dug out in the whole rock, the coffin with the five internal organs removed was buried in it, and then the whole rock was used to cover it, and finally molten iron was poured into the gap.

After a quarter of an hour, the molten iron cooled and solidified.

The mausoleum was cast.

Xin Wencheng took off his coat, carried the granite stele, which was ten feet high and weighed five thousand pounds, on his back, poured soil into it, and then knelt down to ask Hou Zhiye, the most senior master of Hejian State present, to point at the inscription and write it.

Hou Zhiye was over 160 years old and ranked 85th on the Earth List. He was a distant cousin of Hou Zhiqiu, the Martial Saint of Hejian State, who was known as "Dong Zhao Taixu". Although they had the same generation name, their ages differed by nearly sixty years.

There were tombs and tombstones, incense and candles, and the guests bowed one by one amid the flying paper money, while hundreds of Zhenzong disciples with accomplishments each took seeds and squandered their true energy to give birth to a new forest on the top of the mountain.

After the ceremony, Hou Zhiye, who was known for his arrogance and harshness, left without saying a word, which somewhat embarrassed Xin Wencheng, but

The guests watching the ceremony just breathed a sigh of relief.

Only the disciples of Zhenzong remained silent.

The strong wind pushed the team down the mountain.

That night, everyone returned to Zhenzong to attend the last funeral banquet - although it was called a funeral, there was actually no sad atmosphere at all - with good wine and delicious food, everyone toasted each other, those who knew each other chatted, and those who didn't know each other made friends, and the atmosphere was surprisingly warm.

This feast in particular used the best thirty-year-old wine from Cangxu City, which was supplied in unlimited quantities at eight taels of silver per jar. Considering the huge number of warriors, it could be said to be a luxury.

Half an hour later, the cups and plates were in a mess, the empty jars had piled up into a small mountain, and most people were half drunk.

Xin Wencheng saw that the time had come, so he stood up, walked to the hallway, and cleared his throat loudly.

It became quiet inside and outside Guangyin Hall.

(End of this chapter)