Chapter 52
Chapter 52: The Spectacular Battle of the Century
As Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan took their leave, the ill-intentioned people who had been watching Rong Shu could only grit their teeth and endure.
Five days passed with no result, and the powers behind them were already impatient.
Annoyed and uneasy, the group huddled to discuss countermeasures: one said: “What do we do now? That Rong Shu sticks to Cheng Bu Fan every day. With Cheng Bu Fan around, we cannot force Rong Shu onto the dueling platform.”
Another said: “Then find a chance to get him out of the way. The two of them cannot be together every second.”
A third said: “When the time comes, we will press Rong Shu with sect rules. As a personal disciple, she cannot refuse challenges from outer sect disciples. These past few days she has just muddled past us with jokes and distractions.”
A fourth said: “Elder Yun has already been taken care of. This time, even if that Rong Shu tries every excuse not to accept a ring match, it will definitely not work.”
…
The next day.
As usual, Rong Shu came to give her lecture.
But when class ended, Rong Shu did not see Cheng Bu Fan, who had agreed to come with her.
As if it had been arranged in advance, those people came again to make trouble for Rong Shu. One of them grinned viciously and said: “With no Cheng Bu Fan here this time, let us see what you can—”
Rong Shu answered carelessly: “All right. I can accept your challenge.”
His voice cut off at once. His expression turned wary and uncertain; he had not expected Rong Shu to agree so easily.
The few of them were instantly on guard.
They had pestered her for five days while Rong Shu hid like a turtle in its shell, shamelessly pretending not to hear them and dodging them.
Why agree all of a sudden?
[Could this be a ploy? No way…]
Nearby disciples, accustomed to such scenes but with nothing better to do, stopped to watch. When they heard Rong Shu actually agree to a challenge, surprise showed on more than a few faces.
Rong Shu then added unhurriedly: “…but you will have to line up.”
The troublemakers froze: “Line up?”
“Of course,” Rong Shu said, as if it were only natural, pointing at herself: “I am a personal disciple. Many people are curious about me, so others have already challenged me, and I agreed to them first.”
She smiled: “If you want to challenge me, you should follow the rule of first come, first served, should you not?”
It sounded odd, but considering that many people probably disliked Rong Shu in secret, it was not strange that someone would challenge her. The lead troublemaker said without thinking: “Then we will be second.”
Rong Shu shook her head with a look of regret: “Sorry. A personal disciple can only be challenged three times in a month. My three slots this month have already been booked.”
Others could exploit a loophole in the ring-match rules, namely that a personal disciple cannot refuse active challenges from inner or outer sect disciples. Rong Shu could turn that same rule to her own use.
There was also a supplementary clause that the elders who drafted the rules had long ago considered: if too many people actively challenge the same disciple, it would only delay that human cultivator’s personal cultivation, so a cap on challenges was set.
If a personal disciple is challenged three times within a month, any further challenges that month may be declined outright.
“What?!”
“Are you playing us?”
How could it be such a coincidence?
And booked in advance, all three!
Besides, the troublemakers had never heard of any such thing as booking challenges.
“Who booked them?”
They had been watching Rong Shu these days and had not seen any disciple approach her. How could this be…
Wait!
There was one person who had approached Rong Shu.
Rong Shu’s voice came, confirming their guess: “Senior Brother Cheng, Cheng Bu Fan. Senior Brother Cheng and I hit it off, and we have already arranged three ring matches this month.”
She added warmly: “Senior brothers, even if you cannot personally instruct me, you can still come watch on the day of the ring. If there is anything I do wrong, I hope you senior brothers will give me guidance.”
Guidance?
Everyone went a bit dumb.
The troublemaking disciples snapped out of it and, recalling the recent closeness between Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan, grew furious at once: “You did this on purpose.”
“What kind of challenge is that? Do not think we do not know how cozy you are with that Cheng fellow. How could the two of you possibly—”
“Why is it impossible?” Rong Shu cut off their questioning, feigning incomprehension as she smiled at them: “Did you not say yourselves that the purpose of the ring is to deepen cultivation exchanges between disciples?”
“Then since Senior Brother Cheng and I get along, using the ring for friendly sparring and mutual learning is quite normal. I believe most disciples do the same.”
At that, people could not help nodding.
Indeed.
Aside from those who pick fights on purpose or settle private grudges, when one goes up to spar on the platform, one naturally chooses a fellow disciple one gets along with to exchange insights and improve together.
Keeping her harmless smile, Rong Shu said: “Senior brothers, I will take my leave. The first ring challenge is tomorrow afternoon. Do remember to come watch.”
The troublemakers’ expressions stiffened.
Nearby disciples could not help letting out a snort.
[Is this what they call striking at the heart?]
In any case, Rong Shu’s words served as a reminder to everyone to go to the martial arena tomorrow afternoon for a spectacle.
News spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred, running through the outer sect.
A first-layer Qi Refining personal disciple having a ring match with the son of a peak master at the ninth layer of Qi Refining?
Every word of that topic was eye-catching. Once anyone who did not know the details asked around and learned the cause and effect, they were even keener to witness the farce.
By the next afternoon, when Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan arrived at the martial arena, they immediately drew a great deal of attention.
“Rong Shu and the others are here,” someone whispered.
“Good grief, are they really going to fight? One at the first layer of Qi Refining, one at the ninth layer. How do they even fight?”
“You fool, there is no way they will really fight. It is all because—”
A few who still did not know the inside story were quickly briefed by those beside them and blurted: “Good grief!”
So you could play it like that.
But whether they had come to watch the fun or to probe with other motives, everyone was stunned by the “give and take” on the platform between Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan.
On the dueling platform.
At first, Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan obeyed decorum, cupping their fists in salute with all due solemnity.
But once the bout began, jaws hit the floor.
Cheng Bu Fan shouted, raising his hand with great momentum, then, without the slightest trace of spiritual energy, lazily “struck” at Rong Shu from three zhang away.
Rong Shu, three zhang distant, suddenly cried out as if hit by some mysterious power. She trembled and staggered back as though receiving a heavy blow, toppling backward.
Mid-fall, she “steadied” herself with a look of steely resolve, then gazed at Cheng Bu Fan with admiration: “Senior Brother Cheng, your strength is truly formidable. This junior sister is filled with respect.”
The crowd below the platform was speechless.
Cheng Bu Fan said with a straight face: “Not at all. This palm is infinitely subtle. I did not expect junior sister to take it without fainting. Junior sister’s willpower surpasses my expectations.”
The crowd below the platform was speechless.
Rong Shu coughed twice, wiped away non-existent blood from the corner of her mouth, and stood strong: “Please, senior brother.”
“Then I will not be polite, junior sister.”
“Yes, senior brother.”
“Junior sister, take another of my palms.”
“…”
Eyes glazed over as the crowd watched the two of them “fight” with deep sincerity, their solemn rhetoric making it sound like a spectacular battle of the century.
Finally, someone could not hold back and blurted: “What the hell!”
“Good grief, you can really do this?”
The troublemakers whom Rong Shu had “sincerely invited” to watch, hoping to see what trick she would pull, now recovered their wits, faces twisted with the anger of being played, toyed with, and made fools of.
Someone immediately ran to the Sect Elder in charge of order at the martial arena to report that Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan were staging a fake match.
When the Sect Elder heard, his face said, are you messing with me; but when he witnessed it with his own eyes, shock turned to fury.
Just then, the pair on stage, tired from “fighting,” very chivalrously called a halt to rest while praising each other.
Rong Shu said: “As expected of Senior Brother Cheng. Truly impressive. I concede.”
Cheng Bu Fan said: “Not at all. Junior sister, you are excellent as well. Given time, your achievements will be extraordinary.”
Rong Shu said: “Senior brother, you jest. In my view, if anyone will be extraordinary, it is you. To beat a personal disciple as easily as this, senior brother, you are amazing.”
Cheng Bu Fan laughed: “Hahaha… not really…”
Listening to this shameless mutual flattery, the crowd itched to rush the platform and thrash the pair.
Unfortunately, once a ring match begins, unrelated parties cannot interfere with its normal progress, forcing everyone to listen to a mountain of shameless talk.
“What are you doing?” The Sect Elder who had been dragged over finally had enough and barked at the two on stage.
The crowd below instantly relaxed.
Here we go.
At last, someone who could rein them in.
Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan, utterly unruffled, stood up politely and bowed to the Sect Elder.
Then Cheng Bu Fan said solemnly: “Reporting to the Sect Elder, we are sparring.”
“This is a secret sparring method between Junior Sister Rong and me. Only the two of us can grasp its true meaning. The other fellow disciples are merely unfamiliar at first sight…”
At the end, Cheng Bu Fan added: “Sect Elder, we are not violating sect rules, are we? We are not violating the ring rules, are we?”
The Sect Elder thought: it seems they really are not.
“This kind of thing… is not a great look,” the Sect Elder forced out a reason.
Cheng Bu Fan looked puzzled: “Is it? Junior sister and I are earnestly sparring and striving to improve.”
The Sect Elder had no words.
Rong Shu judged the time and said: “Cheng Bu Fan, that is enough for today. Let us go.”
“It is the first day. No rush.”
“All right, junior sister.”
Hearing that the two were leaving, the Sect Elder let out a small breath.
Since they had not actually violated sect rules, there was nothing he could do. Seeing them stop, he decided to let it be.
But the disciples who had come excited to watch were not pleased.
Damn.
That is it? That is it!
Yet just like that, under many complicated, strange gazes, Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan walked off with not a hint of guilt, heads held high.
And this was only the beginning.
After all, Rong Shu had already been booked for three challenge slots.
For three days in a row, Rong Shu and Cheng Bu Fan did the same.
On the third day, the crowd below could not stand it anymore. After the two finished “sparring,” voices rose in a flurry of scolding: someone said: “Shameless.”
Another said: “You actually staged a performance? Despicable.”
Another said: “Will the sect not do something? Where is the Enforcement Hall? Has no one reported this to the Enforcement Hall?”
Another said: “Cheng Bu Fan, as the son of a peak master, you would fool around with Rong Shu like this?”
Cheng Bu Fan swept a disdainful glance over the indignant crowd, as if the two of them had committed some unforgivable crime: he said: “Fool around? Junior Sister Rong and I are sparring normally, exchanging cultivation insights. How did that become fooling around in your eyes?”
He locked onto the disciple who had spoken last and said: “What, you dislike seeing this young master strive to cultivate? Excellent. Go tell my father to stop forcing me to train.”
The disciple who had spoken shrank his head at once.
But Cheng Bu Fan’s words satisfied no one. Instead, more voices joined the chorus of condemnation.
“You are treating the sacred dueling platform like a child’s game, corrupting the sect’s atmosphere.”
“Exactly. If this goes on, what is the point of the platform’s existence?”
“You do not seek to improve, hogging the platform slots and delaying your fellow disciples’ training. To share a sect with you is a disgrace to us.”
Facing these accusations, Cheng Bu Fan did not flinch. Following the script Rong Shu had given him, he shot back: “A game? That is only because your insight is shallow and your vision short. You cannot grasp the martial spirit contained in my and Junior Sister Rong’s duel.”
The short-sighted crowd fell silent.
He continued: “The Sect Elders have all said that shutting oneself away to work behind closed doors is no good. Therefore, Junior Sister Rong and I do not waste a single chance to spar, day and night, in wind and rain. How could petty cheats and skulkers like you comprehend that?”
The petty cheats and skulkers fell silent.
“Moreover, a cultivator truly devoted to training does not cling to whether there is a platform slot or not. Whether on the mountain, in the water, in the sky, in a swamp, in magma—anywhere can be a dueling ground. When you travel outside, do you, upon meeting an enemy, have to find a proper platform first and then go up and fight honorably? Do your brains have pits in them?”
The pit-brained crowd had no answer.