Chapter 194 Blade Duel at Cang Lin 10
When Feng Bujue and his teammates stepped into the inn, many people saw them, but no one was able to recognize them. Therefore, no one really paid Feng Bujue and his teammates any attention. They thought that these were some disciples from some third-rate schools who had unwittingly walked into the inn.
At the time, Si Yanran was too focused on the conversation between Gong Sun Qian and Ji Tong. After all, she was guilty of the issue they were discussing. She was afraid that they might somehow turn the conversation or sniff out her trace from the story, so she had been paying close attention to every word that was being said. Si Yanran's seat was facing the side of the entrance, so when someone stepped into the room, her eyes wandered almost subconsciously to the direction of the door. However, once she was who it was, she was so shocked that she jumped up from her seat, knocking her chair to the floor in the process.
This naturally attracted Gong Sun Qian's attention. He stopped the conversation with Ji Tong. He turned his head around and saw that his wife was looking at the inn entrance with a shocked expression on her face. He followed her gaze to the door, and as he did so, he asked, "Dear, what's wrong?"
"It's them!" Si Yanran pointed at Feng Bujue and his teammates, who had just walked into the inn. "They are the mysterious people who killed Wang Ao last night!"
In that instant, the atmosphere inside the inn shifted completely. The whole inn was practically ignoring these five people seconds earlier, but now they regarded them as some kind of important characters. All the gazes were gathered onto the five people.
But no matter how hard this group of experts studied these five people, Feng Bujue and his teammates could not have appeared more normal to them. In terms of appearances, there were a few of them that could be called handsome and pretty. In terms of attire, they wore normal clothing, and they did not carry any weapons on them. Within their brows, there was no fear, like most people who had just stepped into the martial world, but there was no serenity that characterized most the martial world veterans either. The most confusing things were their mannerisms and their movements, which spoke of the fact that they were definitely normal civilian who did not know even a bit of kung fu.
"Humph… So, it's you." Feng Bujue heard the claim and huffed coldly in response. Then, he led his teammates further into the inn.
The table in the lobby of Chang Lin Inn was not a large rectangular table. Instead, it was a small circular table. It could only seat at most six people around it. Feng Bujue walked to one of the empty tables and sat down. After the rest of his teammates assumed their seats, Feng Bujue turned his eyes to one of the waiters, snapped his finger to get the man's attention, and then signaled for him to serve the table.
The people present had witnessed many things in their lives, but they had not seen someone snap their finger as a meaningful gesture. One would need two hands to clap, but Feng Bujue had managed to make the same sound with a single hand. Even though this was not really a showcase of much talent, it was quite new and interesting to the people there. With this finger snap, Feng Bujue left a first impression of someone who was eccentric and frivolous in those people's mind.
The waiter for startled for two seconds before quickly rushing over. He quickly grabbed the cloth that hung from his shoulder and started to wipe the table. At the same time, he used his other free hand to serve several tea cups. As he poured the tea for the inn's newest guests, the waiter asked, "Er… young sirs and madams… what would like you for breakfast?"
"A guest room," Feng Bujue answered.
"Oh, sir, I would have to apologize if that is what you are seeking…" When the waiter said that, he had already finished cleaning the table. He apologized with a smile. "But you see… there have been quite a number of people who patronize our inn, and our rooms are already all booked. If you don't mind…"
"Get out of the way." Suddenly, a low voice came from behind the waiter. The breath of the person who spoke was powerful enough to land on the back of the waiter's neck. The waiter was so scared that he quickly escaped from the scene.
Then, Feng Bujue's eyes met the eyes of the speaker. It was a man about fifty years old. His beard and hair were both white, and his face was slightly angered. If one had to go into detail about Gong Sun Qian's face, then one had to admit it carried quite distinctive features. He had long brows, a high nose, low eyes, flat cheeks, narrow lips, and a wide forehead. With this kind of composition, it would be too rude to call him ugly, but he was certainly easily recognizable.
"Senior, how may I help you?" Feng Bujue asked in a polite but not obsequious tone.
"Hmm… stop going around randomly calling people your senior." Gong Sun Qian huffed. By then, Gong Sun Li and Si Yanran guarded behind Gong Sun Qian at both sides, and behind them were another two disciples from Thousand Dawn Spire.
"Is that so?" Hearing that, Feng Bujue slowly stood up. Other than Gong Sun Qian, the other people from Thousand Dawn Spire all took a step back. This was because Si Yanran had already helped the players promote their unpredictable fighting capability within the ranks of Thousand Dawn Spire. If she did not paint Feng Bujue's group as a powerful adversary, it would not have explained why she needed to escape, and it would have been such a huge hit to her face.
The temperature in the inn continued to rise. A few of the younger disciples who did not have much experience were already itching to rush forward. They hoped that the two parties would get into a fight soon so that they had a chance to witness how powerful Gong Sun Qian's Thousand Dawn Kung Fu was with their own eyes.
"Then…" Feng Bujue changed his words. "What do you want from me, old man?"
Once he said that, the place instantly fell into a silence. It felt as if a cold breeze just passed through the lobby…
After Gong Sun Qian was derided, he found it difficult to claim that he had been insulted. After all, Feng Bujue did refer to him politely as a senior first, and he was the one who wanted the man to change the form of address.
"You know why!" Gong Sun Qian acted like he did not hear the insult. "Last night, on the street, why did you kill the disciple from my school?"
When Feng Bujue heard that, he did not give too big of a reaction. His teammates, though, yearned desperately for a popcorn. They sipped on the cups of tea leisurely.
"Oh, so he was one of your disciples." Feng Bujue's eyes moved to fall on Si Yanran's face, and then he turned to look at Gong Sun Li next to her. He had already recognized Gong Sun Li as the square-faced man who appeared to break up the fight yesterday.
Gong Sun Li and Si Yanran's eyes were glinting dangerously, but their expressions still were those of honorable warriors. Si Yanran even added, "Humph… what's wrong? Today, in front of my husband… the leader of Thousand Dawn Spire, you don't dare to admit to your crime?"
Since her goal was to push the blame onto Feng Bujue, of course, she had to say something like this to achieve the effect of confusion. Based on her proposed logic, even if Feng Bujue denied the allegation, he was doing it out of fear of Gong Sun Qian.
Feng Bujue was silent for two seconds, and his brain quickly arranged the identity and relationship of the few peoples who were gathered before him. Then he yelled back. "Oh? I was already acting kind enough to not make trouble for you, but now you're going to come after me?"
Just as the real killer and accomplice thought that Feng Bujue was about to tell the truth, Feng Bujue turned to Gong Sun Qian and spat, "Why wouldn't I dare admit it? Yes, that's right! It was me who killed him. Do you have any problem with it?"
When Gong Sun Li and Si Yanran heard that, they needed some time to respond to the whole situation. Their brains went into stasis, and several seconds later, they both gasped internally, Wait a minute… he admitted to it? And the admission came so easily? What is wrong with this man?
After saliva covered Gong Sun Qian's face, he added sincerely in his heart, Fine, kid, I'll admit that you have the guts.
"Good! Since you have admitted to your sin, there is no need for words. Thousand Dawn Spire has no history with you, so you had no reason to murder my disciple. Based on the rules of the martial world, I am going to take revenge for my disciple here and now…"
Before Gong Sun Qian had the chance to finish, Feng Bujue cut him off by yelling, "Wait! Who said I had no reason to kill your disciple?"
"Oh?" Gong Sun Qian's expression shifted slightly. "You have a history with Wang Ao?"
"I don't know him," Feng Bujue replied.
"Then you have a problem with my Thousand Dawn Spire?"
"Not really."
"Humph! Then, what was the reason that you have to kill him?"
"He was perving on my wife!" Feng Bujue said and used his finger to point at Passing Rain.
"Er…" Gong Sun Qian did not know what to say. Not just him, even Xiao Tan, Laughing Soul, and Atobe almost spilled their tea on the table. Passing Rain herself was rather collected. She regarded Feng Bujue with her usual cold eyes, like he owed her money, and in that moment, that debt had tripled…
"Last night, the few of us had just arrived at this town, and we ran into your disciple Wang Ao, who was drunk out of his mind. He was walking toward us." Feng Bujue's ability at weaving lies was unrivalled. The falsehood came to him so easily. "He saw how beautiful my wife was and came onto her with such despicable words. He probably thought none of us know kung fu, so we would not be able to do anything to him. He dared to say such disgusting words to my wife when I was standing right there. He even used his finger to make salacious gestures."
Feng Bujue stared at Gong Sun Qian fearlessly, and he continued his scolding. "In this life, the one type of person that I hate the most is those who dare to go around bullying others simply because they know how to use kung fu and other people don't. I was so angry, I shattered him into piece with one strike.
"Furthermore, I am most familiar with my wife's personality. If I was not the one who made the move, she would have handled the situation personally, so in the end, he had to die," Feng Bujue declared in his fiery tone. "What… Master Gong Sun, do you want to take revenge for him? Feel free to do so! I have no regret!"
Feng Bujue's claim handily turned the tables. As a case that had no witnesses, or rather, no reliable witnesses, there was not much that could be said to challenge this version of the story.
Of course, the most crucial part of this story was that he probably thought none of them knew kung fu. Feng Bujue made sure that everyone who was present at the inn heard that clearly. With this claim and the murder, it could only mean one thing…
The people at the inn knew about the two methods that could be used to enter Chang Lin Town. At that moment, all of them were thinking, These five people must have used some kind of method to hide their true power! No wonder… I have not met any of these five in the martial world before, so naturally, they can't have taken the big road. Since they have taken the small road… it proves that they are not as defenseless as they seem.
"This… this is merely what you claim. How can we know for sure…" Gong Sun Qian was interrupted once again.
"Why don't you ask the two behind you whether I am telling the truth or not?" Feng Bujue claimed with confidence.
His confidence was not unfounded. He knew very well that the two would support his story to say that he was not lying. The reason was very simple. To commit a murder, one needed a motive.
Unless Si Yanran and Gong Sun Li thought that the claim of Feng Bujue being a murderous psycho who would kill everyone in his sight was a more believable story, they had no reason to go against Feng Bujue's story. After all, the real killer was Si Yanran, and in reality, the person whom she had pushed the blame onto had no history at all with Wang Ao. Currently, Feng Bujue had come up with a motive. He was practically doing her a big favor.
"Er… This…" Si Ran stammered an answer. "I was not there during the whole process. When I arrived, Wang Ao was already dead…"
Gong Sun Li also lowered his voice to say. "Senior Brother… I came even later. I was not present when Wang Ao got into the argument with them… but it does not appear that these people are lying."
At this point, he lowered his voice even further to add, "Furthermore… I have heard stories of Wang Ao being a victim of lust and the female distraction…"
At this point, Gong Sun Qian believed Feng Bujue by about eighty percent. This was Si Yanran and Gong Sun Li's fault for not rectifying the story, but of course, that was the one thing that they could not do.
Now, Wang Ao's death suddenly became so reasonable and understandable.
After being fed Feng Bujue's lies, and with the support from Gong Sun Li, Gong Sun Qian was reminded of… how he suspected Wang Ao of winking at his wife several times in the past. He then thought of the young man's rather handsome face. The more Gong Sun Qian thought about it, the more he felt that Feng Bujue was telling the truth. His intention of taking revenge for his disciple had almost disappeared completely by then.
"So how about it, Master Gong Sun? Do you think I'm lying?" Feng Bujue raised his voice and continued firmly. "Today, I'll lay everything out in the open. I am the killer! If you think I shouldn't have killed him, we will proceed with the martial world's rules. Life and death are never in our control anyway. If today is the day for my end, so be it!"
Ji Tong had been watching from the sidelines for a long time. He believed that he had grasped the situation, so he added with wicked glee, "Master Gong Sun, you have to say something."
All the other members of the martial world had taken Feng Bujue's words as the truth. They started whispering among themselves. The general consensus was that it was Thousand Dawn Spire's own fault in the end. It was their own disciple who crossed the line first, and he died due to his underestimation of his opponents. What revenge was there to be taken?
"Wang Ao… really did such a thing before you?" Gong Sun Qian asked.
Feng Bujue himself knew that the lie would not survive close inspection. Even if Wang Ao was drunk and had absolute confidence that the five did not know kung fu, as a disciple from an orthodox school, he knew better than to harass a woman in the street. That was the doing of a local ruffian. Furthermore, Passing Rain was not really a beauty that would cause a country to fall in-game. It was not that Wang Ao had not seen a female in his life, so why would he go to such lengths? Logically speaking, the chance of this happening was not zero, but it was very small.
"Huh? Do you think Wang Ao's actions are not enough to be punished by death?" Feng Bujue replied with a boisterous grimace. He took a step forward and grabbed Gong Sun Qian by his collar. "Then if I say a few impolite words toward Mrs. Gong Sun before your eyes, would you not mind, Master Gong Sun?"
Even though his tone was aggressive, Feng Bujue could not have been calmer. His reply was very cunning. He did not answer the question posed by Gong Sun Qian directly but turned the topic to something else. It was as if the validity of what Wang Ao supposedly did was no longer an issue of discussion. If Gong Sun Qian wanted to say something more, then he was merely trying to find an excuse.
Feng Bujue's reaction surprised everyone. The one who had the biggest surprise was none other than Gong Sun Qian himself. He was so shocked that he never had the chance to avoid the incoming hands. Gong Sun Qian had been in the martial world for decades, but he had never encountered anyone who would treat him in such a way before. If martial experts wanted to attack him, they would have done so already. They would not grab his collar to threaten him. These actions were beneath even those from the Giant Whale Clan.
"Young man, please calm down." Gong Sun Qian knew that he was cornered. If he retaliated at this moment, it was the doing of a cunning man, so he could only reply, "I did not mean to offend you."
"Humph…" Feng Bujue huffed and let the man go, but he still carried that annoyed expression on his face.
The teammates looked his authentic performance and were so damn impressed. Laughing Soul could not resist leaning over to Xiao Tan's ear to whisper, "Now this is an Oscar winning actor…"
"I agree with you," Xiao Tan concurred.
Even Si Yanran, who stood on the other side, started to doubt herself. I did kill Wang Ao last night, right? I should be the killer, yes? It was Gong Sun Li's idea that we push the blame onto these people, right? So, what is happening now? This man volunteered to take the fall for me and even came up with a whole story to make it logical. Is this man mad?
"Er… young man, I haven't even asked for your name yet. That is such a rude thing for me to do." Gong Sun Qian smoothed down his shirt and continued in a lighter tone. At that moment, he understood everything, it was already pointless to argue on the issue of who was right or wrong. Obviously, the man was on the side of logic. With so many other members of the martial world watching him, if he insisted on this argument, it would only further make him lose his face.
"Broken Sword Chahitsu's leader, Feng Bujue," Feng Bujue replied.
This was hard to follow as well. Gong Sun Qian had never heard of this school before, and he was not shameless enough to say things along the lines of having long heard their name. So, he could only change the topic. "Er… Master Feng, what Wang Ao did was shameless and wrong. It was also in violation of my Thousand Dawn Spire's rules, so the man deserved his end. It is good that you have killed him."
He called the dead by his name and no longer referred to Wang Ao as his disciple. "It was my fault for not being a better master at guiding him down a straighter path. Master Feng, you have helped my Thousand Dawn Spire correct a horrendous mistake, and I came to you without finding out the whole truth. That was indeed my mistake. Master Feng, please forgive this old man's offense…"
"Now, that is much better." Feng Bujue sat down again and picked up the tea cup to take a sip. He stopped putting on act around Gong Sun Qian like he was in the right even though he was the killer.
Feng Bujue's shamelessness and insistence of stepping on Gong Sun Qian's toes as well as his refusal to give Gong Sun Qian face even though the latter had given him so much leeway and face angered Gong Sun Qian to a certain degree. With Ji Tong's smirking face sitting right next to him, Gong Sun Qian felt a burst of fury crawling from the top of his head to the tip of his toes.
I mustn't just return to my seat like that. I have to do something to redeem myself.
Of course, attacking Feng Bujue outright would not work; he would be lampooned as someone bullying people who were generations his junior. Therefore, he decided to retaliate with words. Even though there was not a physical fight, he would still be able to humiliate the guy.
With that in mind, Gong Sun Qian opened his mouth.
"Haha… Master Feng, I've been in the martial world for many years now…" He pretended to smile before continuing. "But I have not heard of Broken Sword Chahitsu before. Master Feng, you look so young, but you have already mastered a powerful technique and are the leader of a school. Might I ask who your teacher is? What is the origin of your school? And if I may… how many disciples does your school currently have?"
This was commonly known as seeking death.
If language was a weapon, Gong Sun Qian yielded a toy gun while Feng Bujue had giant cannons with rocket launchers.
"Oh?" Feng Bujue's lips curled upward to reveal a smile that could be described as perfidious. His reaction instantly sent goosebumps all over Gong Sun Qian's body, and it gave the latter a very bad feeling.
Feng Bujue naturally understood the man's intention. He smiled coldly and replied, "You flatter me, Master Gong Sun. I learned everything on my own and thus have no teacher. My school has no definite origin, nor does it have a concrete location that it uses as an establishment. Other than my wife and myself, I only have three disciples who are really more like my friends."