Chapter 56: Young Master Tengyun

The moment the question was asked, the room burst with activity. The three Deputy Hall Masters and the four Elders were speaking over one another, recommending candidates.

Black Dragon Hall was thirty thousand men strong, with plenty of practitioners at the peak of Body Forging. With so many to choose from, the debate was hard to quell.

There was a loud bang as Wan Youlong slapped the tiger head armrest of his golden sculpted chair. The room fell silent. “Chit-chattering like a bunch of sparrows. Wensheng, out with it: what is the conclusion?”

Ma Wensheng held his fist in a salute towards Wan Youlong. “Hall Master, it is not that we are being talkative, but it is just that it is hard to come up with a candidate within such a short span of time. We have many good fighters in Black Dragon Hall, no less than a hundred at the peak of Body Forging. Those who are comparable to Gao Pan number at around twenty to thirty. Those that can clearly beat Gao Pan would only be a mere ten or so. Let us not consider who are comparable to Gao Pan in skill as they would clearly be no match for Yi Xu. But at the same time, even those who have clearly surpassed Gao Pan are not guaranteed to beat Yi Xu. This is truly tragic.”

Wan Youlong furrowed his brow for a moment, then replied, “What if we offer a huge sum to hire a fighter? There are quite a few unaffiliated practitioners among the top ten fighters in Guang’an’s duelling platforms. It might be possible to hire one of them.”

Ma Wensheng, “Using this plan could indeed raise our odds of winning, but the problem is that we are hiring an outsider after all, and this could harm our reputation. Even if we do win, others might mock Black Dragon Hall for having no good fighters.”

“How about this, offer a hefty reward, and then invite the person to join Black Dragon Hall. After the fight is over, he is free to leave or stay. This way, won’t we get the best of both worlds?” The one who suggested this was the normally quick-witted monkey-faced Deputy Hall Master.

Ma Wensheng shook his head, “These fighters have long since made a name for themselves and are known throughout Guang’an. If they were to join our Black Dragon Hall, it would just make our weaknesses more obvious and make others mock us more.”

“If this won’t do and that won’t work, then what do you suggest, Advisor Ma?”

“Why don’t you let me try?”

The voice came from the back of the chamber. Everyone turned around, only to see a young man casually stride out into the chamber. He was around thirty years of age, tall, handsome, and dressed in white with a piece of jade adorning his belt. His hand held a paper fan which he fanned thrice with every step he took. If not for a look of arrogance that he perpetually wore on his face, he could have passed off as a carefree young man.

“Young Yun, why have you come?”

Wan Youlong’s face actually had a smile.

This person was the Black Dragon Hall’s Young Master, Wan Tengyun. Wan Youlong only had this one son, whom he raised with utmost care and attention. Wan Tengyun, too, lived up to expectations. His talent in cultivating in the Martial Way was extraordinary, and he reached the peak of Body Forging at the age of thirty. He was Wan Youlong’s precious treasure.

Without a care for the rest, Wan Tengyun sauntered up to the front, pulled up a chair, and sat down next to the table. While gently fanning himself, he said, “Earlier, I was just inside reading when I heard all the chatter over here. After all that discussion, I can’t believe you all would actually come up with the idea of hiring an outside fighter. I feel ashamed on your behalf. The men in Black Dragon Hall have not gone extinct yet. There is no need to get outside help. You needn’t discuss any more. For the next battle, I will go. This is just Yi Xu; there will be no fight.”

Wan Tengyun had always been pampered by Wan Youlong and was used to acting however he wanted. Everyone present was already used to the way he talked and was not offended at all. Instead, after hearing Wan Tengyun volunteer himself, smiles began to appear on their faces.

Wan Tengyun was indeed an excellent candidate. He could hold his own amongst all the young masters of the powerful noble families in Guang’an, earning his name as one of the top ten young masters in Guang’an. Wang Tengyun’s martial arts were extremely trained. He has held himself at the Body Forging stage for three years already and has yet to breakthrough into the Qi Ocean stage for only two reasons.

The first reason was that the Divine Origin Qi Pill was simply too hard to obtain, and the second was that Wan Youlong wanted Wan Tengyun to ensure a strong foundation before making the breakthrough.

As a practitioner in the middle stage of the Qi Ocean stage, Wan Youlong knew well the importance of this first step into the Qi Ocean stage. The quality of one’s Qi Ocean would directly impact one’s entire climb up the path of the Martial Way.

Years ago, when he had broken through into the Qi Ocean stage, no one had taught him that. Today, he naturally did not wish for Wan Tengyun to make the wrong step. If not for this reason, given Wan Youlong’s position and Black Dragon Hall’s wealth, there was no way that Wan Tengyun would be allowed to stay in the Body Forging stage for that many years.

“You cannot! Young Yun, you simply have to calm down and continue your cultivation. What’s most important now is for you to consolidate your cultivation. Once you have mastered the Demon Tiger Bone Forging Art and can strike with the force of three bulls, I will fight for a Divine Origin Qi Pill for you to break through to the Qi Ocean stage. When it comes to such trivial matters, you don’t have to worry.”

Wan Youlong obviously knew how extraordinary his son was. There would be no need to worry about any accidents if they sent him to fight Yi Xu, who had struggled so much against Gao Pan.

But after going through that incident with Gao Pan, he no longer believed in a sure-win situation. If Wan Tengyun went up and faced another accident, what good would it do even if he could kill Yi Xu a hundred times over?

With a whoosh, Wan Tengyun folded up his fan in one swift motion and smiled. “Father, I have practiced the Demon Tiger Bone Forging Art for three years. I can strike with the force of two bulls now, but I just can’t seem to overcome this final bottleneck. Since I was bored, I flipped through some martial arts literature, and I found out that many of our predecessors found their breakthrough in the Martial Way during battle. Since Yi Xu was able to beat Gao Pan, he should be the right stepping stone for me to get over this bottleneck.”

Wan Youlong’s brows creased heavily. He was just about to dissuade Wan Tengyun when he waved the fan in his hand. “You do not have to say anymore, Father; my mind is made up!”

The room instantly fell silent.

Since this matter had to do with Wan Tengyun, no one dared to say a word to advise Wan Youlong. Should anything happen to Wan Tengyun in the end, there was no telling if they would be the next Jiang Shaochuan.

“Very well, since you are so insistent on being the candidate, I shall agree, but I have a few conditions that you must accept.”

After a few moments of silence, Wan Youlong finally made his decision. Indeed, he can only protect Wan Tengyun for this short period of time but not for his entire life. A young eagle living under the wings of its parents will never truly grow.

“What conditions?”

“You don’t have to know right now. I will you when the time is right. You only need to do as you are told. Now, head back in first. Your uncles and I still have matters to discuss.”

Wan Tengyun left, and Wan Youlong heaved a sigh as he got to his feet. “Can’t help it. Since he wants to fight, I shall let him fight. However, now that Young Yun is about to head into battle, shouldn’t you uncles show some support? For Black Dragon Hall, I, Wan Youlong, have even offered my son. Surely, none of you intend for my Yun-er to head into battle unarmed?”

And the show begins.

No one in the room had expected Wan Youlong to be waiting to spring this upon them, but after a while of thinking, they understood. With Wan Youlong’s personality, there was no way that he would rest without grabbing the opportunity to dial in some advantages for Wan Tengyun.

At once, everyone began to generously offer their help, a precious sword here, some fine armour there. The atmosphere was enthusiastic until Wan Youlong suddenly slammed hard on the table. With his eyes wide open, he roared in rage, “Do you take me for a beggar!? Black Dragon Hall is not mine alone. Right now, my son is willing to fight for all of us, and you have the gall to be stingy? Don’t think that I do not know that each of you have your own secret treasure in each of your branch halls. What do you take my son for?”

With Wan Youlong’s authority backing him, even if each of them felt indignant about his outburst, there was nothing they could do but lower their heads.

The monkey-faced Deputy Hall Master was the first to speak up/ “Hall Master, I offer a low grade magical armour from the Alchemists’ Chamber. The defensive capabilities of the armour has already been proven in Gao Pan’s fight. Even right until the end, Yi Xu was still unable to break the armour. With the armour on, Tengyun’s victory is certain!”