Chapter 5 - Master Wu
After the banquet concluded, Fang Dingwu respectfully escorted Ye Beizhi all the way back to his room.
"Brother Ye, Brother Feihu has a bit of a temper, so please don't take offense. You're reticent and new here, so everyone may feel distant toward you. After spending a few more days with us, they will get used to your habits, and things will get better," Fang Dingwu said while patting Ye Beizhi's shoulder.
Ye Beizhi shook his head. "It's no problem."
As they reached the door to Ye Beizhi's room, someone came up behind and called out for them to wait a moment.
Fang Dingwu turned and greeted, "Steward Song, what brings you here so late?"
Steward Song smiled, "Hehe, Dingwu, you're here too. It's nothing serious, Master Wu requests Young Master Ye's presence for a chat."
"Master Wu? What could he want with Brother Ye at such an hour?" Fang Dingwu scratched his head, "But if Master Wu is asking to see you, it must be important. Go ahead, Brother Ye, Master Wu is very easy to talk to!"
Steward Song gestured politely, "Young Master Ye, this way please."
Ye Beizhi nodded and followed Steward Song.
They proceeded in silence until they reached a small courtyard. Steward Song stopped and turned to Ye Beizhi, "Young Master Ye, Master Wu is waiting for you inside."
Ye Beizhi nodded, then after thinking for a moment, said to Steward Song, "Thank you."
Steward Song smiled again. "No need to thank me, Young Master Ye. It's my duty."
Ye Beizhi said nothing more and pushed open the wooden door, entering the courtyard. The sky was long darkened, but lanterns were lit, preventing the courtyard from being too dim. Master Wu, whom he had met at dinner, sat at a stone table under a peach tree. On the table was an iron spear, a small stove, and a bottle of wine being warmed over the fire.
Ye Beizhi walked up to the side of the table and stood silently. Master Wu poured himself a cup of wine and downed it in one gulp, similarly staying silent. This quiet understanding continued for nearly a quarter of an hour, with one drinking and the other standing.
When the bottle of wine was nearly finished, Master Wu finally spoke up. "Everyone in the jianghu knows that assassins under the Ghostbane Association name their weapons after famous poems, which also serve as their aliases. Even beyond the Ghostbane Association, some people try to follow this trend by giving themselves garish nicknames. But with your skills, you wouldn't bother with such things."
Master Wu sighed. "So... which branch are you from?"
Ye Beizhi caressed the hilt of his blade and said, "Yingtian prefecture."
"Huh, Yingtian prefecture again. So are you one of the survivors of last month's massacre at the Yingtian prefecture branch?"
Ye Beizhi looked at Master Wu as he answered seriously, "No."
"Are you saying the Yingtian prefecture branch massacre was your doing?" Master Wu asked as he lowered his head and filled his cup to the brim.
"Assassins within the Ghostbane Association are ranked by their abilities into four levels: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Mortal. The lowest rank, Mortal, has the most members, spread across various sects, even infiltrating the government. They are mainly spies, observers, and intelligence gatherers. Profound-rankers consist of skilled fighters who could be honored guests in smaller sects. Earth-rankers consist of Martial Masters who can easily take on a hundred foes. Heaven-rankers are the elite, one in ten thousand, all of them are at least at the Martial Grandmaster level and even some are at the level of a Martial Sovereign with unfathomable powers.[1]
Master Wu's tone grew more aggressive as he pressed on, "You mentioned killing Riverside Lei Jun, an Earth-ranker. Moreover, the incident involved the death of the Heaven-ranker River Immortal Li Chengkan too. Are you claiming that he too was killed by your blade? Which level does that make you then? Earth-rank? Or Heaven?"
Ye Beizhi shook his head. "River Immortal Li Chengkan withstood five of my strikes."
"Hehe, such arrogance. Then tell me, how many strikes do you think this old man can handle?" Master Wu asked while he toyed with the small wine cup.
Ye Beizhi gauged Master Wu's appearance, thought for a moment, and said, "Two strikes, the third one would be fatal."
Bang!
Master Wu smashed the porcelain wine cup into the stone table, grabbed the iron spear, and thrust it toward Ye Beizhi!
Ye Beizhi sprang backward as Master Wu repeatedly thrust his spear at him. The raging momentum seemed to make each thrust more powerful than the last!
"What! Did! You! Say!" Master Wu roared, thrusting furiously with each outburst.
Ye Beizhi slightly sidestepped to the left, barely evading Master Wu's attack. The speartip embedded itself deeply into the ground.
Master Wu leaned on his spear and panted, "Why didn't you draw your blade?"
"If I draw my blade, you will surely—"
"You insolent brat, how dare you look down on me!"
Bang!
Ye Beizhi evaded another attack Master Wu unleashed.
"This old man's iron spear has dominated the jianghu for over forty years!"
In Master Wu’s experienced hands, the hefty iron spear seemed to turn into a lively giant python, encircling and lunging at Ye Beizhi.
"You arrogant fool. I won't go easy on you!" Master Wu shouted as he executed a sudden overhead backhanded spear strike directly at Ye Beizhi's waist.
Ye Beizhi leaped upward, dodging the surprise strike and landing precisely on the shaft of the spear! He nodded slightly and stabilized his center of gravity before finally reaching for the hilt of the sword on his back!
"Come! Draw your blade!" Master Wu howled out at this rousing exchange.
As if stimulated by Master Wu's provocations, a titanic surge of repressed blade intent exploded forth from Ye Beizhi.
Master Wu felt like he was hallucinating as he looked behind the blademaster perched on the shaft of his spear. It appeared as if all of heaven and earth had assimilated into a gigantic blade, poised to cleave down upon him!
In that instant, Ye Beizhi's hand moved, and there was a flash of light, like the first glimmer of moonlight through the parting dark clouds.
Master Wu squinted from the flash as a breeze brushed past his ear.
Master Wu returned to his senses as a strand of his own white hair gently floated down. He caught it with his hand and looked at Ye Beizhi, who was now standing with his back to him, slowly sheathing his blade.
"Heavens," Master Wu whispered, "You, who are you really?"
"Stormqueller, Ye Beizhi."
At this moment, a commotion arose from outside the courtyard, disturbing the dramatic revelation. Their clash had not gone unnoticed, so people were rushing over to investigate.
The courtyard door was busted open, and the clamoring household servants and escort guards only saw Master Wu with his spear still leveled at Ye Beizhi amidst the chaos within.
"You scoundrel, what are you doing here in the middle of the night!"
"I knew you were suspicious from the start, you must be a wanted criminal! How dare you come to our Changfeng Escort Agency to cause trouble! You won't leave here alive today!"
The crowd verbally besieged Ye Beizhi, but Master Wu waved his hand and commanded, "Silence, all of you!"
The crowd gaped at Master Wu as he explained, "Young Master Ye is here tonight at my behest. We were merely sparring, and it got a bit out of hand. Stop overreacting."
The crowd stared at the chaotic courtyard and the pitted ground—was this really the result of simple sparring? But since Master Wu had made his stance clear, they said nothing else and cupped their hands in salute before leaving.
After the crowd left, Master Wu sank back at the stone table, motioning for Ye Beizhi to sit too and emotionally murmured, "Each wave of the Yangtze River pushes the next wave forward."
He picked up the wine bottle to pour but remembered that he had smashed his cup against the table, so he reluctantly put the bottle back down.
"Don't blame this old man for being overly suspicious, but I need to confirm with you… Is everything that you said before true?"
Ye Beizhi nodded.
"I don't understand one thing. If you are from the Ghostbane Association, why did you massacre the entire Yingtian prefecture branch? And how could you end up in such a poor state?"
Ye Beizhi lowered his head in thought for a moment, and withdrew a one-wen copper coin from his inner pocket. His mind drifted back to the events that started two months ago...
1. The author did not include the cultivation level of 宗师 Martial Grandmaster here; for clarity and consistency, we have included it. ☜
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