"Dad, Uncle An, what are you talking about?"
While the strongman and the man in brocade were conversing, the young boy had already trotted over. The strongman smiled at him and stopped talking, while the man in brocade crouched down, patted the boy's head, and cheerfully said:
"Just wondering what kind of place Great Liang Village is to raise such a valiant young man..."
Upon hearing this, the young boy's eyes brightened, and he nodded excitedly:
"Yes, the books say this is called 'where common households hide great heroes.'"
The man in brocade inwardly cursed the writer of the book but kept a straight face, only frowning slightly as if confused:
"Indeed, it just isn't clear who among your several masters and you, young man, is more formidable."
The expression on the boy's face briefly stiffened, and after a moment, he said uncertainly:
"It should, it should be the masters who are more formidable?"
"After all, the masters are older and have more experience..."
Hearing this, the man picked up his own child in one swoop, stood tall, and laughed heartily:
"In this world, heroes aren't judged by their age. Today, there exists both the Sword Saint who, even in his youth, could subdue the world with a wooden sword, and an elderly gentleman of the Confucian Sect whose zeal doesn't cool with age. Since they are martial artists, it's naturally determined through a fight who is better!"
"How about this, all your masters, including this young man, compete together. Whoever wins among them will have their Salary Silver doubled each month, and will also be rewarded with fine wine and beauties. What say you, gentlemen?"
While he spoke, he glanced with a smile at the other six riders nearby, which included a white-robed, jade-crowned Taoist martial artist and a robust man adorned in Hundred-Patch Cloth with a wine gourd slung at his waist. Upon hearing the proposal, flames of ardor seemed to rise quietly in their eyes. After a moment of silence, the Taoist coughed lightly and solemnly said:
"Although silver and pleasures are extrinsic, as martial artists, how can we not have the desire to compete for victory? Although I am modest, I am willing to learn from everyone's unique skills with my three-foot Qingfeng sword."
An old dwarf by their side snorted coldly, his fingers clicking together, and he smirked:
"You, a Taoist Mysterious Cultivator dabbling in women and silver, aren't you afraid of corrupting your practice? These many karmic barriers, let this old man take them on for you."
"That's inappropriate, you're old; don't covet the mortal world."
The strongman, watching these six become embroiled in an argument in no time and losing any air of mastery, maintained a calm demeanor, scoffing inwardly.
If it weren't for their posturing that endeared them to the young master, alone he'd let them fight one-armed and could wipe out these incompetents within thirty breaths. Their current squabble stemmed only from knowing their own limited abilities, which let them boldly argue about who was better.
Like a house dog that trembles like chaff before a tiger, but barks incessantly at a stray on the road, leveraging its master's power.
Yet, what really was the strength of that young man?
As he pondered, he became somewhat lost in thought, but just then, a faint sound of chains jingling came from afar, accompanied by a light yet pungent scent of blood. The strongman's expression shifted slightly, he stepped sideways, positioning both the man in brocade and the young boy behind him, while the masters were still loudly arguing among themselves.
The sound of chains gradually drew nearer, and it was then that the masters stopped their bickering. Hearing the slow melody of the chains, they felt an unexplained unease. Meanwhile, the man who had come to Great Liang Village to buy timber shouted:
"Master Zhao, the young man is coming back!"
Zhao Xiujie's eyes brightened, and he struggled to jump down from his father's arms, looking excitedly toward the direction of the sound. The masters, perhaps feeling that their earlier unease diminished their stature in the young master's eyes, coughed lightly and all assumed profound demeanors. One stout man took a swig of alcohol and smirked:
"It seems that the lumbering lad is back."
"Made us wait indeed, such a young age, unknown strength, yet quite a spectacle."
As the sound of the chains grew closer and the scent of blood became clearer, unless one's nose had been cut off, they now smelled the stench in the air, making it difficult to stay relaxed.
The bushes on the outskirts of the village, near the mountains, rustled slightly, and a young man emerged, not the broad-backed, burly figure everyone had imagined, but rather slight and even somewhat delicate in appearance. He wore a short blue robe, but it was heavily torn and scarred, even his cheeks bore several cuts, and with the chains on him, he looked utterly disheveled.
The stout man breathed a sigh of relief and laughed loudly:
"Hahaha, kiddo, where's your tree? Did it stay up on the mountain?"
The young man was slightly taken aback; it seemed he hadn't expected so many extra people today, but since he was asked, he responded,
It had indeed fallen on the mountain.
The man, seemingly more pleased upon hearing this, looked around and burst into laughter. "Chopping trees, you can also chop yourself up, the smell of blood is evident from afar. Young man, you are truly vigorous, ha ha ha."
Excitement dimmed in Zhao Xiujie's eyes, while the brocade-clothed man sighed inwardly.
No need for further provocation, by this appearance, he probably doesn't have much real ability...
Thinking this, he momentarily lost interest, but the expression of the strong man slightly stiffened, his gaze fixed on the chains held in the youth's palm.
Wang Anfeng, unaware of their thoughts, continued to speak,
"Are you here to buy timber? If so, you'll have to trouble yourselves to come back tomorrow."
The Taoist Sect's gentleman glanced at him and said indifferently,
"We heard that there's a young genius here and wanted to make friends through martial arts, but it seems rumors are not to be trusted, what a pity."
With these words, he flicked his sleeves, turned his head away, and looked no more.
The brocade-clothed man, pondering quietly, felt it was the perfect opportunity to admonish the child not to obsess over rural rumors, and asked with a laugh,
"Young brother, since the tree is on the mountain, why wait until tomorrow?"
As he spoke, Wang Anfeng had already stepped forward, the chains around his body jingling, extending quite a bit around his right arm, tightly strung, and with his steps, a dark, shiny object was dragged out, its sharp claws gleaming coldly, causing the man's pupils to constrict somewhat.
Wang Anfeng stepped forward again, shouted clearly, and tensed his muscles. Accompanied by the sound of friction, a giant beast was slowly dragged out under the astonished gaze of the onlookers, scraping obvious marks on the ground. The beast was robust, its claws as sharp as swords, lying on the ground much larger than the boy. Even with its eyes tightly shut, a wild and ferocious aura was palpable.
The atmosphere suddenly became stagnant for a moment.
After dragging it out, Wang Anfeng breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, pointed at the giant beast, and replied,
"Because I have other things to do today."
The youth, originally in a shabby short coat and covered in wounds, looked extremely disheveled. But standing beside the raging bear, he emitted an aura like that of a blunt, heavy sword, which was daunting and left others speechless.
At this moment, Zhao Xiujie had approached the bear, his eyes widened with curiosity as he scrutinized the formidable bear head before reaching out to grab it. However, just then, the bear who had its eyes tightly closed, suddenly opened them and struggled with a roar, its savage beastly aura rushing towards the boy, its sharp fangs ready to bite.
The crowd exclaimed, but at that moment, Wang Anfeng twisted sharply, the chain around the bear's neck clanged taut again, he flipped over to land behind the bear, his body's Vigorous Qi bursting out suddenly. The recently awakened bear roared angrily in its struggle, but Wang Anfeng held on relentlessly, even as its claws smashed the ground into pits.
For several minutes, under the silent gaze of around seven or eight people along with the villagers, Wang Anfeng forcefully subdued the bear, weighing at least a thousand pounds, into unconsciousness again before he finally relaxed and felt somewhat weary.
He wanted to get down but felt a bit weak, so he simply sat on the bear's back, chuckled lightly at Zhao Xiujie who was pale with fright, and said gently,
Zhao Xiujie, as if stupefied, nodded dumbly. The brocade-clothed man, also pale, swallowed and chuckled dryly,
"Young brother... no, young hero... why didn't you kill this bear?"
Wang Anfeng shook his head, recalling the words Mr. Ying from the mountains had passed to him, he sighed softly and said,
The brocade-clothed man suddenly realized and said,
"Ah, so you lack swords and blades."
"No, I lack an opponent."
The entire place fell deathly quiet. When the youth spoke of an opponent, he seemed to recall something, looked up towards those with an air of masters, his eyes flickering with light, and said softly,
"Just now, sir, you said you wanted to spar with me?"