Can You Conquer The World With Martial Arts?

Chapter 8 - Azure-Scaled Dragon (II)


The Golden Witch brushed a hand through her blonde hair. "I'm not scared of him."

"Then... then why...?"

"You understand what he's like. If we were to fight, it would have to be to the death. And how would I make use of him then?"

Bai Guo went quiet.

"Speak your mind." The Golden Witch pressed him.

"It's just... not right. You might be the only one, master, maybe in the entire world, who could put an end to his evil. And yet..."

"He'll get his dues when I'm through with him."

Bai Guo didn't reply. He glared bitterly at the ground he trode on. Though his master knew that he remained unconvinced, she was eager to let the matter drop.

In the days that followed, they traveled in leisure, partaking in every distraction and novelty along the way. They lingered in the richest inns, dined in the finest restaurants, purchased frivolities they had no use for.

When his master yet again threw an excessive feast for just the two of them, Bai Guo finally decided to speak.

"Master, are we still headed for the mountain...?"

"What's the rush?" She asked, smiling. "Geming can wait."

"You're not doing this just to annoy him, are you...?" Bai Guo seemed exasperated.

"Don't even keep him on your mind. Enjoy yourself."

Bai Guo cast down his gaze and sipped his wine. As the Witch's golden eyes lingered on his sullen figure, she found her own amusement waning.

Ever since Bai Guo had gotten injured by the bandits, she noticed his diminished spirits. She had been forcing these impromptu festivities in hopes of cheering up her disciple, just as Liao Lan had often done for her. But it was evident now that what usually worked to bring her cheer hadn't had the same effect on the young man.

They ate in silence. There was far more food laid out on the table than just the two of them could handle; much had been left to waste.

From the next day on, their pace quickened, and they never tarried again. The Golden Witch realized that the best remedy would be to get their current affair over with.

Soon the peaks of Mount Hua loomed on the horizon. Days later they met with the scowling Tao Geming waiting for them at the foot of the mountain, his arms crossed.

"You're finally here." He grumbled.

The Golden Witch shook her head. "Have you already forgotten the terms of our agreement? I see you just can't resist showing your ugly mug."

"Cut the crap. We're here. It's up to you to sniff out the squatters now."

The three of them stepped foot onto Mount Hua. Tao Geming took them up treacherous and winding paths. As they emerged from the cover of trees, their altitude unveiled a stunning view of heights yet unreached, of distant green peaks, and of the faraway, ever-stretching terrain beneath them reduced to a miniscule and fleeting image.

"This place... It reminds me of Ouyang's..." The Golden Witch idly mused.

"This picturesque, beautiful mountain reminds you of that swamp? Have you lost your mind, Fox?"

"It's not about appearances. It just feels similar."

Tao Geming opened his mouth to rebuke, but no abuse escaped his lips. His silent outrage slowly turned to confusion. A blooming realization gradually loosened up his scowl.

His sudden meekness drew the Witch's attention. "What?"

Tao Geming suddenly stopped. She traced his gaze, and her brows furrowed too.

It was a tree they had already passed once along the way.

"And I guess that hag never told you why it takes such a specific route to get to her mansion."

"All she told me was that I'd get lost if I strayed off the path." The Golden Witch replied. "I took it for a quirk of the terrain."

"And you never deigned to ask further? You could feel that it was strange, couldn't you? With your sense for qi?"

"It wasn't the first time I'd felt something like that out in the wild. There are places where qi just flows differently. Sometimes just like this. Why? Does it mean something?"

Tao Geming clicked his tongue. "It means there's a formation in place. Parts of the terrain have been altered to change the flow of qi. This looks to be just like the kind that Ouyang uses to hide her home. We'll be walking in circles forever unless we find the right route."

"Well, it's your mountain. Don't you know the way?"

"My old sect would never practice this kind of rubbish. As if we would taint the natural energies of our mountain! The vagrants must have set this up."

"Well, you're in luck. One of the locals is already coming over to guide us."

And indeed, emerging from behind an incline, a man clad in blue robes slowly strode towards them. Strapped across his back was a sword, too long to be carried on the hip.

As the man neared, Tao Geming's eyes widened.

"It's been a long time, Tao Geming." The swordsman preempted his shock.

"To think I'd find you here, still clinging to this god forsaken mountain... junior martial brother."

Coldness briefly flashed across the swordsman's eyes. "How typical of you. You dredged up our old martial bonds solely to irritate me. But it could almost be mistaken for sentimentality, don't you think so? Is that fine with you? After all the effort you went through to sever any connections you may have had to our old sect, don't you think it makes you look foolish to bring it all up again?"

"I see you've still retained that old habit of overthinking shit, Mao Zixin."

The two martial brothers glared at each other.

"Why are you still here?" Tao Geming asked. "The Mount Hua Sect dissolved decades ago. And for many years now I have heard that the mountain has been deserted for years."

"Indeed, after what you'd done, there was nothing left worth calling a sect. But there were still a few of us who believed in master's teachings who remained after the schism to pursue the true path. And we've never had a desire to make ourselves known."

"Hoh. Well, that's news to me. Never imagined there'd be someone delusional enough to think that the old man had any credibility after the humiliation I put him through."

"Don't flatter yourself." Mao Zixin harshly rebuked. "Master had always had a weak spot for you. He couldn't bring himself to fight you in earnest, not even when his life was on the line."

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Tao Geming scoffed. "With that kind of wishful thinking, it's no wonder you're still believing his crap."

It was then that the Golden Witch asked, "I've been curious for a long time. What exactly did Tao Geming do here?"

"None of your business, Fox." Tao Geming cut her off.

But his martial brother turned out to be much less disinclined to speak on the matter.

"What's the matter, Tao Geming?" Mao Zixin mocked. "Is there perhaps some shame in you over what had transpired after all? Why don't I tell her, then?"

Tao Geming crossed his arms, and, as if to prove that he does not in fact care, wouldn't speak another word.

Mao Zixin began to explain. "That one there has always been a problem child. He'd question our master's every word, would always do things his own way. Maybe he still goes around calling himself a member of the Mount Hua Sect, but in reality, he's almost entirely self-taught. Our master hardly had a hand in his martial arts, no matter how much he yearned to help him. It rent our hearts that he would go so far for such a fool. We all knew that Tao Geming would never amount to anything. And it would have been true, too, had it not been for his luck. Somehow he came upon a cultivation manual and studied it in secret. The power he gained from that, he used for the pettiest of things - to prove himself right to our master. And cruel simpleton that he is, how do you think he went about doing so? Of course, he could only conceive of a single method - a killing."

"And when he was successful, it caused an upheaval in the sect. The fools among us had been emboldened and took after his example, pursuing internal disciplines and eschewing all others. Those loyal to our master's teachings had no desire to share the mountain with those fools. Inevitably, the disagreements turned violent. And of course, the main perpetrator himself had been long gone. He had no care for the mayhem he left behind."

Tao Geming sneered. "Nothing else would have gone through to that useless old man. Nor to you worthless sycophants. As a martial artist he was long past his prime. He stagnated, and he tried to drag us all down with him too. His methodology was faulty at its core. I knew there had to be a better way, and I was right. Whine about my methods all you like, but the end result is irrefutable. But that there were still some of you left to argue his case after I left, enough to be a problem for those who weren't so stupid... Well, that's just the proof that there was only one cure for stupidity that severe."

"Then the Sword Sage must be another one of your martial brothers." The Golden Witch presumed. "And I can see that you share an even more volatile history than I first thought. But don't forget about what you promised me."

"Quit your nagging." Tao Geming said. "I have no desire whatsoever to fight any of these deluded morons."

"Not even to run them off your mountain?"

"As far as I'm concerned, the mountain still belongs to them. These idiots can sit here until the cows come home." Tao Geming crossed his arms. "But now that I think about it, the fact that you're still here, Mao Zixin, must mean that adherents to the old ways have won?"

"I could not in good faith call it much of a victory." Mao Zixin sighed. "We fought and we killed, but in the end, we still remembered our old bonds of brotherhood. The bloodshed jolted both factions awake, brought us all back to our senses. Those fanatics of the internal arts realized they had nothing to gain from lingering here, and followed your example, seeking their fortunes in the jianghu. And because there was so little left after all was said and done, and because the war would never leave their mind for as long as they remained here, most others left, too. I alone remained to dedicate myself to the sword, undisturbed."

A heavy silence descended upon the mountain. The two martial brothers refused to even look at each other.

"...Get on with it, Fox." Tao Geming barked out.

"Would you be so kind as to lead us to the Sword Sage?" The Golden Witch asked.

Something reminiscent of a chuckle left Mao Zixin's lips. "Though I've never heard that title before, I can already imagine who might have given you that name. So it's a little strange, then, that you had not also been told that the one you call Sword Sage would not be so impolite as to not greet his guests in person."

"Do you perhaps presume to call yourself the Sword Sage?"

"And what would be so strange about that?"

"Because then the mighty Sword Sage wouldn't even be fit to challenge my second disciple, let alone me."

Mao Zixin didn't reply. His face carried exasperation. He languidly took the sheathed weapon off his back. Its extraordinary length stood out even more.

Bai Guo's eyes widened at her declaration. "Master, you couldn't mean... He's not even as strong as that Liao Lan?"

She gave him a little smile. "Don't worry. I'm not upset with you. I still appreciate your efforts."

Bai Guo looked away, paling.

Tao Geming threw a brief glance at the sword in his martial brother's hands.

"Mao Zixin... Were you the one who killed the Itinerant Fairies?"

The self-proclaimed Sword Sage remained quiet.

The Golden Witch had been spurred by the man's taciturn attitude. "Who are they?"

Tao Geming explained, "A few years ago, there was an incident in Chang'an. A band of five brothers barged into the ruler's palace and tried to take control of the city. No one could stop them until a martial artist with a remarkably long blade arrived to disperse them. Those guys use potent poisons and oodles of projectile weapons, meaning a single scratch could put someone under. Still, he apparently emerged completely unscathed. No one knew who he was, but because he was dressed like a scholar of old, people took to calling him the Azure-Scaled Dragon. To think that it would be you... Mao Zixin."

"These Fairies could not have been very capable, then, if even he could do it." The Golden Witch said.

"No..." Tao Geming shook his head. "The brothers were quite tough. That Liao Lan of yours couldn't have handled them."

"What are you trying to say?"

"He's probably got some tricks up his sleeve."

"Are you telling me to be careful?"

"Do whatever you want." Tao Geming briskly cut her off, looking away.

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