Flying Dust - Chapter 17
Mu Yun Town had become unusually lively and bustling with this martial arts general assembly.
Mo Fei Chen looked around as he walked, although the stalls were similar to those on television, he was still a little excited to see them personally with his own eyes. Jun Wushuang just followed behind him.
But what attracted Mo Fei Chen’s attention the most was a pair of brother and sister made a living as a performer, performing conjuring tricks which in modern times would be called magic. Although their tricks were very old-fashioned, Mo Fei Chen, who had not seen such entertainment for a long time, was very happy to see them.
“All right, all right, it’s already noon. Let’s go to eat!” Jun Wushuang pulled Mo Fei Chen out and led him away from the crowd.
The two of them arrived at a restaurant and chose a seat by the window. Jun Wushuang didn’t order a lot of food, but the meat and veggies were in a good mix, so it was obvious that he paid particular attention to his life.
Mo Fei Chen picked up his chopsticks and took the pork belly with cashew nuts from the plate, who knew that Jun Wushuang would also extend his chopsticks to him and deliberately fought with him. Mo Fei Chen thought that Jun Wushuang was playing with him again, so he got excited too as the dish of pork tripe was forked back and forth by the two of them, but strangely, nothing fell off the plate.
Mo Fei Chen couldn’t get his hands on the dish and Jun Wushuang didn’t want to let him too, so Mo Fei Chen wrapped his chopsticks around and poked downwards along Jun Wushuang’s strength. He finally picked up a slice of pork belly and stuffed it into his mouth, not forgetting to look at Jun Wushuang smugly.
“I heard that Li Du was already the outstanding figure among the young disciples of your manor, but he lost to you easily. Fei Chen…now, I am thinking, do you have many skills that I don’t know about?”
Mo Fei Chen froze, he and Jun Wushuang had been so close for this period of time that he often forgot to hide it.
“And your stepwork is very subtle but the strange thing is that Li Du doesn’t seem able to do so.” Jun Wushuang looked sideways and had something in his mind. His eyes seemed to want to open up all the secrets in his heart and put them under the sun and exposed it.
“It is true, by lucky chance and fate that I have learnt something that Li Shi Xiong has not learnt, but I, Mo Fei Chen, have no intention to wander in Jiang Hu and have no desire to compete with anyone, so…”
“Your sword techniques and Qing Gong were not taught by Wen Qing Yuan. With his character, it’s unlikely that he will pass on what he taught you but not teach it to other disciples. Is it He Yunfeng?”
At the mention of this name, Mo Fei Chen could not help but shudder.
Jun Wushuang saw he put down his chopsticks and how he even couldn’t eat his meal anymore, so he could only laugh and said, “It’s my fault, this should be Mo Shi Di’s personal secret. With that personality of you, if you have something that you can say, you definitely won’t hide it, but if you can’t, I shouldn’t make things difficult for you.”
Mo Fei Chen nodded his head.
“But I want to tell you that people in Jiang Hu are dangerous. Just because you don’t have the intention to bother about what others have, doesn’t mean they won’t make a fuss about what you have. Since you are already planning to hide it, you have to hide it well. Do you understand?”
Hearing Jun Wushuang’s words, Mo Fei Chen suddenly let out a sigh of relief. In the end, the other party said it that way for his own good.
“Eat ba, come and eat! don’t let me ruin your appetite!” Jun Wushuang added some dishes to Mo Fei Chen’s bowl.
At this exact moment, a man dressed in brown clothing came in. He knocked the sword in his hand onto the table, “Waiter, quickly bring the best food and drink here!”
Next to him were two female disciples in yellow attires with red silk kerchief around their waists.
“Meng Shi Xiong, you don’t need to go to this expense. I’ll just have a bowl of noodles with my Shi Mei.” One of the girls rushed to stop him.
“Ai, these two Shi Mei from Lianxia Dong 1[Lianxia Dong, a name of the sect Lian : Refine Xia : rose-tinted clouds at sunrise or sunset Dong: Cave], what are you being polite for? Since we met on the street today, of course I, Meng Yu, should treat both of you to a meal!” His voice was not loud, but there was some kind of indistinct air of complacency in it.
“Who is he?” Mo Fei Chen asked in a low voice.
“A disciple from Bi Yan2[碧 Bi : light green/green jade 岩 Yan : Cliff] Island.” Jun Wushuang gestured with his eyes for Mo Fei Chen to eat his food and not look around.
The island master of Bi Yan Island, Jin Ziyu’s Bi Luo3[碧落 Biluo : green void; blue empyrean; blue sky] Sword was also one of the ten famous swords, but he was in seclusion during this period of time, so his disciples were only led by His Shi Di to participate in this meeting.
But seeing the proud look on Meng Yu’s face, I guess he will also participate in tomorrow’s sparring session.
The two young girls could not refuse Meng Yu and had to sit at the same table. But from time to time, they turned their heads to look at Mo Fei Chen’s table.
Mo Fei Chen was really happy. In fact, girls did not necessarily like men who look arrogant. On the contrary, those like Jun Wushuang who are refined and elegant, and who speak and act in a gentlemanly manner, were more attractive to people.
In addition, Jun Wushuang is originally good-looking. To be honest, except for Lu Qingmo who appeared last night, Mo Fei Chen has not seen any man whose appearance was more pleasing to the eyes than Jun Wushuang.
Meng Yu also seemed to have noticed the two girls’ minds. The moment he looked at Jun Wushuang, his eyes were almost changed into knives.
Mo Fei Chen immediately finished the food on the table efficiently4[The original words used this ; 三下五除二: three-down-five-reject-two—neat and quick (originally an abacus formula—when add three to two, three, or four on an abacus, move down a “five” piece of the upper part, and reject two of the two, three, or four in the lower part); in a jiffy or quickly and easily], dragged Jun Wushuang and left, only leaving behind the two girls with melancholy eyes. Mo Fei Chen was holding his laughter in his heart and only after walking for quite far away, did he turn his head back and said, “Jun Shi Xiong, do you think that Meng Yu is unlucky for spending money to treat those two Shi Jie to a meal, only to have them fall for you?”
Jun Wushuang directly grasped Mo Fei Chen’s collar, “You’re eating so fast. Be careful you’ll get sick again!”
“Oh that’s true! I get sleepy as soon as I’ve eaten to full, so we better go back to Mu Yun Manor and take a nap!”
Mo Fei Chen spent the whole day leisurely and carefree, but Li Du was different. He was obviously very nervous. He even dragged Mo Fei Chen to accompany him and kept talking. Finally, Mo Fei Chen was so sleepy and couldn’t stand it anymore that he directly tapped Li Du’s sleeping point with his invisible sword Qi.
The next morning, he was still in a daze when Li Du woke him up. After breakfast, Mo Fei Chen and his team followed the large group of people to the large open ground or space behind Mu Yun Mountain Manor.
This open ground is located on the only mountain in Mu Yun town. The ground seemed to be used exclusively for martial arts tournament.The stone platform was in the centre of the open space, smoothly polished. On the side of the platform towards the foot of the hill, there was a stone statue yet it was difficult to tell whether it was an animal or a human statue.
Mo Fei Chen thought to himself, ‘If this carved stone statue were to be used in modern times, it would probably be a fine work of abstract art.’
Around the open ground, disciples of various sects were sitting on the ground, but most of them were sitting upright and foursquare, while the sect leaders were sitting on seats with tea served in front of them. Mo Fei Chen tilted his head and thought to himself, ‘Let’s hope that Wen Qian Liu, the host of this martial arts tournament, doesn’t give a long speech that will make people want to sleep!’
However, Wen Qian Liu was not as pedantic or stubbornly clinging to outworn rules and ideas as Mo Fei Chen thought he would be and only announced the rules of the competition, emphasizing the principle of ‘stopping when the result is reached’ or not to overdoing it before then announcing the start of the competition.
Today is a sparring session for the younger disciples to test their sword techniques. Of course, the sword technique was not the invisible Qi one, but the real master one would have to wait for two days after this.
According to the vast majority’s mindset, they would not be willing to be the first participant to go on stage and wait to be the one who fought with several persons in turn and was tired out by his opponent so they would have to watch and analyze the situation before they strike. It didn’t matter if you lost but losing too quickly would be humiliating.
For a while, the beginning of an event was somewhat cold.
Mo Fei Chen was looking at Jun Wushuang who was not far away and wondering if he would appear on the stage or compete in the tournament. This moment, he was sitting with his back very straight which made his tall and slender body full of the sense of beauty. Mo Fei Chen could only see his head but not his expression.
So what if he saw him? There were so many people here, that guy must pretend to be obedient and well-behaved!
Wen Qian Liu seemed to have anticipated this kind of situation and was just about to call his disciple to the stage. However, he didn’t expect the silent Wu Liang Chanshi to say, “If I don’t go to hell, who will go to hell?5[我不入地獄，誰入地獄 : If I don’t do it, who will?; if I don’t help, who will?; sacrifice oneself in order to save others] Xu Ye, why don’t you come up to the stage and begin the competition?”
The young monk named Xu Ye, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, came out from behind Wu Liang Chanshi, bowed to everyone and went onto the arena.
The challenge came from a female disciple of Xiushui Palace. After around 70 to 80 moves, the female disciple admitted defeat and made an obeisance by cupping her hand before the chest. Liu Feiying nodded her head, seemingly satisfied with her performance.
Mo Fei Chen thought to himself like this, ‘It’s good to make progress, so why take winning and losing too seriously?’
Immediately afterwards, the next person on the stage was not so amiable. Xu Ye was injured by the hilt of his opponent’s sword and fell off the stage. Wu Liang Chanshi helped him up and told him to return to his seat.
After a few rounds of combat where several persons took turns in fighting one opponent to tire them out, Mo Fei Chen began to feel bored, hoping for a new style or movement of combat.
At this moment, someone leisurely walked in from outside the arena. His eyes full of smiles as he looked towards Wen Qian Liu on the main seat, as if the tense battle on the stage did not even present in his world.
Lu Qingmo was not drunk this time. He looked happy and content. When his eyes met Wen Qian Liu, a warmth emerged from his eyes.
Mo Fei Chen raised his eyebrows,realizing that this free and unrestrained man also had something that he cared about.
Wen Qing Yuan turned around and nodded, Li Du then leapt up with his sword. Mo Fei Chen was instantly excited and stretched out his neck, expecting him to win and gain speedy success. Li Du won four games in a row so everyone repeatedly shouted, ‘Good!’ and the challenger for the fifth game was Meng Yu.
Mo Fei Chen was happy in his heart and said, ‘Li Shi Xiong, if you have taught that arrogant guy a lesson, I will give you a message on your back 6[捶背: massage sb’s back by pounding it lightly with one’s fists]tonight.’
However, Meng Yu, that guy’s moves were quite violent, leaving no room for error in every move. At first, Li Du could barely cope with him, but as he gradually got used to it, he was able to use a number of clever moves. When he turned around and thrust, the tip of his sword hit Meng Yu’s chest. The tip of his sword stopped in front of Meng Yu’s chest, but ‘the rapacious as a wolf and savage as a cur-hearted7[狼心狗肺: lit. heart of wolf and lungs of dog (idiom) /Cruel and unscrupulous; brutal and cold-blooded; heartless and ungrateful]‘ man actually wrapped his sword around Li Du’s hilt and struck him on the shoulder, then kicked Li Du off the stage.The force was so strong that Wen Qing Yuan reached out and caught him but Li Du spit out a mouthful of blood, scaring Mo Fei Chen’s heart .
“Li Shi Xiong!” Mo Fei Chen rushed up to him, following Wen Qing Yuan and laid him down to examine his injuries.
“Thanks for letting me win.” Meng Yu was immensely proud of himself as he saluted, but Mo Fei Chen was so angry that he was about to fume with rage.
The moment Li Du’s sword nudged you in the chest, you, this idiot, had already lost!
Mo Fei Chen’s eyes were erupting fire, he stretched out his hand to touch the sword on his back when Wen Qing Yuan’s palm held him down.
Li Du also intermittently said, “Mo Shi Di… don’t go… It’s me, Li Du, who is not as good and skilled as others…”
“What do you mean by you are not as skilled as others? It’s obviously this bastard who cannot tell good from bad!” Mo Fei Chen glared fiercely at Meng Yu who was competing with another disciple on the stage.
“Don’t forget what He Shi Xiong told you before you left.” Wen Qing Yuan whispered in Mo Fei Chen’s ear.
Translator’s Corner:
He Yunfeng: call me He Shi Xiong
Wen Qing Yuan : He Shi Xiong this… He Shi Xiong that…
Me : Hmm.. this person definitely don’t want to admit that he is old