บท 31: Kong You Yue
News about Great Mage Bai Yuan Zhi residing in Snowrock Mountain began spreading across Water Rites Town very quickly.
Snowrock Mountain, a mountain road on the hill.
"Stop!" There was a checkpoint situated on the mountain path; not just anyone could freely enter Snowrock Castle. A group of soldiers were watching some young men and women who had reached the checkpoint. All these commonly mannered youngsters were dressed in simple garments, making them look like ordinary civilians.
"What’s your business here?" shouted one of the soldiers.
"Big brother," said one of the young woman with a pretty face. "We heard the Great Mage was living on Snowrock Mountain. We wish to see the Great Mage, and hope to pay our respects at the Great Mage’s residence."
"That’s right big brother, please be flexible and allow us to see the Great Mage." The other youngsters plead.
They were all so young; all of them were highly ambitious!
Mage, how high was their status? Of course they all wanted to become Mages as well.
"Humph!" the Captain of the guard, a thin middle-aged man sneered, "Youngsters, I ask you, do you have the talent of a Mage?"
"We don’t know."
"When we meet the Great Mage, we will know if we have the talent or not," all of the young men and women replied.
"Ridiculous!" The thin middle-aged man laughed, "Do you know how precious the Great Mage’s time is? Do you think it’s so easy for you to see him? Moreover, you do not even know if you have a Mage’s talent or not. Do you think the Great Mage will have time to see you one by one?"
"Maybe one of us have will have a very high talent for magic and may be favored by the Great Mage," said one of the girls.
"That’s enough!" The middle-aged Captain was shaking his head. "Just leave. These days, I have seen too many young dreamers! Youngsters, you have to be realistic! I, your uncle, specifically joined the army to learn dou qi. I could only learn it after experiencing several rounds of life or death! Who do you think you are, to be received by the Great Mage as a disciple? "
"To tell you the truth, the Great Mage has already decreed that he will not see any visitors! , Even if the visitors were nobles, he would not see them, let alone you." The middle-aged Captain warned.
"Ah!"
The youngsters looked at each other; they all felt hopeless.
These soldiers devoted themselves to their duties. No matter how they pleaded, the soldiers would still not let them pass.
Not long after.
A carriage came rushing towards the checkpoint, a large group of horsemen followed behind the carriage. The carriage was luxurious, embedded with a magic array. Even at such a fast pace, the carriage was still very stable.
"Stop!" Lord Xue Ying’s soldiers called out.
"We are the entourage of Lord Yun Cui of the Cao Clan. Our Lord wants to visit your Lord’s castle." said the carriage coachman.
"Lord Yun Cui of the Cao Clan?"
The soldiers exchanged glances.
Not many big clans resided within Water Rites Town. Lord Yun Cui of the Cao Clan, was barely able to be counted as one of the top ten big clans inside Water Rites Town. At that time, when Lord Xue Ying’s strength was weak, the Cao Clan was also one level weaker! Right now, with Dong Bo Xue Ying being considered as the number one expert in Water Rites Town, the gap between Cao Clan and Dong Bo Clan was even greater.
"Only ten or fewer soldiers can pass and go up the hill." The skinny middle-aged Captain said, "This is an order issued by the Lord, please understand."
"This ..." the coachman hesitated.
"Fine. Old Pan, you and four others, follow me to go up the mountain. As for the others, stay here." Said the voice from inside the carriage.
"Understood."
Five strong knights followed behind the carriage in an imposing manner. They went up the hill, passing the checkpoint.
"We also want to visit the Lord. Let us up mountain." one of the girls from the youngster group before shouted. They seemed unwilling to give up.
"Hahaha! You want to visit the Lord? The Great Mage won’t see you; does it mean our Lord would be willing to see you? " The thin middle-aged man shook his head and laughed, "Forget it. Just give up."
...
This time, before the New Year, Snow Hill City was unprecedentedly lively.
Some Citizens wanted to try their luck, while many nobles from Water Rites Town also came to pay a visit. However, because the Great Mage wouldn’t accept any guests, they instead went to Dong Bo Xue Ying! They wanted to ask Xue Ying to help them, to ask the Great Mage to receive them as disciples. They felt that since the Great Mage settled here, he would definitely give face to Lord Dong Bo Xue Ying.
But——
Dong Bo Xue Ying was also not receiving any guests! Zong Ling helped to ward off all of the guests as well.
In the morning.
A male servant rushed down to the bamboo house at the back of the mountain, but the bamboo house was empty inside. He did not see Xue Ying.
"Master, Master," cried the male servant.
The voice echoed...
On the mountain hillside, a spring rushed down from above, smashing into the pool below as a stream meandered away into the distance. On a large stone beside the pool, while listening to the sounds of the mountain spring water beside him, Xue Ying practiced a set of fist techniques. This was precisely the dou qi technique"Three Stage Flame Technique". When practicing the fist technique, his entire bodies strength surged. Xue Ying beautifully coordinated his fists. His entire physical power was perfectly mastered and naturally attracted the fire-attributed energy from Heaven and Earth.
Constantly, he inhaled the fire-attributed energy from Heaven and Earth and internally converted it to fire dou qi.
"Inhale, Exhale..."
One fist after another… between breaths, Xue Ying felt as though countless flames drilled into his body. His body continually drew fire-attributed energy from the surroundings. His primordial bloodline awakened not long ago, but whether it was his dou qi or physical body, everything continued developing at high speed. Xue Ying continued to practice his fist technique. He wanted to perfectly control every aspect of this rapidly growing power.
"Master." A distant voice could be heard.
"Huh?" Xue Ying suddenly stopped and looked upwards, towards the source of the sound .
"I will not meet any nobles, why are they still looking for me?" Xue Ying pondered while picking up his Snow Spear.
Whiz!
He moved extremely fast, becoming a mirage. If normal people saw this, they would only see Xue Ying as a blurry shadow flashing by. This level of power was frightening!
"Rustle!" From behind the Bamboo House a mirage flashed a moment, and then Xue Ying appeared.
"What’s wrong?" Xue Ying asked.
The male servant was very surprised and frightened with the sudden appearance of his Lord. After hearing the Lord’s inquiry, he immediately answered. "Lord Zong Ling ordered me to inform you that the previous Lord’s old friend, Lord Kong Hai, has come. Lord Zong Ling asked you to please head back."
"Uncle Kong?" Xue Ying lightly nodded.
Excluding Uncle Zong and Uncle Tong, Xue Ying’s father had very little friends! His own grandfather, because of famine, left his hometown and came to Water Rites Town. Because his grandfather was an outsider, the villagers isolated and bullied him. His grandfather lost his life when going inside the mountain to hunt. Without his parent’s care, Xue Ying’s father had no choice except to join the army. While in the army, Xue Ying’s father had the chance to cultivate dou qi and went on many adventures involving life or death situations.
His father’s friends also came from the few people he knew from his time in the army. However, because his father was out adventuring for too long, he already lost contact with most of his friends. Only Kong Hai frequently came to visit. Xue Ying remembered that when he was a child, he had seen Kong Hai several times. After his parents had been arrested, Kong Hai also came to visit once a year, and in later years he would send someone to send New Year’s gifts. To maintain this relation, Xue Ying would also send some return gifts to Kong Hai.
Since his parents were not present, it had been awhile since Kong Hai personally came.
"Ha Ha, Xue Ying! It’s been several years since I’ve last seen you! Now you have already become the number one expert in Water Rites Town. Amazing!"A fat middle-aged man said, getting up and laughing the moment he saw Xue Ying enter the living room.
"Uncle Kong Hai." Xue Ying smiled and nodded.
Kong Hai secretly regretted his choice.
After he retired from the Army, he became a businessman. He became friends with many people and established social relations with them. Dong Bo Lie was only one of his many friends. After Dong Bo Lie and his wife were arrested, he only came once to Snowrock Castle to comfort the young Dong Bo brothers. After that, he never came back. However, because of his habit as a businessman, to maintain the relation, he would always send men to deliver a New Year’s gift.
In fact, every year he would send New Year’s gifts to all of his friends, but he would only personally visit and deliver the gifts for the more important friends. He never concerned himself with this child who was left by his old friend. Who could have imagined, this ‘Dong Bo Xue Ying’ unexpectedly, with only his strength alone, was able to wipe out the fearsome Bent Blade Union? Simply unimaginable!
"Come, You Yue, greet your Elder Brother Xue Ying." The plumpy Kong Hai tugged at a young girl wearing a green dress beside him.
"Elder Brother Xue Ying," The young girl wearing green dress said shyly.
"You Yue?" Xue Ying smiled, "you’re already grown up. I met you before when I was only a child, but I’m afraid you wouldn’t remember me. At that time you were only four or five years old."
He had seen Kong You Yue before when he was a child. Kong You Yue was Kong Hai’s daughter; she was three years younger than him.
"I came here today to trouble you about something, Xue Ying." Kong Hai smiled while saying. "You Yue has magic talent. I request of you to ask the Great Mage to make You Yue his disciple! I also brought five thousand gold Coins to give to the Great Mage! The Great Mage already has many disciples. It’s just one common disciple… The Great Mage probably won’t care about such a matter. I want Xue Ying to personally ask the Great Mage. He definitely would give more attention to You Yue if you asked."
"Oh, this matter, Uncle Kong Hai doesn’t have to worry about." Xue Ying nodded and promised.
For the Great Mage, accepting a disciple was just a matter of money.
To become his personal disciple, someone had to pay 50,000 gold coins!
To become a common disciple, the requirement was 5,000 gold coins! Of course it was acceptable.
5,000 Gold Coins... even for nobles from Water Rites Town, it was still regarded as an astronomical amount of money. So far, for Xue Ying giving him the Silver Moon Wolf King’s heart, the Great Mage was already satisfied.
A fee of 5,000 Gold Coins to become a common disciple still counted as a high price. Most of the nobles also wanted to ask Xue Ying to help them, but they also wanted to reduce the fee to save some money.
But Kong Hai... had already prepared 5,000 Gold Coins! This meant Xue Ying just had to say a word, it was indeed trivial.
"Xue Ying,, when You Yue later becomes the Great Mage’s disciple and resides within Snowrock Mountain, please help take care of her as well. ," Kong Hai continued speaking.
"No problem, there are many rooms within the castle. You Yue can reside within one of the rooms," replied Xue Ying. He usually stayed at the back of the mountain inside the bamboo house. This kind of matter could be arranged immediately.
"Ha ha ha… speaking of this, that year, your father and I also said that if the two of you get along well, we will let you two marry." Kong Hai laughed happily.
"Father." You Yue’s face flushed.
"However, it all depends on your feelings. Your parents also said, that year, not to force it. ‘We should let the children decide by themselves’." Kong Hai exclaimed happily, "If the Water Rites Town’s number one expert became my son-in-law, ha ha, I would be so happy I wouldn’t be able to close my mouth."
"Father, enough." You Yue couldn’t bear it any longer. She was still young and couldn’t bear her father’s shamelessness. Kong Hai stopped to look at his daughter and smiled.
When he and the Dong Bo Lie couple chatted about their children’s marriage, the Dong Bo couple just said, ‘it depends on the children’s feelings.’ Today he brought it up again!
It was because… he was very optimistic about Xue Ying. He wished for his daughter and Xue Ying’s marriage! If the marriage really happened, his Kong Clan’s status would also rise.
Indeed, he didn’t care about Great Mage Bai Yuan Zhi! Asking for a position as a disciple? He was a businessman. His daughter could pick any ordinary Mage as her teacher, and it would be sufficient. Why spend 5,000 Gold Coins for the Great Mage?
This 5,000 Gold Coins, wasn’t because of the Great Mage!
It was because of Xue Ying!
It was because the Great Mage was residing within Snowrock Mountain!
He ordered his daughter to reside within Snowrock Mountain. His daughter living together with Xue Ying, from morning till evening! Over time, naturally his daughter and Xue Ying will develop some feelings and become a couple.
A businessman always looked for long term profits. A businessman also had to know when to spend. Since his retirement as a soldier, Kong Hai already built his reputation as a businessman, a very skilled one.
...
That very same day, Xue Ying personally took them to visit Great Mage Bai Yuan Zhi!
Seeing 5,000 Gold Coins, Bai Yuan Zhi couldn’t help but smile happily. He also promised to take good care when teaching Kong You Yue.
That night, Kong Hai went back home. He once again entrusted Xue Ying to take care of Kong You Yue.
Actually…
Xue Ying was no longer a child. He was also smart and matured. Even in his childhood, he already saw through Kong Hai’s intentions. This time, he also understood Kong Hai’s visit had another meaning! But towards this little sister, Kong You Yue who he often saw when small, Xue Ying didn’t have any other feelings. Because right now You Yue was still a child, and even after New Year, she was still a thirteen year old girl. Her body also had not yet developed; she was just a little girl.
"Swish."
"Clang."
A spear flew through the air.
Xue Ying began living alone in seclusion in the mountain bamboo house and practicing his spear technique, his spear’s shadow whistled. The Flying Snow Spear naturally attracted snowflakes. In the center of the snowflakes was a teenager dressed in black clothing. The figure looked surreal, his silhouette and the spear’s shadow having merged to become one.
"Xue Ying, Xue Ying," Lion-man Tong San came running with big steps. With each step he trampled the frozen snow, making it split apart.
"Uncle Tong?" Xue Ying stopped his spear.
"Lord Si An from Dragon Mountain Manor has come," said Tong San.
Xue Ying’s eyes brightened. Finally, was there news about his parents?
"Let’s go." Xue Ying didn’t bother to change his clothes. He and Tong San immediately began rushing towards the castle.
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