Although there was Zhou in the north and Chen in the south, with their own forms of governance, the jianghu was not split into north and south, as the world was not split into north and south, no natural borders.
So as Hehuan Sect and the Buddhist sects amassed power, not only were the sects in the north affected, but Linchuanxuegong also felt the threat looming.
Shijiandahui was an optimal time for all of the sects to communicate amongst themselves, Linchuanxuegong had intentions of forming an alliance, so sent Zhan Ziqian to probe, if Yi Bichen was willing to let v head the alliance, then everything would fall into place, if an alliance could be formed between the Ru and Daoist sects, then it would be able to keep the influence of the Hehuan and Buddhist sects in check.
But this task of Zhan Ziqian's did not go smoothly, Yi Bichen could not and would not be forced to accept an inferior position, Zhan Ziqian was certain to return with nothing.
With no Ru sects participating, shijiandaihui also lost some of its lustre.
Shen Qiao hearing about the twist in this turn of events, shook his head: "If the intention is shared, what does it matter who is the head?"
Zhan Ziqian smiled bitterly: "Not everyone can be like Shen-daozhang without a care for their reputation, Xuandushan has acquiesced to the Tujue, Chunyangguan thinks they can lead the Daoist sects, and my sect Linchuanxuegong is the head of the Ru sects, Ru and Dao are not the same, dragon and phoenix clashing, who is willing to be the background foliage?"
Shen Qiao furrowed his brows and didn't say anything.
As Zhan Ziqian had said, Ruyan Kehui and Yi Bichen were proper grandmasters of their generation, there was heft to the position of head of the alliance, whoever was chosen, the other would not be at ease, keeping in mind they were both heads of their respective sects, distinguished by the Ru sects and the Daoist sects, no one was willing to have their sect submit to another, the position of leadership, was not only a matter of face, but also the relational power between sects.
Shen Qiao: "Yi-guanzhu will not accept it."
Zhan Ziqian: "You're right, Yi-guanzhu hearing my intentions, rejected the proposed alliance, likely my shifu already predicted this outcome, and so only sent me, and not my shidi, or someone else. But Yi-guanzhu's intent to form his own alliance against Hehuan and the Buddhist sects is hardly a secret, they will eventually find out, I'm afraid at tomorrow's shijiandahui there will be waves on flat ground, Shen-daozhang you are a Daoist, but you do not owe Chunyangguan anything, why not come with me to Linchuanxuegong? Since we parted ways at Su manor, my shidi has nothing but the highest praise for Shen-daozhang, if he were to see you again he would be very happy."
Shen Qiao smiled: "Thank you Zhan-xiong for the well wishes, but this poor one still must stay."
Zhan Ziqian, surprised: "But why?"
Shen Qiao: "The Daoist sects share common interests, this disaster would not just befall Chunyangguan alone, if Chunyangguan is eaten up by Hehuan Sect, the other sects' difficulties would not be far off. Moreover I already promised Bixia Sect, to assist them during shijiandahui."
Zhan Ziqian, with regret: "Then there is no solution, Yi-guanzhu's intention to form an alliance will probably fall empty."
Shen Qiao: "Chunyangguan grows more prosperous every day, their prestige is no less than that of Xuandushan, logically there shouldn't so few people willing to pledge their allegiance."
Zhan Ziqian: "Even if this were the case, but people are cautious, look at the Wang brothers, Yi-guanzhu personally invited them into the main hall, probably with other intentions, but they keep saying they're only here for shijiandahui, not mentioning the alliance, clearly they've seen that Chunyangguan cannot clap with only one hand, they are only willing to be bystanders, not wanting to be drawn into the fray, to truly form an alliance, how could it be easy?"
He was an easy-going person, although a disciple of a Ru sect, didn't have an ardent stance, in his tone was even some regret about Chunyangguan's fate, as if he anticipated the oncoming stormwinds surrounding tomorrow's shijiandahui and its dismal conclusion, the two lamented for a while, Zhan Ziqian brought up the request of drawing him again, asked him to go to Linchuanxuegong as a guest in the future, Shen Qiao agreed.
As soon as Zhan Ziqian left, the Su brothers came to his door, to thank Shen Qiao for his help in Chang'an, although the Su family were temporarily hiding at Qingchengshan, but their base in Chang'an was not completely gone, when the time was right, they would return.
Apart from this, there were several sects who sent their namecards, requesting a meeting with Shen Qiao.
He abruptly realized, at some point, he was no longer the fallen of the jianghu, the Xuandushan zhangjiao that everyone laughed at, now when people mentioned his name, usually linked it to his fight outside Chang'an, and because of Hehuan Sect's recent looming animosity, with Shen Qiao's killing of the two Hehuan Sect elders, all the more reason to have it discussed enthusiastically.
This was an unexpected outcome for Shen Qiao, he couldn't cry or laugh, he used the excuse of the late hour— and declined all of these requests, after sending Su Wei and Su Qiao off, he meditated alone in his room, patiently waiting for the next day to come.
The day was sleepily brightening, someone had delivered hot water for washing up as well as breakfast, after Shen Qiao finished, was about to depart, Zhao Chiying was knocking on the door, the two of them made their way to the main hall.
Shen Qiao: "Where are Yuanbai and the others?"
Zhao Chiying: "They've gone to retrieve their number cards, if it goes as expected, they'll start in the first round."
Shen Qiao didn't quite understand the rules of shijiandahui, so asked about them.
Zhao Chiying said: "When we arrived yesterday, the Chunyangguan disciples wrote down names and sects, today things will be arranged by the order in which people arrived, the name list is given to Liuligong, Liuligong will also refer to each person's wugong achievements in the jianghu, they'll try to put people of similar standing in the same round to compete, if someone doesn't want to compete, just tell them ahead of time and they'll cancel your spot, replace you with someone who arrived later. Except these rules are for regular sect disciples, for people like us, we usually won't be included in the match-ups, unless someone really wanted to step into the ring to compete."
Shen Qiao: "Everyone's wugong achievements in the jianghu, some people barely know this themselves, Liuligong is so secluded, how do they find out?"
Zhao Chiying smiled: "I have this question too, it's probably along the lines of the messages and news they receive from all over to approximate someone's position, this is also a purpose of shijiandahui, to determine thoroughly the order, it's said that Liuligong's people have blazing eyes, one look at someone's movements, and they'll know where they fall in the jianghu, anyone who's seen them admires their work, ten years ago I did not have the luck to witness it, this time I must see it with my own eyes."
As they chatted, they had crossed Chunyangguan's back gardens, arriving in the main hall.
Many people had already arrived, the open space looked different from yesterday, the hall was filled with seats and floor cushions, arranged artfully, and the main hall screen doors were all open, so that no matter where you sat inside, you would have a clear view of the fight outside, without needing to suffer the sun or rain.
Seeing Zhan Ziqian leave yesterday, and the Wang brothers have zero interest in forming an alliance, Shen Qiao and Zhao Chiying assumed there wouldn't be too many attendees, however what they saw was that the a thousand seats within the main hall had been filled to the sevens and eights, the sects present were also quite diverse: there was Feixianmen, a small sect from Qingyangshanzhuang, and Jiuhuazong, Chixiajianpai a renowned first rank sect, although Linchuanxuegong and Tiantaizong these two huge Ru and Buddhist sects were not present, but all in all the situation was not terrible.
Zhao Chiying and Shen Qiao sat down, she quietly said: "Given Li Qingyu's calibre, he'll probably win today, then when Yi-guanzhu brings up the alliance again, it'll make matters easier."
Shen Qiao nodded, thought similarly.
On the other side, Yi Bichen escorted by his disciples, arrived, greeted everyone, then spoke to the crowd: "Thank you all for finding the time to attend, shijiandahui, once every ten years, this iteration Liuligong has lent our sect's grounds, Chunyangguan is deeply grateful, I hope that everyone uses these exchanges amicably, stopping when the point is made, and not injure goodwill!"
Yi Bichens voice was warm, pitched not high nor low, transmitted using inner qi, everyone present didn't miss a thing, heard every word clearly.
As he said this, he retreated a half-step, introduced to everyone the woman in purple standing next to him.
"This is Liuligong's Yuan Zixiao Yuan-niangzi."
Many people had only heard of Liuligong, and had not met them, at this moment seeing that the famous Liuligong had only sent a woman to judge shijiandahui, after getting over their initial shock, became suspicious.
"Yi-guanzhu, not that we're not giving you face, shijiandahui only happens once every ten years, the rank-list, everyone from the jianghu holds it in great esteem, not only is is early this time, and they also only sent a woman, they obviously don't respect us, and they don't respect you!"
"Yes, could it be that Liuligong is so afraid of Hehuan Sect and the Buddhist sects' influence that they only sent a weak woman to fool us?"
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"Right, what's the meaning of this shijiandahui, might as well go home early to sleep!"
One person started, and others quickly joined in, soon there were complaints heard in all directions, Chunyangguan disciples turned their worried faces toward their shifu.
"Your name is Wei Gaofei, from Feixianmen, you're a knife expert, Feixianmen's set Daoxutian, you've practiced to perfection." The purple-clad woman next to Yi Bichen suddenly spoke, her voice was like jade colliding, reverberating in the main hall, clear and melodious, but cold without emotion, and did not contain a trace of irritation at being just now badly treated.
"That's right, what of it?" The first youth that had spoken up paused, and replied with a question.
Yuan Zixiao: "But your knife style has a fatal flaw, or a tripping point, no matter how you try you can't overcome it, so you still cannot practice the knife style to its pinnacle, it's the reason why last time you lost to Longmenpai Qi Wei."
Wei Gaofei's expression had changed markedly: " You, how did you know?"
Yuan Zixiao didn't respond, continued icily: "Daoxutian this knife style, requires speed, might, and accuracy, but your wrist is not flexible enough, you can't keep up with its speed, no matter how much you practice knife style, you cannot make it your own."
Wei Gaofei at this point no longer cared how she knew about his weakness, hurried to ask further: "Is there a solution?"
Yuan Zixiao: "Yes, since your physical body has its limits, not able to achieve the pinnacle that Daoxutian requires, then why continue on this path into the dark, you could switch to the other knife style from your set Xuanguang, with slow and steady as its focus, simplifying complexity, with your calibre, it shouldn't be hard to reach a high level."
"Simplify complexity, simplify complexity…" Wei Gaofei repeated this to himself, thoughts written on his face, his appeared unsettled, suddenly he gave a shout, towards Yuan Zixiao bowed all the way: "Thank you for the advice, I cannot express my gratitude, I will return the favour someday!"
Saying this, ignoring everyone else, he directly left the main hall, not turning even for his shixiong and shidi yelling behind him.
Seeing his reaction, the other people present knew he must have realized something from Yuan Zixiao's words, martial artists rarely had an epiphany that enabled them to breakthrough the next wall, so no was was surprised, only jealous.
Yuan Zixiao continued to call out the flaws of the others' wugong histories, these people were the ones that had been loudest before, now that they had been exposed one by one, their expressions changed.
The other people now realized Liuligong's ability, were terrified that Yuan Zixiao would expose their weaknesses, that their opponents could easily see through them even before they had set foot into the fight, no one dared to make another sound.
Zhao Chiying murmured: "This woman is certainly skilled, Liuligong is as their reputation claims, I bet she also knows Bixia Sect's wugong weaknesses."
In her words was consternation.
Shen Qiao smiled: "Ten thousand things under the heavens, yin yang two sides, where there's benefit must also have detriment, even the highest wugong cannot be without flaw, shen can see through them one by one, speaks to her ability, but knowing the flaw, someone may not have the chance to act on it, the higher the wugong, the smaller the flaw, so instead of spending time memorizing people's flaws, it may be more worth developing one's own wugong, once your stage is integrated and unimpeded, others naturally will have no entry point."
Zhao Chiying nodded: "Spoken like a grandmaster, I cannot compare."
Yi Bichen saw Yuan Zixiao holding her own, didn't add anything further, seeing how people had quieted down, said: "Since no one disagrees, then let's go by the rules!"
Following his words, Chunyangguan's disciples struck the jade stone, its clear sound rang out, shijiandahui had started.
The first match, was between Wang San-lang and Zhou Yexue.
This pair had their prior disagreement, now meeting again, did not look at each other well, and clearly Zhou Yexue clearly could not match Wang San-lang, before their exchange, the outcome was pretty much decided.
Although Zhao Chiying was regretful, there was no other way, if Bixia Sect wanted to resurrect itself, the burden might fall to her alone, she had decided that she would have a match, but where this would happen, would depend on the opponent, if the opponent was too unskilled, even if she won, it would not garner any favour.
Zhou Yexue was a stubborn little girl, although she knew the outcome clearly, did not surrender without a fight, drew her sword against Wang San-lang, the two of them, sword glint and shadow, for the moment was quite a sight.
The square was very wide, to minimize extra effort, apart from them, two other matches were going on at the same time.
Su Qiao was among them, his opponent was Jiuhua Sect zongzhu's chosen disciple, their ages were similar, they were both among the talents of their generation, their fight was even more dazzling than Zhou Yexue and Wang San-lang's. everyone's attention was drawn to them, entranced, sighed that jianghu's later tides would wash out the earlier waves.
At this point, a Chunyangguan disciple came from the mountainbase, behind them was another person.
Shen Qiao saw that person's figure and appearance from afar, his body made to move, although the surprise was not expected, he was deeply moved.
Zhao Chiying, sitting beside him, of course sensed his shock, and asked: "What is it?"