Chapter 24: Zhao Yun Fights Against Ma Chao

  Although Zhao Yun could not fully understand his teacher's intention, this did not prevent him from following the teacher's orders. The ancients said that heaven, earth, ruler, parents and teachers are like father and son. Sima Qian also wrote, "One day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father". Generally, as a disciple, one would not go against the teacher's command, let alone Zhao Yun. Moreover, Zhao Yun also knew that his teacher was doing it for his own good.

  Zhao Yun raised his spear and made a fist at Cui An: "Please instruct me, elder brother!"

  "Please!" Cui An had already put down his burden and was ready for battle.

  Two men walked to a very spacious place, just right for a martial arts competition. Zhao Yun used his spear and Cui An used his halberd. The ancients said that the spear is the king of weapons, while the halberd is the leader of weapons, and both spears and halberds are difficult to master, not something that can be accomplished overnight.

  The spear is a lifelong sword, let alone the halberd. Those who use the halberd are either masters or not up to par, and Cui An is naturally the former.

  The two stood still, Cui An first took an offensive stance, while Zhao Yun was defensive. From this, it can be seen that one is mainly attacking and the other should be mainly defending.

  Cui An was the first to make a move, his spear technique being mainly offensive, with no room for retreat. His strength was enough to overwhelm ten people at once, and his moves were not bad either. Zhao Yun's gun technique was mainly defensive, against Cui An's attack, he used cleverness to break through the thousand-pound force. The two men fought six rounds, evenly matched and difficult to distinguish.

  Cui An thought to himself, this little white face is quite formidable. Although he sometimes reacts slowly and his brain doesn't work very well, it doesn't mean he can't think of anything, Cui An also thinks of some messy things.

  He referred to all the men who were whiter and better-looking than him, except for Ma Chao, as "little white faces". He thought to himself that he had underestimated his opponent this time. The other's skills, honed over two months, had allowed him to exchange several rounds with himself - a humiliating experience. No way, he must end the fight quickly; losing face for himself was one thing, but losing face for his teacher and lord would be unbearable.

  As for what tempering, it's not important, now the face is important. It has to be said that Cui An's idea was simple, and he thought so, and did so too. Saying that tempering, although Cui An took it seriously, didn't use his full strength, and after all, couldn't bully his younger brother, but this time for the sake of face, he didn't care about anything else either.

  He added more strength to his spear, and this time Zhao Yun could no longer hold on. Two months and over a decade of skill level are not comparable, let alone the fact that Zhao Yun was temporarily inferior to Cui An in terms of strength. The two fought for twelve rounds, and Zhao Yun was defeated.

  Zhao Yun clasped his fists, "Elder brother's martial arts skills are impressive, I admire them! In the future, I hope elder brother will not hesitate to point out my mistakes!"

  "No problem, no problem! You're not bad either, not at all like someone who's only studied for two months. I remember when my teacher and I first started learning, we weren't even half as good as you!" Cui An spoke quickly and freely, saying whatever came to mind.

  But although Zhao Yun and Tong Yuan have only studied for more than two months, he actually had a foundation in martial arts. Before becoming an apprentice to Tong Yuan, he learned from his elder brother Zhao Lei, whose level was limited, so he also learned from the villagers, especially Old Man Zhao. He taught Zhao Yun a lot, although Old Man Zhao's level was also limited, but he wouldn't mislead anyone, so Zhao Yun actually had a good foundation since childhood.

  Tong Yuan taught Zhao Yun afterwards and knew something about it, but Cui An and Ma Chao did not understand the situation.

  Zhoa Yun smiled and scratched his head, "Brother is overpraising me, I also had some foundation in the past, plus the teacher taught well, it's nothing much. In the future, I still need to learn from brother!"

  The deeper Tong Yuan looked at Zhao Yun, the more delighted he became in his heart. With such a disciple, what more could one ask for? It seems that after waiting for Zhao Yun to make some progress in his studies, he can focus on pursuing that elusive Heavenly Way. The heavens have not been unkind to him.

  After practicing with Cui An, Zhao Yun wanted to continue practicing with Ma Chao. Unexpectedly, Ma Chao stopped him and said, "Younger brother, take a rest first, we can practice later!"

  Zhoa Yun looked at Tong Yuan, and Tong Yuan said: "Yun'er, listen to your senior brother's words, it won't be too late to have a duel later!"

  "Alright!" After all, Zhao Yun had just finished sparring with Cui An, and although it was only twelve rounds, Zhao Yun had still expended some physical energy. Taking a rest to replenish his strength would make the upcoming spar with Ma Chao more effective.

  Zhao Yun and Cui An's sparring result was within Tong Yuan's expectations, after all, Cui An was a simple-minded person, and Tong Yuan had a good understanding of him. Compared to Cui An, he was more interested in seeing how Ma Chao, the successor of Nanhua, would perform in terms of martial arts, and he was full of anticipation.

  Before long, Zhao Yun had rested and was also eager to engage in a duel with Ma Chao.

  Ma Chao had already handed his spear over to Cui An and untied his bundle. "Please, younger brother!"

  "Please, senior brother!"

  The two stood apart, Ma Chao also made an attacking spear gesture, while Zhao Yun remained defensive.

  At this moment, in Ma Chao's eyes, the surrounding forest, Tong Yuan and Cui An were gone, leaving only himself and his opponent Zhao Yun between heaven and earth. But to those who didn't understand, Ma Chao was just holding his spear and staring blankly.

  But Tong Yuan didn't think that Ma Chao was spacing out. He looked at Ma Chao's appearance and nodded slightly, "This kid has some meaning!"

  Ma Chao's opponent, Zhao Yun, saw Ma Chao staring blankly at him. Originally, he was waiting for Ma Chao to attack, but what he got instead was his opponent's daze. Since that's the case, then he'll take the initiative to attack first. They had agreed to exchange blows, and it wouldn't be taking advantage of someone in a crisis.

  Just as Zhao Yun was about to launch an attack, Ma Chao finally made a move. He wouldn't make a move unless he had to, and when he did, he would definitely target the enemy's vital points. However, Ma Chao still remembered that this was just a test of skills, so he wouldn't be as ruthless as Cui An.

  His sudden change only slightly surprised Zhao Yun, who then switched from offense to defense. Of course, there was the fact that Ma Chao had let up. After all, this was a test of skills and not a fight to the death. In terms of speed, strength, and technique changes, he didn't use his full force, only using the level of a friendly spar between two people.

  But a master can tell at a glance. Tong Yuan looked at Ma Chao and nodded repeatedly, indicating that Ma Chao's performance was not bad.

  Ten rounds have passed, and the two are evenly matched, but Tong Yuan has already seen that Ma Chao has at least five years of foundation, maybe six or seven. The spear is not something that can be achieved in a short period of time, don't look at how everyone praises Zhao Yun, he had several years of foundation before, plus his teacher taught him well and he learned well himself, so the results of two months will be stronger than ordinary people, but in front of Cui An and Ma Chao, it's really not enough. The time Cui An and Ma Chao spent learning is not something that can be compared to Zhao Yun now.

  Chui An and Zhao Yun exchanged twelve rounds, while Ma Chao thought to himself that he might be able to finish it in twenty-four rounds. He had two ideas in mind: first, to exchange a couple of moves with Zhao Yun, so they could get a feel for each other, but now was not the time to play along; there would be plenty of opportunities later. What Ma Chao wanted to do now was have a good chat with Tong Yuan and Zhao Yun.

  The second is that I hope Zhongyue can point out his own martial arts after watching. Based on the above reasons, Ma Chao won Zhao Yun in the 25th round.

  "Thanks, brother!" Zhao Yun said with a fist bump to Ma Chao, he also understood that Ma Chao didn't use his full strength.

  "Younger brother, no need to be polite, when I was learning gunplay at first, I didn't have your level of skill!"

  "Alright, you brothers don't have to be so polite to each other. Let's stop here for today and head back to the mountain top hut early!" Tong Yuan had spoken up, and of course, all three of them agreed. Then the four of them headed back to the mountain top hut together.

  The four returned to the top of the mountain and found Zhao Yu waiting for them there.

  Did she know we would return all along? Ma Chao thought to himself.

  "Master Tung, Second Brother, you're back!" Little Zhao Yu was overjoyed when she saw Zhao Yun.

  "Little Rain, I'm back with two senior brothers!" Zhao Yun said as he introduced Ma Chao and Cui An to Zhao Yu.

  "I've met them before!" Zhao Yu said with a wrinkle of her small nose.

  "Little Rain, how can you be so unreasonable to the two senior brothers! Don't come and greet the two senior brothers!" It seems that sometimes Zhao Yun is still a very strict older brother.

  However, Zhao Yu acted as if she hadn't heard anything and hastily hid behind Tong Yuan.

  "Junior brother, junior brother! I had met Zhao Yu's sister long ago with Fu Da. If it weren't for Zhao Yu's sister, we wouldn't be able to see you now. I'm really grateful to Zhao Yu's sister!" Ma Chao helped Zhao Yu out of the situation, he couldn't possibly hold anything against Zhao Yu, besides, Zhao Yu had indeed helped him, and he couldn't forget that kindness.

  Zhao Yu listened to Ma Chao finish speaking, stuck out her tongue at him, and then made a "you're quite sensible" face. Ma Chao was left crying with laughter. He thought that in this era, five or six year old girls were all especially strong-willed. Previously in Pingzhou he had met Cai Yan, and now in Jizhou he had met Zhao Yu, who was even more so... really, really, he couldn't find any suitable words to describe it.

  Zhao Yun naturally didn't say much after hearing Ma Chao's words. He glanced at Zhao Yu, and although he didn't speak, Zhao Yu understood in her heart that her second brother meant to let her off the hook today for the sake of their senior brother who was present. The anxious heart of Zhao Yu finally put down, and she couldn't help but think that sometimes she really feared her second brother, but who wanted his face anyway? Ma Chao still didn't know that he had already been marked by someone.

  At this time, Zhao Yun whispered to Ma Chao: "Brother, at home there is only a little sister, from childhood everyone has spoiled her. Alas, sometimes even I can't control her!" Ma Chao heard and smiled, gave Zhao Yun an expression of understanding, patted Zhao Yun's shoulder, "Younger brother, my family also has only one younger sister, and I am the eldest in the family!"

  The two men looked at each other and sighed. Ma Chao gazed at Zhao Yun, suddenly remembering a question, but this could only be discussed later, now thinking more about it was useless, he smiled and shook his head at his own thoughts.

  The four of them entered the largest room in the middle, which was also where Tong Yuan lived. To the left was Zhao Yun's place, and to the right was Zhao Yu's. The four of them came in, but Zhao Yu didn't come in. Although she was only five years old, she was a very sensible little girl who knew that the four of them had something to discuss, so she didn't enter.

  After the four of them sat down, Tong Yuan asked Ma Chao a question he had been wanting to ask but hadn't, "Meng Qi, earlier I observed your spear technique, it's indeed the Qian Kun Wu Ji Gun Fa, but why didn't you use many of the more fierce attacking moves?"

  Tong Yuan and Nan Hua had a contest before, so he must have seen the Qian Kun Wu Ji Gun Fa used by Nan Hua. Many of Ma Chao's strong attacking moves were not used, so he asked this question.

  Ma Chao almost jumped up excitedly after hearing Tong Yuan's question, he really wanted to give Tong Yuan a bear hug, Tong Yuan was too cute. If he hadn't asked like that, Ma Chao would have found another opportunity to say it, now that he had been asked, Ma Chao took the chance and told Tong Yuan about his self-taught gun and knife techniques from the Nan Hua book, but his gun technique was only 80% mastered, while his knife technique was only 60%. Tong Yuan listened and suddenly understood, which explained everything.

  "Meng Qi, I must say that without anyone guiding you, you've managed to grasp 80% of marksmanship and 60% of swordsmanship. That's quite an achievement!"

  "Senior Tong is too strong, I just got lucky!"

  Tong Yuan waved his hand and said, "Meng Qi, you don't have to be so modest. It's impossible to achieve such success just by relying on luck. Besides, although I didn't have a deep relationship with Lao Gui and Nan Hua, we all appreciated each other. Now that their successors are all under my care, it's too distant for you to call me 'senior'. You and Fu Da can consider yourselves as my junior nephews, so just call me 'Shifu Shu'!"

  Ma Chao was overjoyed when he heard this, and hastily pulled up Cui An to call him Shu Shu. From Tong Yuan's words, it is not difficult to see that he has already recognized the two of them, not only recognizing their identities but also their abilities. Otherwise, he would never have said such a thing.

  "Meng Qi, I don't know what book Nan Hua wrote, can you take it out and let me have a look?"

  Ma Chao heard this and took out the book on spear and sword techniques written by Nan Hua from his luggage, handing it over to Tong Yuan.

  Tong Yuan secretly admired Ma Chao in his heart, not bad, although he was not very old, but he handled things decisively and did not hesitate at all, he was a man who could do great things.

  But actually Ma Chao had his own thoughts, Tong Yuan was a person of the same level as Nan Hua, and might have coveted his book. Just take a look, it's not like he can snatch it away.

  Ma Chao understood that Tong Yuan wanted to use books to point out his own shortcomings and was eager to do so, how could he refuse?

  As a result, in Tong Yuan's eyes, Ma Chao was seen as someone who acted without hesitation and could accomplish great things. If Ma Chao knew what Tong Yuan thought of him, it is unknown how he would react.