Volume 1: Kyoto Winds and Clouds Chapter 32: Shi Tong Yuan - Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix

  "I'd like to see which bastard dares to hit my son!" Just as Liu Zhang was trying to win over Tong Yuan and make him accept himself as a disciple, a general wearing a helmet and armor burst into the room. Since Tong Yuan sat at the upper seat, facing the door, while Liu Zhang sat at the lower seat, with his back to the door, the general saw that Tong Yuan wore ordinary clothes and didn't seem like an important person, so he didn't pay attention to him. As for Liu Zhang sitting in the lower seat, although his head was bigger than a normal child's, it was still too small compared to adults. The general wouldn't have noticed a mere child. Think about it, if the adult sitting at the upper seat wasn't an important person, how could the child sitting at the lower seat be any more noble?

  Liu Zhang was furious in his heart! Tong Yuan is one of the three great masters at the end of Han, if he can be lucky enough to become his disciple, even if he can't reach the level of Zhao Yun and Lü Bu, it's not bad to reach the level of Zhang Ren and Zhang Xiu. You know, Zhang Ren's martial arts talent is not good, but in Shu, he has mixed up a great general's name with Yan Yan. And Zhang Xiu got the title of Northern Territory Gun King after only a few days of teaching. Now this school lieutenant actually interrupted his relationship with Tong Yuan, if he loses this opportunity, won't Liu Zhang regret it for the rest of his life?

  "How dare you!" Liu Zhang turned his head and gritted his teeth at the school officer.

  "Huh?" The school lieutenant looked down and almost cried out in fright, shouting in his heart: "Oh no! How is it this little ancestor?"

  Originally, this county lieutenant was not only the father of Li Xiong who was beaten, but also the general who closed the city gate on the city wall when Liu Yan entered the city. Originally in Ji County, his military position was the highest, and the defense of the county city still relied on him, so his son and friends were very arrogant, and other officials could only tolerate it. But now his position is really nothing, plus his poor ability, he has long since become a minor official.

  Now, in Jiyuan County, Liu Yan is in charge, and the defense of the city and the training of the troops are all entrusted to Yan Yan and Huang Zhong. Yan Yan was already a lieutenant before he joined Liu Yan. Huang Zhong was originally a military captain, and Emperor Wu promoted him one rank to win over Liu Zhang. Both Huang Zhong and Yan Yan were famous lieutenants with outstanding abilities, far surpassing the lieutenant guarding the gate of Jiyuan County.

  Liu Zhang, this fierce man, had a notorious reputation in Ji County, and Li Xiaowei also knew that in Ji County, offending the governor at most would result in demotion or dismissal. However, offending this young master might lead to losing one's life. Li Xiaowei knelt down before Liu Zhang, wailing loudly: "Young Master, spare my son's life! My son didn't know you were arriving, if he was rude, please forgive him!"

  "Get out and wait, I'll deal with you later!" Liu Zhang was about to please Tong Yuan, but this thing came to disturb his mood, and he was really angry.

  "Yes! Yes!" Captain Li rushed out, and as for his son Li Xiong and Liu Qu, who was helping him at the corner of the corridor, he didn't even glance at them. This left Li Xiong and Liu Qu stunned!

  "Wow, the young master is so intimidating!" Tong Yuan saw Li Xiaowei see Liu Zhang like a mouse seeing a cat, and couldn't help but laugh: "I don't know why this Commander is so afraid of the young master, could it be that you used your snake-slaying sword to scare him?"

  "This kind of rubbish is worthy of being used by the Snake-Slaying Sword?" Liu Zhang smiled and said, "Sir, you don't know that if you had come a month earlier, you would have known that I am 'notorious far and wide'!"

  "Oh?" Tong Yuan couldn't help but laugh and say: "I don't know what kind of heaven-defying and man-scorned thing the young master has done, to have such a notorious reputation?"

  Nothing much, just brought a group of family slaves. On the way, seeing those rascals bullying men and women, immediately gave them a good beating! If they resisted, I would beat them to death at their doorstep!" Liu Zhang chuckled: "If they resisted, I would kill them! Last month, several aristocratic families relied on their numerous family slaves and actually did evil in Ji County. I let General Yan of the Ministry of War and General Huang, the defending general, bring 20,000 soldiers to have a chat with them!"

  "Twenty thousand troops? Just a chat?" Tong Yuan was taken aback for a moment before understanding Liu Zhang's meaning, that this "chat" wasn't about using their mouths, but their blades! Tong Yuan burst out laughing and said: "Young master is indeed a chivalrous person, but aren't you afraid of the imperial family of Youzhou retaliating, or the Emperor blaming you? Oh! You have the Snake-Slaying Sword, I suppose you're quite favored by the Emperor!"

  "Uncle Shi, you really don't know the truth if you say that!" Shi Ah interrupted: "What's so great about being a noble family in Youzhou? In the past, when our young master was only five years old, he made the Yuan family miserable in Luoyang. They tried every means to get him to come to Youzhou, and it was still his own wish that brought him here!"

  "Oh?" Tong Yuan smiled and said: "Shi Ah, now that we have some free time, why don't you tell me about the young master's exploits in Luoyang?"

  "Good!" Shi Ah was also one of the participants in those events, and now that someone wanted to hear about his own heroic deeds, he naturally wouldn't refuse. Shi Ah told Tong Yuan all about how he met Liu Zhang, and what Liu Zhang had done in Luoyang, and Tong Yuan listened with eyes shining with excitement, repeatedly applauding and praising him. Originally, Shi Ah had seemed rather dull and uninteresting, but it turned out that he actually had the potential to be a great storyteller - every time Liu Zhang encountered danger, Shi Ah's retelling of it was so thrilling that even the children by Tong Yuan's side were completely enthralled!

  Liu Zhang spent three years in Luoyang, and the things that happened were not many, but they were all wonderful. Shi Ah took more than a few hours to finish telling them. After listening, Tong Yuan smiled and said: "Young master is indeed a romantic, with you around, we are not lonely!"

  "If the master does not despise me, Zhuang is willing to take the master as his teacher, report to the country and bring peace to the people!" Liu Zhuang saw that Tong Yuan's good impression of him had reached a certain height, he immediately bowed down and said: "Although this humble one has the heart to assist the government and eliminate the strong and support the weak, but my heart is willing while my strength is insufficient, please master take pity on Zhuang's sincerity and enlighten my ignorance!"

  Tong Yuan actually liked Liu Zhang very much, especially his actions. It is worth noting that Tong Yuan and Wang Yue had a close relationship, and Wang Yue was once known as the "Yan Mountain Great Hero", which shows that Tong Yuan was also a chivalrous person. The knights of the Han Dynasty were still in the realm of uprooting the strong and helping the weak, and drawing their swords to help those who were bullied, so Liu Zhang was very much to Tong Yuan's taste. However, when it came to becoming Liu Zhang's teacher, Tong Yuan hesitated. He was different from Wang Yue, who had his heart set on becoming an official, while Tong Yuan did not want to have dealings with officials.

  Shi Ah was a disciple of Wang Yue, and he had also heard about Tong Yuan's temperament. So Shi Ah smiled and said: "Uncle Shi, don't you think that the young master's identity is quite a hindrance? Let the young master enter your door as an individual to study, can it be?"

  "This isn't a bad idea!" Tong Yuan smiled and said: "However, I won't be able to teach you for too long, just one month! Let's see how much you can comprehend!"

  "Disciple sees master!" Liu Zhang didn't care if it was a month or a year, as long as he could get Tong Yuan's guidance, even if it was only for one day, he wouldn't feel shortchanged.

  "Hold on!" Tong Yuan laughed and said: "This month is a trial period, if your comprehension is too poor, I won't accept you! My disciples must make a name for themselves in the world, absolutely no trash is accepted! If you can't pass the trial period, don't even think about calling yourself my disciple!"

  "Disciple understands!" Liu Zhang said solemnly: "If the disciple cannot pass the master's test, he will never say that he is your disciple in front of outsiders. But once a teacher, always a father, you are the master of the disciple's heart, no matter what."

  Tong Yuan was very satisfied with Liu Zhang. He nodded and said, "As for the assassin Li Xiong and Li Xiao Wei, Liu Qu, how do you plan to deal with them?"

  Liu Zhang changed his initial frivolous attitude and said with great respect and seriousness: "I shall report to the Master! Li Xianwei has made a mistake, let him reflect on it! His son is at fault, deal with him according to the law. As for Liu Qu, follow military law!"

  "This is great!" Tong Yuan suddenly felt that he should accept Liu Zhang as his apprentice. As the saying goes: Heroes often break the law. In fact, many heroes do not like to break the law, unless they are forced to, who wants to oppose the government? Liu Zhang handled it very well, if he had arbitrarily decided the life and death of Li Xiao Wei and others, what was the difference between him and those greedy officials who disregarded human life? On the contrary, it made Tong Yuan unhappy.

  Li Xiaowei did not expect that he could escape with his life under Liu Daxiong's hand, and his son Li Xiong was sentenced to two crimes of robbery and intentional injury, although the sentence was severe, but not fatal. As for Liu Qu Chang, who was dealt with by military law, it was no longer within his consideration. After all, that Qu Chang was originally a local rascal, Li Xiaowei simply looked down on him.

  After the matter was settled, Liu Zhang invited Tong Yuan back to the governor's mansion. No matter what Tong Yuan said, he had to instruct him for a month, and he couldn't let Tong Yuan live in a guest house!

  Since Liu Zhang had been determined to learn martial arts, Liu Yan had been searching for famous teachers everywhere for him. The name of Tong Yuan was not the first time he heard it either. However, when Liu Zhang brought Tong Yuan back to the mansion, it did make Liu Yan somewhat at a loss. Although the trend of emphasizing literature and belittling military affairs had already appeared in the late Han Dynasty, it was not as severe as in later generations. Moreover, Liu Yan had already seen that the world would be chaotic, and chaotic times were when martial artists showed their power.

  After making arrangements for Tong Yuan, Liu Zhang began to learn martial arts with him. Every morning, Liu Zhang and his younger brother got up together to receive Tong Yuan's teachings. And Liu Zhang also knew the identity of this younger brother, he was another famous general under Liu Yan, Tong Yuan's second disciple Zhang Ren. According to Zhang Ren, Tong Yuan had another named disciple in Liangzhou, but Zhang Ren didn't know what his name was. But Liu Zhang knew that person should be Beidi Gun Wang Zhang Yi.

  For three days in a row, Tong Yuan was training Liu Zhang and didn't teach him any martial arts. However, Liu Zhang wasn't impatient at all and completed the training sessions set by Tong Yuan with great diligence every day. He even practiced an unknown fist routine after training. As the saying goes: "Diligence can make up for clumsiness." Although Liu Zhang's talent was not top-notch, his hard work made Tong Yuan very satisfied.

  On the fifth day, Tong Yuan no longer had Liu Zhang do those basic exercises, but instead called him to the courtyard and said: "Disciple, today I will teach you a set of spear techniques. Let's see how well you comprehend!" As soon as he finished speaking, Tong Yuan's long spear flashed out, and in an instant, sand flew and rocks walked, the sky grew dark and the earth grew dim. The long spear seemed to be a dragon emerging from its lair, or a divine serpent nodding its head, its shadow flickering, its cold light flashing, and it was indeed Tong Yuan's famous ultimate technique - the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear!