Chapter Twelve: The Engagement

  In a tavern in Nanhua City, several robust young men were gathered around a table drinking and chatting, speaking loudly and freely, seemingly without fear of being overheard, their voices carrying throughout the entire tavern.

  The tables around theirs were all empty, with no one daring to approach, because the central figure of their conversation was none other than Ning Wang, the Fourteenth Young Master Guanlan, who had been the most popular topic in the southwestern three states recently.

  Their words were not kind to Wang Guanlan, calling him a treacherous scoundrel, a worthless rogue, and a despicable rascal who used underhanded tactics. The insults flew thick and fast, so much so that no one dared approach them at the wine house. However, they couldn't report this to the authorities because these young men were the ones who had recently challenged the Ning Wang Fu by delivering a challenge letter, and had been waiting in the wine house for a response ever since. At first, everything was fine, but as the days passed without any word from the Ning Wang Fu, they began to get anxious and resorted to such tactics, hoping to provoke a reaction from the Ning Wang Fu. But even if Wang Guanlan could withstand their provocations, could the Ning Wang Fu?

  Facing such challengers, the Ning Wang Fu really didn't have any good way to deal with them. For the sake of the Ning Wang Fu's reputation and also for Wang Guan Lan's face, they had no reason to use any underhanded tactics on these few people. As a result, the current situation was formed. Every day at this time, these few people would gather together, in front of everyone in the wine house, scold Wang Guan Lan severely. People who came to the wine house for dinner wouldn't be foolish enough to get close to them, but they were also curious about them, so a strange scene was formed. The tables around where they sat were empty in a big circle. On the tables outside this big circle, however, were crowded with three people each, all staring at them with an odd gaze, listening to their vilification of Wang Guan Lan. This had already become a daily spectacle in Nan Hua City in recent days.

  Outside the inn, however, were several men dressed in royal guard attire. They all had angry faces but due to the strict orders from the palace, they couldn't lay a hand on these few people. As a result, they were also holding back their anger towards the Fourteenth Young Master's cowardly behavior and looked down on him with disdain.

  Of course. Those who can become the prince's guards are not fools, and they naturally know that their young master is indeed not capable enough. The few people in this wine house are all famous young masters in the martial arts world. If they were to fight recklessly, it would be even more embarrassing, and they might even lose the wife they just gained. At that time, it would really be a mess. Therefore, their hearts only had faint complaints.

  Just as they were complaining, they suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes ringing out, and when they looked up, they saw several riders rushing over from the direction of the Wang mansion. The leader was none other than Chen Qingshan, Wang Guanlan's trusted bodyguard.

  As a team of horses rushed to the hotel entrance, the little servant standing at the door was so frightened that he couldn't utter a word until Chen Qing-shan reined in his horse and flung the reins over him.

  "Hey mister, you——!"

  "None of your business!" Chen Qing Shan gave him a glance, entered the hotel, and under everyone's gaze, he walked up to that table of people, "My young master has accepted your challenge!"

  "What did you say? That Wang Guanlan accepted our challenge?! One of the young men exclaimed excitedly, suddenly jumping up from his chair. Although this youth was young and looked about the same age as Wang Guanlan, he was already a high-ranking cultivator at the fifth layer of Qi Refining, having made a big name for himself in just half a year since his debut."

  "Not bad, our young master has accepted your challenge, but as an Array Master?!" Chen Qing Shan said calmly.

  "What? An Array Master's identity?!" The young man's face changed, and the excitement from earlier instantly vanished without a trace.

  To have such attainments at this age, one's innate talent is one aspect, and another aspect is that there is a strong backing behind him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have achieved so much at such a young age. Ordinary people don't understand much about Taoist priests, but he does. It's not just him, the few people at the same table are no exception. As soon as Chen Qing-shan spoke out, their faces all changed.

  "What's wrong?!" Chen Qing Shan swept a glance at them, sneering, "My young master is an Array Master, as for martial arts, it's just his hobby. You deliberately challenge him and he responds with arrays, isn't that right?" The few people were left speechless by this one sentence.

  Wang Guanlan was actually going to accept their challenge as a Formation Master, this possibility they had also predicted before, but didn't take it seriously, why?

  Because they didn't believe that Wang Guanlan was actually a Formation Master, the more people with identity and background like them, the deeper their understanding of the world of Taoists. It's precisely because of this that they truly understand the difficulties of Taoists, especially Formation Masters. In their opinion, the young master Wang, who had enlightened to the Buddhist supernatural powers at a young age, was at most just a teenager with potential as a Taoist. As for his identity as a Formation Master, it was nothing more than a rumor spread by the Ning King's Mansion to raise Wang Guanlan's value. Think about it, this rumor is unbelievable. Wang Guanlan was only fifteen years old, and a fifteen-year-old teenager, even if he had some talent as a Taoist, or even very high talent, was still too young. It was really too difficult for such a young teenager to cultivate both martial arts and Taoism, and to guarantee that both aspects of his cultivation would be satisfactory, let alone surpassing ordinary people!

  There are such people, but Wang Guan is not like that.

  So they came to challenge, but now Chen Qing Shan directly brought up the conversation and threw it out. Wang Guan Lan was going to accept their challenge as an Array Master, which made their hearts sink.

  "We can't do that, how would we know if the array is his own or someone else's?!" Suddenly, a young man jumped out and said, "If he finds a great array master to set up the array and hides inside, wouldn't that be unfair to us?"

  "Not good? We can't accept such a battle!" Another young man jumped out, everyone is not stupid, although they have no personal experience with formations, whether it's the teachings of their family or the rumors of their sect, regarding formations. They are all warned repeatedly to keep a distance from those who play with formations when they travel the world in the future.

  Because the mages who play formation magic will not give you a face-to-face opportunity at all, let alone seeing them, even hearing their voice is impossible before you are killed. Who would have thought that now they actually encountered a formation mage and it was they who initiated the challenge. How can they bear this!!

  Chen Qing Shan listened to their shouts, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Alright, settle down. Young Master has spoken. You've been in Nan Hua City for so long and have toured the city, I suppose you're familiar with it by now. Since this is a duel, we must follow the rules. Choose any location you like, as long as it's not at Ning Wang Fu. Anywhere else is fine, but the time will be set by him - tomorrow at noon sharp! Don't be late!"

  Chen Qing Shan's words reignited hope in these few people, and since the location was their choice, it meant that they had the upper hand. However, Chen Qing Shan's words made them extremely uncomfortable, as what was clearly a challenge had turned into an appointment, instantly lowering their actions by many levels. In front of so many people, they couldn't bring themselves to mention it, and could only grit their teeth in anger and nod in agreement. After some brief discussion, they decided on the location for the duel - no, the challenge - at the City West Grand Arena.

  Chen Qing Shan brought the conversation to a close, and the location was also settled. He didn't linger much longer and left in a gust of wind, leaving the few people behind looking at each other in dismay. However, since the location had been decided, their minds were basically settled halfway. The other half depended on whether they could rush to the small school field in the west of the city as quickly as possible to confirm that Wang Guanlan or someone from Ning Wangfu would not make any moves between three o'clock tomorrow afternoon.

  …………………

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  Nanhua City, small school field in west of city

  This small schoolyard was originally a place for Ning Wangfu to train strong men, but since the construction of the large schoolyard outside the city 30 years ago, it has been abandoned and became an empty land. However, although it is an empty land, it has not been completely idle, because it is close to a small dock, so it has gradually formed a small cargo yard.

  The dock is not large and belongs to the Ningwangfu industry. The Ningwangfu will not be open to the outside world, so this campus has become a special cargo yard for the Ningwangfu.

  Now, the goods on the school grounds have been completely cleared out. A large team of Ning Wangfu's guards surrounded the small school grounds, looking at the five young people in the field with a bad face. The five young people had different expressions, but one thing was the same, that is, the same arrogant expression, full of momentum.

  "Lao Huang, is it these few guys who want to challenge our Fourteenth Master?! They don't look like much, each and every one of them looks so immature, could they be newly-emerged fledglings?!"

  "They are not newcomers, but a group of spoiled rich kids!!"

  "Old Huang, you're wrong to say that. What 'young masters' are you talking about? They're all renowned young heroes of today's world. Each and every one of them can easily kill you! Another guard sneered at Old Huang's words, "Don't look down on them just because they're young. Even the youngest among them has a cultivation level of four layers of Qi Refining. You're just a mere two layers of Qi Refining, yet you dare to mock them!"

  "It's nothing but a higher cultivation, what's the big deal? If I had their family background and swallowed that many elixirs, I'd be a master of the sixth layer of Qi Refining too! Old Huang still looked disdainful, "Wanting to fight our Fourteenth Young Master is simply asking for humiliation!!"

  "This is also true. If the Fourteenth Master didn't have confidence, he wouldn't accept their challenge. But I still have a question: are they going to come up one by one or all at once?!"

  "Are they going up together? Unless they're crazy, they'll never do that!"

  "Even if we don't go up together, going up one by one is still a relay battle!" Old Huang said unfairly.

  "This is none of your business, we are just responsible for maintaining order here!" As he spoke, he gazed out at the sea of people surrounding them, his smile somewhat bitter. The dispute between Wang Guanlan and these young men had not been hidden from anyone, yesterday afternoon this news had spread throughout Nan Hua City, today early in the morning, more than half of Nan Hua City's population had arrived.