Farewell (1)

A few days later, in the arena, the final championship fight finally began. In the youth division, the finalists were Fei Lu and Lin Che.

Since Fei Lu's fight against Long Ming, everyone had been eager to see Fei Lu's next fight, as he had shown himself to be at the early stage of the Qi Collection realm, which was something extremely rare to see, even in the division above.

What's more, after that fight, Fei Lu became considerably popular and his past was soon discovered by most of the participants. Needless to say, his tragic past built up a whole mystique around Fei Lu, which attracted the attention and interest of many families and organizations.

Long Ming was right to theorize that Fei Lu would have a very turbulent life in the future, but until that moment, no one had dared to make any rash moves, which ended up protecting Fei Lu.

Anyway, that day in the morning, everyone gathered in the building, eager to witness this last battle. Long Ming was also among them, equally interested. In the meantime, he had returned the ring, and he wondered if this would bring about a change in Fei Lu; either by making him stronger or more skillful. Of course, this seemed unlikely, but it might help Long Ming to understand the nature of the ring.

Soon, Fei Lu and Lin Che entered the arena and began to fight.

'Whoa!', the fight between them was impressive, surprising the entire crowd of spectators and leading to shouts of celebration. Long Ming was also surprised, but not that much.

After a few seconds, Long Ming concluded that Lin Che was also at the initial stage, although it was impossible for him to determine his exact progress. In other words, it was difficult to know if he had just evolved, or if it had been a while.

But it wasn't just this that surprised Long Ming. Lin Che had also shown himself to be extremely well versed in various techniques, whether it was swordsmanship, footwork or even the use of his Qi.

'As expected, even if he's from a subsidiary family, he's still on a different level from the rest,' Long Ming thought internally, his eyes fixed on the movements of both fighters.

As the fight went on, Lin Che seemed to completely dominate Fei Lu, not letting him show any resistance or chance of winning.

Soon, Lin Che finally managed to completely break through Fei Lu's defense and struck a deadly blow with his sword, threatening to decapitate Fei Lu.

'...!' Long Ming's eyes widened as he realized the abrupt succession of events.

When Fei Lu seemed about to lose, he suddenly and incomprehensibly parried his opponent's attack, then began to watch him with disdain before making a simple movement with his sword that cut Lin Che's blade in half and created a bloody gash in his enemy.

'How?' was all the spectators could think of at that moment. How had Fei Lu done all this? Was he hiding his true strength all this time? But even if that was the case, how did he manage to cut a sword in half with a ranged attack? That should be impossible, especially for someone with such a low cultivation!

Long Ming was also confused, but not just because of this. The moment Fei Lu made that abrupt succession of events, Long Ming felt a change in the atmosphere around Fei Lu and, above all, there was something... mystical about that blow. Mystical, in his movements.

'Tsk, I'll think about it later,' Long Ming shook his head to ignore such thoughts, as Fei Lu still hadn't stopped moving.

He started walking towards Lin Che, and seemed to say something, but Long Ming wasn't sure what exactly.

From a distance, Long Ming had the impression that Lin Che was extremely frightened and, in the next instant, Fei Lu reduced the distance between the two of them and delivered another blow which, this time, hit Lin Che full on, causing a torrent of blood to flow out of the wound.

At that moment, it was obvious to everyone who the winner was, but Fei Lu didn't seem to be confident of his victory, so he prepared to deliver one last blow to take Lin Che's life.

"That's enough!" the host spoke quickly, instantly standing in the middle of the two competitors and stopping Fei Lu's blow with his hand.

The presenter frowned as he felt that blow cut, even superficially, into the skin of his palm, but he still stopped that blow completely and stared menacingly at Fei Lu.

"Young Fei, don't you think you're overreacting! Did you really mean to end young Lin Che's life?" he then spoke, loud and clear, allowing everyone to hear his words.

"I confess that I may have overreacted, but it was he who provoked me by daring to ridicule my mother!" Fei Lu shouted angrily, his voice, although relatively low, reaching the ears of all the spectators.

"Put yourself in your place, you daredevil! Since when does the honor of a harlot compare with the life of a respectable talent like Lin Che! Know that this offense is not something that can be paid for with just your life!" the presenter declared, causing an uproar in the place.

"This brat is very bold to try to kill young master Lin Che in front of everyone!"

"What happened to the Fei family to bring him up like this? And this bratty brat was once their young master!"

Most of the spectators seemed extremely irritated by Fei Lu's attitude and even wanted the Fei family to pay (in blood) for this offense.

At that moment, another person appeared in the arena and spoke: "Senior Lin, please forgive me for my son's mistake. This event was partly my fault for not raising him correctly. Allow me to kill him myself here, to make amends for my own failure as a father!" He was clearly anxious as he spoke, and his statement caused an even greater uproar.

"That's it!"

"Kill him!" many of the spectators shouted in agreement.

"... That seems enough to me, Patriarch Fei. Kill him here and now, and I'll consider this a closed matter," a voice sounded in the distance, coming from the top of that building. Even though Long Ming had never heard his voice before, he was certain that the person who had spoken was the patriarch of the Lin family, and also its founder.

Hearing him, Patriarch Fei seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then looked at his son and drew his sword.

"Please die for our family, boy," with these last words he raised his sword and was about to carry out his act. However, at that very moment, a voice sounded, paralyzing his actions.

"Patriarch Lin, don't you think that's too much? Even if he tried to kill Lin Che, with so many elders here, it would be impossible," these words caused the whole place to fall silent and everyone simultaneously looked to where this voice came from.

"Matriarch Xie, why are you trying to defend this boy? He's no longer your brother-in-law, so there's no reason for it!" Patriarch Lin spoke out loud, he sounded angry, but it was clear from his tone that he wouldn't dare act against Matriarch Xie.

"You're right, my Xie family and the Fei family no longer have any ties or any kind of alliance, but that doesn't mean I can watch him die like this without doing anything.

Even if he's nothing to our family anymore, it's a fact that he was once my daughter's fiancé. And out of respect for this time, he will still be under the protection of my wings. Patriarch Lin, do you have anything against my choice?" she spoke rhetorically. Her voice carried an undeniable authority, the kind that would make no one dare oppose her decisions.

"... All right, but it's still a fact that he tried to murder a member of my family, so he'll be permanently expelled from Jianshang. Do you have anything to oppose this?"

"No," with these words the two of them began to discuss the small details of Fei Lu's punishment and, after a few brief seconds, it was decided that he would have to leave the city by sunset that day, if he remained in Jianshang after sunset, the Lin family would kill him. What's more, as the winner, he received all the prizes in the competition.

Long Ming was barely able to suppress his laughter when he heard the terms of Fei Lu's "punishment". Even though it sounded like a punishment, in reality, Fei Lu was benefiting rather than being harmed by it.

After all, by leaving the city until dusk, he could avoid any reprisals from the Lin family. Besides, by demonstrating such a performance, many families would be determined to find out how he got so strong, so he would have to flee that city anyway.

'Heh, that was quite an impressive succession of events!' Long Ming thought with a smile, rather amused at the way Fei Lu got away with it after almost killing such an important member of a powerful family like the Lin.

'Besides, that last attack... I think I know what your secret is, Fei Lu,' Long Ming reflected as he got up and left the building. After this last fight, he had already satisfied all his interest in this championship.

Of course, the final fight in the other division should also be just as interesting (if not more so) than this one, but he wanted to spend the rest of that day studying.

As soon as he left the building, he walked to the streets of Taoyuan, as a week had passed since his request.

A few hours later, Long Ming walked down the stairs of that bar and arrived in the same dark, empty room with only one other person in it.

This time, however, there was a small table in front of the masked person, with a pot of tea and two cups. There was also an unoccupied chair.

"You're a little late, Mr. Long," the mysterious person said, her voice containing an indifference that made it difficult to tell whether she was unhappy about his delay or not.

"You're right, I've been so busy with the championship that I've procrastinated coming here. Anyway, did you get all the information I asked for?" he then explained as he sat down in the empty chair, his eyes still fixed on that person's hooded face.

Long Ming was still very interested in knowing this person's identity, especially about the organization he was affiliated with.

"Yes, please wait a while, one of our employees will be here shortly with the information. Until then, why don't we have a cup of tea?" Long Ming nodded in agreement and watched the masked person fill his cup.

As soon as the masked person had filled his cup, Long Ming picked it up and took a sip of the tea.

"Hmm~", Long Ming was astonished by the taste of that tea, so he closed his eyes to appreciate that magnificent flavor even more. Soon after, he drank all the rest of the tea in one go, giving it an even better taste.

"What good tea! Miss, what is the name of this tea? It made me want to buy a kilo of this wonderful stuff!" he then said in a complimentary tone. The next second, however, he instantly regretted having addressed this mysterious person with a feminine pronoun.

"... I'm glad you liked it, Mr. Long. This is a tea I like very much. It's a tea exported from the Xian Wu empire, called Salamander Fire and it costs 1 gold coin per 100 grams," the masked person spoke in a neutral tone. Long Ming was paralyzed when he heard how much this tea cost, so he sat still for a few seconds, reflecting.

"Are you planning to charge me for this cup of tea?" he asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, as I was the one who offered it, it would be impolite to charge you," the masked person pointed out. Long Ming was relieved by this, so he had an idea and, after observing it for a while, asked: "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Then can you fill my cup one more time?"

"...", the masked person was paralyzed with shock at Long Ming's request, then started laughing with amusement and said: "Haha! You're very bold, Mr. Long! But I'll forgive your boldness this time. Just don't think it will happen again, understand?" After saying these things, she lifted the teapot and filled Long Ming's cup.

They both took a sip of tea, and the masked person then said: "Tell me, Mr. Long. What do you think of Jianshang so far? Is it very different from your hometown?"

"Hmm, Jianshang is a very interesting city indeed. Unlike Cui Shi, it has a lot of family conflicts, and watching that championship I got the impression that Jianshang has a much greater plurality of cultivator factions," he replied after thinking for a while.

"In fact, unlike Cui Shi, Jianshang doesn't have a hegemony of forces. So there are several independent cultivator families, which gives greater options to those who wish to walk the path of cultivation; unlike Cui Shi, where you are forced to join the Li clan if you want to become a strong cultivator... And be exterminated if you follow the opposite path, right?" the masked person said ambiguously.

"... Have you investigated my past?" Long Ming asked directly, his eyes extremely serious as he stared at this masked person.

"Only briefly, but don't worry. This is standard for our organization, as we need to know who our client is and what we're getting ourselves into by giving them such information," the masked person then pointed out, relieving Long Ming slightly, but not too much.

"... I see. And what was your boss's conclusion?" Long Ming then asked after thinking for long seconds.