A Martial Odyssey Book 1: The Divine Calamity – Chapter 4

The Battle at Mount Heavenly

At the lofty peaks of the Heavenly Mountains, more than fifty pugilists from different sects and clans had gathered. There were sect emblems and heraldries of all kinds. After many difficulties, they had gathered together and there seemed to be an uneasy alliance if it exists at all.

Their goals were identical and it was the Eternal Ice Palace.

Unfortunately, to reach this point, there been many bloody encounters and only the fittest of the remnants survived. And these pugilists knew it and were wary of one another.

A yellow dressed maiden in a veil was standing loftily alone. From her visible eyes and enthralling confident posture, everyone was guessing that her beauty must be extraordinary. No one knew who she really was and quite a few pugilists had tried to hook up to her and they got more than what they had asked for.

One of them was Young Master Qiu Wufeng the Windless Swordsman. Who had never heard of the Windless Swordsman? He was in his early thirties yet he was now ranked as one of the four most prominent young men of the martial fraternity.

Of course this had to do with the fact that his father was the Master of the Qiu Martial Clan. The Qiu Aristocracy Clan had been recognized as one of the four most powerful martial clans in the fraternity.

Naturally, the other three renowned young men of the martial fraternity were also from renowned aristocracy or major orthodox clans of the martial!

They were Gongsun Jing the Benevolent from the Gongsun Aristocracy Clan, Zuo Tianyi the Heartless Sword from the Infinity Sword Clan and Nangong Le the Joyous from the Nangong Aristocracy Clan.

As for Young Master Qiu, his Silence Swordplay was one of the most feared swordplay in the martial fraternity, able to come in any direction without a slight movement; his swordplay was silent and windless!

Not only that, in his company today were three equally formidable exponents; Ye Lu the Lightning God, Qiao Feng the Shadow Kicker and Lu Baiyun the Heartless Scholar!

Ye Lu the Lightning God and Qiao Feng the Shadow Kicker were old men who had found fame a long time ago. That they chose to be in the company of Young Master Qiu Wufeng was proof of his clan prestige and renowned! Lu Baiyun the Heartless Scholar was in his early forties. Even though he was younger than the Lightning God and the Shadow Kicker, he was a prominent swordsman even at the age of eighteen when he defeated the clan protégé master of the Ironclad Clan, one of the seven major orthodox clans!

Young Master Qiu Wufeng approached the yellow dressed maiden and greeted her, “I am Qiu Wufeng the Windless Swordsman. Maiden, may I have the honor of knowing your name?”

What followed was a slap across his face! It happened so fast that he could not react!

The yellow dressed maiden said softly, “If you do not want further humiliation, I suggest you move away from me.”

Young Master Qiu Wufeng was stunned. He was a handsome and dashing man. Few women could ever resist him, let alone embarrassed him like that! And he showed his displeasure with his eyes! He swore that he would make her pay!

But the Heartless Scholar stepped in and said, “Maiden, you have offended our young master. Do you think you can get away with this so easily?”

The yellow dressed maiden hummed coldly and she seemed that she did not care.

There was strong malevolent aura coming from the Lightning God and the Shadow Kicker as well. No matter who offended any one of them, it was not an easy matter to get away scotch free. Much less the three of them at the same time!

The Heartless Scholar laughed, “Either you apologize to our young master and accompany him for a few days or you be terribly sorry.”

The yellow dressed maiden looked at the Heartless Scholar in his eyes and said, “What if I don’t?”

The Heartless Scholar said sternly, “Then forgives me for what I will do next!”

All of a sudden, he was interrupted by a laughter that came from the Clan Chief of the Six Rivers, Long Wudi. “You are a renowned figure in the martial fraternity. If this matter gets out that you uses your martial skills to harass a young lass, won’t you be a laughing stock? I am not worry about you but for the repute of the Qiu Clan!”

Even though Long Wudi might not be able to defeat the Heartless Scholar, what he said was like an arrow piercing through the heart.

Young Master Qiu thundered sternly, “Let’s us go!”

A young man from among the pugilists laughed coldly, “To think that the reputable Qiu Martial Clan is also interested in the treasures of the Eternal Ice Palace. What laudable action. He is also a womanizer…”

But before he could finish, the Heartless Scholar had sprint next to him and given him two tight slaps!

His swiftness skill was so astonishing that more than half of the pugilists could not help but gasped in awe of it!

The Heartless Scholars said, “Know this, our young master had originally wanted to visit the Emerald Mistress to receive her instructions and to pay her a visit! This is a small lesson for insulting our young master!”

All of a sudden, an old man attacked the Heartless Scholar with his fists.

The Heartless Scholar was startled by the windforce of the fists as he quickly stepped aside.

The Heartless Scholar could not recognize him and he asked, “Senior, who you are?”

The old man laughed, “I have long retired from the pugilistic fraternity. However, I am not afraid to say that I intend to demolish the Eternal Ice Palace on my own!”

Quite a few pugilists from the crowd laughed at his boast.

The Lightning-God sighed, “Maybe we shouldn’t be here. Only Tian Kui is able to execute the Beholder Hands and pushed back the Heartless Scholar with a single strike.”

The faces of the pugilists turned ashen at the mention of Tian Kui.

Tian Kui was the number one heretic exponent ten years ago. The bloodshed that he had caused were too numerous to be counted. During his time, there were three more powerful major orthodox clans, the Divine Sword, the Hexagon Spear and the Hyperion Clan. These clans had since been completely annihilated by him.

It was said that ten years ago, he took his rampage to the Eternal Ice Palace. But no one knew the result of that secret duel with the Emerald Mistress.

Everyone assumed that he had lost and had been killed! But it seemed otherwise now.

Tian Kui laughed, “I must be getting old. Even a junior can avoid my strike so easily!”

The Heartless Scholar pay respectfully with his hands and said, “That is because Senior, you have stayed your hand or else I will not even have the chance to back off.”

Tian Kui roared with laughter, “Good! At least you respect your elder. I am actually spoiling for a fight.” It was true. When he saw the Heartless Scholar displaying his martial skills, he had the interest to spar with him.

The Heartless Scholar turned ashen, “Senior, you….”

Tian Kui pointed at the Lightning God and the Shadow Kicker, “You and you, all of you can fight me at the same time. I want to see if my martial skills have any improvements…”

But before he could finish, he had suddenly frozen.

Everyone looked in the direction that he was looking at and caught sight of two strangers walking towards them.

One was a young man. He was handsome and had a refine and noble air. The other was a young maiden with long black flowing hair. She was so beautiful that she was like a heavenly fairy that had decided to grace the mortal realm. When she saw the pugilists and smiled slightly, all the pugilists’ heart skipped a beat and thought, “Did she just smile at me?”