Chapter 14: Small Calculations

In the midst of the two groups, two bare-handed youths were sparring. One was stout but had a stable lower body, exhibiting powerful punches and kicks. This was Wang Dapang, an old friend Han Li had made in the past. Despite his corpulence, Wang Dapang was far from weak; with each shout, his punches stirred up a powerful wind, making him imposing. The other youth was short and agile, like a nimble mouse. He didn't block Wang Dapang's punches but instead continuously dodged and moved, apparently intending to exhaust Wang Dapang's energy before launching a decisive counterattack.

Seeing his friend engaged in a martial arts match, Han Li naturally felt a bias towards him.

After watching for a while, Han Li saw that Wang Dapang was still maintaining his fierce momentum. Although Han Li himself wasn't skilled in martial arts, he knew that Wang wouldn't be defeated anytime soon, so he felt reassured.

He looked around, hoping to find someone who could tell him what was going on.

Not far from the tree where he was, by a rock, he saw a young man watching the fight, gesticulating with his hands and muttering: "Hit him in the head, kick his waist! Oh, almost! Yes, yes, kick his backside, harder...!"

The young man watched with an excited expression, talking to himself as he did so.

From his tone, Han Li could tell that he was rooting for Wang Dapang.

Han Li found the young man somewhat interesting, so he slowly climbed down from the tree and walked over to him.

"Senior martial brother, do you know everyone out there fighting?" Han Li asked with an innocent expression. "Why are they fighting?"

"Is that even a question?" the young man retorted. "Is there anyone I, 'Little Abacus,' don't know? Of course, they're fighting because of... Hey! Who are you? I've never seen you before. Are you a new disciple? No, it'll be another half a year before new disciples are admitted. Who exactly are you?" He had been about to give a vague answer, but upon realizing he had never seen Han Li before, he immediately became alert.

"I am Han Li," he replied earnestly, "a good friend of Wang Dapang, who is fighting so bravely out there."

"Wang Dapang's friend? I know all of his friends; I've never seen you before!" the young man said, still wary.

"Oh, I've been in secluded training for the past few years and haven't come out for a long time," Han Li explained, half-truthfully. "It's perfectly normal that you don't know me."

"Is that so?" the young man mused. "So you're also a disciple who joined four years ago. I truly didn't expect there'd be someone within the mountain that I, 'Mr. Know-It-All,' didn't recognize." He glanced at Han Li's clothes, and it seemed he believed what Han Li had said.

After exchanging a few more casual remarks with Han Li, the young man couldn't resist spontaneously revealing the reason behind the fight.

"Junior martial brother," Little Abacus began, "you wouldn't believe it, but this whole thing is all because of a 'trouble-making beauty.' It all started when..." True to his self-proclaimed title of 'Mr. Know-It-All,' he recounted the entire story, detailing every single event from beginning to end for Han Li.

The story, it turned out, began with two individuals: Wang Yang, who was Wang Dapang's cousin, and Zhang Changgui, the son of a local bank owner. Both were disciples of the Seven Mysteries Sect, though Wang Yang was an outer disciple and Zhang Changgui an inner disciple.

Although these two individuals lived in the same town, their paths wouldn't have crossed ordinarily. However, everything changed because of a girl from another town, who had been betrothed to Wang Yang since childhood. Some time ago, while the girl was out, the young master Zhang Changgui saw her as he was passing by on his way home. Under his relentless pursuit with money, the girl and her parents succumbed. She was then re-betrothed to Zhang Changgui, and the betrothal gifts given by Wang Yang were returned. The girl's family, prioritizing wealth over their original commitment, caused this devastating news to greatly impact Wang Yang, who had already become deeply infatuated with her. After learning of the news, he was distraught, contemplating suicide daily, and ultimately, unable to cope, he jumped into a river and died.

Normally, the incident would have ended there, a complete tragedy.

However, Wang Dapang, who had been very close to his cousin since childhood, refused to let the matter rest. He confronted Zhang Changgui and challenged him to a duel, with the condition that the loser must offer tea, bow respectfully, and kowtow in apology to the victor.

Although Zhang Changgui was arrogant, he knew his martial arts skills were slightly inferior to Wang Dapang's. Therefore, he proposed that friends could also participate, suggesting multiple matches, with the overall result determining the winner. Wang Dapang readily agreed. Following this, Zhang Changgui, relying on his wealth, generously distributed money to enlist the help of skilled fellow disciples from affluent families. Wang Dapang, despite lacking wealth, was very popular among his peers and had many friends from the lower and middle strata of disciples. Many skilled martial artists among them volunteered their assistance.

As a result, many fellow disciples who heard about the matches also came to watch and cheer, forming two distinct, hostile factions and creating an intensely charged atmosphere.

From the young man's tone, Han Li gathered that the conflict between the affluent disciples and those from lower and middle strata seemed to have intensified.

It was remarkable how many people a single sparring match had drawn to watch and cheer.

"You're helping Wang Dapang, aren't you?" the young man rattled on, his mouth having not stopped since Han Li approached. "If they don't play fair, we'll all jump in and beat those young masters until they run away crying, so they'll never dare to bully us again!"

Han Li gave a wry smile. What did the conflict between these two factions have to do with him? It was hard to say who was right or wrong in this matter. After years of qi cultivation and meditation, his youthful impulsiveness had long since faded. Besides, he had never practiced martial arts with either fists or weapons, and he was absolutely no match for any ordinary fellow disciple now. He thought it best to just finish watching the match and then quietly return to the valley.

"Excellent!" the young man suddenly shouted with a joyful expression.

Hearing this, Han Li quickly turned his head to look back at the fighting area. It turned out that Wang Dapang's opponent couldn't hold on until the end; he failed to dodge Wang Dapang's massive fist and was struck squarely on the forehead, falling to the ground unconscious.

Instantly, a portion of the crowd cheered loudly, while the faces of the other portion became very grim.

Wang Dapang, beaming with pride, cupped his fists to the surrounding crowd. Then, waddling back to his side, his large backside swaying, all the ferocity he had displayed during the match completely vanished.

From Zhang Changgui's side, two individuals also came forward and dragged the unconscious disciple back to their group.

Next, one person from each side stepped out onto the field: one wielding a saber, the other a sword.

Both seemed to possess fiery temperaments. Without a word, they raised their weapons and clashed, their blades ringing loudly as they began to fight.