Over The World, Beyond Heaven

Ever since Zheng-Fu’s memories from the previous world unified perfectly well with the ones in this Xianxia world, he encountered many strange incidents, from the mysterious weird noise to the glowing entity. He was also amazed about how he could regain his energy so quickly, even though he did not sleep for three days in a roll…

The sun finally came up the next morning…

Today would be the end of this year’s young martial arts test of the Tian-Tang Clan. The winner would receive five Qi energy stones, one stone a month, for five months. The Body-Strengthening Ginseng was also included as an extra reward for the winner…from Lao-Chu…

At the estate of the leader of the clan…

“If you can’t withstand him, just surrender immediately. Do you get it, Qi-Er!?” Mo-Zi insisted firmly with Tian-Qi while looking at her with a serious facial expression…

“Aren’t you confident in me, father?” Tian-Qi asked her father, feeling bitter about her father’s suggestion…

“I’m always confident in you, but… I think there’s something different about that boy, Zheng-Fu…”

“I can’t care any less about him. I’ll definitely never let myself be defeated by him. Besides, he and I made…”

Clomp!

Tian-Qi stomped her feet with angst when she talked about Zheng-Fu. She used to be the young martial arts genius whom everyone praised, but Zheng-Fu took that away from her. He became everyone’s favorite. Besides, he humiliated her in front of the crowd too…

“Well! Kids are always kids. But it’s actually interesting to see if there’re some more of him hidden.”

After Kong-Shi came to tell Zheng-Fu about the committee who wanted him to share the modified fighting techniques with the clan, Zheng-Fu started to write everything that he knew down on an empty manual. Even though he was only eight years old, he had trained to write and read about many subjects from Master Huang since he was very young. So, it was not that difficult for him to write the fighting technique details down in the manual. He could draw the fighting movements beautifully too…

“It’s unbelievable that these letters and pictures were done by Zheng-Fu. The lines and strokes of the brush were so harmonious and immaculate. Did he really write and draw these himself?” The Tower Elder, Tian-Tang Gui-Chai, complimented Zheng-Fu when he opened Zheng-Fu’s manual that he prepared for the clan. The content and the images of the techniques’ movements were done orderly, which helped any readers understand the manual easily, unlike the manuals in the clan’s tower…

“Yes, sir. The boy prepared it himself. I told him about the request last night and he gave it to me first thing in the morning. That’s why I rush here to give it to you.” Kong-Shi confirmed quickly with pride that his son prepared this manual himself…

“Your son’s really something. I knew that he’s special. Look at these letters. It’s like they are alive. Just open the first page of the manual, I could feel the energy flowing out of it.”

“Right! How did he do it? I remember that these are the skills that belong to the high level of the beginner-leveled fighting technique. And despite their level, they don’t produce enough power at all. But look at the modified versions in this manual, the same skills give a different feeling. I could feel the aura exuding from these drawings. Just turn on the pages making me feel like there were actual martial artists performing these movements in front of me.” Lan-Fei-Long, the other Tower Elder, could not help but compliment Zheng-Fu for his exceptional talent. He also felt a little jealous of the boy…

“This means that our clan carries four fighting techniques that belong to the intermediate-level fighting skill now. But wait! I remember that he picked out three sword skills from the tower. What about the other skill?” (Looks like the Tower Elders want everything from Zheng-Fu.)

“My son told me that the other sword skill was too difficult for him, so he hasn’t been able to achieve it. That’s why he hasn’t put it on the manual.”

“You’re right. It has only been a little bit more than a month since he took all those manuals from the tower. I have to apologize for us being over-enthusiastic about it. These two techniques are already more than better.” Gui-Chai asked for the third technique, but he remembered that Zheng-Fu had only recently started to practice those sword skills. When he realized that, he thought that it would be hard to achieve all those three skills within such a limited time, no matter how capable a martial artist was…

Back to the fighting venue… Zheng-Fu already arrived at the venue, including others who were involved in the competition. There was a lot more audience at the venue today because it was the last day of this year’s clan’s young martial arts test. Everyone took a break from their jobs, just to watch the fight today…

“Who do you think will win today?”

“Of course, it’s going to be little miss Tian-Qi!”

“But I think Zheng-Fu will win the fight because he possesses two sword skills that belong to the intermediate-level fighting skill. Besides, his Qi energy is so high…”

“A higher Qi energy level…so what!?”

“Little miss Tian-Qi!”

The people who were talking about Tian-Qi and Zheng-Fu had to hush themselves and looked at the ground as soon as they heard Tian-Qi’s question behind them…

Tsk!

“What a pain! Just wait and see, Zheng-Fu. I’ll make you pay for humiliating me like that!”

Clomp!

What Tian-Qi could do now was just stomping her feet. After the test yesterday, she rushed to improve her energy level. She worked so hard that she could successfully break through to the high level of the sixth level of the Qi Gathering stage…

The closer the final fight was, the more people were pouring into the fight venue. Everyone was eager to know who would win this fight. They originally thought that Tian-Qi would win this year’s test, but ever since everyone witnessed Zheng-Fu’s performance yesterday, they started to have second thoughts about the upcoming result…

Most of the people there started to be prone to Zheng-Fu’s side because they saw that he had the highest Qi energy level among the young martial artists. He also possessed two techniques of the intermediate-level fighting skill (actually four). What was more was that everyone in the clan set an expectation of him after seeing him fight with Dong-Chu yesterday…

“When is it going to start? It’s been a while now!”

“Yeah! Just start already! It’s getting too hot!”

“Ahem! Everyone please, cool it down. If you want to see something worthwhile, please wait a little longer. This year’s final fight will start soon.”

At this point, everyone, including all the elders, was at the test venue to witness the fight…

Zhong-Ree, the fifth Elder said, “Who do you think will win this fight?”

“I bet it’s little miss Tian-Qi!” said Lei-Lu, the sixth Elder…

Kong-Tu, the seventh Elder, then said, “But I think the Zheng-Fu boy will win because he knows how to use the intermediate-level fighting technique.”

“Tsk!”

“How is someone who possesses an intermediate-level fighting technique better than the girl who has been practicing martial arts since she was very young? The boy only went to Zhuàngyuán classes in all those years!” Lao-Chu could not help but give a sarcastic comment because he was not happy with the fact that Zheng-Fu completely defeated his son yesterday. He tried to make a demeaning face and secretly wished Zheng-Fu to be defeated by Tian-Qi…

“Does it really matter that he had only been to Zhuàngyuán classes? If he could be this good, imagine if he practiced martial arts since the beginning. Whoa! I really don’t want to imagine how great he could get!”

Hai-Gu could not help countering Lao-Chu as soon as Lao-Chu finished his sentence. He could not stand the great Elder’s sarcasm. He was never really fond of Lao-Chu since the first place too, so he intended to point out that Zheng-Fu was a genius. Compared to Lao-Chu’s son, Zheng-Fu could be greater even though he only started practicing martial arts just now…

By now, Lao-Chu’s facial expression was completely ugly and scary because he became furiously mad. He was the Great Elder of the clan, but got humiliated like this…

“That’s enough, Hai-Gu, brother. We can’t know for sure who will win the fight. Anything can happen there.”

“Correct! Anything wrong can happen, especially if the person is careless. No matter how high the person’s energy is or how powerful the person is, if he doesn’t know how to adjust his techniques, he would just end up being an arrogant martial artist.” Tong-Tieng intended to reinforce immediately…

“But my bet is Zheng-Fu knows how to modify things judging from what he said the other day…”

“Hahaha!”

When everyone in Kong-Shi’s group thought about the conversation with Zheng-Fu the other day, they could not help but laugh at how Zheng-Fu knew how to say things. The boy was also playful, so he would know how to play with his techniques…

Ding!

The sound of the bell ring echoed all over the test venue killing the gossip sound that permeated the place earlier. Everyone stopped talking as the test was about to begin…

“Alright, everybody. The time that you’ve been waiting for has arrived. The two young martial artists please come up to the stage.” The mediator made an announcement to begin the fight…

“Yay!”

“Come on! Come on!”

The loud cheering sound, calling Zheng-Fu and Tian-Qi’s names, pervaded the test venue. Girls would shout Zheng-Fu’s name and boys would shout Tian-Qi’s…

“Come on! Come on!”

“Who wants to make a bet? Come make a bet!”

Not only the place was filled with the loud cheering sound, but it was also filled with people walking around urging the audience to make bets. The clan had nothing against gambling because the elders of the clan also normally liked to bet with their personal valuable objects. By now, Zheng-Fu and Tian-Qi were on the stage, being ready for the fight. Tian-Qi stared at Zheng-Fu fiercely as if she wanted to tear him apart into pieces…

“Maybe you should surrender when you still have a chance. I’ll pretend to think that the bet never happened.”

“Surrender? I think you should be the one who surrenders and I’ll forget about our bet.”

Tsk!

“You pompous! Fine! If you won’t surrender, I’ll give you all that you deserve.”

“Please do, plywood girl! I can take anything from you.”

“You!”

Tian-Qi stomped her feet again with anger because she could not talk Zheng-Fu down. Right now, she could only hurt him with her gaze. It would be great if he could get hurt by it, she thought…

“Are both of you ready?” The mediator asked…

“Yes, sir/Yes, sir!”

“Great! I believe you know the rule by now. There must not be extreme violence. Just fight hard enough to know the winner. If you break the rule, you’ll lose.”

Both young martial artists nodded lightly to say that they understood the rule. Tian-Qi started to draw her sword in a bid to prepare for the fight instantly. As soon as she drew the sword from the scabbard, everyone got to witness a very smooth sword. It looked very sharp and there was also this intimidating aura coming out of it…

“That…!”

A lot of elders in the clan got psyched once they saw Tian-Qi’s sword…

“That’s the Sword of Fiery Lizard, isn’t it!?”

“The Sword of Fiery Lizard!?”

Everyone in the audience roared with excitement when they heard that Tian-Qi was holding the Sword of Fiery Lizard. The sword was the lower level of the high-leveled sword. There were only three Swords of Fiery Lizard in the clan…

“Does this mean that the leader of the clan gave it to her, especially for this fight with the boy?”

“And how will Zheng-Fu fight with her now? This’s so unfair!”

Kong-Shi was more worried than anyone else there because he never thought that the leader of the clan would give that valuable sword to his daughter just to fight with Zheng-Fu. He, on the other hand, did not give anything to his son for this fight…

“What are we going to do, Kong-Shi, brother? How will he be able to fight with the girl?”

At that very moment, Zheng-Fu waved his hands in Kong-Shi’s direction to tell him to not worry about it…

“What’s he doing? Is he telling us not to worry?”

Tsk!

“Such a smug! Great! Now you will taste something bitter demeaning that powerful sword!” Lao-Chu blew some wind out of his mouth and scolded Zheng-Fu to wish him unwell after seeing the boy’s gesture towards the sword…

Zheng-Fu could actually see that Tian-Qi’s sword was something, but he was still confident that he could manage it, so he waved at Kong-Shi in a bid to assure his father that he was alright…

The boy knew well that his sword was an ordinary sword and it might not be the right match for the Sword of Fiery Lizard. He could still keep his calm though because he still had this Belt Sword skill with him to defend himself and reduce the severity of the power of the opponent’s sword. But he thought even though the Belt Sword did not work well, he still had the Sword of the Willow Leaves skill, plus the Willow Leaves Qinggong skill to escape the attack. But most importantly, Zheng-Fu also got his family’s secret fighting skill with him. That was why he was not afraid…