Chapter 201 – The Past Grievances of the Jianghu (2/2)

He was in his forties, and he wore a magnificent set of robes. A treasured blade hung from his waist. The hilt was made from pure gold, and it was embedded with a cat’s eye gem. It was extremely stately, as if he wanted to broadcast that he was rich.

Afterwards, he barged in.

“Who are you?” “You cannot enter without an invitation.” Just when the guarding disciples wanted to stop him, the man with the pitted face waved his hand. He had not even touched the disciples, but they were all sent flying backwards.

“An innate master!” There were many people of the jianghu at the feast. They all cried out at this sight. Only inante masters could release their true qi externally.

The man with the pockmarked face stopped before the hall and barked under the gaze of several hundred guests, “Yu Shukuang, you’ve invited everyone from everywhere, so how could you have forgotten about this old friend of yours?!”

Yu Shukuang heard the disturbance outside and rushed outside with his fellow martial arts practitioners. He looked down from the steps above and gasped, “You Pitted Madman!” His fellow martial arts practitioners all changed in expression.

A young man asked on a table of individual guests, “Who’s the Pitted Madman? Why haven’t I heard of him before?”

An old man who had a thorough understanding of the matters of the jianghu whispered, “His name is Ma Chaoqun. He’s skilled in the thirty-six forms of the Mad Demon Blade style. He’s extremely vicious in battle, and he always tries to drag the opponent down with him. His face is pitted as well, which is why they call him the Pitted Madman.”

“What past does he have with great hero Yu?”

“The Proud Sword hall used to be called the Mad Blade hall!”

In the past, the two of them had once fought with each other over a woman, gambling with their lives. Ma Chaoqun was defeated in a single move, and from then onwards, he vanished into the wilderness and never appeared again. Yu Shukuang took the woman as his wife and used the Mad Blade hall as a foundation to rapidly expand his influence, uniting the entire city under him in the end.

Never did he think that this old rival of his would appear again after all these years, and he would have become an innate master already.

Yu Shukuang wavered. He put on a smile and clasped his hands. “Brother Ma, it has been several years. Have you been well?”

Ma Chaoqun was surprised at first before bursting out with laughter. “That doesn’t sound like something that the pride swordsman I know would say. What happened to your pride? Where’s Zi’er? I want to see her!” Then he suddenly called out madly, “Zi’er, your senior brother is back. I’ve already become an innate master!”

However, no one dared to mock his madness. His call was filled with innate true qi, which shook up the hall. It made everyone’s ears ring as they all became shocked.

Yu Shukuang sighed. “Zi’er she… passed away quite a few years ago.”

Ma Chaoqun was stunned. His eyes reddened as he gritted his teeth. “Sh- she’s already dead? She must have died because of you! You weren’t the one she liked. Yes, she must have discovered that you had poisoned me, right?”

“What are you saying? My father would never poison anyone!” Yu Zijian had originally been standing in the crowd. When she heard that, she refused to accept it. She immediately stood forward from the crowd and rebuked loudly.

“Zi’er?” Ma Chaoqun was dazed. Only after a closer glance did he discover that her age did not seem to match. “Who are you?”

“I’m Yu Zijian. I’m my father’s daughter. And who do you happen to be, to come and make trouble in the Proud Sword manor?”

Ma Chaoqun suddenly understood. “I will expose the hypocrite that he is before everyone. Back then, I was already a first-rate master, while your father was only at the peak of the second-rate. How could his proud sword defeat my mad blade? If it weren’t for the fact that your father poisoned me, how could he have won?”

“Zijian!”

Just when Yu Zijian wanted to rebuke him, Yu Shukuang stopped her. “That’s right. I would have never been able to defeat you back then!”

“Father?” Yu Zijian looked at Yu Shukuang in disbelief.

There was an uproar. Although Yu Shukuang was not as upright as Yu Zijian had imagined him to be, he was still a central figure within the orthodox jianghu. He had made a name for himself as a heroic figure.

Ma Chaoqun was surprised at first. He never thought that Yu Shukuang would admit it so easily. He laughed aloud. “You’ve all heard it! Girly, you heard it too. You know exactly what your father is now!”

“However, the poison didn’t come from me. It came from Zi’er.” Yu Shukuang’s next words made everyone fall silent.

“My mother?!” Yu Zijian was stunned. She did not have a particularly deep impression of her mother, who had passed away so early. She only remembered her to be an extremely gentle and beautiful woman who sighed constantly. Yu Shukuang often told her about her mother’s kind-heartedness as well.

Ma Chaoqun felt like his heart had been struck by a boulder, causing it to ripple and surge. “Impossible. You have to be lying. Junior sister had always been infatuated with me, so why would she work against me? Why would she work against me!?”

With a swish, he drew the treasured blade from his waist and pointed it at Yu Shukuang. It shone brightly. It was actually a low grade spiritual artifact.