12 Nangong Le (1/2)

The streets of the town were noisy and filled with many activities. The town was more crowded than usual. It was because the Gongsun Martial Aristocracy Clan, who controlled the town and its vicinity areas, had invited heroes from all over the fraternity to participate in a rare fraternity assembly.

The death of Old Man Zuo the Sword Saint had sent a shockwave throughout the fraternity and emboldened the heretic sects; there were at least a hundred clashes between the orthodox clans and the heretic sects in the past year alone.

The main purpose of the congregation was to seek a solution to the current martial affairs and to select a new orthodox leader from among the major orthodox clans.

Nangong Le looked bored and was looking for entertainment in the streets of the town. He had come to this town at the invitation of Gongsun Bai. Accompanying him were two renowned tranquil middle-age swordsmen Priest Liu Qingcheng the older protégé and Priest Ling Kongquan the younger protégé of the Tranquil City who acted as his escorts as well as his friends.

Priest Liu Qingcheng was also the protégé master of the Tranquil City.

The Tranquil City was one of the oldest martial clan in the fraternity, famed for its Tranquil Swordplay and the Tranquil Fists. Even though the Tranquil City was famed for its swordplay, the most powerful skill in the clan was actually their Dual Inertness Intricacy, a divinity state of 'Exchanging spirit intricate from a thousand miles, sensing from a million miles', and 'Absorbing the essence of Heavens and Earth'.

Also, Priest Liu Qingcheng and Priest Ling Kongquan were also top inner martial experts and their martial skills were not beneath any of the major orthodox clans' skills.

Nangong Le did not want to go to the Gongsun Manor so early and deliberately stayed in the town to find interesting entertainments. That was typical of his usual style and action.

Priest Liu Qingcheng and Priest Ling Kongquan may look like they were lofty priests that would never partake in such meaningless pursuit, it was actually the opposite.

Also their Dual Inertness Intricacy was all about sensing the emotional elations of others to elevate their state of divinity further. There no better ways than to follow Nangong Le to advance their cultivation!

That was exactly why they were Nangong Le's friends.

Priest Ling Kongquan asked, ”Is it good to keep our orthodox friends waiting? I know that many had left early this morning for the Gongsun Manor. Surely the congregation will be crowded and it is even more interesting there.”

Priest Liu Qingcheng laughed aloud, ”The orthodox clans have always belittled and looked down on the Tranquil City. Even though they did not say that, their hearts tells otherwise. It will only affect our cultivation if we associate ourselves with such negative emotions.”

Priest Ling Kongquan smirked, ”Alas, I still derive so much pleasure from their hypocrisy.”

Nangong Le laughed aloud, ”The pugilists of the orthodox will only look up to the influential and not the weak. In their eyes, only the seven major orthodox clans and the Gongsun Martial Clan deserve their true respect. Small clans and inactive clans like us are just small fries in their eyes.”

Priest Liu Qingcheng said, ”You are really too humble, Young Master Nangong. You are now one of the four young masters of the martial fraternity and you even got a gold invitation for this congregation. That unruly Gongsun Bai only sent us a silver invitation.”

Nangong Le shook his head, ”My martial skills are beneath you. I really do not deserve to have the gold invitation. The only reason that I am one of the young masters of the martial fraternity is only because they are short of one person for that honorific to make it sound more pleasant and only because of the wealth of the Nangong Clan.”

Indeed, the Nangong Clan was the wealthiest clan in the entire fraternity and well-known for their immerse holdings and banks.

All of a sudden, Nangong Le, Priest Liu Qingcheng and Priest Ling Kongquan halted their steps. It was because they had suddenly heard the most enchanting music that they had ever heard in their entire lives!

Even though the streets were busy and full of a great multitude of different noises that overshadowed the enthralling music, their sharp ears were able to pick it up.

The melody of the music was slow, enchanting and extremely moving to the listeners but it also carried a sad melancholy to it.

They were stunned that such an intricate melody actually existed, despite having listened to hundreds of music from all over the fraternity.

Nangong Le muttered in awe, ”What beautiful heavenly music. It is too out of the world.”

Priest Liu Qingcheng was so enthralled by the music that he dared not say a word but closed his eyes as he was afraid to miss it.

He had a tear in his eyes; the music was so heart wrenching that he was trembling uncontrollably! All of a sudden, he gained a new inspiration for the Dual Inertness Intricacy…

Priest Ling Kongquan was stammering and trembling, ”It comes…from around the…alley!”

Priest Ling Kongquan grabbed Priest Liu Qingcheng and said, ”Eldest Protégé Brother, let's us take a look!”

Priest Liu Qingcheng was startled from his stupor as he quickly replied ”Yes, let's take a look!”

They soon turned into an alley saw a high wall that blocked them.

Luckily, this high wall was not too high for them to display their wall scaling skills and they soon scaled over it.

They were soon stunned at the sight of the other side after they had scaled over the high wall.

This was so unlike the dirty and confine alley that they were in earlier.

This courtyard was large and very beautiful. It was clean, decorated with all kinds of trees and fragrance flowers.

There was a small artificial large pond with a bridge over it and the enchanting music comes from beyond the courtyard.

Nangong Le muttered, ”Did we arrive at the Gongsun Manor by mistake?”

Priest Ling Kongquan smiled weakly, ”That is in the other direction?”

Priest Liu Qingcheng said, ”That appear to be so.”

Nangong Le too smiled weakly, ”Who else but Gongsun Bai can afford such magnificent place in this desolate town. Even if this place is not the Gongsun Manor, the owner must be related to him.”

The enchanting emotional melancholy music seemed to have come from beyond the courtyard. Therefore, they continued to walk through the courtyard while admiring the beauty and grandeur of the place.

When Nangong Le, Priest Liu Qingcheng and Priest Ling Kongquan came to another courtyard, they could see two exquisite beautiful maidens playing the zither and the pipa with white curtains in the background.

The melancholy and enchanting music had come from them. What astonished them was that these two young maidens had looked exactly alike!

Nangong Le thought, ”They are twins?”

Nangong Le was immediately attracted by them and started to appraise them silently. They were in black velvet silk dresses and he was fascinated by their dedicated eyes.

He noticed that they had a long sword besides them. Normally, only pugilists and nobility would carry a long sword with them although there were many exceptions; they could be using it for sword dances and sword plays as it was a popular pastime with many.

He had never seen anyone as beautiful as them in black as it was an ominous color and was not a color of choice for most maidens.

He could only gasped, ”So beautiful.” And he was instantly hypnotized by them.

All of a sudden, when he saw the translucent jade bangles on their left wrists, he was stunned.

It was because these translucent jades could only be found in the Heavenly Mountains, was extremely priceless. Even if someone had those translucent jades, they would never dare to wear or carry it for fear of damaging it.

When he saw their musical instruments that were made of red purple sandal wood, which was so highly prized and rare that it was worth its weight in gold, he was dumbfounded.

At first, he thought he could use his wealthy background to entice them but now he knew that if he had tried that, it was a terrible mistake for they had no material lack! He began to smile bitterly for he realized he had spent most of his gold in the last few days and was terribly poor at the moment to offer them a decent gift.

The few jewelries and gold that he had were too embarrassing to be taken out as a first time social gift. And he might be looked down upon and lost their first good impressions of him. This was the first time that Nangong Le had felt that he was poor.

Ling Kongquan was solemn as he said, ”Be careful. For them to appear in such a place, they may be vixens. We should leave immediately now that we got the chance…”

Nangong Le said, ”Even if they are thousand year old vixens, I must still know their names!”

Priest Liu Qingcheng was taken aback, ”Brother Nangong…you…”

But before he could stop him, Nangong Le had immediately mustered his courage to introduce himself, ”I am Nangong Le. These two are Priest Liu Qingcheng and Priest Ling Kongquan. May we have the honor of knowing the names of both mistresses?”

The two sisters stopped playing and looked into their direction; their dedicated eyes were looking at them intently.

When Nangong Le saw their eyes looking intently at him, his heart began to beat very fast as he thought, ”Both of them are so beautiful and so beholding. So which one should I woo? Which one should I woo first? Or shall I woo the two of them at the same time?”

The young maiden on the left asked in a soft voice, ”Do you know that you are trespassing?”

Priest Liu Qingcheng hurriedly replied, ”Maiden, please forgive us for trespassing. We really meant no harm at all. When we are outside, we suddenly heard an enchanting melody. Out of curiosity, we have come to take a look.”

The young maiden on the left said softly, ”Now that you have already taken a look, what do you want to do now?”

Priest Ling Kongquan was the first to reply, ”Nothing but are…are you both humans?”

The young maiden on the right laughed softly, ”Do we look like we are not humans to you?”

Priest Ling Kongquan managed a weak smile, ”No…”

Nangong Le smiled, ”You are both like heavenly fairies and not humans.”

The young maiden on the right seemed to be flattered as she replied, ”Is that so?”

Nangong Le said, ”That is so!”

Then she looked intently at him, ”We can also be vixens and we like to feast upon your blood.”

Nangong Le laughed, ”Maiden you must be joking. Even if you want to eat me, I will not struggle at all.”

The young maiden on the right said, ”Really? You will not struggle?”

Nangong Le laughed, ”I won't struggle, not even once!”

The young maiden on the right smiled, ”What if we are not joking?”

These two young maidens in black velvet were looking at them intently.

Nangong Le, Priest Liu Qingcheng and Priest Ling Kongquan broke into cold sweat. They could not really tell if they were joking.

It was indeed strange that two extraordinary beautiful young maidens would appear in a small isolated town that only pugilists would bother to visit and they were staying in a place with such splendor that seemingly out of place. Moreover they were exactly the same and had so much finery on them yet there were no servants anywhere. And their enthralling music was too supernatural to be found in the mortal realm. Was everything just an illusion?

The young maiden on the left added, ”Unfortunately, it is real and we need blood to maintain our youthful appearances, especially men with such vitality such as you.”

Priest Ling Kongquan turned ashen as he stammered, ”Who…who are you…?” He wanted to run but his legs had grown soft.

Even Nangong Le had turned completely white as he thought, ”I have toyed with numerous women in my life and now my life is going to end in their hands. I swear if I can survive this, I will surely turn over a new leaf. Alas Heavens, please help me…”

Priest Liu Qingcheng roared aloud with laughter, ”For a moment, I am almost fooled. They are not vixens.”

Nangong Le and Priest Ling Kongquan looked at Priest Liu Qingcheng with startled expressions. They were not vixens and they were joking?

Priest Ling Kongquan asked, ”Eldest Protégé Brother, you can tell?”

The young maiden on the left smiled, ”Of course we are not vixens. Do we look like foxes to you?”

Nangong Le heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that they were not vixens as he slowly recovered his composure.

Priest Ling Kongquan smiled weakly, ”I have never seen any vixens in my life but I know that they can take human shape.”

The young maiden on the right sighted softly, ”Unfortunately we are really not vixens.”

Priest Ling Kongquan said nervously, ”Vixens are also liars and would never admit they are not vixens.”

Nangong Le was alarmed. What Priest Ling Kongquan had said made sense. Only a priest would be able to identify a supernatural being such as a vixen.

The young maiden on the left smiled, ”We are actually waiting for a real vixen and were in fact baiting her but you have come instead. If you want to see a real vixen, you can stay here and wait. Maybe you get to see a real vixen real soon.”

Priest Liu Qingcheng smiled, ”Vixen or not, I don't care. I am Priest Liu Qingcheng, the master of the Tranquil City. I am thinking if both maidens are willing to be my protégés, I would like to impart to you our clan most extraordinary skill, the Dual Inertness Intricacy.”

The two young maidens, even Priest Ling Kongquan and Nangong Le were startled!

Priest Liu Qingcheng was straightforward and had declared his intentions.

It was startling because even direct protégés of the Tranquil City may not get the chance to learn the Dual Inertness Intricacy. And he was offering them the Dual Inertness Intricacy if they were willing to be his protégés. Was it not astonishing?

Nangong Le had been acquainted with them for five years. Even though he was always pressing Priest Liu Qingcheng to reveal some of the secrets of the Dual Inertness Intricacy to him in exchange for fabulous wealth and other martial treasures but he would never indulge even an intricate word to him. But today, he was offering it for free to these two maidens?!

Nangong Le smiled bitterly, ”Brother Liu, are you sure that you are not spellbound by them? You know that I am willing to be your protégé…”

Even though he had asked to be his protégé on many occasions, Priest Liu Qingcheng would always kindly reject him.

All of a sudden, Nangong Le was alarmed as he thought, ”Don't tell me Brother Liu had been bewitched by them already?”

Even Ling Kongquan was taken completely by surprise by his protégé brother as he said, ”You are for real? That is our clan secret skill and we know nothing about their backgrounds…”

When the young maiden on the left recovered from her surprise, she smiled faintly. ”You don't even know who we are or our names and yet you talk about wanting us to be your protégés?”

The young maiden on the right added, ”He is really a weird guy.”

Priest Liu Qingcheng did not seem to mind as he asked, ”Then may I know your names?”

Perhaps because he was courteous, the maiden on the left said coolly, ”I'm the Lady Yu.”

The maiden on the right said, ”I'm the Lady Mei.”

The Lady Yu was in fact Shui Yujian the Jade Sword Fairy and the Lady Mei was Shui Meijian the Beautiful Sword Fairy.

They still refuse to divulge to him their full names but Priest Liu Qingcheng did not mind.

Priest Liu Qingcheng asked again, ”Will you be my protégés?”

Shui Yujian answered amusingly, ”Unfortunately we already have a protégé clan. It is impossible for us to be in your protégé clan. You can leave now.”

Priest Liu Qingcheng said, ”You can quit your protégé clan. I can assure you that there are no other martial clans that are better than the Tranquil City. The intricate heart formula of the Dual Inertness Intricacy is unique in the fraternity and is considered one of the most sought skills. You won't regret learning it and joining the Tranquil City!”