The Six Immortals Chapter 23

 Prancing Tiger “Bi Fan….” Xiaofeng spoke up, she was trying to stop Bi Fan from accepting the challenge, but now she couldn’t do anything, Bi Fan had already replied, and foolishly gone ahead to accept the challenge. Luo Sheng had already entered the ‘spiritual intelligence’ layer and was a well-known disciple at the Niemen school. Xiaofeng knew that even though Bi Fan was a very talented fighter, he would still not be able to match up to Luo Sheng. Luo Sheng was very pleased that Bi Fan had agreed to accept his challenge and asked: “You were saying something “but”….?” “Since the challenge was raised by you, I will get to decide the time and place.” Bi Fan said with a smile on his face. “Of course, any place, anytime you like.” Xiaofeng interrupted again: “Bi Fan, set the time for the match for a decade from now.” Luo Sheng’s expression suddenly changed, he had no idea what the situation would be a decade from now. “Luo Sheng, I don’t require ten years to beat you, I set the time of the match to one year from now at this disciples contest next year.” Bi Fan said confidently. “Well, then in a year from now, I will make you regret today’s decision.” Luo Sheng replied with a grave look on his face, looking mostly towards Xiaofeng. Satisfied with himself, Luo Sheng left with his friends. “Bi Fan, hesitating to set the challenge for ten years from now is understandable, but you will at least need three years. How will you be able to reach ‘spiritual intelligence’ layer in one year? That’s just not possible.” Xiaofeng scolded Bi Fan, animatedly angry with him. “Xiaofeng, I assure you that in a year from now, I will be able to beat him.” Bi Fan needed Luo Sheng to motivate him. If he needed to win, he would have to train harder, and could use this challenge to encourage himself. He had started out much later than his contemporaries, meaning he would have to put in extra effort. If he couldn’t even challenge Luo Sheng, then how could he even hope of competing against Mo Nan or Jing Feng. Moreover, as he would step outside Quinyang, there would be several others, others who would be much stronger. Xiaofeng walked away in anger: “You do whatever you feel like.” Her mind was busy thinking: “Bi Fan will have to grow at least two layers before he can hope to win against Luo Sheng.” Upon returning to the mountain, Xiaofeng was still angry with Bi Fan as she continued to sulk, so Bi Fan picked up his books and continued from where he had left. Bi Fan wasn’t aware that Xiaofeng was angry with him because she was concerned about him. He picked up the books and started to read. He started reading about ‘Prancing Tiger’ boxing technique and ‘Fufeng double-edged sword secrets’, both of which he had noticed today at the tournament. He was already capable of practicing ‘FuFeng double-edged sword secrets’. The technique contained seventy two strokes, elegant and light, which would make the sword appear as light a feather. In the tournament, a lot of students had used these techniques, and Bi Fan had tried to memorize as much of them as possible. Bi Fan kept replaying the techniques in his head till he was sure he remembered them by heart. Bi Fan was not very anxious to start practicing so soon, so picked up the ‘prancing tiger’ and started reading it very carefully. ‘Prancing tiger’ boxing technique was a firm and ferocious technique that had not originated from the Quinyang region. In fact, the technique itself was very different from the usual Quinyang techniques. Most of the techniques practiced in Quinyang were agile and elegant. These techniques usually required the martial artist to be as fast as lightening. In fact, even Jing Feng’s display with the pike was also very unusual for a Quinyang student. Bi Fan spent some time to memorize the ‘prancing tiger’ boxing technique thoroughly. Afterwards, he decided to start practicing the ‘Fufeng double-edged sword secrets’ first, as he had already been practicing ‘rainy-fly sword’, and the two techniques were quite similar in nature. It was imperative for him to increase his strength. ‘Fufeng double-edged sword secrets’ could prove to be a lifesaving technique, and he was still some distance away from being able to make use of ‘prancing tiger’ technique properly. He practiced for most of the night, and managed to learn over twenty strokes, but was still far being proficient with their use. The next morning, Bi Fan got up early to take a look at the medicine orchard, so he could look at the panacea, and found that Greedy had made a meal out of two more of them. Bi Fan would personally dig out the herbs for Greedy, if the Long Diao dug them out on his own; it could harm the other Panacea as well.  After completing his work, he met up with Xiaofeng and left for Ming Fung Valley to watch the tournament. Watching the tournament was very important for Bi Fan, not only could he gain some valuable combat experience, but also get a glimpse of various new skills. Memorizing different skills would help him with his practice and combat experience would pay dividends at a later stage in life. If it wasn’t for these reasons, he wouldn’t have gone to tournament. He had no interest in enjoying himself; he wasn’t as lively at heart as the other people. Ming Fung Valley was bustling with even more excitement as compared to yesterday, as most of the martial artists had been eliminated leaving only the stronger ones standing. The elimination rounds continued after the grouping process. Jing Feng and Mo Nan were both able to clear their pools with ease. As the tournament progressed through to noon, the top sixteen had already been picked. The tournament offered some very generous rewards, incentives for the top six were a lot better than the following ten positions. Obviously, the rewards for the top three positions were the most lucrative. First reward was obviously the best, a top grade magical weapon enough to make any participant go crazy. In addition, the top three would be getting up to ten pellets of nine different types of Dan. After winning the championship, with the help of these rewards, it would make it a lot easier to break into the ‘emerging from womb’ category. Normally, it would be very difficult for a student to obtain such high level Dan pellets, and one would have to make a substantial amount of contribution to the schools for such rewards. These rewards were enough to tempt any student. In addition, the winner would be allowed to pick their weapon of choice as their prize from the Quinyang arsenal, which made the reward even more maddening. In contrast, the second position would get a magical weapon along with nine pellets each of eight different types of Dan.  The students who had made it to the top sixteen were gearing up for the battles ahead, they all wanted to end up as high as possible. These participants were the elite ones, and were extremely strong and skilled, much more than Bi Fan. And Bi Fan was ready to learn as much from their displays as possible. This level would be decided in a wheel like fashion, each contestant was up against his entire fifteen opponents. Each participant would have to fight three fights and the total aggregation of points at the end of the fights would determine the champion. If two fighters had the same points then their head to head points would be the deciding factor. At midday, a one hour break was announced, and after much trouble, Jing Feng was somehow able to get rid of his female fan club and came to sit beside Bi Fan. Even though Jing Feng had come to chat with Bi Fan, his attention had been more towards Xiaofeng’s body. He seemed to be attracted to Xiaofeng’s good looks, and was continuously looking at her body, making it obvious that he was interested in Xiaofeng. Most of the other Yunufeng girls were seemingly envious of Xiaofeng, but since they considered her to be their sister, they wouldn’t try causing any trouble. Moreover, most of them were happy enough to get a chance of getting close to Jing Feng. Only Bi Fan was in a gloomy mood. He wished he could run away to some distant place so his heart could find some peace.

Chapter end