Flower Stealing Master

Song Qingshu and Jiumozhi glanced at each other, rather disapproving of this action, and wondered since when the masters of the Qing court were so high in martial arts?

The martial arts attainments of Duo Long, who was the imperial guard commander, was average at best. As for Zhang Kangnian and Zhao Qixian, their martial arts were a little bit stronger than ordinary soldiers, but that wasn't enough to call them real masters.

One could imagine how scarce the Qing court's masters were. Song Qingshu had always been curious. Under the protection of such a group of unreliable imperial guards, how could Kangxi live so peacefully for so long?

"May I know who the Emperor recruited from the wulin?" Song Qingshu asked with a slight smile.

"Hear me! Go and summon leader Dongfang here?" Kangxi ordered, and the little eunuch Wen Youdao ran off quickly.

"Eh, leader Dongfang?" Song Qingshu's smile came to an abrupt stop, and he was surprised, ‘Could it be the “Invincible East”?’  (Goblin: “Invincible East” is the meaning/title of Dongfang Bubai.)

Not long after, as the door of the Imperial Study Room opened, and a man in red slowly walked in.

He had a light and breezy aura about him, and didn't even look at the other people in the room. He just bowed slightly to Kangxi, "This Dongfang has seen the Emperor."

From the moment he came in, Song Qingshu had been staring at him. Dongfang Bubai had red lips and white teeth, and his face was as delicate as a woman. It was hard to tell how old he was. On the surface, he looked like a beautiful young man, but his calm and steady attitude reminded other’s to not be fooled by his young appearance.

When he opened his mouth, all the illusions in Song Qingshu's heart broke to pieces. Before, he had always wanted to know whether the Invincible East of this world would be a glamorous woman from the movie version or the trans woman from the TV drama version.

When Dongfang Bubai first came in, Song Qingshu felt that he was more likely to be a woman, and he felt delighted, but when the other party opened his mouth, that low male voice made his mind blow up all of a sudden.

Dongfang Bubai glanced back at him with a thoughtful expression. When his eyes made contact with the opponent's eyes, Song Qingshu's heart was stunned, as if he had been seen through.

"Leader Dongfang, these two are the top masters I recruited, one is Tubo’s Great Monk Jiumozhi, the other is master Song Qingshu." Kangxi stood up and introduced both parties to each other, "This is the leader of the Sun Moon Holy Cult, Dongfang Bubai."

Dongfang Bubai didn't bother to take a look at the two of them. He only sneered and said, "Since when did the top masters become like cabegges?"

Kangxi didn't look like he was offended, but he watched with interest how Song Qingshu and Jiumozhi would respond to this.

"Xiao Guizi, let's make a gamble and see if the masters you found are stronger or the master I found is stronger." Although Kangxi had begun to take on the majesty of a monarch, he was, in the end, still a young man. So, he instinctively wanted to compare his choice with Wei Xiaobao.

"Of course the master chosen by Xiao Xuanzi is stronger." Although Wei Xiaobao flattered like this, he didn't agree with him in his heart. He had seen the martial arts of Jiumozhi and Song Qingshu when they defeated Hong Antong and his associates. But, he just didn’t want to piss off Xiao Xuanzi. Wei Xiaobao couldn’t even figure out if this guy was a man or a woman at first glance, and he also didn't seem that powerful either.

"Your little shi*t, I know you definitely don't think so in your heart." Kangxi instantly understood his thoughts when he noticed Wei Xiaobao's expression, and couldn't help but snort, "If I lose, I will make you an earl and it will be hereditary. And, if you lose, donate some money to the disaster relief fund."

"A gentleman is a man of his words!" Wei Xiaobao's eyes lit up and he immediately agreed.

"A man of his words!" Kangxi nodded heavily.

*****

Although the two of them deliberately lowered their voices and whispered to each other's ears, the three in the court were top masters, and the conversation between the two passed into the ears of the three masters without fail.

Dongfang Bubai's eyes flashed brightly, and then he slowly closed his eyes and began to prepare himself. Song Qingshu and Jiuozhi looked at each other, and they both understood Kangxi's intentions.

Although they were well-known in the wulin, but Kangxi had not personally seen them in action. There was bound to be a bit of suspicion. So he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to let Dongfang Bubai test their skills. Furthermore, this will also allow them to verify their doubts about Dongfang Bubai.

Song Qingshu was okay with this situation. He was influenced by various TV dramas and movies, and he had a deep impression of Dongfang Bubai’s martial arts attainments. Hearing his words of ridicule, Song Qingshu did not get angry. Instead, he smiled and replied, "Cult leader Dongfang has reached the transformation of heaven and man. The martial arts level of this Song is naturally far less than him. However, this Song thinks that it is more than enough to deal with the majority of the people in the wulin."

"Your Excellency is so young, but he knows about the concept of  ‘transformation of heaven and man'. It's good, good… very good!" Dongfang Bubai gave him a surprised look, and spoke with astonishment.

Jiumozhi on the side, however, didn’t have such tolerance. He himself was a proud man. Apart from Padmasambhava, who was in seclusion for a few decades in the Nyingma Temple, no one was his opponent in the entire Tubo. This time he came to the central plains and defeated the famous Shaolin monk Xuan Bei, master Duan of Dali, Gu Sunan and many more. He felt that the central plain wulin was nothing more than this.

But now, when he heard Dongfang Bubai’s ridicule, he couldn't help but get angry, and sneered, "Who knows, maybe cult leader Dongfang will have to change the word Bubai (invincible/undefeated) from his name after today."

Dongfang Bubai glanced at him indifferently, "I will naturally change it, but can you make me?"

"What a big tone!" Jiumozhi felt that the other party was extremely arrogant. Although he had heard about the reputation of Dongfang Bubai on the Black Wood Cliff, according to that, he was qualified to claim the reputation of ‘Invincible East'. But, Jiumozhi was very confident in his martial arts as well. During this period of time, he had seen too many people with sky high reputations that proved to be nothing more than mere illusions, and he thought that the reputation of the ‘Invincible East’ was the same.

"You can try." Dongfang Bubai said casually with his hands behind his back, his head lowered and eyes closed .

"Then I’ll be offending you!" If things were not so troublesome, Jiumozhi would have visited the most famous masters of the central plains wulin one by one. This time, facing one of them, he suddenly became very cautious.

Jiumozhi was not anxious to initiate a face-to-face attack, instead, he performed a Flame Blade with swift motion.

"Huh? It's a bit tricky." Feeling the invisible sword aura of his opponent, Dongfang Bubai finally opened his eyes, his figure flashed and disappeared from the place like a phantom.  

Jiumozhi hadn’t fully recovered from performing the Flame Blade yet, suddenly his heart jumped, and he waved his hand to his side.

"How surprising, your Excellency actually knows the Seventy Two Forms of Shaolin?" Dongfang Bubai appeared a few meters away and glanced at Jiumozhi in amazement.

"Poor monk is not talented, although it is far from being proficient, but in the Seventy Two Forms of Shaolin, this poor monk happens to know a little bit of everything." Although his previous two moves had failed to land a hit, but Jiumozhi immediately picked up his spirit, fully guarding against any attacks.

"Don't speak nonsense!" Dongfang Bubai coldly snorted, naturally not believing that someone could practice Shaolin Temple's 72 Forms at the same time.

"Then cult leader Dongfang should try this monk's modified Animitta Kalpa Finger." Jiumozhi stretched out his right index finger, quickly drew a circle in the air, and blasted a fierce finger wind.

Dongfang Bubai smiled coldly, and quickly disappeared from the spot. Jiumozhi's Animitta Kalpa Finger directly hit the pillar behind him, leaving a deep scorched hole.

Kangxi was stunned, "Xiao Guizi, this Maha Cakra Vajra’s martial arts is really good!"

"Hmm…" Wei Xiaobao casually dealt with the praise, and was attracted by the fierce fighting in the center court.

Dongfang Bubai was like a ghost, illusory, coming and going, just like green smoke. Jiumozhi couldn't even hit him with his Animitta Kalpa Finger, but instead he had to dodge while shaking his monk's robe. It seemed as if there was a big red shadow net in the room.

"Kasaya Evil Subduing Skill?" Dongfang Bubai felt a great strength coming from the monk's robe and rushing towards him. A cold light flashed in his eyes, a thin needle slid out between his fingers, and with a flick of his finger, it pierced towards his opponent. (Goblin: Kasaya means monk’s robe.)

Although Jiumozhi did not clearly see what was being shot, an alarm bell rang in his heart, and he bent over like an iron bridge. He managed to dodge it, but the needle still left a trail of blood between his eyebrows.

The needle pierced through the aura of the monk’s robe, so Jiumozhi had to avoid it, and it lost the power to go on and softly fell on the ground.

"Great monk, don't hesitate to use what you have in store." Dongfang Bubai taunted, as he looked at Jiumozhi with a smile.contemporary romance

Experiencing the ghostly speed of Dongfang Bubai, Jiumozhi's eyes were full of caution, and instead of attacking, he decided to wait.

"Hehe, since you are not going to attack, then this seat will not be polite." As soon as his voice fell, Dongfang Bubai transformed into a red shadow, quickly surrounding Jiumozhi.

"Xiao Guizi, can you see how they are doing?" Kangxi looked annoyed, and except for a red shadow that fluttered from left to right, his eyes could catch nothing else.

"I can't see clearly either, I can only hear the whistling sound of wind." Wei Xiaobao opened his mouth and looked at everything in front of him in awe.

"Flower Pinching Finger, Pattra Finger, Dragon Capturing Hand, Shadowless Formless Legs, Heaven and Earth in the Sleeve, Nirvana Grab, Maha Finger, Great Vajra Fist, Prajna Palm…Great monk, did you really practice the Seventy Two Forms of Shaolin?" It was definite from Dongfang Bubai’s voice that he was obviously quite surprised, "Heh…or it could be just a pretence."

However, Jiumozhi didn’t say a word, and his face remained calm, as he kept dealing with the red shadows around him. His opponent often tried to attack once in a while, and Jiumozhi's own offensive mostly hit empty space.

In his decades long time as a martial artist, Jiumozhi had never fought such a gruelling battle. His opponent's martial arts were clearly not much higher than him, but because of his quick speed, he failed to gain any advantage.

Now that his opponent figured out his flaws, Jiumozhi no longer used the Seventy Two Forms of Shaolin, and used his own trademark technique-the Flame Blade.

"This invisible sword aura is indeed interesting. It grows and changes suddenly." During the fight, Dongfang Bubai spoke up in admiration and he had been almost injured by the opponent's sword aura several times.

"Great Monk, I think you should give up. Cult leader Dongfang is like lightning and thunder, and there is no warning for his next attack. Even if you manage to fend for a long time, you will still lose in the end." Song Qingshu seemed to realize Jiumozhi’s predicament. He was getting tired, so he had to quickly give him a way out.

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