Chapter 110: Windrise Martial Arts Hall

Inside the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall, Qiu Shiyan was losing her temper.

She was the daughter of Qiu Rubai, the former master of the hall. After her father descended into madness, she had taken over the mantle of leadership.

"It is utterly insufferable! Simply insufferable!"

Qiu Shiyan paced back and forth in the courtyard on her long, slender legs. Standing before her were the few remaining disciples of the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall who had not yet abandoned the place.

In its early days, the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall was nothing more than a small, obscure school backed by an equally minor sect. It was only through the meteoric rise of Qiu Rubai that the hall gained widespread fame, expanding and strengthening until it became the largest martial arts school in Longchong Prefecture.

However, as Qiu Rubai descended into madness, the hall’s decline was inevitable. To make matters worse, Qiu Rubai had offended many people during his prime. With his sanity gone, those old grievances had come back to haunt the school. If not for the fact that Qiu Rubai was still alive—his lingering reputation serving as a deterrent—the hall would have closed its doors long ago.

It was rumored that after his breakdown, Qiu Rubai’s martial cultivation had regressed from the Xiantian realm. Consequently, many who held grudges or sought to profit from the hall’s downfall, while not daring to act openly, had begun employing various underhanded tactics. In just two years, the disciples had almost all scattered, and all the properties under the hall's name had been lost to bankruptcy or seizure.

"Miss, they’ve opened a rival martial arts hall right across the street from us. What should we do?" asked Bai Taoru, a busty disciple standing among the small group.

Qiu Shiyan stiffened her pretty face and scolded, "Taoru, how many times have I told you? Do not call me 'Miss.' You are a disciple of this hall now; you must address me as 'Senior Sister'."

The busty disciple, Bai Taoru, looked crestfallen. "Yes, M... Senior Sister."

She was actually Qiu Shiyan’s personal maid, recruited only to pad the numbers. Beside her stood her father, Bai Fu, the old steward of the Qiu household. Poor, elderly Bai Fu had not only been dragged in to fill the roster, but because he was the last to join, he had been designated as the "Junior Brother."

Excluding Qiu Shiyan, there were only seven people in the courtyard. Four of them, including the father-daughter pair of Bai Fu and Bai Taoru, were mere servants of the Qiu family. This meant that the true disciples of the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall numbered only three. These remaining three were, to put it mildly, a motley crew of misfits and stragglers who had nowhere else to go and were simply lingering at the hall to scrape by. In truth, this was all the fault of the former master, Qiu Rubai; he had been so obsessed with his own martial arts that he had never bothered to cultivate his disciples. Most of those who had joined in the past had done so solely for the prestige of his name.

Once Qiu Rubai went mad and his cultivation slipped, those people naturally vanished.

"Show some spirit, everyone! Why are you all so dejected?" Qiu Shiyan attempted to rally the group, but it had no effect. The people before her remained sullen and morose.

"Senior Sister, perhaps we should ask the Wuhong Sect for help?"

The speaker was a fat man, one of the three remaining disciples. However, he was far more skilled in the culinary arts than in martial arts. The Wuhong Sect was the organization backing the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall and was also the sect where Qiu Rubai had studied.

Qiu Shiyan glared at the fat man. "What kind of foolish suggestion is that? Don't you know my father already had a falling out with the Wuhong Sect?"

The old steward, Bai Fu, chimed in: "The Wuhong Sect wouldn't dare offend the Qingyan Sect anyway, so asking them is useless. If we really need help, we should turn to the Qiu family. Even though the Master had a falling out with them, blood is thicker than water. As long as you go to them yourself, your uncles won't refuse to help you."

The Qiu family held significant power in Yunzhou, and several of Qiu Shiyan’s uncles held high-ranking positions there. Qiu Shiyan ignored this suggestion. Her temper was much like her father's; she would never compromise with the rest of the Qiu family. Before his madness, Qiu Rubai had been a martial fanatic—obsessive, short-tempered, and completely lacking in social tact. He had not only offended countless people but had also severed ties with many who should have been his allies. It could be said that both the rise and the current decline of the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall were entirely his doing.

"I called everyone here today not to listen to your complaints. Do you really believe that without seeking help from others, we cannot survive on our own?"

Qiu Shiyan swept her bright eyes over the group, her words filled with bravado. Unfortunately, her spirit did not infect the others, who remained as wilted as frost-bitten eggplants. Given the current state of the hall, they truly could not survive without help. For the past two years, the situation had gone from bad to worse, and they had only lasted this long by exhausting their savings. Now, those resources were gone, and it was only Qiu Shiyan’s stubbornness holding the place together. Without a master to anchor it and without new disciples joining, the existence of the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall was already nothing but a shell.

And today, with a rival hall opening across the street, it was a blow that threatened to dismantle them completely.

"I have decided: starting today, the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall will officially open its doors to recruit new disciples."

Qiu Shiyan announced this with great solemnity. The wilted eggplants finally snapped to attention.

"Senior Sister, is... is that really a good idea?"

"Yes, Senior Sister, they are currently recruiting as well. If we open our doors now, and there is a conflict..."

Qiu Shiyan was furious upon hearing this. She pointed at the motley group and scolded, "They are bullying us at our own doorstep, and yet you are all so terrified you’d rather hide your heads in your trousers! Are you even men?"

The group was so shamed by her words that they couldn't lift their heads, and the matter of opening for recruitment was settled in haste.

...

When Fang Yue walked toward the martial arts district, he was met with a scene of immense crowds. Some had come to sign up themselves, while others brought their children. The line in front of the Mingyang Martial Arts Hall stretched from inside the building all the way to the street, extending even past the gate of the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall across the way.

Fang Yue shook his head. The Qingyan Sect had several halls in the prefectural city. That they had insisted on opening this one directly across from the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall was not just because the street was prosperous—the primary reason was the long-standing grudge between the Qingyan Sect and the former master, Qiu Rubai.

For over a century, the Qingyan Sect had been the largest martial arts school in Longchong Prefecture. However, Qiu Rubai’s sudden rise had shattered that dominance. Because Qiu Rubai was a martial fanatic who lacked social grace and had a volatile temper, the resulting conflicts were inevitable. For years, Qiu Rubai had been a dark cloud hanging over the Qingyan Sect. Now that the tide had turned, the sect was naturally seeking its revenge.

Fang Yue watched the crowd for a moment before turning his attention away from the Mingyang Martial Arts Hall to focus on the Fengyang side. The Qingyan Sect was a massive organization with rigid rules and endless bureaucracy. While it was not impossible to learn Xiantian-level techniques from them, the time wasted and the trials required were unknown. Fang Yue had no intention of joining such a large sect.

The Fengyang Martial Arts Hall, however, had produced a Xiantian-peak master like Qiu Rubai; the techniques they possessed were undoubtedly exceptional. Now that they were in decline and suffering under pressure from all sides, they were in a desperate state. Joining them might offer a shortcut to learning those Xiantian techniques.

Just as Fang Yue was contemplating how to gain entry, the tightly closed doors of the Fengyang Martial Arts Hall suddenly swung open. A long-legged beauty dressed in red martial attire led a group of people out. Beside her walked the busty disciple in the plain blue uniform of the Fengyang hall.

The sound of the doors opening drew the attention of the crowd, who turned to look. When they saw the two beauties leading the way, the eyes of everyone on the street were instantly transfixed.