Chapter 194 Spreads Like Wildfire
Fifteen days later, Luoyang City.

At noon, the bustling Donghai Teahouse was bustling with noise. Curious tea drinkers gathered in groups of three or five, discussing with great interest the "Battle of Pan and Qin" that had taken place in the Shaolin Temple half a month ago.

Those who knew the story rushed to talk about it, while those who didn't knew the story stared with curious eyes and listened with so much interest that they forgot to drink tea.

"I tell you, this matter was originally kept secret! Half a month ago, the Pan and Qin families had a secret competition in Shaolin, and few people in the martial arts world knew about it. Apart from the people of the Pan and Qin families, they had no intention of letting outsiders know. They didn't send out invitations to heroes, and didn't allow others to watch the fight. It was obvious that they didn't want to alarm anyone." A thin man with shifty eyes said in a serious tone.

"Then how do you know? Are you a member of the Pan and Qin families?" Someone teased, causing a burst of laughter.

Next to the lean man, a short and fat man shook his head mysteriously and explained, "Because the Pan and Qin families finally fell out, the Hexi Qin family was furious and made the matter public."

"Why did they fall out?"

"It's because of 'Xuan Shui Xia Juan'!" The lean man asked with a smug smile, "Have you heard of 'Xuan Shui Xia Juan'? If you don't know, just sit down and listen to me, don't interrupt! It's a sword manual. The Pan and Qin families competed, and whoever won got the sword manual. No matter what, it must not fall into the hands of a third person. But things are unpredictable. After the competition, 'Xuan Shui Xia Juan' was lost by the little monk in Shaolin Temple. Do you think this is rare?"

"Who won the duel?"

Hearing this, the short and fat man hesitated for a moment, looked around cautiously, and whispered: "I can tell you, but when you leave the teahouse, don't say it was me! Regarding the result of the competition, the Pan and Qin families have different opinions. The Pan family, the Xianwang Mansion, and the Shaolin Temple all say that the Pan family won the competition in the end. But the Qin family and the Jinjianwu disagree. They say that the Pan family just won a fight by luck, and it was helped by the masters of the Xianwang Mansion, so it can't be counted. As for the truth, no one knows! Because at that time, apart from these people, there was no one else watching the fight."

"I believe what the Xianwang Mansion said!" a tea drinker said loudly, "The Xianwang of the North is upright and honest, he would never speak nonsense."

"I don't think so!" Another tea drinker curled his lips in disapproval, "Who can say for sure what happens in the martial arts world? The Hexi Qin Clan and the Golden Sword Clan are also well-known and upright sects that dominate their respective areas. Could they be talking nonsense?"

Seeing everyone expressing their own opinions and arguing endlessly, the thin man waved his hands impatiently and complained: "What's the point of discussing who wins and who loses now? The sword manual is gone, so it's useless even if you win."

"Where did the sword manual go?" someone asked in the corner of the teahouse.

"Who knows?" The short and fat man smiled bitterly. "The Pan family said that the sword manual was swindled away by the Qin family. But the Qin family insisted that this was a joint act by the Pan family, the Xianwang Mansion, and the Shaolin Temple, and their purpose was not to hand over the sword manual. Both sides held their own opinions and refused to give in. It is said that they were about to fight. If it were not for the Shaolin abbot to calm the situation, I am afraid that more people would have died."

The lean man nodded desperately and interrupted, "It is well known that the Northern Sage King and the Shaolin abbot have a close relationship, and the Sage King's Mansion is supporting the Pan family behind the scenes, so the Hexi Qin family felt that they were being played. So, the Qin Mansion Master was furious and revealed the matter, and declared: This matter will never be let go, and sooner or later, we will seek justice from Shaolin."

"That's true." A tea drinker responded thoughtfully, "The sword manual was lost by Shaolin Temple, so we should ask them for it. Shaolin Temple is full of masters, how could they not even keep a sword manual? I guess there must be something hidden. If I were the owner of the Qin Mansion, I would definitely suspect that this was a joint act between Shaolin and the Pan family to deceive me on purpose."

The short and fat man changed the subject and continued, "But it's not just the Qin family who wants to seek justice from Shaolin, the Pan family is also there. The Pan family believed that they won the duel and should have taken back the 'Xuan Shui Xia Juan', but it was lost by the little monk. The Pan family felt very upset. If it weren't for the favor of the Northern Sage King, I'm afraid the Pan family would have fallen out with Shaolin long ago."

The thin man continued, "What makes the Pan family most depressed is that they are clearly the victims, but they are regarded as despicable and cunning by the Qin family. The Pan family will definitely be retaliated by the Qin family in the future, and they can never live in peace again. Alas! It's really pitiful to think about it."

"What did Shaolin Temple say?" The nosy tea drinker couldn't wait to ask, "Since the sword manual was lost in Shaolin, they should at least give them an explanation, right?"

"The little monk claimed that he met Pan Yuyin, the granddaughter of the Pan family, on the mountain path. It was Pan Yuyin who lied that someone was attacking the Wenshu Dharma Field and took the opportunity to steal the sword manual from the panicked little monk." The short and fat man said confidently, as if he had seen it with his own eyes. "But in fact, Pan Yuyin stayed in the Wenshu Dharma Field from beginning to end and never left. How could she go to deceive the little monk?"

The thin man sneered, "It is said that monks do not tell lies, but in my opinion, this incident is obviously a lie by the little monk. There were only three monks on the mountain road who saw Pan Yuyin with their own eyes. Apart from them, there was no one else, so of course they let them talk nonsense. I guess that this incident is probably the work of Shaolin Temple, maybe they want to embezzle the sword manual."

"No way?" a tea drinker asked in surprise, "It is said that all martial arts in the world come from Shaolin. What rare martial arts are not there in the Shaolin Sutra Library? Could it be that they are coveting a sword manual?"

"Brother, you don't know." The short and fat man laughed, "Why is 'Xuan Shui Lower Volume' called Lower Volume? That's because it has an Upper Volume, and that Upper Volume... is said to be 'Qin Family Swordsmanship'. But no matter it's Upper Volume or Lower Volume, they both came from the Guihai Sword Sect that was famous in the martial arts world back then, so the combination of the Upper and Lower Volumes is the Guihai Sword Sect's unique and unique martial arts 'Guihai Swordsmanship'."

"so what?"

"How is it? Do you know where the Guihai Sword Sect came from?" The thin man snorted coldly, "It was founded by 'Master Guihai', and Master Guihai was originally from the Shaolin School. Do you understand now?"

“You mean… the Guihai Sword Technique originally came from Shaolin? And now Shaolin Temple is just trying to get it back?” a tea drinker speculated curiously.

The short and fat man shook his head and said, "That's not what I said! I advise you not to make blind guesses, lest you bring about fatal disasters. After all, the Qin family feels that they have suffered a great humiliation and are holding back their anger. It's fine for us to have a chat, but don't offend them."

"How was the matter finally resolved? Was the sword manual found?" "No shit!" said the thin man, "In the end, the Pan family voluntarily gave up the search for 'Xuan Shui Xia Juan' and decided not to pursue the matter with Shaolin for the sake of King Bei Xian. After all, Pan Chuba has been in seclusion for many years, and all the descendants of the Pan family have given up martial arts and gone into business, so why would they still cling to a sword manual? It's better to lose it so that they don't have to worry about it."

The short fat man added, "Because Shaolin, the Pan family, and the Xianwang Mansion all believed that the Pan family was the final winner of the duel, and the sword manual should belong to the Pan family, so the Pan family said they would not pursue the matter any more, and Shaolin naturally let it go and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As for the Hexi Qin family... although they were unwilling, they had to swallow their anger and left angrily because of the large number of people in Shaolin Temple. The two sides parted unhappily, and afterwards the Qin family made a big fuss about the matter, saying that they wanted heroes all over the world to administer justice, but in fact they had evil intentions and clearly did not want to give up easily."

"If you keep thinking about it, there will be a response." The thin man echoed, "Just a few days ago, I heard that the Pan Mansion was provoked and picked trouble by a group of people with unknown origins. They even broke into the mansion and searched the Pan family from top to bottom. Mr. Pan is old and was so angry that he fell ill. I guess this incident should be done by... ahem... Hexi Qin's people."

"Alas! It's hard to tell the difference between love and hate, right and wrong!" A tea drinker picked up his teacup and sighed, "I think someone must have been behind this. Those three monks shouldn't dare to tell such a big lie. Such an obvious lie is easy to be exposed. If it was really Shaolin who was behind this, they would never use such a crude trick to cause trouble for themselves."

After that, the tea drinker brought the teacup to his lips, took a sip, and his expression suddenly changed. He shouted loudly: "Just listening to your nonsense, the tea has gone cold. Waiter, change the tea!"

Following a burst of noise, the Donghai Teahouse fell into chaos again.

In the corner of the lobby sat a tall, fat, burly man, dressed in linen clothes and a bamboo hat, holding a teacup in his hand, listening to the loud discussions of the tea drinkers with great interest, with a strange smile on his face from time to time.

On his table, there were casually placed a plate of peanuts, a plate of melon seeds, a plate of crispy cakes, a pot of tea, and a long knife.

This sword is called "Changkong".

This person is none other than the sackcloth-robed swordsman known as “Ghost-Seeing Sorrow”, Qin Ku.

Qin Ku has been waiting here for three days and three nights.

Before he came to Luoyang, he only planned to wait here for three days. But after hearing the "lofty talk" of the tea drinkers, he decided to wait here until the person he had an appointment with showed up.

"You keep your word. I was right about you!"

Suddenly, a clear laugh sounded from the table. Then, a "handsome young man" in white clothes sat down without being invited, and smiled at Qin Ku, who looked suspicious.

The person who came was Xunzhen, a woman disguised as a man.

Qin Ku said nothing, only glanced at Xunzhen, then looked around. He saw two solemn-looking men sitting on the east and west sides, staring at Xunzhen and Qin Ku's every move.

They were Xunzhen's escort, Abaolu, Xun Budao, Xiao Yang and Su Hu.

Qin Ku laughed at himself and said jokingly: "If you really believe in me, you wouldn't arrange so many experts to protect you in secret. Haha..."

"You don't need to pay attention to them." Xunzhen smiled nonchalantly, "You and I are doing business, and it's enough for each of us to get what we need."

Qin Ku raised his eyebrows, looked Xunzhen up and down with a silly smile on his face, and said with a hint of meaning: "Last time I only saw that you were a woman disguised as a man, but I didn't realize that you had such a skill."

"Oh?" Xunzhen was calm and composed, pretending to be curious and asked, "What skill?"

Qin Ku slowly put down the teacup, then stretched out a finger and made a circle towards his face. Under Xunzhen's meaningful gaze, a frightening cunning look suddenly appeared on his face.

"He can change his appearance in a variety of ways, with a thousand faces. He can change his appearance vividly. There must be more than a handful of people with such amazing skills in the world. I never expected that I would meet one today. Hehe..."

……

　A new volume, new twists! I hope everyone will support me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)