Chapter 447: Martial Arts Event
"I have been dreaming about rivers and lakes for over a hundred years. When I return, the scenery remains the same. I am still a young man under Fengbo Pavilion, and my past relationship is depicted in the Baixiaotu. Everyone, I am Xu Qingnian, and I am honored to meet you!"

At this moment, the person standing alone on the sword-fighting arena was actually a centenarian who was in his prime.

His sparse silver hair, wrinkled face, cloudy eyes, hunched and frail body, unsteady steps, trembling hands, and the round and old cane in his hand all showed that he was old and his end was not far away.

But even so, he was still in high spirits, his voice was as loud as a bell, and he looked very happy in front of everyone, giving everyone a kind and easy smile.

His voice was resounding and powerful, and every word was audible in the silence of the top of Mount Hua.

Upon seeing this person, most of the people present were suspicious and puzzled. However, the heads, elders and other seniors of the various factions all changed their expressions and were extremely shocked.

At the same time, the leaders of various factions, led by Luo Tianjin and Jin Fuyu, stood up one after another to show their respect.

"It turns out that the distinguished guest Mr. Shen mentioned last night was Mr. Xu!"

Seeing Luo Tianjin's sudden enlightenment, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but become more confused, and asked Xie Xuan in a low voice: "Second Master Xie, who is Xu Qingnian? Which sect is he from?"

"He has no school or sect, nor is he a peerless master, but he has a lot of experience and seniority." Xie Xuan explained, "He was once a well-known know-it-all in the martial arts world, claiming to know everything about the past 500 years and the future 500 years. He knows everything about the martial arts world. His ability is far different from the know-it-alls who eat and drink for free today. Little do people know that when Old Xu became famous, Taoist Qingfeng was just a little Taoist boy burning incense and waving a fan, and Abbot Xuanming was just a little monk carrying water and chopping wood."

"hiss!"

Xie Xuan's words made Liu Xunyi take a deep breath. At the same time, when he looked at Xu Qingnian, who was almost unable to stand steadily on the stage, a hint of respect emerged in his eyes.

"That opening paragraph just now was exactly the catchphrase that Old Xu often said when he was young." Xie Xuan added, "Those who know him are very familiar with him. As for you... you were not yet born when he retired, so it's not surprising that you don't know him."

"Retire? I wonder how many years has Mr. Xu been in retirement?"

"It should be twenty-seven or twenty-eight years now." Yan Bugui interrupted, "It's been so long that no one can remember clearly. However, although you don't know Xu Qingnian, you must know the last spectacular thing he did before he retired."

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi immediately became interested and asked hurriedly, "What's the matter?"

"Do you still remember Mo Cen, the 'Subduing Tiger Blade'?" Murong Bai asked back.

"Of course I remember. Two years ago, Mo Cen held a ceremony to wash his hands in the Jiangnan Lu Mansion. I still remember it clearly." Liu Xunyi nodded and said, "But what is the relationship between Xu Qingnian and Mo Cen?"

"Back then, Mo Cen led 12 righteous men to sneak into the Bianjing Palace to assassinate Wanyan Shouxu, the ruler of the Jin Dynasty. You should know that this was an act of justice for the country and the people." Jiang Yiwei said, "And the person who provided them with information was Xu Qingnian. Without Xu Qingnian's information, no matter how powerful Mo Cen and others were, they would not have been able to successfully sneak into the heavily guarded Bianjing Palace."

"What?" Liu Xunyi was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth. He said in disbelief, "This matter is actually related to Mr. Xu?"

"Not only is it related, but it is also extremely important." Xie Xuan said, "But this incident also broke Mr. Xu's rules, forcing him to cut off his own financial resources and retire from the world."

"What rules?"

"For a know-it-all like Old Xu, every piece of information he sells is astronomical." Murong Bai laughed, "Back then, Old Xu had a very strange temper and was stubborn. You could only use three things to exchange information with him. The first was gold, the second was a beauty, and the third was the secrets of the underworld that he didn't know. However, is there any secret in the world that he doesn't know? Therefore, ordinary people can only rely on gold or beauty to deal with him."

"I understand gold, but beauty..." Liu Xunyi hesitated to speak, the awkward expression on his face said it all.

"You don't know that when he was young, Old Xu was very romantic and handsome, like Pan An, smart and eccentric, with a lot of witty words, and he was very good at pleasing women." Xie Xuan whispered, "Back then, the women who were infatuated with him lined up from the Sword Arena to the foot of Mount Hua, and Old Xu accepted everyone who came, and he had a romantic affair with almost every woman who liked him."

"Then...how did what happened back then break his rules?"

"Back then, Mr. Xu was old and had no power over women, so he usually offered a sky-high price of gold when buying and selling information." Murong Bai explained, "However, assassinating the King of Jin is a national cause, how can it be measured by mundane things? Therefore, Mr. Xu thought about it for three days and three nights, but was unable to offer a suitable price, so he finally told Mo Cen the information for free."

"In that case, it was Elder Xu who broke his own rules."

"I guess so!" Xie Xuan sighed, "Since then, Old Xu has kept his name secret and retired to the mountains. No one even knows whether he is alive or dead. I never thought that Shen Dongshan would invite this man to preside over the martial arts conference. He must have taken great pains."

At this moment, Xu Qingnian was greeting many old friends in the audience.

Today, anyone who can talk to Xu Qingnian is either the leader of a sect, the head of a family, or a local tyrant.

As for the younger generation, most of them had never heard of his name. However, seeing so many big men being so polite to Xu Qingnian, the younger generation did not dare to interrupt and could only silently speculate about this person's origins in their hearts.

"After so many years, Old Xu is still as strong as he was back then." Zuo Hongxuan, the head of the Qingcheng Sect, complimented him with a fake smile on his face, "I'd really like to learn from Old Xu about his secret method of prolonging his life. Haha..."

"Haha... Even if I live another five hundred years, I can't match the achievements of Sect Leader Zuo in one day. In the end, I've just wasted my time." Xu Qingnian smiled modestly and waved his hand, "I still remember that when Sect Leader Zuo and I first met, you were only ten years old. At that time, you followed Feng Buyao, serving tea and water, and setting the stirrups for horses. But I could see at a glance that Sect Leader Zuo would have great potential in the future, so I repeatedly told Sect Leader Feng to cultivate you well. Seeing you today, it's true."

Feng Buyao is the former head of Qingcheng Sect. "If it weren't for Elder Xu's kindness, there would be no Zuo Hongxuan today." Zuo Hongxuan seemed to recall the past, and the smile on his face became a little emotional, "In the blink of an eye, dozens of years have passed."

Xuanming put his hands together and said, "Amitabha! Donor Xu has been hiding his identity for many years, and the Central Plains martial arts world has been lonely for many years."

"You are too kind!" Xu Qingnian shook his head and said, "The Jianghu is so vast, and there are so many talented people. How can an old man like me be so arrogant? I still remember the game of chess I played with Abbot Xuanming in the Great Compassion Tower. You were only nine years old at that time, but your chess skills were so high that I was amazed and shocked. Therefore, it is reasonable for you to have achieved what you have today."

Almost every word Xu Qingnian said could cause an uproar among the crowd.

The big men who can shake the martial arts world with a stomp of their feet today, in front of Xu Qingnian, had a naive time of serving tea, carrying water and chopping wood. This unparalleled experience in the martial arts world alone is enough to shock heroes all over the world.

"Donor Xu is too modest. In that chess game, Donor Xu gave me nine moves." Xuan Ming said humbly, "But even so, I could only barely draw with Donor Xu in the end. There was absolutely no chance of winning."

There are only a handful of people in the world today who can allow Xuanming to call himself "little monk".

In response, Xu Qingnian just smiled faintly and didn't say anything else.

He looked around, from the top of Huashan Mountain to the sea of ​​people on the mountains on all sides. A pair of old eyes flashed with excitement, confusion, relief, and sadness...

With a turn of his head, it seemed as if decades of changes in the world, the vast sea and fields passed by in his eyes, which made people feel an inexplicable sadness.

"I'm old! Really old!" Xu Qingnian smiled with tears in his eyes, muttering to himself, "There are so many heroes and great men here today, but I don't know many of them. I'm really ashamed. Don't blame me, you are all heroes of today, heroes of the world, and I am already a living dead man buried in the yellow earth, and my life will not be long. If you can give me a little face and let me stand here to feel the breath of the world again, I will die without regrets. Thank you very much!"

After saying this, Xu Qingnian, with his frail body trembling, bowed respectfully to everyone in all directions.

This move is touching and moving.

This scene reminded Liu Xunyi of the poem that Luo Tianjin said: "Who first saw the moon by the river? When did the moon by the river first shine on people?"

Although Liu Xunyi had never seen Xu Qingnian in his suave and high-spirited state, he could imagine that Xu Qingnian back then might have been just like himself today, strong and energetic, with infinite imagination and hopes for the future.

Putting himself in his shoes, Liu Xunyi could hardly imagine what it would be like when he became "Xu Qingnian" and recalled the past? Would he be able to look at life and death with a smile and be indifferent to it like Xu Qingnian today?
As time passes, years go by, people come and go, the old go and the new come.

All the grudges and grievances eventually turned into the past and a laughing stock.

Before I knew it, I had grown old before I had accomplished anything. But I was totally unaware of it and thought I was still a teenager until I died.

But once you dream, you won’t wake up and sleep forever.

Thinking of this, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but tease himself: "Perhaps, I won't live to such an age as Old Xu. Perhaps... I will die today."

I don't know why? When Liu Xunyi had this thought, another emotion that followed the sadness was inexplicable relief.

For the younger generation, sometimes they are more afraid of getting old than dying. Especially for those who live in the underworld, where swords are everywhere. Living is much harder than dying.

"When people get old, they are bound to be verbose."

In the silence, it was still Xu Qingnian who pulled everyone back from their trance.

He was leaning on a cane, staggering around the sword-discussing arena, chatting and laughing: "Today is the martial arts conference. I have been struggling in the martial arts world for nearly a hundred years. It is the greatest blessing God has given me to personally experience a martial arts event in my lifetime. If it were a few decades ago, in the eyes of the heroes of that time, I was just a businessman who bought and sold information, full of money, and was not worthy of being compared with them, let alone participating in the martial arts conference. Today, I can stand on my own under the attention of the public. When I think about it carefully, who should I thank the most? It's me! Why? Because I, an old man, have a strong life and have lived long enough. Those who looked down on me in the past are probably now rotten to the bones."

"Ha ha……"

Xu Qingnian's jokes gradually livened up the depressing atmosphere.

Everyone was infected by Xu Qingnian's open-mindedness and cheerfulness. They smiled knowingly and shouted one after another.

"Let's cut to the chase. Everyone knows the rules of this martial arts conference. It is to elect a martial arts leader who will lead the heroes of the world, uphold justice, abide by the right path, and maintain the continuation and prosperity of the Central Plains martial arts." Xu Qingnian's expression became serious and he said loudly, "According to the rules set on the second day of August last year, anyone who intends to compete for the martial arts leader must first kill a Tartar with his own hands and swear an oath of blood in front of the heroes of the world, never to disobey."

As Xu Qingnian spoke, he looked around at the leaders present and said with a faint smile, "May I ask which hero is interested in competing for the position of leader of the martial arts world? Please bring your 'trophies' to the stage to meet the heroes of the world."

……

(End of this chapter)