Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 81 "The Egret"

"'Super Grade One'? What does 'Super Grade One' mean!?"

"Master Mu lost? How is that possible!?"

"And... it seems that Immortal Chang only used one move?"

"Defeat Master Mu in one move?! Even a Grandmaster couldn't do that, right?"

"Did Master Mu hold back? Did he only use 30% of his power?"

"No, that fiery aura just now is not to be underestimated!"

Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, Mu Feng turned around, cupped his hands in greeting to the martial artists below the stage, and said, "All martial arts allies, heroes and heroines of the Jianghu, I, Mu, greet you today!"
"The fact that you have all gathered here today because the old master of the Sword Forging Manor has broken through to the Grandmaster realm, to compete, exchange ideas and learn from each other, in order to promote martial arts, is truly a fortunate event for martial arts!"

"Taking this opportunity, I, Mu, in my capacity as the Military Commissioner of the Great Xiao Kingdom, hereby announce to you all something—"

"From now on, when evaluating martial arts ranks within the Great Xiao Kingdom, in addition to the ranks from the ninth to the first, an additional rank will be added above the first rank, which is called 'Super First Rank'. They are honored as 'Immortals' and their strength is also above the first rank."

"In the Great Xiao Kingdom, and even the entire world, there is only one person who is 'above the first rank': Zhang Xianren, Zhang Chengdao, the head of the Baishi Immortal Sect of Baishi Mountain in Baozhou!"
"Thereafter, all those of this rank will take Zhang Xianren as an example!"
"Furthermore, the immortal path cultivated by Immortal Zhang is slightly different from the martial path. I have already reported this to His Majesty, and it is proposed that a separate rank be established to determine the hierarchy of immortal paths. Please wait for the announcement from the Martial Arts Commissioner's Office!"

After saying that, Mu Feng cupped his hands in greeting to Wan Qizhongqiu, who was standing to the side, before stepping down from the dueling platform.

Mu Feng's words, including his insistence on having a match with Chang Ping'an, were not part of the original plan of the Sword Casting Manor.

But regardless of Mu Feng's official position or cultivation level, the Sword Forging Manor had no choice but to watch helplessly as the other party first damaged the dueling platform and then gave a speech on the platform for half a day, just like a host.

Of course, this wasn't entirely without its benefits for the Sword Forging Manor. If the Sword Forging Manor didn't explain, outsiders might assume it was all pre-arranged, and naturally, they would think that the Sword Forging Manor had a very close relationship with the government...

After Mu Feng left, Wan Qizhongqiu announced the champion – without a doubt, it was Chang Ping'an, since no one who signed up for the champion's competition could defeat someone who could defeat a grandmaster in one move.

As a result, the sword that was the prize money naturally ended up in Chang Ping'an's hands.

As soon as Chang Ping'an got his hands on the sword, he realized that he couldn't wield it with spiritual power as easily as Yu Ye Hua Bai Lu could.

This is actually because Zhang Chengdao equipped Night Talk White Heron into Chang Ping'an's weapon slot, which allows Chang Ping'an to easily use Night Talk White Heron without refining it after learning the Sword Control Technique.

However, Chang Ping'an was unaware of these things and thought that the Night Talk White Egret, which was a gift from his master, was an extremely precious spiritual sword. The book said that the top-level Heavenly Rank spiritual sword could even recognize its master with a drop of blood, and even without refining it, it could be used as if it were an extension of its own arm!
Perhaps this "Night Talk with the Egret" is just such a spiritual sword!
Oh, right, now Night Talk White Egret can no longer be called "Night Talk White Egret," it should be called "Night Talk," because Murong Ruyan insisted on calling this long sword, which was used as a prize, "White Egret," and the original Night Talk White Egret was renamed "Night Talk."

Chang Ping'an didn't refute it, after all, the two names did match well and sounded nice...

"Senior brother! Is this the 'White Egret'?"

After stepping down from the stage, Murong Ruyan, who was the first to approach, stared at the sword in Chang Ping'an's hand with bright eyes.

Seeing this, Chang Ping'an assumed that Murong Ruyan was extremely fond of the sword, so he raised it, handed it to her, and said, "Junior sister, if you like it, why don't you take it and use it!"

Unexpectedly, Murong Ruyan waved her hands repeatedly: "No, no, no! Look at the pattern of its feathers, it's really suitable to be called 'White Heron'. Besides, if I'm going to refine my natal spirit weapon, I won't refine a spirit sword!" Not refine a spirit sword?
Chang Ping'an asked with great curiosity, "Then what do you want to refine?"

"Hmph! Of course, it's the giant hammer!" Murong Ruyan proudly raised her head, slightly lifting her chin, and said, "My master once told me that if I am skilled in and fond of thunder magic, I should take the giant hammer as my natal spirit weapon, because the Thunder God uses a hammer, so thunder magic and hammers are the perfect match!"

Chang Ping'an became even more curious: "Thor? Who is Thor?"

He had never heard of any thunder god from his master. Could it be that there were other gods in the world besides his master?
Murong Ruyan shrugged: "I don't know. My master was laughing when he mentioned it. It's probably some friend. I don't dare to ask!"

Friend? Where did Master get a friend?
Chang Ping'an became increasingly puzzled.

As he was pondering, Murong Ruyan tugged at his sleeve again and said, "Right, let's go! Look, Master has already left!"

Chang Ping'an subconsciously looked up and realized that his master had indeed left quickly on a flying sword.

"But we can't just ignore these people, can we?"

As Chang Ping'an spoke, he quietly pointed to the martial artists who were slumped over under the oilcloth shed in the front row of the Sword Wiping Garden.

Murong Ruyan frowned: "Why should we care about them!"

Chang Ping'an felt a little guilty and replied, "In the end, it was because of me that they were injured..."

"Hmph! I already blocked most of them, what's a little injury! Anyway, the pharmacist at the Sword Forging Manor will take care of it!"

Murong Ruyan's tone was very unpleasant.

She's already blocked some of the mixed true energy and spiritual power! Why should she care about those people?
“My master gave me some kudzu roots for making Kudzu Root Decoction. If there’s no time to make the medicine, taking it directly should be somewhat useful. Why don’t you and I share these kudzu roots with them?”

As Chang Ping'an spoke, he indeed took out several radish-shaped objects from his Qiankun bag.

Murong Ruyan's eyes widened, seemingly finding Chang Ping'an's suggestion unbelievable: "Master gave them all immortal medicines! How dare they, mere mortals, use them? Besides, didn't the Sword Forging Manor already give them medicine? Their minor injuries will heal in a few days, why waste immortal medicines!"

"Master is a saint, possessing great benevolence. He does not discriminate based on rank or wealth, nor does he consider distance from others. Regardless of whether one is a mortal or not, one should not use this as a basis to judge whether one is worthy or not..."

Chang Ping'an said earnestly, "Besides, their injuries were caused by me, how can we turn a blind eye? Even our master is so kind as to sell [Kudzu Root Soup] to the public, how can I, as his disciple, not follow suit?"

Murong Ruyan stomped her feet in anger: "If that's the case, no one would have been injured if Master Mu hadn't insisted on competing with you! It was clearly Master Mu who did it, so how did it become because of you? Anyway... I can't argue with you! If you want to give it, then give it! It's not something from my Qiankun bag anyway!"

"Then thank you very much, Junior Sister!"

Chang Ping'an didn't realize that Murong Ruyan was angry. Instead, he thanked her earnestly, then stuffed two large pieces of kudzu root into her hands and carefully instructed her, "Just divide it into four or five pieces. If there are too few, I'm afraid it won't be effective!"

(End of this chapter)