Legend of the Heavenly Swordsman
Ch.23 - Red Merona

Tang Shu and Fu Chen left for the Village as the day began to evening. As usual, their journey took two days riding a horse. The first thing Fu Chen did when he arrived at the village was to approach Aunt Fei's grave.

He stared at the tombstone that read Ning Fei's name. Inwardly, Fu Chen promised to avenge Aunt Fei's death.

"Auntie just calm down there, I promise to find Xuan Rong!" Fu Chen was determined in his heart. After feeling enough, Fu Chen and Tang Shu immediately went home.

When they arrived at the village, the two were greeted happily by their families. There was also Sin Lou who really wanted to see the development of Fu Chen. Fu Mei who could not bear it anymore immediately hugged her brother tightly.

"Hahaha.you're getting bigger, Mei'er" Fu Chen laughed happily, it's been a long time since he's seen his sister.

"Hey, Fu Chen... Have you forgotten your friend?" Sin Lou grumbled because he was not considered there at all.

"Who are you?" Fu Chen was actually also aware of the existence of Sin Lou, himself just lazily greeting the young man.

"you!" Sin Lou's forehead twitched at the question, let alone Fu Chen's innocent face that really irritated him.

As if he did not care about Sin Lou, Fu Chen instead invited Fu Mei to tour the Village. "Do you want to drive me? I haven't seen the village for a long time."

"Didn't you want to rest?"

"Em.." Fu Chen shook his head, "sister can even still run all day if brother wants."

"Truely, then we're off!" Fu Mei so eagerly answered him, she also asked for souvenirs from Fu Chen.

"Aren't you taking me?" Sin Lou felt like he was not in that conversation.

"Do you want a big brother?" Fu Chen paid no heed to Sin Lou's question.

"really?" Fu Mei answered enthusiastically.

"Hey! I'm still here, you know!" Sin Lou shouted in annoyance.

"Yes, hurry!" Fu Chen answered Fu Mei's question.

Fu Mei rode on her brother's back with a happy smile. Fu Chen then immediately ran away from Sin Lou who was still cursing there.

"Damn it! wait me!" Sin Lou then immediately ran after Fu Chen when he realized Fu Chen was no longer in his presence.

Fu Mei was surprised by her brother who was able to run fast, even though he was in his car.

Xin Xue chuckled slightly at the behavior of her son, "do you also want to catch up with them?" Xin Xue asked Tang Shu.

"No need, let them have fun, we go home" Tang Shu grabbed his wife's shoulders and walked home.

That evening, the Tang Shu and Sin Zhou families gathered to have dinner. They do it just to let go of each other's longing.

"How were you doing in Chen'er Forest?" Sin Zhou asked curiously, he remembered his son was so frightened when he was brought home by Tang Shu first.

"That's pretty fun, let alone I can train as much as I can there." Fu chen answered him casually.

"Ah, is that so.." Sin Zhou then looked at his son after saying so.

Sin Lou immediately turned his gaze while whistling to avoid Sin Zhou's gaze. He had already felt uneasy when Sin Zhou discussed that before.

"Stop that whistle of yours Lou'er, did you forget the taboo in our village?" reprimanded Nihao Ni who was none other than Sin Lou's mother.

"Huh.sorry, I forgot." Sin Lou laughed awkwardly while scratching his non-itchy cheeks.

They started the dinner with laughter, occasionally Sin Lou also touched on Fu Chen's development. But Fu Chen only replied, that he wanted to give a surprise at the selection later.

***

"Mei'er's a big boy, yeah, I think it'll fit in with Sin Lou later." Chirping Nihao as he watched Fu Mei who helped him clear the dining table.

"Hahaha.that's right, Mei'er is indeed suitable to be father-in-law later." Sin Zhou laughed contentedly imagining the father of his son-in-law was his own close friend.

Sin Lou and Fu Mei cheeks blurted at Sin Zhou's words. Sin Lou looked at his father with a big smile, as if agreeing to his father's proposal.

Fu Mei who knew Sin Zhou intent could only lower her head, hiding her already flushed face. He then walked over to Fu Chen.

"I wouldn't agree if Mei'er was married to a basket-eye like her.." Fu Chen pointed towards Sin Lou with his chin. He felt Fu Mei asking for his help for approaching him.

"Come on, don't you want to have a sister-in-law as strong as me?" Sin Lou then began to show his arm muscles. He is so proud of that after training for the last few months.

Fu Chen who saw it only strengthened his determination not to match his sister with the young man. "No way!" Fu Chen replied briefly.

"That's right!" Fu Mei said confidently behind her brother, her hand then embracing Fu Chen's neck from behind. "I just love my sister!"

The atmosphere was instantly silent after Fu Mei ended her sentence. Fu Mei's cheeks then flushed back realizing his words, he buried his face on Fu Chen's shoulders to cover up his embarrassment.

Fu Chen choked on his own saliva, surprised to hear Fu Mei's words which gave rise to that awkward atmosphere.

"What do you mean Mei'er?" Fu Chen said with a slight stammer. Fu Mei did not answer him, she still bowed shyly on Fu Chen's shoulders, her hands then getting tighter hugging Fu Chen's neck.

Fu Chen who felt his neck suffocate could only smile bitterly, then stroked his sister's head and reminded her not to strangle her own brother.

"Ahah.. I think it's too soon for Mei'er, she also still doesn't know anything about this." Sin Zhou laughed awkwardly, nor did he mind Fu Chen's offending speech to his son. He just confirmed it in his heart.

"Yes that's right.. So forget about it, Mei'er?" Nihao Ni felt guilty, it was him who opened this conversation. However, of course this incident would not be easy for Fu Mei to forget about it.

Fu Mei shook her head slowly which was still on Fu Chen's shoulders. Fu Chen felt awkward about this, he finally opened his voice again.

"I'll take Mei'er to the room. So you guys can continue chatting" Fu Chen scratched his cheek then escorted Fu Mei to the room by carrying her.

"I guess she did like her brother.." Tang Shu laughed awkwardly, she felt like she had to introduce Fu Mei to another young man as she grew up.

"Haha.it will be a complicated affair," Sin Zhou then got up from his seat. "We're going home, after all, it's getting late, thanks for dinner."

"No need to talk, see you!" Tang Shu bowed in her respect. Tang Shu then immediately closed the door of his house when Sin Zhou and his family were nowhere to be seen anymore.

***

The next day, the villagers gathered at the stadium to watch their Village representatives enter the Holy Sword sect. The representatives of the Sacred Sword sect were already there as well.

Just need to wait for the word welcome from Xiao Jung to finish, then the selection will begin soon.

"Gentlemen, I don't think I need to introduce myself anymore, do I?" Xiao Jung said with a slight flow of Qi to harden his voice.

"I'll explain the rules immediately, the participants who compete are those who were chosen before. So the one who felt himself elected immediately to the arena that there was a table there!" Xiao Jung pointed at the short table that had stationery on it.

The elders present this time were only three people, two of them were in charge of assessing the writing and reading ability of the participants. While one other person is in charge of organizing the tools that will be used to test the strength of participants.

30 Participants who were previously selected immediately choose their respective tables. All of them felt a nervous feeling, even for Fu Chen though.

Sin Lou chose to sit next to Fu Chen, hoping that the young man would help him. Fu Chen only realized that the participant who escaped was also a girl. Fu Chen watched his surroundings and only one girl escaped and was currently sitting behind him.

"I will explain the rules, you have to write the sentence given by the committee with the brush provided. Don't forget to write your name there, then go to one of the Elders for the next test, which is reading!" The committee called Xiao Jung was another core disciple of the Sacred Sword sect who served there.

All the participants nodded in understanding, they then wrote down the sentences that had been provided on their respective desks.

After waiting for about half an hour, the girl in front of Fu Chen stood up and approached one of the Elders to do the next test. He was then followed by Fu Chen and Kyoto, while Sin Lou was still trying to write his last sentence.

I don't know why, but Fu Chen was always behind the girl. He had intended to choose the other Elders earlier, but Fu Chen's move was lost quickly to Kyoto.

The girl before Fu Chen glanced at him, her large brown eyes dazzling Fu Chen. Seeing the dreamy Fu Chen, the girl tried to resuscitate Fu Chen. The girl waved her hand in front of Fu Chen's face.

Fu Chen immediately regained his senses from his daydream and became misbehaved. "Ah, uh.. yeah what's up?" fu Chen asked as he scratched his nape, wanting to find a hole and hide there to hide his flushed face.

The girl who saw Fu Chen's misbehaved reaction made him chuckle. Seeing the girl hold back her laughter with her hands made Fu Chen's face turn red even more.

"No.." the girl answered Fu Chen's question earlier. "Include me, I'm Qiao Wu." The girl smiled sweetly as she extended her hand.

Fu Chen was enchanted by the girl's smile, it was the sweetest smile he had ever seen after his mother and sister.

"Eh. p-introduce a-I am Fu Chen, s-happy to meet you.." Fu Chen smiled awkwardly as he shook the girl's hand. He cursed in his heart because it was unusual in a situation like this.