Eight-Armed Asura?
Li Chu's heart stirred, and he wanted to ask about it.
But the woman called Rou Er would not allow him to interrupt.
She looked at the middle-aged scholar and said in a trembling voice, "Father, since you clearly know demons are blocking the road, why do you insist on pressing onward? Can't we go somewhere else together? Didn't you say just yesterday that Jiang Nan's scenery was beautiful beyond compare, something you had never seen in your life? Why not skip Yuhang Town and travel elsewhere together? Or take a ship out to sea? Haven't you always yearned for the customs and landscapes of the nations beyond the seas?"
"Heh." The middle-aged scholar smiled and shook his head. "I, Gongsun Zhe, am an appointed official of the imperial court! Even if I have been banished here, if I fled in panic because of threats from a mere demon, where would the imperial court's dignity be? On the other hand, if I die on my way to assume office, would that not better prove the Old Thief Yang's rampant arrogance? Even if I cannot bring him down, I can still shake The Saint's trust in him. One such matter, two such matters—one day, they will be enough to topple the Yang Family's towering edifice!"
"The imperial court has countless officials, but a daughter has only one father." The woman’s gaze was sorrowful. "Can't father set aside those meaningless struggles in court for your daughter's sake?"
"I cannot set them aside. The imperial court is a mire, but if one truly wishes to do things for the people, one must enter it and contend with others. Before I knew it, my feet had already sunk deep into the mud." The scholar's gaze crossed the front hall's doors and looked toward the distant sky. "If your mother were still alive, she would surely understand my choice."
"Fine." The woman nodded. "Your daughter does not dare interfere with father's decision. But if you are determined to march toward death, then your daughter must travel with you!"
"Rou Er!" The scholar tightly grasped her hands. "Why are you so foolish? Father knows that though you appear frail on the outside, your heart is harder than iron. But things have come to this because of my choice alone. You are in the flower of youth, and there are still so many things you have yet to see and experience. There is no need for you to sacrifice yourself over this."
"Though your daughter is young, I still understand what is right. I have father to thank for teaching me to read since childhood." The woman raised her head and looked straight into the scholar's eyes. "Does father look down on me? Do you think that because I am a woman, I am unworthy of dying for a righteous cause?"
Her voice was clear and gentle, yet every word she spoke rang like metal.
"Alas—" The scholar let out a deep sigh. "The greatest pride of my life was not passing the Top Scholar examination in those years, nor was it holding any great office. It was having a good daughter like you! There are countless children in Chaoge City, but how many can compare with you? But..."
"Your daughter understands father's intentions." The woman suddenly revealed a faint smile. "You are my greatest pride as well! So father need not say more. Your daughter's mind is made up!"
"I, Gongsun Zhe, have asked myself all my life: above, I have not failed the Son of Heaven; below, I have not failed the common people. Looking up or down, I have no shame before the people! Only toward you mother and daughter—I could not repay what I owe even in three lifetimes, three worlds!"
He pulled his daughter into his arms. The woman was smiling, but the scholar instead broke into a flood of tears, sobbing until he could no longer speak.
"Father..."
"Rou Er..."
Seeing that their conversation had finally eased for the moment, Li Chu at last found an opening. He asked mildly, "May I ask, sir, is this Eight-Armed Asura you mentioned a demon person with eight arms?"
Hm?
The scholar looked up in a daze. Father and daughter both turned strange gazes toward the Little Daoist Priest.
Here we were, father and daughter, ready to lay down our lives for righteousness, our familial love deep and our emotions stirring—and you suddenly asked whether Eight-Armed Asura had eight arms?
Didn't you think there was something wrong with you?
Yet seeing Li Chu's utterly serious expression, the middle-aged scholar hesitated, wiped away his tears, and casually replied, "Perhaps... or perhaps not. Azure Wing Tower specializes in using demons as assassins, so having eight arms would not be strange. If it is merely a nickname... that is possible too."
That was the same as not answering at all...
Li Chu pressed on, "Anything else?"
"I only heard that he is a Bronze-Ranked Killer of Azure Wing Tower, most skilled at hunting and pursuit. If the target does not struggle much, he will grant them a quick death. If the target flees, then once he catches them, they will suffer cruel torture. He may even refine their soul, condemning them to never reincarnate for all eternity."
The scholar answered carefully. After Li Chu's interruption, he felt that the mood was no longer right. Even if he wanted to cry again, he could not manage it, so he simply told him everything he knew.
After he finished, he turned back to his daughter and began gathering his emotions again, preparing to say something more.
Then Li Chu said, "This Eight-Armed Asura may already be dead."
"Hmm?" The scholar was stunned again.
"On my way back from Yuhang Town just now, I encountered a demon blocking the road. I was forced to kill him," Li Chu said calmly. "Thinking back on it now, he was very likely the Eight-Armed Asura who had intended to intercept you."
The scholar was stunned once more.
The woman, on the other hand, widened her eyes. "Young Daoist, is what you say true?"
"Of course." Li Chu's face remained as calm as still water.
But in their eyes, that expression seemed to say: Just a demon. I passed by and killed it casually. It was nothing remarkable.
Though that was indeed the truth.
"Young Daoist, are you a cultivator?" The scholar examined Li Chu with some disbelief.
"Mm." Li Chu nodded, then added, "I think the two of you should stay here tonight and rest. Tomorrow morning, I will escort you to Yuhang Town. There is no need to fear even if demons come to the door. Even if my cultivation is insufficient to protect you both... my master is still here."
Li Chu pointed toward the bedroom on one side. "My master's cultivation reaches the heavens and pierces the earth!"
Father and daughter both widened their eyes. They had never expected that this humble Daoist temple in the wilderness concealed two experts.
The middle-aged scholar in particular recalled the scene he had just acted out before the Little Daoist Priest, and his feelings became complicated.
Though this Little Daoist Priest had saved his life, he still wanted to say one thing...
Next time, just say something like that earlier.
Otherwise, people would feel very awkward.
Early the next morning, Li Chu prepared extra rice porridge and side dishes, then invited father and daughter to breakfast together.
Yu Qi'an emerged with his usual immortal bone structure. When he saw the graceful young lady, his eyes lit up, and an amiable smile instantly appeared on his face.
At the dining table, Yu Qi'an displayed his skill. With just a few sentences, he had drawn out both their backgrounds.
It turned out that the scholar was named Gongsun Zhe, while his daughter was named Gongsun Rou. Both had come from Chaoge City.
Gongsun Zhe had placed first in the imperial examinations in his youth. After entering the imperial court for more than a decade, he had risen to Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. His official career could not be called smooth sailing, but he had still been held in high regard.
Unfortunately, he had been a disciple of the Former Prime Minister Meng Youxiong. The Powerful Minister Yang Dingtian had defeated Meng Youxiong and risen to power, and all officials of Meng Youxiong's faction had suffered demotion and exile.
Gongsun Zhe had been directly demoted to Jiangnan Province, becoming a mere Yu Hang County Magistrate.
But he had always been valued by the emperor. Yang Dingtian feared that he might have a chance to return to the imperial court, so he secretly hired assassins from Azure Wing Tower to intercept and kill him.
The guards who had accompanied him all the way had already been bought off by Yang Dingtian and fled halfway through the journey. Only because one guard's conscience had not entirely perished did he tell Gongsun Zhe that assassins were waiting ahead.
Yet even after learning this, he still insisted on coming to Yuhang Town to assume office.
Upon hearing that this sallow-faced middle-aged scholar before him was the Yu Hang County Magistrate soon to take office, Yu Qi'an's eyelids could not help twitching.
The mountains were high and the emperor far away. No matter how fierce the storms in Chaoge in the northwest became, they could not stir even a ripple in Yuhang Town.
But a mere County Magistrate might be beneath the notice of officials in the capital, yet here he was a Local Emperor.
Thinking of how he had just ogled the young lady of the future County Magistrate's family with lustful eyes, Yu Qi'an's eyelids twitched twice more, and his appetite plummeted by eighty percent.
What puzzled him, however, was that father and daughter were especially respectful when they spoke to him, and the way they looked at him was also strange.
Their gazes seemed filled with...
Awe.
Before you continue