Down the Mountain

Seeing that Liu Xiaolou already knew, Dai Shenggao said no more and nodded. "That's right, Xiangnan's foremost archer. His closed-door cultivation failed, and he didn't come out alive, so Old Boss Wang has summoned the heroes to enter the estate. I was ordered to deliver the invitations. Are you going?"

Liu Xiaolou pondered for a long while. "I once heard my master say that Zhang Xianbai was the foremost outer disciple of Dongyang Mountain..."

"That's why we must act before Dongyang Mountain sends people to mourn him. Time is tight—it will be tomorrow night. Your teacher used to accept these invitations. This time..."

Liu Xiaolou did not answer. He gazed blankly at the grave. His teacher, Mister Sanxuan, had accepted a Hero's Invitation six months ago, and afterward, he had lain in this grave. It had been Dai Shenggao, standing before him now, who brought his body back.

Dai Shenggao added, "Once you accept a Hero's Invitation, life and death are your own responsibility... Decide for yourself."

Shaking his head, Liu Xiaolou drew a deep breath. In the end, he stepped forward and accepted the invitation, gripping it tightly in his palm. It was made from a square piece of wood, yellow tinged with purple, carved with the three words "Hero's Invitation." The lettering flickered in and out of sight—Old Boss Wang's unique handiwork, difficult for anyone else to counterfeit.

"Do I enter the fray by presenting this invitation?"

"That's right. Keep it on you and don't lose it. Only with the invitation will they let you into the mountain." After a pause, Dai Shenggao sighed. "I don't know whether giving you this invitation was right or wrong..."

Liu Xiaolou forced a smile. "This junior has made no progress for half a year."

Dai Shenggao nodded and said nothing more. Rising to his full height, he strode swiftly down the mountain.

Liu Xiaolou watched Dai Shenggao leave. After sitting in a daze before the grave for a while, he respectfully kowtowed three times. "Master, please bless this journey and see it through safely."

After kowtowing, Liu Xiaolou returned to the Thatched Cottage, strapped the Three Xuan Sword his master had passed down to his back, then rummaged out his last tael or so of loose silver from the cabinet beneath his bed. Putting on a bamboo hat, he headed straight out.

Jinping Mountain was no less than three hundred li away, yet he had to arrive before tomorrow night. There was no time to delay.

Outside the courtyard, he saw the Big White Goose standing by the road, its wings slightly spread as it raised its head to look at him. Liu Xiaolou reached out and stroked its head. "If I don't return, there will be no Three Xuan Sect left in this world. When that time comes, find your own way to survive."

As he descended from Qianzhu Ridge, a torrential downpour began. The waters of the Wu Chao River rose with alarming speed, roaring like a dragon as they surged downstream.

His little bamboo hat could not stop the rain at all, and Liu Xiaolou was soaked through. At the Qi Refining second layer, he did not fear a little wind and rain, but his pace slowed considerably.

After following the Wu Chao River for over two hours, he finally left Wulong Mountain. Before him lay crisscrossing farmland. The raindrops gradually grew smaller, though the rain continued to fall.

Liu Xiaolou had followed his master up the mountain at eight years old and cultivated there for ten years, so he knew the surrounding roads well. Quickening his pace, he headed south along the field ridges. The sky was dim, and hunger gnawed at his belly. Reaching a manor enclosed by earthen walls, he knocked on the door. "Uncle Tian!"

An old farmer opened the door and welcomed him inside. "Young Immortal Master, are you leaving the mountain?"

"Yes. I'm passing through and have come to Uncle Tian to beg a meal."

"There is food, there is."

Uncle Tian went into the kitchen and brought out a bowl of millet rice and a piece of aged pickled vegetables. He sat with Liu Xiaolou while he ate, watching him as he asked, "I haven't seen Immortal Master Sanxuan for a long time. Is he well?"

Liu Xiaolou moved his chopsticks back and forth in the bowl for a long while before softly saying, "My master has passed on."

Uncle Tian let out an "Ah," then said no more. He silently accompanied Liu Xiaolou until he finished eating. At one point, he suddenly broke into a grin. "Before the new year, Fairy Jingzhen of Xiushan took a liking to my A Zhen and brought her away to cultivate."

Liu Xiaolou froze for a moment. "Xiushan... Immortal Master Jingzhen... A Zhen truly has good fortune."

Uncle Tian smiled. "It's thanks to the Young Immortal Master. If you hadn't saved her back then, A Zhen would have been swept away by the flood long ago..."

Liu Xiaolou shook his head. "Uncle Tian, it was only something I did in passing. Don't mention it. Xiushan is a good place, and Immortal Master Jingzhen is also an expert. Mm, I heard my master mention her—very high, very high indeed... But after A Zhen left, how have you managed, Uncle Tian? You didn't go to Xiushan with her?"

Uncle Tian waved a hand. "It's no trouble. I live very well by myself, with fewer worries! Besides, Xiushan is five hundred li from home. What would this old man go there for? Who would tend these fields? This old man's surname is Tian—he was destined never to leave the fields in this life... Oh, right. When Immortal Master Jingzhen left, she said A Zhen could return home once a year."

Another silence fell.

Liu Xiaolou slowly nodded and set down the tael or so of loose silver. "Uncle Tian, I must hurry on my way. I'll be leaving first."

Uncle Tian chased after him. "You gave too much! How could it possibly cost this much?"

Without looking back, Liu Xiaolou waved behind him. "Next time I come, I won't pay."

After leaving Wulong Mountain, Liu Xiaolou traveled beneath the stars and moon, hurrying onward. At the Qi Refining second layer, he was not necessarily faster than a martial master serving as a guard in an ordinary wealthy household, but true essence circulated through his dantian, making his breath long and enduring. Before nightfall the next day, he finally entered Jinping Mountain in Xiangnan.

At the mountain pass, a blind old man stopped Liu Xiaolou as he approached and asked, "Young man, where are you headed?"

Liu Xiaolou glanced at the old man's chest and saw that he too wore a Hero's Invitation. He hastily took out his own and waved it before the old man. "This junior comes from Wulong Mountain to attend the Hero Assembly."

The old man sniffed, then asked, "Who issued the invitation?"

Liu Xiaolou answered, "Hermit Dai."

The old man nodded and pointed toward the high mountain on the right. "Enter the mountain this way. When you see the chaotic rocks, climb northward to North Cliff."

Liu Xiaolou cupped his fist in salute and entered the mountain as instructed. After walking only a few li, he indeed found a mountain path bordered by jagged boulders. He climbed from there, ascending beneath the rising bright moon until a sheer cliff lay before him.

At a glance, he spotted Dai Shenggao by the cliff's edge. Dai Shenggao was concealed behind a huge boulder, peering down the cliff from time to time. Seeing Liu Xiaolou, he beckoned him over.

At the cliff edge lay a pitch-black mountain hollow below, its terrain nearly impossible to make out. Only the rolling peaks around it were outlined as layer upon layer of mountain shadows beneath the moonlight.

Within that mountain hollow, a patch of lamplight lay hidden. Dai Shenggao said, "That is the Zhang family's Jinping Mountain Villa."

Liu Xiaolou gazed into the distance for a moment, then asked, "Senior, which heroes have answered the call?"

Dai Shenggao pointed out the various mountains. "The heroes of the Donghe River are in the eastern mountains. The Pai Sect Seventh Branch is in the southern valley. The Yunshan Gang is on the western mountain. The two gaps to the southeast and southwest are held by the local great heroes Gao Feiyan and Wan Jianxin. Here at North Cliff are the brothers who came from the north."

Liu Xiaolou asked, "Who has come from our Wulong Mountain?"

Dai Shenggao replied, "The time was too tight, so I did not invite many. Only you and Longshan the Rogue Cultivator... You were the first to arrive."

Liu Xiaolou looked out across the mountains. He could not make out how many lofty cultivators were hidden in each direction, but the Zhang clansmen in the estate clearly had no idea that calamity was already bearing down on their heads. The estate remained brightly lit, like a feast laid upon the table beneath the shroud of night, waiting to be carved up and shared.

That night, heroes from the northern lands gradually gathered atop North Cliff, more than thirty in all. It showed just how broad Dai Shenggao's circle of acquaintances was.

In the latter half of the night, Longshan the Rogue Cultivator arrived as well. His face was almost impossible to distinguish beneath his full beard. He claimed it was the "Dragon Head" visage formed by cultivating his mysterious art to profound depths—whether true or false, none could say. Though he and Liu Xiaolou were both rogue cultivators of Wulong Mountain, they had never met before. Upon hearing that Liu Xiaolou was Mister Sanxuan's disciple, he nodded at him. "Daoist Brother Sanxuan... was a good man."

Liu Xiaolou cupped his fist to thank him.