World-Crossing Yama

At the end of the Hour of the Dog.

Jinxia Tower, Heaven Number One Room.

The Scholar and the others had all put on what they considered their finest clothes. After all, they had heard of Jinxia Tower's great reputation back in Baiyun County. Those who came and went here were either rich or noble.

The Scholar wore a white long robe and straightened his chest, letting out several long breaths to make himself look more relaxed.

When he turned his head and saw Old Li spacing out, the Scholar patted him on the shoulder.

"Old Li, what are you staring into space for? We need to keep our heads, can't let them look down on us."

Old Li gave a sly grin. "No~"

Lin Zikai was sitting ramrod straight as well, clearly nervous. There was even a trace of sweat on his forehead.

He smiled. "This room really is a little hot. Let's open the window and let some air in."

The moment he opened the window, the noise of the street flowed in together with the late autumn wind.

Lin Zikai gave an embarrassed laugh.

"These windows are pretty soundproof."

He was about to close the window.

"Leave it open. It gives the place a little life."

Shen Qing stopped Lin Zikai. He rather liked this feeling.

In his previous life, Shen Qing had liked wandering around the snack street downstairs after getting off work.

Amid the clamor below, Shen Qing and the others swept clean the Glutinous Rice Fermented Duck, Steamed Eight-Treasure Pork, Candied Millet, Fresh Shrimp Balls, Lotus Root and Swallow's Nest Soup, and everything else on the table.

Everyone had eaten their fill and was sitting in their chairs, sipping tea and digesting their meal while listening to the storyteller downstairs.

The storyteller had just finished a tale and was about to pack up.

The listeners around him began jeering. "That wasn't enough! Tell another one, another one!"

The storyteller hesitated for a moment, then sat back down. "I do happen to have a new story. Do you want to hear it?"

Someone immediately tossed over several copper coins. "Let's hear it."

The storyteller put away the coins and smiled mysteriously. "Have you ever heard the name of Shen Qing, the World-Crossing Yama?"

"Oh! Is that Lord Shen, the newly appointed commander of the Western District Hundred Households Office?"

Shen Qing raised his brows as well. How did this end up involving him?

Lin Zikai immediately looked at the Scholar. Black Dog and the others also looked at the Scholar, and Shen Qing turned his gaze over too.

The Scholar explained, "Boss, this title started spreading through Luoshui City right after you captured Sun Yun, the Cloud-Piercing Hand. The storytellers have all been busy making up tales about you."

"However, every storyteller came up with a different title. I went around asking, and found that the three most famous ones were World-Crossing Yama, Green Yaksha, and Bloody Hand Butcher."

"I thought the other two sounded awful. Across the whole martial world of Great Wu, if there weren't a thousand people called Yaksha, there had to be eight hundred."

"Bloody Hand Butcher was less common, but it was still a name found everywhere."

"So I slipped the storytellers some silver and had them all agree on one title: World-Crossing Yama."

The storyteller slapped his sounding block. "That's right! It is none other than Lord Shen Qing, commander of the Hundred Households Office."

"They say this World-Crossing Yama is truly a legend. He went undercover for two years and exposed a traitorous banner commander, captured the evil disciples of the White Dragon Cult, personally slew the Xu Family's Three Bandits, wiped out the cannibalistic Zhang Family, and arrested Sun Yun, the great bandit known as the Cloud-Piercing Hand! What imposing majesty!"

Someone in the crowd asked, "Then why is he called Yama?"

"Excellent question. Legend has it that Shen Qing wore a silver Flying Fish Robe and carried the Qing He saber. Everywhere he passed was littered with severed arms and mangled limbs, displaying the methods of Yama himself. What imposing majesty! A gentleman without equal beneath heaven!"

"I've heard that line before, but wasn't the original, 'A man by the road was like jade, a gentleman without equal beneath heaven'?"

A voice rang out. "Isn't jade fragile? Lord Shen Qing is hard as iron!"

"Oh? Have you tried him?"

A burst of laughter immediately rose from the crowd.

The storyteller slapped his sounding block again. "Now that we've spoken of Yama, do you wish to know where the words 'World-Crossing' came from?"

He looked around with a mysterious smile and stopped talking, merely pushing the little bamboo basket for collecting money forward.

Boos immediately rang out from the crowd, but they still tossed several copper coins inside.

The storyteller grinned and continued, "There are two explanations. One says that this Yama only kills evildoers, sending them across to the underworld. The second says that Shen Qing was originally an immortal god from heaven, merely passing through this world to cross a lifetime."

Everyone nodded repeatedly, wearing expressions of sudden realization.

"Next, I'll tell you how the World-Crossing Yama went undercover for two years, personally slew the traitor, and captured the White Dragon Cultists. The moment Shen Qing arrived at the Baiyun County General's Office, he noticed that Banner Commander Sun Yan was acting strangely. Ah, so he laid his plans and led Sun Yan step by step into the trap..."

Upstairs, Shen Qing could no longer hold back his laughter. If the man had not said it himself, Shen Qing would never have known he was so formidable.

Just as the storyteller was getting into the flow of his tale, the fluttering of wings approached. A white pigeon flew in through the window and landed on the Scholar's hand.

A pale red silk thread was tied around the white pigeon's neck. It was a Red Carrier Pigeon from the Pacification Bureau. Such pigeons were generally used for urgent messages. Compared with ordinary carrier pigeons, they were more accurate and could precisely find their target by scent.

The corresponding scent came from a special sachet. Every Hundred Households Office was equipped with one of these special sachets. Normally, it was worn by the commander of the Hundred Households Office, but Shen Qing found it troublesome and had the Scholar wear it instead.

The Scholar removed the secret message and looked it over.

"Boss, several people have disappeared from Lijia Slope to the north in recent days. The yamen investigated and believes it was the work of a pack of ferocious beasts. They aren't weak. One man did manage to escape alive after being swept downstream by the river. He said it was a pack of wild wolves, and that a five-meter-long carp saved him. The Pacification Bureau wants us to take a trip there."

Lin Zikai asked, "The north? That isn't even our territory. Why did this assignment fall on our heads? Could this be a trap?"

The Scholar looked at the secret letter. "The reason is written here too. Because of the diary Boss handed in, the Pacification Bureau immediately sent everyone out to capture the Japanese pirates. The moment they left, the yamen's plea for help arrived."

"Boss, then should we...?"

Listening to the storyteller downstairs endlessly embellish his tale, Shen Qing was feeling a little embarrassed. Still, World-Crossing Yama was not a bad title. With a flick of his finger, Shen Qing sent a tael of silver flying accurately into the storyteller's little bamboo basket below.

"Let's go. To Lijia Slope."

The storyteller downstairs froze when he saw the silver, then hurriedly rose to his feet and clasped his hands toward the upper floor in a salute full of martial-world flair.

"A gilded signboard and silver ingots cannot compare to that lord upstairs, whose blessings shine high! Here, I wish you blessings as vast as the Eastern Sea and a journey soaring ten thousand miles!"

The storyteller fell silent for a moment, then continued.

"But let me make this clear first, that tael of silver of yours..."

"At most, it'll buy you one night of storytelling."

North of Luoshui City, Lijia Slope.

Flames flickered continuously in the night. A young yamen runner was waving a torch and constantly urging everyone onward.

"Everyone, hurry up! That pack of wolves may be coming again."

An old farmer in hemp clothes asked shakily, "Sir, are there really wolves?"

Without turning his head, the yamen runner kept glancing toward the darkness at the other end of the village. "Old man, just sit obediently on the donkey cart and don't make trouble."

"Old Li Er's corpse from the village entrance has already been dragged back. He was gnawed so badly he barely looked human."

"A few wolves came the previous nights. Tonight, there may be even more."

The old farmer said nothing more. A childish voice came from behind him.

"Grandpa... carry..."

The old farmer turned and saw a little girl sitting obediently atop a chest. Her clothes were clean, and her cheeks were round.

She was the old farmer's granddaughter, who had just turned three.

A trace of affection welled up in the old farmer's clouded eyes. He reached out and picked up the little girl.

"Little Bud, be good."

"Grandpa will take you into town to buy candied hawthorns, all right?"

Light flashed through the little girl's bright eyes. "Okay. Grandpa eats too."

A crimson firework suddenly burst in the night sky behind them.

The yamen runner's expression changed sharply, and he immediately turned around and shouted, "Everyone, get on the carts! Forget the luggage! Hurry!"

Several wolf howls sounded next, seemingly from the other side of the village.

A flaming arrow streaked across the night sky, and a line of fire suddenly flared up at that end of the village. It was a fire wall hastily built from wood and straw. It might achieve very little, but even buying a little time was better than nothing.

Suddenly, the old farmer spotted a child peering around timidly in the darkness. It was Li Er's child, the one carried off by wolves from the village entrance two days ago.

"A bunch of careless fools."

The old man cursed under his breath, then climbed down from the donkey cart. Everyone had been so busy moving their own belongings that they had actually forgotten a child.

But the old man's legs were inconvenient. By the time he picked up the child, the yamen runner shouted, "Set off immediately!"

All the yamen runners immediately fed a black pill into the mouths of the donkeys pulling the carts. Within only a few breaths, the donkeys' eyes were flooded crimson, and their slow pace suddenly accelerated.

These were Beast Blood-Bursting Pills developed by Zhenyao Pavilion. After ordinary livestock consumed them, they burned their life force and erupted with speed and endurance beyond the ordinary. However, after half a shichen, the livestock would die.

Little Bud murmured, "Grandpa..."

The old woman at the front of the donkey cart turned around. "Little Bud, be good, wait for Grandpa..."

But behind the donkey cart, Little Bud was the only one wedged between several chests. There was no sign of the old farmer.

"Little Bud, where is Grandpa?"

Little Bud extended a finger. Following it, the old woman saw the old farmer standing at the village entrance.

"Old man!"

The old woman screamed and tried to jump off the cart, but the yamen runner beside her held her tightly.

"It's too late!"

Before long, the wolves' cries drew closer and closer. They had already circled around both sides of the fire wall.

The old farmer's expression changed, and he cursed furiously.

"You damned beasts."

His eyes spun wildly, and he noticed a water vat to one side. The old farmer hurriedly hid the child inside it, but there was no longer time for him to find a hiding place for himself.

Listening to the increasingly close wolf howls, he could even see pairs of deep, emerald-green eyes in the darkness. A trace of hatred flashed through his gaze.

The old farmer picked up a shoulder pole scattered on the ground and trembled as he walked toward those emerald-green eyes.

"Damned beasts..."

After pausing briefly, the pack of wolves seemed to understand that the old farmer before them had no power to resist them.

One wild wolf let out a howl and lunged at the old farmer.

But very quickly, the old farmer tossed the shoulder pole aside and closed his eyes.

Were there only a few breaths left in his life? Then why waste them fighting wild wolves?

He should think about something else.

The crops in the fields had grown especially well this year, but he would not have the chance to harvest them.

His son's letter said that he had received a gift from some great figure in Luoshui City and would soon return to the village to build a new house. The old farmer had not even lived in it yet.

His wife, who had stayed by his side for sixty years, had not enjoyed a single good day.

Gradually, a bloody stench rushed toward him. The wild wolf had opened its blood-filled maw and reached him.

At the final moment of his life, he thought of Little Bud. He had not yet seen his adorable granddaughter grow up and marry.

The old farmer raised his head and exposed his neck, quietly awaiting death. He only hoped it would be quick, but the pain he had imagined never came.

The old farmer slowly opened his eyes. Shen Qing, dressed in a magnificent long robe, stood before him, gripping the wolf's jaws with one hand.

"Old man, where do you want to go?"

"If it's the underworld, then you may need to change your route."

"The road to the underworld is about to be full."