Alley

The black-clothed girl walked toward the depths of the alley. Now and then, households hung festive red lanterns outside. Unlike the others, the girl in the Veiled Hat had received no painstaking groundwork from any Lineage, no gray threads of a grass snake stretching a thousand miles. She had simply entered the town alone.

Not far down the alley stood a richly dressed young man, holding a square azure Jade Seal high in both hands. It was the size of a Child's palm, carved with coiling dragons and crouching tigers. Under the sunlight, it gleamed brilliantly, faint wisps of rosy light flickering within. The young man raised his head, squinted at this priceless treasure in his hands, and wore an intoxicated look.

Beside him, a tall old man knelt on one knee, carefully wiping mud from the young man's boots with his sleeve.

The richly dressed young man had in fact noticed the strange girl long ago from the corner of his eye. She wore a lightly veiled hat, with a Green Scabbard Narrow Saber hanging at her waist. Her steps were steady. Clearly, she was no local of this town.

Yet the richly dressed young man did not care in the least. He continued studying the ancient Jade Seal that had lain silent for a thousand years. Deep down, he even hoped the girl would be tempted to seize the treasure. Otherwise, it would be far too dull.

In any case, he had already obtained two items, and his gains had far exceeded expectations. If he did not find something else to do, he could only leave with his old slave. To this young man, that would feel as though something were missing.

It was like the home he had ten thousand miles beyond this town, where he wore a golden Nine-Serpent Robe. Unfortunately, it had always lacked one claw.

Every chosen person who came to this town could bring three tokens, each placed in an embroidered Brocade Pouch. One pouch had to be handed over to the gatekeeper beforehand, a toll that had to be paid. No matter how high or low that gatekeeper's status, no matter how dilapidated the city gate, even if a monarch of a nation or a Patriarch of a sect came here, they had to obey this rule. The remaining two embroidered Brocade Pouches meant that one could take at most two treasures from the town. Otherwise, even if one scavenged ten or a hundred treasures here, they would all have to be returned one by one. The tokens in the pouches were three specially minted kinds of copper coin: Suppression Charm Coins used by common people to celebrate the raising of a roof beam, Spring Welcoming Coins hung each year upon peachwood charms in the imperial palace, and Offering Coins held in the palms of City God statues. They were called copper coins, but were actually made of exceptionally rare Gold Essence. For most common folk "below the mountain," even official silver was a rare sight, let alone a bag of heavy "gold." It was indeed enough to make people willingly sell off family heirlooms.

The richly dressed young man had studied those three coins, which were absent from Official history, all the way here, yet could not make heads or tails of them.

Ahead, the girl, her entire body exuding a cold and stern air, walked straight onward, treating the master and servant in the alley as though they did not exist.

The richly dressed young man changed his mind on the spot. He put away the Jade Seal, placed it into a cloth bag prepared long ago, and tied it at his waist. Yet he remained standing in the middle of the alley, with no intention of making way.

The tall, fair-skinned elder rose as well. In a soft, effeminate voice, he said, "Your Highness, this person is a true martial artist who has entered the hall. We must not let down our guard. Outside this town, she would naturally be of no concern. But here, even this servant's body, which follows the path of pure martial arts, suffers the suppression of this world at every moment. It is exceedingly uncomfortable. Once this servant fully circulates his breath and opens all his Acupoints, it will be like rivers and seas pouring back into the land—his meridians and Acupoints will flood, utterly beyond control. This servant's death would be a small matter; Your Highness's safety is the great matter. If this servant's poor care were to cause even the slightest flaw in Your Highness's grand undertaking of cultivation, how could this servant answer to His Majesty and Her Majesty after returning?"

The richly dressed young man said teasingly, "Grandpa Wu, you have become more talkative since leaving the palace. Back in the palace, all year round, you repeated the same few sentences over and over. You were worse than the stupid parrot my elder sister keeps."

The elder called himself "This servant," and humility seeped from his very bones. Especially since he took pride in it deep down, he could only be a Palace Eunuch of unwavering loyalty.

Seeing that his young master seemed not to understand his implied meaning, he could only put it more bluntly. "Your Highness, the person in this alley may already pose a threat to Your Highness here."

The richly dressed young man smiled lazily. "I have long heard that the path of cultivation is a muddle of Three Teachings and Nine Streams, with dragons and fish intermingled—many crooked and evil ways, and even more Heterodox Paths. But she and I are merely Passing Acquaintances. Is she really going to be tempted by wealth and murder someone for treasure? That seems unlikely, doesn't it? If everyone 'above the mountain' were like that, wouldn't the world have fallen into chaos long ago?"

The elder sighed. The dynasties below the mountain and the Mountain Immortals above it appeared harmonious while secretly estranged; in truth, they found each other equally repugnant.

The richly dressed young man was somewhat disheartened. "Forget it, forget it. Settling this rotten account on a little girl's head would not be the act of a great man."

The girl came before him, her left hand pressing down on the Saber Hilt.

The richly dressed young man smiled, stepped aside, and indicated that she should pass first.

The black-clothed girl also slowed slightly and turned faintly sideways. Her eyes behind the Veiled Hat were filled with wariness and vigilance.

When the aged eunuch noticed the girl's injured hands wrapped in cotton cloth, he could not help but furrow his brow tightly.

"Insolence!"

In an instant, the elder let out an angry roar, his tongue cracking like spring thunder. His feet seemed to slip, and his tall figure arrived before the richly dressed young man. The elder lightly leaned back, using a clever force to push the young man against the alley wall, while spreading the five fingers of his left hand.

A muffled impact sounded in his palm.

Someone had used a pebble as a hidden weapon, hurling it at the side of the richly dressed young man's head.

Its momentum was terrifying, and its force was nearly enough to punch through a wall.

The elder crushed the fist-sized pebble in his palm with a bang. Yet instead of attacking that Assassin, he threw a punch with his right hand at the black-clothed girl.

The saber-bearing girl hesitated briefly, forcibly suppressing her instinct to Draw Sword. Instead, she tilted her head and narrowly avoided that powerful, fierce punch.

The force of the punch stirred up a violent wind that instantly disheveled the thin veil of her hat.

The tall old man changed his straight punch into a sweeping strike, his fist smashing straight at the girl's head.

The fist's momentum flowed round and free, without the slightest stagnation.

The girl had no choice but to swiftly raise both arms, stacking the backs of her hands together outside her ears in a crossed defensive posture, blocking the path of the punch.

The next moment, her entire body slid sideways more than ten paces.

The girl gently exhaled a breath of turbid air, then used the hand whose cotton wrapping was more heavily soaked in blood to straighten the Veiled Hat that had tilted atop her head.

She was a little angry.

The girl turned around and looked at the tall old man, who glanced about to either side, then said stiffly, "If not for me, you would already be dead."

The elder ignored her. Compared with before, however, this old eunuch, highly experienced in assassinations and sneak attacks, had already lowered the girl's threat level to second place. The first seat had been ceded to the person who had acted from the other side of the alley.

Of course, aside from the master and servant, there were only two genuine outsiders in the alley.

At the far end of the alley stood a tall, thin masked man.

Yet his arms were exceptionally thick, their bulging muscles like iron balls.

Two bags hung from his waist, stuffed full of round objects.

He stood where he was, as if to say that the earlier sneak attack had merely been a warning.

When his cold gaze swept across the girl's body,

the man curled his lips, stuck out his tongue, and his eyes burned hot.

The girl gave a cold laugh and spoke two words.

"Come back!"

The words had barely fallen.

A sword passed over a head.

The flying sword came to the girl's side and spun rapidly around her, like a Child acting coquettishly.

She snapped irritably, "Scram!"

The flying sword flashed and disappeared.

The master and servant stood dumbstruck, like wooden chickens.

The aged eunuch was not shocked by the Flying Sword Technique itself.

Rather, he was genuinely terrified that the girl could wield a flying sword freely in this place.

The feeling made the elder, in a daze, seem to return to his youth, when he had first entered the palace and lived in trembling fear. One day, he had glimpsed from afar a senior walking beneath the palace walls in a crimson python robe.

Naturally, it was not that he revered the eunuch himself, whose name he did not even know. He feared that eye-searing scarlet.

After the richly dressed young man came back to his senses, he smiled in self-mockery, stepped forward, and asked with concern, "Grandpa Wu, are you all right?"

The white-haired old eunuch looked grave and shook his head. "Better safe than sorry. If it truly comes to it, this servant will..."

The young man hurriedly waved his hand. "How about we apologize?"

The elder was caught off guard, then filled with grief and self-reproach.

When the master was humiliated, the servant must die.

Especially in an Emperor's household!

But the richly dressed young man had already smiled. "Grandpa Wu, if you did something wrong, what is so difficult about saying I'm sorry?"

The elder still felt this was inappropriate, but the richly dressed young man had already walked toward the girl.

In an Instant, a hundred feelings surged through the elder.

It turned out there was not a speck of mud on the young man's back.