Chen Ping'an and Ning Yao parted ways near the Twelve-Pillar Archway Building. Chen Ping'an went to Mud Bottle Alley, knocked on a door, and called, "Song Jixin, are you home?"
The girl was in the kitchen, using a gourd ladle to scoop up a dipperful of water. She hiccupped several times in succession. After drinking, she immediately felt much more refreshed. Setting down the ladle, she sauntered out of the kitchen and ran to open the courtyard gate. Finding it rather strange, she still replied properly, "My Young Master isn't home. Chen Ping'an, why are you knocking? Didn't you always stand in your own yard and chat with us before?"
With the courtyard gate between them, Chen Ping'an said, "I have something to discuss."
After Zhi Gui opened the gate, she teased, "What a rare guest, what a rare guest."
She studied Chen Ping'an's expression and asked, "What do you need my Young Master for? If it isn't urgent, I can pass along a message later. If it is urgent, you'll probably have to find him at the Kiln Affairs Supervision Office. You saw it yourself before—my Young Master is on rather good terms with Lord Song, the new Supervising Official."
Seeing that Chen Ping'an stood rooted to the spot, she rolled her eyes. "Come in, then. What are you standing there dazed for?! Is my home some dragon's pool and tiger's den? Or does it cost you a tael of silver just to come in for a drink of water?"
At that, the girl covered her mouth and giggled. "For you, the latter must be more frightening."
Chen Ping'an tugged at the corner of his mouth. His smile was forced as he said softly, "Actually, I came to find you. I called out like that earlier because I was afraid Song Jixin might misunderstand."
Zhi Gui smiled knowingly and asked, "Then tell me. What is it? Let me make the ugly truth clear first: neighbors are neighbors, friendship is friendship, but I'm only a little maidservant living under another's roof in Mud Bottle Alley. I can neither carry loads on my shoulder nor lift things in my hands, so I can't help with anything major. But if you, Chen Ping'an, need to borrow money, and it's a problem money can solve, then you're in luck. I do have a tiny little way."
Chen Ping'an gave a bitter smile. "It really is about money. I'll be direct with you. Liu Xianyang was beaten terribly at the Covered Bridge. The old shopkeeper from the Yang Family Shop went to see him, but he couldn't do anything either."
Zhi Gui looked utterly confused. "How come I haven't heard about this? Who did Liu Xianyang provoke?"
Chen Ping'an said helplessly, "An outsider. He came from a place called Zhengyang Mountain."
Zhi Gui asked tentatively, "So you want to pull strings and find him a good patch of feng shui ground for burial? That wouldn't be difficult. I can have my Young Master put in a word with the Supervising Official, then have the office steward or Gatekeeper handle it and ask that old man Wei in Taoye Lane to find a place. As long as you don't want to claim a hilltop in land sealed off by the imperial court, it should be easy enough."
Chen Ping'an's already dark face turned even darker.
Perhaps Zhi Gui realized she had misunderstood. Out of habit, she bared her dazzlingly white, neat teeth. Leaning against the Spring Festival couplets on the wall, she tilted her head and smiled with playful amusement. "Chen Ping'an, do you want me to repay the debt of saving my life? But I'm just a maidservant. Even the old shopkeeper of the Yang Family Shop has no solution. What can I do?"
After a fierce battle between heaven and man, Chen Ping'an slowly said, "Wang Zhu, I know you aren't ordinary. That snowy day years ago, when I saw you at my doorstep, I knew you were different from us. Later, you were also the first to see that the Snake Gallstone was unusual. Looking back now, the way you looked at us neighbors back then was no different in essence from how those outsiders look at us now."
The girl grinned. "Actually, there is a difference."
I don't merely look down on you ordinary mortals. I look down on immortal family cultivators in exactly the same way.
But Zhi Gui did not say those words aloud.
Some principles were as natural and right as heaven itself on her side, yet on the side of others, they became arrogant contempt and an unruly, untamable nature.
Chen Ping'an asked, "I came to ask whether there's any chance at all of saving Liu Xianyang. I used up a Sophora Leaf. At the time, it could only barely preserve Liu Xianyang's final breath. Though it wasn't much use, at least it did help. So I wanted to ask whether you have any Sophora Leaves, especially any spare ones."
The girl pointed at her own nose and asked, "Are you asking whether my Young Master Song Jixin has Sophora Leaves, or whether I, a little orphaned maidservant, have them?"
Chen Ping'an stared fixedly at her and said bluntly, "Even if Song Jixin has them, he won't give them to me. I'm asking you, Wang Zhu. If you have any, are you willing to lend them to me? If you don't, do you know any other way to save Liu Xianyang?"
The girl, still called Wang Zhu throughout, rubbed her chin with one hand while lightly patting her belly with the other. She shook her head. "No more. Really, no more. I'm not lying to you. If you'd come earlier, perhaps there might have been a few Sophora Leaves left. As for other methods, of course there aren't any. I'm not an immortal—how would I know the means to bring the dead back to life and make flesh grow upon white bones? Right, Chen Ping'an? You can't force people to do the impossible. Sigh, I truly misjudged you. I thought you were different from all of them, not the sort who used a favor as leverage to demand repayment."
Chen Ping'an still refused to give up. "Really none? Whether I can do it or not, you can tell me."
Zhi Gui shook her head and said decisively, "Anyway, I don't have any!"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "I understand."
The young man turned and left. His thin figure quickly vanished into Mud Bottle Alley.
The girl stood in the alley outside her home, watching his retreating back grow farther and farther away. Her expression was complicated, carrying a trace of pity for his misfortune and anger at his refusal to strive. She said indignantly, "You finally got your hands on a Sophora Leaf, and you squandered it just like that? Then you might as well die together with Liu Xianyang. Die early, be reborn early. If you're lucky, you can keep being brothers in hardship in your next life. Better than those pitiful wretches who do not even have a next life."
The girl returned to the courtyard. As she stepped over the threshold, she accidentally let out another full hiccup and sneered, "A little stuffed."
Without warning, she quickened her pace and rushed forward, stomping down hard with one foot. Then she slowly crouched, staring at the earth-yellow Four-legged snake with horns growing from its head. She scolded, "Borrow and repay, then borrowing again is no hardship. You five little beasts, if you dare buy on credit and refuse to pay your debts in the future, I'll skin you, pull out your tendons, and stew you all in one pot!"
The Four-legged snake beneath the maidservant's sole struggled with all its strength, letting out faint hisses, as though desperately begging for mercy.
After leaving Mud Bottle Alley, Chen Ping'an ran all the way to the schoolhouse. There, an old man responsible for sweeping the schoolhouse told him that Mr. Qi had left for the deep mountains beyond town yesterday with three outsider guests, supposedly to seek hidden wonders and explore secluded places. The round trip would take at least three days. Chen Ping'an left full of disappointment, but as he turned away, the broom-carrying old man suddenly remembered something. He called after the young man. "Oh, right. Before Mr. Qi left, he instructed me that if someone from Mud Bottle Alley came looking for him, I was to tell that young man that he had already explained the principle long ago. Whether he was at the schoolhouse today or not would not change the outcome."
It was as though the young man had known all along that this would be the result. His eyes dimmed, devoid of light.
A slight ripple stirred dead water; there was no life in it.
Yet the young man still bent at the waist and thanked him. "Thank you, sir."
The old man hurriedly moved several steps aside, waved his hands, and said with a smile, "I can hardly bear the title of 'sir.'"
The old man watched the young man slowly walk away. After going some distance, he seemed to raise an arm and wipe at his eyes.
The old man gently shook his head. Thinking of two other Reading Seeds about the same age—Song Jixin and Zhao Yao—and then looking at this one, he saw lives and fortunes as far apart as heaven and earth.
Truly, some rode high on the spring breeze, while others faced an autumn rife with troubles.
Chen Ping'an made a trip to Mud Bottle Alley, took out the last bag of copper coins hidden in the ceramic jar, then carried three bags of money into Fulu Street and found the Kiln Affairs Supervision Office.
Once the Gatekeeper heard his introduction, he was somewhat bewildered. Song Jixin's neighbor from Mud Bottle Alley wanted to see Song Jixin and Lord Song, the Supervising Official?
Chen Ping'an secretly handed him a Golden Essence copper coin he had prepared long ago and said nothing. The Gatekeeper lowered his head, took a look, weighed it, and rubbed it between two fingers. He immediately understood, but did not state his position in haste. The young man promptly handed over another golden coin. The Gatekeeper smiled but did not take it. "Since you're someone who understands the rules, I can rest easy introducing you. Otherwise, if I lost this job because of you, I'd truly be the biggest fool alive. Put away that coin in your hand for now. If the steward of the residence agrees to let you enter the office, you can give it to me then. If he refuses, there's nothing I can do to help. We can just say that coin was never fated to be mine. What do you think?"
Chen Ping'an nodded vigorously.
Before long, the elderly steward arrived with the Gatekeeper. The Gatekeeper gave the young man a look, signaling that he must not take out a copper coin now. Taking bribes openly was no small crime. Fortunately, the young man did not do anything so foolish. He simply followed the steward toward the rear hall of the office.
The Gatekeeper sighed. He found it strange that the moment the steward heard it was a young man surnamed Chen from Mud Bottle Alley, he nodded and agreed. Since when had the threshold of the office become so low?
The Gatekeeper felt somewhat guilty. When he had met the steward earlier, both openly and between the lines, he had urged him that less trouble was better than more and that he should not let the young man into the office. He had not said it outright, but he trusted that the old steward, with his profound cultivation gained over many years in officialdom, would surely understand.
The young Gatekeeper's original little scheme had naturally been to get a copper coin for free without taking any risk, and to take it with a clear conscience.
Now, he only hoped that poor young man was not some troublemaking calamity.
In the main hall of the office's rear chamber, a tall man dressed in a white robe sat in the seat of honor, drinking tea.
Song Jixin sat in the guest chair on the left, playing with a bamboo folding fan in one hand, opening and closing it repeatedly as he smiled at the straw-sandaled youth being led inside.
The black chair and the snow-white robe formed a striking contrast.
The steward withdrew. The man in the seat of honor put down his teacup and smiled at the young man. "Chen Ping'an, sit wherever you like. We actually met before in Mud Bottle Alley, but I didn't recognize you then. Otherwise, I should have greeted you long ago."
Song Jixin found it rather amusing. Only he knew that when this man referred to himself as "I," it was clearly somewhat awkward for him.
The young man sat in the chair opposite Song Jixin.
The man came straight to the point. "Chen Ping'an, have you come here because Liu Xianyang was injured?"
The young man rose to his feet. "I hope Lord Song can severely punish the murderer from Zhengyang Mountain, rather than merely expel him from town."
The man smiled. "In truth, this town is a lawless land. That means no dynasty's laws apply here. Supervising Officials are already in a rather awkward position, with no authority to intervene in local affairs. Moreover, this town has always followed the rule that officials do not investigate unless the people bring charges. Whether it is a great household beating maidservants or slaves to death, or small households fighting and injuring people, there has never been a custom of coming to this supervision office to beat the drum and cry out for injustice. So, Chen Ping'an, you've carried a pig's head into the wrong temple and worshiped the wrong Bodhisattva."
The man's words and bearing were gentle and agreeable, without the slightest haughty air of ordering people about.
Chen Ping'an took out the three bags of copper coins and placed them on a tall stool beside his chair. Then he said to the composed man, "Lord Song, I know you are very formidable. I want to know whether you can save Liu Xianyang. Even if you cannot save him, can you at least give him justice, so that the murderer cannot kill someone and then leave town as though nothing happened?"
The man burst into laughter. "I'm very formidable? The black-clothed girl from your home must have told you that, right? Well, that shows her aptitude for martial arts is excellent—better than your friend Liu Xianyang's. To tell you the truth, I only know how to kill people. I am truly not skilled at saving them. Besides, why should I break the great rules practiced here for a thousand years for a young man I have met only once?"
As he spoke, the man pointed at the three bags of copper coins. "Without the Treasure Armor and Sword Scripture, Liu Xianyang's life is not worth this much money at all. As for buying my favor, this money is nowhere near enough. Great Li falling out with Zhengyang Mountain over three bags of money? Absolutely impossible. If word got out, it would become the laughingstock of all East Treasure Bottle Continent. Chen Ping'an, you may not understand this for now, but if you have the chance to travel abroad in the future, you will understand that this is the plain truth."
Chen Ping'an gritted his teeth. "Lord Song, can you tell me what it would take for you to act? Even if you think I could never accomplish it even by dying, Lord Song can still tell me."
The man did not think he had revealed the slightest clue, yet a trace of surprise flashed through the powerful feudal king's eyes. Smiling, he said, "Chen Ping'an, I am not looking down on you or deliberately making things difficult for you. On the contrary, I find you interesting, which is why I am willing to spend time calmly and composedly explaining principles and making a deal with you. Do you understand?"
Chen Ping'an nodded.
Song Jixin sat in an ungraceful posture, cross-legged in his chair, lightly tapping his knee with the closed folding fan.
Watching a fire from across the river, he hung high what did not concern him.
Song Changjing did not mind Song Jixin's lack of decorum. In this town, the information controlled by this feudal king was surpassed only by Qi Jingchun's. At last, he pierced through the mystery with a single sentence. "Chen Ping'an, you do not need to feel too guilty, thinking your friend will die because of you. Liu Xianyang was already trapped in a dead end. As long as he refused to hand over the Sword Scripture, it could only remain a dead knot, because Zhengyang Mountain would certainly want him dead. Neither Qi Jingchun nor Master Ruan can stop it. It is not that no one can defeat that Old Ape, but the price that would need to be paid is too great. It is neither worthwhile nor worth it."
The man took a sip of tea and said leisurely, "Chen Ping'an, have you ever wondered why even you, the one least deserving of ancestral blessings, received a Sophora Leaf, while Liu Xianyang, with such fine talent and bones, did not receive a single one? Have you ever thought about that?"
Chen Ping'an said, "I have disturbed Lord Song."
The straw-sandaled youth gathered up the three bags of copper coins and bade farewell to the Supervising Official before him.
Though Song Changjing did not ask him to stay, he actually rose in person to see him out. Song Jixin had just been about to rise reluctantly when he saw his uncle give a slight shake of his head. He promptly dropped back into his seat and leaned comfortably against the chair back.
When they reached the threshold, Song Changjing said without warning, "There are two things I can do but cannot do myself. So long as you accomplish either one of them, I can consider helping you teach that Old Ape a lesson."
The young man hurriedly stopped, turned around, and wore a solemn expression.
The man said evenly, "One is to find an opportunity to kidnap the little girl from Zhengyang Mountain beside the Old Ape, disrupt his state of mind, and force the Old Ape to remain in town. The other is to secretly chop down that Old Scholar Tree at night, then pull out the iron chain from Iron Lock Well. You may do both, or only one. If you complete one, I will act and help you severely wound the murderer. If you complete both, I will kill the Old Ape of Zhengyang Mountain for you."
Song Changjing smiled and promised, "Once a word leaves my mouth, I will never go back on it!"
Then the immensely powerful Great Li feudal king said something baffling. "Chen Ping'an, I believe you can sense whether a sentence is true or false."
The young man left in silence.
Song Changjing had neither seen nor heard the young man boast grandly while thumping his chest, yet he found that entirely normal. Standing in the doorway with his back to Song Jixin in the room, he asked, "You know him fairly well. Do you think he will do it?"
Song Jixin shook his head. "Hard to say. Under normal circumstances, making him do something against his conscience would be very, very difficult. But if it's for Liu Xianyang, then it might become uncertain again."
The man stood with his hands behind his back and looked toward the sky. "Suppose that young man truly gives us an unexpected delight, and I use this opportunity to intervene. Whether we befriend Zhengyang Mountain or form an alliance with Wind Thunder Garden, we can naturally choose only one, and may even inevitably become enemies with the other. Compared to me standing aside and letting Great Li remain lukewarm toward both powers until death, without further dealings, which outcome do you think would be better for Great Li?"
Song Jixin rose, tapping the palm of his other hand with the folding fan as he slowly paced. After considering, he said, "In a Prosperous Age, choose the latter. In a Chaotic World, choose the former."
Then the young man smiled. "Whether the world beyond this town is an age of prosperity or chaos, it seems that at the very least, Uncle, you have already made your choice."
Song Changjing scoffed. "What are martial men of the battlefield like us supposed to do in a Prosperous Age? Become peaceful watchdogs for scholars, guarding their homes and courtyards?"
Song Changjing turned to look at the stiff-faced young man. "I can already see that this young man is your true Heart Knot, and you will find it difficult to untie in a short time. If you leave town with this Heart Knot still in place, it will harm your coming cultivation. So you may watch with your own eyes how a simple young man with an originally Pure Heart becomes filled with violence and vulgarity. When that happens, you will feel that being angry with such a person is meaningless."
Song Jixin opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing in rebuttal. He fell into thought.
The man returned to the room, sat in the seat of honor, and tipped back his head to drain the tea in his cup. "Most importantly, apart from casually finding a lame excuse to fish in muddy waters, I am playing this boring little game to make you understand one principle. On the cultivation road you are about to walk, anyone may become your enemy... such as your own uncle, me, Song Changjing."
The young man was stunned.
Song Changjing said coldly, "When a Heart Knot turns into obsession, unless it is pulled out cleanly by one's own hand, the future troubles will be endless—like weeds on the wilderness, cut down only to grow again when the spring breeze blows."
Song Changjing mocked him with contempt. "Song Jixin, soon to become His Highness the Great Li Prince, are you filled with grief and indignation? But what can you do now? So tell me, compared to Chen Ping'an, who is being toyed with in the palm of another's hand, how much better are you?"
Song Jixin stared fixedly at the man whose face remained calm as drifting clouds and gentle wind. The sinews and bones stood out on the five fingers gripping his folding fan.
The man sat upright in his chair, his gaze deep as he looked outside, as though speaking to himself. "The more people you see in the future, the more you will discover something interesting. Retribution for good and evil, Joyful Revenge, an ordinary man's rage splashing blood three feet high, talented scholars and beautiful women, lovers finally becoming united—those are all satisfying fantasies dreamed up by useless people. So your own fists must be hard. Rely on me? Rely on your birth parents? I advise you to abandon that thought as soon as possible. Otherwise, taking you out of town would be no different from carrying your corpse to a mass grave. In an imperial household, does one not still bear life and death alone?"
The young man was drenched in sweat. He slumped into the chair.
After learning his true identity, the young man had hidden his pride and high spirits deeply. In the office, there had not been the slightest abnormality in the way he treated others. But in the eyes of feudal king Song Changjing, it was like holding a demon-revealing mirror and seeing a Sprite that had only just taken human form. Thus, with laughter and conversation, he could reduce it to ashes.
Song Changjing looked into the distance, his gaze seeming to stretch all the way to the southernmost end of East Treasure Bottle Continent, to that distant Old Dragon City.
For some reason, the feudal king recalled a saying: "The human heart is a mirror. The cleaner it was to begin with, the more untouched by a speck of dust, the less it could endure scrutiny and testing."
Song Changjing felt that although the scholars in court were endlessly wordy and hateful to gods and ghosts alike, some of the grand truths they spoke were things blade-wielding warriors like them could not think of or explain even after living a thousand years.
Song Changjing gathered his thoughts, stretched out a hand toward the south, and looked as though he held a spear or halberd, his edge fully exposed. "Song Jixin, if you think what I said today is wrong, fine—but endure it. Only when we reach Old Dragon City in the future and you and I have exchanged seats will I consider listening to you with washed ears!"
Great Li Prince Song Jixin had already returned to normal. He smiled. "I'll wait and see."
At the entrance to the office, the straw-sandaled youth gave the Gatekeeper the second copper coin as promised.
At the Twelve-Pillar Archway Building, Chen Ping'an spotted the black-clothed girl and quickly ran over.
Ning Yao stood beneath the plaque reading "Qi Chong Dou Niu" and asked, "How did it go?"
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "I found all three people. I met two of them. I couldn't see Mr. Qi, but I knew the answer from the beginning."
The gentleman does not save.
Mr. Qi had indeed said so long before this.
Ning Yao frowned and remained silent.
Chen Ping'an then told the girl to be careful before turning and sprinting away.
He first went to the Yang Family Shop and used a Golden Essence copper coin to buy a large pile of medicine bottles, ointments, and medicinal ingredients for bruises, falls, and internal injuries from an old man who knew his background well. The young man was thoroughly familiar with how to use and brew these things. Firing porcelain in the Dragon Kiln was work that depended on the mountains for one's living, and all kinds of accidents often occurred. Though Old Man Yao did not think highly of Chen Ping'an, who could only be considered half a disciple, he had to admit that the young man was quick on his feet and had no scheming thoughts. Thus, many errands and expenses were entrusted to Chen Ping'an, such as buying medicine and decocting it for injured workers at the kiln.
Chen Ping'an returned to the Mud Bottle Alley ancestral home. After closing the door, he first began brewing medicine—a prescription for internal injuries. While waiting for the heat, he spread a washed-faded yet still clean garment over the table and tore it into strips for bindings. The straw-sandaled youth, renowned for being miserly and stingy, did not feel the slightest heartache now. Besides tying the garment-pressing knife Ning Yao had lent him to his arm, he also wrapped layer after layer of thin cotton strips around his calves and wrists.
Chen Ping'an took down the homemade wooden bow hanging on the wall. After hesitating, he still decided not to carry it for the moment. Instead, he retrieved his slingshot and a bag of pebbles from the windowsill.
The reason he knowingly did what could not be done, and did not regret striking walls three times in a row, was the young man's unique stubbornness.
If he did not try, he would never be willing to accept it—just as when, at the blacksmith shop, he had begged the old shopkeeper one final time to please try again.
He had first sought out the strange Zhi Gui, hoping she could find Liu Xianyang a thread of life. Then he had sought Mr. Qi, harboring a sliver of hope that he could uphold justice. Finally, he had sought the Martial Dao grandmaster Ning Yao spoke of, Lord Song the Supervising Official, plainly prepared to spend all he had to make a deal.
The young man had thought it through clearly from the beginning. So though he was disappointed now, he did not feel as though his heart had been torn apart.
In truth, feudal king Song Changjing and his neighbor Song Jixin did not understand Chen Ping'an at all.
Some things had to be done even at the cost of death. But some things could never be done, even in death.
The young man squatted in a corner by the wall, quietly waiting for the medicinal decoction to finish. This pot of medicine was strange. It had no other use; it only stopped pain. Once, a man at the Dragon Kiln had contracted a strange illness. He endured it in bed for most of a day, half-dead, but worse still, pain twisted his entire face and limbs out of shape. Later, the Yang Family Shop provided this prescription. That man soon died, but he did not die in pain. He even had the strength to sit up, give his final instructions, and, supported by Old Man Yao, go see the kiln one last time.
Chen Ping'an felt that he might need it too.
Seeing some scraps of cloth still on the table, the young man took off his battered straw sandals. He brought out a pair of brand-new shoes he had always been reluctant to wear, then carried over the ceramic jar and took out the broken porcelain shards within.
About half an hour later, after finishing everything, the young man opened his door and silently left Mud Bottle Alley.
It was nearing dusk. The sunlight was no longer harsh, and layers upon layers of blazing clouds filled the horizon in incomparable splendor.
The straw-sandaled youth walked toward Fulu Street.
There were no more Passersby on the bluestone-paved street. The young man walked alone.
Before you continue