In the night, Chen Ping'an fled toward the deep mountains, legs pumping wildly. Before long, he ran into a bamboo grove where the earth was unusually soft. The straw-sandaled youth deliberately began to stamp his footsteps heavily.
About half an incense stick later, just as he was about to leave the bamboo grove, the youth suddenly climbed a bamboo stalk on his left and swung himself toward another one some distance away. He looked even more like an ape than Zhengyang Mountain's Mountain-Moving Ape. After repeating this several times, he finally landed lightly on the ground, crouched down, and wiped away his footprints. Looking back, he saw that he was five or six zhang from the first bamboo stalk. Only then did he resume running.
In less than an incense stick's time, he could faintly hear the sound of running water. Rather than slowing down, the youth sprinted forward and leapt high into the air, his entire body plunging into the stream. He quickly rose to his feet. He had landed atop a huge boulder. Intimately familiar with every inch of these mountains and waters, the youth forced his eyes wide open and, relying on his exceptional eyesight and remarkable memory, leapt from stone to stone in the creek, fleeing downstream in a swift rush. If he kept going, he would reach Green Ox Back by the stream south of town, then the Covered Bridge, and finally Master Ruan's smithy.
But the youth did not get too close to Green Ox Back. After the stream emerged from the mountains, it abruptly narrowed at its tightest point, slender as a woman's waist. There, he went ashore on the right.
Very soon, a woman called softly, "Chen Ping'an, over here."
Chen Ping'an swiftly crouched down, gasping for breath, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The black-clothed girl asked in a low voice, "Can you really lure the Old Ape up the mountain?"
The youth said bitterly, "I did my best."
It was Ning Yao, who had likewise taken a detour from Fulu Street to meet up with him. She asked, "Were you hurt?"
The straw-sandaled youth shook his head. "Just minor injuries."
Her feelings were complicated. She said indignantly, "You dared play a game like that? If the Old Ape didn't beat you to death, that was your dogshit luck!"
Chen Ping'an grinned. "That old beast already broke the rules once. But if you'd stepped in any later, I figured I would've been done for."
The girl froze for a moment, then said delightedly, "You really pulled it off? Not bad, Chen Ping'an!"
Chen Ping'an chuckled.
Ning Yao rolled her eyes. "What next?"
The straw-sandaled youth thought for a moment. "The broad direction we decided on remains unchanged, but we'll have to alter some of the details. The Old Ape is too formidable."
Ning Yao slapped the straw-sandaled youth on the head and laughed angrily. "You only realized that now?"
Chen Ping'an suddenly said, "Miss Ning, turn around. I need to put some medicinal herbs on my back. Keep an eye on the stream while you're at it."
The girl turned around openly and faced upstream.
Chen Ping'an took off the outer robe that had originally belonged to Liu Xianyang, removed the wooden porcelain armor, then took out the porcelain bottle from Yang Family Shop from a cloth pouch at his waist. He poured some thick ointment into his right palm, lifted his clothes with his left hand, and smeared the medicine over his back with his right.
Even a youth who could endure pain so well broke into a cold sweat.
Though she did not turn around, the girl still asked, "Does it hurt badly?"
The youth smiled. "This is nothing."
Ning Yao curled her lip. What was he trying to prove by acting tough?
At the westernmost house in town, a woman sat on the ground and wailed bitterly, pounding her chest with all her might and swaying from side to side. Her thin clothes looked as though they might split apart at any moment. Her two filthy little children stood helplessly beside their mother. Outside the house, an honest-looking man squatted on the ground, sighing again and again with a face full of helplessness. For no apparent reason, a hole had appeared in the roof. The chill of spring had yet to fade. He could endure it himself, but how were his wife and children supposed to get through the coming days?
Neighbors gathered nearby, pointing and whispering. Some said they had heard sounds on their own roofs earlier and initially assumed wildcats were causing trouble, so they had not thought much of it. Others said the western part of town had been unsettled all day. Apparently, children had seen an old Immortal in white drifting about, covering in one step the distance ordinary folk needed more than ten steps to cross. He could even fly over eaves and walk across walls. No one knew whether the Earth God had left his shrine or the Mountain God had come down from the mountains.
A young sword cultivator from Wind Thunder Garden was squatting alone nearby, his expression grave.
Liu Baqiao had been chatting with Mr. Cui at the Supervising Official's office when he heard about the commotion at the Li residence and caught the scent of blood. Yet no matter how proud this outstanding talent of Wind Thunder Garden was, he had not dared go to the door and provoke a Mountain-Moving Ape. He had merely wondered whether he could watch the fire burn from across the river. If he found a chance to stab the Old Ape in the back, that would be even more satisfying. So Liu Baqiao had climbed onto the upturned eaves of a mansion's library tower, overlooking the town and searching for the Old Ape's movements. Before long, he discovered unusual activity around Mud Bottle Alley in the western part of town, and bold by nature, Liu Baqiao had quietly begun following him.
The instant Zhengyang Mountain's guardian ape spared no effort in circulating its qi, Liu Baqiao's Natal Flying Sword, which had been moved into his Ming Tang acupoint for nurturing after he was injured, stirred restlessly and nearly burst from its "sheath." In this strange world, one's level of cultivation was directly proportional to the force with which the Heavenly Dao suppressed one. By Liu Baqiao's calculations, the guardian ape was not having an easy time. Even if it could forcibly circulate and exchange qi, then afterward use its mighty physique or supreme divine abilities to suppress the churning sea of qi triggered by the Heavenly Dao, it absolutely could not cheat in this manner too many times. Otherwise, it would bear the enormous risk of a flood bursting through a dike. A thousand years of cultivation might be ruined in a single day. Taking a step back, every time it acted as an "Immortal" from beyond this world, it was already a form of depletion—no different from ordinary mortals shortening their lifespan.
But when Liu Baqiao saw the two huge pits where the Old Ape had landed after crushing the roof beneath its feet, this swordsmanship prodigy of Wind Thunder Garden began to rejoice that he had not acted rashly. Otherwise, he would have drawn fire onto himself. Judging by the abundance of the Old Ape's fresh qi at that time, had it not discovered the commotion at the Li residence on Fulu Street and been forced to confirm the safety of Zhengyang Mountain's little girl before pursuing that fox-cunning straw-sandaled youth, it might not have had absolute certainty of killing him. But if it had pursued Liu Baqiao instead, it would have killed him as surely as one strike killed one man.
Of course, the Old Ape was neither blind nor stupid. When Liu Baqiao's Natal Flying Sword had been on the verge of leaving its sheath, the guardian ape must have already sensed his presence.
Still, although Liu Baqiao had taken a stroll around Ghost Gate Pass and felt lingering fear afterward, he was not truly afraid of the Old Ape itself. Wind Thunder Garden and Zhengyang Mountain were enemies. No matter how vast the difference in their strength, things were fine as long as neither side made a move. But once either side did, it was a struggle to the death. Moreover, the weaker party would never kneel and beg their opponent for mercy. This was a fact that the two swordsmanship holy lands of East Treasure Bottle Continent had proven over five hundred years with countless lives.
Besides, Liu Baqiao was not without backup in town.
Liu Baqiao slowly rose to his feet. Rather than returning directly to the office, he walked toward the dilapidated little house at the far west end, stood outside its low yellow-mud wall, and shouted loudly. After the man and his wife both turned to look at him, he casually tossed out a Golden Essence copper coin to the woman, whose face was streaked with tears like pear blossoms in rain. Smiling, he said, "Big sister, please stop wailing. I can hear you from so far away, and you're giving me the shivers!"
The woman caught the golden copper coin and lowered her head to inspect its design. It resembled a copper coin, except for its color. She stared blankly and asked softly, "Gold?"
Liu Baqiao laughed. "No. But it's worth far more than gold..."
The woman was stunned at first, then flew into a rage. She hurled the golden copper coin viciously at the young Outsider, stood up, planted her hands on her hips, and cursed, "Get lost! If it were gold, I might've believed you a little. Worth more than gold? Do you think I've never seen the world?! I've handled silver with my own two hands before. You little bastard whose hair hasn't even grown in yet—why don't you take a look at the Little Loach in your pants before coming here and acting like some big lord? My man isn't dead yet!"
At this point, the woman became even angrier. She strode over, and despite a waist barely slimmer than a water bucket, she somehow twisted it with a peculiar charm. She kicked the silent man squatting on the ground, knocking him sideways. Not only did he not dare fight back, he did not even dare talk back. He scrambled off in a crouch, then continued squatting at a distance, his eyes full of grievance.
Pointing at her own man, the woman cursed, "You good-for-nothing coward! You're no different from a dead man! When something happens, all you know is how to play dead. Every day you wander around uselessly, catching fish and snakes, no different from a kid in split-crotch pants, worse than your own son! At least Little Sophora knows how to steal... pick up things and bring them home. Why won't you take a job at Yang Family Shop? Are you rolling in riches, or what? Why do you insist on fighting silver? All year round, you don't do a single proper thing..."
At this point, the woman, whose bosom could indeed be described as "magnificent," suddenly smiled. "If you weren't still decent at tossing me around at night, would I be willing to live with you?!"
The surrounding neighbors watching the spectacle burst into uproarious laughter, while some young men whistled and shouted crude remarks.
At last, the woman turned her spearhead back toward the culprit and roared, "Why aren't you gone yet? Haven't you been weaned?!"
Liu Baqiao had never encountered such rustic vigor before. Rather than finding it vulgar, he found it quite interesting. He watched the lively scene with relish. Though the woman had cursed him badly, he laughed instead of getting angry. After every argument back at Wind Thunder Garden, he always felt a kind of loneliness, as though he possessed peerless martial skill yet had no evenly matched opponent. Who would have thought he would finally find a place to use it today? He immediately perked up and said with a cheeky grin, "What if I haven't been weaned? Can you help me with that, big sister?"
The woman raised an eyebrow and sneered, "I'm afraid I'd suffocate you by accident. You should go find Granny Ma in Apricot Blossom Alley! She'll fill you right up!"
Laughter immediately shook the heavens.
Though Liu Baqiao had no idea who Granny Ma was, the reactions of the audience around him told him that he had suffered a crushing defeat in this battle.
The young sword cultivator gave her a thumbs-up, his smile dazzling. "Big sister, you're ruthless."
Then he pinched the Golden Essence copper coin between two fingers and shook it. "You really don't want it?"
The woman clearly hesitated, suspicious and uncertain.
Just then, someone called helplessly from afar, "Baqiao, Mr. Cui wants you back immediately."
Liu Baqiao turned at the sound. It was Chen Songfeng, a descendant of the Longwei County Chen Clan. Beside him stood a tall, cold-looking woman with empty hands and no weapon on her person. Her features were unremarkable, but her figure was beyond reproach. Those long legs were very much to Liu Baqiao's liking. She was Chen Songfeng's distant relative, though Chen Songfeng had never volunteered exactly how distant. The woman had always addressed Chen Songfeng by name. As the three traveled together, Liu Baqiao had not found her particularly arrogant. She was simply cold by nature.
Since Cui Minghuang had spoken, Liu Baqiao did not dare linger. He followed the two toward Fulu Street. But as he left, he instinctively cast another glance at the gloomy middle-aged man.
A sloppy man mixed among the crowd hesitated for a moment. After the neighbors gradually dispersed, he walked alone toward the courtyard.
The woman was preparing to take her children to stay at her parents' home. She was thoroughly unwilling. Her family were all snobs, looking down on the man she had chosen with dog eyes that saw people low. Thus, aside from holidays and festivals, they had rarely interacted over the years. But faced with this calamity falling from the sky, the woman had no other choice. She wanted to stand tall and take her son and daughter to an inn or restaurant for a few days, to experience being the wife of a wealthy man for once. But her purse was empty, so poor that even a clink would not come out. She could only swallow her pride and return to her parents' home to endure their cold looks. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Before leaving, she viciously twisted the flesh at her husband's waist until his whole face contorted. Only then did she stop. The two children had seen this scene often enough that they were not worried about their parents fighting at all. Instead, they secretly found it hilarious.
The woman's sharp eyes spotted the sloppy man skulking near the gate. She immediately cursed, "Zheng, have you come to steal my clothes and pants again? Are you a dog or something? Even rabbits don't eat the grass around their own burrows! No matter how unwilling I am to admit it, I've still suffered eight lifetimes of bad luck and become your sister-in-law. How can you bring yourself to steal from me?"
The sloppy man looked as though he wanted to cry, as if even death would be preferable. "Sister-in-law, heaven and earth are my witnesses! I only forgot to buy candy for your Little Sophora. He said that on purpose, so why did you actually believe him?"
The little boy wore an innocent expression.
Naturally, the woman trusted her own child more. She raised her hand, ready to slap the man.
He quickly ducked his head and fled to one side, shouting at the man squatting on the ground, "Senior brother, aren't you going to talk some sense into sister-in-law?"
The man replied in a muffled voice, "I don't dare."
The sloppy man sighed mournfully. "There is no place in this world for honest people anymore."
The woman took one child by each hand and headed toward the courtyard gate. Suddenly, she turned back, threw him a flirtatious glance, and said with a smile, "Zheng, bring more money next time. Your sister-in-law will sell them to you. Fifty coins a piece. How about it?"
The sloppy man's eyes lit up. He asked timidly, "Isn't that a little expensive? New clothes from the shops in Apricot Blossom Alley, made from the finest cloth, only cost that much..."
The woman's face changed faster than a page being turned. She cursed furiously, "You really dared harbor such filthy thoughts?! Go die! You deserve to be a bachelor your whole life! You've got a rotten life—one day you'll die outside the East Gate and no one will collect your corpse..."
After the woman and children left, the sloppy man lightly hopped backward and sat atop the courtyard wall. He said indignantly, "Senior brother, it's not that I want to say this, but lard has clouded your heart if you chose such a shrewish woman for a wife."
This sloppy fellow was actually Zheng, the gatekeeper at the town's East Gate, a lifelong bachelor.
The honest-looking man still squatting in the courtyard blurted out, "I wanted to."
After a moment of silence, the town gatekeeper responsible for collecting money from Outsiders said, "The old man told you to hold back lately. Don't fight with anyone."
The gatekeeper glanced up at the pitiful roof, then suddenly laughed. "Master also said that if you really can't hold it in, go take it out on your wife. Anyway, sister-in-law isn't afraid of you tossing her around. She likes that sort of thing."
The man, who could not be beaten into producing a fart even with ten clubs, raised his head and looked at the sloppy man on the low wall. The latter hurriedly changed his tune. "Fine, fine, fine. Zheng Dafeng said that. Master never said such things."
The honest-looking man stood up. He was short and stocky, with bronze skin and bulging muscles in both arms that stretched his sleeves taut.
He was somewhat hunched over. He said irritably to the town gatekeeper, "If Master was willing to say more than ten words to you, I'd take your surname."
The gatekeeper silently recited Master's instructions, then counted them on his fingers. It really had not reached ten words! The sloppy man first cursed his mother, then became utterly deflated and somewhat sorrowful. In a rare display of genuine emotion, he looked especially pitiful.
The hunched man asked, "Anything else?"
The gatekeeper nodded. "Master said for you to deal with that person."
The hunched man frowned, then habitually squatted down again, facing the damaged house. He muttered, "Why?"
Gatekeeper Zheng Dafeng rolled his eyes. "Master gave the order. Do it or don't, as you please."
The man thought for a moment. "Go. If I see you stealing sister-in-law's things again, I'll break all three of your legs."
The sloppy man Zheng Dafeng flew into a rage. "Li Er! Explain yourself to me! Who stole your wife's clothes?! You believe such bullshit? Has water gotten into your brain?"
The man turned his head and stared silently, dark-faced, at his furious junior brother.
Like a resentful little wife who had suffered endless injustice, Zheng Dafeng cried out in grief and indignation, "I won't dare do it again! Is that enough?!"
The gatekeeper stood up, tapped the ground with his toes, and drifted into the street like a sophora leaf. Only after he had gone some distance away did he dare curse at the top of his lungs, "Li Er, I'm going to buy sister-in-law's intimate clothes right now!"
The sloppy man was making fierce threats even as he ran faster than a dog.
But the honest-looking man had no intention of standing. He spat out one word. "Coward."
The three returned to the office. Cui Minghuang, the Confucian gentleman from Guanhu Academy, had been waiting in the main hall for some time. When he saw the unfamiliar woman, Cui Minghuang rose and nodded in greeting. She nodded back, her expression still icy. In Liu Baqiao's private words, she wore the look of "the whole world owing her a mountain of silver."
After the three sat down, Cui Minghuang smiled at Liu Baqiao. "Good thing you held back and didn't act. Otherwise, you would have caused a huge disaster. You didn't see it—our Supervising Official, Lord Song, and Zhengyang Mountain's guardian ape exchanged three hard blows on Fulu Street. The commotion was considerable. Honestly, no matter what once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity you encounter next, I advise you not to make a move. Don't think you can take advantage of it."
Liu Baqiao asked curiously, "Don't tell me that old beast knocked Song Changjing down with three punches? Is Song Changjing really such a useless embroidered pillow? Didn't they say he had touched the threshold of the Tenth Realm, just half a step away from entering it?"
Cui Minghuang said helplessly, "We're borrowing Lord Song's place, after all. Could you speak a little more politely?"
Chen Songfeng said with feeling, "Lord Song held a slight advantage."
Even though he had no connection whatsoever to that Great Li Prince, anyone on the path of cultivation could not help longing for such a feat after hearing of it!
A Pure Martial Artist had stood firm against a Mountain-Moving Ape with nothing but his flesh and blood!
And the crucial point was that this man had even held the upper hand!
The woman sat at one side with her eyes closed, resting quietly. Her hands lay naturally open on her knees.
At the mention of this, her fingers twitched slightly.
Chen Songfeng had found her in great haste. Originally, she had intended to keep wandering around town.
The only reason she had not insisted on her original plan, but followed Chen Songfeng to find Liu Baqiao and return to the office, was that she was merely doing as the locals did.
As for whether Chen Songfeng could gain any benefit from the Old Scholar Tree and obtain several Sophora Leaves of ancestral blessing, the woman who was also surnamed Chen did not care in the slightest.
Yet when Chen Songfeng found her, she could still clearly sense the deliberately suppressed excitement in the Young Man. Most likely, his harvest had been plentiful, and the number of fallen Sophora Leaves had exceeded the expectations of the Longwei County Chen Clan's Old Ancestor.
Liu Baqiao suddenly clutched his belly and burst into laughter. "That old beast took a massive tumble this time! Wonderful, wonderful! A mere ordinary youth walked it like a dog and toyed with it like a monkey, leading it around by the nose through half the town! Hahaha, this heavenly joke will be enough for me to tell at Wind Thunder Garden for ten years! With the temperament of those country bumpkins at Zhengyang Mountain, they'll definitely jump out and say Wind Thunder Garden is slandering them with bloody lies, asking whether we have any proof! Proof my ass! If not for the town's ban on mystical arts and the price of breaking the rules being too great, I'd have risked death to record the entire scene in an image-and-sound mirror."
Cui Minghuang's expression suddenly changed slightly. He called sternly to Liu Baqiao, "Baqiao!"
At almost the same instant, the woman opened her eyes.
Liu Baqiao had just been about to ask what was wrong when he abruptly shut his mouth.
Soon, a man in white robes slowly arrived. After crossing the threshold, he smiled at Liu Baqiao and asked, "What is so funny? Enjoying it alone is not as good as enjoying it together. Why not let this Prince have a laugh too?"
Cui Minghuang had already risen to his feet and was about to speak, intending to offer the seat of honor to this Great Li Prince.
Song Changjing smiled and shook his head at the scholar from Guanhu Academy, signaling that there was no need for such tedious formalities. He casually pulled over a chair and sat beside Liu Baqiao, facing Chen Songfeng and the woman, who sat opposite each other on either side.
Though Liu Baqiao gave others the impression of being a carefree and indolent rogue, at such close range, facing a Martial Cultivator who was very likely about to enter the legendary Tenth Realm—especially one whose evil reputation was notorious—he could not help feeling uneasy. Building a tower of skulls was one thing, but Song Changjing's fondness for beheading geniuses was truly enough to make one's hair stand on end. So although Liu Baqiao had freely called him Song Changjing whenever the Great Li Prince was absent, he now felt terribly guilty.
Fortunately, the young sword cultivator had never cared much about his face. He forced a smile and said, "Grandmaster Song, I was just talking about your peak battle with that old beast from Zhengyang Mountain. It was truly earth-shaking and ghost-weeping! Your punches emerged like dragons, Prince. If you had not shown mercy, that guardian ape would surely have died without a whole corpse on Fulu Street. Lord Song's martial path is so lofty, and his Martial Ethics so admirable, that this junior could never hope to catch up, even riding a horse!"
Song Changjing smiled without speaking.
Cold sweat seeped from Liu Baqiao's forehead, and his back was soaked through. At last, he could not utter another word and sheepishly fell completely silent.
Song Changjing suddenly turned to the woman opposite him. His gaze was amused and interested as he asked, "Are you also a descendant of the Longwei County Chen Clan?"
The woman shook her head and said slowly, "No."
Song Changjing gave an "oh," looking thoughtful.
The atmosphere became awkward.
It remained that way until Song Jixin appeared at the entrance. Seeing no chairs or seats inside, the youth casually sat on the threshold and looked at everyone in the room.
Song Changjing did not mind. He smiled at Liu Baqiao. "Actually, you are one of the youth's benefactors."
If the Mountain-Moving Ape had not initially decided that the youth's provocation had been instigated by someone, and if, in this town, anyone who dared lay a trap for Zhengyang Mountain was no fool but someone skilled at planning before acting, then the Old Ape would have believed that the oriole waiting behind the mantis stalking the cicada was someone of high status and considerable ability. That was why the Old Ape, unwilling to reveal the slightest opening, had appeared rather bedraggled around Mud Bottle Alley.
Thus, only after reaching the westernmost residence in town and confirming there were no assassins lying in wait did the Old Ape relax slightly and deliver a punch to the straw-sandaled youth's back.
Liu Baqiao gave a dry laugh. "Though that is indeed true, I don't want to be that kind of benefactor."
Song Changjing dismissed it with a smile.
The woman turned her head and glanced at the handsome youth sitting on the threshold.
The youth gave her a faint smile.
The woman turned back, expressionless.
The youth curled his lip and began openly admiring her long legs. She looked about twenty-five or twenty-six. Her beauty was passable, but the youth thought she had a certain flavor to her.
The woman turned back, her eyes icy, and said hoarsely, "Are you seeking death?"
Song Jixin pointed to himself, wearing an utterly shallow, innocent expression that made one itch to punch him. "Me?"
Then the youth pointed at the Great Li Prince, Song Changjing. "Then you'll have to ask him first."
The woman was just about to rise.
Song Changjing's eyes narrowed instantly.
Within the main hall, an immense pressure descended upon everyone's heads like a torrential downpour, leaving nowhere to hide. Every person's skin felt as if it were being pierced by real needles.
Only Song Jixin at the doorway remained entirely unaffected.
Chen Songfeng spoke with difficulty, but his tone did not weaken. "Prince, this lady is not from East Treasure Bottle Continent. I hope Your Highness will act with caution!"
The woman laughed and rose to her feet. "You dare kill me? Aren't you afraid Great Li will suffer Nation Destruction?"
Cui Minghuang was about to intervene.
The woman's entire body suddenly flew backward. The chair behind her shattered into powder in midair, while her tall body was driven wholly into the wall, nearly embedded in it like an object set into masonry.
Song Changjing had appeared beneath the wall as if a ghost or god, standing with his hands clasped behind his back. He tilted his head slightly upward, looked at the woman bleeding from all seven orifices, and smiled. "Little girl, do you think your father or Old Ancestor is so formidable that you are qualified to spout... what was that word again?"
The Prince turned and smiled at his nephew. The youth answered with a smile, "Nonsense. Spout nonsense."
Song Changjing smiled, then turned back to the woman. Though her face was full of pain, her eyes remained resolute, without the slightest plea for mercy or show of weakness. Song Changjing said, "In your next life, don't run into this Prince again."
Chen Songfeng's liver and gallbladder nearly split. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was caught in emotions too complex to describe, consumed by both overwhelming rage and overwhelming terror. He was about to speak.
But Cui Minghuang had already stepped forward first. He cupped his hands in salute and lowered his head sincerely. "Prince, could you give me some face and refrain from lowering yourself to her level?"
The corners of Song Changjing's mouth pulled up in a sneer.
The woman meeting the Great Li Prince's gaze suddenly closed her eyes as though accepting her fate.
Just then, the youth at the threshold burst out laughing. "Uncle! Forget it. Bullying a woman would damage your reputation if word got out."
Song Changjing's body paused ever so slightly. The movement was so minute that even Cui Minghuang and Liu Baqiao only felt that this God of Slaughter had not moved at all.
Song Changjing tilted his head, extended two fingers, and flicked them casually, as though brushing dust from his shoulder.
Liu Baqiao, the foremost figure among Wind Thunder Garden's younger generation, stood dumbstruck.
Cui Minghuang felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted.
Chen Songfeng felt as though he had fallen into clouds and fog.
Song Changjing smiled at Liu Baqiao. "Kid, not bad. This Prince thinks highly of you."
Chen Dui opened her eyes, "pulled" herself out of the wall, and after landing, her figure swayed. She said to that retreating back, "I will remember today's instruction deep in my heart."
Song Changjing ignored her and said to Liu Baqiao, "After leaving town, come find me in the Great Li Capital City. I have something to give you. It depends on whether you can hold it—or carry it away."
Liu Baqiao blurted out, "A Talisman Sword!"
Those who cultivated all knew that Talisman Swords were one of the Daoists' primary magic tools. But if a sword could directly bear the name "Talisman Sword," and everyone in the world knew of it, one could imagine just how astonishing that sword had to be.
Song Changjing and Song Jixin walked out of the residence. The man smiled. "Have you gotten that foul breath out of your chest?"
Song Jixin nodded. "More or less."
Over Chen Ping'an's matter, that fellow had actually even set up his own nephew. Naturally, Song Jixin was full of indignation and resentment.
Song Jixin suddenly frowned and asked, "That woman clearly has an enormous background. Uncle, aren't you afraid that after beating the small one, the big one will come, and after beating the big one, some immortal old monster will come? If the local County Annals aren't lying, I know how formidable those old turtles are. Will Great Li really be all right then?"
The man settled the Young Man with a single sentence.
"You underestimate the three words Song Changjing far too much."
Inside the main hall, Cui Minghuang returned to his seat without revealing a thing.
Liu Baqiao slumped against the chair back, lingering fear still in his heart. "Good heavens, is there really such a huge gap between the seventh and eighth realms and the ninth?"
Wind Thunder Garden had one seventh-realm martial man and one eighth-realm martial man, and Liu Baqiao was on good terms with both.
Cui Minghuang shook his head. "In Go, even ninth dan master players differ in strength, and the gap can be vast. Not to mention Song Changjing is one of the strongest among ninth-realm martial men."
Then Cui Minghuang looked toward the woman named Chen Dui and asked with concern, "Miss Chen, are you all right?"
The woman was also a ruthless sort. Though her face was pale, she still smiled calmly. "It is nothing."
Chen Songfeng seemed even more frightened and unsettled than this distant relative who was directly involved.
Cui Minghuang sighed inwardly. The Longwei County Chen Clan would likely find it difficult to stand out amid the coming great struggle and chaos.
Liu Baqiao clicked his tongue. "With a flick of his finger, he sent my flying sword back into its acupoint, yet did not harm even a shred of my soul. It truly beggars belief."
Cui Minghuang teased, "Now you know there are mountains beyond mountains, and people above people?"
Liu Baqiao was incapable of changing his ways. He grinned wickedly. "People above people? Great Teacher Cui, you really are not gentlemanly at all!"
Cui Minghuang did not know whether to laugh or cry and could not be bothered with this muddleheaded fellow.
After thinking it over, Liu Baqiao spoke to comfort the woman with the rather strange name, lest she fail to think things through and insist on throwing an egg against a rock by seeking trouble with Song Changjing. If that happened, everyone in this room would be unable to bear the consequences. "Big Sister Chen, although saying this means boosting another's prestige and extinguishing my own spirit, when you run into Song Changjing, lowering your head and taking a step back is nothing shameful."
Chen Songfeng wanted to speak but stopped himself.
Yet the woman merely gave an assent and said indifferently, "Song Changjing truly has the right to command such respect. It is not that I refuse to accept it. I simply cannot reconcile myself to it."
Liu Baqiao said carelessly, "There is no need even for that unwillingness. Look at me—I am thrilled right now. When I return to Wind Thunder Garden, I will have ten more years' worth of bragging to do. I actually exchanged blows with Song Changjing of Great Li! Even if it was only one move, I, Liu Baqiao, came out completely unscathed! Of course, if I can truly get that Talisman Sword from the Great Li Capital City, I could brag about it for a hundred years!"
The woman's thoughts drifted elsewhere.
For no reason, she recalled the Young Man sitting on the threshold—the Young Man who had stopped Song Changjing from killing with a single sentence.
After returning to town, the old shopkeeper of Yang Family Shop went straight to the courtyard behind his shop. It was neither large nor small, just enough for the shop's three hired hands to live in.
The shopkeeper pushed open the main room in the rear courtyard and saw an old man sitting in a chair, fiddling with his old dried-tobacco pipe. After closing the door, the shopkeeper called out, "Old Man Yang." The old man hurriedly set down his old bamboo pipe, poured a bowl of tea, and asked with a smile, "Shopkeeper, is someone in urgent need of medicine? Do I need to climb the mountain in the dark?"
The elderly shopkeeper looked at the old man, who appeared about the same age as himself, shook his head, lifted the tea bowl, and sighed. "I saw a patient at Master Ruan's place today. A Young Man surnamed Liu. An Outsider's punch nearly beat him to death. It has left me feeling awful, so I came to sit with you and settle myself."
Old Man Yang, whose wrinkled face resembled the bark of an old scholar tree, smiled. "Shopkeeper, just sit as long as you like. We are not strangers."
The shopkeeper suddenly remembered something. "Right, Old Man Yang. That child you helped many years ago—the poor little fellow from Mud Bottle Alley who was fetching medicine for his mother at such a young age—was he called Chen Ping'an?"
Old Man Yang was somewhat surprised. He nodded. "That's right. The child's mother still passed away in the end. If I remember correctly, she did not make it through that winter. Afterward, I saw the child a few more times, though not often. Back then, I truly could not bear watching it, so I even gave him an inexpensive folk remedy. What is it? Did someone beat that child?"
The shopkeeper took a sip of tea and smiled bitterly. "Didn't I just say it? That Young Man was surnamed Liu. Old Man Yang, what a memory you have!"
Old Man Yang burst into laughter and did not take it to heart.
The old shopkeeper cautiously probed, "Old Man Yang, should our shop do something?"
Old Man Yang picked up the old pipe made of small nan bamboo and gave it a shake. "Shopkeeper, there is no need to do anything."
It was as if the old shopkeeper had swallowed a calming pill. He nodded. "That is good, that is good. Old Man Yang, you carry on, then. I'll be leaving first."
Old Man Yang was just about to rise and see him out when the old shopkeeper hurriedly said, "No need, no need to see me out."
After walking down the steps, the old shopkeeper looked back. Old Man Yang was about to close the door. Their eyes met, and Old Man Yang grinned. The old shopkeeper quickly turned and left.
When the old shopkeeper had taken over the store in middle age, his father, on his deathbed, had left behind some strange final words: "If the shop encounters a major matter, find Old Man Yang and do as he says. These words seem to have been passed down since your grandfather's grandfather's time. When you pass the shop on to the next generation, you must not forget to tell them. You absolutely must not forget!"
At the time, the old shopkeeper had nodded with all his strength in agreement. Only then did his old father breathe his last and close his eyes peacefully.
Night deepened.
Old Man Yang lit an oil lamp.
Puffing on his dried tobacco, the old man recalled some old events from years gone by—nothing but trifles that were destined to matter to no one.
An ancestral house passed down through generations had been kept spotless, nothing like the homes in Mud Bottle Alley.
A guileless, honest man crouched at the courtyard gate and looked at a neat, delicate child. Smiling, he asked, "Son, after the New Year, will you be a grown-up?"
The child raised one hand and said with lively childishness, "Dad, I'm five by nominal age. I'm a grown-up now!"
The man smiled, somewhat heartsore. "Then when Dad is not around, your mother will be entrusted to your care. Can you do that?"
The child immediately straightened his back. "I can!"
Smiling, the man held out a large, callused hand. "Pinky swear."
The child hurriedly extended his fair little hand and said happily, "Pinky swear, hang by the neck—one hundred years, no changing!"
Father and son hooked little fingers, then pressed their raised thumbs tightly together.
After letting go, the man slowly stood and turned to look at the graceful figure busy in the main room. Then he suddenly strode away in great steps.
Behind him, the child called, "Dad, tanghulu tastes good."
The man's lips trembled. He turned back and forced out a smile. "I know!"
The child was sensible after all. He blinked. "The small ones taste even better."
The man quickly turned away, not daring to look at his son again. He continued onward, muttering, "Son, Dad is leaving!"
At Yang Family Shop, a child who came every few days to buy medicine was shoved out of the shop by an impatient clerk that day. The young clerk cursed, "How many times have I told you? Those few bits of silver cannot even buy medicine dregs! How can you be this bothersome, blocking the place for half the day? This is a pharmacy. We need to do business. It is not a temple, and there is no Bodhisattva here for you to worship! If you were not so young, I would have beaten you already. Get lost, get lost, get lost!"
The child clenched his shriveled money pouch tightly. He wanted to cry, yet stubbornly refused to make a sound. He repeated the same words he had said countless times: "My mother is still waiting for me to brew medicine. It has been a long time already. My family truly has no money left, but my mother is very sick..."
The young clerk casually grabbed a broom and made as if to strike him.
Standing outside the threshold, the child crouched down in fright and covered his head with both hands. Yet his left hand still did not forget to grip the money pouch tightly.
After a long while, the child raised his head and discovered an old grandfather standing there with a stern face, looking at him.
The young clerk had already lowered the broom awkwardly and gone back to his own work.
The old man extended a hand. "Buying things requires payment, and merchants making money is the way of heaven and earth. As for how much they make, that depends on conscience, but there is absolutely no reason to lose money. So give me the money pouch. I will take those few bits of silver. Today, I will let you buy the medicine your mother needs on credit, but you must repay the money later. You cannot owe the shop even a single coin. Little fellow, do you understand?"
The child blinked. Though he only half understood, he still handed over the money pouch.
At last, the old man had to lean over the counter with some difficulty to see the child whose head was barely visible. He asked, "Do you know how to brew medicine?"
The child nodded like a pecking chick. "I do!"
The old man frowned. "You truly do?"
This time, the child only dared nod lightly.
The young clerk laughed from afar. "Our Master Liu went to Mud Bottle Alley once. After examining his mother, he taught the child once. Later, still worried, he personally watched the child brew it. Strange as it was, such a tiny child actually made no mistakes. Master Liu said so himself, so it should be true."
The old man waved at the child. "Go on."
The child joyfully carried a large bag of medicinal herbs wrapped in yellow oiled paper and ran swiftly back to Mud Bottle Alley.
His mother lay on a wooden bed. After the child tiptoed into the room and found that she was still asleep, he touched her forehead, found that it was not hot, and breathed a sigh of relief. Then he quietly moved one of her hands back beneath the bedding.
The child went to the kitchen outside and began brewing medicine in a clay pot. In the gaps between, he started cooking food.
The child had to stand on a small stool to reach.
He vigorously stirred the spatula, choking badly on the steaming vapor, yet he still muttered, "It has to taste good, it has to! Otherwise Mother won't have an appetite again..."
A child only five by nominal age carried a basket almost bigger than himself on his back and walked toward the mountains outside town.
This was the child's second time entering the mountains. The first time, Old Man Yang from Yang Family Shop had taken him along. Considering the child's weak legs, they had walked slowly. The old man had only taught him which few herbs to gather, and the basket had also been carried by the old man, so that trip into and out of the mountains had been fairly easy. Today was different. Beneath the blazing sun, the child carried the basket while burning pain stabbed through his back in waves.
The child walked while crying, gritting his teeth and pressing onward.
That time, the child did not return to Yang Family Shop until after dark, with only a thin layer of medicinal herbs in the basket.
Old Man Yang flew into a rage.
The child said through tears that there was only his mother at home and he had been afraid she would go hungry. Otherwise, he would not have returned with so few herbs. He could get up early and enter the mountains tomorrow.
The old man said nothing. He turned and left, saying only that he would give him one more chance.
Less than two months later, the child's hands and feet were covered in calluses.
One day, a sudden downpour trapped the child, who had forgotten the time while gathering herbs in the mountains, on the far side of a stream.
Watching the raging floodwaters, the child wailed in the rain.
At last, when the child could endure it no longer and was about to jump into the stream—
At that moment, Old Man Yang suddenly appeared on the opposite bank. He crossed the stream in one step, then took another step back while carrying the child.
Raindrops the size of yellow beans pounded against him, yet on the mountain path down, the child smiled happily the entire way.
After leaving the mountains, the old man said, "Little Ping'an, make me a tobacco pipe, and I will teach you a small method for climbing mountains without getting tired."
The child wiped rainwater from his face haphazardly and grinned. "All right!"
The child skipped back to Mud Bottle Alley. Today, he had gathered a rare and valuable medicinal herb, so Yang Family Shop had given him some extra medicine his mother needed.
Having gone all day without food, the child suddenly felt a sharp twisting pain in his stomach as he walked.
In that instant, he knew he had eaten the wrong thing in the mountains.
The pain began in his stomach, spread to his limbs, and finally reached his head.
The child first cautiously crouched down and removed the basket, then drew a deep breath, trying to suppress the pain.
But one moment he burned as if on fire, the next he shook with freezing chills. In the end, the child could only roll about the alley in agony.
From beginning to end, the child did not dare make a sound.
No matter how wildly his head crashed into the alley walls, the child still did not make a sound.
Home was too close.
The child was afraid that his mother lying in bed would worry.
During that time, his consciousness blurred, and the child could only feel his heart beating like thunderous war drums beside his ears, rumbling without end.
In Apricot Blossom Alley, a child once again crouched not far from the tanghulu stall. He crouched there for a while each time, never long, but enough for the stall owner to remember that dark little face.
Finally, one time, the man selling tanghulu took down a skewer and smiled. "Here, take it. No charge."
The child hurriedly stood, shook his head, smiled shyly, and ran away.
After that, the child was never seen again.
That winter.
The woman in the sickbed was already skin and bones, her face naturally withered and ugly.
The child had just returned from praying before a ruined divine statue. He had fetched water from Iron Lock Well in Apricot Blossom Alley, then came to the bedside and sat on a small stool. Seeing that his mother was awake, he asked softly, "Mom, do you feel better?"
The woman smiled with difficulty. "Much better. It does not hurt at all anymore."
The child was overjoyed. "Mother, praying to the Bodhisattvas works!"
The woman nodded and tremblingly extended a hand. The child hurriedly took his mother's hand.
With immense effort and pain, the woman turned onto her side and gazed at her child's face. Tormented by illness beyond measure, she suddenly radiated the light of happiness and murmured, "How can there be such a wonderful child under heaven? And how does he happen to be my son?"
That winter, the woman ultimately failed to make it past the year's end. She did not live to see her son put up spring couplets and Guardian Gods. She died.
Before closing her eyes, snow happened to begin falling over the town, and she told her son to go outside and look at it.
Listening to her son's footsteps as he ran out of the house, the woman closed her eyes and devoutly murmured, "Shattered peace, shattered safety, shattered peace and safety. My little Ping'an, safe every year, year after year, every year and every year, safe and sound..."
From that day onward, Chen Ping'an became an orphan.
He had merely changed from a child into a Young Man.
Before you continue