Year-End

Since the beginning of winter, the north wind had swept through Lin'an County, carrying endless snowflakes in its wake.

The snow had gone from light as willow catkins at first to heavy as goose down now.

Looking across, it blanketed the entire world.

The year-end had quietly arrived amid this unbroken curtain of snow.

The training grounds, once filled only with the sound of fists and kicks tearing through the air, had taken on a trace of festive cheer as well.

Several strings of red paper lanterns hung from the upturned eaves, quietly adding a few bright splashes of color.

Jiang Ziyue had been at the Martial Academy with her brother for some time now.

During her first few days, she watched the Martial Disciples on the training grounds shouting as they trained, and her interest was piqued.

So she treated the wooden dummy standing in the corner of her brother's small courtyard as a test subject for exploring the gateway to martial arts.

Recalling the agile movements of those Martial Disciples, Jiang Ziyue clumsily imitated them.

She spread her feet, bent her knees slightly, and assumed a fairly convincing horse stance.

Then she took a deep breath and threw what she believed to be a fierce punch at the wooden dummy's arm.

Yet the scene she had imagined, of the wooden dummy moving at the blow, never came.

The instant her knuckles struck the cold, hard wood—

With a muffled thud, a rebounding force shot violently up her arm.

Caught off guard, Jiang Ziyue staggered several steps back, slipped, and fell onto the snow with a plop.

Biting her lower lip, she braced herself on her little hands and climbed up in a sorry state.

"I refuse to believe I can't move a wooden man!"

The girl's stubbornness flared. This time, she gathered all her strength and smashed her fist into the wooden dummy again.

"Ah!"

Jiang Ziyue cried out in pain, her little face turning deathly pale.

She jerked her hand back and saw that a patch of bruising had visibly risen across the back of her hand and the inner side of her fair wrist.

When Jiang Qinghe arrived after hearing the commotion, the girl was biting her lip and continuously blowing on the injury.

While wincing in pain, she declared that she would never touch such things again.

"Nonsense!"

He scolded in a low voice.

"This wooden dummy requires inch-force and clever force. How could you just recklessly meet it head-on like that?"

A trace of helplessness flashed through Jiang Qinghe's eyes, though there was even more heartache.

Shaking his head with a bitter smile, he fetched the Martial Academy's medicinal plaster for bruises and carefully applied it to his sister's injury.

After the wooden dummy incident, Jiang Ziyue truly settled down quite a bit.

She stayed in the eastern wing room beside Jiang Qinghe's quarters, keeping to herself all day and rarely coming out.

Though this eastern wing room was not the main residence, it was spacious and bright, its space of more than ten steps square arranged with elegant comfort.

When the carved wooden door was pushed open, a scent mingling faint ink fragrance with the warmth of charcoal from the brazier rushed forth.

By the window stood a writing desk, upon which rested several volumes of leisure reading she had bought.

A canopy bed stood Arranged in the corner, draped with pale green gauze curtains.

Opposite the bed was a small heated kang, where a pot of clear tea was kept warm.

A treasure-display shelf against the wall held several small ornaments scattered across its compartments.

At the center of the room, a charcoal brazier burned brightly, firmly shutting the bitter cold outside the windows.

This was her little world. She often leaned beside the heated kang and made cotton-padded jackets for her brother.

When she grew tired, she would pick up some leisure reading, and before she knew it, an entire day had passed.

Time flowed quietly onward, and in the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve.

The vast training grounds of Wanping Martial Academy were unusually quiet, lacking the endless shouts of Martial Disciples training as in days past.

During this year-end season of family reunions, even martial artists would give themselves a few days off to enjoy some leisure.

They visited the year-end market, bought New Year goods, worshipped their ancestors, pasted spring couplets, prepared the New Year's Eve dinner... making preparations for the most important day of the year.

At six in the evening, the sky had completely darkened.

Deep within the Martial Academy, the Main Hall on the first floor of the two-story pavilion was suffused with warmth.

A heavy round wooden table had been moved into the middle of the hall, its surface packed full with seven dishes and eight bowls:

Chicken, duck, fish, meat, seasonal vegetables, and a steaming bowl of soup set in the center, its rich aroma filling the entire hall.

Elder Ping sat upright in the seat of honor. The rosewood pipe that never usually left his side was, unusually, nowhere to be seen.

Jiang Qinghe and Zhao Guangyi sat close beside their Master, one on each side.

Jiang Ziyue sat quietly beside her brother, while Xiao Hei sat on Zhao Guangyi's other side.

Jiang Ziyue lightly lifted her chair and quietly nudged it a little closer to her brother.

After spending these past days alone in the wing room, she had grown used to the quiet.

Naturally rather introverted, she seemed somewhat ill at ease upon suddenly joining an occasion like this.

"Master!"

Zhao Guangyi was the first to rise. Holding a wine cup filled to the brim, his voice rang out loud and clear.

"And Junior Brother Qing River, Xiao Hei, Sister Ziyue!"

He paused and swept his gaze across everyone at the table.

"Everyone is usually busy with their own affairs. It is rare for us to gather so completely today. I offer this cup first to Master—without Master, I would not be where I am today!"

With that, Zhao Guangyi drained the cup in one gulp, then picked up the wine jug beside the table and filled another cup.

"And another toast to all of us. May our Martial Academy stand united, and may we all be together in reunion!"

After downing two large cups like an ox drinking water, Zhao Guangyi had already stirred up the atmosphere at the table.

Jiang Qinghe and Xiao Hei both raised their cups to Elder Ping.

Seeing this, Jiang Ziyue rose as well and picked up the warm clear tea before her.

Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and though her voice was soft, it was clear.

"Grandpa Ping, Senior Brother Zhao, Brother Xiao Hei, Brother..."

"I offer tea in place of wine, and wish everyone that all matters go as you desire."

With that, she drained the tea in her cup. After sitting back down, she felt somewhat more at ease and gradually became less restrained.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of dishes.

Everyone at the table began chatting and laughing.

Zhao Guangyi took a sip of wine and began recounting his encounter from a few days ago, when he had gone to the Wasteland Forest to hunt a Savage Bear.

"When that beast stood upright, it was nearly a zhang tall—just like a moving black wall covered in fur."

As he spoke, Zhao Guangyi set down his cup, his tone turning solemn.

"Among its kind, it should have been one of the very best. Even an Easy Tendon Martial Master at completion would likely be forced to flee in defeat before long in a one-on-one fight."

But in the next instant, his tone abruptly shifted, and a hint of pride appeared on his face.

"Ha ha, in the end, of course, your Senior Brother won by a narrow margin and sent it west."

"This was nothing, really. Back then, when Master led several of us into the forest to hunt Third Tier and Fourth Tier Demon Beasts, that was true danger and excitement..."

Just as he was about to reach the more thrilling part, Zhao Guangyi's voice stopped short. At the same time, he cast Elder Ping a somewhat guilty glance.

As if sensing something, Elder Ping waved a hand and said with the calm manner of an old master.

"Guangyi, speak freely. Your Master has long since seen through it all. What was so lively when those few were around? Each harbored ghosts in their heart, making the place a smoky, miasmic mess."

"Now that they have all left, my ears are much quieter!"

"Come, drink!"

Though Elder Ping spoke with carefree ease, Jiang Qinghe still caught the flicker of gloom in his eyes.

Hearing this, everyone fell silent for a moment before raising their cups in agreement.

Zhao Guangyi did not continue what he had been saying, instead changing the subject to other amusing stories.

At that moment, Xiao Hei seemed to recall something. He set down his chopsticks, looked at Jiang Qinghe, and said.

"Qing River, when I went to the Medicine Hall for Blood Activating Powder a few days ago, I happened to run into Martial Disciples from Golden Thunder Martial Academy. I heard them talking about Qin Wu. Guess what?"

"Oh?"

Zhao Guangyi was interested as well, one brow rising.

"How is that kid who always looks down his nose at everyone?"

Xiao Hei's tone carried a touch of disbelief.

"They said that ever since Qin Wu lost to you, his temperament has changed drastically. Compared to how arrogant and overbearing he was before, he is practically a different person. He has been training like a man possessed, barely sleeping or resting. Now he has entered the Minor Accomplishment stage of Easy Tendon, and that old bastard Jin Sanqiu has taken him as a disciple."

A clear look of surprise appeared on Zhao Guangyi's face.

"Minor Accomplishment of Easy Tendon? How long has it even been? This kid... could he have taken some powerful medicine?"

He then turned to Jiang Qinghe, his tone slightly teasing.

"Junior Brother, do not slack off and let a former defeated opponent surpass you."

Hearing this, Jiang Qinghe's lips curved upward into a confident smile.

"Senior Brother, you jest. A defeated opponent is a defeated opponent in the end. No matter how much he jumps about, he cannot stir up any waves."

Upon hearing this, a sharp gleam flashed through Elder Ping's eyes. He stroked his beard and nodded in satisfaction.