Sending a Sword as a Blessing

Night.

The city was ablaze with lights.

Since the first year of the You Sheng era, the laws had fallen into disuse. Except in the Capital City, the curfews throughout the various regions had become nothing more than a formality.

Brothels, pleasure houses, and other establishments of ill repute naturally operated at night, so there was no need to mention them.

Lanterns hung every ten paces along the banks of the Flowing Gold River, with watchmen specially assigned to tend them.

Many vendors were selling goods from all over the country.

Zhang Yu took a fancy to an exquisite, elegant folding fan.

"How much is this?"

"Fifteen taels of silver."

"Too expensive."

"Not at all, sir. Take a closer look. This is an authentic southern product, a Suzhou sandalwood brocade fan. The twelve ribs are made by bonding purple bamboo and sandalwood together, and the craftsmanship is exceptionally fine. The fan surface is even more remarkable—it's made of Shu brocade, embroidered by the finest Suzhou seamstresses with the Preface to the Poems Collected from the Orchid Pavilion and the Gathering at the Winding Stream."

"I'll look somewhere else first."

The shopkeeper tilted his lips slightly and sized up the two of them. "Then go ahead and have a look, sir."

Zhang Yu put down the folding fan.

Yue Lingshan said, "Now that you've become the Lin Family's ideal son-in-law, you could buy every fan at this stall. You could even fan yourself with them and tear them up afterward."

Zhang Yu chuckled. "I'm not some petty man or woman who needs to tear up fans to vent my anger."

Yue Lingshan looked at him and asked, "Then what do you want?"

The two of them had just reached the bridge when Zhang Yu stopped. Facing the river, he shouted, "I want this beauty never to grow old! I want these mountains and rivers to remain forever as beautiful as a painting!"

Before everyone could turn their attention to him, he hurried down the stone bridge and reached the eastern bank.

Yue Lingshan hurried after him, her face flushed. "What an outrageous boast! Aren't you afraid the Imperial Guards will arrest you?"

"If I'm lucky enough to end up in the Imperial Prison of the Northern Commandery Investigation Department, I'll have to trouble you to bring me meals."

"Have your Miss Lin bring them!"

At the bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Flowing Gold River stood a stall where an old woman sold hair ribbons, hairpins, and bone combs. Their craftsmanship was exquisite. Compared with the uniform, machine-carved products of later generations, they possessed a warmth and meaning that came from within.

Zhang Yu's hair was casually tied behind his head with a hemp cord. When he had first arrived, he had found it troublesome and had even considered cutting it back into a crew cut. But he had not dared to stand out too much on Blackwood Cliff, and over time, he had grown used to it.

He asked the prices of several items. Prices in Pingyang City were indeed high. Even the cheapest vermilion-jade hairpin cost eight taels of silver.

"If you want a beauty, why not become the Lin Family's live-in son-in-law?"

Ever since they had left Drunken Immortal Tower, one out of every five things Yue Lingshan said had involved Lin Youlan. Zhang Yu's ears were practically calloused from hearing it.

"I'm completely unacquainted with her. What if she's hideously ugly? Wouldn't I suffer a huge loss?"

"Then you're mistaken. I've already found out everything. Miss Lin Youlan is the foremost beauty in Pingyang City, and her reputation has spread far and wide. Every year, young talents from the martial world travel thousands of miles to attend the Lin Family's martial arts contest to choose a husband. You pride yourself on being clever, yet you regret it now, don't you?"

Zhang Yu looked behind Yue Lingshan, and his gaze suddenly turned razor-sharp.

Yue Lingshan jumped. "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

Zhang Yu's gaze gradually softened. He smiled and reached out to touch her face.

"You're paying so much attention to that Lin Youlan. Could it be that you're jealous?"

"What a narcissistic Demonic Cult scoundrel! I'm trying to persuade you not to return to Blackwood Cliff and to abandon evil for the righteous path."

The two of them sat down at a shop on the eastern bank.

Two dim lanterns hung from a bamboo pole, and the shop sign bore the words "Liu Family Wontons."

There was a thatched shed, a stove, and six small wooden tables.

Three generations of the family were busy beyond measure: one tending the fire, one cooking wontons, and one washing bowls.

The surroundings were crude, but business was genuinely good. The tables were almost always full.

Two customers were discussing the major event that had taken place in Pingyang City that day in hushed voices.

"I was delayed by something during the day. Brother, tell me quickly—how did the Lin Family's martial arts contest to choose a husband go? Did it end without a result again, like last year?"

"Now that the Wild Wolf Gang has been wiped out, the Lin Family's young lady can finally marry this year."

"That's a good thing, then. Miss Lin is pitiful too. Now that she has a good home to go to, she won't have to endure those rumors anymore."

The man sneered. "Heh. The contest has produced a result, but whether it's a good home is another matter."

"What do you mean?"

"The winner of the contest was Zhong Zhen, the 'Nine-Bend Sword' of the Mount Song Sect."

"Since Zhong Zhen comes from a renowned orthodox sect and has formidable martial arts, why did you say it might not be a good home?"

"Heh-heh. I only heard that Zhong Zhen is forty-five, and that he used to call Lin Kun his sworn brother..."

Two bowls of wontons were placed on the table. Zhang Yu hurried back, breathing somewhat heavily from the run.

Yue Lingshan asked curiously, "Where did you go?"

"To relieve myself."

"Why did you run so quickly?"

"I'm eating with Heroine Yue. If I blink, everything will be gone. I was afraid the boss would clear away the empty plates."

Yue Lingshan chuckled, knowing that he still remembered the plate of beef at Drunken Immortal Tower.

Unlike the wontons elsewhere, the Liu Family's filling was plentiful and fresh. Meat, minced dried tofu, and fennel were chewed together, creating a unique flavor.

After eating the wontons, the two of them headed back. They would not have to sleep in the wilderness tonight in Pingyang City, as Zhang Yu had already reserved an upper room at Ping An Inn.

"Lingshan."

Zhang Yu stopped walking. The two of them stood beneath a lantern. A beauty viewed beneath a lantern only grew more astonishing the longer one looked.

A hazy glow fell across Yue Lingshan's face, like the beauties beneath the camera lens of Wong Kar-wai in later generations, youthful yet radiating an entrancing allure.

"You're so beautiful and captivating that I can't bear to hand you over to Blackwood Cliff."

Yue Lingshan's eyes grew flustered beneath his gaze. She lowered her head and said, "Then let me go."

Zhang Yu smiled. "I haven't restricted your freedom either."

Yue Lingshan was slightly stunned. It seemed to be true. Ever since entering Pingyang, he had not restrained her, and she had had many opportunities to escape. Yet she had never even considered running away.

"Then... what about the antidote to the Three Corpses Brain God Pill?"

Zhang Yu took a small black wooden box from his robes.

She accepted the box in surprise. "You're really giving it to me?"

Zhang Yu smiled. "I am, but don't open it yet."

Yue Lingshan nodded, then asked, "You'll really let me go?"

"Do you really want to go to Blackwood Cliff and become Eastern Cult Master's concubine?"

The lantern swayed gently, its firelight drifting across Zhang Yu's face. She stared at him for a moment, entranced, then hurriedly lowered her head.

Yue Lingshan remained silent for a long while before summoning immense courage and looking up at the young man. "Will you come back to Mount Hua with me?"

Zhang Yu smiled. "What would I do by going back to Mount Hua with you?"

"I'll ask Father to accept you as his disciple. You'll become the Mount Hua Sect's eighth direct disciple. If that really won't work, I can remain the junior sister and give you the position of seventh junior brother. How about that?"

The more Yue Lingshan spoke, the softer her voice became.

Zhang Yu raised his right hand and rolled up his sleeve.

A black scorpion waved its pincers, its tail stinger gleaming with a sinister blue light.

"Names can be changed, and appearances can be altered. But once certain paths are chosen, they can only be followed to the end. Once certain marks are carved into you, they're nearly impossible to erase."

"The Mount Hua Sect's century-old reputation will never accept a disciple of the Demonic Cult. The path I must take can only be within the Sun Moon Divine Cult."

Yue Lingshan knew that he was right. How could her father possibly accept a disciple of the Demonic Cult?

Zhang Yu looked at the green-robed girl. She was carefree and without worries at that moment, and when he remembered what she would later suffer, he could not help feeling pity for her.

Her father and husband—people she had thought she could rely on for the rest of her life—had all used, humiliated, and abandoned her without mercy in the end. Even when she eventually died beneath the sword of the demonized Lin Pingzhi, she had still begged Linghu Chong to look after her husband.

Yue Lingshan had always faced this martial world, cruel as a breeding vat for venomous creatures, with kindness and love.

Before they stepped onto the stone bridge.

Zhang Yu said softly, "Lingshan, I'm giving you this Azure Water Sword. You can continue to face this martial world with kindness, but—never put down the sword in your hand. No matter whom or what you face, you must protect yourself."

Yue Lingshan accepted the Azure Water Sword that had originally belonged to her.

Once they reached the stone bridge, the green-robed woman walked in front while the man in plain clothes followed behind. When they reached the middle of the bridge, the woman stopped.

"If you're unwilling to join the Mount Hua Sect, then as long as you don't return to Blackwood Cliff, I..."

Yue Lingshan abruptly turned around. People came and went across the stone bridge, but the man was nowhere to be seen, as if he had vanished into thin air.

"Zhang... Liyu."

Only then did she realize that she had never asked his name. She knew only Zhang Liyu, a name that sounded false at first hearing.

She hurriedly searched in every direction, tears welling in her eyes.

Yue Lingshan descended the stone bridge in a daze, only to see a man in a blue robe standing at the bridgehead with one hand on his sword.

"Father."

Yue Buqun's expression was displeased. "What a sharp-witted scoundrel! He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"No. Let's hurry back to Mount Hua. I miss Mother."

Yue Lingshan threw herself into Yue Buqun's arms, and tears immediately streamed down her face.

"Lingshan, it's all right now. It's all right. Father is here. No one can hurt you."

Yue Buqun sighed in relief and looked toward the pitch-black surface of the river.