Beggar

Lush green mountains hemmed the ravines; the ancient road stretched on and on.

Beside the dust-raising old road, the teahouse was exceptionally lively at the moment.

The shop assistant darted about as though smoke rose from beneath his feet, serving tea and water to merchants and wandering heroes from north and south.

During a lull in his work, the proprietor turned to glance at the teahouse entrance and saw a ragged beggar curled into a ball, clutching a bamboo staff as he slept against the steps.

A chipped bowl sat beside him, empty as could be.

"In troubled times, human lives are cheap. They're all miserable souls."

The proprietor sighed, beckoned a shop assistant over, and jerked his chin toward the entrance.

The shop assistant immediately understood. Rolling up his sleeves, he said:

"Just watch, boss. I'll chase him off right away."

Before he could leave, the proprietor slapped him on the head.

"Go fetch two flatbreads from the back and pour him a bowl of water."

The shop assistant froze for a moment before leaving sheepishly. Shortly afterward, he came before the beggar with two flatbreads and a bowl of water in hand, squatted down, and set the bowl beside him.

"Wake up. Wake up."

He nudged the beggar with his foot.

The beggar opened his eyes. His gaze was somewhat clouded as he stared at the shop assistant in surprise, then hurriedly said:

"I'll leave right away, right away..."

"Don't leave. My boss is kind-hearted and can't bear to see others suffer. These two flatbreads are for you. If the water isn't enough, you can ask for more. Eat and drink your fill before you go."

The shop assistant tossed the two flatbreads into the bowl, then returned to the teahouse without looking back.

The beggar was overcome with gratitude and thanked him repeatedly.

Yet when he lowered his head again, a sharp glint silently flashed through his eyes.

He put away one of the two flatbreads, then wolfed down the other.

He was not actually that hungry... He had just eaten a wild duck that morning, and there was still a duck leg hidden in his clothes.

But since he was playing a beggar, he naturally had to look like one.

Chu Qing had always been rather confident in his acting.

This was not because Chu Qing had studied acting in his previous life, but because the original owner of this body had learned such things from an expert.

To become a good assassin, acting and disguise were essential.

If one played a woodcutter, one had to look like a woodcutter. If one played a physician, one had to possess the bearing of a physician.

A top-notch assassin not only had to control his killing intent at will, but also needed the ability to wear a thousand faces and shift through endless transformations, only then could he come and go like a ghost.

With a proper disguise, one could catch the target unprepared during an assassination and raise the chances of success.

Moreover, once these skills were honed, even if the assassination failed, one would not easily be defeated and killed.

As the saying went, if one strike missed, flee a thousand miles.

There was much to learn in that word "flee." It was not merely a matter of running fast, but of hiding fast as well.

If one failed to kill the target, retaliation was inevitable. If the other party had many forces at their side and launched a net of pursuit and interception, how could escape be so easy?

So one had to hide.

Hiding away in corners was hiding, but it was the inferior strategy. Standing amid a crowd without anyone recognizing you—that was the superior strategy.

Hide while fleeing, and no one would ever catch you.

That was true "flight": coming without a shadow, leaving without a trace.

Thus, for an assassin, disguise and acting could sometimes be even more important than martial arts.

Of course, Chu Qing was not disguising himself to assassinate anyone. Though he had obtained an Assassin System, there were currently no commissions.

After escaping half a month ago, he had not had time to wallow in self-pity over transmigrating. Instead, he had begun considering what he should do next.

According to Chu Qing's original plan, he had wanted to flee far away first, find somewhere no one knew him, and use the system to build himself up.

Once he became invincible beneath heaven, he would go tear out the very foundations of the Mirror of Sin and leave it without a scrap of armor.

But that secret letter had changed his plans...

Chu Yunfei had already been openly marked with a price and placed on the Mirror of Sin's list.

Though as a transmigrator, he held no father-son affection for Chu Yunfei.

Yet carrying the original owner's memories had left him with complicated feelings toward Chu Yunfei.

On one hand, he disliked the fate Chu Yunfei had arranged for him. On the other, he could not bear to see him encounter danger.

There were also those small, hidden hopes of winning his approval... All these thoughts had fallen upon Chu Qing's heart along with the memories. They were not enough to make him restless over that secret letter, but distracting thoughts were inevitable, and the matter remained on his mind.

He figured that if Chu Yunfei were truly killed by the Mirror of Sin, it might become a lingering knot in his heart.

That would hardly be worth the loss.

Thus, he finally resolved to secretly return to Heavenly Dance City and warn Chu Yunfei.

With Chu Yunfei's reputation as Iron Palm of Deliverance, combined with the forces of Heavenly Dance City, if he prepared in advance, then even the Mirror of Sin would likely find it difficult to do anything to him within this patch of land.

As for himself... he had no intention of revealing himself.

Leaving aside whether Chu Yunfei still remembered that marriage agreement from years ago, his system was simply unsuited to having attachments.

The rain half a month ago had washed away his traces. He had traveled stealthily and kept himself hidden all the way, and now he was nearly within the borders of Heavenly Dance City.

As he pondered this, the clip-clop of hooves approached from afar.

This place was considered a transportation hub. Three hundred years ago, when the Great Qian Dynasty still existed, there would even have been a relay station here.

Though it was somewhat desolate now, there was no shortage of travelers coming and going.

Chu Qing had paid the hoofbeats little mind at first. He only knew there were two horses. In the blink of an eye, they arrived before him. After the riders dismounted, they casually exchanged a few words, addressing each other as senior brother and junior sister. Clearly, they were disciples of the same sect.

It was not until a clinking sound came from his bowl that Chu Qing raised his head in "surprise."

Before him stood a young man and woman. The man was around twenty, clad in belted azure robes, with wrist guards wrapped around his wrists. His palms were broad, and his knuckles protruded.

At a glance, he was clearly an expert in fist and palm techniques.

The woman appeared somewhat younger than the man. Her clothing was not much different from his, save that it had been tailored for a woman.

Her features were delicate, but her face was expressionless.

By comparison, the young man's expression was rather complicated.

For some reason, when Chu Qing saw the man's face, he inexplicably found it pleasing to the eye...

But he quickly reacted, altering his voice as he spoke.

"Thank you, thank you, Young Master and Miss."

His face was covered in black grime, concealing his true appearance, while his hoarse voice made him sound like a middle-aged beggar.

Upon hearing his voice, the complicated expression on the young man's face vanished. He seemed somewhat disappointed, yet also somewhat relieved. Shaking his head slightly, he said:

"It is nothing."

"Senior Brother... all along the way, whenever you see a beggar, you always give him silver. Why is that?"

When Chu Qing heard the woman speak, her voice was not cold, but neither was it particularly warm, as though they were not especially close.

The man sighed.

"Junior Sister, you do not know. My younger brother left home as a child and has not returned for many years. To this day, there has been no news of him.

"These past half month, whenever I woke from dreams at midnight, I would often see him begging by the roadside in tattered clothes, without enough food to eat or clothes to cover himself, thin and haggard... Every time I dreamed of it, I would be jolted awake.

"Afterward, whenever I saw beggars by the roadside, I would always fear that one of them was him, yet also hope that it was him..."

As Chu Qing listened to him speak, his head began to buzz.

Seven years apart naturally brought changes in appearance, yet blood still ran thicker than water.

No wonder he had found the man pleasing to the eye at first sight... This person was actually his bargain-bin second brother, Chu Fan!

P.S. Many thanks to the three alliance leaders, "Madman's Father," "Untalented One," and "Sunfish," for their support~~~

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