Memorial Rites

A month or so passed.

The date arrived at February 18, Qingming Festival, with a fine drizzle veiling the sky.

Today, the City Guard organized a ceremony to commemorate the First Emperor of the Da'an Dynasty. The City Guard took the lead, and everyone from every martial arts school in the city had to attend.

Cui Hao and Lin Da arrived at the academy early.

As they changed clothes, they heard their fellow disciples talking about the "preliminary exam" and the Martial Xiucai title.

They also discussed what paths lay ahead after becoming a Martial Xiucai.

The "preliminary exam" was an event organized by the prefectural government. Its purpose was to distribute cultivation resources to martial artists, but the resources were hard to obtain and competition was fierce.

After becoming a Martial Xiucai, there were two paths to choose from. One was to enter a sect for further study and continue on to take the Martial Juren exam.

The other was to try their luck in the prefectural city, seek instruction from a more powerful martial master, or join a faction.

In any case, they would not stay in Qingyuan City.

Only martial artists who failed to become Martial Xiucai would remain in Qingyuan City, joining wealthy merchants or prominent lineages.

As Cui Hao listened to his fellow disciples talk, a thought took root in his heart: he would enter a sect and master real skills!

Only then could he carve out a peaceful life for himself and Su Yun in this turbulent world, one where no one would dare bully them.

"Is everyone ready?" Third Senior Brother Gao Feng strode in and shouted. "Let's go!"

Nearly a hundred people set out from the academy in a mighty procession. Naturally, their master and the Clear Force disciples walked at the front.

The ordinary martial artists were in the middle.

The regular disciples brought up the rear.

Their imposing procession drew plenty of passersby and shopkeepers to stop and watch.

On the way, they ran into people from Guangchang Martial Arts Hall, making the procession even larger, with more than two hundred people in all.

For some reason, there was a faint spark of hostility between the Clear Force disciples on both sides.

The ordinary martial artists and regular disciples, on the other hand, showed no antagonism. They seemed to find the whole thing amusing and exciting.

Before the hour of the Snake, all twenty-four martial arts schools in the city, large and small, left through the East Gate and arrived at the docks beside the Eastward River.

The site had been prepared in advance. Banners fluttered everywhere, and colorful pennants stood in ranks like a forest. As if the heavens were lending their favor, the rain had stopped and the sun had come out.

"Stand up straight! Put some spirit into it!" Second Senior Brother Halan Sheng called out as he walked along the edge of the procession. "Don't bring shame on Zhanhong Martial Arts Academy!"

Everyone answered in unison.

The other schools did the same, each shouting louder than the last, as if they were competing.

Then someone in the procession spoke up. "I saw Senior Brother Xiao Li up ahead."

Everyone stood in square formations. Xiao Li and his group were a little different: they were at the very front of all the processions, alongside the City Guard.

At the exact start of the hour of the Snake, a drum sounded, and the ceremony commemorating the First Emperor of the Da'an Dynasty officially began.

An official in charge of ritual and music presided over the proceedings.

Like ancient China before transmigration, the Da'an Dynasty also had the concept of "rites collapsing and music falling into ruin."

It had a complex and complete system of social and political norms and rules of conduct.

It prescribed political order, as well as the hierarchy, rights, and duties governing rulers and subjects, fathers and sons, husbands and wives, brothers, and friends.

Ceremonies such as sacrifices, court audiences, alliances, weddings and funerals, and rules for clothing, food, housing, and travel all had their own standard procedures.

However, because the western frontier was unstable, the dynasty had seen some breaches of ritual, and many things were no longer as they had been before.

When they reached the "slaughter" and "offering" portion of the ceremony, City Guard Pang Gaoshan ascended the raised platform.

He stood over six feet tall, his frame like a pine or cypress. Standing at the front, he towered above the rest, striking and extraordinary, as if a god had descended to earth.

"Good heavens!" Lin Da couldn't help exclaiming. "The City Guard looks a whole head taller than a doorframe. He's like one of those guardian kings in a temple!"

Cui Hao quietly cautioned Lin Da. "Don't say things like that."

Lin Da fell silent. At the same time, a group of City Guard soldiers brought out more than thirty prisoners in shackles and cangues, leading them to the docks and making them kneel in a row.

At Pang Gaoshan's command, the guards drew their regulation steel sabers and brought them down.

In an instant, heads rolled along the riverside docks, and the heavy stench of blood drifted away on the wind.

The martial arts schools, which had been quietly vying with one another, fell utterly silent. Many disciples went pale and instinctively held their breath. Only the river's rushing current and the banners snapping in the wind could be heard.

It was only when Pang Gaoshan continued speaking that the atmosphere eased a little.

By the end of the hour of the Snake, the ceremony commemorating the First Emperor of the Da'an Dynasty was over. Pang Gaoshan invited the twenty-four school masters to a banquet, and everyone else dispersed.

"They're not even providing lunch?" Lin Da complained. "I've been standing around all morning. I'm starving."

"Lin Da!" Cui Hao punched him hard in the shoulder. "Loose lips sink ships!"

Lin Da was sensible enough to admit his mistake at once. "Brother Hao, I won't do it again."

"Junior Brother Cui," Liu Yan asked as she walked over, her childlike face at odds with her muscular build, "why did you hit Junior Brother Lin?"

"Senior Sister Liu, I said something I shouldn't have." Lin Da lowered his head. "Brother Hao was right to hit me. I won't dare do it again."

"It's good if you can change. Junior Brother Cui will keep you in line; someone else might not."

Lin Da wasn't a new disciple. He nodded firmly.

It was a rare opportunity, and the timing was just right, so Cui Hao took the initiative to invite her. "Senior Sister Liu, let me treat you to noodles."

"Sorry," Liu Yan said with a shy smile. "I have a big appetite."

"I'll make sure you're full." Just then, he spotted Sun Cheng and called out to him. "Senior Brother Sun, I'm treating everyone to noodles."

"Sounds great," Sun Cheng readily agreed. "Thanks, Junior Brother Cui."

There were plenty of roadside stalls outside the docks. The four of them sat down at a noodle stall, and Cui Hao called out, "Boss, sorry to trouble you—eight bowls of soft mutton noodles, please!"

"Coming right up! Please sit tight, honored guests. They'll be ready in a moment!"

"I'll order eight bowls to start," Cui Hao said generously. "We can get more if that's not enough."

"You're so generous, Junior Brother," Liu Yan said ruefully. "If I'd known, I wouldn't have haggled when I bought your chick."

"Those are two different things, Senior Sister. Don't worry about it."

"Huh? Sister Liu, Junior Brother Cui, Junior Brother Lin."

The four turned at the sound of the voice and saw Xu Liqing and Xu Ren passing by, with another female disciple, Zhou Hua, following behind them.

Unlike the male disciples, who all wore training uniforms, the female disciples were allowed to wear ordinary clothes.

Xu Liqing wore an elegant, light-blue ruqun. A simple wooden hairpin was tucked into her waterfall of dark hair, making her lovely, refined features stand out all the more.

No wonder she was the goddess in the hearts of every male disciple in the academy.

Zhou Hua's makeup was exquisite, and she was pretty in her own right, but beside Xu Liqing, she became little more than an attendant.

She had reached the peak of the ordinary martial arts realm and was usually on good terms with Xu Liqing, but Cui Hao had no connection with her.

As for Xu Ren, he was the young master of Xu's Pharmacy. Cui Hao had met him when selling the Golden Python, then seen him once on his first day at the academy. Now, more than five months later, this was only their second meeting.

After a moment's surprise, Cui Hao smiled and greeted them. "Senior Sister Xu, Senior Brother Xu, Senior Sister Zhou? Please, have a seat. It's my treat."

Xu Liqing smiled warmly. "Then thank you, Junior Brother Cui."

Zhou Hua also nodded reservedly, her gaze pausing briefly on Cui Hao's plain cloth shoes.

Xu Ren pulled over a small stool and sat down. "Thank you, Junior Brother Cui."

Cui Hao called to the stall owner again and ordered six more bowls.

He wasn't worried they wouldn't finish them. Even women who practiced martial arts had huge appetites.

There were plenty of stalls nearby and plenty of people eating, but their corner was fairly quiet. Zhou Hua asked with a hint of casual curiosity, "Junior Brother, where are you currently employed as a guard? You must have a position, right?"

Cui Hao answered calmly, "The Hu Family Flower Shop is supporting my martial arts training."

"The Hu family? Which Hu family?" Zhou Hua froze for a moment, then seemed to hear the biggest joke of her life. "Do you mean that miserly old Hu in front of Zhongwazi Street, the one who makes even his shop assistants bring their own food for lunch? He's supporting you?!"

Her voice rose without her realizing it, drawing glances from the neighboring table. "Junior Brother Cui, haven't you been cheated? Everyone in the city knows that getting three taels of silver out of him is harder than plucking a feather from an iron rooster!"

Xu Liqing and Xu Ren also stared wide-eyed, equally incredulous.

"It's the Hu family," Cui Hao said. He only knew about the three great lineages and didn't know much about the Hu family, so he asked in confusion, "Is there a problem?"

Zhou Hua paused, then said firmly, "Master Hu is famous throughout Qingyuan City for being stingy. They say he eats nothing but steamed buns and pickles at home every day. There's no way you could get support from him."

Cui Hao looked at Senior Brother Sun Cheng.

Sun Cheng lowered his head and counted his chopsticks.