Life's Ideals

The next day.

Urgent gong strikes rang out from Shanbei Village.

The villagers stood beneath the steep cliff, gathered before what had once been the Land God Temple. It was now buried beneath a torrent of boulders, and all seventeen members of the Zhao family's three households had been entombed.

"This is retribution—retribution! The Land God has revealed his divine power!"

"Those Zhao bastards deserved to die! They barged in to consume an orphaned household, drove Xiao Man and her mother onto the streets, then treated them like servants. We're citizens of Da Gan Kingdom now, and they were still pulling this crap? Pah! They deserved it!"

"Maybe Xiao Man turned into a vengeful ghost and came back for revenge?"

"Don't talk nonsense. Xiao Man went to the River God Palace to enjoy a life of bliss..."

The deaths of the Zhao family's three households and seventeen people in Shanbei Village could only be considered a natural disaster. In Hua'an Town, which had only recently endured the great Tan River flood, it was hardly worth much notice and was soon forgotten.

Half a month later.

The senior brothers who had always cared about Li Mo's physical and mental well-being received news that Quhe Town's public security crackdown had reached its preliminary conclusion.

They immediately suggested to Old Man Feng that Li Mo be temporarily transferred to work at Jimin Hall in Quhe Town.

"Quhe Town?"

Old Man Feng looked thoughtful before finally nodding.

"That works. This child really does need to go out and see the world. A new environment may help him grow better. Sigh."

Several days later.

News spread from Jimin Hall in Hua'an Town that Jimin Hall in Quhe Town was desperately short of staff. Li Mo would travel far from home to practice medicine and save lives, and he would not be returning anytime soon.

Wang Pan said reluctantly, "When you get there, if there's anything tasty, remember to bring lots back for me. I've never even left town before. I heard the mountain roads are terribly hard to travel, and mountain spirits and water monsters make trouble there. You must be careful on the road and stick to the main roads as much as possible."

"Definitely!"

After embracing him, Li Mo waved farewell to his senior brothers.

After Emperor of the Qian Yuan Era founded Da Gan Kingdom, he swiftly unified the kingdom's systems of weights and measures.

Once upon a time.

Every country used the so-called Great Zhou Ritual Scale. At that time, one chi was roughly two-thirds of its current length, which gave rise to the saying "a seven-chi man."

But after Da Gan Kingdom was established, the imperial court issued standards for weights and measures, decreeing that ten cun made one chi, and ten chi made one zhang.

However, when describing living things such as people and animals, common folk still habitually used the Zhou ritual scale—for example, seven chi tall or eight chi tall. Yet when describing immovable dead objects, or objective heights and distances, they generally used the Da Gan legal scale. In that case, seven chi became two-thirds of a zhang.

Some also claimed that certain conspiracies lay behind this, involving matters such as the order of Heaven and Earth and the authority to define human laws and customs. They made it sound unfathomably mysterious.

Da Gan Kingdom's local administrative system could be divided into three levels: prefectures, commanderies, and counties.

Among the Nine Prefectures and thirty-six commanderies, Muzhou was the largest in area but the most sparsely populated, as well as the poorest prefecture. Yet it was also a vital borderland in the war against Lu Country.

Muzhou governed four commanderies: Luquan, Anbei, Shangfeng, and Zhang River.

Baian County, where Li Mo lived, lay within Anbei Prefecture.

Baian County had originally been an obscure subordinate district of Anbei Prefecture, containing four enormous border towns. But after Hua'an, Quhe, and Tongchao Town were incorporated into it several years ago, its population and territory surged. Following Da Gan Kingdom's borderland assimilation policy, it established the Xiangyue Yamen, a subordinate government office. Its status within Anbei Prefecture rapidly rose, and it became one of the prefecture's foremost priorities.

Li Mo had been walking for nearly half a month, yet he still had not left Baian County.

He could not help envying those who rode horses. Their speed was who knew how many times faster. Unfortunately, a horse cost at least several dozen taels of silver. He could not afford one, nor could he ride, so he could only keep walking.

Muzhou was vast and sparsely populated.

For the overwhelming majority of ordinary people living here, they would often never leave the bounds of a single town in their entire lives.

It was said that the relatively prosperous inland prefectures and commanderies covered far less land and had many cities. Some said that one town in Muzhou was even larger than one county in Jingzhou.

As the sun set in the west, it was time to avoid travel again.

Slightly weary from the journey, Li Mo first raised his head to glance at the sky. His pupils contracted slightly, and after his body stiffened briefly, he quickly returned to normal as though nothing had happened. Then he noticed a noodle shop by the roadside in the distance and decided to rest there for now.

After finishing two bowls of plain noodles, satisfaction appeared on his face.

"Waiter, bring me another four steamed cakes. Put them on the same bill."

"Coming right up, sir. That'll be eighteen coins altogether."

Li Mo nodded, took copper coins from his purse, carefully counted them, and set them on the table. Then he took the piping-hot steamed cakes and tucked them into his clothes as provisions for tomorrow.

Just then.

Someone bumped into Li Mo, and a crisp crack sounded on the ground.

"Kid, don't you have eyes when you walk? Well, now you've done it. Second Master's God of Wealth statue is broken. If you don't explain yourself today, don't even think about leaving."

Several hooligans surrounded him.

The leading man stood bare-chested, revealing thick chest hair and rolls of fat. He pushed aside Li Mo's bamboo hat and laughed wantonly. "At such a young age, you're already trying to roam the martial world? Hurry and call your family over to pay up. At least three taels of silver!"

The surrounding diners all turned to look.

Although Li Mo had only just entered the martial world, he had spent over half a year traveling with Jimin Hall's senior brothers to practice medicine in various places, and he had gained considerable experience. He knew he had run into a scam. Hua'an Town had ruffians like this too, usually lurking around remote taverns to bully outsiders.

He had not expected them to target him.

Anger rose in Li Mo's heart as he drew the sharp sword at his waist.

"Move aside!"

Niu Er was first stunned. Then he exchanged looks with the other ruffians and burst into loud laughter, clearly not taking Li Mo seriously at all.

He actually stepped forward on his own and stretched out his neck.

"Come on, come on, chop me! Right here. If Second Master so much as dodges, I'm no hero!"

Seeing how shameless and unreasonable this man was, killing intent surged within Li Mo.

Fortunately, his rationality remained. He forcefully suppressed the hostility in his heart, wanting only to leave as quickly as possible before he did something irreparable. Yet those hooligans surrounded him again.

"Trying to leave?"

The man blocked him with a retching gesture. "You really don't take Lord Niu Er seriously, do you? Why don't you ask around about the things your Lord Niu Er did in Quhe Town? When I was your age, your Grandpa Niu Er was already squatting in a county jail. You dare act like a scoundrel in front of me? If you don't leave your silver behind today, I'll break your legs!"

Li Mo shoved at them several times but could not break free from the ruffians.

As his anger grew ever fiercer, Li Mo's right hand once again lightly gripped his sword hilt, and his gaze gradually turned cold and indifferent. The hooligans who had been jeering and shoving him seemed to sense the danger. They all stopped moving, their expressions stiffening.

Niu Er even took a sudden step back, staring at Li Mo in shock and fear.

This was Sha Qi!

Anyone tainted by Sha Qi was someone of the martial world.

Niu Er was only a street thug. He could merely rely on his worthless life and Da Gan Kingdom's good public order to bully honest outsiders. But when he truly encountered someone from the martial world who killed without batting an eye, he immediately lost his nerve.

Fortunately, two constables happened to ride past and noticed the situation.

"Niu Er!"

One constable shouted, "Are you up to your scoundrel tricks again?"

Niu Er came back to his senses and hurriedly greeted him with a smile.

"So it's Constable Wang. I've already turned over a new leaf—how would I dare? It was only a small misunderstanding with this little brother. I was just about to leave!"

The other hooligans also put on smiling faces, speaking to people like people and to ghosts like ghosts.

"Hmph. You'd better behave yourself. Quhe Town isn't a place that hides filth and harbors corruption."

After warning him, the constable turned to Li Mo. "Little brother, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Li Mo was also somewhat nervous. He had nearly been unable to restrain himself from acting just now.

If this had been in the past, when he had not yet learned martial arts and was only a Traveling Doctor, there would have been nothing he could do in such a situation. He would only have tried to reason with them, and in the end these hooligans would most likely have succeeded. But now, seeing these ruffians act shamelessly before him, he was easily provoked, and thoughts of drawing his sword and killing them kept arising in his mind.

At that moment, he suddenly woke up to the fact that Sha Qi had affected him. He could no longer return to the peaceful life he once had.

This was what they meant by: once in the martial world, one could no longer act as one pleased.

Once he had taken that step, there was no turning back.

And according to what Brother Zhang Qin had said, constables seemed capable of sensing this Sha Qi, which made Li Mo feel somewhat anxious.

The constable gestured behind him.

"About thirty li ahead, you'll reach Quhe Town."

"Thank you."

Li Mo cupped his fists and hurried away.

Only after the two constables had warned Niu Er and the others again did they ride off. Along the way, the taller constable with the broad face felt increasingly that something was wrong.

"Did you sense the Sha Qi on him?"

Sha Qi was a kind of aura that could influence one's temperament. After undergoing blood feuds and killings in the martial world, martial artists often became tainted with Sha Qi and grew extremely irritable. Ordinary people found it difficult to sense such a thing, but hooligans and constables who dealt with martial artists over long periods could vaguely detect it.

The other man froze at those words.

Then his expression changed sharply. "That does seem to be the case. When that bastard Niu Er angered him just now, there really was something strange about him."

The two exchanged a glance, then stopped their horses at the same time, turned around, and chased after Li Mo in the direction he had gone.

But Li Mo did not continue down the main road toward the so-called Quhe Town.

On a single thought, he left the main road and entered a small path leading toward the Eighteen Mountains!

"Since the people in Hua'an Town don't know how to become cultivators, the people in Quhe Town probably won't know either. I might as well try my luck in the Eighteen Mountains. Those river bandits have better sources of information and will definitely know something!"

Li Mo's steps became ever firmer.

"Compared to practicing medicine and saving people as a Traveling Doctor, becoming an inspector and acting as a hero to save the world is what can truly make this world better!"

Though this place was called the Eighteen Mountains, it did not contain only eighteen mountains. Rather, it was a broad geographical term.

When he had followed Ding Jie in practicing medicine, he had heard many stories of the martial world. He knew that because the terrain here was complicated, the land vast and sparsely populated, and the waterways vital, martial sects and gangs flourished everywhere. It was a gathering place for river bandits, who made their living by plundering passing merchant ships.

Though the authorities launched suppression campaigns every few years, wildfire could not burn it all away; when the spring wind blew, it grew again. Once the heat died down, those river bandits would gather again.

The mountain path was thick with thorny brambles and rugged beyond measure.

Fortunately, the cold weather had sent the mosquitoes and insects into dormancy. After finding a level patch of ground, Li Mo used a tinder tube to light a campfire and rested where he was.

As he watched the flames sway before him, all manner of stray thoughts flashed through Li Mo's mind. Then he sank into a deep sleep.

Standing upon an endless, ancient wasteland, with dark clouds churning fiercely through the sky, Li Mo knew that he had entered the Mystic Dream again.

He looked down at his hands. They were still in the form of shadows.

But by now, he was used to it.

Thus, Li Mo first habitually practiced the three body-strengthening techniques of Three-Way Swordplay—the leaping jump, the backward dodge, and the side-to-side sway—as references for the correct breathing and exertion methods when he trained in reality. Then he began practicing all sorts of combined sword moves, seeking to reach a realm where he could act as he wished and adapt with nimble variation.

Who knew how much time passed.

Li Mo began to feel tired.

He stopped, sat down upon the ancient wasteland of the Mystic Dream to rest, and looked up at the endlessly roiling dark clouds. Every now and then, a massive shadow glided past.

"What are those shadows above the clouds?"

Li Mo felt curious, but unfortunately, he could not fly and had no way to go take a look.

After a long while.

Li Mo shook his head. He silently swore that no matter what danger the Mystic Box brought him, he would never choose to give up like that mad hunter had.

If he gave up the Mystic Box, he might gain peace, but in return, he would return to mediocrity.

If Xiao Man were still here, he might have chosen to give it up.

But now, he feared nothing—not even death.

As Li Mo withdrew his gaze, he suddenly discovered wisps of mist appearing across the ground around him. They were milky white, merely thinner than the clouds in the sky, and this left him stunned.

Li Mo tried to scoop up the mist with both hands, only to find that it was like intangible flowing water, swiftly drifting away through his palms.

More strange phenomena had appeared in the dream.

Li Mo did not know whether this was good or bad. His compatibility with the Mystic Box seemed to have deepened once again.