Eyes of the Evening Moon

Li Mo did not care about the conflict between the Pingshan Society and the Lishan Gang.

Now that he had learned to ride a horse and put Doctor's Hall on the right track, his next step was to find a way to question Wang Ying about cultivators.

Unfortunately, that woman's lips were simply too tightly sealed.

Li Mo could only work hard to raise his standing in the Pingshan Society, waiting for the day she came to him of her own accord—or for the day she had no choice but to tell him the truth.

As for improving his martial arts, besides relying on cultivation in the Mystic Dream, Li Mo had begun actual combat sparring.

But how was he supposed to spar?

Here, as long as one was willing to spend silver, anything could be arranged.

One day.

Li Mo carried fine wine and good food and took the initiative to seek out the Shadowless Sword, Wu She.

The two usually had a fairly good relationship. Thus, after Li Mo's repeated attacks with food and drink, Wu She stopped hiding anything from him and began teaching him the subtleties of swordplay.

Li Mo, a swordsman who had only taken up the path halfway through life, benefited immensely.

This kind of combat experience could not be replaced by Li Mo groping around alone in the Mystic Dream. Many things that had once puzzled him were solved under Wu She's explanations.

"Why don't we run through a few moves and spar? I ask Brother Wu to be generous with your guidance!"

Wu She was instantly brimming with interest.

"Haha, let's get acquainted through a fight, too. I'd long heard that your swordsmanship was extraordinary, Brother Li. Come!"

Both were swordsmen. After exchanging sword techniques, they were both captivated by the other's exquisite skill.

While Li Mo benefited enormously, Wu She was also stunned!

In his eyes, although Li Mo's various moves lacked flexibility and killing intent, the posture of every single move was practically perfect—absolutely standard, as if copied from a martial arts manual. His movements flowed like clouds and running water, beautiful as a painting. Clearly, his fundamentals were exceptionally solid.

And martial artists like this were often the most difficult of all to deal with.

"Looks like we'll have to exchange pointers more often in the future!"

After returning his treasured sword to its sheath, Wu She said with a laugh, "By the way, do you know Tang San Dao? His martial arts moves are somewhat similar to yours. Both of you favor flexible, entangling combat. You can exchange pointers more often, too."

Li Mo's heart leaped when he heard this.

"Good!"

Though this could not count as true combat, Li Mo still benefited enormously. He faintly felt that he was seriously lacking this kind of actual sparring.

That night.

Li Mo returned to the wooden hut. Before going to sleep, he habitually took out the Mystic Box and planned to read for a while, when a knock came from the door.

"Who is it?"

"Hehe, it's me."

It was the Jade Fox, Wang Ying. Delight appeared on Li Mo's face, and he immediately rose to open the door.

A fragrant breeze swept in. Wang Ying entered without invitation, sat down on Li Mo's bed, and gazed at him with bewitching eyes.

"There's a Water Jumper in the stronghold. The two bosses plan to have him flayed alive tomorrow. It'll certainly be lively. Are you going?"

Water Jumper was bandit slang for a traitor.

Li Mo looked at Wang Ying, who was gazing at him from the bed with tender affection. Though the beautiful married woman before him was openly seductive, as a Traveling Doctor, he had learned of her wanton daily life. His fastidious nature made him deeply uncomfortable, and he was unwilling to become too close to her.

"I'm a physician. My duty is to save people, and I have no interest in killing them."

Hearing him say this, Wang Ying smiled. "Is that so? When I watched you back then, you didn't seem like a kindhearted man. Why are you just standing there? Come sit down."

"They brought it upon themselves."

After saying this, Li Mo deliberately put on a reserved expression. "Sister Wang, is there something else?"

Wang Ying covered her mouth and laughed softly.

"I came all the way here to keep you company, and you still refuse even when I offer myself at your door. You really are a nasty little brother. Fine, I know what you want. I can tell you about cultivators, but you have to agree to one thing first."

"What is it?"

Li Mo had not expected it to be so simple, and excitement crept into his voice.

Wang Ying leaned close to Li Mo's ear and whispered, "When we go to war with the Lishan Gang in a few days, you must set aside more medicinal herbs in case of need. Give priority to treating the brothers who follow me. That isn't asking too much of you, is it?"

Li Mo did not think much of it. He nodded and agreed at once, then looked at Wang Ying expectantly.

Seeing this, Wang Ying gave an enchanting, coquettish smile.

"Every year, on the fifth day of the fifth month, the Lingmu Sect sends a batch of cultivators to the gates of the Heaven's Mandate Bureau in the provincial capital, the four Prefecture Cities, and the more remote county seats to test spiritual roots. However, if you want to test whether you have a spiritual root, you need to pay a testing fee of five strings of cash. Those who possess spiritual roots are one in a thousand."

Delight appeared on Li Mo's face. He had never expected this matter to be so simple!

"The fifth day of the fifth month—that's the Dragon Boat Festival, isn't it?"

Li Mo was already somewhat impatient.

"Hehe, but don't blame your sister for not warning you. As far as I know, there may well be a huge conspiracy—or rather, a trap—hidden in this. So I advise you to finish your sister's task before you leave. Otherwise, once you learn the truth later... you may regret it for the rest of your life."

Only after Wang Ying left did the gravity on Li Mo's face gradually fade. He stared deeply at her departing back.

He could not tell whether she had invented it out of thin air or whether it was really true.

Could there truly be a conspiracy and trap hidden in this?

The next day.

Li Mo practiced martial arts in the open space before Doctor's Hall. As he leaped over and over again, he continued pondering Wang Ying's words from the night before.

Was the conspiracy and trap she mentioned real, or was it merely a way to make him stay?

After a long while.

"Sigh."

Li Mo let out a long sigh.

He decided to stay here for now and fulfill his promise.

First, he was a man who kept his promises and was unwilling to break his word. Second, Han Kui had once said that once one's basic martial arts reached mastery, even cultivators would benefit immeasurably.

And he still needed at least another year or so to master his martial arts. Even if he stayed here, it would not count as wasting time. After all, there were quite a few experts here, and he still had plenty of silver. He could spar and exchange pointers often, allowing him to reach mastery sooner.

"Kill me! Just kill me!"

The Lishan Gang's Water Jumper screamed hysterically, but Gao Zhen wore a savage expression and never struck a fatal blow. He intended to hack him into a thousand pieces—a punishment commonly known as slow slicing.

Li Mo gave him a distant glance, then left coldly.

And so, under Li Mo's torrent of spending, he began constantly exchanging martial arts pointers with the various gang leaders of the Pingshan Society. As his combat experience rose rapidly, he asked Han Kui why he could not sense the Killing Intent on others, only to discover in shock that his martial arts had a fatal flaw!

He lacked what was known as a danger instinct.

The Three-Way Swordplay had described it before: Second-Rate Experts of the martial world combined Killing Intent with instinct.

Because he lacked combat experience and had always shut himself away to train, Li Mo had never cultivated the so-called danger instinct, and naturally could not combine it with Killing Intent.

If he had not sparred repeatedly here and had continued training behind closed doors, this fatal flaw would have followed him for life. Perhaps he would never have reached martial arts mastery.

The discovery filled Li Mo with delight, but also left him shaken.

The sixth-sense instinct that sensed danger was a trait shared by all martial artists. Often, it was in that razor-thin moment between life and death that they found a sliver of survival.

"Interact and spar with more people. Find that danger instinct!"

Li Mo set this goal for himself in his heart.

Before he knew it, the Evening Moon was approaching again.

The gang leaders who escorted the merchants back to Songjiang Town brought good news.

The three escort agencies in Songjiang Town had agreed to resume cooperation, on the condition that the Pingshan Society eliminate the Lishan Gang. The three agencies would then continue traveling along the waterways controlled by the Pingshan Society and pay tribute by the month.

Everyone cheered and rejoiced, their enthusiasm soaring.

There was also the matter of the medicinal herbs purchased from below the mountain. Two full carts had been transported to Doctor's Hall.

The Pingshan Society had clearly prepared for a protracted war!

After all, both gangs had quite a few experts, as well as over a hundred bandits. Even if the Pingshan Society won through a direct assault, it would inevitably lose many men. And the Eighteen Mountains were no charitable place; there were plenty of people ready to take advantage of a disaster. Thus, the gangs of the Eighteen Mountains had always followed their own rules when conflicts arose.

If there was no absolute gap between the martial arts of the two gangs' bosses and gang leaders, they would usually encircle the mountain and harass it until one side was utterly exhausted.

Otherwise, if they clashed head-on, the only result would be two snipe and clam struggling while the fisherman profited, leaving others to reap the benefits.

"After the Evening Moon, we'll f*** them!"

"F*** them..."

Late at night.

Li Mo lay on his bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

For one thing, the martial arts exchange that had just ended had left him too excited to calm down. For another, he had thought of the Evening Moon from last year, when his mother had left him, and he was overwhelmed by longing.

"Mother, once I've mastered my martial arts and learned about the conspiracy behind testing cultivators' spiritual roots, I'll leave this place at once. I won't make you worry."

After murmuring this to himself, he turned over in bed and inadvertently glanced out the window.

Today was the first day of the Evening Moon.

It had only just passed midnight. Li Mo looked at the scene outside the window, then suddenly shuddered and sat upright in bed.

His eyes brimmed with disbelief.

Under the moonlight, across the cold mountains and earth, the land seemed to be covered by a layer of sticky membrane that defied description—or perhaps slime.

The slime emitted an eerie glow, as if it were alive, and writhed ceaselessly. Occasionally, it gathered together like a gigantic egg, seemingly trying to give birth to something. Yet as countless mysterious silver runes surged from the mountains and earth in every direction and gradually converged upon these bulging regions, the protrusions slowly dispersed.

"What is this?"

Li Mo's horrified gaze fell upon the moonlight before the window.

Slime was flowing there as well, gradually gathering into a bulge the size of a chicken egg.

He carefully observed the bulge. He could vaguely see black smoke, tentacles, scales, and slime churning within. A strange little thing that made his scalp crawl was rapidly taking shape.

"Is this... an evil entity?"

Li Mo held his breath, unable to believe it.

Then a vast number of silver runes surged over from nearby. They resembled a swarm of silver tadpoles, like the natural music of the heavens and earth, inscribing principles and laws as they converged toward the bulge before Li Mo's window.

The little evil entity within struggled in agony, then was dissected by countless silver tadpoles.

Li Mo's scalp prickled. He remembered the mad hunter's words.

He looked up at the sky through the window again.

But this time, he saw none of those horrifying, oppressive, twisted, despairing, absurd, indescribable scenes. The entire night sky was silent and still, with nothing unusual about it. Perhaps he had simply been imagining things.

All the mental preparation he had made was suddenly useless.

But Li Mo did not relax because of this. He remembered the mad hunter's bizarre left hand. He swallowed, then slowly extended one finger of his right hand.

"Ah!"

Li Mo cried out in pain.

As if electrocuted, he swiftly withdrew his right index finger.

The skin on that finger had rapidly swollen red, as though it were about to rot. If Li Mo had been even a little slower, the finger might have withered and died completely like the mad hunter's.

Li Mo could not help sucking in a cold breath. Uncontrollable terror filled his eyes.

"How could this be?"

He carefully hid himself so that no part of his body extended beyond the window.

However, when he looked toward the sky again, he suddenly saw a red eye several times larger than the moon slowly turning in the heavens, as if searching for something. He immediately sucked in another cold breath, feeling a chill shoot from his tailbone straight to his crown, freezing even his thoughts.

At this moment, he finally understood what the mad hunter had said.

While he could see them, they could also see him. Once they saw him, he would surely die!

After a long while.

The enormous eye gradually vanished.

Li Mo found some medicinal herbs inside the room and bandaged his injured finger. Then he lay down on the bed again. Though worried, he was not terrified or lost. He merely wore a grave expression as he analyzed and pondered this strange change.

"Sunset, Evening Moon—no wonder they are called taboo times. Who would have thought such a secret was hidden behind them?"

Then he recalled that only one of the mad hunter's hands had been cursed, yet he had not died from it. According to the hunter, as long as one did not expose oneself directly beneath the sky, they could not see him.

The next day.

Li Mo stood at the doorway, hesitating for a long time.

The so-called Evening Moon lasted fourteen days in the latter half of the second month. He could not possibly stay indoors the entire time. In the end, he summoned his courage and extended one finger again, though this time the finger was tucked inside his sleeve.

Even so, he swiftly withdrew it after only an instant.

"Just as I thought. It's fine."

This time, Li Mo felt no pain, and his finger remained unharmed.

Though there was only a layer of leather clothing between it and the sky, that layer could effectively resist the harm from above. After trying repeatedly, he gradually relaxed.

"During Evening Time, avoid going outdoors. If you must go out, carry an umbrella for shelter. During the Evening Moon, avoid labor. Who would have thought there was such a profound reason behind these customs?"

Thus, Li Mo put on his bamboo hat and straw rain cape. To be safe, he opened an oil-paper umbrella as well before finally stepping out of the room.