Little River Village

Clear River at dusk.

The setting sun spilled down, its slanting glow tender and lingering.

Old Jiang, who made his living fishing, wore a rain cape.

He poled a small skiff leisurely across the water, preparing to return to the village.

In the two large bamboo baskets tied to the stern, fresh catches were still flapping and leaping.

He lived in Little River Village by Clear River.

The villagers mostly made their living by fishing, selling their catches to the Raging Tide Gang's buyers.

As the boundary between Jianghuai Commandery and Dong Commandery, Clear River wound onward before joining the waters of Eight Hundred Li Flowing Moon Lake.

This whole area was Raging Tide Gang territory.

Ordinary wanderers of the martial world did not dare cause trouble here. Even the Pacification Office seldom set foot in the area. Whenever anyone stirred up trouble...

Raging Tide Gang members would soon come knocking.

But that had been in the past.

Old Jiang had heard from fishermen upstream in Dong Commandery that things had recently changed. Supposedly, the Whale Gang of Everflow River was locked in a bloody battle with the Raging Tide Gang.

Many fishermen near Everflow River in Dong Commandery had suffered as a result.

Being left homeless was already a blessing in misfortune; losing one's life meant there was nowhere to seek justice.

Old Jiang muttered to himself.

He hoped the Raging Tide Gang could drive away the Whale Gang and return peace to Moonfall Lake and the Clear River basin.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he saw a crossbeam drifting down the river. Old Jiang paid it no mind at first...

But something seemed wrong. He rubbed his eyes hard.

At last, he made out what appeared to be a human figure lying motionless atop the beam. He could not tell whether the person was dead or merely unconscious.

Old Jiang's heart stirred.

Could it be a fisherman in distress?

With that thought, Old Jiang did not hesitate. He immediately poled his boat toward the beam.

As he drew closer.

He saw a man in tattered black clothes sprawled across the beam. The man was drenched from head to toe, his face deathly pale, his body covered in blade wounds.

Trouble!

Old Jiang immediately became wary.

This man was clearly from the martial world, and the blade wounds all over him were proof that he had run into trouble.

Old Jiang had not wanted to get involved.

For ordinary people like them.

Matters of the martial world.

The more one meddled, the greater the danger.

Yet just as he was about to row away, he caught an accidental glimpse of the face of the man lying on the beam.

It was a burly fellow with thick brows, big eyes, and rough features.

Old Jiang rubbed his eyes.

Taking a closer look.

He saw half a scabbard protruding from the man's waist. It was broad, blood-red, and distinctly unusual in design.

Cold sweat immediately broke out over Old Jiang's body.

He hurriedly turned the bow around and moved closer.

Using his pole to hook the man's arm, he grabbed him with one hand and forcibly dragged him from the beam onto the skiff.

Old Jiang looked left and right. There was no one around.

He hurriedly dragged the burly man into the covered cabin, then stepped onto the stern and rowed with all his might, steering the skiff away.

Not long after Old Jiang left.

A group of men in tight-fitting clothes, carrying sabers, came striding along the riverbank with killing intent.

They stared out at the empty river surface.

Their expressions were as deep and still as water.

Then they continued downstream along Clear River.

The sun gradually sank, falling onto the distant surface of Clear River.

Old Jiang poled the boat toward Little River Village, carrying the burly man with him.

Before long, night fell.

A bright moon hung above the open plains.

The skiff turned into a clear creek by the river. After traveling a short distance, they saw a pretty figure standing gracefully on the bank.

Hearing the skiff cut through the water, the girl's previously quiet figure instantly sprang to life. She waved happily at the boat.

"Father!"

Old Jiang called back in a long voice.

The girl on the bank wore a green padded jacket and long skirt. Her features were delicate but still carried a touch of youthful immaturity, and beneath the moonlight she seemed to shine.

"Mother's still waiting for us to eat."

Old Jiang leaped ashore, looped the boat rope around his waist, and said in a low voice:

"Axiu, I picked someone up."

"Come give me a hand."

Hearing that something was off in Old Jiang's tone, Axiu quickly helped drag the skiff ashore and tie it to a crooked-necked tree by the bank.

Old Jiang jumped back onto the skiff.

He dragged an unconscious burly man out from inside.

Curiosity filled Axiu's eyes.

"Father, who is this?"

Old Jiang glared at her and urged:

"Why are you asking so many questions, girl?"

"Come help already!"

Axiu stuck out her tongue, then obediently stepped forward to help. Together, they carried the burly man, who had completely fallen unconscious, down from the skiff.

Old Jiang hoisted the man over his shoulder and hurried away from the riverbank, while Axiu carried the two baskets of fish from the boat and followed behind.

The two moved quickly.

Without stopping for even a moment, they returned home under cover of night.

Old Jiang's home stood at the very edge of Little River Village, bordering Clear River, so they did not encounter anyone along the way.

With a crisp bang.

Old Jiang practically crashed through the courtyard gate.

He then turned and urged Axiu, who had followed him in, to shut the wooden gate and slide the bolt into place.

"Ah..."

Old Jiang's wife came out of the kitchen with a startled cry.

"Wh-what happened?"

Old Jiang said urgently:

"Come lend a hand. Carry him to the back courtyard, and find some hemostatic herbs and clean cloth."

Jiang-aunt immediately snapped out of her daze. The two of them carried the burly man to a wooden bed in a side room of the back courtyard.

Then they worked together to remove his bloodstained, wet clothes.

Axiu ground the village's hemostatic herbs into powder and spread it over the dense wounds covering the man's body.

Then she wrapped him in clean gray cloth.

After all that.

The burly man's complexion improved somewhat.

It was no longer that iron-blue, deathly white.

The three members of Old Jiang's family stood before the bed, all panting heavily, exhausted beyond measure.

Looking at the tough, rugged man on the bed, Axiu finally could not help asking:

"Father, this man is covered in wounds."

"We don't even know whether he's a good person. Why did you bring him home? Didn't you say matters of the martial world were the most dangerous?"

Old Jiang stared blankly at the unconscious man.

"I know him."

"He is Qin Jianghe, Hall Master of the Broken Blade Hall under the Raging Tide Gang."

"One year, there was a torrential rain, and Clear River flooded."

"My fishing boat capsized. He was the one who pulled me from the river."

"Later, he even had a large Raging Tide Gang ship dock and sent me back to shore. Otherwise, I would have died long ago."

Axiu gasped softly.

The Raging Tide Gang was a major gang in the Moonfall Lake region, while Broken Blade Hall was one of its branch halls, operating chiefly along the upper and lower reaches of Clear River.

It could be said that the people living on both banks of Clear River owed their peaceful lives entirely to the protection of Broken Blade Hall.

Jiang-aunt, however, spoke with a trace of grievance:

"Old man, how come I never knew about this?"

Old Jiang scratched his head.

"Well, wasn't it so you two wouldn't worry? If I don't take the boat out, what will our family eat?"

Jiang-aunt then looked at the unconscious Qin Jianghe.

"Hall Master Qin is your lifesaver, and our family's benefactor too. We truly can't ignore him!"

Then worry appeared on her face again.

"But Hall Master Qin stands so high above the rest, guarded by hundreds upon hundreds of Broken Blade Hall members. How could he have ended up covered in wounds, only for you to find him?"

Old Jiang said:

"I heard people on the river say that the Raging Tide Gang and the Whale Gang had gone to war on Everflow River. The nearby waters have all been affected."

"Hall Master Qin looks like this."

"Could it be that the Whale Gang raided Broken Blade Hall?"

"But I haven't heard anything about that?"

Seeing that the three of them could not figure it out even with three heads together, Axiu hurriedly urged them:

"We should go out now."

"Let's not disturb Hall Master Qin's rest."

Axiu made sense, so the three of them left the room.

By then, the moon had risen over the eastern hills.

Jiang-aunt wiped her hands on her apron.

"We've been busying ourselves all this time since coming back."

"The food is still warm in the kitchen. Let's go eat something first."