Beggar Sect

Huang Shang rode his horse, a flower in his hair, through the streets of the Capital City.

Peonies, roses, and gardenias bloom, all atop the hats of the court officials.

He used to laugh at Song men's peculiar tastes. Now he was one of them.

And yet, after he put on the flower, many of his classmates came to praise him, then eagerly followed suit.

Huang Shang realized he was fitting into life in the Great Song better and better.

At first, he had imitated it deliberately. Now it came naturally.

Three places remained unchanged.

His humble abode, Zhang Zai's home, and the Great Xiangguo Temple.

When the little nun brought him the forty-seven strings of cash, beaming with joy, he knew his target had taken the bait.

But he still had to keep up his old habits.

If he was going to put on an act, he had to go all the way.

Only his outward relaxation concealed his inward vigilance.

Huang Shang knew that his identity would be an enormous temptation to the Reincarnators.

But for now, he was merely a scholar with no connection to the martial world.

The only value they could get from him lay in his talent and potential.

In other words, the Reincarnators wanted him.

Huang Shang's Character Card!

That meant his basic safety was assured.

There were two ways to bind a story character through a spatial contract, one good and one evil.

The good way was to win the story character's favor. Once it reached its limit, the character could be brought out into the myriad worlds with a pledge: "I don't ask to be born on the same day, in the same month, and in the same year as you. I only ask to die on the same day, in the same month, and in the same year. I'm in!"

The evil way was to destroy the story character's convictions. Once they had lost all hope, they would naturally fall under the Reincarnator's control, and could be taken wherever the Reincarnator wished.

In Book and Sword: Gratitude and Revenge, those queue-wearing men had wanted to destroy the Red Flower Society in order to bind Chen Jialuo.

The latter method was simpler, but story characters obtained that way had basically no chance of improving.

The exception was a story's protagonist, who possessed the power of destiny. Their Character Card had a gold border, signifying theoretically unlimited growth potential.

Huang Shang wasn't a story's protagonist. If he had been at the peak of his powers, a Reincarnator might have committed evil by killing his family to bind him.

But after an evil binding now, all they would get was an empty shell.

So only a good binding could give them a future grandmaster.

He had considered all this before entering the world.

Huang Shang wouldn't stake his life on whether the Reincarnators were kindhearted or utterly deranged.

But even with a good binding, the process mattered.

Reincarnators knew how the story unfolded. They could change its course and avert a tragedy to win their target's favor. That was the first method.

For example, A'zhu and Xiao Feng in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils.

The funny thing was, Xiao Feng was so popular that too many Reincarnators wanted to save A'zhu.

Before A'zhu was even dead, the Reincarnators were already fighting among themselves. There were plenty of examples like that.

But what if a story character had no tragedy to begin with, and nothing needed changing? What then?

In psychology, there was something called the suspension bridge effect. When someone crossed a swaying suspension bridge in a state of fear, their heart would race involuntarily. If they happened to meet someone of the opposite sex at that moment, they might mistake their racing heartbeat, caused by the situation, for a physical response brought on by attraction to the other person, and fall in love.

That was the principle behind saving a beauty and winning her heart in return.

By the same logic, a Reincarnator could create a suspension bridge, then appear as a savior and win someone over!

They could be god or devil, all in one.

So Huang Shang reckoned that if those two Reincarnators wanted to bind him, they would almost certainly use this method.

Suffering a little was no big deal.

The real problem was that if the Reincarnators cast themselves as his benefactors, dealing with them afterward would be a tremendous hassle.

Huang Shang wanted to take the initiative.

He wanted the Reincarnators to be the ones chasing after him.

Not because he enjoyed being fawned over, but because a devoted admirer was always the one in the more humiliating position.

And the more they gave, the harder it was for them to let go.

Even if he ignored them, they would still fuss over him and quietly show their concern.

That was the "right" way to get along.

Let's see what kind of trouble they bring me...

Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrived. As Huang Shang's humble abode came into view, he saw Liu Yi waiting outside the courtyard. Liu Yi hurried over, his face full of grief. "Shengzhong, Chen Ziyu has passed away."

Huang Shang froze.

Chen Sheng was dead?

He was so young, came from a decent family, and hadn't even been saddled with overtime work as payback for good deeds. How had he ended up gone?

He was about to ask when it had happened, but a thought struck him, and he swallowed the question, putting on a sorrowful expression. "Siwen, my condolences."

Liu Yi watched Huang Shang, studying his expression. Only after a moment did he ask hesitantly, "Shengzhong, did this have something to do with you?"

Huang Shang looked astonished. "I haven't seen Ziyu lately. Why would you say that, Siwen?"

Liu Yi looked apologetic and hurried to say, "I was out of line!"

Liu Yi and Chen Sheng had been childhood friends. They had attended the same school, and they were very close.

Of course Liu Yi was especially grief-stricken over Chen Sheng's death. Huang Shang wouldn't hold that against him.

But why had Liu Yi suspected him?

He thought it over, then simply asked, "What exactly happened?"

Liu Yi hesitated, but in the end, he didn't explain. Instead, he lowered his voice and said, "Be careful of Ziyu's family. They've got the wrong idea."

With that, he turned and left.

A flicker passed through Huang Shang's eyes. He immediately went inside, wrote a letter, and had a servant deliver it, asking his classmates for protection.

Then he ate when it was time to eat and slept when it was time to sleep.

There was no doubt Chen Sheng hadn't died of natural causes.

And there was a good chance Chen Sheng had targeted him before he died, so Chen Sheng's family suspected Huang Shang had killed him.

He was clearly the victim and hadn't done anything. Yet because the other man had died, he was the one who had to bear the consequences of revenge.

That was how things really worked.

Still, Huang Shang wasn't too worried about the trouble Chen Sheng had brought him.

There were two possibilities to consider—

If it was a coincidence and no Reincarnator had been involved, then the threat was limited.

After all, his name had already made waves in the Capital City. He was a disciple of the great Confucian Zhang Zai and had plenty of classmates.

The other family wasn't some powerful clan. They would have to think carefully before making a move.

But if a Reincarnator was involved, that was a different matter.

He was in the open, his enemy in the shadows. There was no way to stop them from plotting against him.

Fortunately, his life wouldn't be in danger. They would just create an opportunity for a Reincarnator to show off and save him.

So all Huang Shang needed to do was rest up and prepare for every possible emergency.

The next morning, Huang Shang left on time and headed for Zhang Zai's home.

His teacher would soon be leaving for Weizhou to take up a post—what would later be Gansu's Pingliang—so he didn't have much time left to learn from him.

Lately, Huang Shang had been studying as if starved for knowledge.

He had no choice. The Great Song was full of literary giants, and getting a top score in the imperial examinations early was no easy feat.

But as he passed through East Chicken Alley, he was stopped beside the Jinshui River.

The ones blocking his way were several beggars dressed in rags and reeking of filth.

The key thing was that each of them had several bags hanging from their backs.

Huang Shang's expression turned strange as a thought crossed his mind.

He hadn't expected to run into a martial-world faction so soon.

The Beggar Sect!

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