The Beggar Sect

Chapter 13: Beggar Sect

Huang Shang rode his horse through the streets of the capital, flowers tucked into his hair.

Peonies, roses, and peonies alike, all blooming atop the caps of a thousand officials.

He used to mock the unique tastes of Great Song men, yet now he had become one of them.

To his surprise, after donning these flowers, many of his fellow students came to offer praise, then proceeded to imitate him.

Huang Shang realized that he was integrating into life in the Great Song better and better with each passing day.

What was once deliberate imitation had now become second nature.

His routine remained unchanged, revolving around three locations.

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

When the young nun, overjoyed, handed over the massive sum of forty-seven strings of cash, he knew his target had taken the bait.

Yet, he had to maintain his previous habits.

A performance must be complete.

His state of mind, however, had shifted from relaxed to tightly coiled.

Huang Shang knew that his identity would pose a massive temptation to the Reincarnators.

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

The only value to be gained from him was his talent and potential.

In other words, the Reincarnators wanted him as a person.

The character card of Huang Shang!

This represented his basic safety.

Because there were two ways to contract a plot character in the space: one good, one evil.

The good way was to win the character's favor; when that favor reached its limit—not necessarily asking to be born on the same day, but willing to die on the same day—one could bring them out into the Heavens Consciousness.

The evil way was to destroy the character's convictions; when they were utterly hopeless, they would naturally be at the mercy of the Reincarnators, to be taken wherever they pleased.

In Book and Sword Gratitude and Revenge, that group of pigtail-wearers wanted to contract Chen Jialuo by destroying the Red Flower Society.

The latter method was simpler, but the character obtained would essentially have no room for growth.

Unless it was a protagonist with the power of destiny within them, whose character card had a gold border, representing theoretically infinite growth potential.

Huang Shang was not a protagonist; if he were in his prime, perhaps Reincarnators would use an evil contract by slaughtering his family.

But now, an evil contract would only yield an empty shell.

Therefore, only a good contract could secure a future grandmaster.

These were all things he had considered before entering the world.

Huang Shang would never gamble his life on whether the Reincarnators were kind-hearted or deranged.

However, even when pursuing a good contract, the process was highly nuanced.

Reincarnators, familiar with the plot, could win a target's favor by changing the story to avert tragedies; this was method one.

Take A'zhu and Xiao Feng in the world of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, for example.

But ironically, Xiao Feng was so popular that too many Reincarnators wanted to save A'zhu.

Before A'zhu had even died, the Reincarnators were already fighting tooth and nail among themselves; there were many such examples.

In another scenario, if a plot character had no inherent tragedy to avert, what then?

In psychology, there is the "suspension bridge effect," which suggests that when a person crosses a bridge in fear, their heart rate involuntarily increases. If they happen to meet someone of the opposite sex at that moment, they might mistake the physiological arousal caused by the situation for attraction to that person, thus sparking love.

"Saving a damsel in distress" and having her "pledge her life in return" followed this very principle.

By the same logic, Reincarnators could create the "suspension bridge" themselves, then appear as saviors to win hearts!

They would play both the god and the devil.

Thus, Huang Shang estimated that if those two Reincarnators wanted to contract him, they would likely use this very method.

Suffering a little hardship was a minor issue.

But the problem was that if the Reincarnators positioned themselves as benefactors, future interactions would become extremely troublesome.

Huang Shang needed to seize the initiative.

He wanted the Reincarnators to be his sycophants.

Not because he enjoyed being fawned over, but because a sycophant is the most subservient.

The more they invested, the more reluctant they would be to give up.

Even if the other party ignored them, they would still offer warm greetings and silent concern.

This was the "correct" way to interact.

"It all depends on what kind of trouble they decide to stir up for me..."

Speak of the devil and he appears; as Huang Shang's humble abode came into view, he saw Liu Yi waiting outside the courtyard. Liu Yi stepped forward to meet him, his face etched with sorrow as he said, "Shengzhong, Chen Ziyu has passed away."

Huang Shang was stunned.

Chen Sheng was dead?

He was young, came from a decent family, and didn't have the "blessing" of working overtime, so how could he just be gone?

He was about to ask when it happened, but a thought struck him, and he swallowed the words, instead putting on a look of grief: "Siwen, please accept my condolences."

Liu Yi looked at Huang Shang, carefully observing his expression, before hesitating for a moment and asking, "Shengzhong, does this have anything to do with you?"

Huang Shang looked utterly bewildered: "I haven't even seen Ziyu lately, Siwen, why would you say such a thing?"

Liu Yi's expression turned apologetic, and he hurriedly said, "It was rude of me to ask!"

Liu Yi and Chen Sheng were childhood playmates who had attended the same school, and their relationship was very close.

Huang Shang certainly wouldn't blame him for being exceptionally grief-stricken over Chen Sheng's death.

But the question remained: why would Liu Yi suspect him?

He thought for a moment and decided to ask directly: "What exactly happened?"

Liu Yi seemed hesitant to speak, but in the end, he didn't explain, instead whispering, "Be careful of Ziyu's family; they have some misunderstandings."

With that, he turned and left.

Huang Shang's eyes flickered. He immediately went inside, wrote a letter, and had a servant deliver it to request protection from his fellow students.

Then, he went about his day, eating and sleeping as usual.

There was no doubt that Chen Sheng had not died of natural causes.

It was highly likely that Chen Sheng had targeted him before his death, which was why Chen Sheng's family suspected he was the one who had harmed him.

He was clearly the victim, having done nothing, yet because the other party was dead, he had to face retaliation.

That was just how reality worked.

However, Huang Shang wasn't overly worried about the trouble Chen Sheng had brought upon him.

He considered it in two scenarios—

If it were a coincidence and no Reincarnators were involved, the threat would be limited.

After all, he had already made a name for himself in the capital and become a student of the great Confucian Zhang Zai, surrounded by many fellow scholars.

The other party was not a powerful noble clan, so they would have to weigh their actions carefully.

If there were Reincarnators involved, then it would be a different story.

He was in the light while the enemy was in the dark; if they wanted to scheme against him, there was no way to stop it.

Fortunately, there was no threat to his life; it was just a matter of creating opportunities for the Reincarnators to show off and play the hero.

Therefore, all Huang Shang needed to do was rest and recharge, preparing himself to handle any unexpected situations.

The next morning, Huang Shang left on time to head to Zhang Zai's home.

His teacher would soon be leaving for Weizhou—modern-day Pingliang, Gansu—to take up a post, so there wasn't much time left to receive his guidance.

Lately, Huang Shang had been studying with a voracious appetite.

There was no helping it; the Great Song had too many literary giants, and wanting to pass the imperial examinations as the top scholar ahead of time was no easy feat.

However, while passing through East Chicken Alley, near the banks of the Golden Water River, Huang Shang was blocked.

The ones blocking his path were several beggars in tattered clothes, reeking of filth.

The key detail was that each of these beggars had several bags hanging from their backs.

Huang Shang wore a puzzled expression, but his heart skipped a beat.

He hadn't expected to clash with a martial arts faction so soon.

The Beggar Sect!