Hostage

The three experts surrounding Old Jin stopped fighting for a moment and all turned to look at Chen Wu.

"You're—" two voices spoke at once.

It seemed Yang Yuchun and Zhang Zhihe had both recognized Chen Wu.

Seeing the three men hesitate, Old Jin let go and retreated to Chen Wu's side. But before he could steady himself, blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth again.

Old Jin's face was ashen, and he was clearly at the end of his strength.

"I told you to leave. Why did you come back?" Old Jin's voice was extremely weak.

"I'm not the kind of person who'd stand by and watch someone die!" Chen Wu didn't even look at Old Jin beside him. He kept his eyes fixed on the three experts closing in.

"You are a Concentrated Spirit expert as well. You should have the bearing of a master. How can you take a hostage?" Yang Yuchun said.

"Heh. When the three of you ganged up on one man, why didn't you talk about the bearing of a master?"

Chen Wu naturally didn't believe any of that nonsense about a master's bearing. He flicked his sword, piercing Li Changgeng's shoulder blade and drawing a muffled groan from him.

"Stop! Take another step, and you'll be collecting a corpse!"

"All right, all right! We can talk, anything you want!" Yang Yuchun hurriedly told everyone to stop, waving a hand. "What do you want?"

Seeing Yang Yuchun halt, Chen Wu breathed a sigh of relief. If the other man truly didn't care about Li Changgeng's life, this fake Concentrated Spirit expert of his would be done for.

If Li Changgeng hadn't been a Mystic Realm expert, but merely an ordinary official, Chen Wu wouldn't have dared gamble, no matter how high his rank. But over the past few days, he had learned from Wang Zhenyi just how precious Mystic Realm experts were.

There were always people lining up to replace a dead official. But a dead Mystic Realm expert couldn't be replaced just like that.

According to the Academy of Sciences' statistics, only one Mystic Realm expert emerged for every several million people. That was even with Great Shun's strength and its many martial artists. Gan Province had over eight million people, yet Old Jin was the only publicly known Mystic Realm expert. Even the Crown Prince's Mansion couldn't easily afford to give one up.

"Why has the Crown Prince's Mansion gathered so many people to surround and kill a Patrol Commissioner of the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower?"

As he spoke, Chen Wu pulled his sword out of Li Changgeng, making the man grit his teeth again.

He really was a Mystic Realm expert; his bones were hard as stone. Chen Wu's sword had struck his collarbone, but Li Changgeng's bones were so hard that the blade had only slipped through a gap between them. It had taken considerable effort to pull it out. This had to be the so-called Jade Bone.

"Naturally, because you stabbed Qiao Weisheng. His death came at the worst possible time, and it caused such a commotion that someone had to take responsibility. Otherwise, the School of Heavenly Principle and the Investigation of Things School might fight a great battle." Yang Yuchun spoke as if it were only natural.

"I didn't kill Qiao Weisheng."

"I know."

Yang Yuchun's tone was calm, as if he were talking about what he'd eaten for breakfast.

His words surprised Chen Wu, and even Zhang Zhihe, standing nearby, turned to look at him.

"You know, and you still came to surround and kill us?"

"But we can't find the killer for now, so we'll borrow your head to quell the Investigation of Things School's fury." Yang Yuchun's tone grew even calmer, with a hint of matter-of-fact certainty. "Your Yongjiu School says it's Leaderless Dragons. Isn't it only natural that you'd meet this fate?"

"Haha—" His matter-of-fact attitude stirred Chen Wu's anger. Chen Wu laughed in fury. "Then now that Li Changgeng is in my hands, it would be only natural if I killed him, too!"

"You and I are both Concentrated Spirit experts. Don't say things in anger." Yang Yuchun remained as matter-of-fact as ever. "Let's be direct. Name your terms."

Chen Wu calmed down as well. "Fine. We'll put right and wrong aside for now. Li Changgeng is in my hands. You have to let us leave."

"Agreed!" Yang Yuchun said. "But you have to release the hostage."

"I'll let him go once we reach somewhere safe."

"That won't do! General Li is gravely wounded and can't be kept waiting. Why don't you release him first? We swear not to pursue you." Yang Yuchun said.

"You're in government. What's the difference between your oath and a fart?" Chen Wu mocked.

"There's a big difference. Even a blind man can hear a fart," Old Jin chimed in.

Yang Yuchun acted as if a spring breeze had brushed past him, ignoring the two men beside him who were struggling not to laugh. "Given the situation, it's hard to trust each other. But I have to tell you this: if General Li dies, we'll have nothing left to hold us back. You'd best return the hostage as soon as possible."

"Don't trouble yourselves. Clear the way first."

Yang Yuchun nodded to signal the others, and they opened a path.

Dragging Li Changgeng, Chen Wu went with Old Jin—not elsewhere, but straight toward the waterwheel.

Chen Wu had already planned what to do next. There was a sheepskin raft beside the waterwheel. As long as they climbed aboard and crossed the Yellow River, all the others could do was gaze across the water and sigh.

The sheepskin raft had been prepared as transportation for the contact point. The contact was supposed to pose as a ferryman there, but though the raft remained, the contact had disappeared.

The sheepskin used for the raft came from the hide of a ram's neck. It was removed in one piece, inflated, and cured; this was called Hun-tuo. Several inflated Hun-tuo were joined together and placed beneath a wooden raft to make a sheepskin raft.

This contact point's raft was a relatively small one, with nine Hun-tuo for its base. It had just one oar, propped diagonally on the bank of the Yellow River.

Chen Wu kicked out, sending the wooden oar propping up the raft flying into his left hand, which was dragging Li Changgeng. Then he kicked the raft, which was about to topple now that its support was gone, flipping its Hun-tuo-bound underside toward the Yellow River.

Splash—

Before the raft had even settled on the Yellow River, Chen Wu tossed Li Changgeng onto it, then climbed aboard with Old Jin.

Seeing Chen Wu and the others on the sheepskin raft, Yang Yuchun called out, "You can release him now, can't you?"

"Wait a moment."

Chen Wu used the oar to push off from the bank, and the sheepskin raft shot toward the middle of the river.

Judging that they were now beyond Yang Yuchun's attack range, Chen Wu didn't hold back. He dropped the oar, gripped Li Changgeng with both hands, and let the true qi in his dantian boil as he summoned strength from his feet.

"Take this—"

With a loud shout, he hurled Li Changgeng toward Yang Yuchun. The force of the throw pushed down beneath his feet, sending the sheepskin raft even farther from the bank.

Yang Yuchun sprang into the air, caught Li Changgeng mid-flight, and landed gently on the ground.

As the raft drifted farther from the bank, Chen Wu finally relaxed a little. He picked up the oar and began paddling with all his might. The Yellow River surged like a torrent, making the sheepskin raft bob up and down.

In his previous life, drifting down the Yellow River on a sheepskin raft had been a wildly popular tourist activity. But now, Chen Wu had no leisure for it whatsoever.

The Yellow River's current was swift, and hidden currents swirled beneath the surface. Chen Wu found it difficult to paddle.

"Chen Gawa, you haven't rowed a boat before, have you?" Old Jin said, his weakness plain in his voice.

"Old Jin, save your strength. We'll talk once we're ashore."

"Haha, there's no time." Old Jin lifted the tattered clothes from his chest, exposing the white bones beneath. Chen Wu looked closely and saw, to his shock, that a broken rib had pierced Old Jin's heart, yet no blood had gushed out.

"This..."

"By rights, I should already be dead. But once you reach the Mystic Realm, you can borrow the power of heaven and earth, using true qi to sustain your body. For a while, even if the heart dies, the qi can keep flowing." Old Jin said. "But that qi can't last long. Once my true qi scatters, I'll die for sure."

Chen Wu said anxiously, "We can find a doctor. Is there a doctor in Jincheng Prefecture who can stitch up a heart?"

"It's too late." Old Jin waved a hand. "Li Changgeng's injuries are worse than mine, but he wasn't worn down by being surrounded, so his true strength can keep him going longer. We can still find a doctor to save him, but there's no time to save me."

Seeing Chen Wu about to say something, Old Jin cut him off again. "Listen to me, Chen Gawa. I've got a quarter of an hour left. You need to listen closely."

Though Chen Wu had only met Old Jin a few times, and the man had even asked him for thirty thousand silver dollars, a living person was about to vanish before his eyes. Chen Wu couldn't help feeling grief well up inside him.

Chen Wu said nothing, only nodded as hard as he could.

"The contact at the waterwheel betrayed us. He forged the message and lured me into the ambush. Shopkeeper Ma is in danger too. Go help him... No, at this point, there's definitely no time." Old Jin paused, then gave a bitter smile. "We'll each leave it to fate."

"I'll make sure Old Ma gets out safely!"

"Hey, just do your best." Old Jin continued, "After I die, don't put me in a coffin. Just wrap me in a mat and bury me. Our Yongjiu School doesn't care for empty ceremony. We come into this world stark naked, and we should leave it just as naked."

Chen Wu grew more and more sorrowful. He stopped paddling and simply let the Yellow River's waves carry the sheepskin raft downstream.

"Chen Gawa, how far have you gotten in martial arts? Bronze Skin, Iron Tendon, Jade Bone—which one haven't you cultivated yet?"

To Chen Wu's surprise, at the very moment he was dying, Old Jin had asked about his martial arts. But the state of Chen Wu's martial arts was so strange that he didn't know how to answer.

As if he could see Chen Wu's hesitation, Old Jin said, "You think I don't know? You're no Concentrated Spirit expert at all."

"You knew?" Chen Wu was startled.

"If I hadn't known, why would I have agreed to let you hold off Guo Xuchu? He's a top Mystic Realm expert, renowned throughout the world."

"I thought..."

"You thought I was greedy for your thirty thousand silver dollars, didn't you?" Old Jin laughed. "Back then, you must have cursed me, the old bastard, in your heart."

Before Chen Wu could feel embarrassed, grief welled up in him again.

"Ah, actually, you weren't wrong to curse me. I really was greedy for your thirty thousand silver dollars." Old Jin suddenly sighed. "The Yongjiu School has been suppressed by the court for years and lacks funding. I didn't want your thirty thousand silver dollars for myself; I wanted to give it to the whole school."

"I haven't had the chance to hand over those thirty thousand silver dollars yet. Go retrieve them. Remember, there's a little thatched hut behind White Pagoda Mountain, with mud walls. That's where I live. Go inside and lift the bed, and you'll find them."

"All right." Chen Wu nodded.

"That's a digression. Let's get back to what we were talking about—your martial arts." Old Jin abruptly changed the subject. "Do you know why Bronze Skin, Iron Tendon, and Jade Bone are so difficult to cultivate?"

"I don't."

"The key is that these three signs of transformation have an age limit. You can't take your time cultivating them. You have to achieve them before your bones and sinews finish growing. Even if you later reach the Zhoutian Realm, the Concentrated Spirit Realm, or the Mystic Realm, once you've missed that age, you won't be able to cultivate them."

"I see." Seeing Old Jin speak so frankly, Chen Wu decided to tell him everything. "I'm still missing Jade Bone, but I don't know how to cultivate it. To be honest, I don't even know how I cultivated Bronze Skin and Iron Tendon. I only found out I'd achieved them because someone told me."

"Just as I thought!" Old Jin wore an expression that said he'd expected as much. "You've got quite a problem, Chen Gawa."