The Tower Lord

The shopkeeper asked with a grave expression, "How did your pocket watch get broken?"

"I angered a noble and he smashed it."

"Why did you anger him?"

"I saw too many things I shouldn't have!" Chen Wu replied.

"Good. Come with me!"

The shopkeeper beckoned to Chen Wu, who followed him all the way up to the third floor.

After closing the door, the shopkeeper smiled. "I'm an informant for the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower's headquarters. My surname is Liu. Just call me Old Liu. Which tower are you from?"

"River-Viewing Tower in Gan Province!"

"Gan Province?" Old Liu's round face showed his surprise. "Could you be... Chen Wu?"

"That's me."

Old Liu hurried over, grabbed Chen Wu's hand, and looked him up and down.

"A hero indeed, and so young!"

Huh—had my reputation already spread this far?

"Headquarters is pretty quick with the news!"

"See for yourself!" The shopkeeper pointed. A newspaper lay neatly on a square table.

Chen Wu picked it up. The words Yanhe Daily were printed across the top, and on the front page was an abstract wanted-poster portrait of Chen Wu. Below it, the paper stated that Chen Wu was a heinous criminal who had murdered Qiao Weisheng, Yang Yuchun, and Li Changgeng, making him one of the Ten Great Evildoers and a hardened fugitive.

Chen Wu remembered that after Qiao Weisheng's death, the bounty on his wanted poster had been only two hundred silver dollars. This time, it had shot up to a thousand.

Inflation was moving far faster than his martial arts were improving.

"A few days ago, every newspaper in Shaan Province ran this wanted notice," Shopkeeper Liu said. "Give it a little more time, and I'm afraid every newspaper in the world will have printed it at least once."

"This time, you're truly going to become famous across the land!"

Chen Wu thought of Old Jin, and his expression darkened. "Old Jin paid for it with his life."

"Alas, Jin Shiyi's death was a real pity," Old Liu said consolingly. "At least you've avenged him. We of the Golden Wind and Drizzle Tower fight to win at blade's edge. We have to take life and death in stride."

"Mm."

"Stay here for now. Someone will rebuild River-Viewing Tower in Gan Province."

"Good! Where's the tower lord? I want to see him."

"No rush," Old Liu said. "You've had a hard journey. Rest first. The tower lord will come see you in due time."

"Am I staying here?"

"This place is full of prying eyes. Given your situation, it isn't suitable," Old Liu said. "I'll find you somewhere quiet."

It was quiet, all right.

Old Liu had actually arranged for Chen Wu to stay at a Buddhist temple. It stood on Jialing Mountain in Yan'an Prefecture and was called Lingshan Temple. It was most famous for the nine-tiered brick pagoda within its grounds.

To get Chen Wu settled there, Old Liu had even paid the temple's guest monk a sum for incense.

He'd simply said that Chen Wu was a distant relative who had failed the imperial examinations and come to Yan'an Prefecture to clear his head, hoping to admire the ancient Lingshan Temple and experience the serene grounds of a Buddhist sanctuary.

Whether the guest monk had been charmed by Old Liu's smooth talk or swayed by the incense money, he gave Chen Wu a fine meditation room and told him to rest well. If Chen Wu hadn't politely declined, the monk would even have eagerly volunteered to show him around Lingshan Temple.

Chen Wu entered the room and set down his luggage. Seeing that it was still early, he took out his treasured sword, summoned his Concentrated Spirit, and began tempering it using the method Xu Songnian had taught him.

He didn't know how much time had passed before hunger gnawed at his stomach.

He put away his Concentrated Spirit, stopped practicing the secret art, and pushed open the door to look for something to eat. He wondered if the vegetarian dishes at Lingshan Temple were any good.

Creak—

As soon as the door opened, every nerve in Chen Wu's body went on alert, and his Concentrated Spirit flared again.

Someone was sitting on the steps outside, their back to Chen Wu. He had no idea what they were doing.

With Chen Wu's keen senses, he should have noticed the fluctuations of Concentrated Spirit. Since he hadn't sensed when this person arrived, something was definitely off about them.

"You're out," the person said without turning around, patting the empty space beside him. "Sit here."

Chen Wu had a guess who it was, so he walked over and sat down beside him.

Only when he drew near did Chen Wu notice the small brazier in front of the man, with an iron rack propped over it. A freshly cleaned fish in the man's hand was set on the rack.

"Perfect timing. Give me a hand and watch the fish."

The man was entirely at ease, leaving Chen Wu to watch the fish as he pulled another one from a clay pot and began gutting and cleaning it.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Chen Wu looked him over from every angle until he finally recognized him.

"Aren't you—"

It was the watch repairman he'd seen at the Clock and Watch Shop that day.

"I'm Wang Jiuyuan."

Wang Jiuyuan's small knife flashed in his hands. In moments, he had gutted the fish, scraped off its scales, sprinkled it with salt, and set it on the iron rack.

Chen Wu immediately raised his hand to salute, but Wang Jiuyuan pressed it down.

"Didn't Old Jin teach you? We of the Yongjiu School don't bother with empty courtesies. He's gone now, but I'll still say it: he didn't teach you this part well!"

"The tower lord's wrong. Old Jin did teach me. I just forgot." Chen Wu remembered his first meeting with Old Jin and immediately objected.

"Then that's your fault!" Wang Jiuyuan said. "Don't call me tower lord. Just call me Old Wang."

"Yes, Ol...d Wang!"

Old Jin, Old Ma, and Old Liu were easy enough to say, but Old Wang kept reminding Chen Wu of a certain nickname for men with a particular taste in married women, so the words caught in his throat.

"That's more like it!" A smile spread across Old Wang's face. He flipped the fish on the rack and started cleaning a third.

"Old Wang, this is a Buddhist sanctuary. Isn't it a little wrong for us to eat meat here?"

"What's so sacred about it?" Old Wang said disdainfully. "Since Great Shun was founded, too many nobles have come through Yan'an Prefecture. Lingshan Temple hasn't just been showered with titles and imperial favors; nobles from every direction have also given it generous donations. It's rolling in wealth. The monks can barely recite their scriptures, but they're experts at doing business and lending money."

"The old abbot died just a couple of days ago. Yanhe Daily revealed that he kept several mistresses outside the temple and had three sons. It's thrown the whole temple into disgrace. They've been dragging their feet over who'll become the new abbot, and still haven't settled on anyone."

Old Wang finished cleaning the third fish and put it on the rack.

"What's the big deal if we eat a couple of fish?"

After hearing that, Chen Wu asked no more and focused on grilling.

Before long, the fish began to sizzle and glisten with oil, sending up a rich aroma. Chen Wu had already been hungry, and now he couldn't help swallowing.

"Eat, eat!"

Old Wang speared one fish with a small knife and handed it to Chen Wu. Then he took another small knife, speared the second fish, and put it in his mouth.

"Delicious!" Chen Wu praised it after one bite.

"The carp from the Yan River are delicious to begin with. I also used Spiral Qi Force to shake the flesh until it was softer and more tender," Old Wang explained, sounding rather proud of his grilling skills.

"Did you catch these yourself?" Chen Wu asked.

"I went fishing for an hour this afternoon and didn't get a single bite. I was so annoyed that I used my Concentrated Spirit to search for fish, then caught three with my sword."

Chen Wu nearly collapsed when he heard that.