Sudden Change

Three days later.

The evening sky was dim and overcast.

Chen Cheng walked home in brand-new cloth shoes and a training uniform, his vigor and bearing utterly transformed from before.

His shoulders and back were straight, his demeanor cold and austere. Those deep eyes of his shone with a frightening brightness; every passing poor resident instinctively averted their gaze, not daring to meet his.

He had just turned into the familiar alley of Bitter Locust Village, thick with foul smells.

When three figures slowly strolled out from the side.

The leader was around forty, his face dark, the lines beside his nose and mouth carved as if by a blade. He wore a neatly pressed dark-blue constable's uniform, with a standard-issue gray-sheathed Horizontal Blade from the Patrol Guard Bureau at his waist. Its hilt had been rubbed by his palm year after year until it gleamed with a dark luster.

Half a step behind him followed two younger constables in the same uniforms, their hands resting on their hilts. Their eyes carried the peculiar scrutiny and indifference of men from the authorities, as though appraising a suspect.

The moment the three of them stood there, the already thin air in the alley seemed to be sucked completely dry.

Chen Cheng became alert at once, though his expression remained calm. As he passed the three men, he gave a slight nod and quickened his pace to go around them.

Only after Chen Cheng had gone far away.

Did one of the younger constables speak. "Chief Zhao, we're just letting him go? Not taking him back for questioning?"

Zhao Chuan remained expressionless, staring fixedly in the direction Chen Cheng had left, like a hawk watching prey about to slip into the grass.

"Nothing in his reaction just now showed a flaw..."

Zhao Chuan paused, his gaze darkening.

"The key is that he's wearing the training uniform of Dragon Mountain Hall's Middle Academy. If we want to touch him, we need hard evidence... and I don't have anything presentable in my hands yet."

The young constable's eyes shifted, and he lowered his voice further.

"Chief, how about we find some other crime to pin on him? Once we get him into the Patrol Guard Bureau's dungeon, under the three wooden instruments, what can't we get out of him?"

"..."

Zhao Chuan still watched the depths of the alley, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the cold hilt of his blade.

He neither nodded nor shook his head.

"A-Cheng, you're finally back!"

The moment Chen Cheng stepped through the door, Madam Li hurried up to him, her voice trembling.

"Something terrible happened... Xiao Long... the gang he was in was crushed by the Black Wolf Gang!"

"Earlier today, Hu Niu and her parents didn't even have time to care about the little bit of trunks and valuables at home. They just threw together a few bundles and fled in a panic..."

"The moment they left, Scar Bear came with a whole crowd of men. They were a dark mass, every one of them carrying a blade, their faces... like they wanted to eat people! They turned the house upside down..."

"Where's Xiao Long?"

Chen Cheng's heart clenched, and his voice sank.

"Where is he? Is he hurt?"

"How could he not be?"

Madam Li's brows twisted into a knot, her voice low and urgent.

"Before Hu Niu left, she secretly let something slip. She said Xiao Long was seriously injured and hiding outside, too afraid to come home... Their whole family was moving over there, waiting for the heat to die down before coming back. Or maybe... they'll never be able to come back again..."

"...Where are they hiding? I'll go see them tomorrow." Chen Cheng's expression was grave.

Madam Li shook her head helplessly. "Hu Niu didn't say exactly where... She was probably afraid I couldn't keep my mouth shut, and might let it slip someday..."

Chen Cheng said nothing more. He planned to find time to ask at the sewing workshop where Hu Niu worked. Xiao Long had suffered something this serious; he could not simply stand by and do nothing.

"A-Cheng..."

Madam Li let out a long sigh.

"That Scar Bear turns his face faster than turning a page... Today it was Xiao Long's family. Who knows, someday this kind of disaster might fall on the heads of us mother and son... We've got nowhere to hide..."

"...Mother, don't scare yourself."

Chen Cheng soothed her softly.

"Scar Bear looks fierce and overbearing, but he's shrewd inside. As long as I don't join a gang and don't have any conflict of interests with the Black Wolf Gang, he'll never touch us."

Though he said that aloud, Chen Cheng did not truly dare believe it.

In this world, it was often not enough to avoid trouble for trouble to avoid finding you...

If he wanted a place to stand and live, if he wanted not to dodge trouble or fear it, there was only one way—grow stronger without cease! Struggle upward, climb upward, without cease!

Dragon Mountain Martial Hall's Middle Academy was located in Annan Ward, the largest and most prosperous district of South Outer City.

At noon, Chen Cheng followed Fatty Fang across the broad, level main street and stopped before a jet-black gate.

The lintel stood far higher than any other building on the street. Most eye-catching of all was the plaque hanging above it, black ebony beneath two vigorous, twisting gilded characters—

Dragon Mountain.

Fatty Fang knocked on the door and exchanged a few words with a young man in a short jacket, then led Chen Cheng over the threshold, which was likewise a full measure higher than ordinary.

Before them lay a vast training yard more than ten times the size of the Lower Academy's, paved with bluestone and enclosed by high brick walls.

Iron-bound wooden dummies stood at the four corners of the yard, along with rows of stone locks, stone carrying poles, weapon racks, and more.

Several dozen youths in black training uniforms were practicing in the yard. Every gesture carried the force of boiling Blood Qi, while their shouts rose and fell one after another.

The brand-new training uniform Chen Cheng wore was no different from theirs.

"This area is the Outer Hall, where you'll train from now on... The rooms beneath the walls on all four sides are the residences of Outer Hall disciples..."

As they walked, Fatty Fang casually introduced the general layout of the Middle Academy.

When they reached a vermilion-lacquered side door at the northeast corner of the yard, he stopped and lowered his voice.

"Behind this door is the Inner Hall. Without permission, you're not allowed to take even half a step inside. Burn that into your mind!"

"Understood."

Chen Cheng nodded, a trace of curiosity flashing through his eyes.

"I've already told Master Ye, the steward, about your circumstances. He... he doesn't have time to see you."

Fatty Fang said.

"Give me your Death-Pledge Contract and the first month's tuition. I'll go in and settle the paperwork for you."

Chen Cheng took out the folded contract and five taels of broken silver from his clothes and handed them over.

Fatty Fang accepted them, turned, and knocked three times on the vermilion-lacquered side door, neither lightly nor heavily.

The one who opened the door was a woman in a fitted green outfit.

She was fair and delicate, with skin whiter than snow and a slender waist, yet a full bosom and rounded hips.

Fatty Fang's back unconsciously bent a little, his face piling up with smiles.

"Senior Sister Zhuang, I brought over a Lower Academy disciple... to handle his transfer into the Middle Academy... Master Ye already approved it."

"Oh, come in."

Senior Sister Zhuang glanced at Chen Cheng, her expression calm. She merely stepped aside to let Fatty Fang in, then immediately shut the door.

About the time it took to drink a cup of tea later.

Fatty Fang came back out and gently closed the door behind him.

"Here. This is proof that your Death-Pledge Contract has been lifted, and also the token of an ordinary Outer Hall disciple. Remember to keep it safe."

As Fatty Fang spoke, he handed Chen Cheng a small Waist Token that seemed neither stone nor wood, engraved with a black character for "Dragon" in seal script.

"Look at those people..."

Fatty Fang raised a hand and pointed around the training yard.

"The characters on their Waist Tokens are white. That means they signed the Middle Academy's Death-Pledge Contract..."

"I see."

Chen Cheng silently observed them, clearly sensing invisible lines dividing people from one another.