Homecoming

That afternoon's assessment ended. Of the forty youths, sixteen had yet to gain entry into the Coiling Dragon Stance Art and were eliminated.

Though unwilling to accept it, they could only pack their bedding and return to their mountain villages by the road they had come.

Lu Chen and the others were also told that they could rest for a day.

The next day.

Lu Chen rose early and headed for Lu Family Village at the foot of the mountains.

Having been away from home for a month, Lu Chen planned to tell his parents that he had gained entry into the martial path and make them happy.

All the way, green waters and blue mountains stretched before him, easing Lu Chen's heart. By the time he returned to Lu Family Village, the sun had just passed noon.

Before he even entered the courtyard, he heard the familiar crackling of firewood from inside the house.

"Father, Mother, I'm back."

Lu Shan, who had been chopping firewood in the yard, paused. When he looked up and saw Lu Chen, his dark face first went blank, then broke into a smile.

"Chen'er?"

Hearing his voice, Zhou Yun rushed out without even setting down the spatula in her hand.

The moment she saw Lu Chen, her eyes reddened.

"It's good that you're back, good that you're back."

Zhou Yun stepped forward, took Lu Chen's hand, and looked him over from head to toe.

After a month apart, Lu Chen had grown somewhat darker from the sun, but his body had become far sturdier, and there was an extra gleam in his eyes.

Zhou Yun touched his arm, both distressed and delighted.

"My son is growing stronger and stronger. Was the martial arts school hard? Did you get enough to eat? Did anyone bully you?"

Warmth filled Lu Chen's heart. He smiled. "Mother, I had enough to eat. No one bullied me."

Lu Shan set down his woodcutter's knife and walked over. His lips moved before he carefully asked, "Weren't you supposed to stay at the martial arts school for three months? This time you came back... you weren't eliminated, were you?"

Lu Chen shook his head. "I wasn't eliminated."

"Father, Mother, don't worry. I've already gained entry into martial arts, and I passed the end-of-month assessment too."

"The martial arts school gave us a day off today, so I specially came back to see you!"

Zhou Yun did not understand martial arts, but she understood "passed the assessment." A smile immediately blossomed across her face.

Lu Chen added, "The martial arts school selected forty people and eliminated sixteen. I stayed."

Lu Shan forcefully patted Lu Chen on the shoulder, his palm trembling slightly.

"Good!"

He could not say many fine words. He merely repeated himself, "Good, good!"

"Only by practicing martial arts can you have prospects. You mustn't be like your father, farming the land for a lifetime!"

A glimmer appeared in Zhou Yun's eyes as she turned and headed into the house.

"I'll add more rice and cut up that piece of cured meat. Chen'er finally came home, and he even passed the martial arts school's assessment. We must have a good meal today."

Just as the family of three was eating, a disorderly burst of footsteps suddenly sounded outside the courtyard gate.

Before Lu Shan could rise, several men swaggered into the yard.

The man in front was lean and tall, around thirty years old, with sunken eye sockets and a perpetual half-smile at the corners of his mouth. He was Ge Ming of the mountain patrol, a martial artist at the initial Blood Moving realm.

Behind him followed Zhao Sihu, a broad-shouldered, thick-waisted man with a face full of flesh. A short blade hung at his waist, and he deliberately kicked the stones in the courtyard so they clattered loudly as he walked.

Lu Chen recognized them.

The two were from the nearby mountain patrol.

In name, they patrolled the mountains for the villagers and guarded against bandits. In truth, they relied on having practiced martial arts for a few years to extort the villagers and forcibly collect protection money.

They were not bandits, yet they were worse than bandits.

The moment Zhao Sihu entered, his gaze landed on the cured meat on the table. He grinned.

"Well, well, Lu the Third, you're eating quite well today."

Lu Shan's expression changed slightly. He quickly set down his bowl and chopsticks and stood up.

"Captain Ge, Brother Zhao, what brings you here?"

Ge Ming slowly swept his gaze over Lu Chen's family before finally looking at Lu Shan.

"Lu the Third, pay this month's mountain patrol fee."

Lu Shan froze.

"This month?"

Hesitation appeared on his face as he cautiously said, "Captain Ge, isn't the mountain patrol fee paid once every three months? We only paid it last month."

Zhou Yun could not help tightening her grip around her chopsticks.

At those words, Zhao Sihu's brows shot up.

"That was then. This is now."

"The mountains have been unsettled lately. Those bandits from Black Wind Ridge have been making bigger and bigger moves, and us brothers have had to work harder on patrol."

As he spoke, he deliberately swung the short blade at his waist and sneered. "We risk losing our heads guarding the mountain roads for you, and you begrudge paying a little silver?"

Ge Ming smiled more gently, but his words sent a deeper chill through them.

"Lu the Third, the rules have changed."

"From now on, the mountain patrol fee will be paid monthly."

"Two mace of silver per household."

Lu Shan's face immediately turned ugly.

"Two mace a month?"

His voice dropped a little.

"Captain Ge, this... this is too heavy a burden."

"We mountain folk survive on a few meager fields and cutting firewood in the mountains. Even two mace every three months is not easy. How can we afford two mace every month?"

Zhao Sihu stepped forward and said roughly, "Can't afford it?"

He slapped the table, making the bowls and chopsticks jump.

"Then don't expect the mountain patrol to protect you!"

"When the bandits truly come down from the mountains, don't come crying and begging us."

Zhou Yun's face went pale in fright, and she instinctively pulled Lu Chen a little behind her.

Standing beside Zhou Yun, Lu Chen clenched his fists.

He looked at Zhao Sihu's hand pressed against the table, then at his father's slightly bent back. Little by little, heat rose in his chest.

Suppressing his anger, Lu Shan forced a smile. "Brother Zhao, don't be hasty. I'm not saying I won't pay. It's just that we weren't prepared for it at the moment..."

Ge Ming smiled. His voice was not loud, yet it carried an air of refusal that could not be denied.

"If you weren't prepared, then prepare now."

"We still have to visit the next household. We have no time to waste here."

With a provocative look, Zhao Sihu stared at Lu Shan as though he desperately wanted Lu Shan to stand up and defy him, so he could kill a chicken to scare the monkeys.

The short blade at Zhao Sihu's waist suppressed the anger in Lu Shan's heart. These people were even harder to deal with than hooligans and ruffians. If they came to blows, a farmer like him was no match for them at all. Lu Shan could only turn around and search through the inner room.

When he came back out, he handed two hundred copper coins to Ge Ming. "Captain Ge and brothers, thank you for your hard work!"

Ge Ming weighed the copper coins in his hand and nodded in satisfaction.

"That's more like it."

"Once you've paid the mountain patrol fee, the mountain patrol will naturally remember your Lu Family Village."

Before leaving, Zhao Sihu snorted. "Hmph, us brothers are taking disasters on for you. Don't fail to appreciate kindness!"

They came quickly, and they left just as quickly.

Lu Chen watched their retreating backs, the chill in his eyes deepening by the moment.

Gaining entry into martial arts is far from enough. I must become a martial artist as soon as possible and take Father and Mother away from these mountains.

After the meal, the house remained quiet for a long while.

Lu Shan rose and entered the inner room.

Not long after, he pulled out a black cloth bag from beneath the bedboards. The corners of the bag had been worn white.

He walked over to Lu Chen and stuffed the bag into his hands.

"Chen'er, this is the money your mother and I have saved over the years."

Lu Shan's voice was low. "It isn't much, only three taels. Take it."

Lu Chen's palm sank, but his heart felt as though something had struck it hard.

"Father, I can't take this."

Lu Chen immediately tried to push it back.

But Lu Shan pressed down on his hand. "Take it."

"Your father has never practiced martial arts, but I know that practicing martial arts costs a lot."

"Meat, medicinal soups—what doesn't require silver? At the martial arts school, don't you dare make yourself suffer. As long as you succeed in martial arts and find yourself a decent position in the city someday, your mother and I will be happy!"

Sitting nearby, Zhou Yun nodded as well. "We don't need that much money at home. You need it at the martial arts school, so buy yourself more food."

Lu Shan looked at Lu Chen, his voice hoarse but resolute. "Chen'er, our family is poor. We can't help you much."

"But as long as you can climb higher, even if your mother and I must suffer more, we are willing to support you for part of the journey."

Unable to refuse his parents, Lu Chen could only accept it in the end.

That afternoon, Lu Chen accompanied his father Lu Shan to work in the fields.

The weeds along the ridges had grown tall. Lu Shan bent over and swung his hoe while Lu Chen helped turn the soil and carry water.

The month of arduous training had greatly improved Lu Chen's physique. After an entire afternoon of farmwork, he did not even gasp for breath.

At dusk, the setting sun fell over the foot of the mountains, spreading a layer of golden-red light across the fields.

After the farmwork was done, Lu Shan and Zhou Yun leaned against the doorway to rest.

In the open space before the house, Lu Chen demonstrated the Azure Dragon Through-the-Arms Fist for his parents.

His stance was steady, his arms unfurling like dragon whiskers whipping through the air. With a strike of Azure Dragon Probes the Sea, his sleeves raised a whistling wind. Then his arms swung out with the momentum, like an Azure Dragon sweeping its tail across the heavens...

In the distance, cooking smoke and evening glow slowly rose.