Return to the Village

Zhou Yan had just emerged from Blackwind Ridge.

The sky had not yet brightened.

He did not head straight back to the village. Instead, he followed the foot of the mountain for half a li and found that old locust tree.

The old locust tree's roots twisted like dragons, forming a natural hollow.

The entrance was covered by weeds; unless one deliberately searched for it, it was impossible to spot.

Zhou Yan looked it over twice, then stuffed all the stolen loot into the tree hollow.

He scraped up some loose stones from nearby to block the entrance, then grabbed a few handfuls of dry grass and covered the outside.

He stepped back two paces to inspect it. Nothing stood out.

After finishing all that, he took out two taels of broken silver from his robes, weighed it in his hand, and tucked it back inside.

Then he headed for the village entrance.

Zhou Yan gritted his teeth and used the Mountain-Breaking Fist to badly injure himself. A dull pain spread through his shoulder, and he fiercely struck the left side of his chest twice more.

Beads of blood seeped out, making the sight terrifying.

His clothes had already been shredded by the mountain brush, and he tore several more rips into them, ripping half a sleeve away.

Together with his original injuries, he looked as though he were barely clinging to life.

Day had just broken.

Beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance, Old Man Wang was carrying two buckets of water back home.

The shoulder pole creaked against his shoulder.

Suddenly, he looked up and saw a figure on the road.

In the dim gray morning light, the person limped toward the village entrance.

His hemp clothes were in tatters, his face was covered in bloody cuts, his left sleeve had been torn halfway off, and the exposed shoulder was black and blue.

A thick stench of blood washed over him.

Old Man Wang squinted for a closer look, and the shoulder pole slipped from his shoulder.

The buckets smashed into the ground. One tipped over, spilling most of its water, while the other rolled far away.

"Third boy of the Zhou Family?"

Zhou Yan did not answer. He merely dragged himself a few steps farther ahead.

Old Man Wang threw down the pole and ran over. Taking a closer look, he sucked in a cold breath. "Good heavens, how did you end up like this?"

By then, people had already begun coming out near the village entrance.

There was Zhao Laohan, carrying a hoe and preparing to head to the fields; Second Sister-in-Law Li, holding a water jar; and a half-grown child leading an ox.

Zhao Laohan threw down his hoe and rushed over, asking in a rough voice, "Th-this, what happened to you?"

"Quick, go tell Zhou Dazhuang's family!" Old Man Wang shouted at the top of his lungs.

Zhao Laohan hurried into the village in three strides and two steps, shouting as he ran, "Zhou Dazhuang! Zhou Dazhuang! Your third boy is back!"

Two men heading to the fields hurriedly supported Zhou Yan.

Old Man Wang slung one of Zhou Yan's arms over himself, while Second Sister-in-Law Li set down her water jar and supported him from the other side.

Hearing the commotion, the doors of the houses lining the road opened one after another.

"What happened?"

"Who came back?"

"The Zhou Family's third boy? Didn't he lead people from the martial hall into the mountains two days ago?"

"Why is he the only one? Where are those people from the martial hall?"

A fat woman in a blue cloth shirt leaned close to Second Sister-in-Law Li's ear. "Look at his face. It's like something clawed him."

Second Sister-in-Law Li shook her head and whispered, "They say Blackwind Ridge isn't clean. Who knows what he ran into!"

An old man stood by the roadside, leaning on his hoe. After frowning for a long while, he turned to the person beside him and said, "When I was young, someone from the village went deep into Blackwind Ridge too. When he came out, he only had half his life left. He lay paralyzed in bed and died not long after."

"Why haven't those martial hall people shown up?"

"Who knows."

Supported by the others, Zhou Yan continued onward with his head lowered and eyelids drooping.

Every step felt as though he were treading on knife blades.

Old Man Wang asked beside him, "What exactly happened? Where are those people?"

Zhou Yan's lips moved. His voice was hoarse as sandpaper. "Ran into a demonic beast... got separated."

Everyone nearby heard those few words.

"A demonic beast?" Zhao Laohan had just run back and happened to hear it. His mouth fell wide open. "Blackwind Ridge really has demonic beasts?"

"What did I tell you!" The old man leaning on his hoe slapped his thigh. "My father said it long ago. That place has things in it. It's no place for people to stay."

Discussion instantly exploded.

Several children ran after them, only to be scolded by the adults and shrink back. They could only crane their necks from afar to watch.

Willow Village was usually as quiet as a stagnant pool. Even if one household lost a chicken, people would gossip about it for half a day.

With Zhou Yan appearing at the village entrance in such a state, the entire village knew about it in less than the time it took to burn an incense stick.

The Zhou Family's courtyard gate stood open.

The rammed-earth courtyard wall was low enough that one could see inside simply by standing on tiptoe.

Several skinny chickens pecked at rotten vegetable leaves on the ground, while chopped firewood was piled in the corner.

Madam Liu was tending the fire in the kitchen.

The stove crackled, and smoke poured from its mouth into her face.

"Sister-in-Law Zhou! Sister-in-Law Zhou!" Zhao Laohan's voice came from the alley entrance.

Madam Liu straightened up and walked outside with a frown.

The moment she entered the courtyard, she saw several people supporting Zhou Yan as they turned in from the alley.

She froze for a moment.

Only for a moment. Then her face darkened.

"How did you get yourself like this?" Madam Liu's voice was shrill and loud. "You went into the mountains and came back covered in blood? Where does this family have money to treat you?"

Though her mouth scolded him, her feet were already moving forward.

She shoved Old Man Wang, who was supporting Zhou Yan, aside, braced Zhou Yan's arm against her shoulder, and half dragged, half hauled him into the house.

Zhou Yan was laid down and let out a muffled groan.

Madam Liu lifted his tattered clothes and examined him.

The bruising on his shoulder had turned deep purple, with yellowing around the edges. There were also two blue bruises on his chest.

The bloody cuts on his face had scabbed over, but the swelling had not gone down, and half his face remained puffy.

"Did you run into a ghost?"

Zhou Dazhuang ran back from the fields, his hands still smeared with mud.

He stood before the bed and stared silently for a while. His lips moved, but no words came out.

His face was dark, his brows knotted tightly together.

That was simply his nature. He could be anxious inside, yet unable to say it aloud.

"What are you standing there for? Go call the village physician!" Madam Liu shouted at him. Then she called toward the neighboring room, "Zhou Ping!"

Second Brother Zhou Ping came out from the next room, still wearing the dazed look of someone who had just woken up.

He walked to the doorway, glanced at the bed, and frowned.

Madam Liu brought out a bowl of warm water from the kitchen, dampened a rag, and wiped the blood from Zhou Yan's face.

"Was one tael of silver worth risking your life for?"

Zhou Yan closed his eyes. He had no strength to answer.

Physician Sun lived at the eastern end of the village. He was over sixty and slightly hunched.

Zhou Dazhuang dragged him over.

The old physician flipped Zhou Yan's eyelids and felt his bones.

"Nothing is broken. It's external injuries and bruising. Young people have strong foundations. Rest for three or four days, and he'll be able to get out of bed."

After saying that, he left behind some herbs, instructed them how to boil and apply them, collected five copper coins for the consultation, and left.

Madam Liu squatted in the kitchen, boiling the herbs.

The medicinal smell drifted from the stove, bitter and astringent.

Zhou Yan took out the two taels of broken silver from his robes and placed them beside the bed.

"It was the payment from the White Cloud Martial Hall for leading the way."

Madam Liu poked her head out from the kitchen. Seeing the silver, she wiped her hands on her apron, walked over, picked it up, and weighed it in her hand.

She paused, and more than half the anger faded from her face.

"Only two taels? You nearly lost your life for two taels!"

She tucked the silver away, turned back to the kitchen to continue boiling the medicine, and the hand fanning the fire became gentler.

Zhou Xiaoshi slipped in through the doorway.

The eight-year-old boy was barefoot, his face filthy.

He leaned over the bedside, his eyes wide and round. "Third Brother, what did the demonic beast look like? Was it bigger than an ox?"

Zhou Yan had no strength to answer. He closed his eyes and said nothing.

"Did it have fangs? Was its fur long?"

"Xiaoshi!" Madam Liu called from the kitchen. "Stop bothering your Third Brother!"

Zhou Xiaoshi shrank his neck and muttered softly, "When I grow up, I'll go into the mountains and see demonic beasts too."

Just after noon, Zhou Dashan came.

He wore a fairly new blue cloth shirt and cloth shoes, made from much better material than Zhou Dazhuang's hemp clothes.

After the family split, the second branch had lived more comfortably. He stood at the doorway without entering, merely craning his neck to peek into the room.

Madam Liu came out of the kitchen holding a medicine pot. The moment she saw Zhou Dashan, her face fell.

"Here to watch a joke?"

Zhou Dashan gave an awkward laugh. "What are you saying, Sister-in-Law? I'm just concerned."

He asked again and again, nothing more than how Zhou Yan had been injured and what the physician had said.

Madam Liu dismissed him in a few words.

Before leaving, Zhou Dashan muttered, "That kid has a tough life."

Zhou Dazhuang was arranging farm tools in the courtyard. He glanced at his younger brother but said nothing.

At dusk, Old Master Zhou came leaning on his cane.

He stopped at the courtyard entrance and did not enter the house.

"It's good enough that he didn't die."

Four words. After saying them, he turned and left.

His cane struck the dirt road, one tap after another, neither hurried nor slow.

Now that the second branch's son had already entered the martial hall, if luck favored them, perhaps he would gain a grandson who was a Martial Adept someday.

Madam Liu heard him in the kitchen. She said nothing.

The fire tongs in her hand clacked as she gripped the firewood.

Zhou Dazhuang walked him to the gate and called out, "Father."

The old man did not look back. The sound of his cane grew farther and farther away.

The relationship between father and son had become somewhat strained after the family split.

After all, the old man had been terribly biased back then, giving most of the family property to the second branch.

Over the next two or three days, Zhou Yan put on a convincing act and lay in bed recovering.

Because he had brought back the enormous sum of two taels of silver.

No one in the family gave him a hard time. His second brother, Zhou Ping, however, had been following their father to the fields and fetching water these past days, and he had quite a few complaints about Zhou Yan.

He drank two bowls of medicine each day.

Madam Liu controlled the heat perfectly when boiling it. The medicine was thick and bitter enough to make one's mouth pucker.

Zhou Dazhuang still went to the fields before dawn and returned only after dark.

On the morning of the third day, Aunt Zhang from next door brought over a bowl of mung bean porridge with some coarse rice mixed in, thick and hearty.

She leaned over the bedside and looked at Zhou Yan's complexion.

"You look much better." Aunt Zhang lowered her voice. "Third boy, tell Auntie the truth. What exactly happened to those people from the martial hall?"

Zhou Yan's voice was calm. "We got separated. I passed out, and when I woke up, no one was there."

Aunt Zhang clicked her tongue, chatted a little longer about idle matters, and only then left.

But her visit drew even more ears.

Willow Village was only so large, with several dozen households. No family's affairs could stay hidden.

When the women went to the well to wash clothes, each adding a word or two, the matter of the Zhou Family's third boy became the hottest topic of the past few days.

"Did you hear? The Zhou Family's third boy ran into a demonic beast."

"Blackwind Ridge really has something in it? And he still made it back alive?"

"I heard Old Man Wang say that he was covered in blood when he returned that day."

"The Zhou Family's third boy is usually so quiet. Yet when something really happened, his life turned out to be tough."

The story passed from mouth to mouth.

The old farmer Zhao Laohan said something fair: "Blackwind Ridge had incidents long ago. My father said that when he was young, hunters went into the mountains and came out mad, spouting nothing but nonsense. For the Zhou Family's third boy to return whole and sound, green smoke must be rising from his ancestral graves."

Zhou Yan lay in bed with his eyes closed, listening to those voices beyond the window.

His injuries were real. They could not be faked, and neither could the pain.

But he had hidden what needed hiding and fabricated what needed fabricating; the villagers' guesses had all gone in the direction he expected.

That was enough!

Three more days passed. Zhou Yan was drinking medicine when he suddenly heard hoofbeats outside the courtyard.

They struck the yellow dirt road with dull, heavy clops.

Horses were precious things; they rarely came to Willow Village.

Zhou Yan set down his bowl. The fingers gripping its rim paused for a moment, then he calmly placed it by the bedside.

The hoofbeats drew closer. There was more than one horse.

The few skinny chickens in the yard suddenly fell silent.

Madam Liu stood at the kitchen door with a fire poker in hand, peering outside as three horses stopped at the courtyard gate.

The man in front swung down from his horse.

He was around forty, dressed in a blue robe, with a sharp and capable appearance. As he stood in the yard, his back was straight as a ramrod.

Two young men in their early twenties followed behind him, dressed in gray tunics. They were clearly from White Cloud Martial Hall.

Several bolder villagers trailed along behind them from a distance.

Instructor Zhou took two steps forward.

His gaze swept across the courtyard before he walked to the door and looked inside.

Zhou Yan was half-reclining on the bed.

Most of the swelling on his face had gone down. The bloody gashes had scabbed over, and strips of cloth were wrapped around his shoulder.

His face was pale, and his breathing weak.

Instructor Zhou did not sit down.

"Are you Zhou Yan? Zheng Tong and the others came looking for you before they entered the mountains?"

Zhou Yan nodded.

"Tell me. What happened after you entered the mountains?"

Zhou Yan fell silent for two breaths, as though recalling the events. His voice was hoarse and broken.

"We entered the mountains to gather herbs when a demonic beast suddenly sprang out."

"What did it look like?"

"Black, four legs, teeth this long." Zhou Yan shakily raised a hand to gesture. "Zheng Tong and the others went up to deal with it. The beast swept me away with one claw, and I hit a tree and passed out."

"When I woke up, it was already dark." He paused and swallowed. "They were all gone. I could only crawl down the mountain by myself."

Instructor Zhou stared at him, his gaze keen as a blade.

He reached out and pressed a hand onto Zhou Yan's shoulder.

Zhou Yan's heart tightened.

His expression did not change, but his breath remained weak and his eyes unfocused. He looked exactly like a farm boy whose courage had been scared out of him.

Instructor Zhou merely gave him a casual examination.

He did not probe for any cultivation method. A farm boy could not possibly possess a martial arts technique.

Then he stood and said to the disciples behind him, "Go into the mountains. Search in the direction he described."

The two disciples answered at once.

Instructor Zhou turned and walked out, then mounted his horse. Soon, the hoofbeats faded farther and farther away.

The villagers who had come to watch also dispersed, and the alley fell quiet.

Zhou Yan closed his eyes. Sweat from his back soaked through the cloth wrappings.

He had finally muddled through it!

The room grew quiet.

Madam Liu came in for a look.

She took away the empty medicine bowl and set a bowl of warm water on the table.

"The people from the martial hall were fairly polite," she muttered. "Better than I expected."

Her voice gradually faded away.

Zhou Yan opened his eyes and looked at the beam overhead.

The mud-plastered walls were old and cracked in several places, while several dried corncobs rested atop the beam.

The people from White Cloud Martial Hall would search the mountains. When they failed to find anyone, they would only assume the demonic beast had dragged them away.

As for the things he had hidden earlier, he could retrieve them once his injuries healed.

Once the storm had passed, he would make plans again!