Ten-Thousand Questions Martial Arts Model

Zhao Hu drove the carriage at a gallop and finally reached Qingwu County's Dongyang Gate at the start of the hour of the Boar.

Xie An lifted the side curtain and looked around.

The city gate was shut tight. Five zhang outside it stood a row of spiked barricades. A yellow lantern hung high above the three-zhang gatehouse, while soldiers patrolled the wall with torches.

Outside the barricades, many skeletal refugees huddled in the snow. Adults and children alike scooped snow into their mouths. Even a few fierce-looking men who wanted to enter the city gave up when they saw the sharp, bloodstained spikes.

As Xie An's carriage approached the gate, several refugees with hunger-reddened eyes rose and edged toward the luxurious carriage, their gazes shining with near-mad greed.

Xie An's heart tightened at the sight.

He did not dare underestimate how dangerous these refugees could be.

Driven mad by hunger and left with nowhere to turn, they were capable of anything—even eating people.

Among refugees fleeing famine, cannibalism was no exaggeration.

What the appearance of a luxurious carriage among them meant... went without saying.

Fortunately, after five days in this world, Xie An had grown accustomed to such troubled times. "Zhao Hu!"

Zhao Hu understood at once. He jumped down from the driver's bench and drew his saber with a clang, glaring at the refugees leading the approach.

"Blades have no eyes. Back off if you don't want to die!"

Zhao Hu was tall and powerfully built, with the formidable vigor of a Bone-Tempering Warrior. Together with the broad saber gleaming coldly in his hand, he finally frightened the refugees away.

Only then did Xie An breathe easier. He turned toward the tightly shut gate ahead.

Great Qian had long enforced a curfew, and Qingwu County, on its southeastern border, observed it especially strictly.

Slip someone a little money and stroll into the city?

That happened only in storybooks.

Qingwu County might be chaotic, but it lay on Great Qian's border. This gate was, in effect, a gate to the nation.

If tensions rose or enemy forces threatened, it would become a lifeline.

With southern raiders crossing the border now, the garrison guarded it all the more rigorously, holding fast to the iron rule that city gates must not open at night.

Trying to bribe someone into opening it was practically asking to die.

But this was no obstacle for Xie An, an old hand at navigating workplace politics.

Qingwu County had four main gates, one in each direction. Why had Xie An left through Dongyang Gate that morning?

Because its gate officer, Wei Dian, was an old friend of the original Xie An. They were about the same age, both came from good families, and were birds of a feather. They had often gone to gambling houses and brothels together.

Of course, friendship only got his foot in the door. To enter the city at night, he still needed a reason that met the rules.

Xie An lifted the carriage curtain and jumped down. He called up to the soldiers on the wall, "Is Gate Officer Wei there?"

A patrolling soldier spotted him below. "What do you want with Gate Officer Wei?"

"I'm here to deliver a letter entrusted to me by Constable Li of the county office," Xie An called. "I have military intelligence of the utmost urgency to report. Please summon Gate Officer Wei."

At the mention of urgent military intelligence, the soldier said, "Wait there," and hurried off to fetch Wei Dian.

By Qingwu County's practice, thirty-six soldiers took turns patrolling each gate at night. The officer in charge was called the gate officer. His rank was tiny, but he had the authority to decide who entered the city.

Besides, however strict the curfew, the gate still had to open for urgent military intelligence. This was not a favor granted at someone's discretion, but an exception written into the law.

In his previous life, the Tang dynasty's Commentary on the Tang Code had explicitly made opening a city gate without authorization at night a serious crime. Yet it also stated: "If there is an emergency, or a courier bearing urgent imperial orders arrives at a prefecture or county outside the appointed hours, the gate commander may verify the facts and open the gate according to law."

The Great Ming Code prescribed a hundred strokes of the rod for opening a city gate at night. It also added: "Where official business is too urgent to delay, the opening or closing of any city gate, including those of the capital, outside the appointed hours is exempt from this restriction."

And the highest level of "urgent official business" was urgent military intelligence.

With the survival of the country at stake, no one from the central government down to a county office dared treat it lightly.

Soon, Wei Dian's familiar figure appeared atop the wall.

Seeing Xie An below, the tall, broad-shouldered Wei Dian looked delighted, but he kept his official tone. "Do you have a letter in Constable Li's own hand?"

Xie An took a letter from inside his robe. "I do."

It really was a letter written by Constable Li.

The reason was simple.

Constable Li was his father's sworn brother. He had given Xie An the letter for precisely this situation: entering the city at night.

Wei Dian gave a deliberate snort. "If you're lying, your crime will be compounded. Open the gate and verify his identity and the letter."

Before long, the gate rumbled open. Two squads of soldiers emerged on either side, carrying long spears and wearing sabers at their waists. They raised their torches to deter the refugees outside from rushing the gate.

Wei Dian then approached with saber in hand and "inspected" Xie An's letter and travel pass. At last, he patted Xie An's shoulder. "The letter checks out. Refugees have been causing havoc outside the city lately, and the southern raiders are making trouble too. Your elder brother here had no choice. Hurry inside."

Xie An produced a bulging purse and pressed it into Wei Dian's hand. "Sorry for disturbing you all in the middle of the night. Let the men have a drink on me."

Wei Dian had no shortage of money, but he accepted the purse and tossed it to a soldier beside him. "Young Master Mingxi is buying everyone drinks. Divide it among yourselves."

Once the soldiers had their money, they were all smiles, calling him "Young Master Mingxi" at every turn.

Mingxi was Xie An's courtesy name.

Wei Dian walked through the gate beside Xie An, grumbling as they went. "What have you been up to lately? You won't come drinking when I invite you, but you'll run around outside in the middle of the night. What if some refugees or bandits killed you? How would I explain that to Uncle Xie?"

"I haven't been well these past few days. I went out today to inspect the tenant farmers' holdings, but heavy snow blocked the road and delayed me. I'll buy you a drink another day."

After a little more small talk, Xie An climbed back into the carriage and said goodbye.

Inside the city, rows of closely packed houses came into view. Restaurants and taverns stood open along the streets, customers coming and going. Hawkers called out their wares nearby, and the lilting laughter of courtesans drifted from a distant brothel... Xie An could not help feeling much more at ease.

This was only Qingwu County's outer city, but several martial arts schools had Martial Masters in residence, and quite a few Hanlin scholars had returned here after leaving office... There was plenty of yang energy.

As the carriage took him home, Xie An stared at the dark-yellow lantern hanging outside its cabin, inscribed with the words "Dragon King's Blessing."

He owed his survival tonight entirely to this lantern.

Without it, the grain-collecting tax official would probably have entered Li Degui's courtyard long ago.

He had no idea what about the lantern had frightened the tax official.

Was the lamp oil unusual? Or was it the four characters for "Dragon King's Blessing" on its shade?

And what was the Dragon King?

Xie An searched through the original owner's memories but found nothing relevant.

As the family's eldest legitimate son, the original Xie An had been sheltered too carefully by his parents. He had lived in a greenhouse all his life, assuming this was an ordinary world of martial artists. His parents had never told him much about what lay beyond it.

The wealthy young men and courtesans he knew sometimes spoke of strange folk happenings, but he had always dismissed them as ghost stories.

Who would have thought... this world truly held such horrors!

Xie An closed his eyes and sorted through his thoughts, considering what to do next.

First, I'll take this lantern home and study it. I'll also ask Uncle Shui what the Dragon King is.

And later, I'll go to the county office and find out what's going on with that grain collector...

By the time he reached the gates of the Xie Residence, it was near the end of the hour of the Boar.

Two burly guards with sabers stood on either side of the entrance. With their broad backs, thick waists, and eyes sharp as lightning, they looked reassuringly formidable.

Between them stood a girl in a pink padded jacket. Her hair was tied in two buns, and she was slender and pretty.

When she saw the carriage return, she hurried forward, lifted the curtain, and helped Xie An down. "Young Master, you're finally back! The master was beside himself with worry."

Xie An stepped beneath the grand gatehouse. "Qiu Lan, where's my father?"

"In the study, checking the accounts with Uncle Shui," Qiu Lan replied.

"I'll go see him."

Leaving Qiu Lan behind, Xie An strode toward the central courtyard.

The Xie Residence stood in the eastern part of Qingwu County's outer city. It was an expanded compound of seven successive courtyards, built in lavish style. Xie An passed several side courtyards and ornate gates, then wound through a dozen or so covered walkways before reaching the central courtyard.

As soon as he entered, he saw lamplight in the study. His father and Uncle Shui were inside drinking tea.

Uncle Shui wore a gray cloth robe and was lean, but there was a keen edge to his bearing.

He led the Xie Residence's guards. Rumor had it that he had made a name for himself in the martial world in his younger days and was a hero with his own sobriquet. He had come to guard the residence because he was Xie Zhengtang's sworn brother, taking on the steward's duties as well.

Beside Uncle Shui's vigor, his father looked old, with gray already spreading through the hair at his temples.

From a distance, Xie An looked at his father's graying hair and felt a stir of emotion.

His father had been born into a great Lineage in the inner city. Later, after a falling-out with the family, he had moved to the outer city. Through his own efforts, he had obtained a salt permit and begun trading salt.

Great Qian had long used a state-controlled, merchant-sold salt system. The government controlled production and wholesale distribution, leaving the many small transactions of retail sales to licensed merchants with salt permits.

The government took the lion's share, but salt merchants still made handsome profits.

A salt permit amounted to an exclusive license to sell in a designated area, creating a regional monopoly.

After years in business, his father had built his own fleet of boats and carts, a vast salt warehouse, and branch shops. He had established permit offices and positions for dockside merchants, warehouse attendants, guard captains, and more... By now, he had built a complete commercial network.

Under Great Qian's commercial laws, salt permits could be inherited...

Xie An had a six-year-old youngest sister, while his elder sister had died years ago. He was first in line to inherit.

Xie An had once thought that as long as he stayed alive and healthy, everything due to him would come his way... But what he had encountered at Li Family Village tonight made him understand: if he wanted the power to protect himself in these troubled times,

inheriting the family business alone would not be enough.

By the time he finished thinking, he had reached the study.

"Father. Uncle Shui."

Xie An cupped his hands in greeting, then pulled out an armchair and sat opposite them across the tea table.

Xie Zhengtang, a man in his forties wearing a gray gown, picked up the long-stemmed tobacco pipe beside him and took a puff. "I heard from Qiu Lan that you went out of the city to inspect things today?" His tone was lukewarm.

As Xie Zhengtang saw it, Xie An had always idled away his days. He had done little useful work, spending his time instead at brothels, theaters, and gambling houses.

He had long since stopped pinning any hopes on his eldest legitimate son.

The original Xie An had feared his stern father, but Xie An, with memories of two lives, felt no such fear. "Yes. I heard from Zhou Yun, the manager of our grain shop, that the tenants at Li Family Village in Wuqiao Town have been fleeing in large numbers. I wanted to ease your burdens, so I went to see what was happening."

The household did own a grain shop. It handled rice from tenant farmers outside the city, milling it into polished rice, flour, and other goods for wholesale.

Grain affected the food supply and livelihoods of local people, so Xie Zhengtang still involved himself in that business. But its total revenue was modest, and he seldom paid it much attention.

A big boss focused on the big money.

That left small matters like this for Xie An to manage.

Xie Zhengtang's mouth twitched, and rare approval showed in his eyes. "Since you recovered from your illness five days ago, you really have grown steadier. You even know to ease my burdens... So what did you find?"

Xie An glanced at Uncle Shui, then at his father, before recounting everything he had seen and heard in Li Family Village.

As he spoke, he watched his father's expression closely, trying to discern something from it.

After all, he had a feeling that his father, after so many years in business, must know something about the great horrors in this world.

Yet his father had never mentioned them.

He had sheltered the original Xie An far too well.

But when Xie Zhengtang finished listening, he slapped his tobacco pipe onto the table. "Li Family Village must have fallen victim to some evil cult from the martial world. What you saw and heard was caused by hallucinogenic drugs. There are no demons or ghosts in this world. Those are nothing but tales made up by the common folk."

The more fiercely his father denied it, the more certain Xie An became.

But he knew his father saw him as nothing more than an idle, good-for-nothing boy. Pressing him would be useless.

Xie Zhengtang seemed to realize he had overreacted and softened his tone. "Don't go outside the city for a while... Refugees are running wild out there, and the southern raiders are making incursions. Stay in the city... Even going out to enjoy yourself would be better."

"I understand. It's late. Father, Uncle Shui, get some rest."

With that, Xie An cupped his hands and left.

But in his heart, he already had his answer.

By "enjoy yourself," his father meant brothels, gambling houses, and theaters.

His father had always disapproved of him going to such places. Now, to keep him from leaving the city... he had approved of them for the first time ever.

And he says there are no ghosts?

Does he really think I'm as foolish as the original Xie An...?

If his father would not tell him, Xie An would have to investigate for himself.

Leaving the central courtyard, he headed straight for the family library.

After Xie Zhengtang moved from his inner-city Lineage to the outer city, he had spent his nights studying, hoping to change his fortunes by passing the civil service examinations. He failed them again and again, but he met a benefactor at one of the examination sites. Through that benefactor, he obtained a salt permit... and went into business.

As a result, the household had accumulated a great many books.

Xie An lit an oil lamp with a fire striker and searched the shelves. At last, he found a county gazetteer, sat at a long table, and began reading carefully.

[In the third year of Jingtai, a merchant ship traveling along the Huai River through Qingwu County was suddenly attacked by a Water Monkey. All forty-five people aboard were gnawed down to the bone. Fishermen nearby later summoned a Daoist priest from Returning Dragon Abbey to hold a ritual and hang a Yellow Lantern. From then on, the Huai River was peaceful, and no Water Monkey ever devoured anyone there again.]

[In the fifth year of Jingtai, a headless rider on horseback appeared at Blackwind Ridge outside Qingwu County. He cut down everyone he saw. Villagers near Blackwind Ridge summoned a Daoist priest from Returning Dragon Abbey to perform a ritual and hang a Yellow Lantern. From then on, Blackwind Ridge was peaceful.]

[In the ninth year of Jingtai, the sound of a baby crying at night appeared in Qingwu County's eastern outskirts, luring nearby residents outside. Everyone who went out was found dead, their bellies cut open and their hearts gouged out. Later, nearby residents summoned a Daoist priest from Returning Dragon Abbey to perform a ritual and hang a Yellow Lantern. Peace followed.]

[In the thirteenth year of Jingtai, the wife of a wealthy landowner surnamed Li in Wuqiao Town, Qingwu County, gave birth to a ghost infant after carrying it for ten months. The moment it was born, the infant swallowed her, then ate the landowner's entire family. Later, the townspeople summoned a Daoist priest from Returning Dragon Abbey to perform a ritual and hang a Yellow Lantern. From then on, Wuqiao Town was peaceful.]

[...]

After reading the gazetteer, Xie An felt a chill.

So Li Family Village was not the only place in Qingwu County where strange folk horrors had appeared. There were all kinds of Specters.

If an ordinary person encountered even one, disaster was sure to follow!

Did whether a person lived or died come down entirely to fate?

How was anyone supposed to survive like that?

But why did everything settle down whenever a priest from Returning Dragon Abbey performed a ritual and hung a Yellow Lantern?

And what connection was there between the Yellow Lanterns hung by Returning Dragon Abbey and the yellow lantern inscribed "Dragon King's Blessing" above the entrance in Li Family Village?

Just then, Xie An felt the panel stir.

He called it up.

[Ten-Thousand Questions Martial Arts Model Lv1: Awaiting activation]

[Vigor: 0.8]

[Spirit: 1.0]

[Martial arts realm: None]

[Talent: None]

At the very bottom, a new line of small text had appeared:

[Activate?]

That prompt had never appeared before.

Huh?

Looking closer, Xie An saw that his mental stat had risen from 0.9 to 1, just barely reaching the baseline for an adult man.

Had the fright he'd suffered tonight in Li Family Village strengthened his mental fortitude?

Did reaching 1 meet the conditions for activating the Martial Arts Grand Model?

Never mind. Activating it came first.

Let's see what this Martial Arts Grand Model can do.

Xie An took a deep breath, then willed it to happen.

"Activate!"