Yang Da's Men Arrived

Lunch was unusually satisfying.

Fat glistened on the wild pheasant soup, the salted radish went down more easily than usual, and even the plate of wild greens tossed with garlic had taken on something of a restaurant appetizer under Jiang Yuexin's hands.

After the meal, Jiang Yuexin carried the bowls and chopsticks to the well to wash them.

Yang Hui rolled up her sleeves and insisted on taking over half the work, all while keeping up her sharp-tongued chatter.

"Yuexin, your hands are delicate. Don't keep soaking them in cold water. When you get married, if your in-laws see rough hands, they'll think you spend every day fighting the ox for work."

Jiang Yuexin flushed and retorted, "Auntie Yang, you're talking nonsense again."

"Nonsense?" Yang Hui swished a bowl through the water, her voice loud enough to startle the sparrows off the wall. "I'm teaching you how to run a household ahead of time. If you marry a useless man, make him cook his own meals. Don't spoil him rotten."

After washing the bowls, Jiang Yuexin grew sleepy and began yawning.

Seeing her like that, Yi Yang waved her off to take a nap.

Once Yang Hui had tidied the kitchen, she wiped her hands and headed outside as well.

At the courtyard gate, she turned back to look at Yi Yang.

"Uncle Yi, Yuexin's looked much better these past few days, and you're livelier too. This is good."

With that, she bustled away.

The courtyard fell quiet.

The hot breeze rustled the locust leaves. Sunlight filtered through the gaps and fell across the ground, breaking into dazzling flecks of gold.

Yi Yang rested in the wicker chair for half a tea's worth of time.

The medicinal potency in his chest and abdomen had yet to disperse completely. That morning's medicinal bath had replenished him well.

Yi Yang rose and stretched his shoulders and back, his joints giving faint cracks.

A coarse porcelain bowl stood beside the wicker chair, half-filled with warm water.

He took two sips, walked beneath the old locust tree, spread his feet, and curved his arms around empty space, preparing to continue the Yi Wood Longevity Stance.

He could not rest yet. Yang Er was still around, and so was Yang Da. This was no time to relax. Besides, he had already rested enough over the past sixty years.

Yi Yang had only just steadied his breathing when footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate.

Before anyone knocked, a voice called from outside.

"Old Master Yi, are you home?"

It sounded like Zhou Liang, the village's leading hunter.

Recognizing him, Yi Yang dropped his stance, picked up his battered fan, and sat back in the wicker chair.

"The gate isn't latched. Come in."

The courtyard gate swung open.

Zhou Liang carried a hunting bow on his back and a short blade at his waist. Grass clung to his trouser legs, sweat covered his forehead, and he had the rugged air of a man weathered by mountain winds.

He had come to discuss something, but the moment his gaze landed on Yi Yang, he stopped.

"Old master."

Zhou Liang narrowed his eyes and looked him up and down.

"Something's not right about you."

Yi Yang waved his fan and said casually, "What's not right? My head's still on my neck."

Zhou Liang stepped closer and circled him, growing more puzzled the longer he looked.

"Your face... it's much rosier than it was a while back. Your back's straighter too. Have you been secretly eating some treasure?"

Yi Yang tapped the fan against his knee.

"Secretly eating treasure? Go look in my rice jar. Even a mouse would have to tearfully donate half a grain before leaving."

Zhou Liang did not believe him.

He lowered his voice and leaned closer, looking mysterious.

"Old master, we're friends, aren't we? If you really have some secret recipe for turning back the years, let your brother in on it."

Yi Yang glanced sideways at him and scoffed. "What do you need to turn back the years for?"

Zhou Liang coughed twice, his stubble quivering. "Not exactly turning back the years. Mostly... restoring my manly vigor."

Yi Yang nearly choked on his water and said bluntly, "If that's what you came to talk about, get the hell out."

Zhou Liang chuckled.

"Don't be so quick to scold me. Lately, my wife looks at me like I'm an old bow on clearance-no use anymore. If you've got a recipe, I'll trade you two mountain rabbits for it."

Yi Yang raised a hand and pointed at the courtyard gate.

"Keep talking rubbish, and not even a rabbit hair is getting through my gate."

Once Zhou Liang had laughed his fill, his expression sobered.

He took the hunting bow off his shoulder and leaned it against the wall. "Old master, I didn't come here just to amuse you."

Seeing his expression, Yi Yang slowed his fan.

"Has something happened?"

Zhou Liang nodded and said gravely, "A giant snake's been causing trouble on Greenwood Mountain lately."

Yi Yang rubbed the fan handle without interrupting.

Zhou Liang wiped away his sweat, his brow drawn low and his whole face tense. "Over in neighboring Blackwater Village, a hunter's dog died. The man went up the mountain to look for it, and now he's disappeared too."

"People have also seen long trails of flattened grass in the gullies lately. Frighteningly wide. No person made them, and no wild boar rooted them out."

At this point, Zhou Liang swallowed.

Hunters lived off the mountains. They had seen wild beasts and dead people, but some things could still make their backs prickle when they actually encountered them.

"We've found traces on our side, here in Three Trees Village, too."

"On Greenwood Mountain's eastern slope, a big patch of bark was scraped off a tree. There were drag marks on the ground and scale prints in the wet mud. That thing's body must be at least as thick as a big soup bowl."

Hearing Zhou Liang's words, Yi Yang recalled what had happened last year.

He had found that broken piece of purplewood on Greenwood Mountain's eastern slope.

When he picked it up, there had been drag marks nearby, along with a rank smell.

Now it seemed the snake had been settling into its winter sleep and accidentally struck the purplewood, or broken the trunk while coiling around it.

With the summer heat rising, it had awakened and begun searching for food.

People, dogs, pigs-in that thing's eyes, they were all meat.

Zhou Liang continued, "Old master, don't go up the mountain for firewood lately. If you run short, I'll bring you a couple of bundles. Don't push yourself."

Yi Yang looked up and asked, "What about you?"

Zhou Liang gave a bitter smile, his voice tinged with sorrow. "I don't dare go deep into the mountains either. The village hunters talked it over. For the next few days, we'll only stick to the foothills, even if it means catching fewer rabbits. Our lives come first. Silver might smell sweet, but if you're dead before you can collect it, it all goes down the drain."

He paused, then cursed again.

"Times are so damned hard. The authorities hound us for taxes, the landlords hound us for rent, the gangs collect protection money, and now a great serpent has shown up on the mountain. Why's it so hard for ordinary folk just to draw another breath?"

Yi Yang asked, "What does the village chief say?"

"I heard the chief had Yang Er write a letter to his brother just now."

Zhou Liang curled his lip. "Yang Da works at the county office. He has men under him, and I hear he's made something of himself in martial training too. If he's willing to come back and take a few bailiffs up the mountain, they should be able to deal with it."

Yi Yang said nothing.

For the villagers, Yang Da's return might mean getting rid of the snake.

For his little courtyard, it might not be good news.

Yang Er coveted the purplewood.

Sun Mazi had disappeared.

With all these things piled together, someone like Yang Da, who had spent time navigating the county office, was bound to have a keener nose than a village dog.

When Yi Yang remained silent, Zhou Liang assumed he was worrying about firewood and making ends meet. He waved a hand. "Old master, don't force yourself. You're getting on in years, and Yuexin's still young. That thing on the mountain isn't trash like Sun Mazi. A few curses won't scare it away."

Yi Yang looked at him and feigned fear. "These old bones aren't foolish enough to feed themselves to a snake."

Only after hearing that did Zhou Liang relax.

"Good. I was just afraid the news hadn't reached you and you'd head into the mountains with your basket as usual."

Yi Yang shooed him away with the battered fan. "All right, you've given your warning. Go home. Don't hang around hoping for chicken soup. There's none left in the pot."

Thick-skinned as ever, Zhou Liang craned his neck toward the kitchen.

"Really none left?"

"The pot's already been scrubbed."

"Tsk. Came too late."

Zhou Liang shouldered his hunting bow and prepared to leave. At the gate, he turned back to add one more thing.

"If you hear chickens and ducks making a racket at night, don't go outside to watch the excitement. Keep Yuexin safe first."

"Mm."

Only then did Zhou Liang leave.

After the courtyard gate closed, Yi Yang sat for a long while, thinking to himself:

The giant snake's awake, Yang Er's written his letter, and Yang Da might come back. Troubles really do come one after another.

Yi Yang rubbed his forearm. After skin refining, his flesh and skin had grown tough, and his strength had increased as well.

But he had no idea whether that would be enough against the thing in the mountains.

That snake could eat dogs and kill hunters with its bite. Its body was as thick as a large soup bowl, its venom potent, and its strength ferocious.

If it truly came down the mountain, Jiang Yuexin, Yang Hui, and all of Three Trees Village would have to sleep with their eyes open.

And that was without even considering Yang Da, a county-office constable captain backed by official authority, men, and blades.

He would be far harder to handle than Yang Er.

Yi Yang suppressed his stray thoughts.

Anxiety was useless, and so was fear. In troubled times, fear was worth less than anything. Toss it on the ground, and even a dog would not sniff it. Only strength could let a person sleep soundly.

He rose and returned beneath the locust tree.

He assumed the Yi Wood Longevity Stance again, holding his back straight, curving his arms around empty space, and sinking his breath into his lower abdomen.

One round.

Two rounds.

Three rounds.

At dusk, he replenished his qi and blood with another medicinal bath and forced himself through an extra round.

That night, Jiang Yuexin asked why he was practicing even more diligently.

Yi Yang offered only one reply. "Old bones get rusty. They need more polishing."

Holding her bowl, Jiang Yuexin nodded earnestly.

"Then I'll cook more rice for you from now on."

Yi Yang looked at her still-childish face and did not tease her further.

Some things did not need to be said.

Five days passed.

The atmosphere in Three Trees Village changed.

People used to head into the mountains with baskets on their backs before dawn. Now the village entrance stood deserted, and even the hunters only dared roam beside the fields.

Occasionally, wild pheasants fluttered noisily through the foothills. The village dogs barked a few times, then quickly tucked their tails and retreated to their kennels.

The words "giant snake" were like wet grass laid over a cooking fire. No flames showed, yet the smoke left everyone restless.

Yi Yang had not been idle during those five days. He practiced the stance four times a day and used his Blood-Qi Powder medicinal baths sparingly.

The progress on his panel rose rapidly.

Early one morning, just as the sky began to lighten.

Yi Yang stood in the courtyard and dropped his stance.

[An old steed rests in its stable, yet its ambition lies a thousand miles away.]

[Wood-Nurturing Longevity Art, level two: (1200/3000)]

Twelve hundred.

At this rate, he would reach the qi-blood second level in a little while longer.

The muscle training realm.

By then, his muscles would be stronger and his strength would soar. As long as he stayed out of the city, he would not need to worry too much in the surrounding villages and towns.

But for now, he still fell short. Yi Yang lifted his warm water and had barely taken half a sip when a commotion suddenly rose from the village entrance.

Before long, the courtyard gate swung open.

Yang Hui rushed in like the wind, her apron hanging crooked.

"Uncle Yi!"

She braced herself against the doorframe, panting, her eyes alarmingly bright.

"People have come from the county town!"

Yi Yang set down his bowl.

"Who?"

"Constables!"

Yang Hui gestured, unable to keep her voice down. "A constable named Wang Yue came riding a big, tall horse, with three men following him. Every one of them had a blade! Everyone's gone to the village entrance to watch. That horse's coat was so glossy!"

Jiang Yuexin ran out of the house too, still bleary-eyed.

"Auntie Yang, are they really here to fight the snake?"

"They say they're here to get rid of the giant snake for the village."

At that, Yang Hui curled her lip. "But I saw Yang Er standing beside his horse, acting as close as if they'd been born to the same mother. Made my skin crawl."

Yi Yang lightly tapped the rim of his bowl twice.

Wang Yue, a constable.

With three men under him.

It was not Yang Da. Things had not yet reached the point where he could no longer handle them.