Snowfall Palm

Five days later.

Shen Fa strode into Firewood Gate Street, travel-worn and dusty.

He made his way to Yang Ge's gate with practiced familiarity and was about to vault the wall as usual when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed several new words on it: Fierce dog inside. No entry without invitation.

"Hmph!"

He snorted disdainfully and leaped onto the wall.

The moment he landed, he discovered a wooden sign planted on top, positioned so that it could only be seen after climbing up: Climb over this wall and be beaten to death with clubs!

Shen Fa's composure cracked. Squatting on the wall, he shouted indignantly, "Why don't you just write my name on it?"

The house was silent. Little Yellow's barking came from behind it.

Shen Fa hesitated for two breaths, then finally jumped back down and dutifully went to knock.

Honestly, anyone who dared take on the Five Ghosts of Yan Yun over something as trivial as climbing a wall... made even him nervous!

Creak.

The gate opened. Yang Ge stood behind it in plain cloth work clothes, his face expressionless and his gaze scrutinizing.

Shen Fa felt an inexplicable pang of guilt, then immediately raised his voice with righteous indignation. "I knocked, didn't I?"

Yang Ge let go of the gate, turned, and headed inside, brushing dirt off his clothes.

Shen Fa stepped over the threshold on his own and closed the courtyard gate.

"Whoa, you've changed this place again? Don't you get tired, tinkering with this little courtyard all day?"

Standing in the middle of the courtyard, he looked around and called out his question.

Yang Ge emerged from the house with tea, his face still expressionless, and went straight to sit beneath the grape arbor.

Shen Fa followed, plopped into a small bamboo chair, and took a sip of the warm tea. He let out a long, contented breath. "You know, this really is comfortable!"

Yang Ge couldn't be bothered to respond.

Shen Fa refused to leave him alone. Turning to look him up and down, he asked, "Well? How are your injuries?"

Yang Ge gave him a sidelong look and asked in return, "Didn't you say you'd take care of the trouble?"

Shen Fa knew what he meant. With an awkward laugh, he said, "Well, I didn't expect that blind bear to come through the pass!"

Yang Ge sneered. "Seems the Embroidered Uniform Guard's gilded signboard is only good for scaring ordinary folk!"

Shen Fa protested his innocence. "You could send thousands upon thousands of troops, and that blind bear might not even bat an eyelid!"

Yang Ge frowned. "What exactly happened? Aren't they sworn brothers?"

Shen Fa said, "I tried to tell you before. You were the one who wouldn't listen!"

Yang Ge said, "And you also said before that you'd take care of all the trouble!"

Shen Fa covered his forehead, set down his bowl, and said slowly, "Those five brothers set themselves up as kings of the mountain at a place beyond the pass called Lu Mountain. At their peak, they had over ten thousand mounted bandits under them. Over the years, they robbed the Tartars of cattle and sheep and plundered the annual tribute paid by the court. They did plenty of good, but even more rotten things."

"Then, last year, those five did something that drove the Tartars into an absolute fury. They went so far as to send thirty thousand soldiers and a large number of Tartar experts to encircle and wipe out Lu Mountain."

"After that, Lu Mountain's banner fell, and the third and fourth brothers were gone too. The second brother, Jiang Kui, lost heart and took advantage of the special martial examination to join the court..."

He picked up his bowl and drank.

Yang Ge mulled over his words. "From the sound of it, you seem to admire them quite a bit?"

After a moment's thought, Shen Fa answered, "To be fair, those five weren't good men, but they were real men!"

Yang Ge considered this, then nodded in agreement.

After a pause, he added, "And over just that, the eldest and the fifth traveled all that way to the capital to take revenge on Jiang Kui? Is that how sworn brothers behave?"

At noon that day, the moment he saw the fifth brother using Wild Wind Leg, he had guessed that the man had most likely come for Jiang Kui!

Because apart from Jiang Kui, he could think of nothing involving him that would draw an expert who also specialized in Wild Wind Leg.

Later, the Black Saber on the fifth brother's back, identical to Jiang Kui's own saber, had confirmed his guess.

Shen Fa glanced at him and said quietly, "It might have something to do with the border army sweeping through Lu Mountain again a few days ago."

Yang Ge's eyes suddenly widened. The words Are they out of their minds? stuck in his throat, impossible to spit out or swallow.

He knew nothing about military affairs and couldn't judge, from a military standpoint, whether the border army had been right to sweep through Lu Mountain.

But Lu Mountain clearly had a far greater grudge against the Tartars. Even if they couldn't win over the two remaining brothers, couldn't they leave them there to keep being a thorn in the Tartars' side? Why spend time and effort pulling that thorn out for them?

Shen Fa felt rather embarrassed too. He had received the news earlier, but he genuinely hadn't connected it with the possibility of those two brothers coming through the pass and nearly costing Yang Ge his life.

He said quietly, "According to the information I received, the fifth brother, 'Winged Tiger' Liu Meng, probably mistakenly thought Jiang Kui was using them to earn merit. The eldest, 'River-Taming Dragon' Lei Heng, has never said a word against Jiang Kui on any occasion..."

He himself had been the intermediary who arranged for Jiang Kui to join the court.

And when he had led men beyond the pass to bring Jiang Kui back, he had once caught a distant glimpse of Lei Heng across a mountaintop. Had Lei Heng refused to let Jiang Kui leave, they would never have made it back through the pass.

"What kind of damned mess is this!"

Even five days later, thinking back on it still made Yang Ge swear. "I was living my own fucking life! Who did I ever offend?"

Seeing his anger, Shen Fa not only made no attempt to soothe him, but secretly fanned the flames. "Say what you like, it all comes down to your martial arts being too weak. If you were a great expert in the Return to the True Realm, would they dare lay a hand on you?"

"If you were a peerless expert who'd opened the Heaven and Earth Bridges, I guarantee they wouldn't even dare breathe loudly in your presence!"

In his eyes, everything about Yang Ge was good except that he was far too sluggish.

Even a toad would hop a step if you poked it.

But this fellow was like a dead snake in hibernation, refusing to budge no matter what. Leave him alone, and he really would let himself rot here!

Yang Ge gave him a sidelong look and said scornfully, "Then might you tell me why, despite being a Thousand-Household Commander, you're still in the 'mere' Qi Sea Realm?"

Before, looking at Shen Fa had been like looking at a lofty mountain shrouded in clouds and mist. He couldn't see the summit at all, so naturally he couldn't guess what realm Shen Fa had reached.

Now, Shen Fa still seemed like a deep, still pool and a towering mountain, a height he could only gaze up at. But that pressure was far, far removed from the despair Lei Heng had given him-the sense that, no matter what angle he approached from, there was simply no opening!

From that, he could deduce that this fellow was at the peak of the Qi Sea Realm at most, and definitely hadn't reached the Return to the True Realm!

Shen Fa scoffed and replied with equal disdain, "If I spent all day doing nothing like you, I'd have reached the Return to the True Realm long ago!"

That was what he said, but his sense of crisis had already surged to its limit. Damn it, will I even be able to beat this fellow the next time I see him...?

Yang Ge took a tactical sip of water, tacitly accepting his claim.

Shen Fa felt better, though he didn't say so. Instead, he asked, "Right, didn't you say Lei Heng left you a martial arts manual?"

Without a word, Yang Ge took a manual from inside his clothes and placed it on the stone table.

Shen Fa focused his gaze on it and saw the words "Eighteen Routes of Snowfall Palm" written prominently on the cover.

"Hmm? Eighteen Routes of Chaotic Wind Kicks, Eighteen Routes of Snowfall Palm? Interesting!"