An Old Stick-in-the-Mud

"After someone tried to hunt me down last time, I told Aunt Xue when I got back. She was so frightened she wouldn't let me come to class and insisted I stay home to recover, but I wasn't even hurt... The most infuriating part was that she wrote to my family, too. Once they found out, they actually started worrying about my safety in the imperial capital and sent someone to protect me... Every day, it's 'you can't do this' and 'you can't go there.' Ugh... it's driving me mad!"

Han Chanjuan spoke with a deeply aggrieved expression. She picked up a dead branch from the road and angrily swished it through the air before her.

"Your family is worried about you. Really... they're doing it for your own good. They even sent someone to protect you? Did they hire an expert bodyguard?"

He An finally understood why he hadn't seen Han Chanjuan for those few days. Still, he hadn't imagined her family wielded such influence, and he couldn't help asking out of curiosity.

"No, just a coachman. Oh... not exactly a coachman, either... Ugh! It's hard to explain. Anyway, he's an old stick-in-the-mud!"

At that, Han Chanjuan angrily snapped the branch in her hands and flung it far away.

"Whether I go out to eat or shop, he follows me. If he sees me talking to a stranger, he pops up like a ghost... Argh, it's so annoying! So annoying!"

As she spoke, Han Chanjuan gritted her teeth and waved her little fists. To He An, though, she looked like an innocent, adorable young girl.

"I haven't had a chance to thank you, so... I thought I'd treat you to a meal!"

He An turned to look at Han Chanjuan's smooth cheek, his voice utterly sincere.

"Oh? Thank me for what?"

Han Chanjuan blinked, looking prettily at He An.

"Thank you... for the healing medicine... you gave me last time... It really was excellent!"

Her gaze made He An a little embarrassed. He turned to look at Fan Dazhi, who was trailing slowly behind them.

"Pfft! Just for that? But that night... you really did look badly hurt. You scared me to death... Still, thank goodness you're bouncing around now. You look even sturdier than before... Grandfather said it was a sacred healing medicine. He really wasn't lying!"

Han Chanjuan's smile was charming, her lovely eyes bright. When she spoke of her worry for He An, she even patted her chest with her slender hand. With her graceful neck, straight shoulders, and shapely figure, she drew sidelong glances from passing pedestrians.

"I already promised Aunt Xue I'd go to Fragrant Mountain Temple with her tomorrow to pray for blessings... I'm afraid I can't accept. But tomorrow... even if I had time, that old stick-in-the-mud would still haunt my steps. Ugh... I don't have a scrap of freedom left!"

At that, Han Chanjuan's face filled with regret, and she puffed out her cheeks and pouted.

He An found even her angry expression adorable and amusing, and couldn't help gently comforting her. As they chatted and laughed, they reached the institute gates without realizing it.

Since the next day was a rest day, several horse-drawn and mule-drawn carriages, and even two sedan chairs, waited outside the gates of the Knowledge and Practice Institute to take students home. A few coachmen stamped their feet in the cold wind, craning their necks in anticipation.

The two walked onto Vermilion Bird Avenue. Dusk was gathering, and there were few pedestrians on the street, with only an occasional carriage passing by. A vendor selling candied hawthorn skewers called out listlessly from the roadside. Beside him, steam rose from a large pot of braised foods, sending enticing aromas wafting through the air.

"Now that you have money, don't spend it recklessly. Everything in the imperial capital is expensive. With this weather, it might even snow. Go buy yourself a padded coat. Don't let yourself freeze!"

Han Chanjuan lowered her eyes with a faint smile and chatted on. There was no trace of the fiery, willful girl He An had first met; she was clearly a thoughtful, understanding young woman.

"It's getting late. How about I take you home?"

He An nodded, warmth welling in his heart. Seeing a carriage hire shop nearby, he thought of renting a carriage in a moment. He remembered that Han Chanjuan lived in Yongning Ward in the west of the city, quite far from here.

"No need. I'll go back myself in a bit..."

While Han Chanjuan was speaking, a carriage came racing toward them. The sturdy horse's hooves flew, striking the flagstone road with crisp clops.

The carriage swept toward them and was soon only a few dozen feet from He An. The coachman wore a bamboo hat and sat on the carriage shaft with a whip cradled against his chest. He extended one arm and hauled on the reins. The galloping horse abruptly stopped, its forelegs rising high as it reared and let out a piercing neigh. The carriage came to a steady halt.

The coachman jumped down. Beneath his bamboo hat, only a thin face and a sparse beard were visible. His voice was equally flat. "Young miss, please get in."

Looking at the heavy black carriage, He An silently marveled at the coachman's extraordinary strength.

"This is the old stick-in-the-mud I was talking about!"

Han Chanjuan murmured to He An, then walked toward the carriage rather reluctantly.

"It's freezing out. You should head back early, too!"

Han Chanjuan climbed into the carriage and waved to He An from the window.

He An took a step forward. A bitter gust swept past, and a pair of eyes beneath the bamboo hat glanced coldly at him, sharp as blades and full of hostility.

Despite the bitter cold, the man wore only a thin short jacket. He leaped onto the carriage shaft and, without another word, raised his whip and snapped it with an explosive crack. The wheels rumbled over the flagstone road, and in an instant the carriage was gone.

He An stood there, somewhat dazed. The coachman's wrist hadn't flicked when he cracked the whip, and his legs hadn't bent when he leaped. Although he had kept his aura contained while looking at He An, He An had an instinctive feeling that this man was terrifying.

Judging by what He An knew, the man's martial cultivation was at least at the dao integration realm, if not higher.

An expert like that was merely a bodyguard sent by the Han Household-and a coachman at that. Clearly, Han Chanjuan's family wielded far more influence than most.

"She's gone already. What are you still standing there for?"

Fan Dazhi held two candied hawthorn skewers in his left hand and a chicken wing in his right. His cheeks bulged as he called indistinctly to He An.

"Come on. Let's head back, too!"

Taking the candied hawthorn skewer Fan Dazhi offered him, He An bit into it. The coating of syrup had frozen rock-hard, and he slowly let it melt in his mouth. The taste was very sweet...

After eating dinner at the Dining Hall, the two returned to their lodgings. It was already dark.

He An practiced Cloud-Riding Hand several times in the sitting room. Since his breakthrough to the spirit refinement realm, his understanding of Cloud-Riding Hand had deepened as his cultivation gradually stabilized.

This hand-to-hand technique gathered the strengths of a hundred schools. Not only did it offer both offense and defense, it also greatly helped him control his body's coordination, allowing He An to perform many movements ordinary people would find unimaginable.

He An had now thoroughly mastered the first form of Spirit-Shocking Finger, but he still couldn't comprehend the second form, Immortal-Slaying Finger. Whenever his true qi circulated to the heavenly well acupoint in his arm, it still stalled.

He An carefully leafed through the Spirit-Shocking Finger manual. The writing in this incomplete volume was gradually fading. According to the teacher at the Library Tower, it wouldn't be long before all the words and illustrations vanished.

This incomplete volume contained four forms in total. The final form, Heaven-Burning Finger, had only half its cultivation instructions and movements, and its writing had been somewhat blurred to begin with. It truly was an incomplete volume that could hardly have been more incomplete. Fortunately, little was missing from the third form, Extinction Finger, and He An had long since committed it all to memory. Struck by an idea, he tossed the manual to Fan Dazhi, who was sitting on the couch eating melon seeds.

"Dazhi, you're a hundred times cleverer than I am. Try practicing from this manual. You might grasp it even faster than I did."

"Oh! Shall I get the two manuals I chose for you to look at?" Fan Dazhi spat out a seed shell and picked up the manual with interest.

"No need. I haven't even figured out the second form yet, and there are still some profound principles in Graceful Swan Swordsmanship that I need to ask the teacher about. I simply don't have the energy to study anything else."

He An shook his head, took the Dragon Gate Model Calligraphy Ding Wenruo had brought him from inside his robe, and began reading it intently.

"Xiao An... what if someone with evil intentions stole the manuals from the Library Tower? Or if they spread outside? Aren't they afraid people will secretly learn from them?"

Fan Dazhi casually leafed through Spirit-Shocking Finger as he ate melon seeds and questioned He An. Yet a moment later, his expression suddenly changed.

"Huh?... Oh... oh... so that's it... I knew it. Our teachers at the Knowledge and Practice Institute are hidden dragons and crouching tigers. There's no way they'd have no safeguards... Heh, so the manual has a divine sense imprint!"

Fan Dazhi muttered quietly. His expression grew solemn, and a ball of white light flashed and vanished between his brows.

"This manual is far too hard to practice, isn't it... 'True qi brimming, lift the heavy as though it were light; where the spirit-shocking finger points, great skill needs no ornament.' According to this, how could an ordinary person's dan foundation store so much true qi? Xiao An, I really wonder how you managed to learn it. You're a real freak!"

Fan Dazhi muttered as he read through the manual. Seeing that He An didn't respond, he patiently read a while longer, then tossed the manual aside and sprawled on the couch.

"Ugh... the last move is even missing half of it... No fun. After all that reading, I only understood the first form. Xiao An... you were right. Bite off too much, and you can't chew it!"

Fan Dazhi pillowed his head on his arms and crossed his legs, idly swinging one foot as he glanced at He An, who was engrossed in his book.

"Say... Xiao An, why don't we go out and have fun tomorrow? Just look at you. Every day, you practice martial arts, then calligraphy, swordsmanship, finger techniques, and all that. Lately, you've been a bit... worn out in mind and body. Yes, that's it! Worn out in mind and body! Look, that Mathematics problem was so simple, but you actually asked me about it today. With your brains, you'd have solved it if you'd just settled down and thought it through!"

"What you're saying... does make sense!" He An nodded. Lately, he really did seem a little too impatient in his pursuit of martial cultivation.

Fan Dazhi sprang upright, his eyes shining. "Then shall we explore Luoyang City tomorrow? We've been here so long, but we haven't properly gone out to enjoy ourselves. Well... didn't you earn a hundred taels of silver?"

"You! All you ever think about is eating and playing. I nearly forgot to ask: was that Formation Flag the Mathematics teacher repaired today something you broke?"

He An couldn't help feeling both annoyed and amused. He closed his book and stared into Fan Dazhi's eyes as he asked.

"Uh... possibly... maybe, probably... more or less me!"

Under his gaze, Fan Dazhi grew guilty and sheepishly lowered his head, stammering.

"I couldn't sleep at night, and I was really bored, so I wanted to see just what sort of formation surrounded the Female Dormitory. There seemed to be an isolating barrier outside it. Whenever I sent my divine sense inside, it bounced back, so I thought it was pretty interesting!"

"And then? How did it get damaged?"

He An couldn't help asking out of curiosity.