Huang Jiu stretched, holding Lü Bufan in one hand. Just as he was about to show off his strength...
Huang Jiu froze, then turned to look.
The big black dog came trotting over.
Huang Jiu asked uncertainly, "Your venerable self... what are you..."
Big Black ignored him and simply stared straight at Lü Bufan.
Lü Bufan looked up at Huang Jiu and said, "Master Huang Jiu, Big Black wants to come out with me for a stroll... sorry for the trouble, but please bring him along too!"
Huang Jiu struggled for words for so long that his old face turned crimson. At last, he stammered, "Well... I... I can't carry him!"
Lü Bufan sighed and squatted on the ground. "Ah... if I'd known, I'd have asked Master Han Wu to bring me out! He could definitely carry him..."
"Bullshit! What the hell does he amount to? This... which of us could carry this old ancestor? Do you understand the restraints of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth? Do you know what it means for heaven-reaching cultivation to weigh as heavily as a great mountain? You..."
Lü Bufan rolled his eyes. "No. If you can't carry him, just say you can't... we'll walk through the night."
"...Let's go..."
Swallowing his humiliation, Huang Jiu followed the boy and dog through the mountain valley.
They walked until dawn, when Lü Bufan turned to Huang Jiu, whose old face was still dark. "Master Huang Jiu! I know the rest of the way, so I'll be off. I'll come back in a few days. Avoid traveling at night on the first and fifteenth... carry the Bamboo Tube through the white mist! I remember everything..."
Huang Jiu curled his lip, thinking, Bamboo Tube, my ass! With an ancestor like Big Black along, what the hell would you need the Bamboo Tube for?
With a complicated expression, Huang Jiu glanced at the big black dog, who was sniffing around nearby and ignoring him, then said to Lü Bufan, "You're fifteen now, and this counts as your first trip down the mountain... though you're nearly as capable as a third-realm martial artist, you still need to be careful in everything you do! You must understand..."
Huang Jiu glanced at Big Black beside him... Understand what, damn it? With this ancestor accompanying him, he could probably swagger through all Four Great Guardian Cities!
Huang Jiu impatiently waved his three fingers. "Get going already! Go and come back soon..."
Lü Bufan was just bending to bow farewell to Huang Jiu when, without so much as a ripple where he stood, a shadow flashed and vanished...
In the end, Huang Jiu still showed off his teleportation. A shadow flickered across the sky, appearing on a distant mountain peak in less than a breath...
Lü Bufan gazed enviously at Huang Jiu's distant, flamboyant figure as he flicked his hair, then patted the big black dog beside him, whose face was full of scorn...
"Let's go! I'll take you to eat something good... Huqi Town is still several hundred miles away! The braised meat Uncle Mang makes and Auntie's steamed buns are both delicious... Big Black, you'll definitely like them."
"...Woof..."
Big Black sauntered ahead, followed by the boy Lü Bufan in plain cloth clothes and a bamboo hat.
It was the season of mountain flowers in full bloom, of growing grass and orioles on the wing.
A boy's thoughts were always so simple. All Lü Bufan wanted now was to see his friend right away and tell him... he now had an incredibly powerful master. No... several incredibly powerful masters!
Although these elders of his sect were unwelcome to both the imperial court and the Immortal Sects, and even had some inexplicable blood feud with them... he was just a little brothel lackey who had started out as a beggar...
"Pah, pah, pah... I'm no damn brothel lackey!"
Anyway... if Liuzi learned that Master Ming was actually a cultivator with vast divine powers, able to soar through the heavens and burrow through the earth, how astonished would he be?
Should I take Liuzi to Two Realms Village?
Gradually, the boy's steps slowed... Two Realms Village had a deep blood feud with the Immortal Sects and the Guardian Cities! Would it really be right for me to rashly take Liuzi there?
What if Liuzi doesn't want to go to Two Realms Village?
The boy sat beside a stream, took off his straw sandals, and washed his bare feet in the clear, icy water, talking to Big Black as though to himself. "Say, what if Liuzi doesn't want to go to Two Realms Village? Or... should I simply not tell him about Two Realms Village and my masters..."
The big black dog lay comfortably on a large stone beside the stream, sunning his belly and not bothering to respond.
"I'll give Liuzi the gold and silver I have first... then tell him about Two Realms Village. If he wants to stay in town and be a little moneybags, that's up to him. If he wants to go to Two Realms Village... that's up to him too!"
The big black dog tilted his head at Lü Bufan, unable to understand why he cared so much about this Liuzi...
Lü Bufan chuckled, dried the soles of his feet by stepping on the scorching stones, then slipped his straw sandals back on...
"Off we go! It'll take another two days to reach Huqi Town... tonight, we'll stay in that cave where Master Ming and I lived! I remember there was a wild loquat tree there, and it's fruiting season now! Hopefully those damned monkeys haven't ruined all the fruit..."
A crow suddenly landed in a nearby tree, its dull scarlet eyes fixed on the boy and dog walking quietly beneath the shade.
Big Black did not even raise his head. He merely gave a rather quiet sneeze... "Pfft..."
The crow vanished instantly, as though no such bird had ever existed in the world.
More than three thousand miles away, atop a tall stone tower deep within the Guardian Office of Eleventh Guardian City... the city lord, whose cultivation was at the peak of the eighth realm, suddenly staggered and dropped to one knee on the floor of his tower-top study!
The eleventh city lord covered his left eye with one hand, blood streaming between his fingers...
The eleventh city lord gave a bitter smile. "Unlucky... utterly unlucky! To think he could actually come swaggering out..."
The eleventh city lord stood, slowly walked to the window, and sat in a reclining chair. As he circulated his divine ability to nourish his left eye, he murmured, "You nearly crippled my Candlelight Divine Ability the moment you came out... what are you planning? That boy... that boy..."
The Eleventh Guardian Office, which presided over the northern city, faced the southern city from afar, where the worldly residence of the Taihua Sect of Mozi Mountain, one of Great Jin's Four Great Immortal Sects, held sway.
Together, the northern and southern cities formed one of Great Jin's magnificent Four Great Guardian Cities...
Commonly known as Haoyang City!
The Great Jin Dynasty's Four Great Guardian Cities stood in the four southern provinces, silently confronting the distant, rolling heights of the precipitous Two-World Mountain...
The Four Great Immortal Sects occupied the four Immortal Mountains and Blessed Lands within Great Jin, and also stationed cultivator elders in the Guardian Cities to establish Immortal Sect residences and recruit disciples and young initiates far and wide.
The wealth, spiritual treasures, taxes, and minerals gathered below the mountains thus flowed endlessly into the Guardian Offices and Immortal Sect residences.
Within these enormous Guardian Cities, the Great Jin Dynasty's provincial, prefectural, and county authorities, charged with governing their territories, seemed more like second-rate government offices responsible for collecting taxes and managing granaries... they could not even straighten their backs before the Immortal Sects and Guardian Offices.
An elder of the Taihua Sect's rear hall calmly arrived at the rear compound of the Taihua Office, entered the lofty council hall, and stood at the doorway to bow toward its interior...
"My respects, Deputy Sect Master!"
"What is it?"
"There have been some irregularities near Two-World Mountain. Last night, the Bell Immortal Hall disciples were careless while avoiding the Ghost Mist, and it surged a hundred yards higher... four outer disciples perished!"
"Was there any unusual activity in the formation at Two Realms Village?"
"None... however..."
On a jade dais, a middle-aged-looking cultivator seated upright on a meditation cushion that was a spiritual artifact raised his head and looked impassively at the elder...
"However, what?"
"There seems to be something... at the northern city's Guardian Office. The city lord appears to have encountered a problem in his cultivation. Between five and seven this morning, he ordered three portions of pills for healing injuries and stabilizing the soul... I don't know whether it is connected to the disturbance in Two-World Mountain."
The middle-aged cultivator smiled faintly and closed his eyes. "It shouldn't be... he exhausted every effort and scheme to reach the perfected eighth realm. He still refuses to give up..."
The elder asked softly, "Could the eleventh guardian be attempting to break through to the ninth realm?"
"Hahahaha... then he's dreaming! Having cultivated the techniques of the Twelve Guardian Cities, the ninth realm... without rendering a great service, he can only dream of it..."
The elder bowed respectfully... "The Twelve Guardian Cities are merely gatekeepers! How could they compare with our Immortal Sects?"
The middle-aged cultivator waved a hand. "You may go! Just keep an eye on the monthly taxes, and the pill refining... let the Guardian Office worry about everything else. As for Two-World Mountain, we are merely keeping up appearances! Just giving a reminder to the Guardian Office cultivators secretly watching over the great formation..."
"Yes! I understand how far to go. I dare not disturb you further, Deputy Sect Master. Should you have any instructions, simply summon me!"
"You may go..."
"I take my leave."
In the mountains outside Huqi Town, a campfire had just been lit.
Lü Bufan sat cross-legged on the ground, regulating his breathing according to a simple cultivation technique.
A plump mountain rabbit was skewered on a branch over the fire! Drops of fat fell into the flames, giving off waves of rich, roasted fragrance...
Lü Bufan stood. He was actually two heads taller than when he had left town.
He performed a set of Turtle Fist, his blows stirring the air with tigerish vigor, looking rather like a rustic martial expert.
Big Black lay belly-up, perhaps asleep.
Lü Bufan expelled a breath of stale air, sat down, and picked up the mountain rabbit, roasted golden and fragrant... "Whew, that smells good! You lot... want to come have some?"
Big Black moved his tail and barked softly... "Woof!"
Lü Bufan chuckled. "All right, all right, your portion is off-limits. I'll only share my half with them..."
The nearby bushes rustled, then three small figures emerged.
Lü Bufan crouched and looked at the little beggar standing in front with two small followers...
"Hungry?"
The little beggar was disheveled and filthy, secretly clutching a stone behind her back.
Lü Bufan tore off half the roasted mountain rabbit and offered it to the wary little beggar. "Take it! But are there any fresh wild fruits nearby? Go pick some for me..."
The little beggar clutched the roasted rabbit, quickly retreated several steps, then said softly, "There aren't any. There isn't any wild fruit left on the mountains for miles around..."
Lü Bufan paused, then turned his head in surprise. "What's going on? A couple of years ago, it was poor outside town, but finding something wild to eat wasn't hard... what's happened now?"
The little beggar tore apart the roasted rabbit and shared it with the two six- or seven-year-old followers behind her. All three wolfed it down!
With her cheeks stuffed full, the little beggar answered indistinctly, "A couple of years ago? It was better then. Now half the people in town are gone. They've all fled... more and more families can't afford the population levy and head tax, and the fines jump tenfold at the drop of a hat!..."
Lü Bufan's expression dimmed, and he said quietly, "Then life must be hard to bear..."
The little beggar gnawed fiercely on a rabbit bone and continued, "Lots of families fled because they were afraid their homes would be ruined and their families destroyed! But Constable Ma took his men into the mountains to catch people. If one person flees the taxes, the whole family gets arrested and made government slaves! Otherwise... they have to pay a twentyfold fine!"
Lü Bufan exclaimed in surprise, "One person flees the taxes, and the whole family becomes slaves? What kind of imperial law is that?"
"The imperial court doesn't mean shit... I heard the mines in the mountains are so short of workers that the authorities are deliberately forcing the mountain folk to flee their households... so they can arrest them all and send them to the mines!"
Lü Bufan fell silent for a moment, then tossed the remaining half of the roasted rabbit to the three little beggars. Turning to the languid big black dog, he said, "Liuzi might be in trouble... I want to go into town tonight and check!"