Eight-Step Mad Blade

The moon was dark, the wind fierce, and the rain heavy.

The residents had long since vanished from Dyeing Street, and its few shops had all closed. Only patrolling soldiers and constables remained, occasionally passing in the distance with lanterns held against the rain.

Ye Jingtang walked slowly along the pitch-black road beneath an oil-paper umbrella. Niao Niao perched on his shoulder, chirping nonstop, probably muttering something like, "Little Watermelon is still the best. Fried Egg isn't someone Niao Niao likes..."

Having spent so long touching Heroine Luo, Ye Jingtang certainly felt ripples in his heart. But he wasn't savoring the memory as he walked. Instead, he pondered the moves Luo Ning had just taught him.

Martial arts, for all their countless variations, never strayed from their roots. Mastering one method might not mean mastering every method, but their underlying logic couldn't differ too greatly.

When Ye Jingtang had trained at the escort agency, he had always pursued resemblance in form: powerful, weighty movements and routines for breaking and countering techniques. He had never considered their spirit or intent.

As for circulating qi, his foster father had never taught him, so he hadn't even known such a thing existed.

Yet it didn't seem right to say his foster father had deliberately kept it from him. Ever since he was little, his foster father had been exceptionally "attentive," beating him three times a day to wring every last bit out of his physical abilities. It couldn't have been abuse for its own sake.

Since his foster father had laid such a solid foundation for him, he must have wanted him to amount to something. That he hadn't taught him blade techniques even before his death could only mean that, for some reason, he hadn't wanted to pass them on.

Why hadn't he taught me...?

Was he afraid I'd bring trouble down on myself?

Or had he already taught me, and I simply never noticed the subtleties...?

Ye Jingtang carefully recalled the "moves" his foster father had taught him. There hadn't been many altogether, and they were all fundamentals. In the past, he had sought only strength and speed, never studying what lay beneath. If he examined them through the principles of the Cloud-Touching Fourteen Hands...

At that thought, Ye Jingtang stopped amid the rain, shifted his saber behind his waist, and gripped its hilt backward with his left hand. He recalled the drawing motion, then compared it with the qi pathways of the Cloud-Touching Fourteen Hands.

Copying them outright certainly wouldn't work. Even with his first exposure to circulating qi, he had discovered that it involved pressure points, muscles, breathing, posture-almost every aspect of the body.

The possible variations at each step increased geometrically. No one could try every path. They could only follow a move's guidance to work out the qi pathways it required.

Creating a move from nothing was extraordinarily difficult. But as Ye Jingtang stood quietly in the rain, he soon realized that the drawing motion his foster father had taught him seemed to be the starting point of a move.

The move had only a beginning; everything afterward was blank. To complete this strike, he would have to explore the qi pathways himself, adding bricks and mortar to it...

After considering for a moment, Ye Jingtang closed his eyes in the rain. With his foster father's opening as the foundation and the blade's release as the ending, he worked through the intermediate process by feel, imagining how to maximize the technique's killing power from this initial stance...

Patter, patter, patter-

Raindrops the size of soybeans struck the umbrella and slid down its ribs.

Niao Niao stood on his shoulder, initially a little puzzled. But after waiting half an hour, his gaze gradually turned horrified-Tangtang seemed to be cooked!

Ye Jingtang had kept his eyes closed for a long time. The veins on his right hand slowly swelled, and the few raindrops landing on its back swiftly evaporated into wisps of white mist.

It began on the back of his hand, then spread to his left arm and finally his entire body. Even his forehead bulged with veins, faint mist rising from it.

Whoosh-

A wave of scorching heat appeared out of nowhere amid the rain.

The raindrops falling beyond the umbrella visibly shifted, as though moving with the wind. At the center of that wind stood Ye Jingtang.

Hummm-

After an unknowable stretch of silence, the long blade inside its sheath gave a low, dragonlike hum, as though a hidden dragon trapped in a deep pool had begun gazing toward the opening above.

The hidden dragon swiftly gathered its momentum to the utmost. Before the icy pool could bear no more, it sprang upward, like an azure dragon bursting from the water and piercing straight into the heavens!

Shing-

A cold gleam flashed across the silent street.

Something seemed to disturb the curtain of rain along the entire street, pushing it outward a little.

The cold gleam vanished in a flash. In scarcely an instant, the street returned to stillness.

Ye Jingtang still stood beneath his umbrella in the rain, his left hand gripping the hilt backward, his saber sheathed, as though he had never moved.

Not far beside him, however, an old locust tree with a trunk as thick as a man's waist gave faint cracks amid the wind and rain.

Soon, unable to withstand the weather's assault, the old locust tree broke through its middle and toppled sideways.

Crash-

With a heavy rumble, the old locust tree fell to the ground.

Raindrops landed on the fresh cut of the remaining stump as though falling onto a mirror, sliding sideways without a single bead clinging to it!

"Chirp!"

Niao Niao's eyes filled with shock.

Ye Jingtang opened his eyes beneath the umbrella and turned to look at the fallen locust tree, admiration in his gaze.

"The Eight-Step Mad Blade really is formidable. Looks like my foster father didn't hold anything back... But why not just teach me outright? Why make me rack my brains figuring it out myself? Isn't that taking an unnecessary extra step...?"

Ye Jingtang approached the locust tree. After examining it closely for a while, he scraped up the cut surface with lingering puzzlement, then left Dyeing Street for a nearby market.

Niao Niao had been frightened and kept chirping and hopping back and forth. Only after Ye Jingtang bought him a box of dried meat did he settle down.

Before long, Ye Jingtang returned to Twin Osmanthus Alley, carrying two oil-paper parcels and an earthenware pot.

The courtyard was utterly quiet, but a light was burning.

Ye Jingtang pushed the courtyard gate open with his shoulder. Before he could close it, he discovered the little bamboo-hatted guest standing behind it, staring at him with her hand on her saber hilt.

"Why were you out so long?"

Ye Jingtang tossed an oil-paper parcel to Zhe Yunli.

"There aren't any restaurants on Dyeing Street. Did you expect me to run there and back?"

Zhe Yunli caught the parcel and opened it, revealing several roasted sweet potatoes. She nodded slightly.

"Mm~ You're actually pretty..."

Her words stopped short.

Ye Jingtang had carried the earthenware pot into the room and set it beside the bed. When he opened it, steaming black-bone chicken soup was inside, complete with a bowl and chopsticks. The other oil-paper parcel held hot steamed buns fresh from the steamer.

??

Zhe Yunli froze, then looked at the blackened roasted sweet potatoes in her hands.

"Hey! Why are you playing favorites when you buy food?"

"Are you missing your legs, or is your purse empty? Do you really think you're some pampered young lady?"

Zhe Yunli opened her mouth, but had nothing to say.

Luo Ning was already sitting on the bed. Seeing Ye Jingtang return, she couldn't help recalling the humiliation she had just suffered. But she couldn't show it in front of Yunli, so she greeted them softly, her expression unchanged.

"Yunli, and you too, come eat together."

"You eat, Master's wife. Don't worry about us."

Zhe Yunli stood in the doorway and glared at Ye Jingtang for a while before chomping down on a large mouthful of roasted sweet potato.

"At least you have some sense and know how to look after people. Since you're so considerate, I'll give you a leg up. Stick with me and Master's wife from now on, and I guarantee you'll swagger through the martial world unchecked."

Ye Jingtang handed the steamed buns to Luo Ning, then went to the doorway. Bracing a hand against the frame, he looked down at Zhe Yunli.

"A little slip of a girl, already pretending to roam the martial world. Your master's wife needed me to rescue her, and I even have to buy your meals. If I followed you two, wouldn't I go hungry nine meals out of three days?"

Holding her sweet potato, Zhe Yunli stepped backward onto the threshold and met Ye Jingtang's eyes.

"Do you know who I am?"

There were no chairs in the room, so Ye Jingtang sat directly on the threshold.

"A thief who breaks into people's homes and freeloads on their food and drink. Right, Niao Niao?"

Niao Niao crouched before him with the little box of dried meat set out in front. While burying his head in his meal, he chirped twice, sounding less than agreeable.

After all, Ye Jingtang had touched Little Watermelon for so long. If he wouldn't even provide one meal, how was he any different from a bird that wanted something for nothing?

"Don't worry. I'll pay you silver."

Zhe Yunli sat beside him too, plucked a piece of dried meat from Niao Niao's food box, and tossed it into her mouth.

"Chirp?!!!"

Ye Jingtang waited until Zhe Yunli had carefully chewed and swallowed before frowning.

"You two really do seem to have hard lives. You can even stomach rat meat..."

Niao Niao nodded in perfect cooperation.

Zhe Yunli's expression stiffened, and her delicate face instantly turned green. She wanted to vomit everything up, but felt that would be humiliating, so she gripped her saber hilt.

"You little scoundrel! Today, I'm going to..."

Luo Ning, drinking soup on the bed, finally couldn't bear watching any longer. She frowned.

"Yunli, he's teasing you on purpose. That bird is clever. How could he bear to feed him rat meat? No vendor would be idle enough to turn rats into dried meat and package it in a box, either."

Still somewhat doubtful, Zhe Yunli picked up another piece of dried meat and thrust it fiercely toward Ye Jingtang's mouth.

"Eat!"

Rather surprised, Ye Jingtang opened his mouth and accepted it. Before Zhe Yunli could feel relieved, he nodded approvingly.

"I couldn't tell before. You're actually quite good at serving people."

That remark infuriated both the older woman and the younger girl in the room.

Luo Ning could ignore a joke, but he had just taken liberties with her, only to turn around and tease Yunli. How could she tolerate that?

"You little scoundrel! Just try saying one more word of nonsense!"

Luo Ning straightened with her spoon in hand, her cold, alluring air fully revealed.

With her master's wife backing her up, Zhe Yunli raised her chin slightly and glared too.

Knowing he had taken the joke too far, Ye Jingtang raised a hand.

"All right, all right. I won't say anything else. Let's eat."

Only then was Zhe Yunli satisfied. Her two little pointed canines showed as she alternated between bites of dried meat and sweet potato, completely ignoring Niao Niao, who had seized her sleeve in his beak and was shaking it fiercely.

"So young, and already such a slick tongue... What's your name? Where are you from?"

"Ye Jingtang. I'm from Liangzhou."

Ye Jingtang picked up the bristling Niao Niao and settled him against his lap, then asked:

"Who did you two women come to the Capital City to rescue?"

"A senior who taught me blade techniques. The Black Bureau arrested him. Qiu Tianhe-you've heard of him, right? Last year, I was learning from Hero Qiu when a spy betrayed him. The Black Bureau's ghost officers brought men to surround the mountain. To let us juniors escape, Hero Qiu held the mountain gate alone instead of fleeing. Then he was captured..."

Qiu Tianhe...

Ye Jingtang searched his memory. He really had heard the name. When he used to train with his foster father, the older man liked to talk about the wider martial world when drunk. He had mentioned Qiu Tianhe of the Tianhe Blade several times, and his opinion had been quite favorable.

"I've heard he's a great hero of the martial world, whose righteousness reaches beyond the clouds, but I don't know much about him. Is he very powerful?"

Zhe Yunli broke the remaining sweet potato in half and handed one half to Ye Jingtang.

"You really know nothing~ You've heard of the Three Heroes of Yunze from thirty years ago, haven't you?"

Ye Jingtang took a bite of sweet potato. "Three outstanding young men from Yunzhou and Zezhou?"

Zhe Yunli looked a little bewildered, but nodded anyway.

"That's a strange way to put it, but more or less. 'Yunze' refers to the great lake near Junshan Terrace. Thanks to Xuanyuan Chao's fame as the Blade Chief, young saber wielders from across the land like to roam Zezhou. Thirty years ago, the three most outstanding young saber wielders were Qiu Tianhe of the Tianhe Blade, Xuanyuan Tiangang of the Dragon-Slaying Order, and Zheng Feng of the Eight-Step Mad Blade. The three were both rivals and friends, often exchanging blows, and were collectively called the Three Heroes of Yunze."

Ye Jingtang knew Zheng Feng was most likely his foster father. He hadn't expected him to have possessed such a title in his youth, and asked curiously:

"Which of the three was strongest?"

Zhe Yunli said proudly, "Hero Qiu, of course. Zheng Feng's blade skills were the worst. He only made it into the three because the Eight-Step Mad Blade was so famous. Within a few years of making his name, he was beaten into a cripple. Xuanyuan Tiangang was the strongest back then, but he fell out with his father over what happened to Zheng Feng. He spent his days fishing and farming, and withdrew from the martial world too."

Ye Jingtang frowned slightly. The enemy his foster father had named in his letter was precisely that old Xuanyuan, the Blade Chief. But he hadn't written why their feud had begun. From Zhe Yunli's account, events back then seemed rather complicated. He asked:

"What happened to Zheng Feng back then?"

Zhe Yunli shook her head. "Hero Qiu wouldn't talk about it. How would I know? My home is in Southern Heaven. For old stories from Zezhou's martial world, you'll have to ask someone from around here."

Since Zhe Yunli didn't know, Ye Jingtang stopped pressing and changed the subject.

"If Heroine Zhe's territory is in Southern Heaven, whose territory is this part of Yunzhou?"

"This used to be the Red Flower House's territory. They had a hand in both water and overland transport. But this time, I came aboard a Watercloud Sword Pool ship, so I reckon it's changed hands."

"Oh? Isn't the Red Flower House a powerful major sect? Its prestige in the martial world seems even higher than the Watercloud Sword Pool's."

"That was before."

Zhe Yunli moved a little closer, assumed the air of an expert versed in past and present, and explained earnestly:

"The Red Flower House's former leader was the Spear Chief, Seventh Under Heaven. Naturally, its prestige was high. But the Spear Chief died of old age, and his son took over. Then the current Spear Chief killed him, and a woman took his place."

"A woman?"

Ye Jingtang blinked, recalling the Red God of Wealth's height, words, and behavior. His suspicions about the Red God of Wealth's identity grew stronger.

But the Pei Family didn't seem to be in the dock business. That alone wasn't enough to establish a connection with Sanniang. After a moment's thought, he continued:

"And then?"

"Once it lost the title of Spear Chief, the Red Flower House's reputation plummeted a thousand fathoms. Meanwhile, the Watercloud Sword Pool is the current Sword Saint's own clan, tied for tenth under heaven with Yanzhou's Cloud-Cutting Palace. Unless the Red Flower House has a new leader step forward and lay down the rules for the martial world, it'll be eaten away within a few years at most and become a second-rate sect..."

"Oh..."

After chatting for a while, they finished eating. It was late into the night.

Ye Jingtang stood up and went to draw water from the well to wash.

Zhe Yunli was sleepy too. She stretched in the doorway, then looked around the room, bare but for its four walls.

"Where are you sleeping tonight?"

Ye Jingtang entered the room, wiping his face with a towel, and looked rather perplexed.

"In bed. This is my home. Where do you think I'm sleeping?"

?

Zhe Yunli frowned and glanced back at the double bed. If the three of them squeezed together, they would fit...

But was that possible?

Zhe Yunli gave a light cough. "Master's wife is injured and needs rest. Let her have the bed... I'll keep you company sleeping against the wall. You don't mind, do you?"

Seeing that Zhe Yunli was being quite considerate, Ye Jingtang didn't make things difficult for her.

"All right."

He went to a corner where the roof didn't leak, found a piece of cloth to spread out, and sat against the wall with his saber in his arms.

Zhe Yunli padded her seat with her straw rain cape and sat beside Ye Jingtang, beckoning as well.

"Big stupid bird, come here."

"Chirp?"

Niao Niao greatly disliked this girl who stole food from his beak and wanted to make soup out of him. Ignoring her, he flew up onto a roof beam, nudged the straw rain cape aside a little, and poked his head out.

Zhe Yunli looked up at him, somewhat puzzled. "What's he doing?"

"Keeping watch."

"Hah! This bird isn't stupid at all. I couldn't tell..."