At first light, amid the late-summer cries of cicadas, Ma Sheng, a protector of the Huaiyou Alliance, set off again with his daughter, Ma Ping'er.
"Keep the flint and steel safely tucked away. Don't let the rain get them damp."
Looking at his daughter in her men's clothes, Ma Sheng reminded her quietly, "There's no dew today, and it's terribly muggy. I'm afraid it'll rain again. Once it rains, you can go without food, but not those..."
"I know!" Ma Ping'er, who was probably only in her early twenties, answered impatiently. Still, she first carefully wrapped a longsword in silk before checking the jumble of things in her cloth bag. She even remembered to take out a comb and run it through her rather greasy hair, then produced a sheet of oiled paper and wiped her face.
Seeing this, Ma Sheng was about to say something else.
But Ma Ping'er had anticipated him. Before her father could speak, she immediately snapped back, "Blades are still the most important things... Father, look how chaotic the world has become! There are bandits and gangs everywhere, and the estates have turned crooked too. Then there are the government's men, who are worse bandits than the bandits. Without a blade, you really will die!"
As though her blades had been the only things she protected.
"That may be true, but you don't have Heaven-Reliant Sword's cultivation." Ma Sheng sighed. "When your abilities aren't up to the mark, out in the world, rules, face, favors, and giving people their cut still matter most... We have important business to attend to. A little dirt won't hurt... Remember, we're tide traders from the Sishui, forced to come deliver a calling card to the Wang Family after hearing the news about the Xu Family. Whatever you do, don't