Two corpses lay on the ground without a single external wound, dead as dead could be.
The waiter was dumbfounded, and the martial world travelers fell silent.
With his great vengeance fulfilled, the boy knelt before Zhang Junbao and bowed three times.
Zhang Junbao accepted the boy's thanks without reservation.
He called the boy over. Choking back sobs, the boy felt none of the satisfaction of revenge, only deeper grief over the death of his childhood sweetheart.
"Eat. The dead can't come back to life." Zhang Junbao handed the boy a pair of chopsticks.
The boy took them and gripped them tightly, his head lowered, saying nothing.
Zhang Qingyuan wanted to console him but did not know what to say.
No amount of words would be anything but pale and feeble, just like that question, "Have you ever lost a husband?"
After a while, the boy began telling Xiaohua's story.
Xiaohua's family had two black dogs, fine-looking hunting dogs with pure black coats.
When Young Master Wang learned of them, he wanted to buy them for five taels of silver. Everything had already been agreed upon.
Today, Young Master Wang had taken his men and guards to Xiaohua's home to buy the dogs, but during the purchase, he suddenly said he would pay two mace of silver less, because he had suddenly decided they were not worth the price.
If they were not worth it, he could simply not buy them, but he still wanted them. He wanted to drive down the price.
Four taels and eight mace.
Two mace of silver was naturally nothing to him, but it was enough for Xiaohua's family to live on for two months.
Young Master Wang was in the wrong for suddenly going back on his word, and Xiaohua wanted to reason with him.
But who was Young Master Wang? Were you worthy of reasoning with him?
His men and guards moved to use force and seized her parents. Only then did the girl realize she had acted rashly, and she immediately agreed to Young Master Wang's price.
Yet after she agreed, Young Master Wang suddenly found himself in the mood to share some fun with the common people.
What did that mean?
He was the law, his servants and guards were the common people, and Xiaohua was the fun.
Daring to contradict him meant challenging the law. Breaking the law meant punishment.
Xiaohua resisted fiercely, spoiling Young Master Wang's mood, so he had her killed.
After they finished eating, Zhang Qingyuan paid for the meal. They could no longer stay at the inn.
Leading their donkeys, the two continued down the road through the martial world.
They could no longer go to Luoyang either. No matter how brazen they were, they could hardly kill someone's son and then deliver themselves to his doorstep.
Actually, they could, but both he and Zhang Junbao were a little muddled just then.
Zhang Qingyuan hummed a song while Zhang Junbao read.
After a while, Zhang Junbao could no longer resist speaking.
"Brother Yuan, Young Master Wang was so rich. Why would he haggle over two mace of silver?
"He wasn't short of money. As the young master of a bank, surely he could have produced even two hundred taels?
"If he thought it was expensive, fine. Couldn't he just not buy them? Was it worth killing someone over?"
He did not understand, could not make sense of it, and could fathom it even less.
For a moment, Zhang Qingyuan did not know how to explain it either. After some thought, he said, "Because he was a fucking idiot."
"A fucking idiot?"
"What else?"
Zhang Qingyuan suddenly remembered seeing a similar news story in his previous life, before transmigrating.
A man had hired a designated driver to take him to a hostess karaoke club. When settling the bill at their destination, he paid the driver two yuan and sixty fen less, and the two argued.
In the end, the young driver could not swallow his anger. He followed the man inside and discovered that the car owner had hired a whole group of hostesses.
Furious, the driver reported the karaoke club, ultimately causing every entertainment club in the city to close for rectification.
All because of two yuan and sixty fen.
How much like this Young Master Wang he was.
Only the times and circumstances were different. The young driver had initially suffered only verbal abuse, and he could use the law as a weapon to strike back.
This society was darker still. Rich young masters treated human lives like grass, and nobody intervened.
Without Zhang Junbao, Young Master Wang could have remained beyond the law, never held accountable.
Two mace of silver, and two yuan and sixty fen.
Why not pay?
Neither of them lacked money. Why not pay?
The designated driver had received his assignment online, and the price was set by the driving service. Whatever they charged was what he owed.
The girl was selling dogs. They had agreed on five taels of silver; everything had been settled. Why suddenly change his mind and insist on paying two mace less?
Even seizing them by force without paying a penny would have counted as domineering. Why insist on withholding just two mace?
The thoughts of the rich really were impossible to fathom.
Zhang Qingyuan did not know how to describe it. He sighed. "Actually..."
Zhang Junbao raised his head and listened attentively.
"Actually, none of them are short of money."
Them?
Had Brother Yuan encountered people like Young Master Wang before?
Zhang Junbao did not know who else Zhang Qingyuan meant by "them," so he could only guess.
"Maybe they do it to display their power. They don't want to reason with people at the bottom. They think those people should obey them. Whatever I say goes.
"You must obey me. Because I look down on you, I can insult you, or even kill you.
"In the end, it's the divide between capital at the top and the people at the bottom."
"How can they act like that?"
"It's been that way since ancient times."
"I don't think it's right," Zhang Junbao said indignantly.
Zhang Qingyuan shrugged. "Neither do I. But what can we do?"
Zhang Qingyuan's words were like a heavy hammer. Though spoken so calmly, they felt like a vicious blow to the chest.
Zhang Junbao felt awful. The youthful spirit of a boy newly entering the martial world kept that softness alive in his heart.
After a moment of silence, he seemed to resolve something. He raised his head and looked into the distance. "I want to change it. People shouldn't act like that. At the very least, they shouldn't treat other people as less than human."
"I support you."
"I can't do anything about what's too far away, but if I see it, I'll intervene!" He clenched his fists.
"Otherwise, your Dao heart won't be steady," Zhang Qingyuan agreed.
In this world, he had to become a great hero, at least!
The greatest heroes served their country and its people. He might not be able to do much for the country, but he could still do something for the people.
He had seen many similar incidents in his previous life. Even knowing perfectly well who was right and who was wrong, he had been helpless.
In his previous life, he had been weak and alone, his words carrying little weight. He could not stir up waves or beat those people at their own game, so most people remained bystanders.
But in this life, he was no longer weak. With martial strength to rely on, he could at least make blood splash five paces.
Zhang Qingyuan was an ordinary man, not someone so lofty and pure. He could not perform the magnificent feat of challenging the heavens with a mayfly's strength to awaken the world.
But within his means and abilities, he could still wield a wandering hero's short blade, repaying kindness and settling grudges as he pleased.
He knew Zhang Junbao's ideal. His own thinking was the same.
At the very least, he had to sweep things a little cleaner within his sight.
"We've got to make sure there are fewer fucking idiots, at least," Zhang Junbao said with a smile.
"Right. Fewer of them."
As though they had found a goal, or understood something, he and Zhang Junbao stopped walking at the same time.
Their mindsets had broken through.
For martial artists, breakthroughs in their techniques and increases in internal strength mattered, but their mindset mattered just as much.
Without advancing their mindset, they could train until they died and still never become masters.
Enlightenment in one's mindset was not as grand as it sounded, nor was it anything mystical.
It was like a young man drifting aimlessly, spending everything he earned, his thoughts childish and frivolous.
But once he started a family, had a child, and became a father, he would mature in an instant.
Put plainly, it was growth in mentality.
And Zhang Junbao's growth lay in understanding why he practiced martial arts, and why martial arts should be created.
The reason was simply to leave this world with fewer "fucking idiots," doing fewer "fucking idiotic things" in his presence, so that "smart" people could live more safely.
That evening, the two failed to find anywhere to stay.
The sky gradually darkened, the sun retreated into the distance, and stars filled the heavens.
They built a fire beneath a large tree and huddled together beside it for warmth.
In Luoyang, fifty li away, the owner of the Wang Family Bank stared at his son's corpse while his wives wailed with heartrending grief.
"My son! My son! How can I go on living now that you're dead?"
Tears filled Old Wang's eyes. He clenched his teeth, the muscles in his face twitching uncontrollably from overwhelming grief.
The servants and household guards around him dared not make a sound. They kept their heads lowered, awaiting their master's orders.
Wang Guangxi was a man of standing in Luoyang. In terms of wealth, he ranked among the city's top ten.
He kept a good number of martial experts under his command, at least two hundred.
His son had always complained that having those bodyguards follow him was a nuisance, so he took only one personal guard whenever he went out.
Wang Guangxi had reprimanded him many times, but he always refused with the excuse, "Who the fuck would dare provoke me in Luoyang?"
Who could have known that this time, his son would actually be killed?
He knew about the vile things his son had done. After repeated admonitions went unheeded, he, the father, could only clean up his son's messes.
Now he was filled with regret and self-reproach.
If only he had hardened his heart and disciplined him before, perhaps this would never have happened.
Although he knew his son had been in the wrong, he felt little remorse toward the dog-selling mother and daughter his son had beaten to death.
Now that his son had brought death upon himself, he was utterly furious.
He was my son. I could discipline him, but no outsider could touch a single hair on his head!
After a while, two experts flew in from outside. Upon entering the room, they glanced at the corpse on the floor.
His voice hoarse, Wang Guangxi asked through gritted teeth, "Have you found out who killed my son?"
"Two young Taoists."
"What sect? What background?"
"That's still unclear, but according to the people in the tavern, they seemed to belong to no sect."
"No sect?" Wang Guangxi narrowed his eyes, his face growing ever more savage.
"Half a month ago, word came from Yuzhou that six of the Twelve Fiends of Xuetuo, from the Blood Lump Sect in Yuzhou Prefecture, had been killed in Sanhe Town."
"Oh?"
"Apparently, the ones who killed those six were also two young Taoists."
"Go on."
"Apparently, the two young Taoists were natives of Sanhe Town. Nobody knows where they learned their martial arts. After killing the Twelve Fiends, they fled their hometown. After this past month, they should have reached our area."
"Call back every guard in the household and send men out to search. Even if we have to turn all of Luoyang upside down, find those two! I'll flay them, tear out their tendons, and chop them to pieces to avenge my son!"
Wang Guangxi clenched his fists and roared.
"Yes!"