By then, Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao had long since left the Luoyang area and were on their way to the Yellow River.
Neither of them intended to take a master and join someone else's sect. Their journey had been about appreciating Great Qian's magnificent mountains and rivers all along.
As mentioned before, this world's geography had both similarities to and differences from that of his previous life.
This world also had the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, but it had one more great river than his previous world: the Heavenly River, in the south.
Zhang Qingyuan had never traveled in his previous life. In this life, he had to see all three rivers, no matter what.
If they came across any Daoist sects, they would certainly pay them a visit.
And if they happened upon a duel between top masters along the way, all the better.
Another evening came, and the two were lucky enough to find a ruined temple.
After going inside, they tidied it up a little and set down their luggage.
Having slept outdoors so often, both had gained experience.
One chopped firewood and fetched water, while the other led the donkeys over to feed them grass.
Once they were done, they sat on the ground.
Looking around the ruined temple, Zhang Qingyuan sighed. "When I used to listen to storytellers, novices like us, fresh to the jianghu, would always happen upon some young woman with a tragic past along the road.
"She'd be hunted by villains, and a young hero would step in to save her, giving rise to a love story worthy of song and tears.
"We've been out here for so many days. Forget rescuing a beauty-we haven't even seen a single duel."
"Duels happen in the jianghu every day, and people kill over grudges every day, but that's across the whole jianghu. How could the two of us run into them so easily?" Zhang Junbao chimed in.
"As if I needed you to comfort me." Zhang Qingyuan tossed him two steamed buns.
Zhang Junbao caught them casually and took a bite, mumbling through his mouthful, "Brother Yuan, why do you think the Blood Lump Sect and that mysterious organization behind them haven't come looking for us?"
"What, you're unhappy they haven't come after us?"
"Of course not. I just thought those people from the Blood Lump Sect made it sound so serious. For it to start with a tiger's head and end with a snake's tail like this doesn't make sense.
"I worried about it for days after we first left."
Zhang Junbao found it strange. The Water-Parting Sword was so important-had they stopped looking?
"Maybe they've already found the Water-Parting Sword, or they know who took it, so they don't think there's any point looking for us anymore."
Zhang Qingyuan found it strange too, so he could only guess.
Zhang Junbao nodded. "That's good, then. It has nothing to do with us anymore."
"Too bad we never ran into whoever took the Water-Parting Sword."
"Yeah. I wanted to give him a beating."
The two exchanged a smile. Both of these fellows held petty grudges.
After dinner, Zhang Junbao was going to read, while Zhang Qingyuan was about to meditate.
Unexpectedly, the two donkeys outside began braying.
The donkeys competed with each other, their cries rising one after another.
"Someone's coming," Zhang Qingyuan warned.
Zhang Junbao smiled guilelessly. "Maybe it's a woman being hunted. Your destined romance has arrived, Brother Yuan."
See? Having someone guide him really made a difference. This fellow could even tease Zhang Qingyuan now.
"Bare-handed, and not bad-looking either." The voice came from the roof.
They looked up and saw a face appear in a hole in the roof.
As he spoke, seven or eight jianghu men came through the doorway and surrounded them.
"Highway robbers?" Zhang Qingyuan asked.
Neither showed the slightest nervousness at being surrounded. Instead, they were a little excited.
It was like being bored and suddenly getting a basketball or a PSP.
Among the seven or eight men who entered through the front door, the leader held a sword in his arms and ignored Zhang Qingyuan's question.
Instead, he asked, "You're the Daoists who killed the Wang Family Bank's eldest young master, aren't you?"
"That's us." Zhang Qingyuan raised his hand.
"No nameless ghosts die beneath my blade. I am Flying Sword Zheng Shan. Master Wang has put up five hundred taels of silver to buy your lives. If you don't want to die right now, come back with us quietly and wait for Master Wang to deal with you himself." Zheng Shan folded his arms, holding his treasured sword against his chest.
He was brimming with confidence, as though Zhang Qingyuan and Zhang Junbao were already in his bag and the five hundred taels were his for the taking.
After hearing him out, Zhang Qingyuan ignored him and looked at Zhang Junbao instead. "Brother Bao, he's insulting us."
"Huh?" Zhang Junbao did not understand.
Zhang Qingyuan explained, "We're only worth five hundred taels together. Isn't that calling each of us a two-hundred-and-fifty?"
"Brother Yuan, aren't you going out of your way to find an insult?"
Veins bulged on Zheng Shan's forehead. These two brats showed them far too little respect.
They were surrounded,
yet they still had the fucking confidence to banter!
Fuming, he drew his sword and waved a hand. "Attack!"
Before the word had finished leaving his mouth, Zheng Shan had already struck.
His treasured sword left its sheath, and a sharp whistle suddenly rang out as it cut through the air. He swept it upward from below, its Sword Qi swift and fierce, worthy of the name Flying Sword.
The man on the roof dropped down right after him. He was a fat man, and his Mount Tai Crushing Down made even the surrounding air seem to sink.
Led by their boss, the other six drew their weapons as well and followed behind him.
Sword Qi, saber light, multicolored palm winds, internal power.
With flashy effects and fierce moves like these, they would have been first-rate masters in the world of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, on the level of Zuo Lengchan and Yue Buqun.
But in this world, they were merely foot soldiers.
In truth, the martial principles of all wuxia worlds were much the same. It was only each world's ceiling that limited the strength of its martial arts.
Zhang Qingyuan dodged the Sword Qi, turned sideways, and drove out a punch, a layer of wind wrapped around his fist. Zheng Shan dodged aside, but the lackey behind him was not so lucky.
Still charging forward, the lackey failed to notice his boss dodging and caught Zhang Qingyuan's fist squarely with his face.
As Zhang Qingyuan dodged the Sword Qi, Zhang Junbao raised his hands to catch the fat man dropping from the roof.
Seeing that he actually intended to catch him with his arms, the fat man secretly rejoiced. He had honed his Thousand-Jin Drop to perfection. Even his own boss would not dare catch it with his hands.
With a contribution seemingly within reach, he circulated his internal power even more fiercely, dropping another thirty percent faster.
Zhang Junbao placed both hands against the fat man's waist.
Tai Chi technique.
Stick.
Push.
Turn!
The fat man's descent did not slow in the slightest, but before he could hit the ground, Zhang Junbao swung him around his body like a bowling ball.
Then, as though he really were throwing a bowling ball, Zhang Junbao flung him away.
The fat man slammed into the ground, his momentum carrying him onward without slowing as he continued tumbling forward.
Splat, splat, splat... a row of greasy marks.
Seeing the fat man hurtling toward them, the lackeys hurriedly dodged.
Two failed to get out of the way and went flying along with him.
Before they had even touched the hems of the pair's clothes, their side had already lost three mighty warriors. Furious beyond measure, Zheng Shan raised his sword and thrust, moving so fast the eye could barely follow.
Zhang Qingyuan formed a sword with his fingers, two faint flashes of lightning flickering at their tips.
He dodged Zheng Shan's sword, turned, and drove his fingers straight toward his opponent's throat. Worthy of being the boss, Zheng Shan reacted extremely quickly, blocking Zhang Qingyuan's fingertips with his sword guard, kicking out, and swiftly putting distance between them.
In just three exchanges, Zheng Shan realized that these two little bastards were truly no easy opponents.
"Meteor Sword Technique!"
He could not afford to keep underestimating them. Zheng Shan swiftly unleashed his ultimate move.
Sword winds howled and Sword Qi flew, so fast and dense that it resembled a meteor shower.
Zhang Qingyuan felt a little regret now. He should have bought a sword.
Without an iron sword, his sword fingers could attack, but they could not block.
No matter how badass someone was, they could not catch an opponent's Sword Qi with their fingers.
He could defend himself with internal power, but if he used internal power as armor, how much did he have to squander?
Unless absolutely necessary, who could afford such waste?
Top masters could indeed defend themselves with True Qi and internal power, because they had abundant True Qi and ample internal power.
Talented though Zhang Qingyuan was, he had only cultivated for half a year. He could not afford to squander his internal power.
After dodging twenty-four consecutive sword strikes from Zheng Shan, he finally found an opening. He twisted through a sparrowhawk's somersault to evade the sword technique, leaped above Zheng Shan's head, and, in that lightning-flash instant, stabbed his sword fingers down onto the top of his head.
Crack!
He flipped over and landed.
Behind him, Zheng Shan felt his whole body go weak, and his treasured sword slipped from his hand.
Clang-clatter.
The sound of the sword hitting the ground.
Thud.
The sound of Zheng Shan hitting the ground.
He turned around.
Zhang Junbao was chasing a man. He had already dealt with all the others.
Using his lightness skill, Zhang Junbao caught up with the man in a single step and struck him in the back with his palm. The man fell to the ground, dead.
When Zhang Junbao entered the temple, he found Zhang Qingyuan searching the corpses.
Puzzled, he asked, "Brother, what are you doing?"
"Checking whether they have any money," Zhang Qingyuan said.
"You even want dead people's money?"
Zhang Junbao did not understand. He considered himself an upright person. How could an upright person violate the bodies of the dead?
Zhang Qingyuan rolled his eyes at him and continued searching. "You don't know how dear firewood and rice are until you run a household. They're dead. If nobody takes their money, it'll just go to waste. I told you, wasting things is shameful!"
"But..."
"We need to eat, boss!" Zhang Qingyuan said helplessly.
Zhang Junbao thought it over. His old beliefs shattered, and new ones were taking shape.
He turned to search the other bodies too. After rummaging for a while, he looked up and suddenly asked, "Then why didn't we search Young Master Wang's body that day?"
Zhang Qingyuan froze, his hands stopping. Looking at him, he said helplessly, "Because we still had money that day."
"Huh?" Zhang Junbao did not catch on at first, then suddenly understood. "Because we had money, you forgot. Today we don't have money, so you remembered."
"Smart."