In the little town at the foot of the Taiyin Mountains, Zhang Qingyuan led his horse along.
It was noon. After bidding farewell to everyone who had come to see him off, Zhang Qingyuan set out on his journey once more.
When he had gone up the mountain, he had only two bundles and a sword. Now he had three more bundles, another sword, and a brand-new horsetail whisk.
Of the three bundles, one contained the martial arts manuals Zhang Qingyuan had compiled himself for the skills he currently knew.
Another held the food Li Guangye, Zhao Guangjie, and the others had given him.
The last bundle contained little gifts from several elders.
Zhang Qingyuan had taken a look: there were souvenirs such as a bagua mirror and a little wooden sword.
The sword was the one Daoist Master Bright Moon had given him last night. Zhang Qingyuan thought Scorching Night sounded bad, so he had renamed it Questioning Heart.
As for the horsetail whisk, Daoist Master Bright Heart had personally made it last night, also as a small token of apology on behalf of her disciple.
Looking at Baolai, Zhang Qingyuan could not help sighing.
Who the hell had been feeding my horse?
After three months apart, Baolai was a whole size fatter than before they had gone up the mountain.
"Just how plentiful were the grass and water up there for you to eat yourself into this state?"
He patted the horse as he complained.
Baolai clearly had not understood and made a series of snuffling noises.
Zhang Qingyuan was utterly speechless. What a stupid horse.
Pure Yang Palace was on Mount Jiuhua, and Mount Jiuhua was in the south.
Although this world's geography differed greatly from that of his previous life, many of the famous mountains, rivers, scenic spots, and historic sites that overlapped with his previous world remained the same.
The Five Sacred Mountains, for example, and Mount Jiuhua.
In his previous life, Mount Jiuhua had been in Anhui. Its location in this world was much the same.
Leading his horse, Zhang Qingyuan unfolded the map Daoist Master Bright Mountain had given him and took a look.
One was in the south, the other in the north. Reaching Pure Yang Palace would mean traveling over four thousand li-close to five thousand.
When would I ever get there?
The bewildered Zhang Qingyuan was thoroughly bewildered.
Why did this world have to be so huge? Making this trip was far too much trouble.
The map rustled in the wind, while his handsome phoenix eyes looked adorably vacant.
For the sake of his martial arts, for a slightly better future, he had to go, however far it was.
Before that, though, he needed to deal with the Cloud Dust Manor affair and turn his reputation around.
Come to think of it, not only had he inherited Zhang Sanfeng's martial talent, he had probably inherited his bad luck too.
Zhang Sanfeng had started out by losing his master, then spent several years muddling through life and several more studying Daoist scriptures on Mount Wudang. Only after a sudden enlightenment in middle age had he pulled himself together and resumed practicing martial arts.
Despite his late start in martial arts, he had still become True Person Zhang, the greatest under heaven.
But during his first few years of practice, both ordinary folk and the jianghu had called him Slovenly Zhang. His reputation had suffered, much like Zhang Qingyuan's own.
Later, to turn that reputation around, he had begun slaying demons and defending the Dao, suppressing the martial world for sixty years.
Netizens on Douyin all said the reason the martial world had such a long lull in the decades between The Return of the Condor Heroes and The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber was that he had killed his way through it.
If they refused to submit, fight them until they did.
In the end, he had forced everyone under heaven to address him respectfully as True Person Zhang.
His own situation was much the same: he had started out by losing his master too.
His reputation had also been bad after leaving the mountain. If he kept fighting violence with violence, the path he walked really would look rather like Old Zhang's.
After poking fun at himself for a while, he supposed the paths of the strong were much the same, with only minor differences.
Taking advantage of the bright sunshine, Zhang Qingyuan led his horse out of town and set off toward Taihang Mountain.
Cloud Dust Manor stood at the foot of Taihang Mountain. It seemed some senior experts all liked choosing a famous scenic spot for themselves.
He currently had no detailed information on Cloud Dust Manor. Any investigation would have to wait until he reached the manor at Taihang Mountain.
He utterly hated this ancient era without planes or motor vehicles. Going anywhere was far too much trouble.
Taihang Mountain lay in the Central Plains. Although it was not as far away as Mount Jiuhua, it was still over two thousand li away.
And the mountain roads were rugged, with no expressways. Traveling them was terribly difficult.
When he had first left Three Purities Temple, Zhang Qingyuan had been excited, happily touring the mountains and rivers.
But after this trip to Taiyin, he had lost all interest in traveling alone.
He wondered where Li Qiuran was now. Having someone along would make things easier; they could chat and laugh when there was nothing to do, and he would not feel tired.
Being alone was truly boring. Even if he tried chatting with Baolai, the stupid horse could not understand human speech.
If Baolai had known what he was thinking, he would certainly have retorted that clever horses could not understand it either.
"The boundless horizon is my love, leaving behind a sea of myriad purples and reds. What kind of ballad are we waiting for? What kind of singing is the most carefree?
If we're going to sing, we'll sing to our hearts' content..."
Sitting astride his horse, Zhang Qingyuan swayed his body and sang a song from his previous life, entertaining himself.
He had to admit, although netizens always mocked Phoenix Legend's songs for being tacky, when it came to songs that stayed fresh in the memory and rolled right off the tongue, theirs were still the ones.
After more than three years in this world, he could no longer remember many songs from his previous life, but whenever he hummed, he could always hum this one.
When he finished singing it once, his voice echoed through the woods, startling a flock of birds into flight.
Feeling rather wistful, Zhang Qingyuan muttered to himself, "This world can't be without Phoenix Legend, just as the West can't be without that something-or-other Cold."
Just as he was enjoying himself, three burly men suddenly leaped out of the bushes ahead.
All three wore coarse cloth clothing and held sabers and swords.
"Are you Zhang Qingyuan?"
The man in the lead had a chin covered in stiff black whiskers, and his rough voice sounded like a bull's bellow.
Seated on his horse, Zhang Qingyuan leaned forward a little, holding the reins in one hand and propping his chin on the other. He felt no danger at all.
He replied calmly, "That's me."
"Hah, you do have a pretty face."
"Thank you." He even thanked them. Zhang Qingyuan was quite happy to have his looks praised.
Was this fellow an idiot?
The three exchanged glances, unable to make sense of Zhang Qingyuan's reaction.
Couldn't he tell they were here to kill him?
The saber-wielding man pointed at Zhang Qingyuan and said viciously, "Whether you're really mad or just pretending, your grandpa here will let you die knowing why today.
We three brothers never change our names, standing or sitting. We are the Three Heroes of Bashu! Today, we're killing you to avenge those forty-two people of Cloud Dust Manor!"
Zhang Qingyuan shook his head and sighed. "If you're after the bounty, just say so. Why put on this bullshit act?"
"Stop spouting nonsense! You wicked Daoist, so vicious and ruthless..."
Zhang Qingyuan curled his lip, showing his contempt for their unwillingness to own up to what they were doing.
They were clearly doing it for money, yet dared not admit it. Shameless.
"Oh, let me ask you something. Who put the bounty on me?"
The three, who had been endlessly reciting Zhang Qingyuan's crimes, froze. The question seemed to have stumped them.
Zhang Qingyuan was dumbfounded. "Seriously? You must at least know who you're supposed to collect the money from after killing me, right?"
Knowing who had offered the bounty would also mean knowing who was behind all this.
Unfortunately, these three fools apparently did not know.
"We accepted the mission at the Martial Arts Alliance."
Understanding dawned on Zhang Qingyuan. It seemed the person behind this had not revealed their identity.
The Martial Arts Alliance was an alliance formed by a group of first-rate experts. Its original purpose had been to gain a voice in the martial world.
But unfortunately, experts preferred to come and go alone. This group could only keep fools like these in check, so to experts, the Martial Arts Alliance was merely for show.
To people like these three fools, however, the Martial Arts Alliance remained far beyond their reach.
"Enough nonsense! Die!"
The three charged with their sabers, while Zhang Qingyuan remained seated on his horse.
After his improvement in martial arts, if he still had to dismount to fight these three, his three months of secluded cultivation would have been wasted.
He raised his right hand. A vortex of Qi gradually expanded within his palm, slowly gathering into a transparent taiji diagram over a zhang across.
The taiji diagram formed from Yin-Yang True Qi contained boundless Dao resonance. As he raised his palm, the diagram rose upright with it, hovering before Zhang Qingyuan.
He watched the three leap into the air and simultaneously unleash Splitting Mount Hua.
The next instant, Zhang Qingyuan jolted his palm. Like a wall, the taiji diagram shot forward and slapped all three to the ground.
Pfft, pfft, pfft...
All three spat out a mouthful of blood.
Zhang Qingyuan raised his hand again, producing another transparent taiji diagram. On closer inspection, the diagram's yin and yang fish bore faint traces of black and white respectively, with the black a little stronger.
The taiji diagram, over a zhang across, spun rapidly as it hovered above the three. With a wave of Zhang Qingyuan's hand, the enormous diagram would swiftly descend and smash into them.
This was precisely the Yin-Yang Unrivaled Palm Zhang Qingyuan had created based on taiji theory.
It used Yin-Yang True Qi as a seal, forming a taiji diagram.
On the attack, it could smash, shake, or stamp.
On defense, it could stand before him as a shield.
The three swallowed as they stared at the taiji diagram. This little Daoist's martial arts were actually this formidable.
One move,
just one move...
What palm technique was this,
what martial art was this?
While the three were still reeling in shock, Zhang Qingyuan said, "I won't kill you. Go home and live your lives properly.
Oh, and after you leave, spread the word for me: the massacre at Cloud Dust Manor had nothing to do with me. As for the true mastermind, this humble Daoist will personally come calling to seek instruction!"