Clear waters and trees, graceful beauty

Ten days later.

An egret beat its wings, its clear silhouette skimming across the lake.

Fifty or sixty fishing boats lay moored on the water.

On Lake Tai's eastern shore, the islanders of the Seventy-Two Peaks had heard that Black Sand Wharf offered fair deals and charged only a ten-percent fishing tax, and would rather travel dozens or even a hundred extra li by water.

Buyers for Gusu City's upscale restaurants and pleasure houses could only come here as well.

Carts and boats crowded together, and the bustle grew by the day.

"This bowl has chili in it. Enjoy."

Carrying a wooden tray, Old Yuan smiled as he set down two bowls of wontons. He had deliberately chosen large white porcelain bowls that had never been repaired. Business had been booming lately, with a handsome surplus. Once some more time passed and things proved thoroughly peaceful, he could buy a batch of new bowls.

"Thank you, sir."

Once again, two people and two bowls of wontons: one ate with his head lowered, while the other sat beside him and watched.

"I thought you'd already left."

"My wounds have healed. It's time I left."

The woman wore a close-fitting black outfit and a bamboo hat, with black gauze covering most of her face, leaving only a pair of frost-cold eyes visible. Tall and slender, she sat on the wooden bench, watching the man with his head buried in the large white porcelain bowl. A few traces of tenderness appeared in her eyes.

"Are they good?"

"You never eat yours. What choice do I have? I can only enjoy another bowl."

The young man in blue robes was only eighteen or nineteen, in the prime of youth, handsome and debonair. A plain, black-sheathed longsword hung at his waist. He looked like a noble young master mingling in the mortal world, without the slightest hint of a martial wanderer's ruthlessness.

No one would have imagined that he was the leader of the Divine Dragon Cult, whose reputation had recently soared in Gusu's martial world.

"Can't you stay?"

Having finished one bowl, Li Yu suddenly raised his head and looked across at her.

Caught somewhat off guard, Qin Xiu opened her mouth, wanting to say something. In the end, still separated by that layer of black gauze, she slowly turned her head to gaze at the rolling white waves on Lake Tai. It was mid-to-late June, and the autumn tide was gradually rising.

"I cannot defy my master's orders."

She fell silent for a moment. Hidden beneath the black gauze, her smile was bitter as she continued on her own.

"Since childhood, I lived in seclusion in a valley with my master. When she told me to practice martial arts, I practiced. When she told me to kill, I killed... north to Henan and Shangjing, south to Dali and Siam, west to Tubo, east to... Suzhou and Hangzhou."

As she spoke, her voice gradually grew cold.

Li Yu glanced at the black case on the ground. During the battle at Flower Reverence Pavilion, the most dangerous moment had been Sun Laoba's sudden attack. What had delivered him from danger was the bolt fired from that case.

"Who are you going to kill this time?"

Qin Xiu looked toward Lake Tai.

"You're better off not knowing. The person I'm going to assassinate holds an illustrious position and has many experts guarding them. If I fail, I can immediately flee far into the martial world. Everything you've built is here."

Li Yu smiled. "Afraid you'll drag me into it?"

She picked up the bowl of wontons before her.

There was no chili in this bowl. Emerald-green chopped scallions floated on the clear broth, like a pool of clear water.

Through her veil, she sniffed its scent. Though it was mere inches away, an invisible wall seemed to stand between them. As she watched the large wontons floating in the clear broth, a faint sadness appeared in the young woman's moonlike eyes, so often lonely, cold, and aloof.

Li Yu looked at the black gauze she had never removed. "Is this your master's order too?"

"Master said not to tell men my name, much less let them see my face. Ever since I was little, I've always listened to her..."

Qin Xiu finally set down the bowl of wontons and slowly rose. Her black veil stirred lightly, her eyes fixed on the young man in blue. The sadness gradually receded, frost completely covering the depths of her eyes. She picked up the crossbow case and turned to leave, leaving only a single remark behind.

"You saved me once, and I saved you once. Li Yu, all debts between us are settled!"

The black figure had been gone for a long while.

Looking at the bowl of wontons without chili, Li Yu picked up his bamboo chopsticks and carefully lifted the large white porcelain bowl, murmuring to himself, "If you leave wontons too long, they turn soggy too..."

Before he finished speaking, his expression froze. His gaze fell on the tabletop the bowl had covered. At some point, eight small, graceful characters had been left there. Broth was thicker than water, after all, and little time had passed; they were still faintly legible.

"Clear waters and trees, graceful beauty."

Li Yu abruptly stood and looked all around. People came and went, but the black-robed figure was nowhere to be seen.

It was her!

Though he had known a little about this world in his previous life, it had been no more than fleeting light and passing shadows. Now that he truly stood within it, every brick and tile, every blade of grass... every tree was utterly real, yet its whereabouts were "lost deep within the clouds."

"So it was her..."

Li Yu stood lost in thought for a long while. Finally, he looked toward Lake Tai, only to see a familiar white wake speeding toward him. A bamboo raft pulled up to the wharf, and a girl dressed in green jumped ashore.

With her keen eyes and ears, Abi immediately spotted the young man in blue standing before the wonton stall and walked over, smiling.

"Young Master Carp, did you come especially to welcome me?"

Li Yu came back to himself. "What brings you here?"

"Proper business, of course."

Drawing out her Wu-accented syllables, Abi rolled her eyes, then suddenly noticed the remaining bowl of wontons on the table. She went around the table and sat on the bench that had been pulled out.

"Impressive! All Gusu's martial world is talking about the Divine Dragon Cult leader's heroic feat of facing a hundred with one sword. Who knew your swordsmanship wasn't your only talent? You can even foresee the future! You knew I hadn't had breakfast and would be hungry after rowing thirty li..."

As she spoke, Abi reached for the bowl of wontons.

Li Yu hurriedly covered it with his hand. "Not this bowl."

Abi pointed at the empty bowl beside it. "Why not? You've already finished a bowl."

"This bowl... has gone soggy."

Li Yu turned and called Old Yuan over. "Another bowl, please. Put it on my tab."

"Coming right up."

In no time, a bowl of generously filled, thin-skinned wontons arrived. A few pieces of vegetables, blanched just right, floated on the hot broth, like Abi rowing across Lake Tai. Delighted, she began taking big mouthfuls with her little mouth.

"What proper business did you come to see me about?"

Li Yu asked as he slowly ate the somewhat soggy wontons in clear broth.

"The seventh day of the seventh month is Aunt's flower birthday. Our young master sent a letter... oh, you don't know yet, do you? I'm a maid in Master Murong's household at Canhe Manor. Our young master is... um... he's..."

Abi talked as she ate, two wontons in her mouth bulging out her cheeks.

Li Yu supplied, "Your young master is Southern Murong, renowned throughout the martial world?"

Abi said delightedly, "You've heard of our young master too?"

Li Yu smiled. "Who in the martial world today hasn't heard the illustrious names of Northern Qiao Feng and Southern Murong?"

Her eyes narrowing into crescents, Abi smiled in satisfaction. "That's right. But whatever you do, don't mention 'Northern Qiao Feng and Southern Murong' in front of our young master. Even 'Southern Murong and Northern Qiao Feng' will make him unhappy."

Li Yu smiled. Since ancient times, those sharing equal fame had been rivals; even those with no wish to compete would be goaded into it.

"Never mind your young master for now. What exactly is this proper business?"

"Oh."

Abi set down her bamboo chopsticks and returned to the subject.

"The seventh day of the seventh month is Aunt Wang's flower birthday. As usual, Canhe Manor has to send over a hundred pots of superior camellias. Sister Azhu sent people to Dali early to buy a hundred and twenty pots of white camellias. But each land and its waters nurture their own flowers. When Dali flowers arrive in Jiangnan, their potting soil needs changing. We didn't know last year, and more than a dozen of the camellias we sent died. Aunt specifically summoned Sister Azhu and slapped her..."

There was a large stretch of black soil at the foot of the western hill in Black Earth Town.

It was excellent potting soil for growing flowers and raising seedlings. Townspeople often carried loads back to enrich their fields. Later, the Black Flood Dragon Gang had seized it, and now it belonged to the Divine Dragon Cult. Selling soil brought in seventy or eighty taels each month.

Li Yu smiled. "No trouble. Tell me how much you need, and I'll have them deliver it to the wharf."

Abi smiled and cupped her hands. "Thank you, Cult Leader Li."

"Cult leader, gang leader-just empty titles. Here in this little corner of the South Canal, when there's no tiger in the mountains, the monkey becomes king. Before the Murong Clan, I wouldn't dare think too highly of myself."

Abi giggled.

Seeing how proud she was of the Murong Clan's prestige, Li Yu had a thought and followed her lead.

"The Gusu Murong Clan's fame reaches far. I've admired it for a long time. But what makes Mantuo Manor so remarkable that your young master respects it so much? Could that aunt be a rarely seen martial expert too?"

"Not really."

Completely unguarded, Abi poured everything out.

"Aunt's skills are ordinary, and she doesn't like practicing martial arts. But there are four old women in the manor, all second-rate experts. They've looked after her since she was little and are utterly loyal."

"Yan Ruhua, who fought you on the boat that day, isn't outstanding compared to those four. She only became steward of the flower fertilizer house because she's good at pleasing Aunt and has a vicious disposition. She has quite a bit of power within the manor."

"There are also twenty-four personal maids whom Aunt raised herself, and they're just as devoted to her. Individually, they're nothing special, but if they form the Heartless Sword Formation, even our young master has to handle them carefully..."

"Besides, the manor is full of mechanisms and traps. Just the ones I know about include things like Camellia Miasma and Intoxicating Bees..."

Li Yu chuckled softly. "With a household like that, the flower birthday on the seventh day of the seventh month must cause a stir throughout Gusu City, with guests gathering like clouds."

"There's something else you don't know."

Abi shook her head, making her emerald hairpin sway wildly.

"Aunt has an eccentric, stingy temperament and doesn't like celebrating her birthday. Every seventh day of the seventh month, she goes alone to stay for a day in a wooden cabin on the back hill. She won't even bring many guards, much less receive guests..."

The smile on Li Yu's face froze. He looked in the direction the black figure had left, a grave look flashing through his eyes.

The seventh day of the seventh month, the wooden cabin on Mantuo Manor's back hill...