Rumble-
Lightning tore through the heavens, and raindrops the size of beans pounded against the ridges of the rooftops.
Pedestrians were already a rare sight on the streets, with only a few carriages and horses braving the rain. Inside the shops along the street, however, the clamor continued, and now and then he could even hear rumors about himself through a window:
"I heard a real fierce one turned up in Hexi a couple of days ago. He killed Yang Tuyan single-handedly..."
"Who was it?"
"No idea..."
Clad in a gray robe and holding an oil-paper umbrella, Ye Xingge arrived on Azure Dragon Street. From a distance, he saw a large, three-story inn standing on the old street.
Azure Dragon Street had once been called Azure Dragon Ward. It lay in the southeastern corner of the outer city and was not a particularly prosperous district. Most of the people passing through were merchants traveling north and south.
The inn had stood there for decades, but its outer walls and roof had been spruced up until they looked brand-new, and the sign bearing the words "Wujian Inn" was still draped in red cloth.
There were still a few days before opening, but through the curtain of rain, he could see lights in the main hall. A woman stood inside with one hand on her hip and a feather duster in the other, looking very angry.
The fair and plump gentleman was holding a ladder steady, while a middle-aged man with an imposing bearing stood on it, holding up a noticeboard for displaying the Gold List.
On another wall hung signs that had already been nailed up, advertising offerings such as the "Swordsman Set," the "Swordswoman Set," and the "Cheat User Set."
These methods of attracting customers were all things Ye Xingge had devised over the years.
Business had been quite good when they first introduced them, but he killed people faster than he killed chickens, and his fearsome reputation was simply too great. They had not been much use.
As for the name "Wujian Inn," he had originally named it "Youjian Inn," but his second uncle had found that tacky and changed it to "Wujian." It represented both the family's closeness without any divide and the jianghu as an unending sea of suffering.
Now, as Ye Xingge gazed into the distance beneath his umbrella, one look at his father and second uncle being scolded so badly they dared not raise their heads told him that word of what he had done had already reached his parents.
He had risked his life to conceal the divine weapon, which would be hard to explain to his family. If he went over, he would surely be nagged for half the night.
And he had already made a military pledge to the Heaven-Observing Pavilion, so he had no choice but to see it through.
After some thought, Ye Xingge decided to settle his business in the city before coming to see them. He turned and left, and along the way, he grasped the yellow-striped creature with the left hand holding his umbrella and said quietly:
"Yu'er, where are you?"
Great Beauty's answer came to his ear:
"I'm eating. Ruan Jinyu is definitely monitoring the examination in secret, so I can't show myself. We'll meet up after you leave the city. As for Winnowing Basket Water Leopard, I arranged for the Mountains and Rivers Association to look for Gold-Chasing Gentleman beforehand, and they found some traces..."
Ye Xingge listened quietly beneath his umbrella and soon understood the situation:
Before Gold-Chasing Gentleman obtained the Fate-Robbing Saber, he had been a thief who scaled walls and roofs. When he stole things and fenced them, he went to the Return to Origin Cult's "Tail Fire Tiger," and the two apparently remained in contact to this day.
Winnowing Basket Water Leopard was Tail Fire Tiger's subordinate, responsible for Yongzhou Prefecture. According to the Mountains and Rivers Association's investigation, he had originally planned to enter the capital recently to summon his informants, but the Yong River had been closed off a couple of days ago, preventing him from getting across.
As a result, he had arrived in the capital today at about the same time as Ye Xingge and was currently at a theater in Return to Righteousness Ward.
But for Ye Xingge's examination, the difficult part was not killing someone. It was how to go through the process of "discovering, tracking, and apprehending" in a reasonable manner.
Ye Xingge thought it over and looked at the bracer on his arm:
"The Return to Origin Cult is bent on snatching famous weapons. They must have informants in weapon shops, auction houses, and places like that. If I head toward Return to Righteousness Ward and stop somewhere along the way to ask for a price, could I draw them out?"
Hongyu thought for a moment:
"Everyone knows the Return to Origin Cult's reputation. As long as you're alone and carelessly reveal that you're carrying a valuable treasure, they're sure to come. If they don't, just head somewhere dangerous, with few people around, on a dark and windy night. They won't be able to resist..."
Ye Xingge knew the Return to Origin Cult's reputation in that line of work. Nowadays, people of the jianghu almost always carried only one famous weapon when they went out, and even then they kept it hidden, so afraid were they of being robbed by that pack of mad dogs. He asked:
"What about the other two...?"
Hongyu replied, "The sect investigated all this beforehand. The leads on the three are 'linked together like a chain.' Once you find Winnowing Basket Water Leopard, you'll have a lead to track Tail Fire Tiger, and then you can capture Gold-Chasing Gentleman in due course and get the Fate-Robbing Saber."
Linked together like a chain again...
Ye Xingge blinked. Great Beauty's schemes always left him feeling a little uneasy.
But he had already given his word, so he had to make progress toward his goal. He headed toward Return to Righteousness Ward and asked along the way:
"Did the Mountains and Rivers Association know in advance that I was going to take the examination?"
"The Mountains and Rivers Association has informants everywhere. It's only natural that they know how the Heaven-Observing Pavilion operates."
"Oh... where are you eating?"
"At the Myriad Phenomena Tower's Grand Banquet of Ten Thousand Nations. There are a hundred and eight dishes, and foreign dancing girls too..."
"Oh? Is that so?"
The Myriad Phenomena Tower was an imperial establishment and a top-tier restaurant, with three hundred private rooms. It stayed open all night, and in the evenings, more than a hundred singing girls waited for customers beneath its corridors...
Ye Xingge had heard about it since childhood, but he had never actually been there. Reckoning that even a hurried meal there would cost dozens of strings of cash, he asked in surprise:
"You're eating that well?! You're not going to make me settle the bill later, are you?"
"Hmph. Outside Qingxi, your big sister is the head of the Mountains and Rivers Association. Would I have to pay for a meal? What a pity you can't come!"
"..."
Ye Xingge felt that Great Beauty was still holding a grudge. He replied:
"What sort of man lives off a woman? Once this is done, we'll go have a meal there together. I'll pay the bill!"
"Hmph..."
Meanwhile, at Wujian Inn.
Rain swept past the windows. The newly refurbished main hall held twenty-six tables, and there were private rooms upstairs.
The innkeeper, Liu Ping'er, held a feather duster, one hand on her hip and a fierce look on her face. She kept berating the boy's father for failing to keep their son in line, but her brow was full of worry for him.
Ye Yuanshan held the ladder steady. Faced with his wife's scolding, his plump face wore a helpless expression.
His younger brother, Ye Gucheng, stood on the ladder, nailing a board to the wall. His expression was fairly calm, and his bass voice was quite resonant:
"Rise and fall are governed by fate, and no one in the jianghu is master of himself. The affairs of the world turn over and over, never constant..."
"Speak like a human being!"
"Uh... sister-in-law, the jianghu is unpredictable, and everyone has their own fate. Xingge is old enough to have ideas of his own. We elders can't keep him tied to the inn forever."
"Xingge has known his limits since he was little. Why would he suddenly run off and risk his life for the Heaven-Observing Pavilion? And he's fearless in the face of death, going after vicious outlaws on his own. Flower Judge must have put a gu on him..."
"Shh, shh, shh! She might end up being your daughter-in-law. Watch what you say..."
Faced with his wife's nagging, Ye Yuanshan truly did not know how to explain their son's sudden decision to become a lackey of the Heaven-Observing Pavilion. He was also deeply worried.
"Distant mountains, lone city" referred to Jinzhou City, the capital of Western Shu!
Ye Xingge's grandfather, Ye Ding, had been born in Shu. Later, he settled in Yongzhou, married, and had children. He had given the boys those names to express his longing for home.
Ye Yuanshan and his younger brother had been fairly well fed and clothed as children, but when they were just over ten, Emperor Ai's depravity and tyranny plunged the realm into chaos, with warfare breaking out everywhere. Their father had been called up for military service and never returned. Their mother had gone to look for him and never returned either.
Having lost both parents in an instant and with no one to depend on, Ye Yuanshan had been unable to survive except by taking his younger brother with him to do hard labor for a living.
They lived that way for two or three years, until one day the brothers unexpectedly found a bundle.
Inside it were a manual for the "Twelve Stances Art," some body-tempering medicines, and a good deal of silver.
Ye Yuanshan had only been a little over ten at the time. He did not know who had lost it, and since his life was worth little anyway, he had not given it much thought. He took it home and used the silver to open a small restaurant.
The brothers lived together, and their circumstances gradually improved. When Ye Yuanshan was a little older, the owner of an inn in the county town took a liking to him, and he married and had a son.
As for the martial arts manual, Ye Yuanshan had no talent for martial arts and had never attained any great skill. He had spent the years since doing business.
His younger brother, Ye Gucheng, had good talent and had trained hard for thirty years, though Ye Yuanshan could not tell what level he had reached.
But the brothers had never dared use those skills.
After all, over the years, they had unexpectedly discovered that the "Twelve Stances Art" was a secret art of the Dragon Flower Cult of Western Shu.
And the Dragon Flower Cult was the Western Shu rebel army raised by Long Zaiye, the man ranked ninth under heaven. He had even proclaimed himself emperor by now!
If the brothers displayed any skill in the "Twelve Stances Art," Great Yan would certainly take them for Western Shu spies.
Even now, Ye Yuanshan did not know whose belongings he had picked up as a child. In the thirty-odd years since, no one had ever come looking for the brothers.
To ensure his family's survival in those troubled times, Ye Yuanshan had strictly forbidden his younger brother from showing his abilities, treating their martial arts only as a final trump card to be used when they had no other choice.
As for his son, Ye Xingge, he had given him his full support in practicing martial arts and gaining experience by killing bandits, so that he would have the strength to protect himself in troubled times.
At the same time, he had kept his son from running around, lest he be caught up in the unending deadly struggles of the court and the jianghu!
But now that Flower Judge had discovered him, their son could no longer lie low among the common folk. Judging by his conduct over the past two days, he truly was risking his life and clearly wanted to serve Great Yan!
Naturally, as his father, Ye Yuanshan was happy that his son could make something of himself.
But he really was afraid that those martial skills of unknown origin would instead ruin his son's future.
Now, with his wife scolding him, Ye Yuanshan could hardly say anything. After the boy's mother went to rest, he took his younger brother somewhere secluded and said quietly:
"Xingge's background is clean, and Great Yan's unification of the realm is already a foregone conclusion. It would be a good thing if he could make a place for himself at court in the future. But our martial arts are bound to cause trouble someday. Do you have a way to cover them up?"
Ye Gucheng wore a circle beard and a white robe, giving him something of the air of a great hero. He held his sword in his arms and considered the question briefly:
"There's certainly a way. Once Xingge makes a name for himself in the Heaven-Observing Pavilion, we can have him find us a copy of the 'Twelve Stances Art' to study. The problem will solve itself."
"..."
Ye Yuanshan clasped his hands behind his back, thinking that made sense, but then frowned and said:
"Sharpening your spear on the eve of battle won't explain decades of cultivation. What level are you at now, anyway?"
Ye Gucheng fell silent for a moment, then turned to look at the curtain of rain outside the window and at the imperial palace to the north, atop the Forbidden City:
"Long have I stood among the clouds atop the Forbidden City; the depths of my martial prowess are hard to measure..."
Smack.
Ye Yuanshan raised a hand and slapped him on the forehead. "Can't you speak properly?"
Ye Gucheng spread his hands. "Brother, I started practicing martial arts when I was seven or eight, and now I'm in my forties. You remind me every day, so I have to be careful even when fighting a dog. How would I know what level I'm at? How about I go to the Heaven-Observing Pavilion and challenge Little Zhang to a fight to find out?"
"..."
Ye Yuanshan thought about it briefly and decided he had a point. He replied:
"Hmm... then you'd better keep hiding your strength. If something serious happens in the future, we'll at least have something to hope for. Just don't turn out to be below the third rank when the time comes."
Ye Gucheng felt that his life had been rather stifling, but his elder brother had raised him, and he also knew how dangerous the world was. He had no complaints about it and merely flicked the hair at his temples:
"You're worrying too soon about the future, elder brother. What we ought to be concerned about now is the inn's business."
Ye Yuanshan looked around the spotless, newly refurbished inn and frowned:
"What's wrong with the business?"
Ye Gucheng sighed softly:
"In just three years, Xingge killed so many people that you could catch sparrows at the door of the old inn in Qingxi. We moved the new inn to the capital, and we didn't even dare bring him with us. Now Xingge has come here on his own and joined the Heaven-Observing Pavilion. If he keeps killing someone every few days from now on..."
"..."
Ye Yuanshan drew a soft breath, evidently already picturing the customers turning pale at the mere mention of Xingge.
But his son's martial training was serious business, and the people he killed were evildoers he had honorably eliminated for the people. Even if Ye Yuanshan had to close the inn, he could not stop him.
After considering it for a moment, Ye Yuanshan said:
"It's not as if Xingge kills customers. Besides, the capital is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. For Xingge to become as notorious here as he was in the county town would be harder than climbing to heaven. We should be able to keep the business going for another six months."
"I'd say three months at most."
"We haven't even opened yet. Say something auspicious."
"Sigh..."