Outside the alley, on the stone bridge.
Fine rain fell like sand, and water rushed through the canal beneath the bridge.
Luo Xuanqing wore a black rain cloak, its hood drawn over her head. She faced the night wind and the canal, letting the cold air cool her down, but her cheeks were still burning red.
"That damn brat..."
Clutching the clothes to her chest, Luo Xuanqing was almost afraid to go home.
After all, she was a formidable figure among the top thirty under heaven, the Heaven-Observing Pavilion's grand commander with countless subordinates. She had once been a cool, aloof fairy of the Daoist sects, too.
Yet the first time she brought a little brat home, he saw her melons...
How was she supposed to puff out her chest in the office as his superior after this?
The moment that damn brat saw her, his head would probably be full of her great snowy mounds...
Could this boy be my bane?
At the thought, Luo Xuanqing recalled Ye Xingge's birth date and time. Raising her right hand, she counted on her fingers to divine the fateful tribulation between them:
"Born three quarters into the hour of the horse on the ninth day of the ninth month. A double nine of sun and moon, his fate inherits the vital essence of the Double Yang from heaven and earth. Fierce and decisive, born with an unyielding backbone, his destiny bears heavenly slaughter...
"And paired with my birth date... the Pool of Salt in my destiny encounters a tribulation, and my peach blossoms bear Baleful Intent. I should restrain my feelings and guard my heart, staying far from the Pool of Salt, only then can I seek good fortune and avoid calamity..."
Luo Xuanqing's slender brows knitted slightly. She turned and glanced down the deep alley, grumbling inwardly:
"It's one thing for my fate to be plagued by peach blossoms, but how could they be Peach Blossom Baleful Intent? And stay away from that brat... If I send him packing, who'll work for me? Divination and superstition really do lead the young astray. I was right to return to secular life back then..."
After grumbling about the senior Daoist nun, Luo Xuanqing suppressed the thoughts churning in her heart. Carrying the clothes, she walked gracefully through the deep alley.
Her hooded cloak and the white dress beneath it made a picture from every angle, but unfortunately, there was no one to appreciate it.
When she returned to the main house, Luo Xuanqing looked around and saw that the light in the bedroom was already out. She tiptoed to the doorway and glanced inside.
The bed curtains hung down. Ye Xingge lay on the pillow, already fast asleep, the outline of his body faintly visible.
Luo Xuanqing blinked. Though time was pressing, she could not bear to wake him. After placing the clothes on the bedroom table, she sat cross-legged on the small couch in the sitting room and quietly tried to break through the blockage the damned woman had placed in her Qi channels.
Outside, the soft rustle of rain gradually turned to a steady patter, and a fish-belly white appeared on the horizon...
As the saying went, what occupied one's thoughts by day entered one's dreams by night.
Ye Xingge slept soundly on the pillow, his dreams a jumble. There was Great Beauty Luo's wealth and generosity, and there was him charging into a gang's headquarters alone, only to flee like a rat with hundreds of people on his heels.
By the time he woke with a start, the sky was still dark. He guessed he had only slept four or five hours.
Ye Xingge had to make every moment count, and once he opened his eyes, he was no longer sleepy. He sat up and looked around, noticing clothes on the table. He called softly:
"Lord Luo?"
"The clothes are on the table. Head out early."
A familiar, ethereal voice came from the outer room, a little less mature and alluring than usual, and a little more dignified.
Ye Xingge knew what the issue was and said no more. He got up, fetched the clothes, and dressed.
The robe had a crossed collar. For the sake of going out on business, it was not particularly conspicuous, with a common style and light-gray color, but the fabric was very comfortable. The trousers in particular made him feel two taels lighter on his feet, and the shoes fit quite well too.
Once he was dressed, Ye Xingge stepped out of the room, only to find that Great Beauty Luo was not there. A light shone in the front courtyard.
The plump black cat was up too, squatting beneath the porch of the passageway gate. From behind, the cat was a triangle with no neck at all; if not for the two ears, the cat would have looked like a big black rice dumpling.
Seeing that the rain had stopped, Ye Xingge carried his saber to the inside of the passageway gate, giving the cat a stroke along the way. He leaned out and saw that the kitchen window to the side was open.
A tall beauty in a white nightdress, her long hair falling down her back, was heating water to cook noodles.
Though the sight of a beauty cooking in the kitchen before dawn was heartwarming, Great Beauty Luo was indeed no demure maiden from a modest household.
At that moment, she stood straight-backed before the stove, holding a large iron wok with one hand. The flames in the stove shot up like rockets.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~
"?"
At first glance, Ye Xingge thought it was a gas stove. After peering in from the kitchen doorway for a moment, he raised a hand:
"Er... Lord Luo, are you preparing to cook some noodles for me?"
Luo Xuanqing's face was like cold jade. She did not turn around.
"Mm, just wait."
Ye Xingge was rather touched, but as an innkeeper, he could hardly bear to watch. He washed his hands, went inside, picked up an apron, and started chopping garlic sprouts.
"Let me do it. There's a knack to cooking noodles, you can't just blast them with heat..."
"?"
Luo Xuanqing was not picky about food, and when she cooked in the past, she had only cared about speed. Hearing the tap-tap-tap of chopping behind her, she stopped showing off her axe skills before a master carpenter and asked instead:
"What are you planning to do next?"
"Yesterday I found a Return to Origin Cult token that lets me contact Tail Fire Tiger. I contacted him before the news could spread, and we agreed to meet at Forgetful River Mouth. As long as he takes the bait, all I have to do is ambush and kill him."
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Luo Xuanqing nodded slightly.
"That's a good plan, but if I disappear with you, no matter how well we hide, Ruan Jinyu will find something to use against me. You're on your own and still injured, you may not be a match for Tail Fire Tiger."
Ye Xingge gestured to the dagger at his waist. "With Ravine-Leaping Tiger here, even if I can't beat him head-on, ambushing him will be as easy as playing a game. Don't worry, Sister Luo, I know what I'm doing."
How could Luo Xuanqing not worry? But hearing how he addressed her, she corrected him sternly again:
"Call me Auntie!"
Ye Xingge figured that if he was going to call anyone auntie, it should be Great Beauty Luo's master, Auntie Liu.
If their seniority got mixed up like that, wouldn't he have to call Perfected Jiuhua Grandma later on?
With Perfected Jiuhua's legendary temper, if he dared call her that, she really could beat him into pieces scattered east and west.
"Lord Luo, why don't you go change first? I can handle this."
"Hmph..."
Luo Xuanqing's feelings were actually a little complicated too. After watching for a moment, she said no more and turned to go back to her room.
Tap, tap, tap...
Ye Xingge continued cooking as usual. Only after Great Beauty Luo passed through the passageway gate did he secretly shake his head and smile...
A short while later, at the courier station.
A well-fed, sturdy yellow steed stood in the station courtyard while a clerk presented documents for Great Beauty Luo, dressed in blue, to sign.
The eight-hundred-li express could not normally be used, but Ye Xingge was going out to "apprehend a major criminal," and a high-ranking official of the Heaven-Observing Pavilion had signed for him, so the process went smoothly.
Ye Xingge now carried a single-edged saber and wore a brown pouch at his waist, containing Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers and other tools, as well as medical supplies. A Divine Arm Crossbow also hung at the horse's side.
Besides that, Great Beauty Luo had obtained a suit of chain mail for him. It covered his torso completely without hindering his movements and could stop ordinary thrusts and slashes.
Equipped from head to toe, Ye Xingge naturally felt much more reassured. After all, possessing a powerful crossbow and armor could easily draw an investigation from the authorities, so people traveling the jianghu were almost never equipped with them.
He was bringing a fully kitted-out sniper rifle against a bunch of glass cannons. Even if he still couldn't beat them, he could at least escape.
After Great Beauty Luo finished signing, Ye Xingge collected the yellow flags and blood-feather insignia, attaching them at his waist, on his back, and to the saddle. He hung a bronze bell and a badge at his waist, then swung into the saddle.
"Then I'm off."
Luo Xuanqing stood beside him. Worried for his safety, she no longer wore a chilly expression as she cautioned him:
"Don't get greedy for credit and rush ahead. I'll still leave the door open for you. Go and come back quickly. It's all right if you can't get it done, you're already very capable."
"Heh, heh..."
Ye Xingge looked at the tall, graceful, aloof fairy and hesitated briefly before saying:
"Sorry about last night. I really didn't mean to. Hyah-"
With that, he squeezed the horse's flanks and took off.
Luo Xuanqing's expression stiffened slightly. Her cheeks visibly flushed red, but she suppressed it again in an instant. Watching his retreating figure disappear in a cloud of dust, she muttered under her breath:
"Damn brat, don't come back if you've got the nerve..."
"Hyah-"
Clop-clop-clop, clop-clop-clop...
The steed galloped across the vast plain, the three yellow flags on him snapping in the wind. Clear bells rang along the road, and merchants and travelers hurried to make way.
Ye Xingge rode hundreds of li without obstruction and gradually reached the borders of Jingzhou. Dongyuan Lake lay farther ahead.
The jianghu powers of southern Great Yan were collectively known as the Eight Great Sects of the Cang River. The Mountains and Rivers Association and the River-Spanning Pavilion were the two great overlords among them, while the leaders of the remaining sects had all entered the Second Rank. Beneath them were subordinate gangs.
The northern jianghu was collectively known as the Three Mountains and Twelve Gates.
Although the north had more prominent powers, and those ranked first, third, and fourth in the First Rank were all among them, the south did not count the Heaven-Observing Pavilion, Later Zhou, and the like as part of the jianghu either. Overall, the martial artists of north and south were evenly matched.
Dongyuan Lake was the core territory of the River-Spanning Pavilion's faction. Fed by three rivers, it stretched over seven hundred li and held a hundred islands and more than thirty gangs of various sizes.
The River-Spanning Pavilion's headquarters stood on the River-Spanning Terrace at the center of the lake, while the lake's mouth was controlled by Black Dragon Island, one of the eight great sects. The two had long worn the same pair of trousers.
Ye Xingge had heard legends of the Eight Great Sects of the Cang River since childhood, but this was certainly his first visit. It was even his first time leaving Yongzhou.
The unfamiliar green mountains and clear waters beside the official road were quite a novelty to Ye Xingge. When he reached a deserted stretch, he took out the yellow strip again.
"Xiaohong, have you arrived?"
Hongyu had set off the previous night to keep up with the journey. Hearing him, she replied in his ear:
"I just arrived. Come to the Forgetful River Inn. I've booked a room and heated some water, so get some rest first."
Hearing this, Ye Xingge felt that Great Beauty really was quite attentive, and casually asked:
"Do you offer massages? I feel like my whole body's about to fall apart."
And Great Beauty actually replied:
"All right, I'll massage you. Rest up early so you can get to business."
"Oh..."
The soreness throughout Ye Xingge's body eased a little. Without further hesitation, he raced to a courier station near Jingzhou City and handed over the token, yellow flags, and other items. He then used the documents he carried to borrow a horse and headed for Forgetful River Mouth.
Because Ye Xingge was traveling alone, quite a few jianghu men sized him up on the road. But seeing the saber he carried, he naturally encountered no trouble. Only when he neared Forgetful River Mouth was he stopped.