Bad Luck

If he were strolling around Sudong City, Zhang Xuezhou could walk for half a day.

But when he set out from Zhang Household Village, he felt just how hard life could be.

Zhang Xuezhou had been outside the village before, but the farthest he had gone was a mountain gully ten li away, where he had caught crabs.

And those ten li had taken him nearly half a day.

The mountain paths were rugged, with few level stretches. Weeds and thorny brambles tangled around his feet from time to time, and he had to keep sweeping the weeds ahead with a stick as he walked, on guard against venomous snakes, centipedes, and other poisonous creatures lurking within.

To reach the Nine-Foot Daoist Temple on Nine-Foot Slope, they had to travel at least two hundred li.

Zhang Zhong had had no trouble asking the clan chief, Zhang Baojia, for leave to seek treatment, and the family of three had set out from the village.

After traveling for just half a day, Zhang Xuezhou realized his strength was giving out.

The blazing heat kept roasting his body, and Zhang Xuezhou felt that he really was sick.

It was a simple ailment: heatstroke.

In his daze, he thought he saw clump after clump of black Qi rising from his body.

It's the possible onset of illness mentioned in the Sequel to the Essential Instruction for Recuperation. I need to take precautions right away!

The thought flashed through Zhang Xuezhou's mind. He felt that if he kept pushing on, he would inevitably end up with heatstroke.

Without medicine, a heatstroke patient could only keep using wet towels to cool down. Whether the patient could be saved was up to heaven's will.

"Dad, I can't walk anymore!"

Zhang Xuezhou plopped down and pulled up his clothes to shield himself from the sun.

He took the gourd from his waist and gulped down the well water inside.

"We've only walked fifteen li, and we even slowed down to wait for you!"

Zhang Zhong put down the meat, poisonous herbs for making smoke, and other things he carried on his back, then looked at Zhang Xuezhou with a face full of helplessness.

He had to lower his assessment of Zhang Xuezhou another notch. With his physical stamina, never mind going out to hunt rabbits-he could burn incense in thanks if the rabbits didn't turn around and hunt him.

"If I keep walking, I'll get heatstroke," Zhang Xuezhou said. "This mountain path is way too hard to walk, and it's hot too!"

"Heatstroke? What heatstroke?"

Zhang Zhong, who had never suffered heatstroke in his life, looked curious as he pondered the problem Zhang Xuezhou had mentioned.

"Your body is too weak!"

Zhang Zhong pondered for a few seconds. Looking at Zhang Xuezhou's swaying body, he reached out, grabbed him, and hoisted him onto his back, then picked up the food and other things in his right hand.

Zhang Xuezhou wasn't destined for a life of luxury, but he had developed the ailments of the pampered.

Just thinking of how bleak his later years would most likely be, Zhang Zhong had no choice but to put more effort into raising him, in hopes of making those years even a little better.

"Hunting and asking the Daoist master for treatment and an apprenticeship aren't things we can do in a short time," Lady Yourong said. "There's a thatched hut another twenty li ahead. We'll rest there for a while. There's no need to hurry!"

"Erbaozi's physical foundation is too poor. He's no different from those bookworms in the big cities, studying their 'thees' and 'thous'!"

Zhang Zhong scratched his head, feeling that Zhang Xuezhou's stamina was nothing like a village child's.

"There are other people in about the same physical condition as me?"

Hearing Zhang Zhong's words, Zhang Xuezhou, whose head was somewhat muddled, immediately perked up.

As the weakest of his age in Zhang Household Village, Zhang Xuezhou felt that if there were many people outside with physiques like his, he would feel much more at ease.

After being the weakest in Zhang Household Village for years, his self-confidence had nearly been swept flat.

Only when Zhang Zhong mentioned that there were many people like him in the cities did Zhang Xuezhou feel that this dream world had finally become a little more normal.

"What city are they in? How far is it from us? What does the city look like? Is there anything especially unusual about it?"

Zhang Xuezhou fired off several questions in succession. Only when Zhang Zhong made to put him down and make him walk did he close his mouth.

Lady Yourong, who was clearing the way ahead, briefly spoke up, telling him about the world beyond the village.

"Speaking of which, you have an aunt. If you're interested in studying, we can go find her someday and ask her to send you to a school nearby!"

Lady Yourong spoke of her relatives in Hibiscus City, while Zhang Zhong remained silent.

Lady Yourong had once been a city dweller, but she had taken a fancy to him, a common soldier, and followed him hundreds of li away from home, ultimately becoming a hunter's wife.

When you were poor and deep in the mountains, what distant relatives could you count on? Lady Yourong was now broad and sturdy, with none of her former looks or figure left. She had never had the face to return to her family, and could only mention the elder sister she had once been close to, hoping to swallow her pride and ask for help someday.

Practicing martial arts, learning Technique Methods, and studying all offered a chance to rise above the rest.

Zhang Xuezhou had no chance of becoming a good hunter. After enduring the sting in their hearts, Zhang Zhong and Lady Yourong had no choice but to open a path for their less-than-outstanding son.

Given Zhang Xuezhou's skill at arithmetic and writing, the studies Lady Yourong mentioned really were a possible way forward.

Although asking Lady Yourong's family for help was somewhat embarrassing, Zhang Zhong felt that losing face was worth it for their son.

But going to Hibiscus City so Zhang Xuezhou could study and seek scholarly honors was clearly their last choice.

For now, Zhang Zhong felt that seeking help from the Nine-Foot Daoist Temple was the most practical option.

Whether the Daoist master of the Nine-Foot Daoist Temple treated Zhang Xuezhou's body or accepted him as a disciple to learn his arts, either would be a good path forward.

The long mountain road wound on and on. Only after four grueling days of travel did Zhang Xuezhou finally see a small hill bearing signs of human handiwork.

The hill was not particularly high, and halfway up stood a Daoist temple with gray bricks and white walls.

"Stay outside the Daoist master's temple for two days. Once your mother and I have hunted a wild boar, we'll go in together and ask to see him!"

Zhang Zhong took out some of the remaining dried meat, untied the water flask, and also brought out some poisonous herbs for smoking out venomous insects.

"Why don't we take Xuezhou to the temple gates?" Lady Yourong said.

"What for? If the Daoist master sees us carrying him any farther, how could he possibly take a use... person like Erbaozi as an apprentice?"

Zhang Zhong sighed.

The mountain path ahead wasn't particularly difficult. If he really carried Zhang Xuezhou up the mountain and the Daoist master saw how delicate Zhang Xuezhou was, there would be no chance at all of Zhang Xuezhou fulfilling his wish to become a disciple, learn the arts, and enter cultivation.

"I'll go up myself!"

Zhang Xuezhou shook his aching body and glanced at the temple halfway up the hill, feeling that climbing up there shouldn't be much of a problem.

For the past few days, he had kept attending classes as usual during the day, while spending his nights on the road.

Of course, his journey had been relatively easy, since Zhang Zhong had carried him the whole way.

But being carried was hardly comfortable. The constant jolting along the way had nearly shaken Zhang Xuezhou's bones apart.

Only now did Zhang Xuezhou begin moving a body that had gone so long without exercise.

He picked up the small cloth bundle of dried meat and wheat grains, took the water flask and poisonous herbs, and accepted the bamboo stick Lady Yourong had used to clear the way.

Tapping and prodding as he went, Zhang Xuezhou staggered toward the mountainside.

"Can our son really manage?"

Watching Zhang Xuezhou's retreating figure grow distant, Lady Yourong couldn't help worrying.

She watched him again and again, deeply uneasy about Zhang Xuezhou's ability to survive on his own outside.

Climbing the hill was only the beginning for Zhang Xuezhou.

Just thinking of how Zhang Xuezhou often fell asleep the moment he lay down and couldn't be roused even by thunder, Lady Yourong felt she simply couldn't set her mind at ease.

But Zhang Zhong couldn't possibly hunt a wild boar alone, so she had to go with him.

As she thought it over, Lady Yourong's face was filled with worry.

"If he becomes a disciple and learns the arts, can we escort him into cultivation too?" Zhang Zhong said helplessly. " sooner or later, we have to let him stand on his own."

"That's true!" Lady Yourong said with a nod.

"If I'd known, we should have had two more back then. If one turned out useless, another could have taken over!"

Zhang Zhong sighed and looked down at his lower body, clearly very annoyed by the place where he had been injured while hunting.

Even demon meat capable of healing hidden injuries had failed to restore his manly prowess. When it came to raising the next generation, Zhang Zhong had no choice but to clean up Zhang Xuezhou's messes.

He murmured a few words with Lady Yourong before hurrying off in another direction.

Halfway up the hill, Zhang Xuezhou had climbed for nearly two shichen before he finally approached the gray-brick, white-walled Daoist temple, exhausted from head to toe.

Before he had even reached the temple gates, he heard a voice full of distaste from inside.

"Bad luck! Don't come through this old Daoist's gate. I don't want to provoke any of you, so don't come provoking me either!"

The voice wasn't directed at someone else. Zhang Xuezhou was certain that the voice in the temple was speaking to him.