In weather this hot and humid, remaining inside a carriage was hardly comfortable. Unless the carriage also contained a “Fu Xi Yan,” this “Pei Yuan Jin” really ought to have shown himself by now.
…
Wait. Why did Fu Xi Yan instinctively think that the presence of a “Fu Xi Yan” meant “Pei Yuan Jin” no longer needed to appear?
Remembering what had happened inside the carriage during the past several days, Fu Xi Yan secretly curled his toes. Even though nobody else knew anything, he still scratched lightly at the ground through the soles of his shoes. Apparently spending too much time inside a carriage during summer really could steam a person’s brain. Otherwise, how could he invent such an illogical chain of cause and effect?
The “Young Master” below, however, apparently had no fear of cooking his brain. He still did not emerge. Instead, a cold voice came from inside the carriage. “What is it?”
The mountain was not particularly high, but they still stood some distance away.
Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin both possessed excellent hearing, but watching a show from too far away always diminished the flavor. So the two quietly slipped down the mountain. They employed practically every variety of qinggong they knew without disturbing so much as a leaf.
The people below remained completely immersed in their respective roles. Nobody realized two unexpected audience members had entered the “theater,” and they continued passionately presenting their grievance.
Yes. Gao Yi Sect had not come to rob anyone. They had come to block the road and submit a petition.
Pei Xiong Ji and the elders had spent years in seclusion, so all Palace affairs had been entrusted to four chief managers. Of the four, Yu Su Huan and Shou Nan Shan disliked handling administration. Jing Luo, as Chief Steward, worried about practically everything, but as a half-step Weapon Venerable, he too occasionally needed to enter short periods of seclusion. Over several years, sixty or seventy percent of the Palace’s practical authority gradually fell into the hands of Thunder Division Chief Manager Zhao Tong Qu.
Zhao Tong Qu had managed to secure and retain the position of chief manager despite the Palace Master never favoring him. Naturally, he possessed ability.
Unfortunately, his ability was not employed along the righteous road.
Back when Fu Xi Yan first entered the jianghu and chatted with Zhong Xin and Geng Geng about the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror and the Immortal Treasury Palace, his wording had not been polite. He had described them as “one ruled by evil, the other turned into an evil and unorthodox faction.”
The first referred to the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror after Mo Xiao Ran took control. The second naturally referred to the Immortal Treasury Palace, whose increasingly unscrupulous behavior over recent years had steadily destroyed its reputation. Pei Yuan Jin had left with Yu Su Huan to inspect the Palace’s territories before accomplishing his great mission precisely because of this problem. Lu Rui Chun, who had been bought by the Ghostshadow Organization, was merely the tip of an iceberg. The false and real account books belonging to Luoyang’s Rain Division, the severe decline of talent in Southern Yu’s branches… many different signs showed that the Immortal Treasury Palace currently stood at a critical point between prosperity and decline. If nobody turned the tide, the collapse of this enormous tower might take only an instant.
Of course, this decline remained entirely under Zhao Tong Qu’s control.
Because Pei Yuan Jin existed, Zhao Tong Qu never considered himself the future master of the Immortal Treasury Palace. If one was not the owner, then swinging a shovel and digging at the foundation naturally required neither mercy nor restraint.
The Palace as a whole might have been weakening, but Zhao Tong Qu’s personal authority and influence had expanded tremendously over the same years. If Pei Xiong Ji had not restored the Palace’s reputation in the battle of the new city, and if Pei Yuan Jin had not twice broken into imperial palaces and demonstrated astonishing courage and martial strength, Gao Yi Sect never would have dared step forward and complain.
This time, Gao Yi Sect had clearly arrived prepared. They not only described their own grievances, but also brought a jointly signed petition. Numerous sects and clans had placed their names upon it. Some had even pressed bloody fingerprints beside their signatures. One thin sheet of paper contained an ocean of bitter tears.
Ding Qing Shan said, “The Immortal Treasury Palace leads the righteous path and has always possessed a reputation for benevolence and justice. Young Master travels the jianghu openly and honorably, filled with righteous spirit. We believe some treacherous person must have interfered to produce these misunderstandings. Therefore, we boldly came forward to reveal the truth and beg Young Master to deliver justice!”
The carriage remained silent even longer this time. Fu Xi Yan was already starting to feel anxious on the impostor’s behalf before the man finally answered slowly, “This matter falls under Chief Steward Jing Luo’s authority.”
Ding Qing Shan immediately became anxious. “But we cannot see Chief Steward Jing!”
The carriage fell silent again.
Fu Xi Yan nudged Pei Yuan Jin with his elbow and asked with his eyes whether they should intervene. This was, after all, internal Immortal Treasury Palace business. If Pei Yuan Jin did not want to handle it, they should quietly leave.
Pei Yuan Jin considered the matter, then waved one hand. A burst of palm wind flew down and lifted the carriage curtain.
Since it was midsummer, the actual carriage doors had been removed and replaced by heavy cloth curtains to prevent the passengers from literally steaming inside. The curtain was rather thick, so when it lifted, it exposed only the legs of two people sitting cross-legged in the carriage. One pair was plump, the other slender. Judging from their proportions, they looked astonishingly similar to Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin themselves. If Fu Xi Yan were not personally crouching outside, even he might have believed the two inside were genuine.
Just as Ding Qing Shan was becoming so anxious that he almost stuck his head inside the carriage, the person within spoke again. “Fine. Give the document to the driver. I will handle it.”
Ding Qing Shan clutched the petition without letting go. His expression became almost emotional. “Gao Yi Sect is very nearby. We beg Young Master to honor us with a visit.”
A faint trace of displeasure entered the voice inside. “I have other matters.”
“Young Master, more than a hundred lives in Gao Yi Sect are waiting for you to save us!” By this point Ding Qing Shan was practically spraying saliva, his head almost completely inside the carriage.
Fu Xi Yan had already pieced together the story and understood why the man was so desperate.
Gao Yi Sect and Boiling Snow Hall were both located inside Shimen. Several generations ago, conflict over business and property created a feud between them. The two sides had even fought several armed battles. Originally, their strength had been roughly equal, and neither could truly overwhelm the other. Later, however, nobody knew how Boiling Snow Hall established a connection with the Immortal Treasury Palace. The Palace came forward to “mediate,” ordering the two factions to settle disputes through martial contests. Whoever lost would surrender some property.
At first, Gao Yi Sect genuinely believed the Immortal Treasury Palace had come to uphold justice. They participated twice, and both times their opponents were unfamiliar faces. Both times, Gao Yi Sect lost. Only then did they realize something was wrong. After investigating, they discovered that the people fighting for Boiling Snow Hall were not new disciples at all. They had been sent by the Immortal Treasury Palace.
When Ding Qing Shan went to protest, the Immortal Treasury Palace detained him and accused him of harboring malicious intentions. His family had to pay a huge sum before they could ransom him out.
Afterward, he asked friends across the jianghu to investigate. Only then did he learn that Boiling Snow Hall had used the connection of Wang Kang, Supervising Manager of the Thunder Division in Youzhou. Wang Kang was a trusted subordinate of Thunder Division Chief Manager Zhao Tong Qu. This was hardly the first time he had done something similar. Many sects had suffered losses at his hands and ultimately been forced to abandon their homes.
Watching his family’s foundation being stripped away piece by piece, Ding Qing Shan had already planned to sell whatever remained and leave. But Boiling Snow Hall refused to let them go. Not only did it offer an absurdly low price, it drove away every other buyer. They were clearly trying to destroy Gao Yi Sect completely.
With nowhere else to turn, Ding Qing Shan happened to hear that the Immortal Treasury Palace Young Master was nearby. Thus today’s scene. In other words, “Young Master Pei” had become their final hope. Naturally, they refused to release him easily.
Unfortunately, the “Young Master” and “Young Madam” sitting inside the carriage were genuinely… powerless.
They had followed Prince Yue’s instructions to impersonate Pei Yuan Jin and Fu Xi Yan and hurry toward the Immortal Treasury Palace. Originally, they expected their mission to end once they reached their destination. Instead, they were ordered to continue wandering for a while, ideally until they encountered the real Pei Yuan Jin so the genuine and false pairs could perform a seamless switch and complete the journey without leaving any flaw.
Who could have imagined Gao Yi Sect would suddenly charge out halfway like Cheng Yao Jin?
Elio’s Notes: Cheng Yao Jin was a historical general who became a stock figure in Chinese storytelling. The expression “a Cheng Yao Jin charges out halfway” refers to an unexpected person or complication suddenly appearing and disrupting a plan.
They had not traveled with any great fanfare, so they had no idea how Gao Yi Sect had obtained news of their movements. In reality, the Wind Division, acting under Shou Nan Shan’s instructions, had deliberately allowed information to leak here and there in the hope that their Young Master would eventually come knocking.
The “Young Master” could only deepen his voice. “I already said I have other matters.”
Fu Xi Yan, watching the show, immediately shook his head when he heard the tone. Far too little authority. If the real Young Master Pei encountered someone pestering him this relentlessly, he probably would not waste words. He would simply act and leave the other person with a physical reminder.
Sure enough, Ding Qing Shan realized this “Young Master” was relatively easy to speak with and begged even more desperately.
And so the two sides deadlocked.
Fu Xi Yan looked at Pei Yuan Jin again. If they did not appear, perhaps the standoff would continue until dark. Eventually, either one side would have to retreat or one would push too far forward, and the trick would inevitably be exposed. Fu Xi Yan already had a vague guess about the people inside, mostly because their attitude was far too “friendly” for malicious impostors trying to scam others.
Pei Yuan Jin reached the same conclusion.
He stood, deliberately making enough noise to attract Ding Qing Shan and the others. Then he took Fu Xi Yan’s hand and jumped down from the mountain.
Ding Qing Shan had not expected anyone to be eavesdropping. It was one thing that he himself had failed to notice them, but had the “Young Master” also failed? If the carriage occupant had noticed and said nothing, could these newcomers be… people from the Immortal Treasury Palace?
Alarm crossed Ding Qing Shan’s face. He instinctively lifted his weapon, but Pei Yuan Jin had already arrived before him. Right in front of Ding Qing Shan, he took the petition directly from his hand, lifted the carriage curtain, sat inside, and turned toward the people frozen outside. His voice was cold. “Why aren’t you leading the way?”
…
Pei Yuan Jin had offered no explicit explanation, but the force of his presence was completely different from what they had felt earlier. If their previous nervousness came from imagining that the person in the carriage was the Immortal Treasury Palace Young Master and intimidating themselves with that assumption, this time they genuinely experienced the pressure of one of the world’s supreme experts.
Had this man been sitting in the carriage earlier, even if someone lent Ding Qing Shan ten additional sets of courage, he would never have dared press him step by step.
Ding Qing Shan understood immediately. This was the genuine article. If the real person never appeared, the fake one could almost pass as real. But placed beside each other, the contrast was devastating.
Ding Qing Shan immediately answered in excitement and hurried forward to lead the way.
The fake “Young Master” and “Young Madam” had been selected for such an assignment, so naturally neither was stupid. The moment they saw Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin, they guessed their identities and hurriedly bowed.
Fu Xi Yan examined his own body double and nodded approvingly. “His Highness found a good one.” White, plump, and adorably cute. Then he looked at Pei Yuan Jin’s double. Not only was the man tall, his appearance bore some resemblance. Especially when he lowered his head. That forehead looked inexplicably familiar.
Fu Xi Yan stared for slightly too long, long enough that Pei Yuan Jin reached over and covered his eyes.
Fu Xi Yan blinked. His eyelashes brushed Pei Yuan Jin’s palm.
Pei Yuan Jin smiled and lowered his hand.
When the carriage reached the village road, Fu Xi Yan called for a stop. He sent the fake Young Master and Young Madam down and pointed them toward the house where they had stayed the previous night. “Tell Driver Zhang to take you back toward Jiangcheng. We’ll pay the original fare.”
Driver Zhang was the coachman they had hired.
The impostors visibly relaxed. They had not slept properly a single night since assuming these identities. Every day had been filled with fear that some blind fool would suddenly appear and demand a martial arts exchange.
Once they disappeared into the distance, Fu Xi Yan leaned out of the carriage and asked the driver, “Only you?”
The driver turned around. It was unexpectedly Xiao Zhang. He said, “The others are still hidden nearby.” Although the Young Master and Young Madam had been false, even the unemployed Hidden Dragon Unit and Phoenix-Roosting Unit had temporarily returned to duty.
Xiao Zhang was usually a man of very few words, yet somehow Fu Xi Yan managed to extract a faint trace of grievance and self-pity from that one sentence.
Still, canceling the guards had been a decision Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin made together. All Fu Xi Yan could do was smile awkwardly. “Mm… later I’ll treat all of you to Shimen specialties.”
＊
They had passed through Shimen once before but had been in too much of a hurry to enter the city. This northern city lacked the soft grace and riotous prosperity of Jinling and Lin’an. Instead, its city walls and gates were broad and imposing, while its streets and houses possessed a simple, natural character that seemed to have returned to fundamentals. It had a charm of its own.
Ding Qing Shan did not immediately take them home. First, he brought them to a restaurant owned by Gao Yi Sect.
Benggan, Golden Phoenix Braised Chicken, salted donkey meat, Xihe meat cake, cured-meat noodles…
Fu Xi Yan had not been hungry originally, but the instant the food arrived, the gluttonous worms in his stomach escaped control. He picked up his chopsticks and ate with wholehearted enthusiasm. Pei Yuan Jin only symbolically tasted two bites. Clearly, his attention was not on the table.
Ding Qing Shan sat beside them with extreme caution. The righteous fury he had displayed while blocking the road had gradually dispersed under the warm breeze along the journey. Now they sat inside a private room, with a basin of ice sending cool air outward, and his overheated brain slowly regained clarity. As clarity returned, he inevitably remembered how he had practically threatened and pressured the “Young Master.” Cold sweat immediately began pouring down his body.
There were countless stories about Pei Yuan Jin in the jianghu, many of them filled with praise. Not one had ever praised his good temper. How could someone willing to confront emperors in both north and south possibly possess a good temper?
The more Ding Qing Shan thought, the more frightened he became. He had invited a genuine god, but now he feared the god might turn into a plague god.
Naturally, everyone present noticed his changing expression. But the matter Ding Qing Shan had raised concerned internal Immortal Treasury Palace affairs, so Fu Xi Yan could not conveniently interfere. All he could do was lower his head and eat vigorously, earning Ding Qing Shan a few extra points of goodwill.
Pei Yuan Jin remained silent. Only after Fu Xi Yan had eaten nearly enough did he finally say, “You blocked people on the official road. Shimen is nearby. Wang Kang’s people should arrive soon.”
Shimen was not Southern Yu. Geographically, it lay relatively close to the Immortal Treasury Palace’s headquarters, so the Palace’s control over this region naturally existed on an entirely different level. Since Gao Yi Sect and Boiling Snow Hall had caused such an enormous dispute, one involving the Palace itself, Ding Qing Shan’s every movement was surely being watched. And the “Young Master’s” location had always been important intelligence within the Palace. Once those two facts collided, Wang Kang’s side should very quickly learn that Gao Yi Sect had encountered him.
Not long after Pei Yuan Jin finished speaking, hoofbeats sounded outside the restaurant. Immediately afterward, someone rushed inside.
Pei Yuan Jin heard the commotion below and frowned slightly. The next instant, someone knocked on the door. At Pei Yuan Jin’s signal, Ding Qing Shan opened it. An ordinary-looking middle-aged man wearing rich clothing entered with a smile and bowed toward Pei Yuan Jin. “Tian An of the Thunder Division greets Young Master.”
As Youzhou’s Supervising Manager for the Thunder Division, Wang Kang naturally could not spend every day inside Shimen. Tian An was one of his trusted subordinates and had remained here to handle the final stages of the affair between Gao Yi Sect and Boiling Snow Hall.
Although Tian An’s face wore a smile, internally he was already cursing every available ancestor. The matter between the two factions was practically finished, yet at the final instant, a Young Master had fallen from the sky.
Before Pei Yuan Jin traveled south, many people within the Immortal Treasury Palace had possessed only a vague impression of their Young Master. But after the whetstones of the Northern Zhou and Southern Yu imperial palaces, who beneath Heaven still dared underestimate him?
This was a man who, once angered, genuinely seemed capable of overturning Heaven and Earth.
Pei Yuan Jin went directly to the point. “The people fighting on behalf of Boiling Snow Hall against Gao Yi Sect were from the Immortal Treasury Palace?”
Tian An had already prepared an explanation during the journey. “Years ago, the younger brother of Gao Yi Sect’s master abducted the wife of Boiling Snow Hall’s master. The Hall Master suffered qi deviation because of it and died young. When Boiling Snow Hall asked for help this time, we investigated and confirmed the story. That is why we agreed to intervene.”
Ding Qing Shan could not resist. “And your intervention angered our old master to death!”
After listening for a while, Fu Xi Yan roughly understood the origin of the feud.
The original Boiling Snow Hall Master possessed a habit of domestic violence and frequently beat and cursed his wife. The couple’s marriage existed only in appearance. Whether the younger brother of Gao Yi Sect’s master had merely desired the woman or had genuinely rescued a damsel in distress, either way, he inserted himself into the affair and eloped with another man’s wife.
Because the events had occurred several generations ago, nobody could now establish whether Gao Yi Sect’s master had actively helped the escape. In any case, the incident turned both families into enemies. One retaliation followed another and the hatred deepened. By the later generations, what they were fighting over had long since expanded far beyond one elopement.
Pei Yuan Jin listened indifferently until their argument ended. Then he looked at Tian An. “Did the dead man appear in a dream and ask you for help? Otherwise, why are you standing here alive and passing judgment on behalf of the underworld?”
Fu Xi Yan silently supplied the annotation.
Passing judgment for the underworld while still alive meant looking to die.
Perhaps Tian An reached exactly the same interpretation. His knees immediately weakened and he dropped down. “This subordinate merely became carried away by righteous anger…”
Pei Yuan Jin asked, “You, or Wang Kang?”
Tian An answered without hesitation. “This subordinate acted without permission. Supervising Manager Wang had nothing to do with it.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “How do you intend to repair the damage?”
Tian An knew there was no escaping now. He gritted his teeth. “This subordinate accepts punishment.”
“Restore Boiling Snow Hall and Gao Yi Sect to exactly the state they were in before the Immortal Treasury Palace interfered.” Pei Yuan Jin glanced at the sky. “Deadline: before dawn tomorrow.”
＊
The requirement sounded simple. In practice, it was anything but.
Naturally, Wang Kang had accepted benefits before intervening.
Where had those benefits come from? Boiling Snow Hall had paid part in advance. The remainder had been extracted from Gao Yi Sect. Now Pei Yuan Jin demanded complete restoration. That meant not only Boiling Snow Hall, but every Immortal Treasury Palace member who had touched any of those benefits had to spit them back out.
The matter exceeded Tian An’s authority. Worse, fewer than seven hours remained. Messages had to travel back and forth, while deeds and property titles had to be transferred. Completing everything before dawn was practically impossible.
Tian An had no choice but to negotiate with Boiling Snow Hall and order them to advance the missing funds themselves.
Naturally, Boiling Snow Hall refused. Anyone could understand that once they advanced this portion, getting it back later would be extremely difficult. They had spent enormous sums to invite the great Buddha that was the Immortal Treasury Palace, and the result was that their opponent lost nothing while they themselves suffered devastating damage?
Tian An could only combine threats with inducements. Boiling Snow Hall regretted everything, but regret came too late.
While their side descended into total chaos, Gao Yi Sect finally raised its head in triumph. Everyone praised Ding Qing Shan’s decisiveness, claiming he had reversed the entire situation at the final moment.
Pei Yuan Jin, however, remained unhappy.
Fu Xi Yan understood completely.
Nobody could look at their own family enterprise riddled with holes and feel cheerful. Today Pei Yuan Jin happened to encounter this case. But Heaven and Earth were vast, and Immortal Treasury Palace branches were everywhere. Who knew how many Tian Ans existed? How many Ding Qing Shans?
Fu Xi Yan said, “We should still guard against retaliation afterward.”
He had heard far too many stories where such things happened.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “I’ll have the Lightning Division watch them.” Yu Su Huan and Shou Nan Shan disliked handling administrative affairs, but Jing Luo still did. That was why Zhao Tong Qu had never managed to seize control of the Lightning Division.
Fu Xi Yan still felt somewhat worried. What if Tian An became desperate and violent afterward… Halfway through the thought, Fu Xi Yan laughed at himself. Ding Qing Shan was a jianghu martial artist, not an unweaned infant. Even without Boiling Snow Hall, even without offending the Immortal Treasury Palace, something could happen to him while traveling the jianghu. That danger had existed the moment he chose his profession. Fu Xi Yan really was worrying too much.
And so the matter was settled.
Truthfully, Fu Xi Yan remained a little curious about what Tian An’s side was doing. Unfortunately, this world had no livestreaming. Otherwise, watching them race around in frantic chaos would probably have been extremely entertaining.
At lunch, he had eaten Benggan and cured-meat noodles but still felt unsatisfied. That evening, he wanted another bowl and dragged Pei Yuan Jin to the night market.
The temperature difference between day and night was considerable. During the day, everyone sweated beneath the heat. By evening, summer clothing already felt slightly cool. Naturally, true qi could solve that problem, but Fu Xi Yan preferred quietly pressing himself against the enormous human furnace beside him.
The night market overflowed with food. Fu Xi Yan ate and ate until he completely forgot his original goal. By the time the cured-meat noodles finally arrived, he was already too full. Most of the bowl ultimately entered Young Master Pei’s stomach.
Fu Xi Yan propped his chin in both hands and watched him eat. This was obviously a marketplace thick with ordinary life, yet because Pei Yuan Jin sat there, the entire scene somehow acquired… a sense of refinement. The rising steam resembled drifting immortal mist, while the blurry lights seemed to connect into a river of stars.
When Xia Xue Nong found them, one was concentrating on eating noodles while the other concentrated on watching him. They seemed to have created an entire private world that excluded everyone around them.
…
For some inexplicable reason, she suddenly wanted to turn around and leave.
Fortunately, Xia Xue Nong herself was a conspicuous figure. Fu Xi Yan noticed her immediately. “Miss Xia?” Their first meeting had hardly been pleasant, but each had left the other with a deep impression.
And after Fu Xi Yan met Ban Qing Yu, his opinion of Xia Xue Nong had gained quite a few extra points.
“I came without invitation. Am I interrupting the two of you?” She asked the question while directly pulling over a stool and sitting down.
Fu Xi Yan said, “Several months apart, and Miss Xia remains as frank and graceful as ever.”
Xia Xue Nong said, “Several months apart, and Young Master Fu has certainly forced me to see you in an entirely new light.”
“There’s something else that will make you see me in an even newer light.” Fu Xi Yan called toward the shopkeeper and generously announced, “Ten bowls of cured-meat noodles for this young lady!”
Xia Xue Nong: “…”
Naturally, the ten bowls never appeared. Young Lady Xia did not eat noodles for dinner.
After sitting down, Xia Xue Nong did not explain why she had come. Instead, she behaved as the local host and introduced the Shimen region’s historical anecdotes, customs, and natural scenery with the fluency of a perfectly competent tour guide.
Fu Xi Yan became increasingly tempted. “Why don’t we skip sleeping tonight and go out to high?”
Xia Xue Nong was confused. “What is ‘high’?”
Fu Xi Yan raised both hands and cheerfully waved them from side to side.
Xia Xue Nong: “…”
She turned toward Pei Yuan Jin. “Did he become like this before breaking into Southern Yu’s imperial palace, or afterward?”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Pei Yuan Jin had finished eating. He put down his chopsticks and looked gently at Fu Xi Yan. “Where do you want to go?”
…
Xia Xue Nong muttered, “Apparently it took both of you.”