The rain came pouring down in sheets, as though someone in the heavens had overturned a basin and knocked over a water vat.
Fu Xi Yan sat peacefully inside the carriage. Hearing the steady drip of water, he said without even looking up, “Move a little to the right.”
There was no response for a long while.
Unable to resist, he finally looked up. Fu Gui Gui, who had its wings tucked in against the rain, immediately shifted its claws and edged a tiny bit to the right. That was enough. Its head happened to plug the crack in the roof where the rain was leaking through. Water droplets landed on its sleek, glossy feathers, slid down, slowly seeped between them, and chilled it until it could not help shivering.
It looked pitiful enough to be some poor little thing being tormented by a wicked stepmother.
Unfortunately, the “stepmother” had a heart of cold iron, frigid and hard. Once he saw that Fu Gui Gui had plugged the leak, he lowered his head again and went back to pondering his martial arts. His previous breakthroughs had come so smoothly that he had developed the illusion that advancing a level was as simple as pressing a confirmation button in a game. Several months of stagnation had finally forced him to set aside time and properly digest everything he had gained over the past two years.
The cultivation method he had originally focused on was the Heavenly Dipper Primordial Unity Art Fu Xuan had given him. It was not one of the jianghu’s top-tier arts, but its strengths were that it was ordinary, steady, gentle, and highly compatible, so practicing other martial arts later would not cause conflicts. Pei Yuan Jin’s Sacred Flame Art, by contrast, was extremely picky. Not only did it reject cold and yin techniques with opposing attributes, even techniques of the same attribute could become impossible to cultivate simply because they were not as domineering as the Sacred Flame Art.
As for the Puppet Arts he had learned later, aside from the Object-Commanding Art being usable as a ranged attack, the Spirit-Sight Art and Object-Commanding Art were currently both more useful as auxiliary investigative methods.
The Soft-Gentle Fist could indeed catch people off guard, but it was not enough when challenging someone above his level.
The Soul-Essence Art he had obtained from the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror’s library focused on an entirely different direction. It had certainly proved effective against Mei Xia Ying, but the sample size was too small for the result to be considered reliable.
Fu Xi Yan felt that he still had too few tricks up his sleeve. Look at all those transmigrator seniors. Every few chapters they advanced a level, every few chapters they performed some new mystical feat… and even working that hard, they still had to slog through a thousand chapters before ascending. With the paltry little toolkit he had, no wonder even forming a Golden Core was such a struggle.
“Should I pick up another elective?”
Pei Yuan Jin looked up from his book. “What kind?”
Fu Xi Yan counted on his fingers. “I already have lightness skills and movement techniques, close combat and ranged attacks. I think I’m missing defense. I’ll check the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror’s library for something suitable. Is there anything you want? I can look for you too.”
He had asked Pei Yuan Jin before, but Pei Yuan Jin’s martial arts had been built around the Sacred Flame Art. His path emphasized reducing complexity to simplicity. Learning too many techniques would only make him lose sight of the essence.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Advancing your realm has nothing to do with how many techniques you know.”
“I know, but finding the elusive One is really too hard.” Fu Xi Yan sprawled against him and wriggled gloomily. “No wonder there are so many zeroes and so few ones in real life. Ones really are hard to find. And someone like me already has one, yet I’m still out looking for another. Truly, ritual and music have collapsed and morality has fallen!”
Elio’s Notes: Fu Xi Yan is stacking two jokes here. “The elusive One” comes from the Daoist idea of the one that escapes, while in Chinese BL slang “1” commonly means the top and “0” the bottom. Hence his mock outrage about having “one” already and still looking for another.
Pei Yuan Jin: “…”
He wrapped his arms around the person in his embrace, gently patted his arm, and said blandly, “If you keep moving, next it’ll be the carriage door collapsing and Fu Gui Gui falling into ruin.”
Fu Xi Yan experimentally shifted his feet another couple of times. Fu Gui Gui, miserably huddled by the carriage door, dared to be angry but not to protest.
Pei Yuan Jin’s hand suddenly stopped mid-pat.
Fu Xi Yan had been enjoying it, so he poked him to make him continue. Pei Yuan Jin said, “Someone’s coming.”
A moment later, Fu Xi Yan also heard the faint footsteps closing in from all sides, though whoever they were, they were not coming for the two of them.
At that moment, the two carriages were traveling along a mountain road. Dense trees on both sides provided the attackers with natural cover.
“Move!”
At the shout, more than a dozen people burst from the woods with green light practically shining in their eyes. Their vicious expressions made them look like wild tigers from the mountains.
Yet before the rusty iron tools in their hands could strike the carriages, a violent gust sent them flying. The Flower-Guarding Unit, who had been hidden in the shadows, appeared all at once and rounded up every bandit who had shown himself in the woods within moments.
Fu Xi Yan stuck his head out of the carriage. Seeing the lively fight behind them, he looked at Pei Yuan Jin in confusion. “Did you just release Martial King pressure?” Otherwise, why had those mountain bandits only robbed the carriage behind them and ignored theirs?
Pei Yuan Jin said, “…If even you didn’t notice it, could it still be called Martial King pressure?”
Fu Xi Yan had nothing to say to that, so he could only shove Fu Gui Gui ahead of him and hop down from the carriage.
The Flower-Guarding Unit had made the bandits squat in a circle. In the middle lay a pile of axes, rakes, hammers, chisels… Looking at the Flower-Guarding Unit pacing around them with blades in hand, Fu Xi Yan momentarily could not tell who was robbing whom.
“We really weren’t trying to rob you! We really didn’t mean to steal anything!”
The bandits hurriedly defended themselves. “We were just too hungry, so we came out looking for something to eat and wanted to ask if you had any. You’ve misunderstood! We weren’t trying to rob you!”
“You weren’t trying to rob us, so why did you bring axes and hammers?” The Flower-Guarding Unit was so angry they laughed.
“We were afraid someone would rob us on the road. Times are chaotic and it’s dangerous outside. We brought the axes to protect ourselves.”
Fu Xi Yan leaned in and asked, “There are two carriages. Why did you rob the one in back instead of the one in front?”
A dark-faced man with a headscarf blurted out, “That wreck of yours looks poor at a glance.”
“Don’t talk nonsense! We didn’t rob anyone, we were only asking.” The square-faced man who had answered before hurriedly cut him off.
The dark-faced man quickly said, “I was afraid if I went over to ask, you’d turn around and ask me for food.”
“…”
Fu Xi Yan stubbornly clung to the last scrap of his dignity. “My carriage is a convertible. It costs more than one with a roof! If you don’t believe me, ask at a carriage shop. You have to pay extra for this kind!”
The group immediately looked at him with the crystal-clear gaze of people saying, I may be poor, but I’m not stupid. Don’t try to scam me.
Fu Xi Yan could no longer keep up the con. He could only say, “All of you have rough hands and strong limbs. You don’t look like you lack strength. How did you end up turning to banditry?”
“We weren’t trying to rob anyone.” The square-faced man clung desperately to his final fig leaf.
Speechless, Fu Xi Yan stood and went to the rear carriage to speak with Yu Su Huan for a while. Before long, the Flower-Guarding Unit had finished questioning them.
All of them were farmers from farther north. It was already sowing season, but the grain seed requisitioned from them the year before had still not been returned. The compensation issued by the authorities amounted to only two or three copper coins per person. On top of that, they were being conscripted as laborers to build city walls farther north. Driven into a dead end, they had decided to flee south together.
“Rumors of war are everywhere. The northern towns are heavily guarded now. They don’t have travel permits and can’t enter the towns, so they’ve had no choice but to rob passing travelers.”
Were they pitiful people who had become hateful, or hateful people who were still pitiful? Fu Xi Yan did not know what to say, but he could not simply let them continue harming travelers either. He told the Flower-Guarding Unit to make inquiries and deliver them to a local government office known for clean administration.
Most of the Flower-Guarding Unit left. Jiang Xiu and Yu Su Huan did not know martial arts, and it would be unsafe for the two of them to travel alone, so the four passengers in the two carriages had to rearrange themselves. Fu Xi Yan and Yu Su Huan took the rear carriage, while Pei Yuan Jin and Jiang Xiu sat in front.
Jiang Xiu looked at the ragged, battered carriage roof with disgust. “Why isn’t the Young Master riding in the rear carriage?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Could you bear to make your wife sit in a carriage that leaks?”
He paused, then added almost immediately, “Ah. I forgot Apothecary Jiang doesn’t have a wife.”
Jiang Xiu: “…” He wondered whether the Golden Origin Pill recipe could accommodate a whole jin of coptis.
Fu Xi Yan and Yu Su Huan had always gotten along well, so being alone together in the carriage did not feel awkward. He vividly recounted everything he and Pei Yuan Jin had experienced in Southern Yu and Jiangling.
When he got to Liu Huan’s background, he deliberately watched Yu Su Huan’s reaction. She merely paused slightly and showed no excitement. But she was extremely perceptive and immediately looked over. “Hm? Don’t tell me you suspect Liu Huan has some connection to me?”
Fu Xi Yan smiled awkwardly. “We still can’t be sure whose child Liu Huan actually is.”
Yu Su Huan said, “Wen Hong Xuan was utterly loyal to the Prince of Yunzhong. He would never confuse his bloodline. Since the Northern Alliance recognizes Liu Huan as the young prince, then it won’t be wrong.”
Fu Xi Yan thought about it and agreed. If Wen Hong Xuan only wanted a puppet to give himself a legitimate banner, there would have been no reason to travel all the way to Jiangling and take such a risk.
“Put that way, Liu Huan and I really do have some connection.” Yu Su Huan said it suddenly.
Fu Xi Yan blurted, “What connection?”
Yu Su Huan looked at him with a smile pressed to her lips.
Fu Xi Yan hurriedly coughed. “If Aunt Yu doesn’t want to say, then actually… mm… you really don’t want to say?”
“At this point, there’s nothing that can’t be said.” Yu Su Huan said, “My husband was a great hero who defended his home and country. He once marched north to resist Mengwu, and he once rode west into the frontier, striking fear into every kingdom!”
Fu Xi Yan’s heart involuntarily beat two times faster.
Yu Su Huan lifted her chin slightly, her face seeming to glow. “Yu is my mother’s surname. My family name is actually Ruan. I am the Princess Consort of Longnan.”
Since the previous night, a fine drizzle had been falling from the sky, thread after thread of rain invading Tuo Town inside and out.
Wen Ping and Wu Kuan had already hidden in a bamboo basket in a corner for an entire night. As the sky gradually brightened and sparse pedestrians began leaving their homes, Wu Kuan finally could not hold back. “Should we give up for today?”
Wen Ping said nothing. She merely waited for a moment when no one was passing, sprang out of the bamboo basket, copied the locals by tucking both hands into her sleeves, and slowly headed toward the inn.
Wu Kuan quickly caught up. “Why don’t we just force our way through?”
Wen Ping asked, “If Second Elder refuses to leave, it’ll be hard for just the two of us to bring Liu Huan over.”
Wu Kuan frowned, clearly unconvinced, but his lips moved twice and in the end he did not make any sweeping promises. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Why don’t I try bribing a different group of people today?”
Wen Ping said, “Last time we nearly alerted them. We should think this through carefully.”
This was no good, that was no good. Wu Kuan felt a temper rising, but seeing how young Wen Ping was and how much more pressure she was carrying than he was, he found himself unable to vent it.
“I’ll go talk to the monk again!”
As soon as they entered the inn, he dashed off to find Monk Wang Ku. He did not go to Wang Ku’s room, however, but to the room next door.
Wang Ku was indeed there. With him was Miss Huo, dressed in mourning hemp.
Wu Kuan’s expression soured the moment he saw her. He jerked his chin at Wang Ku.
The two walked out one after the other. Wang Ku knew Wu Kuan would not say anything pleasant, so he thoughtfully shut the door and led him farther away, making sure the person in the room could not hear them.
Sure enough, Wu Kuan’s first words were, “That girl is too much deadweight! We should hurry up and… send her away!” He had wanted to say dispose of her, but fearing Wang Ku would object, he chose the gentler wording.
Even so, Wang Ku still shook his head. “Her father died because of you and me. Now she is alone in the world. How could we abandon her?”
Wu Kuan said, “People who go to war die all the time. Just treat it as though he died on the battlefield. Isn’t it all the same?”
Wang Ku said, “This poor monk has made up his mind.”
Wu Kuan grew angry, his eyes fixed on Wang Ku’s gleaming bald head. “The Alliance Leader is still outside waiting for us to bring the man over. You keep stalling and obstructing us. Don’t tell me you have some other idea?”
Wang Ku remained unmoved. “This poor monk has already accepted Miss Huo as a disciple. If I leave, I will bring her with me.”
Wu Kuan snapped, “If you can take her and Liu Huan away together, I have no objection!”
Wang Ku thought for a moment. “Young Master Liu knows martial arts.”
“What, you want to wake him up so he can beat us?” Wu Kuan stamped his foot. “Aiyo, my monk, do you think our situation isn’t troublesome enough already?”
Wang Ku said, “Let’s think of another way.”
Wu Kuan laughed in exasperation. “Fine, think! Let’s all think together. Best if a solution sprouts straight out of the ground!”
Wen Ping suddenly ran up from downstairs. “There is a way.”