The official road was desolate, withered leaves flying everywhere. A horse carriage raced eastward at full speed, dust and stones flying in the wake of the horse’s hooves, adding to the autumn and winter atmosphere of decay and defeat. Liu Yan urged the horse onward at breakneck speed, having already been running for a day and night. He had originally calculated that government soldiers would definitely be pursuing from behind, but he didn’t know that Jiao Shiqiao had personally come to Dali Temple to interrogate Fang Pingzhai. The subordinates’ newly obtained information had not yet been reported up, and later when Fang Pingzhai, Yu Tuan’er, A’Shui and the others were rescued from the heavenly prison and Yang Guihua was severely injured, Dali Temple was currently in complete chaos with no time to spare for the numerous suspicious people who were as common as fish crossing a river.
Tang Lici still couldn’t eat anything. The horse carriage jolted and bumped, and he remained drowsy throughout the journey. Though Liu Yan tried to speak with him several times and he did respond, his answers were consistently irrelevant, and it was unclear what he was actually hearing. Liu Yan gradually felt terrified – Tang Lici truly looked like he was about to die. Having lost so much blood, with three external wounds plus Fang Zhou’s heart condition, these things might… really cost him his life.
But where exactly was Huijing Mountain? Even if they found Huijing Mountain, where would Bright Moon Tower be?
The horse carriage raced onward. He only knew to flee far from Luoyang, desperately rushing toward the eastern mountains where peaks rose in succession.
In the distance on the official road, a person was walking forward. Liu Yan’s carriage was racing with such momentum that although he saw the person, he couldn’t stop in time. Liu Yan exerted force to rein in the horse, but having lost all his martial arts, his strength was truly limited – he simply couldn’t pull back the frenzied horse. Seeing the horse neighing like a scream and about to collide, Liu Yan shouted loudly, “Danger! Be careful!”
Walking on the road was a scholar in azure robes with a cloak over his shoulders. Hearing the shout, he turned around, revealing pale lips and refined features. Seeing the galloping horse charging toward him, he flicked his sleeve. Liu Yan felt his whole body shake as the galloping horse neighed and reared up, its entire body falling sideways, and in that instant the carriage was about to shatter into pieces. Suddenly Liu Yan’s hands were empty – the reins were no longer in his grip. The azure-robed scholar twisted his wrist to pull the horse, and the unbalanced galloping horse stood upright again, all four hooves touching ground, while the carriage managed not to break despite creaking sounds. The azure-robed scholar returned the reins to Liu Yan and said calmly, “Mad horses running wild can easily injure people. Sir should be more careful in the future.”
Liu Yan looked at him. This person had extremely high martial arts but appeared very young – he didn’t know what his background was. “Thank you…” He said thanks, and seeing that the person had stepped aside, waiting for his carriage to pass, suddenly asked, “Do you know where Huijing Mountain is?”
“Huijing Mountain is fifty li ahead among the mountains.” The azure-robed scholar pointed east. “Follow the official road slowly – there’s no need to rush.” Liu Yan saw that his expression remained consistently calm, showing neither surprise nor curiosity, and couldn’t help asking again, “Are you from Huijing Mountain?”
“What makes you think I’m from Huijing Mountain?” The azure-robed scholar’s eyelashes lifted slightly, his eyes clear and transparent, but no emotional fluctuations could be seen. Liu Yan coughed lightly. “Intuition…” The azure-robed scholar said, “Your intuition is truly extraordinary.”
Liu Yan was shocked – this person really was from Huijing Mountain. “Then are you the Bright Moon Golden Doctor Shui Duopo?”
“My surname is Mo, my name is Mo Ziru.” The azure-robed scholar said, “If you want to see Shui Duopo, I can take you there.” Liu Yan had never heard the three characters “Mo Ziru” before, but he didn’t doubt him. “To receive your rescue, I’m extremely grateful.”
Mo Ziru turned and walked forward, his steps peaceful and steady. He wasn’t seen exerting force to run swiftly, yet he consistently remained one or two feet in front of the horse carriage.
The carriage and person moved forward in silent quietude. This level of lightness skill didn’t seem like much in Liu Yan’s eyes – if he hadn’t lost all his martial arts, he could do the same. But seeing Mo Ziru walk this way, he couldn’t tell whether this was his full lightness skill or only two or three-tenths of his ability. Since Tang Lici knew about Huijing Mountain’s Bright Moon Tower, did he recognize this person? Liu Yan looked back at Tang Lici, who was still lying drowsily beside the wooden barrel, seemingly unaware even of encountering this strange azure-robed scholar on the road.
The carriage moved forward silently, turning onto a mountain path at dusk. Both sides of the mountain path were covered with slightly red maple trees. Mo Ziru continued walking at an unhurried pace, winding around two or three small paths, gradually entering a mountain hollow where the view suddenly opened up to reveal a body of water.
Mo Ziru stopped by the water’s edge. Liu Yan saw ripples dotted with countless withered lotus flowers, the wind and cloud atmosphere magnificent – truly extraordinary. In the center of the water body stood a tower rising from the water, with carved beams and painted pillars, extremely magnificent – this was probably Bright Moon Tower. Seeing him stare intently at the building, Mo Ziru said, “That is Bright Moon Tower.”
Liu Yan nodded. “Do we need to take a boat across?”
Mo Ziru shook his head and walked slowly along the water’s edge. Liu Yan’s carriage followed behind him. After circling more than half the water surface, the scenery suddenly changed – it became an area of mud pits, thousands of holes and ravines, rugged and uneven. Among them, the mud pits varied in size – the large ones could trap an entire carriage, while the small ones were only an inch or two, like shoe prints. Liu Yan was startled. This strange sight of half water and half mud pits was quite rare. Behind the magnificent Bright Moon Tower was a small courtyard pressed close against it. Though not as splendid as Bright Moon Tower, it was elegant and simple. Though still distant, a faint fragrance drifted over, refreshing to smell. Mo Ziru walked straight toward that small courtyard, the carriage swaying and bumping as it followed. Liu Yan carefully guided the horse to avoid falling into the deeper mud pits. The distance of several dozen zhang took most of an hour to traverse before they finally entered the courtyard.
The courtyard was plain and elegant as it appeared from afar, no different from other scholars’ courtyards, except that instead of flowers and plants, every place that could hold something was stacked with various colored boxes tied with silk ribbons. It was unknown what was inside them, nor where that seemingly present yet absent dark fragrance came from. Mo Ziru pointed to a wooden ladder against the back courtyard wall. “To see Shui Duopo, you can only climb over from here. This is the only way to enter Bright Moon Tower.”
Liu Yan was stunned. “What?” Outside was a vast water body – couldn’t one cross by water? Mo Ziru seemed to know what he was thinking. “Shui Duopo doesn’t like others touching his water.” Liu Yan looked up at the wall. The neighbor was truly an eccentric person. The water outside was at least several dozen zhang wide – did he really not allow anyone to touch it? Mo Ziru added, “Though he doesn’t like others touching his water, he’s also too lazy to manage that body of water. But if you’re seeking something from him, you’d better be obedient and not harbor other ideas.”
Liu Yan smiled. “I won’t have any other ideas. Everyone thinks differently – I can only manage myself, not others.”
“Mm.” Mo Ziru’s gaze had always been very calm, as if his emotions were consistently gentle, or as if he had no emotions at all. “Climb up.”
Liu Yan sighed. Using only the strength of his hands to climb such a high wooden ladder wouldn’t be easy, but having come this far, how could he not go up? He struggled down from the carriage and slowly moved to the wooden ladder, grasping the first rung with both hands and slowly climbing up while dragging his heavy body.
The wooden ladder creaked and groaned. Liu Yan’s hands trembled, and when he climbed to the twelfth rung he nearly fell, barely hanging in mid-air. After a stalemate for a while, he still fell down with a “thud.” Mo Ziru went back into the house to pour himself tea and quietly watched him fall. “Only twelve rungs?”
“Cough cough…” Liu Yan fell so hard his spine ached severely, his vision darkening. When he opened his eyes again, Mo Ziru had already turned back to the room. “Practice.” He seemed to show no sympathy for Liu Yan nor offer any assistance, going back to the room to drink tea. Liu Yan lay on the ground for quite a while, looking up at the twelve-rung wooden ladder. Where he fell was at least one story high, but still had two-thirds of the distance to the wall top. This courtyard wasn’t large, but the surrounding wall was built very high.
After resting, he continued climbing the wooden ladder. This time he climbed much faster than before, knowing that with insufficient wrist and arm strength, if he didn’t climb up before his energy was depleted, he might never make it. Using both hands, he barely climbed to the twentieth rung, his body feeling like it carried a thousand-pound burden, his wrists trembling severely, the entire wooden ladder shaking with him. He bit his teeth, biting through his lips until blood flowed. Liu Yan was completely unaware, struggling upward, fighting to climb to the twenty-seventh rung. Just when he could see he was past the halfway point, he suddenly heard a series of crisp “crack crack” sounds. The world spun, his body plummeted, and with a thud his head received an impact. He looked up dazedly to see wood chips flying everywhere – the wooden ladder had broken from the middle.
“Uh… you don’t need to blame yourself. This ladder has been about to break for a long time.” A voice suddenly came from the wall top. Had Liu Yan not been dizzy and dazed with his mind completely blank at this moment, he might have recognized this voice as very childish, slightly affected with some petulance, like a twelve-year-old child. But he only saw the face that appeared over the wall top.