Below Funiu Mountain.
In Jiang Youyu’s small courtyard.
Liu Yan was simmering a pot of porridge. He had no idea what was being cooked in the pot, only that Shui Duopo had ordered him to add various red beans and green beans to the pot, sprinkle in plenty of salt, and add over ten kinds of strange roots and tree barks, resulting in a pot of oddly-flavored bean paste.
And this pot of “medicinal soup” was actually meant for bathing Puzhu. Liu Yan had never seen such strange bathing water. In his common sense, no matter how many precious medicinal materials this pot of paste contained, it was unlikely to have any effect on Puzhu who was severely poisoned.
But Shui Duopo insisted it would work, and after Liu Yan’s repeated doubts, he ultimately believed him.
Puzhu didn’t look very well, growing thinner by the day. Shui Duopo and Mo Ziru were arguing about exactly which type of poison should be fed to him. Shui Duopo insisted on feeding Puzhu poisonous snakes, while Mo Ziru insisted on feeding him lizards. As a result, Puzhu refused to eat either poisonous snakes or lizards.
The man didn’t eat meat or fish.
However, after being severely poisoned, eating only vegetarian food would only make Puzhu’s condition worse day by day.
The pot of bean paste that Shui Duopo had Liu Yan simmer was supposedly an attempt to detoxify Puzhu. Yu Tuan’er crouched on the ground adding firewood to the stove. She had already learned Liu Yan’s set of golden needle brain acupuncture techniques. But among the three hundred disciples that Jiang Youyu had arranged to learn the antidote preparation, more than half still hadn’t learned the golden needle technique, which greatly frustrated Yu Tuan’er.
They all knew that the Central Plains Sword Society and the Romantic Shop had each won and lost battles. Kuanglan Wuxing had died and Yu Konghou was severely injured, but Ren Qingchou died, Zheng Yue died, and Cheng Yunpao and Gu Xitan were severely injured… It seemed the Central Plains Sword Society had gained the upper hand, but without resolving the Nine Heart Pill poison, it remained a deadlock.
Moreover, beneath the Romantic Shop, the “Lamp Calling Order” was secretly stirring, and behind both the “Lamp Calling Order” and the “Romantic Shop,” who was conducting these ghostly deeds? Who was driving Chai Xijin? Whose orders was Wang Lingqiu following? Who was the “Ghost Peony” that appeared at Shaolin Temple?
Were they so confident about the Nine Heart Pill that since Tang Lici and Liu Yan parted ways at Shaolin Temple, they no longer pursued the whereabouts of the Nine Heart Pill antidote?
Liu Yan stared blankly at the bean paste in the pot.
He vaguely felt… this was just a tacit understanding of calm.
The “Ghost Peony” group seemingly hadn’t found this place, perhaps only because Shui Duopo and Mo Ziru were here. Jiang Youyu’s small courtyard was so easy to find, with so many people coming and going – how could those with ill intentions not find him?
He was perhaps only under someone’s protection, while remaining obliviously unaware.
But how long could the residual prestige of Shui Duopo and Mo Ziru suppress the “Ghost Peonies”? Everyone was determined to obtain the Nine Heart Pill antidote or solution method. The place where he resided would ultimately become a scene of bloody carnage. The key was only when the “Ghost Peonies” would figure out the true capabilities of Shui Duopo and Mo Ziru, and what further arrangements Tang Lici had regarding this matter.
Perhaps… A’Li was utilizing this precarious calm to allow him to rest and recover, thereby enabling him to train as many disciples as possible. Liu Yan looked at the churning burnt paste in the pot, thinking… this was the only remaining use of his existence…
No matter where he went, he was always receiving others’ kindness, always under others’ protection. He had once inexplicably possessed boundless favoritism, yet… he had previously… neither accepted nor faced this mortal world. He didn’t regard the people of this world as people. He was indulged in his own resentment and grief, but actually, no matter what kind of mortal world it was… the mortal world was still the mortal world.
The people in the mortal world… were all people.
Living.
With joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
With grief, joy, separation, and sorrow.
No one was more noble than anyone else.
Even A’Li was the same.
Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
Grief, joy, separation, and sorrow.
No one was more noble than anyone else.
The medicinal paste in front of him had burned to charcoal. Liu Yan suddenly understood – for him, understanding this point wasn’t difficult.
However, for A’Li, this was extremely difficult.
“Boy! It’s burnt!” came Shui Duopo’s voice from behind. He wasn’t angry either, cheerfully saying to Mo Ziru, “This time I win again.” He pointed at Liu Yan, “I said this boy would definitely believe my bean paste could cure poison. Bean paste cooked for a long time will definitely burn, right? When it’s burnt, it can be used to prepare medicine. Going full circle, I wasn’t deceiving him…”
Mo Ziru touched the three newly attached long whiskers. He had just transformed himself from a refined scholar into a sharp-mouthed legal advisor. “What if you win, what if you lose… We weren’t even betting money just now…”
The two men’s daily nonsense had just begun when Liu Yan was still in a daze. Suddenly, dozens of bowstring sounds whooshed from outside the courtyard, and over twenty fire crossbow bolts carrying inextinguishable tar flames shot toward Jiang Youyu’s small courtyard from all directions.
In an instant, the small courtyard caught fire everywhere, thick smoke rose, and the three hundred young disciples who were still learning from each other cried out in alarm and became chaotic.
Most of these youths were the more clever and agile disciples from the schools opened by Wanqiao Study Hall. They had learned some arithmetic and medicine, practiced simple martial arts, came from clean family backgrounds, and had simple minds. There were also some young disciples from martial arts sects whose masters were familiar with Jiang Youyu and were willing to send their disciples to learn.
These young people with shallow experience suddenly saw the courtyard catch fire and were all panicked and at a loss. Those with decent martial arts protected those who knew no martial arts at all, fleeing toward the secret passage underground in the courtyard. For a moment, heads were crowded together, many fell to the ground, and before the enemy even entered, their own side had already suffered considerable injuries.
Liu Yan suddenly turned around. Yu Tuan’er jumped up from the ground, drawing her long sword with a swish. Shui Duopo and Mo Ziru exchanged glances, both quite surprised.
The Romantic Shop would never let Liu Yan go, but why did it come at this time? This wasn’t the timing that Tang Lici and the two men Shui and Mo had predicted. Some kind of variable might have occurred.
Mo Ziru waved his sleeve. He had always maintained a calm expression, but now he slightly frowned. “You all retreat.”
Shui Duopo hesitated to speak. “This time…”
“Since the opponent dares to come, nine times out of ten, they’ve learned your true capabilities.” Mo Ziru frowned but didn’t forget to despise his friend. “You shouldn’t take action. Take them back to the cave.”
Liu Yan and Yu Tuan’er didn’t know what these two were talking about. Yu Tuan’er gripped her long sword tightly. “There’s fire outside! Looking at this situation, there must be many people outside. How can leaving you alone work…”
Before she finished speaking, her hands were empty. The long sword in her hands had somehow reached Shui Duopo’s hands. He casually waved that sword, pulling Liu Yan toward the crowd. “Hero Mo can hold off ten thousand enemies alone. Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. His name is Mo Ziru, nicknamed Mo Chunfeng.”
Mo Chunfeng?
Yu Tuan’er had never heard of any Mo Chunfeng. Seeing Liu Yan being pulled by Shui Duopo to crawl into the underground tunnel in the courtyard, she became anxious and chased after them.
The dozens of young people who had fallen at the entrance to the secret passage were simply pushed aside by Shui Duopo’s three picks and two pokes with his sword, and they scrambled up in embarrassment. Shui Duopo kicked one of them down the secret passage. “Hurry in!”
The young people began jumping into the secret passage one by one, with continuous clanging sounds. This secret passage led to the dark room where Liu Yan prepared medicines, and behind the dark room was another secret passage leading to an underground river. If this secret passage were used by martial arts practitioners, they could certainly hold their breath and swim out of the secret chamber along the underground river. But most of these young people had poor martial arts skills, and holding their breath underwater wasn’t feasible for them.
Thus this place became a dead end.
While driving the young people down the secret passage, Shui Duopo listened with his ear cocked.
Footsteps approached from outside the courtyard. There were at least ten people with fire crossbows, and those riding horses together numbered twenty to thirty more.
Shui Duopo picked up Liu Yan, about to throw him into the tunnel together, while turning back to glance at his friend who was blocking the courtyard – Mo Ziru held a sword in his right hand and lightly flicked the sword with his left hand’s finger.
Mo Ziru usually didn’t carry a sword. This sword had restrained brilliance and even bore some rust spots. But when he flicked his finger, a faint golden light flowed along the blade. The rust spots on the sword blade seemed to melt away completely, and that extremely ordinary long sword suddenly burst with radiance.
At this moment, the courtyard gate made a crisp crack. Someone had shattered the door bolt with palm force and good-naturedly pushed the door open. Seeing Mo Ziru standing with sword in hand, the visitor clapped and laughed. “‘Long Robes All Shattered Mo Chunfeng,’ twenty-eight years ago everyone feared you, but who still fears you after twenty-eight years? How many years have you not practiced that fast sword technique of yours? When the hibernating dragon awakens at the Awakening of Insects, the sword must kill when drawn. How many years has it been since you killed anyone? Hahaha… Today let me see what kind of death awaits a dulled fast sword and an aged Mo Chunfeng!”
The one who pushed through the door was a person in red robes with black peonies embroidered on them – the exact opposite of the robes Ghost Peony usually wore. This person also wore a mask on his face, but not a Vairocana Buddha mask. Instead, it was a ghostly face with double horns and blue face with protruding fangs.
Mo Ziru drew his sword with a swish, pointing directly at the space between the ghost-faced person’s eyebrows.
The sword light was like a point of starlight, cold to the eyes.
The ghost-faced person hadn’t expected him to attack immediately without any preliminary words. The sword gleam was right before his eyes. He suddenly waved his sleeve, and something from within made a ding sound as it blocked Mo Ziru’s long sword. He broke out in cold sweat. This sword wasn’t extremely fast, but from drawing the sword and generating sword intent to sheathing the sword and dispersing sword intent was only an instant. Mo Ziru remained divinely calm and composed, not even blinking an eye.
He just opened those black and white, extraordinarily clear eyes, looking very seriously at that ghost face, as if his mood hadn’t even rippled.
The ghost-faced person gripped the short staff in his sleeve, his smile fading as he stared at Mo Ziru’s sword.
Long Robes All Shattered Mo Chunfeng.
Back then, Mo Chunfeng’s sword was named “Long Robes.”
His sword intent was “All Shattered.”
Long Robes All Shattered Mo Chunfeng was a madman who could hold a sword and fight anytime, anywhere until the blade shattered completely. Each of his swords was called “Long Robes,” each sword was different – whether a priceless sharp weapon or a randomly picked fire poker, before the sword shattered, they were all called “Long Robes.”
In those days, the Long Robes sword only advanced, never retreated. At first encounter, it would kill, never admitting defeat until completely shattered.
But now Mo Ziru had learned to sheath his sword.
The ghost-faced person held his breath, generating twelve parts alertness.
When a sword advances without return, it’s better to retreat one step.