The things Xiao Wu wanted were all gathered. Di Renjie carried a huge brown bear doll along the small path toward the academy. It wasn’t that he was unwilling to take a carriage, but because he needed to do something halfway. These past two days, people had been constantly following him, which annoyed him to death. The trackers were clever, even knowing to switch people. Most laughable was that when he went to the market to buy pig intestines, a new vendor appeared there the next day, specifically selling pig intestines. The gourd-head snack stall with pig offal was cheap and delicious.
In the Yun household, only Master and himself liked eating pig intestines, plus Xiao Ya. Master’s wife couldn’t stand the stuff. As soon as the dish of green pepper and fatty intestines appeared on the table, she would immediately cover her mouth and run out. Under her strong suppression, only he, Master, and Xiao Ya could eat this thing separately. For this matter, he received plenty of scolding from Xiao Wu, who said things like “you don’t learn the good things from Master, but prefer foul smells instead. Don’t come within three feet of me in the future.” Because of this sentence, Di Renjie liked eating fatty intestines even more.
The land near Yushan all belonged to the Yun family—whether forests or wasteland, all was the Yun family’s. These lands were exchanged by the marquis using good land from Hedong. Old Grandmother had been quite unhappy about this. Only prodigal sons and fools would exchange good land for immature forest land and wasteland. But without this land, the Yun family and the academy wouldn’t form a complete whole. The Lantian County government made quite a windfall from this, which made the current county magistrate proud for a long time. Lantian County also had three hundred mu of good public land across the river in Chang’an County. Although the Chang’an County magistrate’s rank was a full two grades higher than his, with this matter as foundation, he had brought shame to Chang’an County.
Di Renjie was about to enter this neither-large-nor-small shrub forest when he encountered a white-haired woodsman. Adhering to the qualities of a good youth, he respectfully bowed to this limping old woodsman. The old woodsman also smiled and returned the courtesy, also instructing Di Renjie to be careful—this forest had been unsafe recently. He’d discovered that some large creature seemed to have appeared in the woods.
The thirteen-year-old youth was at that age of spring days and thin robes. Entering the shrub forest, he naturally bounced and hopped happily like a rabbit. He’d pluck the newly grown small red fruits, lick them with his tongue, shiver from the sourness then throw them away. Seeing dandelions that had already formed fuzzy balls, he’d always pluck them and blow hard at them by his mouth until the dandelion’s little umbrellas flew everywhere before stopping.
The closer to the academy, the taller the trees became. Di Renjie leaned against a smooth locust tree to rest a bit. He dared not get close to pine trees—they always had those long-haired pine caterpillars on them. If they fell on your skin, you’d be miserable. Xiao Ya had been stung by this kind of caterpillar’s long hairs before. Her waist swelled up over a large area and she couldn’t even wear clothes. In the end, it was Master who rolled glutinous rice balls over her body to stick off all the long hairs before she recovered. Di Renjie didn’t want the same experience.
There was movement behind him, and low, miserable cries came over. Di Renjie remained unmoved. Instead, he took out his water flask to drink some water. Having walked the mountain path for quite a while, he was somewhat tired after all. He rummaged through his bundle for a piece of glutinous rice cake and put it in his mouth to eat slowly. Sure enough, another scream came over—it seemed not far from him.
Di Renjie carefully found a clean branch to hang the brown bear doll on, took out his Chasing Star, strung it properly, added the arrow magazine, concealed his form, and quietly looked back. The place he’d chosen was an excellent hiding spot. He could see all movement within a five-zhang radius around him, yet the enemy couldn’t see him. These few trees were originally the only safe place in this forest.
That limping woodsman emerged from the shrubs and said quietly: “Young Master Jie, there are only two people tracking you. This old man carefully investigated. There’s no third person.”
Only then did Di Renjie emerge from behind the tree, following the old woodsman to see exactly who was tracking him. Master had said: This world is too complex, to the point where we can’t distinguish friend from foe. So when you can grasp the initiative, you must keep it in your own hands, then judge whether things are right or wrong. At least you won’t suffer losses or be betrayed by others. Di Renjie thought the same way. Only a fool would unconditionally trust an unfamiliar person.
The Yun family’s beast traps were very large with plenty of force, all made of soft steel. When opened they were a full three feet wide. Such large traps were designed not to catch the household’s sheep and dogs. So when Yun Ye saw the trap’s jagged teeth firmly locking a blue-robed burly man in place, he wasn’t surprised at all. That this fellow’s thigh bone hadn’t been severed by the fierce force was already quite remarkable.
“Young Master Jie, this fellow can be considered a capable hand. His martial arts are quite good. The trap should have caught his waist, but he managed to dodge so it caught his thigh instead. Don’t underestimate this small difference between waist and thigh—there’s great skill in it.”
“Release me, save me! I just happened to pass by.”
Hearing the blue-robed man’s pleading voice, Di Renjie and the old woodsman had no reaction at all. They turned and left, walking toward the small path on the other side where there also seemed to be movement.
If the earlier blue-robed man could still be considered lucky, suffering at most some physical pain, the fellow here dressed as a peddler looked quite miserable. Who knew how many wooden spikes were stuck in his two legs? He looked like a candied hawthorn straw stick with fine iron pins stuck all over it, just without those red fruits. The wounds were all small wounds, but when everything from chest to abdomen downward was like this, it was quite bad.
“Young Master Jie, this was caused by a spring-loaded crossbow trap. One case holds sixty bolts. Looks like this fellow’s luck wasn’t too good—he was hit by no fewer than forty. Such opportunities are rare. Last time we caught a wild boar, a two-hundred-catty big fellow, and even that was only hit by less than thirty. This old man, his wife, son, and daughter-in-law ate for half a year before finishing it. This fellow is done for. Almost no good flesh below the waist. These few probably pierced through his intestines, and his spleen and kidneys are finished too. He won’t live much longer. We’d better go ask that other person instead.”
Di Renjie shook his head, squatted down, took out a flat liquor flask from his bosom, fed this constantly convulsing person a mouthful of strong liquor and said: “Why were you tracking me? Tell me, and I’ll ask Old Soldier Grandfather to let you die without pain. Otherwise, you’ll have to endure this living torture for at least half a day. You can’t be saved. Speak clearly, die more comfortably. Just one chance.”
That person’s ashen lips kept trembling. After a while he said: “I’m from Chang’an. Someone hired me. One day I was wandering in the Chang’an market when a blue-robed person asked if I was willing to earn some copper coins. I agreed. He told me to guard the academy gate all day, and as soon as I saw you come out, to follow. I thought he was a child snatcher wanting to kidnap you then extort money, so I agreed. Who knew it would be like this? Save me, save me! I don’t want to die.”
Di Renjie stood up. The old soldier’s big hand twisted on this peddler-dressed person’s neck. With a crack, the peddler’s rapid breathing stopped.
“Old Soldier Grandfather, it looks like the fellow caught by the trap is the real master. These days the household hasn’t been peaceful. Our family’s enemies are very powerful. Please guard this place well. This is our family’s last retreat.”
The old soldier laughed “jiejie” and said: “Thirty trap masters spent a year setting up, plus people from the Gongshu family helping. This forest is a dead zone. In our family, only the Marquis, the Lady, you, and this old man know all the traps. Lonely for over a year, finally someone comes seeking death. This old man can’t wait to see it.”
Returning to where the blue-robed man was caught by the trap, that fellow was using all his strength trying to pry open the trap, but no matter how he exerted force, the trap wouldn’t budge at all.
“Boy, without five hundred catties of strength, don’t even think about prying open the trap. However, this old man is still very curious—why isn’t your thigh broken? Just now this old man overlooked it. Even if it were a big bear that stepped on the trap, its leg bone should have broken in two. Let this old man take a good look at what’s really going on.”
The blue-robed man’s expression changed drastically. He raised his hand to stuff something in his mouth, but it drooped down limply. A crossbow bolt was already stuck in the fleshiest part of his shoulder. Di Renjie’s reaction was very fast.
The old soldier dislocated the blue-robed man’s jaw in a flash, and incidentally dislocated the joints of his other arm. He bent down to pick up a pill that had fallen on the ground, wrapped it well and handed it to Di Renjie. Daoist Sun would definitely know clearly what medicine this was, where it came from, and what effects it had.
Looking at the blue-robed man’s determined appearance of facing death unflinchingly, the old soldier sneered: “Stop pretending. If you were a death warrior, you had eighty opportunities to commit suicide just now. Isn’t it a bit late to think of suicide only after despair? A death warrior’s suicide is the first thing to do after falling into enemy hands, not after despair. This old man served as a scout in the army for twenty-six years. I’ve seen plenty of death warriors and have many methods of torturing people. This old man can be considered an ancestor in this. There’s never been any tough guy under my hands. Even the hardest iron men become puddles of mud in this old man’s hands. Speak honestly and I’ll let you die more comfortably. Otherwise, this old man will dismantle you piece by piece.”
The blue-robed man very much wanted to lie down, but the iron trap on his leg prevented him from lying down. The iron trap was firmly locked to a ground stake with iron chains. Breaking free was impossible.
The old soldier stepped forward and closed his jaw, but one hand pressed on his cheek to prevent this fellow from biting his tongue. Although biting one’s tongue wouldn’t kill you, it would be very troublesome to question him.
The blue-robed man laughed at Di Renjie and said loudly: “I dare not be disrespectful to you. You are the master, we are pigs and dogs. Originally, upon meeting you, I should have run as far away as possible. You are gods. In your eyes, my life is worth less than pigs and dogs. But another master gave me an order to watch you, so I had to comply. This is fate—I can’t escape it.”
Di Renjie’s eyes narrowed. He tapped his head lightly with the swallow-wing crossbow and asked the blue-robed man: “Since I’m also your master, why won’t you properly answer my questions?”
The blue-robed man laughed bitterly and said: “This is a conflict among you gods. I’m a mortal—I can’t escape. I can only obey one master’s command at a time. Only after completing the previous task can I listen to your command. This is the rule. This is the gods’ rule.”