Chapter 11: 11

Chapter 11: A Girl And Her Sword

The Confucian scholar Sir Qi left the school with a young boy in tow. They went to the Crab Archway below. With a haggard expression on his face, the scholar pointed at the plaque above and asked, “‘One’s values beget act’, what’s the meaning of these four words?”

The schoolboy, Zhao Yao, who was a student of the school and the book boy of the scholar, looked up and said without hesitation, “Confucianism teaches us benevolence. The four words on the plaque are taken from the phrase “One’s values beget act, don’t give way to teachers.” It means we should act and stop those who do not conform to our values and virtues, even if the perpetrator is our teacher.”

Sir Qi asked, “We should? Why not ‘we must?”

The schoolboy had an elegant appearance. In juxtaposition to Song Jixin’s aggressiveness and sharp temperament, he seemed more gentle and restrained, like a blooming lotus flower, charming. Since Sir Qi had asked this enigmatic question, the boy did not dare to take this lightly. He thought it over carefully. 

He had a feeling that his teacher was testing his knowledge. He did not dare answer this flippantly.

The middle-aged scholar looked at his disciple thinking over the question like he was facing a great enemy. Sir Qi smiled and patted the boy’s shoulder. “Just a passing question. Shouldn’t be so nervous. It appears that I subdued your nature too much before. Too much carving made you live like a statue. Stoneface, stubborn, adhering to every rule, reasoning every little thing ever-so meticulously… but alas, for now, that may be a good thing.”

The boy was a little puzzled by this. 

His teacher looked up at the plaque and his brow began to ease. For some reason, the normally serious teacher began to tell many stories to his disciple. “The calligrapher who wrote this plaque was the number one calligrapher in the world, leading to many debates on calligraphy. How does one convey power, strength? Through the pen stroke? Or is it through the flow of characters? The debate between modern versus classic calligraphy, there has yet to be a verdict. Style, technique, intent, form, the four foundations of calligraphy, this person was the paragon of all of them. No one could rival him. As for the phrase “Nature’s language, speak not,” if you look closely, you should find that, interestingly enough, despite the structure and form of the characters all being similar, each of the four words was written by a different immortal master. Back then, two immortals bickered about who got to write which word.”

Sir Qi led the boy down to the plaque that read “Look within one’s self.” He hesitated and then continued, “Your school will soon be closed down because of my absence. Perhaps it will be torn down and a temple or statue will be built on its land. Time marches on. During these sixty years, a few people will be replaced to quell the puzzlement of this town’s people, but it is just smoke and mirrors in the end. Even if one attains a sliver of mystical power here, when they go outside, they will be able to shake the world.”

Sir Qi’s voice was faint. Zhao Yao, behind his teacher, could barely make out what he was saying.

Sir Qi sighed and said warily, “Many things that were once secrets are becoming less and less important. However, we scholars still have our dignity. If I, Qi Jingchun, am the first to break the rules, I would be a hypocrite.”

Zhao Yao suddenly gathered his courage and said, “Sir, this student knows you are no simple person. This small town is no ordinary place.”

The scholar, called Qi Jingchun, smiled. “Oh? Continue.”

Zhao Yao pointed to the imposing archway. “The archway, the Ironchain Well on Apricot Street, the rumors of two swords hanging from the bottom of the bridge, the locust tree, the peach trees in Peach Leaf Lane, the customs here, it’s all very strange.”

Qi Jingchun asked, “Strange? How so? You lived your whole life here. There is no point of reference. What makes you say that?”

Zhao Yao said solemnly, “Sir, I know all the books by heart. The peach blossoms in Peach Leaf Lane are very different from those depicted in the poems. Teacher, why are there only three elementary books? What books should one read after? For what do we read? To pass the imperial examination? To study diligently, to be valued by the emperor, to change one’s peasant fate? Is that why? The two overseers, although they never talked to other people about the court, the capital, but…”

Qi Jingchun smiled. “That’s enough, no need to say more.” He continued, “Zhao Yao, be discreet with your words in the future. Remember, words can often cause misfortune. As such, sages are often tight-lipped. For wise men, every action should be made with the utmost caution, lest there be mistakes, no room for flaws. For the sages, those who are enlightened on the path of Dao or the arhats of Buddhism, every word of theirs becomes a prophecy destined to come true. Upon reaching this realm, these people, including the masters of the Hundred Schools of Thoughts, are known as Earth Immortals. They can be considered to have passed an important threshold. Though, people like them are like dragons, flying high in the sky, worshiped in the temples, above the immortal world. Ordinary people cannot hope to catch sight of them.”

Zhao Yao listened to him in a cloudy daze. He could not help but ask, “Sir, why are you telling me this now?”

With a gentle smile, Qi Jingchun replied, “You have a teacher, and so do I. My teacher… is not important. Anyway, I originally thought that I would be able to struggle for a couple more decades, but it appears some people behind the scenes can’t even wait for that. Right now, I am unable to accompany you when you leave this small town. You must go alone. The truth will soon be revealed to you. I only hope for you to understand this one truth, there is always something above, greater. The same applies to humans. No matter how favored and blessed you are, Zhao Hao, you mustn’t be complacent.”

Qi Jingchun gave a reminder. “Zhao Yao, remember when I asked you to get a locust leaf?”

Zhao Yao nodded. “I placed it in the sigil that Sir gave me.”

“A locust leaf that remains vibrant even after leaving the branch. There are thousands of people in this town, yet only a handful of them are ‘blessed” with this. Perhaps it is fated to be.” Qi Jingchun began to reflect. “Over the years, I have been letting you do good deeds in this small town for good karma. One must treat everyone with courtesy and sincerity. All those seemingly trivial things, as long as you keep preserving, may come to benefit you more than any old book.”

Zhao Yao noticed an oriole on one of the stone beams. It jumped and chirped. Zhao Yao did not find anything abnormal with it.

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Qi Jingchun suddenly looked toward Muddyrun and frowned. He let out a sigh. “Critters stir with the coming of spring. You are a visitor. Creeping under my nose and performing such nasty tricks. Do you really think you can act so willfully here just because of a bowl of water?”

Zhao Yao said, worried, “Sir?”

Qi Jingchun waved his mind, indicating that this matter had nothing to do with the boy. He brought Zhao Yao over to the last plaque.

Zhao Yao seemed to have been struck by spring thunder. Suddenly, his footsteps halted, and he stared blankly into the distance.

Not far away, there was a black-clothed girl wearing a hat, her face covered by thin fabric. A long sword sheathed in a snow-white scabbard and a green knife sheath hung from her waist. She stood under the plaque with the phrase “A sword rages, clashes,” her arms crossed, her head raised.

Qi Jingchun let out a light cough when he saw his student’s state, amused.

Zhao Yao stood frozen in place. It seemed his teacher’s words of being courteous fell on deaf ears.

Qi Jingchun smiled again. He did not chastise Zhao Yao and stopped coughing, letting the young man stare at the girl.

The entire time, the girl did not seem to notice the boy’s gaze. She seemed to be appreciating the four words on the plaque. Compared to the refined and solemn calligraphy of the other three plaques, the large, imposing characters of this plaque seemed to be written with unbridled arrogance.

Suddenly, Zhao Yao woke from his stupor. Qi Jingchun patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, “Zhao Yao, it’s time to go back to school.”

The boy blushed, lowered his head, and began following his teacher.

The girl’s five fingers then slowly let go of the hilt of her sword.

Qi Jingchun found this amusing. “Zhao Yao, oh, Zhao Yao, I just saved your life back there.”

Shocked, Zhao Yao said, “Sir?”

Qi Jingchun paused for a moment and then said solemnly, “Avoid her in the future.”

The scholarly boy was a mixture of disappointment and shock. “Why, Sir?”

Qi Jingchun thought for a bit and replied firmly, “She is too sharp, destined to be a sword no scabbard can contain.”

The boy wanted to say something but stopped himself.

Qi Jingchun smiled again. “Of course, if one truly likes someone, no god can stop that. Even with our uptight rules, Confucius only told us to ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,’ not think no evil.”

At that moment, Zhao Yao seemed to be hypnotized, bewitched. He said loudly, “I like her!”

Qi Jingchun scrunched his brow He was not angry. It was just that this had now become a prickly situation. He said solemnly, “Turn around!”

Zhao Yao turned around, his back to his teacher. 

From below, the girl turned her head—murderous rage.

Her hands dropped down and reached for her sword and knife, one thumb pressed on the hilt of the sword, the other on the hilt of the knife. Then, she began taking short steps forward. 

After four steps, her hands and feet exploded with strength. She drew the meter-long sword and short knife from their respective sheaths and leaned forward, leaping off the ground. Without a word, she slashed down with ferocity.

The glint from the blades flashed brilliantly, as she brought them down on the student-teacher pair.

This was no mystical art or magic, just pure speed!

Qi Jingchun looked relaxed, having no intention of evading. He just stomped one of his feet lightly.

Ripples of force spread out.

The girl’s muscles turned taut. Her sword and saber strike was completely nullified. She glared at the pair, standing at the same place she unsheathed her blades.

Qi Jingchun let out a small smile and said, “Indeed, a lion does not hold back no matter its prey. This disciple of mine did offend Miss, but I don’t think such an offense deserves death, right?”

The girl slowly put the long sword in its scabbard. She adopted a one-handed knife stance, the tip of the knife pointing at the scholar. “What you think is your business. I don’t care.”

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The girl took a step forward. “What I do is your problem, not mine! ”

She charged forward.

Suddenly, the ground around her began to cave in.

Qi Jingchun put one hand behind his back and formed a fist with the other. He smiled and said, “In the martial path of war, speed is key. This place’s collapse is unfortunately inevitable, but, until that happens, even ten Earth Immortals together won’t be able to break this formation. You trying is futile.”

The girl vanished and appeared a dozen steps away from the scholar. She thought for a moment and closed her eyes.

Qi Jingchun shook his head. “It’s not that kind of trick. You see, this place is similar to a small world, here I am—”

“Oh?” He stopped talking and instantly came to the girl’s side. Curious, he lightly grasped the tip of his knife with two fingers. “Who taught you that knife and sword art?”

The girl did not open her eyes. Her left hand grasped the hilt of the sheathed long sword and pulled. A blade aimed towards the scholar’s waist, trying to cut him in two.

With two fingers on the knife, Qi Jingchun said lightly, “Move!”

Boom! Dust flew up in the air. After the dust settled, the black-clothed girl’s figure was revealed. She staggered, a ravine between her and the scholar, her hands mangled and bloodied.

A person had managed to take her sword and knife with their bare hands. She had been reduced to a pitiful state. 

She also knew in her heart that this scholar had suppressed his cultivation to be equivalent to her own.

This was a difference in skill, not just cultivation.

This realization drove her hysterical. Her body flared up. The light around her began to twist and contort.

A teacher of youth, Qi Jingchun said with sincerity, “It would be best for you to not compare yourself with me for now. It’ll only hinder your state of mind. Reaching the peak of martial arts is a step-by-step journey.” He held the tip of her knife in one hand and her sword in the other.

Finding this somewhat amusing, he laughed and imitated the girl’s tone, saying “Whether you listen is your business. Whether I speak is my business, not yours.”

The girl stood silent for a moment before saying “This one understands!”

The scholar nodded. Good, she knows her limits. He tossed the knife toward the girl. “Here, your knife.”

He looked at the long sword he was holding between his fingers.

The young overtake will overtake the old.

Qi Jingchun said with some regret, “The quality of this sword isn’t bad, but it still is far from the best. It can only take in two words at most due to its flaws. A pity, with your talent, three or even four words would have been a possibility. What a waste.” He sighed and raised a hand.

Two rays of dazzling light flew from the plaque “A sword rages, clashes.” The scholar flicked his sleeve and the light shot into the long sword. On the plaque, the words “a sword” were still present in all their glory, but the words “rages” and “clashes” seemed to fade out, as if it lost their spirit.

Qi Jingchun flicked his wrist and the long sword vanished and reappeared in the girl’s white sheath. Two auras rumbled in the sword.

But, to Qi Jingchun’s surprise, the girl slowly took off the sheath and tossed it on the ground. It lay, slanted, on the dirt. Behind the fabric hanging down from the hat, her eyes were firm. “This is not the sword dao I pursue.”

Qi Jingchun glanced at the sword that had been abandoned by the girl. His heart felt heavy. He could not help but ask an improper question. “Do you know who I am?”

The girl nodded. “I heard that every sixty years, a saint from the three sects will come to oversee the formation. Over the thousand years, people have come out of here with strange treasures or a great increase in their cultivation, so I wanted to take a look. The moment I saw you, I knew who you were. Otherwise, I would not have been so direct.”

Qi Jingchun then asked, “So, do you know what you gave up just now?”

The girl fell silent.

The sword on the ground began trembling, like someone begging their lover to not leave them.

Zhao Yao turned his head furtively, sneaking a glance at the girl in the distance.

Qi Jingchun, a man who possessed a vast amount of knowledge, was puzzled by this. However, he could not just force this long sword with a huge amount of qi onto the girl. “Miss, it’s best if you take the sword. This town will be… hectic soon. It’s not a bad thing to have one more weapon.”

Silent, the girl turned and left, unwilling to pick up the sword.

Qi Jingchun was at a loss. He waved his hand, and the scabbard shot up and stuck to one of the archway’s stone pillars. If someone tried to pull it out, he, the man at the center of it all, would be alerted, just like how that storyteller’s actions had not gone unnoticed by this scholar.

He led Zhao Yao to the Zhao family’s mansion on Blessed Street. The middle-aged scholar walked slowly. Every time he took a step, there would be flashes of light in the hidden places of the many mansions that lined the street.

Qi Jingchun murmured, “How strange, where did that little girl come from? Could she be an immortal from a foreign continent?”

Upon returning to the school, he placed a jade tablet, about half a meter long, onto the table. The four corners of the tablet were engraved with the four mountains that represented stability. The front was engraved with a clutter of inscriptions and characters in seal script.

According to Confucian customs, only an emperor could have such a jade tablet. On the back of the jade tablet was only two words. The calligraphy was solemn and distinct. The strokes were powerful, and the intent was profound.

On the desk, there was a letter that had arrived not too long ago.

The eyes of Qi Jingchun were slightly red. “Teacher, this student is incompetent. Can only watch this suffering.” He looked out of the window. He was neither happy nor sad, a somewhat forlorn expression on his face. “I have disappointed you, teacher. I have dragged this life of mine on for a century. For me, only death is due.”

…

When Song Jixin took out a little pot from his room and put it on the table, Fu Nanhua was ecstatic. The word “Monster” was inscribed on the pot at the bottom.

Song Jixin put his hands on the table, leaned forward, and asked with a smile, “How much is this pot worth?”

The young master of Dragon City veered his gaze away from the small pot, raised his head, and said frankly, “To mortals, it isn’t worth a piece of silver, but to me, it’s worth a city.”

Song Jixin asked, “How many people?”

Fu Nanhua put up three fingers.

Song Jixin snorted. “So 300,000.”

Fu Nanhua chuckled.

He thought Song Jixin would say 30,000.

…

Meanwhile, in Apricot Street, a silent man sat beside the Ironchain Well. He stared at the iron chain in the well. He seemed to be thinking about how to move it.

…

The black-clothed girl walked through the town aimlessly, only a knife sheath hanging from her waits. Her mangled hands were messily wrapped in cloth.

Just as she walked into an alley, something darted through the air. It came to an abrupt stop right behind the girl, shaking.

The girl frowned. Without turning her head, she gritted through her teeth, “Get lost.”

Whoosh. The flying sword that escaped from its scabbard and came here was so frightened by her that it flew away. 

A proud girl, and an obedient sword.

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