Chapter 13: 13

Chapter 13: Meeting

The girl ignored the boy who was walking towards her, looking at the old man over his shoulder. She said with a sullen expression. “You were about to kill me just now. Although you have your reasons, I don’t think that’s right.”

The boy stopped a couple of meters away from the chilly girl, sincere. “My name is Gao Zhen, from Yiyang County, Sui Dynasty. If Grandpa Wu has offended Miss, I’m willing to apologize and make amends.”

The tall old man stood behind the boy, uncomfortable. The boy’s introduction was just a roundabout way of declaring his true identity. During the twelve hundred years of the Sui Dynasty, all the emperors had the surname Gao, and Emperor Taizu was born in Yiyang County.

The girl did not seem to care about this. She raised her hands to tie the bandages and said to the old man, “If I were to fight a ‘wind-walking’ martial grandmaster, I would no doubt lose. However, here, as long as I use this flying sword, you will surely die.”

The tall old man sneered. “That thing only works as a surprise attack. Even that assassin, with his peak martial physique, as long as he protected his vitals, he would have been able to take a dozen stabs without a hitch. I am two realms higher than the assassin, passing one of the key thresholds of martial arts. Little girl, I wonder what gave you the gall to say I will ‘surely die’.”

The girl frowned and held the hilt of her knife with one hand. “I dislike troublesome people, but I hate the squabbling type even more. How about we see if what you’re saying is true or not? Whoever wins is right.”

The old man became a little peeved. If he wasn’t in this shitty place, with this girl’s feeble cultivation base, no matter how talented she is, the old man would be able to kill ten of her with one hand tied behind his back. In fact, if it were not for the fact he was accompanying the promising young prince of the Sui Dynasty, he would have taught the punk girl a lesson right here and now, even at the cost of serious injuries from circulating his qi. To think prey would poke the bear. Her courage was commendable, but that was all. Death was the only thing that awaited the conceited like her.

Gao Zhen hurriedly said, “If Miss wishes to pursue the matter, I am willing to use this to make amends.” Gao Zhen lowered his head, opened the embroidered bag around his waist, and took out the imperial seal. Holding it in one hand, he pointed it held it out toward the girl in the distance. “Here, this is a sign of my sincerity. I just ask that Miss does not go after Grandpa Wu for what happened. He is a loyal man and had no intention of causing harm.”

The eunuch looked on with horror. He knelt down on one knee and said, his voice shaky, “Your Highness! You are fated with this imperial seal. It is a rare treasure, carrying the incense of the people. Please, Your Highness!”

Gao Zhen, born from nobility, showed no response.

The girl seemed to be a little impatient and smirked. “Treating trash like treasure. Put away that imperial seal. I won’t take away things that one holds so dearly.”

The girl turned around and left.

The boy felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. “Get up, Grandpa Wu, kneeling is improper. The twelve eunuchs of the Sui Dynasty should only kneel to the emperor. If this is seen by the officials from the Supervision Division or Ministry of Rites, we’ll be in big trouble. All right, this trip to this town is now over. We should leave quickly before we get ourselves into a bigger mess. Also, remember to stay on your toes once we meet up with our people outside. Two of the six pillar generals of the Dali Dynasty, the Yuan and Cao families, although they are in opposing camps, they both unfortunately have a deep-rooted hatred with the Sui Dynasty. If you get hurt here and you are unable to fight, it will be difficult for me to return to the Sui Dynasty unscathed.”

The old man nodded and stood up slowly. “This servant knows the severity of this matter.”

When the old man finished speaking, the girl had already taken twenty steps.

Suddenly, the boy felt a breeze, his sleeves lifting in the wind.

It turned out that the powerful old eunuch of the Sui Dynasty had not forgotten about the girl. He flew across the alley, taking three heavy steps, each step shaking the ground. At the fourth step, he was high up and threw a punch at the girl’s back.

The girl suddenly turned her waist. She used the toes of her left foot as a pivot and drew her blade. The brilliant sword glint illuminated the alleyway.

The old man lunged forward, his fist slamming into the knife’s blade. The back of his hand was only grazed by the sword’s sharp edge, leaving a little bit of blood. Upon landing, the old eunuch stomped the ground and charged forward. He forced the girl with the knife to constantly retreat. He threw out a palm strike towards the girl’s forehead. He seemed to be calm, but the palm strike was as fast as lightning. It made contact with the girl’s head.

Just as he was about to increase the force and burst open the head hidden under the hat, the old man’s feet darted to the side.

Pluch. He looked down and saw the tip of a sword. A sword had penetrated the right of his chest from the back.

The old man looked on with indifference. His fingers grabbed the tip of the sword and shoved it back. The sharp flying sword that followed the girl’s will was shoved out of his chest.

Due to being distracted by the flying sword, the old eunuch had failed to burst the girl’s head with his palm strike. The girl’s body was sent flying down the alley. She seized this opportunity of respite to get up and ran deep into the alleyway, her body moving like a leopard. 

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The boy’s face was grim, his fists clenched. He said furiously, “Head Eunuch of Calvary, Wu Yue! You paranoid imbecile, why do you continue to insist on disregarding my intentions? Does Eunuch Wu think he is peerless in this small town? We were obviously in the wrong. She never pushed the matter and was willing to forgive. Why take such diabolic actions? Simply despicable!”

The old eunuch looked in the direction that the girl escaped from. He turned around, upright. The old man walked away slowly, with a heavy heart.

The boy felt a suffocating aura coming from the eunuch. His servant having defied him, he was filled with fury. His eyes wide, teeth-gritting, he yelled, “Eunuch Wu, this is treason!”

The old eunuch said indifferently, “Your Highness, whether this is treason or not is up to His Majesty. From this one’s point of view, the safety of Your Highness is of the utmost importance. The existence of that girl is an urgent threat to Your Highness. To ensure all is well, she must die. Only then can this one feel at ease.”

The old eunuch saw how furious the boy was and sighed. “I have served in the imperial palace for over 60 years and has seen countless schemes and bloodshed. The human heart is cruel, I no longer have faith in it. I have dealt with over 30 assassination attempts just from guarding His Majesty’s carriage. Your Highness, the insidiousness and cruelty of human nature is beyond imagination. Normal thinking cannot be applied, that masked assassin and girl no exception…”

The boy pointed at the cold old eunuch and spat, “Shut up! You damn eunuch! I don’t want to listen to your bullshit! You ruined my plan to rope her in, even a blind man knows how talented that girl is! She can control a flying sword at her age! Her talent is second to none, even among the cultivators above the mountain, a special existence in the entire East Aquarius Continent! With a decade or so and my help, she could become a valuable asset. So what if you’re some Earth Immortal, martial grandmaster? And? I am Gao Zhen, the destined crown prince of the Sui Dynasty, and master of you damn eunuch!”

The old eunuch did not seem to be angry at the boy calling a “damn eunuch.” Instead, he seemed relieved. He looked at the ranting boy with a smile. Once the boy finished spewing his thoughts of him, he said, “Your Highness, although you have yet to know how sinister this world is due to a lack of experience, you have the right thoughts. Reminds me of His Majesty in the past.”

The moment Gao Zhen calmed down, he instantly regretted what he said. Before even being appointed as crown prince, he had just disrespected one of the head eunuchs of the Sui Palace. This old man had won the trust of his father and mother. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the old eunuch.

“Your Highness, don’t apologize so easily to servants. Not necessary. It is beneath your status, and the receiver might not appreciate it. Even if you feel guilty, bury that guilt deep in your heart. The emperor is a dragon among men, life and death indicated by just a word…”

Gao Zhen replied, “Grandpa Wu, given my current identity, it is too early to say this.”

Suddenly, the old eunuch’s body tensed up, as if facing a great foe. He pulled in the boy behind him and looked at the dead body of the masked assassin.

A slender middle-aged scholar suddenly appeared at the end of the alley. He walked slowly and came to the assassin’s body. He stooped down and took off the assassin’s mask. A face with no eyebrows, the man’s nose cut off, and letters carved into his face.

This man was once a prisoner.

Qi Jingchun looked on in silence. So this was premeditated. This scheme perhaps originated from the Confucian Temple.

Gao Zhen looked on with reverence. He walked from behind the old eunuch, bent down, and bowed. After giving his respectful greetings, he asked, “May I ask, could you be Sir Qi from the Precipice School?”

Qi Jingchun stood up and said to Gao Zhen, “Your serendipity saved you. Leave.”

According to the rules established by the four saints, the punishment for outsiders fighting each other in this town was moderate, far less severe than the punishment for an outsider slaughtering the natives of this town. In a battle between outsiders, there was also a “loophole” that people could take advantage of. Gao Zhen and the others brought “retinues” so that they could have a scapegoat to put all the blame on when they got into fights. 

Otherwise, if Gao Zhen was convicted, Emperor Gao of the Sui Dynasty, as part of the family, would have to pay half his fortune as punishment. One could only imagine how vast half the emperor’s wealth was. 

In this world, it was common to pay one’s way out of trouble. However, the expenses in this matter could not just be expressed in mere gold and silver. That sort of mortal currency here was child’s play.

Gao Zhen, who had just been ordered to leave, said, “Sir Qi, if you have time in the future, could you give a lecture at the academy of Sui Dynasty? The Sui Dynasty is willing to give Sir the position of Imperial Preceptor!”

The old eunuch looked on, deciding not to stop the boy’s presumptuous words. If, however unlikely it might be, His Highness managed to bring this scholar to the Sui Dynasty, the emperor would be overjoyed.

Qi Jingchun smiled but did not answer.

The old eunuch was overbearing and ruthless against the black-clothed girl, but when he faced Sir Qi, the guardian of this town, he showed extreme deference. He lowered his head and clasped his fists. “Sir Qi, please forgive me for the disturbance. I was left with no choice but to take action against a junior. I hope Sir can understand my responsibility as a loyal servant to the Sui Dynasty.”

Qi Jingchun flicked his sleeve. “I said leave.”

Gao Zhen and the old eunuch said their goodbyes and left, just so happening to take the same route of the black-clothed girl’s retreat.

The boy asked in a  low voice, “Is she dead?”

The old eunuch shook his head. “She doesn’t have much longer to live. That flying sword saved her life, but only momentarily.”

The boy paused for a moment and asked curiously, “Grandpa Wu, when did you notice that her control of the flying sword was actually far clumsier than it first appeared?”

The old man replied, “She overdid it. That girl’s intelligence was her downfall.”

The boy had trouble understanding this.

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The old eunuch led the boy out of the alley and said softly, “Your Highness, you have seen numerous treasures in this world, still interested in the ordinary pottery of this small town?”

The boy patted the bag on his waist and smiled. “Of course not. Only this imperial seal or something similar can catch my interest.”

The old eunuch nodded. “That is what I mean. When the girl killed the assassin with her flying sword, she showed no reaction, calm and ruthless. It was like… she was treating killing like eating. Once she found out my true cultivation, she gave up the idea of fighting. Afraid that I would see through her act, she deliberately acted arrogant and tried to bluff. She was afraid that I would kill her and tried to play up her strength. However, she failed, and I saw through her act, but, in the end, having such thoughts at that young age is an indication of intelligence. This only furthered my resolution to kill her. She could have become a greater threat to Your Highness in the future. Must cut off the roots before they grow.”

The old man sighed. “Oh, how youth is spirited. Them fighting and killing with passion and recklessness would not be surprising. Though, it is very abnormal for someone to kill and face death so calmly, so emotionlessly. Such a personality cannot only be developed through experience. It has nothing to do with the person’s talent. Many young geniuses die young because of the flaws in their personality, prone to encounter hardship and trip on the winding road of cultivation.”

Gao Zhen sighed. “Ah, what a pity.”

The old eunuch joked, “Your Highness, if you sigh once because of the death of a talent, you’d be very busy sighing once you become emperor.”

The boy smiled. “Is that so?”

The old eunuch suddenly said, “I could be wrong, but I feel that there is something very wrong with Sir Qi and his heavenly cultivation.”

The prince of the Sui Dynasty said nonchalantly, “Whatever, we got the ‘Dragon Gate’ seal, and, more importantly, we came across something far more valuable. That carp, even when I think of it, I can’t help but think of that poor boy with straw sandals…”

The old eunuch smiled and said, “Your Highness, thinking of finding the chance to reward that young boy with something more?”

The boy shook his head. “What? No, I just can’t help feeling sorry about the loss of those copper coins.”

The old man chuckled to himself.

To think the future emperor of the Sui Dynasty would be so frugal.

…

Bump. In a secluded alley, a young taoist had stopped doing business and was pushing a cart north. Better go back to my residence, pack up my things, and leave. What a mess. Only disaster awaits for anyone involved.

Suddenly, a black-clothed girl staggered out from one of the forks in the alleyway. She limped, before finally leaning her back against the wall, her movements sluggish. She covered her mouth with one hand through the thin fabric and pointed at the young taoist with the other hand.

The taoist lowered his head and chanted silently: please not me, please not me, oh high Taoist god, Tianzun, this is urgent… eh, a no show, then Buddha may the spirit manifest and bless this one…

A taoist praying to Budhha last minute. How scandalous.

As expected, Buddha did not seem to be interested in the practitioners of other schools. 

The black-clothed girl used her last bit of strength and stumbled towards the Taoist. Thunk. She fell to the ground, her hand tightly gripping the taoist’s ankle.  

The taoist looked at this in dismay, a wretched expression on his face. As if asking heaven, he muttered, “To think such karma would smash itself over my head. You might as well carve the words ‘death and despair’ on this poor taoist’s forehead. This poor taoist has roamed the world and worked hard over the years, crossing mountains and rivers, bitten by the dogs that roam the streets. Oh the misery! That motherfucking Sui Dynasty prince and that decrepit slave Wu, just you wait, this isn’t over. I will settle my debts with you…. Aye, this taoist’s cultivation is shallow, too much of a burden for this one to carry.”

The taoist rambled to himself and lowered his head. He was on the verge of tears. “Miss, please have mercy and let this poor taoist go. In the future, I will help you find a beautiful place, it’ll have good Fengshui, very blessed place, bring good fortune for children… oh shoot, the Miss is unmarried, um, then…”

The girl passed out on the ground.

Seeing that no one was around, the taoist crouched down and was about to pry open her hand.

Swoosh.

A flying sword hovered in the air, the tip of the sword only three inches away from taoist’s eyebrows.

The taoist let go of her hand, not making a sound. Then, with a magnanimous voice and a face full of pity, he said, “Humans have heart, compassion! This taoist has lived a free, open-minded life of compassion! He will not watch as someone dies in front of him!”

The taoist sat cross-legged, his handsome face contorted. “Where to send her, how troublesome.”

The flying sword, which had been hovering three inches away from the Taoist’s eyebrows, moved forward an inch.

The taoist explained patiently, “If you want your master to survive, I need a helper. Oh yeah, you, go to the old locust tree and stab a locust leaf. I’ll keep her hanging on her last breath for the time being. She’ll live, your master is a bit special. This taoist doesn’t mess around when saving people. After all, if I make a mistake and hamper her future cultivation, based on the karma… I’ll fucking die.”

The flying sword seemed to be hesitating, the tip of the sword trembling.

The taoist, a little annoyed, snapped, “The sooner you go, the sooner your master will come back from the depths of hell. Act too late, and we’re all done for!”

The flying sword vanished.

The taoist whispered angrily, “Heh, a boy and girl, get to know each other, become lovers. Oh, Qi Jingchun, you’re good, playing matchmaker are we? How shitty getting me invovled!”

The taoist rested his cheek on one hand and began performing a divination with the other hand. “Let’s do some divination. Which family in this town will have both you and the family that takes you in survive? First, the Lu family… no good. Similar to the Zhao family. What about the Song family?” 

Before the taoist could finish speaking, all the guardian pictures pasted on the doors of the Song family’s residence lost their color, faint green smoke rising from the paintings on the gate.

In the courtyard, a barefoot old man pushed open the door and cursed, “Which bastard is conspiring against the Song Family? Show yourself!”

The taoist coughed and muttered, “The Liu family on Blessed Street, aren’t they pretty prosperous? Maybe I can give them a try?”

The plaque of the Liu family’s hall, which had been passed down for generations, cracked. An old woman slammed the ground with a dragon-head stick. In a deep voice, she yelled, “Who enters? Come out and let me see!”

The taoist pretended nothing happened and said, “Hmm, then how about the Wei family in Peach Leaf Lane? Look how many good deeds and virtuous things they did. Come on, they must be able to bear the karma.”

Not long after, an old man used a secret art and roared with all his might at the school. “Qi Jingchun! Are you just going to ignore this? Do you not care, or don’t dare to care, ah? Get the hell out, and just give your position to Ruan Qiong! He’ll take care of that slippery, prying bastard! Perhaps, you just want to settle your personal grudges?”

A man led people to dig a well by a small stream south of the town. He looked towards the north and curled his lips.

Then, like rolling thunder, a voice boomed, resounding across Blessed Street and Peach Leaf Lane. “Enough! Sir Qi shall not be disrespected, and I, Ruan Qiong, will not involve myself with the town affairs before the spring equinox.”

The world went silent.

The culprit of it all sat next to a cart in an alley. He grabbed the hand of the black-clothed girl and threw the locust leaf brought by the flying sword into her bloody palm. 

The moment the locust leaf touched the wound, it melted like ice, dissipating in an instant.

The taoist sighed. “Every time I see such a scene, this power, I feel…”

After contemplating for a while, the taoist could not come up with the words to describe this ineffable feeling. He lowered his head and looked at the girl with a slightly better complexion. “The karma you are involved in is greater than this poor taoist can imagine. It seems I can only go about it the other way around. An unfortunate fellow will do. There are 600 families in this town. For generations, they have been infused with the aura of this secret realm. One can find a fortunate fellow easily here, but an unfortunate fellow is a different story. It’s like trying to find a beggar in the imperial court.”

The taoist let out an exclamation of surprise.

Wait, I know a poor, unfortunate fellow.

Instead of being happy, he widened his eyes in horror before closing them. Then, he began to reflect. The taoist sighed. “I’ll let you decide for yourself. This taoist will not force it. If you do not want it, then so be it. I will bear all the karma myself.”

He put his hands together like a monk and prayed, “Buddha may the spirit manifest and bless this one, may this taoist pass this tribulation.”

…

Muddyrun, the taoist bent over and pushed his court before stopping outside the gate. He knocked and knocked on the door. “Is Chen Pingan here?”

On the cart, there was a long sword with a snow-white scabbard. It lay motionless as if disgusted by the fact that taoist chose such a crummy house.

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