Chapter 168: Cute

Among those hunting Yuan Tingshan was Yang Qingfeng, who possessed a vast and unorthodox array of skills, including the ability to control birds and beasts. Shu Xiu, a shaman from the Southern Border, was equally formidable, equipped with numerous hidden spells and techniques. She kept pace with Yang Qingfeng, maintaining a hundred-step distance. Ning Emei discarded his diviner's halberd, carrying a halberd quiver on his back and two throwing halberds in his hands. He led over ten light cavalrymen, who dismounted and entered the forest, forming a fan-shaped formation to press forward with short weapons. The old Taoist Wei Shuyang, from the Nine Dou Rice sect, moved like a mountain imp, leaping among the branches, coordinating with Ning Emei from above. These three tracking forces spread out, forming a net to pursue the young blade master.

After entering the forest, Yang Qingfeng periodically bent down to inspect the ground for clues. Initially, he easily tracked the young man's footprints, which showed clear spacing and depth in the forest mud. However, the footprints soon grew fainter and more spread out. The escape path no longer merely followed the ground, but instead utilized trees or rocks as stepping points. Yang Qingfeng stopped, half-crouched, and with two sickly white fingers, picked up some soil and sniffed it. With his other hand, he pulled three red-clawed black rats from a small pouch tied to his waist, sprinkled the soil on their noses, and the little creatures darted into the dense forest. Shu Xiu, who had arrived beside Yang Qingfeng unnoticed, commented nonchalantly, "I didn't expect this fellow to have some skill. I think we should split up and widen our search, otherwise, if we're not careful, we might get ourselves caught in a trap and lose face before the Young Master."

The gloomy Yang Qingfeng nodded. He had no desire to work with her; going solo would be ideal, allowing him to employ his hidden techniques freely. Shu Xiu, not daring to neglect the important task given by the Young Master, waved her sleeves and changed direction. Like a hawk, she glided through the air, lightly stepping on branches, and with a few nimble leaps, reached the top of the tree canopy. Instead of looking out, she closed her eyes, wrinkled her small nose, then suddenly opened her eyes, a slight smile playing on her lips. Her body plunged downwards, moving with the swiftness of a flying teal. She changed direction in the forest, tirelessly tracking a scent. The blade-wielding youth was incredibly cunning, having meticulously concealed his footprints, but Shu Xiu could still relentlessly tail him by sensing his scent against the wind. She murmured seductively, "You naughty little rascal, you've made your elder sister sweat. When I catch you, I'll skin you alive."

Within half an hour, Shu Xiu managed to catch sight of the youth's back twice. On one occasion, instead of fleeing, he actually ambushed her, his robust body pressed against a tree like a gecko. If Shu Xiu hadn't detected a slight increase in his scent, confirming the scoundrel was nearby, she would have been cut in half by a blade as she passed the tree. After nimbly dodging this fierce, potentially fatal strike, Shu Xiu retreated, her hands and feet sticking to a nearby large tree trunk. She looked down at the grinning young blade master, gently patting her ample chest, and chuckled flirtatiously, "Oh, little one, you don't know how to cherish a lady's beauty. Your elder sister has been worrying about you for nothing all this way."

Yuan Tingshan, pursued relentlessly by the woman, showed no sign of exasperation. After sheathing his blade, he chuckled, "My little 'D' is not small. If you don't believe me, elder sister, once it's just the two of us, Yuan Tingshan will surely make you ascend to heaven."

Shu Xiu, clinging to the tree like a spider, narrowed her eyes flirtatiously and said, "What sweet words."

Yuan Tingshan's ears maintained a slight tremor. He tapped his twin blades, and two heavy lead weights wrapped around the smaller blade shattered and fell to the ground. He laughed, "Your lover will be here soon, elder sister. Your brother isn't fond of two dragons fighting one phoenix, so I'll be off. If your mother were still alive, you could call her to join me in the 'great roll.' With you being so beautiful, your mother must surely still be charming. With two peaks facing each other, a pincer attack from front and back, your brother would surrender without a fight. But alas, today it's just you, so I must decline!"

As he spoke provocatively, Yuan Tingshan, now free of over ten catties of weight from his feet, retreated with exceptional agility and vanished instantly. Shu Xiu, not rushing to pursue, slowly landed, licked the corner of her mouth with her small tongue, and chuckled, "Flirting with me, huh!"

After this close encounter, the quick-witted Yuan Tingshan began to flee with the wind, no longer leaving a scent trail against the wind for Shu Xiu. This infuriated Shu Xiu. After rejoining Yang Qingfeng by the stream, she saw him squatting on the ground, picking up a heavy iron undershirt. Nearby, a black rat was pinned to the ground by a branch. Shu Xiu's mood improved. She looked across the stream, sniffed, and frowned, "His martial arts are decent enough, but he's as cunning as a fox. Chasing him like this won't work. His light footwork clearly follows the foolish method of 'carrying a stele,' estimating he carries at least twenty catties of weight. If it were just a contest of speed, neither of us would be afraid, but his blade strikes will only get faster. Yang, don't mess this up. Lu Qiantang is dead; don't you dare fall here too. Your elder sister would be very lonely."

Yang Qingfeng snorted coldly, stepping onto a rock, ready to leap across the stream. Though Shu Xiu seemed to be chatting idly, she had been continuously sniffing Yuan Tingshan's scent, which drifted from a distance. Coupled with the wet footprints on the streambank, it seemed he had already crossed into the forest. But as Shu Xiu kept sniffing, her expression suddenly changed dramatically. "Be careful," she exclaimed, "that boy has turned back and is hiding in the water!"

No sooner had she spoken than water erupted from the center of the stream. A blade thrust out, precisely calculating Yang Qingfeng's flow of vital energy. At the critical moment when Yang Qingfeng's momentum was shifting and he was descending over the stream, this vicious strike was perfectly aimed. Fortunately, Yang Qingfeng collided his feet, ascending like a cloud ladder, forcefully raising his body by a full ten feet. However, if he stopped there, Yuan Tingshan's determined strike could still severely injure Yang Qingfeng. Shu Xiu's mind raced. With a grimace, she kicked out a pebble, aiming it at Yuan Tingshan's temple, who had emerged from the water like a rising green dragon. In this rapidly changing situation, Shu Xiu, from the sidelines, held the initiative. If she didn't interfere, Yang Qingfeng was almost certain to suffer. Shu Xiu's kick presented two subtle possibilities: the pebble hitting the blade, which would be most advantageous for Yang Qingfeng, or the pebble directly targeting Yuan Tingshan's vital point. Shu Xiu's 'watching tigers fight from the mountain' approach, with her timing, was truly ingenious.

Yuan Tingshan unhesitatingly retracted his blade, deflecting the pebble. His body sank into the stream, then exploded through the water, darting to the opposite bank. He laughed as he departed, "Elder sister, you have a new lover in me, yet you haven't forgotten your old one. Such greed! Be careful not to burst your stomach!"

The expressionless Yang Qingfeng touched the water surface with his toes, skimming across to the opposite bank like a swallow, and calmly stated, "I owe you one."

Shu Xiu squinted but said nothing.

Yuan Tingshan frantically fled through the forest. Despite two perfectly timed and positioned ambushes, he failed to dispatch that 'dog couple.' Although not disheartened, a sense of indignation and resentment lingered within him. As Shu Xiu had mentioned, his light footwork was an acquired, 'weight-bearing' technique. Unlike those born into martial arts families, whose muscles and bones were massaged and conditioned by masters from as early as four or five, or even in infancy, he had no such advantage. Early training in martial arts was crucial: first, a child's mind was free of distractions, their state of mind perfectly aligning with the "clarity and purity of intent" essential to martial arts. Early training not only shaped the body and perfected postures, laying a solid foundation, but also capitalized on the flexibility of a child's tendons and bones, making progress easier and more effective. Yuan Tingshan, from the lowest strata of society, never had such an inherent head start. Alone and without support, for over a decade, he had swallowed his pride, acted subserviently, and been ruthless and estranged from his family, all for the sake of martial arts. He had risked his life repeatedly for wealth in dangerous ventures, saved money to buy blades, and joined a second-rate sect to learn. Even while sleeping, he wore iron weights on his limbs. Every confrontation was a fight to the death. When his master's sect was destroyed, he wouldn't have bothered seeking revenge if he hadn't needed that half-complete blade manual and if his enemies hadn't possessed a secret manual. It took him two years to achieve a single, fatal blow. After succeeding, he painstakingly sliced his two-rank enemy's body, carving out two plates of flesh on a table, before extracting the location of the secret manual. If he had been a scion of a prominent family, let alone a high-ranking one like Xuanyuan, even a minor direct descendant of an ordinary second-rate sect wouldn't have needed to risk his life for a tattered, incomplete manual. Thus, Xuanyuan Qingfeng absolutely had to become his. Joining the Xuanyuan family by marriage was acceptable; as long as he became a valued figure within the Xuanyuan family, diligently cultivating on Mount Kunniu, supplemented by Dragon-Tiger Pills, and training both internally and externally, he could reach the pinnacle of martial arts! As for whether Xuanyuan Pangu was a good person, or if the Xuanyuan family viewed him as a stray dog, he intended that by the day he controlled Huishan, not only would all Xuanyuan disciples on Mount Kunniu be his playthings, but he would even dare to sever the ties with Dragon Tiger Mountain, the revered Daoist immortal sect.

"I have such a grand future, how can I die here!"

Yuan Tingshan's face was contorted in a ferocious grimace as he ran wildly through the mountains. But the more frantic he became, the more meticulous his mind grew. He smeared himself with withered grass, leaves, and mud to mask his scent, moving with the wind. As long as he didn't die, he would crawl if he had to, to reach that position above ten thousand people. There, he would find Wang Xianzhi, the Second Under Heaven; Deng Tai'a, the Peach Sword God; and Cao Changqing, the unrivaled Go Master. There were also countless secret manuals, divine weapons, and peerless beauties with eyes higher than their heads, waiting for him to trample upon them. In such a magnificent jianghu, how could Yuan Tingshan bear to die!

In Zhizhang City, Murong Tonghuang sat on a meager, hard bed. The inn walls, primarily made of bamboo strips plastered with lime, offered terrible sound insulation. The mud walls were covered with doggerel verses penned by impoverished scholars or vulgar remarks left by crude travelers. Although the Murong family's status wasn't high, they were a legitimate scholarly clan, even a minor literary family in Jianzhou. Murong Wuzhu clearly couldn't adapt to the humble room and was filled with worry. Murong Tonghuang, however, seemed determined to be at peace in this 'dragon's den and tiger's lair,' resolved to accept his situation. He browsed the writings on the wall. On the desk lay the Four Treasures of the Study. He asked his distracted elder sister to grind ink, then took a poor-quality soft brush and commented on each of the crude poems and miscellaneous writings on the wall. Murong Wuzhu, watching his back, asked tremblingly, "Are you truly planning to... that to our benefactor?"

Being timid, she dared not directly voice her concerns.

Murong Tonghuang's brush movements didn't cease. He scoffed, "Benefactor? Do you believe he won't make us warm his bed tonight? Do you think many sons of officials and nobles are good people? Even if he restrains himself for a day or two, would you soften? It's like cooking tofu in warm water; by the time he makes his move, you'll be devoured, bones and all. Murong Wuzhu, let me make it clear: that dagger is for you to commit suicide. If you dare to become that man's concubine-servant, I will find an opportunity to stab you to death!"

Murong Wuzhu sadly asked, "Even now, are you still thinking of going to that Wutong Palace?"

Murong Tonghuang suddenly turned, his face as still as water. Murong Wuzhu, startled, recoiled a few steps, leaning against the opposite wall, trembling.

Murong Tonghuang gritted his teeth and said, "I just want to live a little better than a dog!"

Murong Wuzhu's eyes welled up. She rushed to Murong Tonghuang and hugged him tightly, sobbing uncontrollably. Years ago, had her younger brother not blinded that elder within their clan with a dagger, she would have been ruined at the age of ten. Thus, no matter how timid or weak she was, Murong Wuzhu would do whatever he said. Murong Tonghuang hesitated for a moment, then gently patted his sister's slender shoulders. These siblings had been born unable to rely even on their snobbish and materialistic parents. What kind of parents constantly thought of selling their children when they were young? Who would openly say, "My son and daughter are valuable commodities"? If not for the loyal old servant left by their grandfather who died helping them, these dependent siblings wouldn't have been able to take a single step out of the Murong residence! If he hadn't meticulously planned their escape for years, arranging for three scholars, who claimed to be upright but were fundamentally greedy, to assist them from outside, they wouldn't have even left Jianzhou! One of these hypocritical scholars had secretly tried to intercept them, only to be cleanly stabbed to death by the outwardly compliant Murong Tonghuang. Along their journey, Murong Wuzhu could cry as much as she wanted, but Murong Tonghuang could not! He gently pushed his sister away, then smiling softly, he playfully drew two mustaches on his face with the soft brush, finally making her, tear-streaked like a pear blossom in rain, break into a smile. Only then did Murong Tonghuang wipe away her tears, his gaze firm. "No one in this world will be good to us," he said. "So, if we're to die, let's die together, alright?"

Murong Wuzhu nodded.

A knock came at the door, and Xu Fengnian entered. He looked at the unfortunate siblings and gently asked, "Do you truly wish to go to Wutong Palace in the capital?"

Murong Tonghuang, enraged at having his thoughts overheard, pulled a dagger from Murong Wuzhu's sleeve, ready to fight this shameless person to the death.

Xu Fengnian looked at the young boy's two drawn mustaches and calmly said, "If I can send you to the Imperial Palace, would you truly be willing? Or, if I can grant you a stable life, slightly better than a dog's, would you accept?"

Murong Wuzhu's eyes lit up.

Murong Tonghuang scoffed, "Who do you think you are?!"

Xu Fengnian calmly replied, "Aren't you curious why I have armored guards accompanying me? Aren't you curious where that continuous crossbow fire came from? Aren't you curious what those fierce guards' sabers are called? Murong Tonghuang, aren't you very clever? Where does my accent sound like it's from? And why am I familiar with Chu Lushan?"

Murong Tonghuang, still holding a grudge, said, "Why are you talking nonsense to me, a mule?"

Xu Fengnian smiled, "It's called Huangshu. While such internal operations aren't uncommon within the dynasty, this particular Huangshu is rare. You were the Xuanyuan old man's personal property, but this belongs to my Beiliang army."

Xu Fengnian continued calmly, "As for the standard-issue saber, it has a famous name: Beiliang Blade. You must have heard of it, right?"

"Beiliang Blade." Murong Wuzhu was still somewhat confused, but Murong Tonghuang's face registered profound shock, and the soft brush fell from his hand.

Xu Fengnian walked over, picked up the soft brush, and smiling, drew two streaks on Murong Wuzhu's face as well. He nodded approvingly, "Looks better than your brother. He's got a terrible temper, stubborn, not cute at all. You, his elder sister, will probably have a house full of children and grandchildren someday, while he'll still be all alone. Serves him right."

Murong Wuzhu's pretty face turned crimson, her delicate skin seemed as if it could drip water.

Xu Fengnian handed the brush back to the tense Murong Tonghuang and said softly, "Believe it or not, all you need to do is accompany me to Mount Kunniu. Honestly, if I had ill intentions towards you, would I go to such lengths, first killing off all twenty Xuanyuan cavalrymen? And then having to watch your faces here..."

The one-armed old man in the sheepskin robe stood at the doorway, leaning against the frame, picking his nose with a finger. He said lazily, "Don't believe that little rascal's nonsense. The one with a 'thing' in his pants, no matter how good-looking, is at least a man. But the elder sister should really be careful; who knows when she'll end up in his bed. This boy's skill at seducing respectable women is comparable to my own in my younger days."

Xu Fengnian, his plan disrupted, retorted angrily, "Shut up! Who have I 'eaten' on this journey? Yu Youwei? Pei Nanwei? Or Shu Xiu? I'm more like a monk than a goddamn monk!"

The old man pursed his lips, then patted his butt, and indeed, let out a loud fart.

This left even Murong Tonghuang utterly bewildered.

Xu Fengnian was in no mood to stay and make a fool of himself. Muttering curses, he left the room, preparing to visit Xun Ping's grave outside the city.

Murong Tonghuang suddenly asked, "What do you want?"

Xu Fengnian, in a foul mood, threw caution to the wind. "I covet your sister, who's like a celestial being, alright? I warn you, if you dare to instigate your sister to hide a knife again, I'll slap that little 'bird' in your pants dead, making you a woman completely!"