Book 25 Chapter 7 – Mysterious Expert

Since the two rooms were separated by another room in between, which was also noisy and crowded to bursting point with loose guests, seeking for Zheng Shiru’s voice amidst a lot of finger-guessing games, drinking contest, warbler’s singing and swallow twittering, woodwind and string instruments – was definitely not an easy matter.

But strangely enough, in this noisy world made of complex and multi-layered s.p.a.ce filled with all kinds of sound, when Zheng Shiru spoke up, and Xu Ziling focused power was trained on searching for his voice, right away the other noise seemed to fade into the background, and this Mad Scholar’s voice suddenly became distinctive. It was a very unusual feeling.

Zheng Shiru seemed to be responding to other people’s inquiry; he said, “That Senior certainly came from far away. In a moment Zaixia might need to go out to relay a message; when I come back, I will accompany gentlemen drinking wine and listening to songs.”

Immediately there was a woman’s voice not letting him off easily, saying, “Today is the first time that Zheng Gongzi is coming to visit us; we will definitely not let you find any excuse to slip away.”

There was a ruckus of other men and women’s voices; extremely noisy.

Finally Zheng Shiru surrendered; he promised to listen to all the ladies, each one singing a song – before leaving, and promised to return after his job was done.

The door opened.

Xu Ziling jumped in fright, realizing that because he was focused on what has been happing in the other room, he missed what was happening in this room; unexpectedly he did not hear the sound of someone approaching the room. Looking back, turned out it was a pretty maid delivering good wine and fresh fruits. By now Xu Ziling was already an expert in giving tips. After the pretty maid left, he sat down in the chair close to the window, lifted up the cup that the pretty maid poured for him, and lightly drank a mouthful, thinking that his visit to the pleasure house this time did not go wrong; perhaps it was because there was no lady accompanying him here?

This thought was still hovering in his mind when he heard footsteps approaching. The footsteps stopped right in front of his door, and then there was a knock, followed by a dainty female voice rang out, “Qingxiu is here with specific purpose in mind to visit and wish Gong Ye good health.”

Xu Ziling was shocked. He panicked; since he absolutely had no idea on how to deal with this kind of situation. Springing up, he went to open the door for her.

Outside the door a pretty and moving young woman was standing charmingly, with ample air of haughtiness, without losing her romantic elegance. From her outline to the curves of her body, nothing did not exude gracefulness and enchantment. Under her thread-thin eyebrows was a pair of bright eyes, revealing a longing expression. But naturally this longing was not evoked by Xu Ziling, this ‘Daoba Ke’ Gong Chenchun.

Her head was wrapped in brightly-colored cloth hat, the clothes she was wearing was even more unique; her wide gauzed sleeves, through the rolled-up cuff reaching to her elbows, revealed the gentle and soft, but abundant in elasticity, her small arms. It was a long gown but with short skirt. The upper outer garment was sleeveless, the inner garment was b.u.t.tonless, exposing rich-in-texture chemise covering her breast, which was bright red. The hem of her skirt encasing her legs had multi-colored trim, the long belt on her girth was made of printed cloth, making her slender waistline appeared to be within one’s hands’ grasp. On top of that, she wore sleeveless waistcoat, which enhanced her charm of many postures. She must be a beauty of one of many ethnic groups in the Sichuan region.

When Xu Ziling opened the door, she revealed a slightly startled look, before carrying her fragrant wind inside the room. With at ease expression on her face, her delicate hand pulled the crook of Xu Ziling’s arm. She said with a tender laugh, “Is this Gong Ye’s first visit to the pleasure house?”

Being pulled by her, Xu Ziling turned around and was led over to the imperial tutor chair on the left of the window. Smiling wryly, he said, “It could be considered the first time indeed! How did Miss know?”

The delicate and pretty hands ‘pressed’ him down into the chair, and then tenderly poured another cup of wine for him. Smiling, she said, “Men who are accustomed to the pleasure house know that by coming here they are going to be served well by us, but Gong Ye seems to want to turn around.”

Under his scar-faced mask, Xu Ziling’s handsome face was burning. Half of Qingxiu’s fragrant body was half-leaning, half-sitting, on the side of his thigh. She brought the good wine to the edge of his lips, and despite his refusal she fed him a sip. Laughing tenderly, she said, “Gong Ye must not blame Wen Gu; n.o.body dares to conceal anything concerning Xibai from nujia.”

Xu Ziling felt that this flying-in-luck with women was so unbearable; smiling ruefully, he said, “When Hou Xiong arrives and see us like this, won’t it look not so good?”

Letting out silver-bell-like tender laughter, Qingxiu spoke with ten thousand kinds of flirtatious expressions, “Nujia is not Xibai’s first wife; how could there be any misgivings? Oh! Gong Ye’s body is very young.”

Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, “How could you say that?”

Qingxiu leaned over to his ear and spoke softly, “Men of different age have different scent. Gong Ye appears to be nearly forty, but your scent is like that of a youngster; healthy, sweet swelling and full of vitality, making nujia unwilling to leave you.”

Xu Ziling’s heart shivered slightly, thinking that if he pretended to be Yue Shan, wouldn’t this flaw be more obvious?

Just now when he was talking to Zheng Shiru in that small alley, he continuously circulated his power to control his pores, otherwise Zheng Shiru, a Jianghu veteran, might see through his disguise.

He replied randomly, “Maybe it’s due to Ol’ Gong training martial art every day!”

Qingxiu looked at his countenance up and down, and then shook her head and said, “It definitely has nothing to do with martial arts. Nujia is in contact with Jianghu people every day; among those people, not a few are Wulin masters, either from Bashu or other parts of the country. But there has never been one with body scent like Gong Ye. It’s only natural that Gong Ye yourself did not perceive it, but nujia is able to smell it very clear. At first I thought Gong Ye was wearing some kind of sweet-smelling gra.s.s or perfume. Ah! Nujia knows! It’s the scent of an infant!”

Although Xu Ziling did not know whether to laugh or to cry, he thought that most probably his body scent had something to do with the ‘Secret to Long Life’; both the Tao and Buddhist, two houses’ internal cultivation method, which could make people recover their youthful vigor, Liao Kong being the most readily available example.

Suddenly remembering Zheng Shiru, he hastily bent his ear to listen attentively.

Qingxiu stood up slowly and walked over to the long table facing the window where the guzheng was lying, and sat down; raising up her delicate hands, she plucked the peach guzheng string, creating a series of crisp notes like the gentle gurgle of running water. Hanging her head down, she softly said, “Is Xibai coming tonight?”

Rushing to the mouth of the village, immediately Kou Zhong’s scalp went numb.

The first thing catching his eyes was a pair of feet hanging out of the window of one of the houses, while the other part of the body was hanging inside the house. Another person was lying on his back on the street; he died without closing his eyes, and his face revealed the panic he must have felt before his death.

The strangest thing was that there were no visible bruises on his body, yet his mouth and nose oozed a little wisp of blood. A saber was still held firmly in his hand. From the tight black warrior outfit that the two were wearing, it was obvious that they were Cui Jixiu’s men.

In front of the dead body, there was a set of footprints extending to the west, while on the side there was another set of scattered, chaotic footprints.

Kou Zhong tried to reconstruct what had just happened in his mind. It must be that Cui Jixiu and his men, seven or eight of them, were overtaken by the enemy as they were entering the village. Although Cui Jixiu and his men met the attack and fought, the incoming enemy must have killed two men in one move. But then the enemy must have deliberately given Cui Jixiu and the rest of his men the opportunity to flee. The course of events was extremely strange.

Kou Zhong rapidly moved forward; more than a dozen steps later he found another dead body, unexpectedly lying on his back on top of a thatch roof, with the upper part of his body nearly collapsing inside the thatched house. The scene was weird and terrifying.

Even such an extremely daring person like Kou Zhong felt the chill. He followed one set of footprints toward an abandoned wasteland next to the village. He saw two more dead bodies lying face down on the ground; on the surface, neither had any bruises. But when Kou Zhong wanted to make a more detailed examination, from about half a li to the southeast, there was an intense buzzing of metals clashing against each other.

Kou Zhong no longer had time to examine how these people lose their lives; he rushed at full speed toward the sound.

Temporarily Xu Ziling withdrew his attention from Zheng Shiru on the other side; he did not have the heart to deceive this bold, pa.s.sionate beauty. To him, whether it was a lady from a wealthy family or from a pleasure house, she deserved his respect. Thereupon he calmly said, “In my opinion, Hou Xiong is not coming tonight.”

Just by obtaining a half – whether it was the top or the bottom part – of the ‘Immortal Image Scroll’ was enough to give Hou Xibai a headache; how could he have spare time to come here, looking for the wind and playing with the moon?

‘Ding! Ding! Dong! Dong!’

Qingxiu plucked a series of guzheng notes in staccato, each one was jumping fast, just like torches being lit up one by one in the deepest, darkest wasteland. In the strange, difficult-to-understand loneliness, there was a hint of gurgling, flowing vitality and hope.

The guzheng stopped abruptly. Letting out a faint sigh, Qingxiu said, “This was a guzheng piece that Xibai composed; he has left Chengdu for so long! When he came back, he did not even see me. Tell him, Qingxiu has been waiting for him in pain!”

Finished speaking, she left sadly.

Even after she closed the door, Xu Ziling still felt as if his heart was crushed by a heavy stone.

Qingxiu’s longing toward Hou Xibai would only turn into disappointment, but having dreams and pursuits was better than having none. Back in Yangzhou, everything was much simpler; it only involved how to break away from Yan Laoda’s evil clutches to pursue some kind of lifestyle where they could be their own master. Now, although on the surface they seemed to have obtained it, yet the burden on their shoulders has only increased and not diminished at all. ‘The past’ itself has become the heaviest burden.

Thinking about Shi Feixuan, and then thinking about Shi Qingxuan, both women had made him feel at a loss.

He could not help raising his cup and draining it in one gulp.

There was the sound of footsteps again. ‘Bang!’ The door was pushed open, a clump of rosy clouds, carrying a whiff of fragrant wind, rolled into the room. A thousand-tender, a hundred-charm beauty appeared.

As soon as Xu Ziling saw her, he immediately felt something has turned really bad.

Starting from the feet, Kou Zhong looked at Cui Jixiu’s without-the-least-bit-of-life-force face. A chill seeped along his spine.

Cui Jixiu’s long sword was broken into two, both pieces were lying on the gra.s.s, but the body was actually hanging from a tree branch. Just like his men, there was no bruises on his entire body.

Although Kou Zhong was unclear about how brilliant Cui Jixiu’s martial art skill was, but his shenfa was at least of a martial art master level; otherwise, he would not have been able to run away to this place in such a short period of time, and at least he was able to block the opponent’s attack one strike longer.

It was only after witnessing the fact before his eyes that Kou Zhong deeply understood the saying ‘there is a heaven beyond the heaven, there is person outside the person’ [idiom: in the wider world there are people more talented than oneself].

The timing of this person making his move appeared to hide a profound meaning; that is, the moment Kou Zhong was about to overtake the enemy, he wiped out the scattering enemies one by one. It was ruthless and fast. Kou Zhong had to admit that he himself did not have that kind of ability.

Cui Jixiu’s sword was hacked and broken by this terrifying expert’s sharp weapon. Although the weapon would stop the body upon contact, but it was the invisible qi power that invaded the enemy’s body and shocked and broke Cui Jixiu’s heart meridian.

Such martial art skill was indeed horrifying.

Kou Zhong shook his head, inwardly called ‘formidable’, and walked away.

The newcomer was precisely the Da Dangjia of Chuan Bang [Sichuan Gang] Fan Zhuo’s beautiful daughter Fan Caiqi. The colorful tight outfit that she was wearing making her looked even more like a peac.o.c.k spreading its tail. Her feet were covered in small boots; the drum hanging on her waist the other night was replaced by a saber. She stormed in front of Xu Ziling, whose scalp went numb. With one hand on her waist, the youthfulness shone on her pretty face, she was smiling wholeheartedly; her beautiful eyes were flickering under her long, pointy eyelashes, she said, “Turns out it’s the fellow surnamed Gong who lost his father the other night, but tonight came to San Hua Lou to fool around. Where the h.e.l.l is that cheater who goes back on his word, Hou Xibai?”

It was only then did Xu Ziling remember that in order to get away that night, Hou Xibai made a promise to come to the Chuan Bang’s headquarter to pay her a visit. Needless to say, Old Hou missed his appointment.

Having failed to obtain the other half of the ‘Immortal Image Scroll’, perhaps Hou Xibai would forget even his own name; how could he have leisure time to perfunctorily mind this crafty and unruly woman? It was only now did he gain heartfelt understanding of the worries of showing pa.s.sion everywhere; perhaps for Hou Xibai it was as sweet as syrup [idiom from Book of Songs: to endure hardship gladly], but now it was up to him to bear it. Without any better option he forced a smile and said, “Xiaodi is also looking for him. Miss Fan, please forgive me.”

Letting out a tender snort, Fan Caiqi said, “Did you not ask him to come here to be merry? Up to this point you are still lying?”

Xu Ziling’s heart was still hanging on Zheng Shiru on the other side; he was groaning that he could not do two things at once like Ba Fenghan. Sighing, he said, “Last time Xiaodi was not lying; rather, I was being tactful. Fan Da Xiaojie, please note clearly.”

Unexpectedly Fan Caiqi blurted out giggling tenderly. Taking a few steps back away from him, she sat down on the chair opposite his. Her elbow on the armrest, with her hand supporting her fragrant cheek, she smiled gracefully, and said, “Although you, this man, have scary outward appearance, your voice and speech are actually very pleasant to hear. I’ll take you as my captive for the time being. Unless Hou kid showing himself here, or perhaps you hand him over to me, you are not allowed to go anywhere.”

Taking advantage while she was speaking, Xu Ziling focused his attention on Zheng Shiru’s situation over on the other side. A song happened to finish; it looked like Zheng Shiru would be leaving soon.

Xu Ziling hastily rose up to his full height. But before he had any chance to open his mouth, Fan Caiqi pulled her curved cavalry saber and swiftly put it on his neck; the momentum was abundant, the movement was deft and ruthless. Having taken a look at the brilliance of her saber technique, while he was under the limitation that he must not injure her, Xu Ziling knew that in order to get rid of her, he would have to go through a lot of trouble. Plus he would not be able to do it while he had to follow Zheng Shiru’s trail. And right this moment, he could not make any fighting noise. Hastily raising his hand to express his surrender, he sat back into the chair.

Fan Caiqi brandished her blade about a cun away in front of the tip of his nose as a show of force, before retreating back into her chair and sitting down. Immensely proud of herself, she said, “Turns out your hands and feet are so disappointing. Just sit down nicely for me. Otherwise I’ll make another scar on your thick face. Nujia is not kidding.”

Listening to Zheng Shiru’s footsteps gradually moving away, Xu Ziling could only sigh for his bad luck. Previously he thought his pleasure house luck has turned around, but now he realized that his pleasure house misfortune has not changed.

His plan for today was to wait for Zheng Shiru to leave some distance away, and then he would think of a way to get out, before thinking of what his next step would be. But this moment he could only stare at her helplessly.

Suddenly Fan Caiqi knitted her pretty eyebrows lightly; leaning forward, she said, “Why are you staring at me? Did something grow on my face that you need to look at horizontally and vertically?”

Xu Ziling rose up to his full height and spoke glibly, “Da Xiaojie, please forgive Ol’ Gong for not accompanying you.”

Fan Caiqi’s big beautiful eyes grew wide; she was about to make her move, when someone on the outside shouted, “Hou Gongzi’s letter has arrived.”

Hearing the name ‘Hou Gongzi’, immediately Fan Caiqi completely forgot about Xu Ziling. Excited, she asked, “Where is the letter?”

Xu Ziling mused that if he did not leave right now, what was he waiting for? Thereupon brushed past Wen Gu, who was there to deliver the letter, and swaggered out.

Kou Zhong went back to the burned-down-until-the-wall-crumbling-the-roof-collapsing village. The battle has ended, the three ‘pirate ships’ moored on the sh.o.r.e have fled far away as well. Ouyang Qian’s Li Liao warriors were just clearing up the mess.

To avoid social niceties, he made a detour to go back to his small village, to return to the little thatched cottage, and climbed up to the clay bed and lay down. The Li ethnic villagers who were fleeing to avoid disaster have not returned, and he was happy to be alone and enjoy the peace and quiet, but myriads of thoughts were surging through his mind.

Who exactly killed Cui Jixiu and his men?

This martial art master, who had not shown his face, had a hand that was as hard as Zhu Yuyan’s. The most baffling thing was that he seemed to show off to Kou Zhong; he rushed to be one step ahead of Kou Zhong to wipe out Cui Jixiu and the others, yet he did not seem to show any hostility toward Kou Zhong.

He really had never thought that he would encounter such a strange thing in such a desolate place.

In the south, other than the ‘Heavenly Saber’ Song Que, who else would be as superior as this?

Thinking back and forth, Kou Zhong fell asleep.

He had just stepped out of San Hua Lou’s outer courtyard, someone flashed out from the small alley, pulled Xu Ziling aside and said with a laugh, “Ziling Xiong, how are you?”

Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling said, “With Hou Xiong’s blessing, not so good. Did you see Zheng Shiru?”

Hou Xibai apologetically said, “He was walking in great hurry, as if he was afraid someone might follow him. Come! This place is too unpleasant; if we get entangled by that crafty and unruly girl, it will get even worse.”

Following him, Xu Ziling turned to the south and entered a small alley. They leaped onto a roof and flew from house to house. A moment later they came to the roof ridge of a magnificent building. Under the bright moon casting its light at an angle, all the trees inside the courtyard, surrounded by walls, cast long shadows on the ground.

Xu Ziling asked in surprise, “This is not like regular folks’ home; there is no lantern and the fire is dark.”

Revealing a strange smile, Hou Xibai spoke in low voice, “I don’t even know myself why I took Ziling Xiong to this place. This is the Li Family’s shrine. Since I was young, I love to come here at night to think, but I’ve never brought anybody else here; perhaps it’s because I consider you as a member of my circle of friends!”

Xu Ziling has already cast Zheng Shiru’s affair out of his mind; laughing, he said, “Don’t you have to study that half of the ‘Immortal Image Scroll’? Why did you come to San Hua Lou?”

Hou Xibai sat down on the roof ridge, and beckoned Xu Ziling to sit down as well. Sweeping his gaze around at the dots of light outside the Li Family shrine extending in all directions all the way to the city wall, he smiled wryly and said, “It was because my head nearly burst open that I went to San Hua Lou to sniff the girls’ fragrance, hoping to get some spirited ideas. Ay! Xiaodi right now has a terrible headache, all sentences are only the lower halves; I seem to understand yet do not really understand, it seems to be clear, but it is not really clear. I just know that it is definitely Shi Shi’s handwriting.”

Muttering to himself irresolutely, Xu Ziling said, “Looking at the remaining scroll, isn’t your esteemed master’s Immortal Image Method using Buddhism’s supreme gongfa to unify Bu Tian and Hua Jian, two different kinds of supreme xinfa into one?”

Full of admiration, Hou Xibai said, “Ziling Xiong is extremely brilliant; although your guess did not hit the target, it did not miss too far either. Supposing Bu Tian and Hua Jian’s xinfa are two wheels, the Buddhism xinfa is precisely the axle connecting the wheels together; in this way, the carriage will be able to move.”

Frowning, Xu Ziling said, “Didn’t you say that Hua Jian and Bu Tian, two Sects’ martial art are heading to two extremes? Using wheel a.n.a.logy does not seem to be too appropriate, because in terms of structure and function, wheels have no differences.”

Hou Xibai solemnly said, “This is the a.n.a.logy that Shi Shi wrote in the scroll. Inherently, wheels are the same, but because of different position, they can become diametrically opposite things. Just like life and death; although on the surface they seem to be opposite of each other, the fact is that both come from living beings, only one signifies the beginning, the other signifies the end; only then do they become opposites. Hua Jian Pai focuses on talking about opportunity to live, Bu Tian Pai puts emphasis on death qi. But if life is concealed within the death, and death is contained within the life, the two Sects can be unified, and the crucial point is precisely the image method that Shi Shi collated and examined carefully from Buddhism.”

Listening to this, Xu Ziling’s head grew big. He started to understand a little bit why after looking at it, Bi Xiuxin’s life force was reduced.

Pushing this problem aside, he said, “Looks like Xiaodi cannot help you in this matter, Hou Xiong must not force yourself either; I still have something to do.”

Hou Xibai resolutely said, “It must have something to do with Zheng Shiru; I can’t simply dismiss responsibility. If Ziling Xiong won’t let me help, my heart will feel very uncomfortable.”

Xu Ziling hastily said, “Hou Xiong’s kind intention is already enough! Hou Xiong still has …”

Cutting him off, Hou Xibai spoke with a smile on his face, “If Ziling Xiong declined, you don’t consider me a friend. Xu Ziling can pursue justice with no second thoughts in helping Hou Xibai seizing the Image Scroll, could it be that seeing you have something on your mind, Hou Xibai simply watches with folded arms?”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “I want to eliminate the ‘Heavenly Lord’ Xi Ying. Does Hou Xiong think it is possible?”

“What?” Hou Xibai blurted out.