Book 10 Chapter 6 - The First Drop of Tear
‘Crack! Boom! Bang! Bang!'
The sound of exploding firecrackers in the courtyard, mixed with the boisterous sound of shouting, cheering and applauding, woke Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling up from their slumber.
Kou Zhong sprang up from the bed, ran to the window, looked out and called, "Xiao Ling, come quick! The firecrackers are better than the ones at Yangzhao piers during New Year's celebration!”
Xu Ziling let out a moan; he turned around and went back to sleep, ignoring him completely.
Kou Zhong came back and sat on the bed; he sighed and said, "I have already advised you; if only you listened to me, we would joined hands to deal with Li Tianfan's plot, and then go find the Four Big Bandits to give them trouble. You would not have to suffer eighteen wounds, big and small!”
Xu Ziling laughed in spite of himself, "Since when did you pick the habit of taking joy in calamity and delight in disaster?” he said.
As if nothing had happened, Kou Zhong calmly said, "Since last night, when you abandoned me, a pitiful orphan. Tell me, who's the one causing a lot of trouble?”
Xu Ziling sat up cross-legged on the bed; he said indifferently, "You should be grateful to me. Otherwise, how could you be this high-spirited? Oh! No! You should be fuming mad!”
The two boys glared at each other hatefully, and then turned their heads around to avoid each other's eyes. But the two boys could not bear to stay mad at each other for long. Very soon both burst out in laughter. The difference was that there were tears in the midst of Xu Ziling's laughter, because his wounds have not healed completely.
Catching his breath, Kou Zhou said with a laugh, "Actually, I have fallen into your evil scheme: ‘Li Xiuning is yours, Zhong Shao ought to go be the hero who saves the beauty'. Would that Shen Luoyan be considered mine? Other than you, Xu Shifu, who would be the best hero to reprimand the beauty?”
Xu Ziling reached out to gently stroke his big head and said, "Out ancestors said: between the heaven and the earth, nobody does not belong. Li Xiuning is definitely your ‘escaping one'; it's not appropriate for any outsider to meddle. I was that good to you, yet you have the impertinence to blame me. Besides, ‘great spread out is numbered fifty; forty is used, nine remains'. If we exclude Li Xiuning, the escaping one, who could say for sure that beautiful Junshi is not included in that number? Who could say for sure that she does not belong to you?”
Kou Zhong asked in amazement, "How come Ling Shao's mood is much better today? As soon as you woke up, you are like the little bird in the springtime that sings continuously.”
Xu Ziling blurted out laughing and said, "If you think Shang Xiuxun would have any regard toward me, the Daxia [chivalrous hero] with saber scar of last night, then I can tell you that you have a crazy thought! When I left, she did not even know what's my surname and what's my given name.”
Speaking to this point, he could not help recalling the feeling when he and the beauty stood with backs and hips pressed against each other as they deal with the enemy.
Kou Zhong giggled and said, "It's useless for you to say anything now; let's just wait and see who's right! Ha!”
There was a knock on the door. Xiao Juan called out from the other side of the door, "Other than you, two fellows, the entire Ranch are ready to express good wishes and celebrate the victory; you are not out yet?”
Just by listening to her tone, which was unlike before where she shouted and berated the two boys, they knew that she was carried away with excitement.
The two boys looked at each other, they could see the delight in each other's eyes. If they could make Xiao Juan, this adorable girl, this happy, then all the hard work and pain they suffered last night was worth it.
The two boys were of humble origin; therefore, they had special affection and a feeling of camaraderie with lowly people such as maids, servants, and the like.
Without waiting for their response, Xiao Juan continued her shouting outside, "Quickly get up, wash up and change your clothes. The troops returning in triumph will be back in the city soon, we must welcome them outside the city gate! Nujia must go now!”
After sister Xiao Juan left, Kou Zhong knitted his brows and said, "I really do not dare to think: our victory in last night's battle was not easy, I don't know how many people sacrificed their lives? What do you say, how would Shang Xiuxun deal with Tao Shusheng and Yuan'er, that pair of spies?”
Xu Ziling mused, "These two are people with some status; Tao Shusheng even holds a very important position. Shang Xiuxun will have a very big headache in dealing with this, it could even implicate a lot of other people.”
Kou Zhong smiled wryly and said, "I hope this matter will occupy enough of beautiful Changzhu's mind, because if she stays idle, she might suspect us. We simply have too many things that she ought to be suspicious!”
Xu Ziling sighed and said, "One day delay is better than nothing. My wounds won't be completely healed and leave no scar before three, four days.”
Kou Zhong pulled him out of bed and said, "Then what are we waiting for? Right now it is crucial for us to buy some time and hope that Li Xiuning would understand the situation and be a bit more discreet in concealing our identity, so that we can learn some exquisite skills from Lu Miaozi.”
※ ※ ※
That day Shang Xiuxun and Liu Zongdao did not return to the city with the troops. The one leading the procession was the Housekeeper Shang Zhen. Obviously he has not been informed yet about Yuan'er; while receiving the accolades of the people lining up the streets, he looked so proud.
For those who came back to the city, their most important task was to take care of the wounded soldiers and the remains of those who sacrificed their lives. So it could be imagined the intensity of the battle outside, as they were still in ruthless pursuit of the defeated troops of the Four Big Bandits.
By dusk that night, the two boys groped their way toward Lu Miaozi's small two-story building. This number one craftsman under the heavens was surprisingly in a very high spirit. Pointing to the pair of divine escape claws on the round table, he asked, "Are these things working?”
The two boys wholeheartedly and sincerely nodded their heads, while their mouths uttered incessant praise.
Lu Miaozi laughed aloud and said, "I did not expect Ziling to be able to get rid of one Big Bandit using this trinket. The two of you were able to turn the Ranch's defeat into victory; otherwise, the consequences would be simply unthinkable. In the last thirty years, I have never been as happy as today.”
Finished speaking, he picked up the pair of divine escapes from the table; shaking his hand, he threw them out the window, into the abyss under the cliff.
The two boys were stunned.
Lu Miaozi spoke casually, "I don't want you to repeat my disastrous policy. If you are used to depending on this gadget, don't think that you will make a cun of advancement in your qinggong. Although in the beginning you will have some conveniences, in the end the gains do not make up for the losses. Do you understand?”
Albeit begrudgingly, the two boys understood Lu Miaozi's good intention; they both nodded their heads.
Lu Miaozi cast his glance toward the beautiful scenery under the setting sun outside the window, the scenery that recalled past memories. With a wistful sigh he said, "There is a subtle and inalienable relation between time and life, just like the alternating night and day, just like the elusive life itself, so that the heart is distracted, and it is difficult to be oneself. Just like success and failure, which is only a fleeting matter, and not an impassable chasm at all. In the end, a pile of yellow dirt will bury all those successes and failures. You are still young, it might be very difficult for you to understand what I said. But in the end there will come a day when you will have the same perception that I have. Beyond victory, there might be defeat. The two are the different sides of the same coin.”
The two boys listened with a frown on their foreheads as they ponder over it deeply.
Lu Miaozi's expression showed that he was reminiscing of the past. He said gently, "In all my life, I only fell in love with two half-women. Tell me now, don't you think that was a strange remark?”
Kou Zhong said, "One of the half women must be Empress Yin, Zhu Yuyan. I wonder what complicated and confusing relation did Mister have with her?”
Lu Miaozi laughed and said, "Kid, you are very practical. As soon as you see any opportunity, you wanted to know the details about Yin Gui Pai.”
Kou Zhong unashamedly said, "This kid just want to obtain justice for Mister.”
Lu Miaozi nodded and said, "That was the main reason why I am holding the two of you in such a high regard; if we cannot deal any harm to that witch, even in my death Laofu will not be able to close my eyes.”
Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said, "Mister, please set your heart at ease, we have already had some enmities with Yin Gui Pai.”
Thereupon, with ‘I spoke one sentence you narrate one word', he and Kou Zhong told Lu Miaozi their story. When they narrated how Wanwan was able to make her body appear without the slightest bit of qi in her meridians, Lu Miaozi showed a serious, deep-in-thought expression.
Finally Kou Zhong said proudly, "And now that demon [or beautiful woman, see Book 8 Chapter 10; also in subsequent paragraphs] must be thinking that our souls are roaming the netherworld. You cheated me, I deceived you; how fun!”
Lu Miaozi pondered deeply for half a day; finally he spoke solemnly, "From what you told me, this demon has received Zhu Yuyan's personal instruction, and has become the next person after Zhu Yuyan within the Yin Gui Pai to master the Tian Mo Gong [celestial devil skill].”
Xu Ziling asked out of curiosity, "Is Tian Mo Gong difficult to train?”
Kou Zhong mused, "There must be at least three people who had mastered it; otherwise, who handed down the Tian Mo Gong?”
Slapping the table, Lu Miaozi said, "Well said. But the first one who unlocked the ‘Celestial Devil Secret' was not Yin Gui Pai people, his background was even more unfathomable, unlike Ci Hang Jing Zhai's [see Book 1 Chapter 7] ‘Sword Canon', which was founded by a Buddhist nun.”
As if he had just gained a sudden understanding, Xu Ziling remarked, "That ‘Celestial Devil Secret' is a bit like ‘Secret to Long Life'. Although there were people of the successive generations who managed to cultivate it, but nobody can really be immortals; including the two of us.”
Delighted, Lu Miaozi said, "Speaking with you, I can save a lot of time. ‘Celestial Devil Secret', the ‘Sword Canon', the ‘Secret to Long Life' and the enigmatic ‘War God Catalog' put together are known as the Four Masterpieces of the Ancient and Modern times. Each book contains secrets about life and the universe throughout all ages. How could they be that easy to unlock?”
"War God Catalog?” the two boys asked in unison.