Meanwhile, he had an honest and frank talk with Black Succubus Gu Zhen. She told him she hoped he could accompany her and roam the jianghu together, side by side. She promised him she wouldn't treat him like any of her other lovers; he would be free to do as he pleased, could go wherever he wanted without restraint. She would respect him and his self-respect. But he politely refused. He had his own path to follow. He was grateful for the affection she had shown him, and even more so he cherished the way she had looked after him and defended him so many times.
Black Succubus Gu Zhen didn't try to force him. She hoped is he ran into trouble in the future he would not forget her. No matter when, she was willing to help him out of any difficult situation as the true friend she was.
He took the four pearls he had stolen from Bloodsucker Feng and gave them to Black Succubus and said they must contain inside them a portion of Chen Youliang's treasure map. That rumor was all over the jianghu. It was the reason Seven Spells had been after the pearls. Wenchang had no intention of going to dig up the treasure and he feared he could not keep them safe, so he gave the pearls to Black Succubus. If he held onto them they would only invite more and more trouble.
As for Second Miss Tian, Black Succubus promised to escort her back to her home at the Tian residence. Black Iron Pagoda had never liked Black Succubus, but seeing her once again rescue Wenchang, he didn't say anything to her, but he didn't put on a friendly face either.
"Big Brother, have you heard anything about Little Brother Xiaoshan?" Wenchang asked Black Iron Pagoda.
Black Iron Pagoda heaved a deep sigh and rolled his big round eyes. "It's really odd. I saw that Prevailing Charity Temple lama's lay disciples carry Little Brother Xiaoshan off with my own eyes, but I caught seven lamas and tortured them to force them to tell me something, but couldn't get anything out of any of them. They all stuck to the same story, that nothing had happened. Don't you think that's odd?"
"Did you get a look at those lay disciples' faces?"
"Yeah, but they weren't from Prevailing Charity Temple. I interrogated them harshly but couldn't find out anything."
Wenchang lowered his head in thought. Then he clenched his teeth. "Big Brother, Little Brother Xiaoshan is really clever, he's probably alright. If something happened to him, we'll find out who did it and then decide what to do. If his disappearance has something to do with Prevailing Charity Temple then word should have gotten out by now. There's so many people around there. So it might have been someone else, maybe even Black Flag Sovereign's men. We can't be too hasty with this. You and I can split up and ask around, surely…"
"Nope," Black Iron Pagoda boomed. "You're now a thorn in the side of both those shameless light and dark path scum, and are also a target of public criticism. I couldn't rest easy having you roam around the jianghu by yourself, it's too risky. We'll go together and look after each other."
"Fine. There's still one thing I need to do. We'll handle that and try to find out news of Little Brother Xiaoshan at the same time."
"What do you need to do?"
"I'll tell you later," Wenchang said, laden with anxiety. "Let's tuck in early tonight so we can get up early tomorrow and make preparations." He was still hesitating, unsure whether he should tell Black Iron Pagoda about escorting the Shi family back to Chengdu, afraid Black Iron Pagoda would chide him saying he's always doing things for girls.
Black Succubus, though, did not want to stick around overnight. Before she carried Miss Tian off, she said, "Wenchang, I hope you'll take Snake Demon Alchemist's advice and find a secluded place to train hard for two or three years, and then come back out. It won't be too late. Why risk roaming about the jianghu like this? Do you not take your life seriously? If I were you, I would look for a hidden place at once and begin cultivating. Take good care of yourself. We'll meet again." She carried Second Miss Tian and went out directly.
Wenchang and Black Iron Pagoda stayed the night in the same luxurious room. Sterling held a lamp and prepared tea, then retired to an adjacent room. It was only those three in that huge house.
Wenchang made up his mind. He sat down in the room and said seriously, "Big Brother, let me tell you what all has happened recently."
"You don't have to tell me, brother. I trust you." The sincerity was clear in Black Iron Pagoda's voice.
"Let me finish, just be quiet and listen." He told him everything that happened after he parted from Thousand-Faced Abbess. Finally, he said, "Big Brother, a man is not a real man if he doesn't repay his benefactors. I want to secretly escort Miss Shi's family back to Chengdu, and try to find out about Little Brother Xiaoshan along the way when I can. Little Brother Xiaoshan is from Sichuan, so it's not a bad idea to look for him there. I don't mind if you think I'm soft-hearted, just tell me straight up whether you are willing to go with me to Sichuan."
Black Iron Pagoda laughed heartily. "This fuckin' thing is actually the right call. If you had trailed behind Black Succubus, sniffing her fragrant skirts, I would have had to pound some sense into you. Alright! Count me in. Let's get on to bed, we need to heal up."
Wenchang breathed a sigh of relief. He struck a haughty pose and said, "There's no water here. I can wait by the river and duke it out with you a hundred rounds or so and let you get a bellyful of water. Just remember to be careful around water."
"Haha! I'll wait for you on land, then." He laughed boisterously, without a care in the world.
The next day they moved to a wooden house near the city god temple in the western end of the city and lay low, asking around about news of the Shi family's journey while looking for the Three Heroes of Chang'an to find out information about Fang Xiaoshan's whereabouts. Black Iron Pagoda's appearance would attract a lot of attention, so Wenchang made the rounds instead. What he didn't know was that the Three Heroes had turned against him and had let just about everyone know about it, so Wenchang had no choice but to leave those three bandits alone. He had to look after the ways of the world; he had made too many enemies now. The Three Heroes of Chang'an were afraid to cause trouble, and he was also not eager to quarrel with them.
Li Chunshui had returned the Shi family mansion, so Shi Ruokui had to stay there temporarily, until he could sell it. Only then could he head to return to Sichuan. It was already the third month, the end of spring.
Notices issued by the prefectural city for the apprehension of the bandits had become a mere formality, and the reward had been increased to five hundred taels per person, but just like a stone dropped into the sea, he had vanished without a trace. The prefectural constables investigated and searched all over for a month, without luck; the five criminals had not been captured, though several suspects had been taken in, and the case dragged on indefinitely. Even had they been genuine bandits they would still have gotten off scot-free.
Ten days before the Shi family was set to depart, Wenchang and Black Iron Pagoda launched their pre-planned operation. The following day they would boldly head east to Luoyang, recklessly.
Wenchang had hid himself well in Chang'an, so those looking for him there left one by one, all except for one person: Minstrel Chai, Nine Palace Fortress' planted mole. He still plied his trade at Taibai Tavern, waiting for an opportunity.
News of Snake Demon Alchemist scaring off Silver Sword reached Black Flag Sovereign in Hanzhong, who wrote personal instructions notifying each group not to openly clash with Cai Wenchang. That old sorcerer of Gold Snake Cave was terrifying, Nine Palace Fortress just might be dealt with savagely. Also, he had learned from Spectre Sun Ming about the four treasured pearls Seven Spells was after, and so he sent powerful scouts to Xingzi County in Nankang prefecture to wait for Cai Wenchang to proceed to seek out the treasure. If they nabbed Cai Wenchang, the four pearls would quickly be delivered to Nine Palace Fortress.
Black Flag Sovereign was a man of great talent and bold vision, and he was ambitious. He had many trusted men throughout the jianghu, who came from all walks of life and in every locale, all secretly working as his eyes and ears. Among these subordinates there were no lack of specially skilled and talented men, and they had many hiding places no one knew about, so much so that his trusted assistant Lonestar Silver Sword didn't even know who they were or where they were positioned, and he certainly didn't know just how many people were secretly working for the sovereign. Minstrel Chai was merely one of them.
He had received orders to wait for a chance to get close to Wenchang and so he kept a close eye on the Three Heroes of Chang'an. He was sure he could obtain news of Wenchang from them. So as everyone else disappointedly left Chang'an, he stayed behind and waited for luck to fall on him like a person guarding a tree stump waiting for a rabbit to run into it. In any case, this wasn't the most urgent of matters, so he didn't need to get in a hurry. Haste makes waste. He knew full well what he was doing.
Wenchang and Black Iron Pagoda were in a small room going over there plan in detail. First, they had to head east. Second, they had to think of a way to lure away the people of the dark and light paths and those of the Thirteen Greats who were opposed to them and not allow them to go west. Third, if they happened to be exposed while on their way west, they would purposely make to rob the Shi family so as to divert the enemy's attention. Fourth, word of The Fugitive must become famous, in the hope that the little beggar Fang Xiaoshan would hear of it and meet up with them.
With their plan decided, and only ten days before the Shi family was set to depart on their journey, the two of them began to show themselves. Within those ten days they planned to go east. They figured the route the Shi family was to take through Hanzhong prefecture would be safe and nothing would happen.It was 960 miles from Chang'an to Hanzhong, and with women and children in tow the Shi family would not be traveling very fast on such a long journey. It would take them more than ten days to get there, about twenty days altogether. That was long enough for the two of them to handle things.
They had been in hiding for over twenty days and they hadn't even paid Sterling a visit for fear they might get the kid involved and cause him trouble. After that fateful night when he had narrowly escaped death, Wenchang had noticeably changed. His heart was further hardened; he now cared even less about death. He swore to himself that he would never let Black Flag Sovereign's men off, especially Lonestar Silver Sword and his gang of murderers. He was going to retaliate an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. He believed the day would come. Even if it took ten years he was confident he could perfect his rare skills and be able to send them to their doom. Hatred took root in his heart. He would never forget the tragic persecution and murders of his servants. That scene would never leave him.
Taibai Tavern on the southern main avenue was Chang'an's most famed tavern. It was three storeys tall. On the first floor was the place for newly-appointed officials to wine and dine the high officials. The second floor was where wealthy and influential families held banquets and toasted one another, and the third floor was where the sophisticated sons of the aristocracy went to seek out a beautiful view.
The three floors were separate and they did not disturb each other. Each floor had its own ambience. The first floor was more about eating and drinking liek proper guests; they paid no heed to music and women. There were outside traveling singers who came, men and women both, to ply their trade, performing extemporaneously. The singers all had a certain refined, ancient leisure to them, at times gently singing ancient tunes and melodies, other times powerfully singing popular ditties. Their singing was soft and gentle, and quite charming accompanied by the clang of metal percussion instruments.
The second floor was waited on by pretty ladies. Most of the waitresses were foreigners, though there were a few pretty Han Chinese girls of humble birth, maintaining the special history and flavor of the ancient capital. The difference was the standard was much higher than in the past; it was lavishly decorated. In those days there were two most famous places for drink-serving girls. One was Nanjing, which not only had drink-serving girls, but also singers and dancers.
The other place was Chang'an, which preserved the style of the High Tang period. "Two serving girls sing a duet until we see the morning dew; while it snows we drink it up; every cup you drain, I'll drain one too."[1] This pretty much gives one a taste of what a charming sight it was.
The third floor was even more luxurious. Every heated sectioned-off room was like an immortal's paradise. The sound of singing and dancing in one room would not disturb the pleasure-seeking scholar in the next room over. It was of the utmost luxury, a piece of heaven in the middle of hell, a pricey place where a lot of money was thrown around. But as far as outsiders were concerned, Taibai Tavern was a place for lofty people to convene for lofty gatherings. Outsiders only every saw the simple, ancient decor of the first floor. The sumptuous sights of the upper floors were out of reach for most commoners.
In the last ten-day period of the third month, the last bite of cold air was on its way out at the end of spring. In the ancient capital of Chang'an, the season for indiscriminate dress was already here. Music and song emanated from Taibai Tavern nonstop and there was no longer a nip in the air as two tall figures in sky blue outer garments entered Taibai Tavern.
1. This is two lines from a Li Bai poem.