Chapter 37

There are two mountains at opposite ends of Azure Dragon Island. On the mountain at the further end, where the sea waves and the forest connect all the way to the horizon, someone is moving as fast as a gust of wind, aiming straight for the wall of rock.

The person taps the ridge of the mountain a few times with the tips of his feet, then climbs up as if he were riding on the wind and the clouds. He aims at a bush of “dried weed” that has neither leaf nor flower and takes the entire bush, including the root. Then he turns and grabs the rock with his fingers, launching himself onto the mountain side.

This person’s control over his movements is so adept that it becomes casual. However, as he lands, it turns out that he is a youth of just fifteen or sixteen years old. He turns his head and glances at the sun setting over the mountain cliff, then walks fast forward with a slight curl of his lips.

It isn’t until this point in time that the giant hawk guarding the “dried weed” from the early morning realises that what it has been guarding was stolen. It screeches and puffs up its feathers like a chicken. The animal however is pretty smart and realises that it shouldn’t mess with this person. It flies around on the spot, not daring to pursue the youth. In just a short moment, the youth’s figure already blends with the thick forest and can’t be seen anymore.

Suddenly, the long whistle echoes through the forest. The giant hawk startles and flies up away from the cliff. Several other whistles reply, forming a surrounding circle in the forest. These people must be waiting beforehand.

The birds of the forest fly up screaming. They go back and forth a few rounds and then disperse.

The youth’s expression doesn’t change at all as he hears the whistles. He carefully shakes off the mud and dirt on the root of the ‘dried weed’, puts it inside his robe, and twirls the wooden sword in his hand. He says with a tsk, “You cling like a bad smell.”

This youth is indeed Cheng Qian.

Five years pass by in a blink of the eye. The boy grows up into a youth. The words his most senior brother gifted him in the “Land of Tenderness” when they first met have become true. His looks haven’t diminished a bit.

In a second, four or five figures emerge from the forest. The ringleader, whose face is like a lump of coal, is Zhang Dasen.

Before going to Azure Dragon Island, the primordial spirit of Zhang Dasen was already at “lesser achievement” level, so he has some fame among the rogue cultivators. He uses a double-ended lance, displaying an arrogant attitude. Day in and day out, a bunch of rogue cultivators flatter him, so he preens even more.

“It’s that brat again.” In the past five years, the feud between Zhang Dasen and Cheng Qian doesn’t go away. On the contrary, it gets even worse. Zhang Dasen growls as soon as he recognises it’s Cheng Qian, “If you have any brain, hand it over here.”

Cheng Qian keeps his hands behind his back, the wooden sword hanging in parallel to his body. He taps his feet slightly, making a vaguely confused face as if to say ‘I don’t understand why that dog is barking’.

Zhang Dasen likes to provoke and intimidate. If the other side talks back at him, he will be somewhat fine with that. However, whenever he sees Cheng Qian’s impassive face as if nothing happens, he can explode with anger.

A companion of Zhang Dasen speaks to Cheng Qian with a cold smile, “My young fellow cultivator, if you have any sense, give us ‘Crow Nest Grass’ immediately! Otherwise we won’t show you any courtesy!”

Hearing that, Cheng Qian immediately turns to him. Holding the sword in his hand, he politely bows to that companion and says, “I dare not to accept such regard. Feel free to give me your guidance.”

Facing this kind of insolent attitude, the group that surround Cheng Qian look at each other and then charge forward at the same time.

In just a few seconds, it can be seen that these ambushers already have a plan, with clear assignment of attackers, supporters, sneak attackers, those who block the escape, etc. However, Cheng Qian shows no panic at all. He deals with the group deftly.

Obviously, both sides are used to this kind of ganging up.

Wind rises from the sweep of Zhang Dasen’s double-headed lance and tightly surrounds Cheng Qian. The three goons from behind charge at him; the last one moves to behind Cheng Qian and slashes the sabre from above down to Cheng Qian’s spine with a shout.

Cheng Qian doesn’t even turn back. The wooden sword in his hand is like a snake that strikes precisely at the wrist of the one that sneak-attacks him. Then, he puts the whole weight of his body on this point, the splinters from his wooden sword that is shaved by the opponent’s sabre flying out like nails.

The group of Zhang Dasen hastily avoid those, which disturbs their formation a little. With this chance, Cheng Qian detects an opening in their qi barrier. He grasps a tree branch and and launches above like a bird through that opening.

Zhang Dasen and his group instinctively pursue him. However, they aren’t as agile as Cheng Qian. Then, before they know it, they no longer maintain the proper distance with the others.

This mistake is caught by Cheng Qian in a split second.

He uses the “Withdrawing tide contains the wind’s sentiment”, making the tree branches stir wildly. Having no place to deploy his double-ended lance, Zhang Dasen has no other choice than to stand there and get hit in the face by a gust of sword energy.

Then, paying no heed to the one carrying the demon vanquishing baton that pursues him with cultivational tools, Cheng Qian dives from the air. As soon as he lands, he charges forward at high speed and hits the big old tree with his palms.

There is a saying that “the monkeys disperse when the tree falls”, Cheng Qian’s attackers on the tree can’t escape in time. As they realise that what they are standing on is about to fall, they hastily stumble down. When they can get out of the entangling tree branches, Cheng Qian has already gone too far to be caught.

From a distance, Cheng Qian brushes off the leaves on his robe and clasps his hands to salute Zhang Dasen as if to say “sorry to trouble you, thanks for the guidance”. Then his form quickly blends into the evening sunlight and disappears in a blink of the eye.

In these recent years, Fuyao Sect stay on Azure Dragon Island. They are lucky that their tormentor Zhou Hanzheng only showed up once at Lecture Hall on the first day. Afterwards, he hasn’t showed up to cause trouble for them again.

The Lecture Hall has two chief Guardians. Tang Wanqiu comes from Mulan Mountain. Zhou Hanzheng doesn’t come from Azure Dragon either. The problem is his origin is even more of a mystery than Tang Wanqiu’s; someone of Han Yuan’s station can’t uncover such information. It wasn’t until the celestial market opened that Tang Wanqiu arrived with Yan Zhengming’s group, but Zhou Hanzheng arrived even later than she did, and he left immediately after the Lecture Hall opened for the first time.

After him, most of the prominent cultivators who give lectures from the platform maintain behaviours that fit their station. They only say what they need to say then leave, paying no attention to the rogue cultivators from all walks of life below.

Yan Zhengming finally understands the rebuke he received for his ostentatious behaviours when arriving at the island. After that first day, the group arrive at the clearing before the sun rises and find a spot with good view, then settle down to carve talismans or read swordplay manuals to wait for the lecture to start. After the lecture is over, they leave just as quietly.

Gradually, Fuyao Sect becomes forgotten by those who have nothing to do with them; the youths seemingly become invisible. Except for Cheng Qian, who with time appears in public with his disciple brothers less and less. He always comes and goes by himself.

He doesn’t yet have the ability to protect everyone in his sect, so he settles for attracting all hostile attention against the sect on himself, trying his best to bear everything.

The year before, Yan Zhengming hired a large boat to take most of the servants and the girls like Yu-er who had reached maturity back to the Yan family. In the end, they were still mortals, their youth lasting only for little more than a decade, so there was no time to waste.

Only Xue Qing and Zhe Shi wished to stay and walk the endless path to immortality with the sect.

As Fuyao Sect went from having many people to only a few, the whole group shared the same building, and cultivated in the quietness.

There is no turn of seasons on Azure Dragon Island. The residents only have a vague grasp of time. If they don’t pay attention, they won’t know how many years have passed.

In those five years, after countless discussions, Yan Zhengming and Cheng Qian managed to record the full set of Fuyao Wooden Sword. They taught it to Li Yun, who in turn taught Han Yuan.

Whether it was thanks to “teaching is the best way to learn” or that Yan Zhengming finally focused after the upheavals, he finally mastered his swordplay on Azure Dragon Island, in a contrast to the time on Fuyao Mountain when he hadn’t even managed to learn three forms in eight years.

Puddle too grows from a toddler who had been learning to speak to a child. Perhaps because she has been facing hardship from inside the egg, whoever she takes after, she is very calm. Ever since she could speak, she no longer cries. Whatever problem she finds herself in, she steadily babbles and bargains her way out with her disciple brothers. Furthermore, she somehow achieves the special technique of “nagging”, which works every time. As long as she can talk to the point one of her disciple brothers can no longer stand it, she will get what she wants.

About this quirk of hers, her disciple brothers have discreetly discussed about the mythical lineage of the yao queen, and come to the conclusion that maybe the yao queen’s true form was a myna. Otherwise, how could she have given birth to such a talkative egg?

Cheng Qian brings the crow nest grass like a bunch of dried weed back to their place. As he reaches the gate of the building, he can’t help the grimace on his face. When he was on the tree, he couldn’t avoid it and was hit with the demon vanquishing baton by one of Zhang Dasen’s goons. There is likely a bruise like a greenish centipede on his back, where just a slight touch hurts.

Cheng Qian tries to have a look. As it turns out, as soon as he turns his neck, his back feels like it is going to break into two. He can only console himself that at least he is wearing dark-coloured clothes today, so it can be hidden a little.

Adjusting his posture with some difficulty, Cheng Qian stiffly walks inside.

He only sees little Puddle in the yard, who is looking moody. Someone has carved a ring of spell on the ground around her, which defines her range of movement. The handwriting of that tight spell without an unnecessary stroke most likely belongs to their most senior brother. From how this little disciple sister is educated, it can be seen that their sect leader and most senior brother is adept in the art of being “strict to other people, easy to himself”.

A book about magic is hanging from Puddle’s neck. It’s no other than the “Scripture of Serenity”, which used to make her disciple brothers want to die numerous times. This artifact is such a terrible heirloom that torment countless generations to the end of days. It’s said that just looking at it gives Han Yuan a headache.

“Third Brother!” Puddle greets Cheng Qian like a saviour. She cries, “Third Brother, save me!”

Sweeping his gaze across her, Cheng Qian asks, “Is Second Brother here?”

Full of hope, Puddle hastily nods. “Yes, yes, Second Brother…”

Li Yun’s voice comes from a nearby room. “Why are you home so late? What did you do?”

Cheng Qian just replies with a noncommittal hum. Without looking at Puddle, he walks inside the room.

Puddle miserably cries from behind his back, “Hey! Don’t go! Let me go! I want to go to the toilet, I’m about to pee right here!”

She has used this trick so many times it no longer works on her disciple brothers. Cheng Qian shakes his head. A window opens and Li Yun looks out, coldly rejecting Puddle. “Go ahead, then clean up after yourself.”

Puddle bawls without tears. “No! Second Brother, Third Brother, I’m still too young! I don’t want to learn this stupid scripture! You can’t treat me like this! Our Master in Heaven will be upset if he knows!”

Unable to turn away, Cheng Qian smiles an encouraging smile for the sake of their sect and gently soothes her. “No he won’t, little sister. Our Master did the same to us back then.”

Puddle: “…”

Ignoring the cries of their disciple sister, Cheng Qian walks straight into Li Yun’s room. He closes the window to block the sound outside. As soon as he is out of view, he changes sides and tries to help her. “She is just six. What’s the point of forcing her? Was the spell made by our Noble Consort? Back then our Master never ever locked him in the Hall for Teaching of the Tao.”

Li Yun’s room is littered with junk paper and old books, herbs and talismans strewn everywhere. Hearing that, he emerges from the pile of paper and says, “Can’t you see it? Our sect has no method to cultivate the energy for beginners, but we aren’t behind anyone when it comes to qi absorption. Think about it, our most senior brother did nothing but amused himself day in and day out, but he could become an official practitioner in just about three years. Why is that?”

Cheng Qian asks, “It can’t be those scriptures?”

“Stop talking,” Li Yun pulls out a chart of meridians from a corner. The page is full of dots and notes. Cheng Qian feels his head ache just looking at it. Li Yun says, “Recently I discover that there can be some mythical technique hidden in our Master’s Scripture of Serenity.”

At this point, Cheng Qian realises he has been really disrespectful to “Scripture of Serenity which hides mythical technique”. He hastily asks, “What mythical technique?”

“I don’t know yet,” Li Yun heartlessly says, “This has been accumulated by our sect for thousands of years. It can’t be that easy to decode, so I let Puddle try it out first.”

Cheng Qian: “…”

He glances outside through an slight opening of the window. He can see that the experiment subject Puddle is squatting miserably in the ring of spells. She flips through the handwritten scripture with a pout, looking very pitiful.

Cheng Qian sighs. “Fine. It’s not the first time you used us to “try” stuffs. Reading that scripture several more times shouldn’t hurt. But, what about her yao energy?”

Li Yun annoyedly tears at his hair. “I’ve been planning to discuss this with you. I’m afraid talismans will soon be insufficient to suppress her yao energy the older she is. If we want to make medicine to deal with it, we still need the ‘crow nest grass’. I’ve been searching for it in vain for a year. If this goes on any longer, we have no other choice than asking someone to look for that herb outside the island.”

Hearing that, Cheng Qian smiles.

Li Yun is surprised. “What?”

Cheng Qian takes from his robe a small package wrapped in paper. As he places it on the table, the crow nest grass that looks just like dried weed inside can be seen.

Li Yun is startled to see that package. He grabs the crow nest grass and babbles, “Where did you find it? It is the main ingredient to create medicine for energy. If it grows on this island, someone is bound to watch it closely.”

“Uhm, I robbed it,” Cheng Qian waves his hand. “Stop asking. It’s fine as long as you can use it. I’m going.”

He makes a step as soon as he says that. Li Yun suddenly puts a hand on his shoulder. Cheng Qian groans as he nearly collapses from that slight touch.

Li Yun becomes annoyed. “Wait! What happened?”

Cheng Qian’s bad habits grow with his age. As soon as he finds out something, he will take action without discussing with anyone. He gets injured all the time as he steals the herbs, but refuses to talk no matter how much he is asked. Only thanks to Han Yuan’s eavesdropping that the others can retrace Cheng Qian’s steps and guess why he fights with someone again.

“It’s nothing. Ouch,” Cheng Qian tries to ignore the pain and rotates his shoulder a little for Li Yun to see. “I probably got a crick in the neck for the morning, then bumped into a staff a little. Don’t mention it to our Noble Consort or he’ll make a fuss again.”

As the saying goes, speak of the devil and he will appear. Before Cheng Qian finishes his speech, the curtain of the room stirs a little. Yan Zhengming elegantly walks out.

Yan Zhengming looks at him with a vague curl of his lips and asks, “Who are you talking about?”

Cheng Qian coughs. “Most senior brother.”

Luckily for him, Yan Zhengming doesn’t seem intent to pursue the topic for the time being. He puts down the old book in his hand and speaks to Li Yun. “About what you said, I indeed want to return to Fuyao Mountain for a while. Firstly I recently realised some details, so I would like to come back and check them against our records. The library tower is messy, but the inheritance of our sect has been intact, so we likely can find some clues. Furthermore…”

He frowns a little. “Last year, I sent Yu-er and the other maids home because they had reached maturity. I asked them to send letters from my family, but I haven’t received any reply yet. Letters aren’t forbidden on Azure Dragon Island, yet they are gone without any word back. I wonder if something has happened, so I want to pass by my family on the way to check too.”

“The problem is we may not be allowed to leave the island once we are permitted to attend Lecture Hall,” Li Yun muses. “How about this? You send Xue Qing or Zhe Shi to go in your place. I heard that Zhe Shi reached qi sensitivity a couple of days ago? Maybe he can enter the library tower already?”

“Not everyone who has qi sensitivity can enter the library tower. Back then Copper Coin and I received direct guidance from our Master,” Yan Zhengming shakes his head. “Well, there is no haste to re-organise our sect’s method for cultivating energy. We’ll still have lots of time in the future. I’ll ask Xue Qing to bring home a letter first then go to Fuyao Mountain to check.”

As the other two are discussing, Cheng Qian intends to quietly escape. However, as soon as he reaches the door, Han Yuan hastily rushes in, nearly smashing the door in his face.

“Ouch, Xiao-Qian, what are you doing?!” Having accidentally revealed Cheng Qian’s movement, “Most senior brother, big news!”

Yan Zhengming gives Cheng Qian a glare. He steps back with a frown and raises his arm like a shield. “Don’t talk so fast. Your spit is all over my face.”

Han Yuan isn’t bothered. He just laughs and says. “That coal-faced Zhang Dasen got beaten by someone. His face is swollen like a ripe peach, to the point that even his neck can’t be seen.”

Without any arrangement beforehand, the gazes of Yan Zhengming and Li Yun focus on Cheng Qian at the same time. Coughing a little, Cheng Qian pretends to watch the scenery outside the window.

Han Yuan continues. “Secondly, a big boat arrived at the dock, so I went to check. Apparently that Zhou asshole is back.”

Zhou Hanzheng?

Cheng Qian doesn’t try to escape anymore. He leans against the door, his fingers instinctively brushing against the wooden sword.

“The last time he returned here, it was before Lecture Hall opened. So I guess something big is going to happen here again,” Han Yuan says with certainty. “What do you think will happen?”

He reports things like a street storyteller. None of his three senior brothers bother to reply. Han Yuan ends up having to smile and reluctantly reveal it himself. “I heard that, there will be a big tournament among the attendees of the Lecture Hall. Those who distinguish themselves can become an official member of Azure Dragon Island and cultivate in the main hall.”