Chapter 109
Weicheng is located in the central part of the Central Plains, bordering Yunjian City to the north and Cangjun County to the south. Both ends are under the jurisdiction of major martial arts sects, one in the black and one in the white. Despite being sandwiched in the middle, the people of Weicheng live in peace and are not affected by the conflicts of the martial arts world, thanks to the support of the powerful Jiuxiantang.
Younger generations may not know, but any senior who is a bit older will sincerely praise Jiuxiantang as "a place where hidden talents reside."
The reason is that the Nine Immortals Hall encompasses all kinds of wonderful martial arts in the world. Each disciple has their own strengths, and it can be said that a hundred flowers bloom. There are outstanding people in every field. Whether it is swordsmanship, medical skills, poison skills, or even Qimen Dunjia and mechanical expansion techniques, there is nothing that people cannot imagine that the Nine Immortals Hall cannot do.
“But they are very low-key, so low-key that they have little presence,” the young master poured out the warm wine in his hand and replaced it with a cup of cold tea. “However, despite their low-key nature, they have a long-standing influence. Unlike the equally mysterious Fanxin Valley, Jiuxiantang is a hidden master in the city. Even Yunhua Palace and Ziwei Sect do not dare to easily confront them.”
The teahouse was bustling with people, and the noise was somewhat deafening, especially considering it was located next to a noisy street. Wen Chaoyu sat on a bench with one leg propped up on the seat. Today, she had deliberately dressed in men's clothing, looking like a carefree young master. She seemed to have no idea what proper posture was or what was considered "unseemly."
“I don’t care what Jiuxiantang is,” Wen Chaoyu said, turning the flute in her hand over and over, without playing a single note in tune. “I only care about how to play this thing.”
The intermittent flute music squeezed out one after another like farts, making the customers in the teahouse and passersby turn pale. She had the ability to play the flute so terribly, but she enjoyed it and was very keen to study it.
"I don't really have any talent for these string and wind instruments, but I've always wanted to learn," Wen Chaoyu said, quite self-aware. "I can wield a sword and write a couple of pretentious poems, but my specialty is poison making. However, I haven't killed anyone in a long time, and I'm looking for some fun lately. The flute would be a good pastime. Seventh Young Master, would you mind giving me some pointers?"
“…Perhaps you could visit the Qinlou more often,” the young master said politely, not stopping Wen Chaoyu, but simply offering a suggestion. “The musicians there can play the flute, as well as the pipa and the zither.”
Ignoring the strange looks from outsiders, Wen Chaoyu blew the flute membrane on the tone hole until it almost cracked, and wondered, "Going to a music store costs money. With a flute expert like you right here, why would I waste money?"
The young master looked at the battered flute membrane and remained silent for a moment before saying, "I'm not a master; I can only play two pieces."
"Two songs?" Wen Chaoyu became interested. "How do you play the other one? Come on, let me hear it."
“You can’t hear me,” the young master said calmly, setting down his teacup. “Only a certain kind of person can hear me.”
Wen Chaoyu twirled the bamboo flute, creating a slight breeze: "Who goes there?"
The young master smiled and didn't answer. His eyes were filled with an undeniable blush. He had been holding back for a long time since he met Wen Chaoyu in Weicheng. But now he couldn't hold back any longer. He looked up at Wen Chaoyu and said, "What are you two doing dressed like this today, master and servant?"
Wen Chaoyu raised her flute, brushed a stray hair from her temple, and said very seriously, "My throat gets itchy when I see people squatting in the toilet. You look good in men's clothes, so I want to wear them too." As she spoke, she turned her head to look at Xue Tan beside her, "...Can you not stand so imposingly? Do you know what it means to be as graceful as a willow in the breeze and as gentle as water?"
Xue Tan wore a crimson flowing dress and clutched a lotus-root-colored handkerchief in his hand. His hair was piled high in an intricate bun, the heavy jeweled hairpins and ornaments making his head ache. Xue Tan said expressionlessly, "This subordinate does not know."
"Then you're just throwing my money away," Wen Chaoyu said viciously. "I've never worn this outfit before, and just one hairpin cost me eighty taels of silver, enough for me to pick out a dozen courtesans to entertain me while I drink and smile at the qin lou... Why are you glaring at me? You've put on too much rouge, you look like a monkey's butt. Don't you have any basic sense of disguise?"
Xue Tan limped to the table, poured a bowl of cold tea, and without hesitation splashed it on his face. As he wiped the rouge off with a silk handkerchief, he replied, "Your subordinate was careless."
Wen Chaoyu casually poured another bowl of water on him and said, "Two hours' ride from outside the city gates will take you to Cang County. Who knows how many cultists are hiding in this place? If you don't pay attention and don't act convincingly, you'll be caught by the henchmen of the other three protectors tonight. I've already been banished to the cold palace by the cult leader. If you're caught, you're doomed. Where's your veil? Put it on right now!"
Xue Tan looked numb, took out a veil from his sleeve, and obediently put it on.
In fact, Xue Tan was quite handsome, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, possessing a unique kind of dashing charm. However, precisely because of this handsomeness, he appeared particularly unbearable to look at when dressed as a woman.
Xue Tan was still somewhat unconvinced, and he questioned Wen Chaoyu, "Since the Protector is so worried about being discovered by other believers, why did you meet with the young master in this street teahouse?"
His implication was that you're not much better than me.
“That’s called wisdom,” Wen Chaoyu said, pointing lightly at the person opposite her with her bamboo flute. “What did you say about the Nine Immortals Hall just now?”
The young master said, "The truly wise hide in the city."
“That’s right,” Wen Chaoyu said, “The truly wise live in seclusion in the city.”
Xue Tan paused, his gaze shifting to the windows of the restaurant across the street, where several outdoor tables were set up and a few burly men were drinking heavily. Xue Tan said in a deep voice, "But Protector, your brilliant plan doesn't seem to suit us very well."
Following his gaze, Wen Chaoyu glanced back discreetly. The timing of her glance was perfect; she turned around and made eye contact with the men across the distance.
Clearly, neither of them had anticipated this eye contact, and their hasty averting gazes created a somewhat awkward atmosphere.
However, Wen Chaoyu wasn't embarrassed by that; she was embarrassed by Xue Tan's words.
—She's definitely not much better than him.
“That heartless, rotten woman Qin Zheng sent people to kill me,” Wen Chaoyu said through gritted teeth as she tossed the flute back to the young master. “Does she really think I’m that easy to bully? Her men are all butcher-like thugs. She’s afraid I won’t recognize her.”
Xue Tan looked a little melancholy for a moment: "He's very strong. He could kill both of us with one punch. Protector, let's run away quickly."
Wen Chaoyu rolled her eyes at him, snorted coldly, and her disappointment in him was palpable.
She pulled out a small throwing knife from her waist, stepped onto a wooden table, and climbed up the tall building, shouting, "Run!"
·
As Wen Chaoyu shouted, the men opposite him dropped their wine jars, drew sharp long knives from their waistbands, and leaped over the table to rush over.
The bustling street market, like an overturned oil pan, instantly became boiling and noisy. Xue Tan, lifting her skirt, struggled to use her light-footed skills behind Wen Chaoyu, causing her exquisite hairpins and hair ornaments to fall to the ground, jingling and clanging like silver.
The men were not only burly and strong, but also incredibly agile. Xue Tan was extremely grateful that he could still use his lightness skill, lest he be hacked to death in the street. As he followed Wen Chaoyu's figure and was about to leap over the tall building, he inexplicably heard a girl's voice below saying, "Uncle-Master, is that a wedding robbery?"
Xue Tan's already lame leg became even more lame after hearing these words.
He thought to himself: If a girl like me can be snatched up by men, then why don't women chase after a handsome young master like my protector?
Wen Chaoyu's figure had completely disappeared from sight. Xue Tan, amidst his busy schedule, turned his head and glanced at her, spotting the girl who had spoken in the chaotic crowd with remarkable accuracy.
She wore a white dress, had two lively braids in her long hair, and had a beautiful face; the woman next to her was even more beautiful.
Xue Tan glanced around and saw the young master sitting motionless at the tea table as if nothing had happened. He wanted to remind him to run, but the men's blades were already at his face in the blink of an eye. Xue Tan raised his twisted wrist to block, and a long bloody gash appeared on his wrist. He hissed in pain, his ankle twisted, and he fell to the ground.
Wen Chaoyu's head peeked out from behind the tall building. She stretched out her hand, wanting to grab Xue Tan's collar in time, but for some reason, when she saw the two white figures on the street, she ruthlessly withdrew her hand and immediately hid herself.
Xue Tan clearly saw this scene during his fall, and he thought: That's right, my protector is handsome, but too cowardly. No woman would want to pursue him.
Xue Tan felt that he was going to die this time, so he didn't want to struggle in vain. More importantly, he couldn't struggle anyway, and he couldn't expect Wen Chaoyu to save him. So he closed his eyes and quietly waited for the moment when he would be hacked to death.
Surprisingly, that moment never came. As he fell into the air, someone caught him around the waist. The person's arms were slender yet strong, supporting him steadily. Xue Tan opened his eyes in surprise and realized that the person who saved him was the beautiful girl in the white dress from before.
“Sister,” the pretty girl said softly to Xue Tan, “hold on tight, don’t be afraid.”
Xue Tan froze, hesitating whether or not to hold her, when the next moment, his feet lightly touched the ground.
"Great! Great!"
"These two ladies are incredibly skilled!"
"They're robbing innocent women in broad daylight! Beat these bastards to death!"
...
Suddenly, the pedestrians on the street burst into cheers for some unknown reason. Xue Tan, still in shock, looked up and saw that the men who had been chasing him had been easily subdued by another woman in white. He hadn't even seen how the woman had done it. The men were now lying sprawled on the ground, and the crowd rushed over, giving them a brutal beating. The men begged for mercy.
Xue Tan's face, hidden beneath the veil, revealed a hint of astonishment.
“Sister,” the pretty girl said with concern as she helped him up, “your hand is injured. Come with us to the nearby clinic to get it bandaged.”
Xue Tan took a step back as if startled, stammering, "Th-thank you...but I'm fine..."
“You’re bleeding,” the pretty girl said, taking out a handkerchief and wrapping it around his wrist. “You need to stop the bleeding and apply medicine as soon as possible.”
Her pale fingertips were delicate and tender, like green onions, as if they had never touched the waters of a pampered young lady. Yet, the strength with which she caught him was so steady and firm. Xue Tan felt his hair stand on end and couldn't help but take another step back.
In his twenty-odd years of life, apart from Wen Chaoyu, he had never been in such close contact with any girl. But not only had he been hugged around the waist by this girl, but now she was also gently holding his hand.
She was unaware that the person in front of her was not her sister at all, but a real man.
Xue Tan silently apologized three times in his heart, and said in a high-pitched voice, "Thank you so much, sister... Good people are rewarded, I wish you a good marriage."
Then he limped away and ran off in a flash.
·
Watching the limping figure quickly disappear into the crowd, Yin Qiu withdrew her half-raised hand and said to Man Jiangxue, who was walking behind her, "That lady doesn't need my help; she seems to have twisted her ankle."
Man Jiangxue glanced in the direction Xue Tan had left, then looked towards the tall building where Wen Chaoyu had disappeared. She said, "There's no such big, burly sister, and no one can use their lightness skill to that extent even if they twist their ankle."
Yin Qiu was shocked: "He's a man?"
Hearing her heartfelt question, Man Jiangxue looked somewhat helpless. Man Jiangxue said, "First of all, he is indeed a man, and a lame man at that. Secondly, I don't quite understand, have you seen too few women or too few men?"
Yin Qiu thought she was asking her, so she thought about it seriously for a moment and replied, "Actually, they're pretty much the same." After she finished speaking, she looked up at Man Jiangxue and said, "If we're really talking about it, I still look at my martial uncle the most."
Sometimes, just sometimes, Man Jiangxue would have the feeling that Yin Qiu was toying with her.
But the girl's serious demeanor clearly told Man Jiangxue that she was not joking and that she was very serious.
“…These are people from the Ziwei Sect,” Man Jiangxue changed the subject, turning slightly to look at the other side, “It seems that Nangong Min should have arrived in Weicheng earlier than us.”
Yin Qiu stepped past the crowd that was still shouting and cursing, looked at the few men with bruised and swollen faces, and asked, "How did you figure that out, Uncle-Master?"
Man Jiangxue replied, "Apart from the Ziwei Sect, no other sect would dare to commit violence in the streets of the Nine Immortals Hall. They would not have such courage, nor would they have such low manners."
Take Yunhua Palace for example. Yunhua disciples have enough confidence and courage to do such things, but the palace has its rules, and no one dares to violate them easily. Nangong Min, on the other hand, does not have such rules. The people under her are all petty people who do not take any sect or occasion seriously.
Even though the Nine Immortals Hall is not easy to mess with, the Ziwei Sect doesn't care about ruining its reputation. As long as things don't reach the point where the Nine Immortals Hall has to handle them personally, Nangong Min is even happy to see her followers stirring up trouble. She likes to create chaos.
Yin Qiu couldn't help but praise, "Uncle-Master is truly amazing!"
"Actually, that's not the main reason," Man Jiangxue said after hearing Yin Qiu's sincere words.
"What is that?" Yin Qiu looked at her expectantly.
“It’s mainly because I recognized Wen Chaoyu,” Man Jiangxue said. “It was unnecessary for her to wear men’s clothing.”
Yin Qiu was slightly taken aback, but immediately realized: "Uncle-Master, are you saying that the man who abandoned that sister and ran away first was Wen Chaoyu?"
Man Jiangxue glanced at her and said, "Yes."
It was Wen Chaoyu!
“Ever since Senior Sister Ji went into seclusion, Uncle Wen has also vanished without a trace,” Yin Qiu said, unable to tell whether she was surprised or delighted. “I always thought something had happened to her all these years, but she actually came to Wei City!”
“That’s why I said Nangong Min should have arrived here earlier than us,” Man Jiangxue said. “With the conference imminent, even if she likes to create chaos, she shouldn’t have lost her composure and let her followers cause trouble in Weicheng at this critical juncture. But if the target of the hunt is Wen Chaoyu, then that’s a different story.”
"Why is that?" Yin Qiu asked.
“Wen Chaoyu has not appeared in the martial arts world for nearly five years, and now that she has appeared, she is being hunted down by her own people,” Man Jiangxue said. “If it was Nangong Min’s idea, it must have been the idea of the other three protectors. If it was the idea of the other three protectors, Nangong Min could not have been unaware of it. It can only mean that she is condoning her subordinates and letting them fight amongst themselves. Otherwise, this farce would not have happened in front of you and me.”
Yin Qiu then drew a conclusion: "It seems that Uncle Wen has had a tough time these past few years."
The noise in the city gradually subsided. The men had been escorted by the people to the road to see the officials. The crowded people began to disperse, and the streets slowly returned to their usual bustling state.
“Since Martial Uncle has already recognized Wen Chaoyu,” Yin Qiu asked, “then why did you help her just now? This is actually an internal conflict within their Ziwei Sect, and it seems unreasonable for Martial Uncle to intervene.”
Man Jiangxue pulled Yin Qiu along and they walked together through the crowded street. She said, "I'm not trying to help her. You were the one who made the first move. I'm helping you."
Yin Qiu turned her head, looked at Man Jiangxue and smiled: "Is that so? Then it can be considered as repaying Uncle Wen's favor. I will always remember the time she delivered the letter to Uncle Wen for me that year."
The streets were crowded, and they were inevitably jostling with pedestrians. Man Jiangxue stretched out her hand and protected Yin Qiu by her side. The two walked hand in hand, and their outstanding appearances stood out among the passersby, attracting the attention of many people.
Yin Qiu was holding an oil-paper bag in her arms, which contained snacks that Man Jiangxue had bought for her not long ago. Half of her body was pressed against Man Jiangxue. When they passed a teahouse, someone suddenly bumped her shoulder lightly.
Yin Qiu paused slightly, leaning closer to Man Jiangxue's embrace. Suddenly, a sharp, piercing flute melody rang out in her ears, bursting out of nowhere in the bustling street, exploding in Yin Qiu's mind like a bolt from the blue.
Yin Qiu felt a sudden clench in her chest, as if someone had deliberately squeezed it. She felt a lump in her throat, and the sharp pain made her fingers unconsciously loosen their grip. The oil paper bag in her arms then fell heavily to the ground.
A black shadow flashed past her eyes, moving swiftly. Yin Qiu was startled, but the sudden pain vanished as the shadow brushed past her, disappearing without a trace as if it had sunk into the sea.
In a flash, Yin Qiu hurriedly caught his breath and suddenly turned around to look.
The crowds continued to surge, and laughter and chatter rose and fell around them, but there was no dark figure in sight.
It was as if the fleeting shadow was just a momentary illusion.
"What's wrong?" Everything happened so fast that even Man Jiangxue didn't notice anything unusual. She just felt that Yin Qiu had stopped walking.
Hearing Man Jiangxue's voice behind her, Yin Qiu tried her best to calm herself down and forced a seemingly ordinary smile: "...It's nothing, I was bumped into." As she spoke, she bent down to pick up the oil paper package on the ground and took Man Jiangxue's hand. "It's alright, let's go, Uncle."
As the two left the tea stall, the wooden window on the second floor of the restaurant across the street opened, revealing a beautiful woman with a radiant smile sitting inside.
“Today’s performance was quite good, very entertaining,” Nangong Min said, gently turning the teacup in his hand. “It’s just a shame that your wishful thinking has fallen through.”
Qin Zheng stood silently by the table, her head bowed.
“Protector Wen is an interesting person. If you kill her, what will I have to amuse myself with in the future?” Nangong Min stood up, and the hand that had been holding the teacup suddenly pinched Qin Zheng’s face. Her smile had an unspeakable danger about it.
“I don’t mind fighting amongst ourselves, I only mind that these ridiculous and pathetic losers are trying to be clever in front of me,” Nangong Min said, his hand seemingly without any force, yet Qin Zheng’s face was pinched until it turned a strange red. “Who are you? Tell me.”
The restaurant was noisy, and those sounds were kept out of the private room, but Qin Zheng still felt a sense of humiliation at being watched by countless people.
Meeting Nangong Min's smiling gaze, she forced out her voice with great difficulty, "Master...please forgive me..."
“Either you really kill Protector Wen,” Nangong Min said, “or you behave yourself, understand?”
Tiny drops of blood spread from her lips. Qin Zheng bit her tongue, and a faint trace of blood spilled from the corner of her lips.
She looked extremely disheveled.
"Your subordinate... understands..."
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