Green Waterfall in its Youth 2
Tianquan planned to send some disciples to Kaifeng, and the spots were fiercely contested. Shi Qing and his senior brother had a martial arts competition, and Shi Qing luckily won the last spot.
It was springtime.
As Shi Qing was about to return to the place she had left seven years ago, she was very excited and kept glancing at the cloak in her luggage.
However, after the Tianquan Sect had been established in Kaifeng for a month, Shi Qing took on a bunch of missions just to see every corner of the city. He even went to the Jiuliu Sect's headquarters one by one, but he still couldn't find out any news about Yuan Xi.
He found the dilapidated temple from his memory, but all that remained were ruins overgrown with weeds.
The boy hanging upside down from the tree, his cloak billowing like a waterfall, seemed to be just a vivid dream from his childhood.
Unable to find anyone, Shi Qing grew increasingly anxious.
His fellow disciples, unable to bear seeing his tense state, took him to the Forest of Awakening for training. Shi Qing was out of sorts; in this condition, an unsuitable weapon was less useful than a kitchen knife. Round after round, his record was quite poor. His senior brother didn't seem to care, but Shi Qing refused to back down.
He entered the Forest of Awakening Alone, and after obtaining the most suitable Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword), he transformed his grief and anger into a bloodlust, scaring everyone else away from the very beginning.
Approaching the Bodhi Sea of Suffering, one could see a person leisurely lying on a tree in the middle of the swamp.
Shi Qing now saw everything as a provocation, thinking that this person was really arrogant and conceited. He immediately used his lightness skill to kick him, knocking him over in the swamp.
Then Shi Qing lunged forward, the tip of his knife pointing directly at the man's throat.
Kicked to the ground, the man didn't resist. He wiped his face and sighed, "Sigh, I'm really fed up. Come on, come on, if you're going to hit me, then hurry up and do it."
Shi Qing scoffed, "Do you need to tell me that!"
However, the moment the man turned around and met Shi Qing's gaze, the latter suddenly loosened her grip, and the Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword) clattered to the ground.
“...Yuanxi”.
Even though seven years had passed and Shi Qing had gradually forgotten what Yuan Xi looked like, he could still recognize him when they met again.
Yuan Xi also stopped. He squinted his eyes, which were covered in mud and water, and carefully examined the murderous-looking boy in front of him. The latter was tall and slender, and the childishness in his eyes had faded, leaving only a sharp edge. However, the shock, grievance, and incredulous joy that surged up in his eyes inexplicably overlapped with the image of the child in his memory who was clutching a cloak and taking small bites of a biscuit.
“…Shi Qing?” Yuan Xi asked hesitantly, his voice slightly hoarse from seven years of hard work, quite different from the clear, youthful voice he remembered.
What followed was that their reminiscing was too ill-timed, as two arrows pierced the "Killing Daoist's" dream.
*
Recalling the days and nights of waiting, Shi Qing was extremely anxious.
Seven years ago, Shi Qing was still young and there was nothing he could do. Now, he has connections and abilities. Since he can find Yuan Xi, he can find his place.
However, once he found out the address and followed the clues, Shi Qing was half-believing and half-doubting, wondering how many people could possibly be accommodated in such a crowded place as Ghost Market.
Deep within the underworld, what appears to be an ordinary stone wall is actually the door to a house.
Shi Qing pushed aside the stone wall, passed through the rugged and narrow passage, and walked dozens of steps forward before his chest was relieved of the constricting feeling. He was shocked by the scene behind the stone wall—hundreds of stairs spiraled inside, each leading to a room.
"Who goes there?!"
A sharp shout came from above. Shi Qing looked up and saw several figures leaping down from the upper steps, surrounding him. These people were dressed in different ways, but their eyes all carried the vigilance and sharpness unique to martial artists.
"I'm looking for Yuan Xi," Shi Qing said, regaining his composure. "He's an old friend of his."
The men surrounding him exchanged glances. One of them, a middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader, sized him up. "Won-seok's old friend... how did you find this place?"
"Wait a minute." A woman jumped out, pointed at Shi Qing, and said, "I've seen you before!"
The middle-aged man asked suspiciously, "Do you know him?"
The woman said, "Senior brother, do you remember seven years ago when we raided the hideout of a group of human traffickers? This child was rescued by Yuan Xi at that time, and he even stayed at our camp for a while. Didn't the elder mention back then that he was in good health and planned to let him join the Nine Streams Sect, but for some reason he just disappeared... Young brother, judging from your attire, you're from Tianquan now?"
"Yes, yes, that's right."
The woman clicked her tongue in amazement. "He really struck gold in Tianquan—hey, you just said you were looking for Yuanxi, right? Come on, I'll take you there."
Her name was Hongyue. She was straightforward and, ignoring the hesitant look on the leader's face, she pulled Shiqing up the stairs.
When they entered Yuanxi's room, no one was inside.
Hongyue asked Shiqing to sit down first, and said that Yuanxi had gone to help transport goods at Daoxuanhu and would be back in a while.
Shi Qing sipped the tea she was offered, looked around the sparsely furnished room, and asked curiously, "Are you all disciples of the Nine Schools?"
"yes."
"Then why are you living here now? And... I went to Caoxiefang to look for Yuanxi before, but the disciples there all said they didn't know anything about it."
"..." Hongyue paused, "Did Yuanxi tell you about the missions he carried out before?"
"Mm." Shi Qing nodded.
“That mission was a trap.” She used the same words as Yuan Xi. “Many people died in it back then, and we were lucky to survive. But... even if we survived, anyone with even a minor injury wouldn’t have been able to heal and recuperate in the Ghost Market.”
“Yuanxi injured his spine back then and almost became paralyzed in bed for the rest of his life.” Upon hearing this, Shi Qing choked on his tea and coughed violently.
"Hey, hey, slow down, slow down," Hongyue helped him catch his breath and sighed, "Fortunately, a miraculous doctor from Daoxuanhu has brought us back to health, and we can still walk around, but our martial arts skills are definitely not what they used to be."
When talking about Yuan Xi'er, Hong Yue laughed until her stomach hurt.
"He was tricked into coming here, so he's always thinking about running away. Fifty thousand yuan is an astronomical sum for a kid. Remember the human slave trader incident? That guy wasn't there specifically to rescue people; he was trying to sneak away, but he stumbled upon this and ended up saving you. Later, I heard that if you won first place on the ranking list in the Juezhang Forest, you could leave the sect, but he ended up getting beaten up black and blue inside..."
When the tea was gone, Shi Qing forgot how he left the Ghost Market.
"The Nine Schools don't allow their disciples to reveal the truth in order to protect us."
--"Why?"
"Because we've all been poisoned by the cold fungus, we don't know when we'll turn into dream puppets with no consciousness left."
I still remember that Hongyue's tone was calm during the conversation, as if the matter of becoming a dream puppet was not something to be afraid of.
Her calm words pierced Shi Qing's ears. "The poison of the cold fungus," "complete loss of consciousness," "dream puppet"... these words buzzed in his mind. Yuan Xi's injury back then wasn't just a simple one; he was nearly paralyzed, and even now, a deadly poison lay dormant within him, its onset unknown? Was that why he lived in that kind of place, why he was so "humble" in the Forest of Awakening—not out of laziness, but because... he might no longer be able to roam freely as he once did?
Seven years of waiting, the grievances of reunion, the eagerness of finding the address—all of this now transformed into a heavy sense of lingering fear and a surging heartache. Shi Qing's steps were unsteady as he wandered aimlessly through the streets and alleys of Kaifeng until the cold night wind made him shiver, and he realized that he had once again wandered near the Jiuliumen Straw Sandal's outpost. But now, the familiar lights here were shrouded in a dark shadow in his eyes.
*
Deep inside the Daoxuanhu Medical Clinic, the aroma of medicine mingled with a faint, strange scent. Yuan Xi had just finished arranging the last box of herbs and straightened up when a familiar, subtle ache ran down his spine. He frowned imperceptibly and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Thank you for your hard work, Yuanxi." The doctor with the inverted pot nodded to him. "Remember to take today's dose of medicine."
Yuanxi took the small medicine bottle, weighed it in his hand, and casually stuffed it into his pocket, his nonchalant smile returning to his face: "Okay, okay, stop nagging. I'm off."
He turned, his steps seemingly steady as he walked out of the inverted pot, but the instant he stepped into the dimly lit alleyway outside, his shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly. The lamplight in the ghost market cast a long shadow of him, making him appear somewhat lonely. He instinctively reached for his shoulder, but only felt the empty fabric of his clothes. Only… since his old friend left, he had no one left to listen to his musings.
Just as he was about to return to that cramped but safe "home," a tall figure blocked the candlelight at the alley entrance.
Yuan Xi paused, narrowing his eyes. Upon recognizing the person, the relaxed expression he had been maintaining instantly froze, then he quickly donned it again, as if putting on a mask: "Oh, isn't this Tianquan's top disciple? What are you doing here in the middle of the night, out in the dark? Moon-gazing?"
...
“Yuanxi, don’t you think that kid has been coming to the Ghost Market too often lately? Even the person in charge of Tianquan’s Kaifeng base has noticed. He even asked me about it when we met this morning.” Hongyue stopped Yuanxi at the door after thinking for a moment, “What did you say to him that night?”
As her senior, her imposing presence was always sufficient. Yuan Xi couldn't stand her stare for a while, so he sighed and sat down on the stone stool next to him, his voice full of exhaustion. "He asked me why I sent him away back then."
Recalling that night, in front of the Upside-Down Pot, the dim candlelight in the Ghost Market shone on Shi Qing's face as he ran out of the shadows. He was in a rather disheveled state, panting heavily, with his hair in a mess, and even the signature bun of the Tianquan disciples at the back of his head was loose.
His face was pale, but his tense expression finally eased a little after seeing Yuan Xi.
Shi Qing ignored Yuan Xi's seemingly casual teasing and approached him step by step, looking him up and down along the way, before finally stopping in front of Yuan Xi.
He frowned, still catching his breath, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, unable to speak. Yuan Xi could see the complex emotions in Shi Qing's eyes. He thought quickly, figuring he could brush off any questions the child might have about his health.
Unexpectedly, Shi Qing brought up an old story and asked Yuan Xi why he sent him to Jing Xi and the others back then.
"Why is that?" Hongyue didn't understand either. At that time, Elder Xue really wanted Shi Qing to join the Nine Schools.
The man sitting on the stone stool said, "Because I don't want to be in the Ninth Rank."
When he was young, he lost his family and his village. He struggled to reach Kaifeng, only to be tricked into joining a shady sect. He couldn't leave, and his companions were waiting for him in the north. Yuan Xi harbored deep resentment about this. Therefore, when he heard that the elder intended to take Shi Qing, who had also lost everything, into the sect, he felt a chill run down his spine. He secretly contacted Jing Xi, packed Shi Qing's belongings, and sent him to Jing Xi's side.
Hongyue smiled and said, "Didn't you want to leave too? Why didn't you leave in the end?"
"Because I received news that the area had been buried by snow, and the reply was delayed, I thought they had been washed away with the snow."
"It's more than that. If you really wanted to leave, why did you work so hard that you fell into a pit and ruined yourself like this?"
"..." Yuan Xi stared at a point in the void, "Think what you want."
Hongyue: "Rude."
Yuan Xi initially thought that Shi Qing had only come to seek clarification on the doubts from back then, and that the matter would be over. Of course, if Shi Qing was really angry, he could do his best to make amends, since he was in the wrong first and shouldn't have made the decision on his own.
As a result, Shi Qing came to the Ghost Market more and more frequently, not to ask for compensation, but to "take care" of Yuan Xi.
He said that Wonseok was seriously injured and had difficulty moving around, and that he did this to repay the life-saving grace he received when he was a child.
Actually, what Yuanxi really wanted to say was that even if I hadn't gone back then, my senior brothers and sisters would have rescued you. I just met you before them.
But when he saw Shi Qing's stubborn look, he swallowed his words and reached out to ruffle Shi Qing's hair.
"You should go back and practice your skills."
"Okay." Shi Qing didn't dodge his hand and replied verbally. She took out an oil paper package from her bosom and stuffed it into Yuan Xi's hand. "Um... I heard from Sister Hongyue that you've been taking medicine, which must be quite bitter, so I brought you some maltose." He paused and lowered his voice. "Um... you should rest well. I'll come see you again tomorrow."
Holding the oil paper package, Yuan Xi watched Shi Qing walk further and further away. When he reached the fork in the road, he suddenly stopped, turned around and waved to him. He showed no displeasure, but instead had a smile on his face.
Back at the Ghost Market, Yuanxi placed the oil-paper package on the table, brewed the medicine, drank it while it was still hot, and clicked his tongue nostalgically as he stared at the little bit of residue at the bottom.
It has no taste.
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