The sun was shining brightly outside the window, and the weather was clear. Yan Liang had finished his meal and was leaning against the window, pondering whether to continue teasing the dogs at the city gate or go to the alley to tease the cats, when the system popped up and ruined the mood.
[Task: Obtain the image of Ye Gucheng's "Celestial Immortal"].
[Task Description: The system will provide Comrade Yan Liang with a camera. Comrade Yan Liang, please prepare in advance.]
Comrade Yan Liang: ...? ? ?
System: Someone is offering a high price for a peerless sword technique, specifically one with an ethereal, otherworldly quality. Ye Gucheng is the best choice. He will definitely use this technique during his final battle with Ximen Chuixue. I hope you are prepared. The reward is substantial, and it will be beneficial to both of us.
Yan Liang had never seen Ye Gucheng wield a sword, so he didn't comment on the system's assertion. He calculated the time in his mind and found that September 15th was just four days away, but he didn't even know the location of the duel between Ximen Chuixue and Ye Gucheng.
It wasn't just him who didn't know; nobody knew.
Speaking of Ye Gucheng, Yan Liang recalled someone he had met not long ago.
Yesterday at noon, he was playing with his dog in a small alley when a carriage slowly passed by. A gentle breeze lifted the curtains, and Yan Liang squatted down to stroke the dog's head, making eye contact with the person inside the carriage.
Those were serene and detached eyes, like a celestial being high above the mundane world, looking down upon all living beings.
System: You're right, the person you saw yesterday was Ye Gucheng.
Yan Liang: ...
The system stopped his recollection in time, confirming his guess. However, Yan Liang was not happy about it; instead, he felt a sense of frustration, as if the plot had been spoiled.
No one knew that Ye Gucheng had come to the capital except Yan Liang, but he couldn't say it out loud.
Just like those who know the plot and want to slap the plot in the faces of others who speculate about it, Yan Liang was extremely conflicted.
Tang Tianzong opened the door to his room, and the door to the room opposite his also opened. He looked up and met Yan Liang's complicated eyes, wondering, "Why do you look like that? What happened?"
Yan Liang closed the door and walked side by side with Tang Tianzong, talking as they went. Yan Liang didn't mention Ye Gucheng, thinking that no one would believe him anyway, but he did say that he missed the cat at that restaurant terribly. Tang Tianzong rolled his eyes at him and firmly stated that he would never go to that restaurant again.
"What restaurant owner runs it like him?" Tang Tianzong still felt resentful when he talked about what happened not long ago. "It's bad enough that the location is bad, but he even turns away customers. That restaurant will go out of business sooner or later."
Finally, he added, "Like master, like pet. If the person is unreasonable, the pet won't be much better. You haven't been there for the past few days, so you must have already forgotten about it."
Yan Liang fully understood the young man's dissatisfaction with what happened that day. He smiled and didn't mention going to see the cat again. He then went with him to the roadside stall they had met before.
It was a clay figurine stall owned by a man surnamed Zhang. He was highly skilled, and the clay figurines he made were indistinguishable from real people except for their size. People in Beijing called him Clay Figurine Zhang.
Yan Liang had passed by with the three members of the Tang Clan earlier, and he became interested in having Clay Figure Zhang make four clay figures for them. Yan Liang then chose to paint them and set a time. Tang Tianyi and Tang Tianzong had important matters to attend to, so only the two of them went to collect the clay figures today.
Clay Figure Zhang wasn't setting up his stall today. The stall owner next to him said his grandson, who had gone out to learn martial arts, had returned home and kindly gave them directions. Yan Liang and Tang Tianzong walked through the alley and arrived at a small courtyard.
Yan Liang knocked on the door. Tang Tianzong stood by with his arms crossed, watching. The wooden door opened, and a young man with a puzzled expression suddenly changed his expression when he met Tang Tianzong's gaze: "Tang Tianzong!"
Tang Tianzong's eyes widened slightly: "Zhang Yingfeng?"
Ah, so we know each other.
Yan Liang nodded.
Before Yan and Tang arrived, Clay Figure Zhang was berating his grandson for stubbornly leaving home to learn martial arts. He stopped talking when he heard the knock and told Zhang Yingfeng to open the door. Zhang Yingfeng was initially grateful to the person who knocked, but his expression turned sour when he saw Tang Tianzong inside.
Both the Emei Sect and the Tang Clan are renowned sects in Sichuan. If a disciple of one sect goes out to train, they will naturally train in the sect's territory first. Zhang Yingfeng ran into Tang Tianzong when Tang Tianzong was out training, lost to him, and the two became enemies, never speaking kindly to each other when they met.
But in front of Clay Figure Zhang, Zhang Yingfeng was extremely obedient, and with a stiff face, he barely managed to greet Tang Tianzong in a friendly manner.
Yan Liang was playing with the Zhang family's child. He was holding the child and lifting him up high. The child was laughing happily. Tang Tianzong looked at the child's smiling face and whispered to Zhang Yingfeng, "Think twice before you act."
Zhang Yingfeng was a disciple of Dugu Yihe of the Emei Sword Sect, who died a few months ago at the hands of Ximen Chuixue. Thinking of the duel between Ximen Chuixue and Ye Gucheng, Yan Liang and Tang Tianzong both had a vague suspicion that Zhang Yingfeng's decision to return to his hometown at this time was related to that event.
Zhang Yingfeng and Ximen Chuixue both wield swords, but their skill level differs significantly based on their reputations alone. If Zhang Yingfeng sought revenge against Ximen Chuixue, he would certainly not win.
Tang Tianzong couldn't bear to see Clay Figure Zhang lose his grandson who had finally returned home after many years, so he said those words to Zhang Yingfeng.
Zhang Yingfeng was taken aback at first, then met Yan Liang's gaze as he held the child. The young man had a smile on his face, but his eyes held the same worry as Tang Tianzong's.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Zhang Yingfeng said softly. “Thank you.”
Tang Tianzong pursed his lips, a hint of confusion in his expression. Since completing his apprenticeship, he had enjoyed smooth sailing, rarely encountering adversaries and never losing anything, so he couldn't understand Zhang Yingfeng's stubbornness in taking such a desperate gamble.
Yan Liang understood, so he said nothing.
After receiving the clay figurine sculpted and painted by Zhang, Yan Liang smiled and said goodbye to the child. The child shouted, "Goodbye, Brother Yan Liang and Brother Tian Zong!" Tang Tian Zong's expression froze. He hadn't expected to be mentioned. He gave a dry "goodbye" and turned to leave. Yan Liang followed him out the door with Zhang Yingfeng.
Where is your junior brother?
The three of them went out the door, and only when they reached a secluded place did Tang Tianzong turn around and ask Zhang Yingfeng.
“He was staying at the inn outside the alley,” Zhang Yingfeng said. “We split up and went to find Ximen Chuixue.”
Tang Tianzong said coldly, "You can't beat Ximen Chuixue. You can't even beat me."
Zhang Yingfeng: "There's no comparison between swords and hidden weapons."
Tang Tianzong: "Then you can just wait for your grandfather to outlive his son!"
Zhang Yingfeng gritted his teeth: "It's none of your business!"
Tang Tianzong and Zhang Yingfeng parted on bad terms, and this time the atmosphere was more somber than in the past.
The Tang Clan is a family-style sect. A master can be a father or grandfather, and fellow disciples can be brothers. For members of the Tang Clan, family comes first and then teachers, with family far surpassing teachers.
This wouldn't work in other sects.
Yan Liang said to him, "If your brother were injured, you would certainly not be able to remain calm."
Tang Tianzong had already roughly figured it out, but he was still sulking: "But his family will also be worried and sad at that time."
Yan Liang thought for a moment and said, "So there is no answer to this."
Yan Liang rarely thought about how his family would react after his death in his original world, but this time he suddenly became curious.
He had a lukewarm relationship with his family. He had two younger brothers and a younger sister, all half-sisters. His father was a womanizer, fathering many children out of wedlock. As the eldest son with poor health, he had virtually no presence in the family. There were few people around when he died. If anyone would be saddened by his death... it would probably only be his one and only sister.
When Tang Tianrong and Tang Tianyi returned to the inn, they found that their junior brother was not in a good mood. After Yan Liang told them, the two of them chuckled. Compared to Tang Tianzong and Yan Liang, they had more experience in the martial arts world, and naturally, some people had sought revenge on them, which was common in the martial arts world.
"Revenge if you have a grudge, settle a score if you have a grudge. If you lose, it's just because you're not as good as the other person," Tang Tianrong said.
“Exactly, you’re still young. You’ll understand in a few years.” Tang Tianyi was instructing his young junior brother without looking up as he tried to add chili oil to the sweet soup.
"Here, have a taste." As Tang Tianyi spoke, the chili oil had already seeped into the sweet soup. He reached out and handed it to Tang Tianzong, who was still sulking.
Tang Tianzong paused for a moment, then fled the room as if escaping: "I'm going to find Yan Liang!"
Tang Tianrong: "..."
Faced with the sweet soup that was handed to her instead, Tang Tianrong forced a smile and drank it down.
Tang Tianyi: "How is it?"
Tang Tianrong: "It's...it's alright..."
Yan Liang, who was brewing medicine in the kitchen downstairs, couldn't help but chuckle when Tang Tianzong told him about it.
Tang Tianyi is passionate about mixing spiciness with various flavors and is obsessed with creating bizarre dishes without realizing it. Yan Liang has learned about this in the past few days.
He sometimes felt fortunate that he had avoided the opportunity to try spicy food because his throat prevented him from eating it.
"I thought you three brothers had the same taste." Yan Liang fanned himself with a small fan by the stove, the bitter smell of medicine spreading throughout the room.
Tang Tianzong stood leaning against the door. Although there were small stools in the kitchen, he thought they were too unseemly, so he insisted on standing.
“It’s different,” Tang Tianzong said decisively. “My senior brother loves spicy food even more than my second brother and I.”
Yan Liang couldn't help but laugh: "I know that now."
The three Tang brothers were his source of joy in the capital. Each of them had a different personality and seemed arrogant at first glance, but after spending time with them, he found that each of them was more interesting than the last.
It would be a pity if any one of these three brothers were missing.
This is what Yan Liang was thinking at this moment, and this kind of thinking is often the sign that a flag has been raised.
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