Chapter 9. In the Woods
Zhao Jing of Tai Hu, also referred to as the Swordsman of Qiu Shan, was once a renowned figure.
Before they got to Tai Hu, Zhou Zishu had been looking forward to meeting this elusive hero whose name preceded his appearance. The antic.i.p.ation grew when he caught wind of the news that Yu Tianjie — the only son of Hua Shan Sect"s patriarch, along with Mu Yunge — lord of Duan Jian Mountain Manor and Sir "One-Eyed" Jiang Che would also be at the same place.
Zhou Zishu knew their status and background like the back of his hand — to avoid offense, Tian Chuang had a separate archive of every single event and figure in jianghu in the last fifty years.
For example, Zhou Zishu knew that Zhao Jing the heroic Qiu Shan Swordsman was once exiled from his family and spent his days in sufferings. For money, he had committed crimes not unlike what "Enchanted Song" Qin Song had done. He only started using his real name Zhao Jing again at twenty seven, marrying the only daughter of the Feng family that owned Tai Hu, using nepotism to build wealth. He also secretly killed off the ones who knew of his past, and was reaccepted into the Zhao family after the marriage.
Another example would be the famous young Sir Yu Tianjie: it was said that he once had a tryst with a maiden from E Mei Sect but betrayed her afterwards, resulting in the girl committing suicide with their unborn child of three months old — of course, she was honorable enough to never reveal the wretched lover"s name.
Zhou Zishu was deeply interested in them since he knew all too well the kind of people they all were; besides, he was weak to Zhang Chengling"s pleadings, so he agreed to stay at the Zhaos" for one more night.
Despite his past, Zhao Jing did have a gallant aura to him; he didn"t look down on the ragged Zhou Zishu who couldn"t even walk properly. But he was also experienced, and through Zhang Chengling"s stories of the dangers he had to face on the journey, he became suspicious of this beggar-looking man"s background.
That day, after helping the two settle down, have a proper shower and food, Zhao Jing called Jiang Chengling to the study to tell him what had happened in the past days.
Jiang Chengling after all was still a child — it was hard enough for him to find someone he could call family; so he told the elder everything, even stuffs that he had yet to understand. Zhao Jing listened to him in terror; and after contemplation he couldn"t help but ask, "This… Zhou gentleman, do you know who he really is?"
Zhang Chengling told him what happened at the abandoned shrine without hesitation.
Zhao Jing narrowed his eyes and stroked his beard. He comforted the younger briefly before sending him to bed.
From the ten days of travelling together, Zhou Zishu had come to know this Zhang Chengling child. Despite lacking a lot due to being pampered from a young age, he was a good kid with a good heart, never complaining when facing hardship, to the point of being a little simple-minded. Since Zhao Jing wanted to talk to him, Zhou Zishu was sure that the sly old fox must have succeeded in tricking Zhang Chengling into revealing information about him without meaning to.
He laughed internally — it didn"t really matter whether he was Zhou Xu or Zhou Zishu, as both names were shrouded in mystery anyway. Even someone with vast knowledge and ample resources would know no further about Tian Chuang other than the general information about the organization itself, much less its leader.
Even if one investigated into "Lord Zhou", they would only dig up a nominal general whose responsibility was managing the inner court"s royal guards, who was worth currying favor with but not important enough to be looked at twice.
Sure enough, from the early morning of the next day, Zhou Zishu became the newest hot topic among residents in Tai Hu Holdings. It was impossible to leave the guest"s room thanks to the never-ending stream of visitors.
He had no choice but to greet and see them off one by one—
Ah, Sir Zhao, truly an honor to finally meet you, seeing is truly believing, your appearance brought such a prosperous aura… You"re asking who taught this lowly one? Oh, we"re just n.o.bodies, not worth being mentioned at all.
Ah, Sir Qian, truly an honor to finally meet you, seeing is truly believing, your appearance brought such a prosperous aura… Where I"m from? This one is just a lowly beggar, it"s not worth mentioning- no no no, I"m not from the Beggar Sect1, how can I ever be deserving of joining them? I"m just a n.o.body, really…
Ah, Sir Sun, truly an honor to finally meet you, seeing is truly believing, your appearance brought such a prosperous aura… I"m just a n.o.body, it wouldn"t be out of the ordinary at all that you"ve never heard of me.
Ah, Sir Li, truly an honor to finally meet you, seeing is truly believing, your appearance brought such a prosperous aura… No no, I"ve never known that other Sir Li that well, what we had was just a convenient a.s.sistance during hard times. Which sect? I"m from none, just a n.o.body, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning at all.
As the night drew near, Zhou Zishu had been smiling so much his entire face was stiffened; it took a lot of ma.s.saging for it to return to the natural state. He knew deeply in his soul that complete paralysis wouldn"t be far away if he had to suffer one more day of this, so he immediately planned to leave.
Considering the insistence in the inquiries about other people"s business, these jianghu heroes were no better than nosy gossipers at markets; it was as if they wished they could have just stick their head into other"s house and use their eagle eyes to scan over anything and everything, seeing under the skin to determine if this was a human or a ghost.
If one said they were from one of the Eight Big Sects and was a disciple of this blah blah blah person, the other one could reply that Oh, truly an honor to finally meet you, my shishu2 and your Master knew each other way back.
Otherwise, they would be considered an outsider, and their character needed more time to be judged.
It was night time. Under the waning moon, Zhou Zishu opened his eyes. He had been sleeping early since now was the time for the Nails to cause troubles. But the pain was nothing too serious, he just needed rest.
He stood up, hesitating a little; it was admittedly rude to leave without saying goodbye. He left behind two letters: one for Zhang Chengling, saying "Mountains are still green, waters will still flow long and far3". An incredible satisfaction washed over him after writing the note, as he felt like he had finally embodied being a jianghu wanderer now. The other letter was for Zhao Jing with one mere sentence: Ever grateful for the welcoming stay.
He placed them under the teapot before gracefully jumping onto the roof.
On the roof was a small dragon li cat4 strolling. It felt a fleeting shadow and halted in alert, eyes wide, but didn"t see anything else. Tilting its head in confusion, the cat ran towards the kitchen.
Zhou Zishu left the Zhaos without a sound. He was sure that no one had noticed, so never would he have imagined that there was someone seemingly having predicted his moves and was already waiting for him in a small forest only a mile away from the Holdings.
Zhou Zishu felt annoyance creeping up the moment he glanced at that person. He saw Wen Kexing saluting him smilingly, "Ah, how coincidental, Brother Zhou. Seems like we are fated after all; only soulmates would keep crossing paths under the moonlight like this."
Zhou Zishu smiled back, "Truly coincidental isn"t it, Brother Wen?"
Coincidental my a.s.s, you pestilence, he thought.
He tilted his head, asking after not seeing Gu Xiang, "Young Miss Gu"s not here?"
Wen Kexing gave a straightforward answer, "That little girl is an inconvenience, she walks too slow; she"ll only be in the way while I"m looking for this important, elusive figure that is… you."
The smile freezed on Zhou Zishu"s face. He stared at Wen Kexing, then spoke after a good while, "If this useless one was an important figure, then what would become of Monk Gu of Mount Chang Ming, the Poison King of the Southern Sea"s Guanyin Palace, or the Ghost Lord of Qingzhu Ridge?"
Wen Kexing stared back meaningfully. "Monk Gu cares none for the mortals, all he seeks is the path of cultivation; the Poison King is said to have blended into the vast world of jianghu, it"d be a hard feat to find him; and the Ghost Lord is no less ambiguous, never have I got the chance to meet this one… as for whether he"s human or not, it"s a story for another day."
They looked at each other after that, smiles carrying malicious intentions.
Zhou Zishu was the first to turn his eyes away. "Zhou-mou5 is merely a pa.s.serby, why is it that everyone have their eyes on me?"
Wen Kexing replied with a manner not unlike when one reunited with an old friend during a spring hiking. "Then why doesn"t Brother Zhou stay with the Zhaos for a while longer? Tai Hu is popular for its pretty scenery, why must you leave this soon without looking around a bit?"
"This useless one has already experienced Tai Hu"s incredible view, staying will only create unnecessary inconveniences for Sir Zhao. Not to mention we don"t know each other that well; I did the favor for two silvers, it"s not worth risking my life for them."
Zhou Zishu paused before adding, "Escorting the young master Zhang is purely for gathering merits, so that I won"t have to endure any tortures in the Underworld after death. That"s all to it."
"Gathering merits." Wen Kexing repeated in agreement somewhat, head nodding, "Correct, Brother Zhou truly shares the same mind with me; and as only beautiful people can do that, it is clear-"
Zhou Zishu"s temples throbbed at "it is clear"; he was about to interrupt when suddenly, a piercing scream was heard deep inside the forest behind Wen Kexing.
They both temporarily stopped.
Wen Kexing pointed to the direction of the scream, "See, my dear soulmate, another chance for merit gathering has appeared."
Zhou Zishu showed hesitation, but eventually decided to go towards the direction of the sound, grudgingly replying to the other at the same time, "Eye problems are very serious, Brother Wen, you should look for a physician soon."
Wen Kexing followed close behind. Zhou Zishu"s qinggong6 had reached the stage where he could travel without leaving any traces, but the other man was able to keep up with him without fail, always keeping a small distance. Normally, one would stay silent during the travelling, so as not to lose their vital energy, but Wen Kexing didn"t seem to mind it. "Brother Zhou is very correct; I do have to see some famous physicians whenever I have the chance to get treated properly. Up until now I"m still unable to find any mistakes in Brother Zhou"s disguise; what awful eyesight I have and I"m not even that old yet, how shameful, shameful."
Zhou Zishu really wanted to get rid of those eyes that were supposedly "getting worse every day".
But on second thought, he didn"t know enough about this man, and with the intellect and self-restraint of a former Tian Chuang"s leader, he would not do something foolish like that.
With an incredible speed, soon enough they reached the deeper part of the forest. There they saw a corpse.
The person died a ghastly death: dressed in black clothes, their mask fallen to both sides, revealing wide-open eyes. Zhou Zishu felt a sense of familiarity before he even got to see the body clearly, so he bent down to inspect further. He couldn"t help but frown afterwards, "Isn"t this… Sir Mu, lord of Duan Jian Mountain Manor?"
Just this morning he was rambling to no ends for an hour; no one could have thought that he also became a "night owl" like Zhou Zishu, then a dead owl, unfortunately.
Wen Kexing approached as well, rubbing his chin with interest, "Moonlit night, black clothes, it"s possible that…"
Zhou Zishu turned to the other, ready to hear his deductions.
Only for Wen Kexing to continue his brilliant train of thought: "…that Lord Mu is out here picking flowers7?"
Zhou Zishu turned away, face expressionless, internally praising himself for keeping his composure.
There was no trace of blood on Mu Yunge"s body or beside him, but his lips had gotten bluer. Zhou Zishu, after some thought, opened the front of his shirt. On his chest was only a black mark in the shape of a hand.
Footnotes
1 Also called the Beggar Clan, it"s one of the most common sect appearing in a wuxia setting. It"s made up of beggar and is famous for intelligence gathering.
2 师叔 (shīshū) - Uncle-Master is the apprentice-brother (both senior and junior) of one"s Master in a sect.
3 Means that there is still lots of time for Zhou Zishu and Zhang Chengling to meet again.
4 A Chinese breed of domestic cat.
5 某 (mǒu) is an old honorific used to refer to oneself in a formal manner.
6 Qinggong is a Chinese martial art technique, often portrayed in wuxia fiction as the ability to move lightly and inhumanly fast, such as gliding on the water surface or travelling through the air without any external help.
7 Slang for s.e.xual hara.s.sment.