Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 55: Cui Yuanyang

Swoosh!

A blood-red saber swung over. The footwork of the man in the martial arts school was like that of a soaring dragon, and he dodged the fierce saber attack more afraid than hurt. Afterward, he counterattacked with his own saber and slashed toward the back of Zhao Changhe’s neck.

Zhao Changhe, who looked like he was out of any new tricks, suddenly used the Returning Slash he was exceedingly familiar with to pull back and block the oncoming attack.

His opponent’s footwork changed once again and, inexplicably, he appeared on Zhao Changhe’s left side. His saber swung toward Zhao Changhe’s waist.

Zhao Changhe’s Vicious Blood Saber Art also came with footwork, which included ways to dodge, twist, leap, and dash. Together with the Traceless Soaring Blood, he felt he could move even less unhindered. However, in the duel he was currently fighting, he felt clumsy and stiff, while his opponent was extremely slippery and hard to deal with.

Both of them were at the third layer of the Profound Gate, but Zhao Changhe’s opponent did not practice both internal and external arts. Yet, this battle was already not an easy one to fight. Strictly speaking, if Zhao Changhe lost, he would technically be losing to someone of a lower cultivation.

Everyone had their strengths and weaknesses. In the Blood God Cult, everyone trained in the same techniques and martial arts, and so they all roughly shared similar strengths and shortcomings. Once Zhao Changhe left to see how big the lands were, he knew that he would definitely find people he could learn from.

He already realized this when he trained with Yue Hongling: the vastness of the world under heaven, the strengths of each family and their martial arts—these were things he could never see in trivial Beimang.

Thus, Zhao Changhe, with his saber, had to challenge all under heaven!

It was a good thing that even though this school master’s footwork was slippery, it was not as slippery as Yue Hongling’s. After Yue Hongling’s special training, Zhao Changhe could at least grasp the movements of enemies at this level. The longer he fought, the more he could understand how they moved. If it went on for long enough, Zhao Changhe would even be able to predict where his opponent would dodge.

Bang!

The school master fled to the right. Zhao Changhe suddenly stretched his leg and kicked him square in the face.

Taken by surprise, the school master fell to the ground. The first thought that popped into his head was, My head is gone.

If Zhao Changhe seized this opportunity to strike with his saber, his head would really be lopped off... Zhao Changhe kills wherever he goes—he’s exceptionally ruthless. He might really just kill me right here...

The disciples of the school standing by the side all cried out in unison and were about to charge forward. However, they saw Zhao Changhe grab their master’s hand and pull him up. Then, he retreated a step and cupped his fists. “Thank you for your guidance, school master. The Roaming Dragon Eight Trigrams Step is indeed a marvelous example of footwork. I’ve gained a lot from this battle today. Thank you.”

Everyone in the martial arts school stared in disbelief as Zhao Changhe turned around and left. After a short while, he disappeared into the rain and could no longer be seen.

The disciples all looked at each other while the school master massaged his bruised ankle, muttering in bewilderment, “That’s really Zhao Changhe? How come he’s so different from the rumors?”

“I heard that Zhao Changhe has a full beard and looks both boorish and sinister.”

“I heard Zhao Changhe is eight chi[1] tall and has an eight-chi waist.”

“I heard that Zhao Changhe eats human flesh.”

Amidst the confusion, a man said weakly, “But he looks just like the drawing on the wanted posters. Haven’t you all seen them? Why do you believe dumb rumors like that?”

“...”

Silence.

It really fucking is Zhao Changhe. How did these stupid ass rumors spread?

The school master sighed. “Stop exaggerating. That’s definitely Zhao Changhe. His Vicious Blood Art and Vicious Blood Saber Art are both impeccable—he’s practically overflowing with vicious qi and his eyes are blood-red when using these arts. It would be strange if he wasn’t the real Zhao Changhe. Just how is he able to control such fiendish demonic arts so well... What’s more, he—he’s actually polite. If someone told me that he was from the illustrious Cui Clan or something, I’d really believe it.”

“That means he really was here to challenge us and learn more about saber arts? Not to seek glory or loot? How did the rumors surrounding him become like that...”

The people in the school felt like they were in a dream.

Unbeknownst to them, Zhao Changhe also felt the same.

As he turned around a corner, the first thing he saw was a young lady wrapped pitifully in a long coat of sable fur. She curled against the corner of two walls, shivering. Under the pouring rain, she was completely drenched. She would have been better off without her sable coat—the wetter it got, the harder it would be for her to endure the cold.

Her hat revealed her round face.

Zhao Changhe rubbed his forehead. “Miss Cui, what’re you doing? Didn’t your brother ask someone to bring you back home? Why are you wasting your time begging for money here?”

“I—I don’t want to go back. And I’m not a beggar. I was waiting for you.”

“According to common sense, after learning that hard lesson from falling into the trap at the mountain stronghold, shouldn’t you have realized just how inadequate you are and return home to work hard and cultivate? Instead, you ran away to meet with a man. Just what are you thinking?”

“Are you cultivating as well?”

“Yes I am.”

“You’ve left Beimang with your saber to temper yourself by experiencing the hardships of the jianghu, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Then let me come with you. Won’t that also count as cultivating? I’ve already memorized all of the martial arts of my clan and I’ve stolen a good amount of medicinal pills. What use is there in training at home when I can follow you and learn from the jianghu?”

Zhao Changhe was dumbstruck. She had actually put together this whole plan with him at the center.

She’s not stupid at all. From a standpoint purely concerned with cultivation, there’s no way to refute her logic. Am I not doing exactly what she described? The problem is, why exactly do you trust me so much!? You should continue pestering your brother!

“I say, Miss Cui.” Zhao Changhe put his hands on his hips. “Do you know what we call this sort of behavior of yours in my dialect? Feeding![2]”

Cui Yuanyang blinked. The expression in her eyes showed that she had no idea what he meant.

“What is the most important thing one must guard against while traveling the jianghu?”

Cui Yuanyang answered instantly, “The evils of man’s heart. I understood that after watching you travel.”

“Then what makes you believe that I’m not evil?” Zhao Changhe was utterly dumbfounded. “You’re a pretty little girl; You’ve told me you’ve memorized all the martial arts of the Cui Clan. You have medicines, you have other resources, and you probably have a lot of money on you. What’s stopping me from snatching what you have, forcing you to write down your Cui Clan’s secret arts, and then having fun with you every day in eighteen different positions?”

Cui Yuanyang could not really take such blunt words. She lowered her head, her face slightly flushed. “You... you won’t. If you were that kind of person, I’d have long since...”

“Miss. I was not in the mood back then, and it wasn’t the right time. Once you give me a good opportunity to do so, I can’t promise you I won’t do all those things to you. Why the fuck do you trust me more than I trust myself? I’m a bandit! A bandit, do you know what a fucking bandit is!?”

Cui Yuanyang lowered her head and clutched at her clothes in silence.

Zhao Changhe looked around. The rain was still pouring and the streets were deserted.

He could not remain angry looking at her pitiful appearance, and he just sighed. “Alright. I don’t even dare to chase you home, just in case you run away again like an idiot. What about this? In any case, I don’t have any definite goal. I’m just wandering wherever I want to challenge people and train in the saber. I’ll settle on a travel route today and take you in the direction of Qinghe.”

Cui Yuanyang snuck a glance at his face. You say you’re a bad person, but you’re the spitting image of nobility. Why do you continue pretending like you’re bad and uncouth?

She did not say something stupid like wanting to wander far and wide in the jianghu and she was also acutely aware she was troubling Zhao Changhe. He was different from Cui Yuanyong; with his cultivation, he couldn’t even settle down somewhere. Moreover, he was wanted by both demonic and orthodox forces, and every step he took would be full of thorns. It was difficult enough for him to take care of himself. How could he bring along a brat?

If Zhao Changhe threw her to a government office in anger, they would definitely have to kiss her ass and escort her home. However, he clearly wasn’t thinking that far. As long as he was willing to travel home with her, that was pretty good as far as Cui Yuanyang was concerned.

Everyone thought she was stupid, but when she really set her mind to do something, she knew exactly what to do.

“Get up. There’s an inn there, let’s check in first. If you stay in the rain any longer, you’ll get sick even with your third layer cultivation. This is a low-level martial arts world, do you really think you’re so fantastic?”

Cui Yuanyang followed him closely from behind. She felt extremely perplexed after listening to him muttering his strange words. It was not until a moment later that she realized they were about to stay alone together at an inn.

She initially thought that traveling the jianghu with him would definitely be fun. Unexpectedly, she never thought about situations like this arising.

The strange thing was, she was completely calm at heart.

He was truly a noble man.

*

“Innkeeper, are there any rooms available? Don’t tell me there’s only one room left.”

“...Naturally, we have a few available. We also have private courtyards...” The innkeeper leaned on the counter, about to doze off. He continued impatiently, “...if you have the money.”

Zhao Changhe snapped his fingers at Cui Yuanyang to tell her it was her time to shine.

Cui Yuanyong’s face was flushed as she took out a silver piece from her bag. “We’ll have—have a private courtyard. Don’t let anyone bother us.”

Her crisp and sweet voice fully awoke the innkeeper. He suddenly raised his head and sized up the young lady, then sized up Zhao Changhe with an extremely weird look on his face.

My brother, how many years do you wish to be sentenced to?

1. One chi is a third of a meter, so he’d be almost two and a half meters tall. ☜

2. As in, the kind of feeding in an online game. ☜