Thousand Autumns

Watching Hulugu fall, Yu Shengyan was first ecstatic, then aghast.

He knew, Hulugu was extraordinary, his wugong unsurpassed, pretty much number one under the heavens, no matter how strong shizun was, even being able to beat him, he himself would definitely not remain unscathed.

As this thought crossed his mind, he wanted to go over immediately to see shizun, but the distance between Banbu Peak and here was objectively one he could not surmount.

Just as he was about to head down the mountain, someone’s shadow moved faster than him.

It was Shen Qiao.

Yu Shengyan’s mouth hung open as he watched Shen Qiao rise in the air, leaping in the direction of the opposite peak, in the wind, he looked no different from a celestial.

The words that he was on the verge of screaming died in his throat, like the others in the crowd, he could only follow with his eyes as Shen Qiao drifted towards the opposite Banbu Peak.

Strictly speaking, he was really drifting.

On the mountaintop, the headwinds were merciless, the crowd was being blown every which way while standing still, without wugong, a commoner here would have to cling to the nearest tree, otherwise they’d have been blown cleanly away, even the Wang brothers who were among the talents, had to circulate their nieli constantly to remain in one place, one moment of inattention and they could be blown away too.

Yet in the chaotic winds, Shen Qiao’s sleeves danced, step by step he drifted towards the opposite peak, it appeared very slow, but was actually extremely fast, from this end to that end, he managed to cross the distance that to the average person was insurmountable!

Just on the merit of qinggong, there were probably few in the world that were his rival, he was possibly even a notch above his shizun.

These thoughts passed in Yu Shengyan’s mind, in the next moment, he came out of his stupor, and remembered his initial impulse to go down the mountain.

This time again someone was ahead of him, they were faster, they traversed the precipitous mountain path as if it were flat ground, quickly vanishing into the distance.

Earlier when they were climbing up, Yu Shengyan had caught sight of Duan Wenyang, while their shifu were fighting, the two of them had no heart to bicker, now Duan Wenyang seeing Hulugu fall, was of course extremely impatient wanting to rush over at once.

Yu Shengyan had heard stories about Duan Wenyang’s childhood being excluded from Tujue society, after being picked up by Hulugu, and becoming his disciple, his life circumstances changed drastically, Duan Wenyang was ambitious, he was also filial. Yu Shengyan’s current headspace was not that much better than Duan Wenyang’s, the two of them descended the mountain one after the other, when they reached the foot of Yinghui Peak and were about to continue up, from afar they saw Shen Qiao descending with Yan Wushi on his back.

“Shen-daozhang!” Yu Shengyan exclaimed, immediately rushing over to meet them.

When he saw Yan Wushi sprawled on Shen Qiao’s back, his eyes shut, face an ashen grey, Yu Shengyan’s expression changed: “Shizun!”

“Talk after we return.” Shen Qiao only said these four words.

“Shen-daozhang!” Duan Wenyang called after him: “How is my shizun?”

Shen Qiao looked at him: “I was solely focused on carrying Yan-zongzhu down, in the moment I didn’t have time to look to your master, I do not know his condition.”

Duan Wenyang had nothing to say, for a brief moment, he wondered if Shen Qiao was capable of using the opportunity to deliver a final blow on his shifu, after all there were only the three of them on Yinghui Peak, no one would know the truth, but this thought was refuted by Duan Wenyang as quickly as it appeared, although they held different interests, Duan Wenyang still had to admit, with Shen Qiao’s character, he would not do such a thing.

Some people had no way of becoming a friend, but even his enemies had nothing to say about his character, this was Shen Qiao.

In the end he still hadn’t said anything, just watched Shen Qiao and the others vanish into the distance, before he turned and headed up the mountain.

Yu Shengyan had no time to pay attention to him, he followed closely behind Shen Qiao, until they reached the residence.

Yan Wushi in others’ eyes was always all powerful, the head manager had never seen him like this, originally he’d come out all smiles to greet them, but was now frightened half to death.

Yu Shengyan bravely reached out to Yan Wushi’s hand, and his soul almost left him: “Why, why is it cold?!”

Shen Qiao said: “His injuries are too severe, I’ll write a prescription, you go and fetch three portions of the medicine: boil it over low heat, four bowls of water boiled down to one, to be taken two times a day.”

Yu Shengyan accepted immediately, he knew that in Xuandushan’s several hundred year history, there should be some secret, life-saving remedies, probably even better than what you’d get in the imperial court.

Shen Qiao carried Yan Wushi indoors, carefully lay him down, examined his meridians, wrote down the prescription, fed him some medicine, all of it he did himself.

Maybe it was Shen Qiao’s medicine, or maybe Yan Wushi’s inner cultivation, three days later, he finally woke.

“Shizun!” Yu Shengyan had just walked in with a steaming bowl of medicine, seeing this he cried out in delight.

His cry woke Shen Qiao who had been resting on the side with his hands propping up his forehead.

Yan Wushi opened his eyes, seeing that his disciple was about to help him up to take his medicine, said: “You, get out.”

Yu Shengyan: “Ah?”

His reaction wasn’t slow, he gave Shen Qiao a look.

Shen Qiao nodded: “You can take your leave, I’ll do it.”

Yu Shengyan looked at his shizun again.

The latter since waking had his gaze stuck on Shen Qiao, not even a little bit was spared in his direction.

Yu Shengyan suddenly thought of something like “rootless small grass in the bleak wind and bitter rain”, he handed the bowl over to Shen Qiao, and silently withdrew.

Shen Qiao hadn’t noticed his reaction, he held up a spoonful of medicine towards Yan Wushi, this motion he had been making for the last three days, it was a very familiar motion.

“How are you feeling?” Shen Qiao asked.

“Fine.” Yan Wushi said lazily, if not for his complexion being a little ashen, from his attitude you wouldn’t be able to tell he was injured at all.

Shen Qiao: “Your meridians have stabilized, but they are still weak, it will require some time, indeed the flaw in your demonic core was completely fixed, otherwise…”

He shook his head, and said no more.

Otherwise the one able to leave the mountain would not be Yan Wushi, but Hulugu.

The Hulugu from twenty years ago narrowly lost to Qi Fengge, twenty years later he could only be stronger, for Yan Wushi, this fight was very risky, even at the end when he saw the other’s opening, the two of them still had a difference in nieli, strength meeting strength could only have one outcome: you die I end.

If Shen Qiao had not directly jumped from Yinghui Peak, and instead descended before climbing the other mountain, in this interim, a difference of a few centimetres could lead to a thousand li discrepancy, and maybe Yan Wushi would not have been so lucky.

Yan Wushi gave him a soft smile: “A-Qiao, do you remember what you said before? You said if I wake up, you’ll do anything I want.”

Shen Qiao’s outstretched hand froze in mid-air: “I said that in a moment of desperation…”

Yan Wushi said cooly: “A virtuous man cannot take back his words.”

Shen Qiao, unable to deal with him: “Then, what do you want?”

Yan Wushi: “This medicine is so bitter.”

It was a pity that Shen-daozhang was so pure at heart, he hadn’t understood the implication: “Then I’ll go get some honey?”

Yan Wushi shook his head, suddenly he reached for the bowl and downed the contents in one go, then he grabbed the front of Shen Qiao’s robes and pulled him over, and with the utmost precision he met the other’s lips.

Shen Qiao opened his eyes wide, the next impulse was to push him away, but Yan Wushi was embracing him tightly, if he had to use force, it might injure the other…

Just one moment of hesitation, and Yan Wushi had already tasted once over the mouth that he had been thinking about for so long.

“Nn—En—“

Saliva that carried the slight bitter taste of medicine entered his mouth, Shen Qiao’s patience was at its limit, at this moment his hands were captured, and his centre of gravity was forced backwards, the other having gotten what he wanted kept pushing his luck, Shen Qiao’s waist couldn’t support the weight of two people and he was forced to straighten his torso and tilt his chin up, saliva brimmed over the corner of his mouth, winding its way down his pretty neck.

When Shen Qiao recovered enough to push the other aside, he didn’t realize how much of a mess he looked.

His hair was in disarray, his eyes wet and misty, like a pair of jade pools, his cheeks were still flushed, and his lips were clearly swollen and red, combined with this appearance —

He looked like the aftermath of someone who’d just been taken advantage of.

But the victim could not hold the instigator accountable, because the latter was clutching his chest, his brow furrowed, quietly moaning: “It hurts so much…”

Shen Qiao: “…”

Yan Wushi sighed: “I just overexerted myself, now it hurts to breathe, it looks like it will take a long time before I recover.”

This was clearly playing innocence after the fact, absolutely no sense of shame!

Shen Qiao’s face flashed shades of green and white: “How come you still don’t show any self-respect even after you’re injured!”

It was better when you were unconscious these last few days.

Yan Wushi, meaningfully: “It was you who said as long as I woke up, you’ll do anything, how come a kiss is not allowed? You’re a Daoist, you value what your promised, since anything goes, and this act doesn’t go against your sense of justice, it should be allowed, right?”

When it came to words, one hundred Shen Qiao’s could not outargue one Yan Wushi.

“…I see that you’re mostly recovered, you don’t need to drink the medicine anymore, just sit here and rest!”

The beauty getting angry was a different kind of scenery, Yan Wushi smiled and admired it, he felt that everything on the other’s body was a delight to look at.

Shen Qiao, having suffered once, was no longer willing to get close to feed him medicine, not giving him another opportunity, in the days following he only stood at the door and shot him a few glances before leaving.

This way several more days passed, news from the outside world began to arrive intermittently.

Hulugu was certainly dead, Duan Wenyang had brought the body back to Tujue for burial, in the jianghu it was rumoured that Yan Wushi also died in that fight, only on account of being whisked away by Shen Qiao was there no body.

The people at the residence naturally knew that Yan Wushi was not dead, he had only one breath left coming down the mountain, but on account of his own ability, and Shen Qiao’s full efforts, the one foot that had stepped firmly into the afterlife was pulled back.

But no one knew this. The crowd that had been waiting for the outcome at the foot of Banbu Peak had watched Shen Qiao carry him down on his back, seen the look on Yu Shengyan’s face that was looked like he was attending his parent’s funeral, and after all this time there was still no representative from Huanyue Sect to provide an update to the situation, so logically they all assumed Yan Wushi had also lost his life.

Those who were not superstitious went to inquire after the masters who were fortunate enough to be present that day, the opinions of grandmasters like Ruyan Kehui and Yi Bichen were naturally held in high regard.

Ruyan Kehui didn’t seem to appear to express any sort of opinion on the life or death outcome, he only said that Hulugu and Yan Wushi were among the best martial artists in the world, and he respected them a great deal.

In contrast, Yi Bichen’s response was clearer: he considered the two evenly matched, both sides losing, it was unlikely anyone gained an advantage.

Many people after hearing this were more convinced that Yan Wushi was already dead.

Then, if the number one and number two ranked martial masters under the heavens were both dead, then who was the strongest in the jianghu now?

More importantly, the bets at the gambling house, how would it be resolved?

Previously, it wasn’t like there was no one who bet on both sides losing, both sides dying, but that outcome seemed so unlikely and preposterous, most people wouldn’t have considered betting on it, the odds were thirty-seven to one, meaning, if you bet one liang, you’d win thirty-seven liang.

Rumour had it that many of the gambling houses in Funing County were crippled by this, filed for bankruptcy, however someone named Xixingke made a fortune, in one night they became immensely wealthy.

Who was Xixingke? No one knew.

“Shizun.” Yu Shengyan entered, handing over the account book in his hand. “This is the money we won, the total exceeds fifty thousand liang.”

This fifty thousand liang sum, was made at the expense of all of the gambling houses in Funing County, within the year, likely no one would be brave enough to open another gambling house in Funing County.

Yu Shengyan laughed: “Everyone’s trying to guess who Xixingke is, how difficult can it be, Huanyue Xixing, cleansing the moon and washing the stars, it’s not hard to make the connection. It’s just that later when you appear in public again, those people will be so upset!”

No use being upset, they set up the bet themselves, the odds were also determined by them, would they dare to show up to Huanyue Sect looking for trouble, would they be that willing to part with their lives?

Yan Wushi made a sound of acknowledgement, didn’t place too much value on this sum: “Where is A-Qiao?”

Yu Shengyan: “Shen-daozhang is training in the courtyard, he seems to want to head to Chang’an.”

Yan Wushi beckoned him closer: “No matter, come here.”

He whispered a bunch of instructions into his disciple’s waiting ear, Yu Shengyan nodded again and again: “This disciple will carry it out immediately!”

Yan Wushi: “One more thing, from this fifty thousand liang, take out ten thousand liang and deliver it to Chunyangguan.”

Yu Shengyan: “Yes!”

That sentence from Yi Bichen was not random. The most ascetic of Daoist sects still had to survive, Yi Bichen had only muddled his words a bit, gave a statement open to misinterpretation, helping Yan Wushi win the bet, along the way helping his own sect gain ten thousand liang, much to everyone’s happy ending.