Xu Fengnian sat alone by the riverside, motionless like a withered tree. The group led by Luo Changhe and the old scholar Luo had long become accustomed to this sight. At the midnight hour, Xu Fengnian summoned his sword Xuanyun, nourishing its embryonic spirit with drops of blood. The terms “Ten Heavenly Stems” and “Twelve Earthly Branches” are veiled references known only as top secrets within the Beiliang Mansion. The former refers to Xu Fengnian’s loyal assassins, while the latter denotes Xu Xiao’s trusted retainers. After acquiring the twelve flying swords from the Peach Blossom Sword Sage, Xu Fengnian gained an especially profound understanding of the latter: Zi Xuanjia, Chou Chunmei, Yin Zhuma, Mao Zhaolu, Chen Chunshui, Si Taohua, Wu Jinlu, Wei Huangtong, Shen Emei, You Zhuque, Xu Pifu, and Hai Tai’e. The timing of nourishing the swords resonated with the moments they were forged. Except for Jinlu, which, by chance, received the blessing of the Buddha’s golden blood and thus developed most of its sword embryo, the other swords remained less than half formed.
Especially the swords Xuanyun and Tai’e, which carried the strongest martial intent, were nearly unmanageable, stubbornly resisting their new master as if they had an innate dislike for him, making progress at a snail’s pace. Xu Fengnian sheathed Xuanyun, summoned Jinlu instead, and with a flick of his finger, the flying sword pierced a fish swimming in the river. With nothing better to do, Xu Fengnian felt one sword slicing through the water lacked grandeur, so he summoned eight more, making a total of nine. The water danced wildly as the swords moved in unison. Then, in an instant, he retracted all nine swords. They whirred past his sleeves, coiling around his arms and into his sword pouch with seamless precision. This alone was enough to leave any ordinary martial artist awestruck.
Xu Fengnian picked up a stone and tossed it into the river. In the distance, a refined and elite retainer from the old scholar Luo’s entourage approached slowly. Standing far off, the man hesitated for a moment before finally stepping within thirty paces and calling out, “My name is Feng Shanling. If I am intruding upon you, Young Master Xu, I beg your forgiveness for my impertinence.”
Xu Fengnian threw another stone, brushed off his hands, and turned with a smile. “No problem at all. I just happened to be unable to sleep.”
Feng Shanling sat a little distance away by the riverside and bowed. “I am grateful for your help in driving off the horse bandits a few days ago, Young Master Xu. On behalf of my brothers, I wish to express my thanks. Please don’t laugh at me, but we are merely servants of low rank. We dare not speak of repaying even the smallest favor with grand gestures. First, your help was indeed life-saving, and second, even if we wished to repay you, we have nothing worthy to offer. All I can say is that tomorrow, when we arrive at the town, I would like to privately invite you to a clean tavern for some drinks and a meal.”
Xu Fengnian laughed. “That sounds great. I still have a bit of silver left. After a hearty meal and some drinks, I may not be able to afford the courtesans at the Qinglou, but a visit to a modest brothel should be manageable. Brother Feng, are you interested? Although I claim to be from a minor aristocratic family, I am actually just the son of a merchant family. I don’t quite fit in with the highborn gentlemen like Luo. I’m afraid of being overly eager only to be met with coldness. You and I, however, seem to get along well. To be honest, inviting you to a brothel is just my way of hoping that when we arrive at your territory, you and your brothers will be gracious enough to share a meal with me, and perhaps grant some favor to my humble business.”
Feng Shanling, who had initially seemed reserved, laughed heartily. “Young Master Xu, you are a straightforward man. This time, I fear I have wrongly judged a nobleman with a petty mind. Since you have spoken so openly, I won’t beat around the bush either. It’s simply my duty to be cautious. Although the horse bandits were driven off, they weren’t heavily wounded or killed. I was worried you might be an accomplice to them. These past days, I secretly had a comrade, who used to be a scout, investigate the area, but there has been no trace of the bandits. Since we are entering the military town tomorrow, I believe we must have wrongly suspected you. We are all rough men who know only how to wield swords and spears, but we still have our pride. We came to apologize, ready to accept any scolding or punishment.”
Xu Fengnian waved his hand. “It’s only natural. Brother Feng, you were just being cautious. If I were in your shoes, I would be wary too.”
Feng Shanling was not a man of many words and, having spoken his prepared thoughts, now found himself at a loss for more. Xu Fengnian hesitated a moment before asking, “I heard from the old scholar Luo that you were once a crossbowman in Beiliang?”
Feng Shanling’s expression grew distant, and he smiled wistfully. “That was a long time ago.”
Xu Fengnian picked up a flat stone and skipped it across the water. “I heard that the border between Liang and Mang has a special checkpoint to prevent bows and crossbows from crossing. I suppose you haven’t touched a crossbow in many years, Brother Feng?”
The rough man, once chosen for his strength to be a crossbowman in Beiliang, sighed with a bitter smile. “Yes. I still remember the time before I left the army. A grown man, crouching by the crossbow, secretly crying for half the day. Since leaving the military, I’ve served as a martial arts instructor for the Luo family, teaching their sons archery and horsemanship with the skills I learned back in Beiliang. I’ve managed to save up a bit of silver. I had planned to finally buy a good crossbow to indulge myself, but last year my wife and I had a daughter. She needs a dowry, so we’ve been buying this and that. Just the carved bed for her cost sixty taels of silver. The money just flew out like water, and I was so angry I drank for days. But when I returned home and saw my little girl’s rosy cheeks, I cooled down immediately.”
Xu Fengnian smiled knowingly. “Does your daughter look more like you or your wife? If she’s more like you, you’ll definitely need to prepare a bigger dowry.”
Feng Shanling paused, then burst into laughter. “Young Master Xu, you speak truly, and I like it. Well, truth be told, aside from her eyes, which resemble mine, she looks just like her mother. Finding a good family for her won’t be too hard.”
Xu Fengnian teased, “Too bad I’m a bit old, or I could try to become your son-in-law.”
Feng Shanling replied seriously, “Not a chance. Before my daughter turns thirteen or fourteen, if any little rascal dares to have ill intentions toward her, I’ll hang him from a tree and beat him.”
After saying this, Feng Shanling laughed first, then remembered to bow apologetically to Xu Fengnian.
Xu Fengnian nodded. “A son-in-law is half a son to the mother-in-law, and she’ll grow fond of him. But to the father-in-law, he’s half an enemy, a thief who steals away his daughter. My father once said he wished my two older sisters would never marry, because raising a daughter only to have her taken away and mistreated by another man is unbearable.”
Feng Shanling laughed. “Exactly. I used to complain to my wife about how my future father-in-law treated me with disdain when I first came to propose. But now that I have a daughter of my own, I finally understand.”
Xu Fengnian glanced at the brilliant stars above and then toward the south.
Feng Shanling truly felt a sense of closeness with this young master Xu. Compared to the aristocratic young men like Luo Changhe, Xu was much more likable and comfortable to be around. Those aristocrats, even if they appeared humble and approachable on the surface, still drew a clear boundary between themselves and men like him. If one knew their place and stayed on the outside of that line, the noble youths would be pleasant and courteous. But if one foolishly crossed that boundary, they would soon find themselves in trouble. Feng Shanling, a martial artist who earned his living within the walls of a great family, understood these unspoken rules well. In contrast, this young nobleman seemed much more approachable, perhaps because his background as a merchant’s son made him more down-to-earth. He was the kind of person Feng Shanling could get along with and befriend. Whether they could become truly close friends, however, would take time to determine. Feng Shanling was no child to give his trust so easily.
Curious, Xu Fengnian asked, “Brother Feng, why did you leave the Beiliang army?”
Feng Shanling gazed at the river, plucked a handful of wild grass, and sighed. “I joined the army late and missed the great Spring and Autumn War. I enlisted only after General Da had already gone to Beiliang. My parents had passed away, and I had no family to tie me down. I wanted to earn military honors to bring glory to my family name. At least when I returned home to visit my father’s grave, I could raise a cup of wine with pride. With some luck and brute strength, within two years of joining, I became a crossbowman. I followed the general and the Beiliang army all the way to the Nanjing Prefecture of the Northern Mang, where we fought fiercely. It was exhilarating—killing the barbarians until my eyes turned red. Once, my crossbow was shattered underfoot, and I stood there, stunned, not knowing what to do next, when the commander slapped me on the head and told me to draw my Beiliang saber and charge into battle. At that moment, I didn’t care about cowardice or bravery—I just thought that killing one barbarian wasn’t a loss, killing two was a gain, and killing a few more might even earn me a minor officer’s rank. But before I could run a few hundred paces with my comrades, I tripped over a corpse and fell face-first. Fortunately, I managed to rise and slash wildly in a panic, and somehow I ended up killing two barbarians. In the following battles, I never had the chance to enter the fray and kill enemies with my own hands. With the general and General Chen leading the charge, the Northern Mang barbarians had no chance to fight back. Later, we heard that the emperor himself led a campaign and joined forces with the Beiliang army. At first, we were all excited. But later, we grew confused. The war suddenly ended, and the Beiliang army was ordered to retreat south first. The general said nothing. At that time, I knew nothing of politics and felt I had made a mistake by joining the army. I was angry, so many of us left. Some became horse bandits, claiming that if the general wouldn’t kill the barbarians, they would. The rest of us scattered on our way home. I met a minor noble from the Luo family, and since they were a family that had migrated from the Central Plains, I decided it wasn’t shameful to serve them, so I settled down. It was only much later that I overheard some members of the Luo family talking and learned that it was the emperor Zhao who had issued a decree forcing the general to withdraw.”
Feng Shanling tossed the wild grass into the river, his face filled with regret. “Even now, in my dreams at night, I still wake up at the sound of horse hooves outside the wall. Sometimes, I instinctively leap up, reaching for my sword, ready to fight.”
Xu Fengnian wanted to laugh but couldn’t.
The rough man rubbed his face and muttered, “My wife has scolded me countless times, but I guess this is just how I’ll be for the rest of my life.”
Xu Fengnian exhaled deeply, his lips pressed together in silence.
How many old soldiers in Beiliang still dream of battle, their swords and armor calling to them in the night?
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