In a secluded courtyard, Cui Hua, a sword Knighty who enjoyed closing her eyes when she wasn’t pickling cabbage, stood beneath the eaves “admiring” the snowfall. Qing Shan swordsman Wu Liuding squatted on the steps, waiting for the bastard to return from his duel. Amidst the swirling snow, a wandering swordsman, having spent his silver to change into clean clothes, pushed open the door and sauntered in, carefree and nonchalant. Upon entering, he shook the snow from his shoulders. Wu Liuding, never one to avoid sensitive topics, asked, “Wen Busheng, lost again?”
Wen Hua, now with an additional sword at his waist, glared and retorted, “What are you talking about, Six Jars? You’re just a freeloader living off women. If it weren’t for Cui Hua and her pickled cabbage, I’d beat you to a pulp.”
Wu Liuding, the current sword champion of the Wu family, who had no objection to this, smiled and said, “Oh, where did you pick up this sword? It looks impressive. Let me have a closer look.”
Wen Hua, with swagger, replied, “My sword is like my little wife; you can’t just touch it willy-nilly!”
Cui Hua’s lips curled into a smile. Wu Liuding, ever the irreverent type, clicked his tongue and said, “So you’ve brought home a new wife this time. Aren’t you worried about making the old one jealous?”
Wen Hua slapped his wooden sword and declared, “Nonsense! I always welcome the new without forsaking the old—or wait, I prefer the old over the new. This new sword is quite something; I’d be afraid to tell you its name for fear it might scare you to death. But as good as it is, compared to this wooden sword I’ve relied on for over a decade, it still pales in comparison.”
In the end, Wen Busheng, true to expectations, failed to win a single duel. However, compared to his previous three losses, this time he at least managed a draw. Afterwards, the legendary swordsman from Tangxi even gifted him the ancient sword, Baxiu. That fellow didn’t hesitate—he immediately accepted it and hung it at his waist. In the capital, everyone had grown accustomed to his indecent habit of adjusting himself before duels, even more vulgar than his match against Qi Jiajie. When he challenged Qi, he exchanged only two strikes before the long-reigning top swordsman of the capital, Qi Jiajie, was about to retaliate. But Wen Busheng suddenly started shouting that he surrendered and refused to fight further. Without so much as a polite word, he vanished in an instant. Not only did the spectators watch in stunned disbelief, but even Qi Jiajie himself was left both laughing and sighing in exasperation. After barely enduring two strikes brimming with extraordinary sword force and intent, he watched the young man flee without even a farewell. The crowd roared with laughter, jeering mercilessly.
Wu Liuding glanced at Lu Baijie’s Baxiu sword and said with a smile, “Tens of thousands of wooden swords couldn’t buy a single blade forged in the Tangxi sword furnace. It’s a shame such a fine sword has fallen into unworthy hands. It’s like offering beauty to a blind man.”
In a good mood today, Wen Hua chose not to quarrel with “Six Jars” and instead ran to the eaves to escape the snow, shaking the snow from his sleeves. Then he turned to the sword Knighty who, though not blind, pretended to be, and asked, “Cui Hua, why haven’t you brought your big hero Wen a bowl of pickled cabbage noodles yet? You’re really being inconsiderate. Just wait until I become famous—then you can beg me to eat your noodles or fish soup, but I won’t oblige unless I feel like it.”
The woman, who usually kept her eyes closed but had opened them during the reed marsh battle to learn six parts of Li Chungan’s Green Snake technique, merely smirked and turned to prepare noodles. Wen Hua squatted beside Wu Liuding and whispered, “Six Jars, since I consider you half a friend, I’ll share my thoughts with you. Cui Hua’s not the prettiest, nowhere near my beloved Miss Li, but she’s got a good temper. You never get tired of pickled cabbage, so since you’ve got no future anyway, you’d be lucky to pair up with her.”
Wu Liuding replied with a smile, “So Wen Busheng can have a future, but I can’t?”
Wen Hua, never one to hold back his words, said bluntly, “You’re not up to snuff. You’re nowhere near as good as Cui Hua. My judgment of people and swords is spot-on.”
Wu Liuding laughed in frustration, “Then how about we duel?”
Wen Hua bristled like a startled cat, “Oh, so Cui Hua’s giving you courage? Fine, let’s duel! But let’s get this straight—if I beat you easily in one move, don’t you dare kick me out of the courtyard or ask me to repay the silver I owe you for buying clothes. Also, you have to give me your big room to live in. I, Wen Hua, am now a renowned swordsman in the capital. My food, clothing, housing, and transportation must all match my status…”
Wu Liuding, worn out by Wen Hua’s chatter, quickly abandoned his competitive spirit, which had barely begun to sprout, and sighed, “Forget it, no duel. Even if I beat you, Wen Busheng, I’d gain nothing. If I lose, it’d be a real disaster.”
Wen Hua burst into laughter and slapped the sword champion of the graveyards hard on the shoulder, “Scared, huh? No worries, no shame!”
Wu Liuding, no longer wanting to waste words on this guy, shut up and admired the thick snowflakes falling in the courtyard.
Suddenly, Wen Hua remembered something. He took off his wooden sword, bent down, and carefully carved a single character into the snow. Then he turned and asked, “Six Jars, can you read it?”
It was the character for “blessing” ( Fu) written in the snow.
Wu Liuding rolled his eyes.
Wen Hua chuckled to himself, “Back when I was wandering the martial world with my brother, we once stole some sweet potatoes, roasted them, and gorged ourselves. Then we found a quiet spot in the wilderness to take a dump. While we were at it, he used a stick to write this character. Know what he said about it?”
Wu Liuding smiled faintly, “Even the character for blessing has a story behind it?”
Wen Hua sneered, “The character for blessing— Fu—is made up of the radical for clothing ( Clothing) and the character for mouth and field ( A field of fantasy). What does that mean? You get it, right? Having enough to eat and wear is the greatest blessing in the world! There’s deep meaning in that. Of course, someone like you, Six Jars, wouldn’t understand. My brother, aside from everything else, had all sorts of clever ideas. His looks? Unfairly handsome—handsomer than even me! He also had all sorts of shady skills. Dress him in a ragged Taoist robe and he could pretend to be a deity and swindle people’s money. He could gamble on chess matches in alleyways or help people write letters home. His handwriting was so beautiful, I swear! Not to brag, but every time we took a dump or a piss, that feng shui expert of a guy would point to a spot and say it was a geomantic treasure land before we even loosened our belts. Tell me, walking the martial world like that, even if we were a bit poor and shabby, wasn’t that awesome?”
Wu Liuding watched as the falling snow began to cover the character for blessing, but the wandering swordsman beside him swept it away with his sword, as if severing the connection between heaven and earth. He smiled softly, “These days, all I hear is you boasting about your sword techniques and this Young Mastercalled Xiaonian. My ears have grown calluses.”
Wen Hua, unusually serious, said, “Six Jars, two things—you’re not to touch my wooden sword, and you’re not to speak ill of my brother. When I praise him, you can listen if you want, or cover your ears if you don’t.”
Wu Liuding smiled warmly, “I’d love to listen.”
Cui Hua brought a bowl of chewy pickled cabbage noodles. Wen Hua put away his wooden sword, took the bowl and chopsticks, and devoured the noodles in a few bites. Returning the bowl to the sword Knighty, he grinned, “Another bowl, another bowl! Cui Hua, your cooking is wasted on sword practice. Why not open a small restaurant with Six Jars? I’ll come every day to support you. Just imagine—by then I’ll be one of the greatest sword masters in the world. My presence alone will guarantee your success. You two can snuggle under the covers at night counting silver coins.”
Wu Liuding rubbed his forehead, really wanting to kick this bastard in the head. Just after eating someone else’s noodles, he was already trying to convince Cui Hua to give up sword practice so as not to overshadow his own glory. But Cui Hua merely smiled faintly and turned to cook another bowl for Wen Hua.
Looking at the gradually fading character for blessing in the snow, Wen Hua wiped his mouth and sighed, “I promised the old man Huang, who taught me swordsmanship, that I’d kill one person for him, and then I’d leave him behind and live properly with Miss Li. She said that if I became the most famous swordsman in the world, she’d marry me. I think, since I’ve already fought Cui Hua, Qi Jiajie, and Bai Changjiang, I’ve become the most famous swordsman in the capital. It wasn’t that hard, really. If I train for a few more years and leave the capital to challenge six, seven, eight, nine, ten sword masters and experts, once I’ve beaten them all, I’ll finally have the face to ask her to marry me. Other than my brother Xiaonian, I don’t have many friends. If you’re willing, come to my wedding banquet. If not, forget it—I don’t care about your wedding gift anyway.”
Wu Liuding nodded and said calmly, “I once overturned a boat on a river with a single pole and intercepted a young man. Later, in Xiangfan City, I nearly faced him again. Coincidentally, he was also named Xu Fengnian, the Crown Prince of Beiliang.”
Wen Hua laughed heartily, “The Crown Prince of Beiliang? My Xiaonian can’t compare. My brother is just an ordinary rich kid from a decent family, traveling and studying. He’s as broke as me.”
Wu Liuding smiled with narrowed eyes, “What if it’s the same person?”
Wen Hua waved his hand decisively, “Impossible!”
After a pause, the wooden-sword wanderer smiled, “Even if it were, would he stop being my brother?”
Wen Hua grew pensive, reached into his pants, sighed, and muttered, “If it really were him, I wouldn’t even dare show him my erotic paintings anymore.”
Outside the courtyard, in the alley, the snow lay deep. With every step, it creaked and groaned.
A plain-decorated carriage came to a stop. The curtain was lifted slightly, revealing an old man and a peerless beauty known as the finest singer and courtesan in the land.
The woman, who ranked on the RougeList, smiled and asked, “Make him kill Xu Fengnian?”
The old man, indeed the one called Old Huang, calmly nodded.
The exquisite beauty, whose waist bore a jade lion rolling a ball in a sachet, sighed softly.
The old man, surnamed Huang, named Longshi, with the style name Huang Sanjia, spoke expressionlessly, “After meeting Wen Hua, try to appear virtuous and gentle. Prepare dinner yourself. When he sees you off, casually mention that your enemy is in Beiliang. Don’t reveal who exactly—save that for later, lest you spoil my plans.”
The peerless courtesan, known as the finest jade lioness, smiled and asked, “And what of the Crown Prince of Beiliang?”
Huang Sanjia smiled, “I’ll arrange for you to meet him at the right time and place. By then, even if Xu Fengnian doesn’t want your purity, you’ll no longer have it to give.”
Li Baisi, suppressing her smile, replied calmly, “My life itself was given to me by my master. What’s a little purity compared to that?”
The old man sat cross-legged and said, “Wen Hua doesn’t value righteousness, only emotion. But emotions in this world come in two forms: love between men and women, and brotherhood. I wonder which one this young man will choose—to abandon his chance at becoming a terrestrial immortal swordsman and forsake the woman he loves for a mere year’s worth of brotherhood?”
As she stepped out of the carriage, pulling her snowy white fox fur tighter around her, she murmured softly, “Poor soul.”
Inside the courtyard, the character for blessing had already vanished beneath the snow.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage