Zhang Shisan remained unmoved, still half-sitting and half-reclining on a cloud, watching the scene inside the hall with an amused expression. Mei Qing’s cultivation had improved, and his vision had broadened accordingly. Although he dared not extend his divine consciousness to probe, he could still tell that the masked man’s cultivation was incomparable to Zhang Shisan’s, so he felt at ease and obediently watched the show from the clouds. However, Hou Shen, accustomed to being a thief, found it somewhat awkward to observe others so openly. When the masked man’s gaze swept toward him, Hou couldn’t help but feel a tightening in his chest. Yet seeing that others remained calm and motionless, he decided to do the same.
The masked man scanned the surroundings three times, found nothing, and slowly withdrew his technique. His voice sounded tired as he said, “Don’t say anything else, Great Sect Leader. Please leave this place with me immediately.”
“Alright,” the Great Sect Leader dared not pretend to be strong anymore and stood up nodding, “As you say, Master Yu.” Then he turned to the dwarf, “Dingding, hurry up and pack.”
Upon hearing this, the dwarf immediately ran and hopped to one side, shouting at the group of musicians, “Hurry up and get up! We’re leaving!”
The masked man, addressed as “Master Yu” by the Great Sect Leader, looked at the chaotic musicians with a cold snort and said, “Great Sect Leader, the situation is urgent now. This temple was originally a secret location of our sect; how can we allow these lowlifes to remain here? If they spread the news later, it will greatly harm our sect’s grand plans. Since the Great Sect Leader may not fully understand the stakes involved, perhaps I should help eliminate this potential threat, so we can leave without dragging our feet.”
“No!” Seeing the murderous gleam in Master Yu’s eyes, the Great Sect Leader was seized with terror and regret.
The Great Sect Leader had originally come to this harbor to prove a point. Earlier, he had heard from his subordinates that someone had died mysteriously in the harbor, prompting people to seek a Taoist priest to exorcise evil spirits. He had previously heard that the Taoist sect had tried several times to set up an altar here but was thwarted by a local lord named Shi Mengzhu. Hearing of the trouble in the harbor naturally delighted him, and he wanted to show off his abilities by dealing with Shi Mengzhu.
Precisely because he wanted to show off, he didn’t inform anyone, pretending it was just a routine outing, and brought a group of people straight to the harbor. Normally, no one paid much attention to the Great Sect Leader, and with the sect’s affairs being complicated and busy lately, the key figures had no time to monitor him. Thus, he managed to reach the harbor, set up a grand altar, and caused quite a commotion.
Unexpectedly, things initially went smoothly, but halfway through, his ceremonial hat was burned, making him feel something was amiss. However, the Great Sect Leader thought only of having lost face and failing to complete the ritual, still plotting revenge in his mind. Thus, he brought a group of people to the Fishbone Temple temporarily to rest and plan for the evening.
However, no sooner had he left the village than he encountered a deputy altar master from the sect who had come chasing after him upon hearing the news. The deputy altar master immediately noticed that someone had tampered with the palanquin, quickly performed a spell to neutralize the tracking talisman, and ordered the procession to circle around the village to confuse the pursuers. Then he urged the Great Sect Leader to return with him immediately.
The Great Sect Leader, whose mission had not yet been accomplished, naturally refused to go back. He claimed to be tired and insisted on resting in the Fishbone Temple first. The deputy altar master couldn’t persuade the leader otherwise, and knowing the Fishbone Temple was a crucial location for the sect, he felt helpless to explain the situation to the Great Sect Leader, who was unaware of the implications. Thus, he could only nod in agreement while secretly using his magic to notify his own altar master to come and meet them.
When the Great Sect Leader arrived at the temple, he found it dilapidated and desolate, far from a good place to rest. However, driven by his desire to show off, he ignored all that. Seizing an opportunity when no one was watching, he secretly released Liu Ling’er, hoping to scare Shi Mengzhu. The next day, he planned to claim there was a monster in Shi’s mansion and then perform a ritual to capture it, thereby teaching the old man a lesson. However, not long after, Master Yu arrived, leading to the scene witnessed by Mei Qing and others.
Now, seeing Master Yu’s stern expression and intent to deal with his group, the Great Sect Leader realized he was being used as an example to warn others. As the sect leader, he had always been like a puppet. If it weren’t for the Second Sect Leader being his own younger brother and them having jointly founded the sect, he might have been discarded long ago. In recent years, apart from these musicians, who else had ever taken him seriously? If this Master Yu eliminated all these people, he would become even more insignificant.
Thinking about the indifferent gazes of the sect members, the Great Sect Leader felt deeply uncomfortable, as if he had swallowed a mouthful of straw. He shouted, “How dare you!”
Once the words were out, the Great Sect Leader was determined. He defiantly declared, “If you dare to harm my people, this Sect Leader will not leave this place even if it costs my life. Why don’t you just try it?”
Seeing the Great Sect Leader suddenly standing up for a few performers, Master Yu couldn’t help but frown. In his mind, these people were nothing but playthings of the Great Sect Leader, and he had planned to eliminate them all at once to clear his view. He hadn’t expected the Great Sect Leader, who had been intimidated earlier, to suddenly become defiant for their sake. Although he didn’t care much for this empty-headed sect leader, he was still the elder brother of their master, so he needed to maintain some face. Moreover, with the sect’s important matters approaching, it would be inconvenient to create more trouble over this matter.
“Why does the Great Sect Leader get so angry?” Master Yu’s voice seemed to force out a hint of softness. “Since you insist on keeping them, let’s just leave them. But we can’t stay here for long. Why don’t I take the Great Sect Leader to leave first, and let Deputy Altar Master Liu bring the others to follow later?”
“Alright, as Master Yu says,” the Great Sect Leader sighed in relief. “But Dingding must come with me.”
Upon hearing his name, the dwarf instinctively moved closer to the Great Sect Leader.
By now, it was the latter part of the night, a time of heavy dew and cold frost. As soon as they exited the small temple, the Great Sect Leader shivered from the cold. Without a word, Master Yu raised his hand, and a carriage appeared before them.
This carriage was quite strange; the entire body was dark and shrouded in a thin mist. The Great Sect Leader, shivering, climbed aboard, followed by Dingding scrambling up after him.
Master Yu gave a few instructions to Deputy Altar Master Liu behind him and then lightly jumped onto the carriage. Without any visible movement, the carriage silently started moving.
There was no coachman on the carriage, nor anyone directing it. The two horses in front moved in complete silence, and the thin mist around them continued to swirl. As they left the Fishbone Temple and turned a corner, the carriage floated away like a ghost, vanishing into the boundless darkness of the sea.
Meanwhile, another unremarkable cloud also silently followed the carriage, disappearing from sight.
“Hmm… indeed, quite impressive!” Zhang Shisan, squatting on a stool with a chipped porcelain bowl of wine in his left hand and chopsticks in his right, was happily eating a large slice of fish while praising it.
The previous night, as the carriage departed, Zhang Shisan, Mei Qing, and Hou Shen had followed it. Ku Dashi, however, had returned to Shi Mansion in the harbor.
The reason for this was that the group was worried that after this incident, the Fragrant Sect might have more tricks up their sleeves to deal with Shi Mengzhu, so they decided to split into two teams, with Ku Dashi returning to protect Shi Mengzhu.
As for Mei Qing and the other three, they chased all night until just before dawn, when they arrived at a small town.
Seeing the carriage enter a mansion’s gate and confirming that the Great Sect Leader had disembarked and entered the courtyard, they first sought out a small inn for a brief rest. Mei Qing and the others had been tracking all night, and although Zhang Shisan didn’t mind, Mei Qing and the others were somewhat tired.
Mei Qing didn’t wake up until nearly noon. He hadn’t had a proper sleep in days, so this rest was quite sufficient. Upon waking, he found that Hou Shen had just gotten up too. After tidying themselves up, they left their room and found Zhang Shisan sitting on a bench under the awning outside the inn, happily drinking.
“Hehe, you two young fellows are finally awake! Come on over! The raw fish slices here are really good. Little waiter, cut us two more plates!” Zhang Shisan saw the two of them come out and called out with a smile.
“Coming right up!” A fifteen-year-old waiter shouted in a drawn-out tone, then grabbed a big carp from the water vat behind him. Holding the fish’s head, he slammed it onto the cutting board and, with a flick of his one-foot-long steel knife, quickly sliced the flesh from the fish’s back into two neat fillets.
With a flick of his left hand, the waiter flung the still-wriggling fish body out through the nearby window, landing it far into the pigpen in the backyard. The two large fat pigs immediately leaped forward with surprising agility, fighting and biting each other over the fish. Meanwhile, the waiter spread the two large fillets on the cutting board and, with his steel knife moving like a shower of raindrops, quickly sliced the fish meat into thin, paper-like slices.
He piled the two heaps of raw fish slices onto two large plates, added two small bowls of dipping sauce, and placed everything onto a large wooden tray, which he then carried over with a smile, saying, “Sir, here are your two plates of raw fish slices. Please take your time and enjoy.” Mei Qing and Hou Shen stared wide-eyed, while Zhang Shisan impatiently said, “What are you two staring for? Aren’t you hungry? There’s nothing else in this inn but raw fish. If you don’t eat, you’ll just go hungry.” With that, he dipped a piece of fish in the sauce, put it in his mouth, and began savoring it slowly. Then he took a big swig of wine, shaking his head and nodding in satisfaction, “Truly fresh! They say people eat crabs raw and shrimp alive, but I never expected raw fish to be even better than that!”
Seeing this, Mei Qing and Hou Shen could only sit down with bitter smiles, each taking a pair of chopsticks and picking up a slice of fish to cautiously try a small piece. Fortunately, although the fish smelled a bit fishy, it tasted fresh and tender when dipped in the sauce. After a few more bites, they found it increasingly delicious. They ate two plates and still weren’t satisfied, so each ordered two more plates.
“You like it, don’t you?” the waiter said while slicing more fish. “The raw fish here in Changchun淀 is famous. They say even the emperor liked it back in the day and used to come here every year for a taste.”
“You’re just boasting,” Hou Shen laughed. “I’ve never heard of an emperor coming to such a small place to eat raw fish. Do you think emperors have nothing better to do?”
“Changchun Dian?” Mei Qing had just learned where they were, and smiled as he said, “Well, he’s not entirely making it up. This place did have an imperial retreat during the Liao and Jin dynasties, and the emperor used to come here every year to watch the fishing. Waiter, do you know if that imperial retreat still exists?”
The waiter shook his head, “Who knows? The emperor doesn’t come here anymore these days, but the retreat is still there. Rumor has it there were ghosts haunting it not long ago!”
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