Xu Fengnian returned to the inn and, with nothing better to do, went to Jiang Ni’s room. There he saw an old man and a young girl drawing strange symbols on the table. Two white porcelain bowls were placed between them; one filled with water and the other with wine. They each dipped their fingers into the bowls and traced bold and flowing strokes across the table. It seemed that Ni’er had been growing displeased with the old swordsman’s characters straying beyond his boundary and encroaching her space. She puffed her cheeks indignantly at him while the old swordsman, sensing her anger, reined in the creative inspiration he had It was extremely hard-won. cultivated, bent his head, and sipped all the wine off the table.
When Jiang Ni saw Xu Fengnian enter the room, she hastily wiped the water-drawn characters off the table with her sleeve. Xu Fengnian teased her, saying, “Practicing calligraphy with the honorable senior? You’d better sneak off and practice swordplay instead. It won’t do for him to lend you divine talismans for free. If the honorable senior teaches you a few secret techniques, you’d soon outshine me by ten streets. If you happen to master the Two Sleeves of Azure Vipers, wow, the martial world will surely hail you as the Lady Sword Immortal. How impressive! Legends like Wang Xianzhi and Deng Tai’a will have to greet you with flattery and warmth. When that happens, don’t forget to say to the martial experts, ‘I, Jiang the Sword Immortal, once served as a maid to that good-for-nothing Xu Fengnian.’ Just imagining that makes me swell with pride.”
Jiang Ni snapped, “Who asked you to meddle with calligraphy?! Who ever served you as a maid?! And who’d bother learning swordplay to make you look good?!”
Xu Fengnian plopped down beside them, teasingly asking, “Scared you won’t stand the hardship of sword training?”
Jiang Ni tried to grab the water bowl to hurl at him, but the prince, anticipating her move, used his Xiu Dong sword to pin her small hand and the porcelain bowl beneath it, and chuckled, “No violence, please. I don’t have time for games today. I’ve come to seek the venerable senior’s advice. If you’re interested, you can sit beside us and listen. Otherwise, kindly take a few steps away and give us space.”
Jiang Ni clenched her teeth and said, “This is my room!”
Xu Fengnian ignored this little wildcat whose tail had been stepped on, and succinctly recounted to the old swordsman over a dozen techniques he had gleaned from a vast collection of martial texts. Initially, Li Chungan seemed quite impatient, picking at his earwax and flicking it away. As Xu continued speaking, however, the old man, although still lounging with his legs crossed, stopped picking his ears and began to listen more attentively, sipping from the half-full bowl of wine as he listened, neither nodding nor shaking his head, his expression unreadable as a still pond. When Xu Fengnian finished and saw the old swordsman still drowsing with a blank expression, he stubbornly launched into a more detailed explanation, naming the sources of the techniques and offering his own theories on how the moves might be seamlessly combined. Yet the old swordsman simply kept sipping his wine with his eyes half-closed. Disheartened, Xu Fengnian reached over and picked up the small porcelain bowl Jiang Ni had been using for writing practice, drinking the water in one go. Jiang Ni grew deeply frustrated, wishing she had thought to poison the water with a few grams of arsenic beforehand.
After drinking half the bowl of water from his parched throat, Xu Fengnian stared blankly at the sword immortal, who had remained utterly motionless for what seemed like an eternity.
Jiang Ni, who hadn’t understood a word of what was said, gleefully mocked him, “Clumsy beginner! Not worthy! Not worthy at all!”
This jab was a clear reference to the remark made by the Guanyin in White Robes (White-Robed Guanyin) outside Xiangfan City—calling him unworthy of dual cultivation. Lately, Jiang Ni had taken great pleasure in teasing the prince with this line, finding it highly amusing.
The old sword master seemed to be a million miles away in his thoughts, but finally turned his gaze back and glanced at Xu Fengnian before speaking at last, “At first, listening to your prattling annoyed me. Your underhanded, opportunistic approach seems like the lowest form of martial cultivation. I was just about to scold you when I suddenly recalled an old friend and an episode from the past.
Wang Xianzhi was about the same age as me and Qi Xuanzhen, yet he became famous much later. Like you, he used to pick up scraps of techniques from others, adopting a lower path of learning from others’ strengths to improve himself. Every time I and other martial experts engaged in a battle, we could always catch the fellow watching from a distance. Unlike me, who long remained stuck between the Celestial and Immortal stages, that old rascal grew stronger with each fight. Reflecting now, the world says Wang Xianzhi had unmatched insight—claiming he could memorize all martial techniques after just one observation. That’s how he came to bend swords with his bare hands. But that’s not accurate. Wang Xianzhi was like a master cultivator of inner alchemy, gathering nearby pills and stones. He didn’t just use them as they were, but tossed them all into his furnace, melting and blending them into something greater. The Two Sleeves of Azure Vipers I mastered became in his hands a single sleeve of Azure Dragon. That’s why martial experts always treated Wang Xianzhi like the best whetstone for their own growth. It’s a good thing, but frustrating—no matter how much they improved, they were always left in his dust, prompting all these martial experts to lament with exaggerated lamentations: ‘Why was I born when Wang Xianzhi already existed?’ Xu lad, are you aiming to become the next Wang Xianzhi?”
Xu Fengnian was speechless with astonishment.
The old sword master sneered, “If you really want to learn martial arts and don’t even have the ambition to surpass Wang Xianzhi and snatch away his title of second strongest under heaven, then what’s the point of you practicing swordsmanship at all?”
Xu Fengnian sighed helplessly, “But everyone acknowledges Wang Xianzhi as the number one under heaven.”
Shaking his head with a faint smile, the old swordsman said, “Number one? Not necessarily. When Wang Xianzhi claims to be second strongest, half of that is arrogance, and the other half is a clear-eyed self-assessment. There are always a few freaks in the world who defy normal logic. Whether they come from the Buddhist sect, the Daoist sect, or from rivers, lakes, mountains, or forests, only the heavens know. After Qi Xuanzhen’s death, I thought Wang Xianzhi would finally have his moment. But even until now, he still only holds the second title, which means there must be some landbound immortal on earth who even Wang Xianzhi fears. Otherwise, with his personality, he wouldn’t have held himself back so deliberately.
I think this current edition of the Martial Ranking is utter trash. But the supplementary ranking has been quite impressive. Among the four ranked there, any one of them might give the martial world a surprise before Wang Xianzhi passes away. Especially the newly appointed leader of Wudang, who recently fought such a fierce battle on Wudang Mountain that he nearly toppled Zhenwu the Great Deity, and the Qi immortal from Dragon-Tiger sect—this latter one carries a bit of my old style. As for the cowherd you speak of, he resembles the usually quiet Qi Xuanzhen, the type who never says a word but when he does let off a fart, everyone across the world has to pinch their noses to endure it. As for you, boy, you somewhat resemble Wang Xianzhi, but unfortunately for you, even though he achieved greatness later in life, he could have effortlessly killed dozens of you with a lift of his hand when he was your age.”
Jiang Ni, standing nearby, chuckled, “Oh, how impressive, to be compared to Wang Xianzhi. So by the time you reach his age, you might make it to number two hundred in the rankings!”
Xu Fengnian burst into laughter at this jab and turned to retort, “Thanks for the kind words. I’ll definitely live long enough to reach Wang Xianzhi’s age.”
Jiang Ni fell into a sulky silence.
Xu Fengnian laughed heartily, “Then when I wander the martial world and meet some disagreeable martial experts, I’ll ask them first, ‘Are you one of the two hundred strongest under heaven?’”
The old swordsman waved him away, “Off you go. Old man has more calligraphy practice with young Jiang to do.”
Just like that, Xu Fengnian got booted out of the room. As the door shut behind him, he couldn’t resist throwing up both hands at Jiang Ni—on one, he raised his middle and index fingers, implying “living to a hundred,” and on the other, he raised two fingers, meaning “ranked two hundred under heaven.” Jiang Ni nearly exploded in fury, and after slamming the door shut, stormed away muttering, “I’m not practicing calligraphy anymore!”
The old swordsman, caught in this unexpected misfortune, asked in bewilderment, “Why not practice calligraphy?”
Jiang Ni puffed her cheeks and said, “No mood.”
The old man grinned mischievously and whispered, “Hey, Jiang girl, try pretending this table is Xu Fengnian’s smiling face.”
After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Ni’s eyes lit up. She hurriedly poured another bowl of water and resumed writing. From then on, each character she traced was as sharp as iron etched in silver, each so forceful that it seemed to sink into the wood.
At this moment, the old swordsman finally understood why Xu Fengnian delighted so much in teasing this young girl.
Li Chungan raised his wine bowl to take a hearty swig, his mind set more firmly on the secret deal he wanted to strike with the young prince.
As he watched Jiang Ni practice writing, he murmured gently, “Sword and brush are one. What matters most is a continuous flow. Come on, Ni’er, let Old Man write while you read.”
Jiang Ni murmured an “Okay,” watching the old man’s fingers. As he wrote, she softly chanted:
“Morning I travel to the Eastern Sea, Evening resting in the Western Hills;
From my sleeves emerges the gallant Azure Vipers in twirls.
Whenever I see injustice, I set down my cup with zeal,
Draw sword against misty clouds and air, my spirit never quells.
After three quick drinks, I dash away in haste,
Only to witness a head falling from the sky with grace.
Men say I climb the Steps,
Yet long past lofty towers of eighteen I’ve passed…”
As the old swordsman elegantly wrote his flowing calligraphy, he noticed that Jiang Ni wasn’t merely reading the words. Without realizing it, her fingers mirrored his strokes on the table, her recreation not only visually accurate but spiritually aligned with his.
“No need to train in swordplay—sword intent fills the air.
Though no blade in sight, the Azure Vipers’ gallant aura is there.
For the first time since reentering the mortal realm maimed, Li Chungan felt a rare tipsy joy—not from excessive drinking, but from a profound sense of fulfillment.
Within the room, an invisible force of martial intent loomed, impossible to tell whose hand had summoned it.
※※※
Fish Youwei lazily leaned on the table, her white cat crouched before her, curled into a ball of snow.
She extended one slender finger, and the kitten, Wu Meiniang, wrapped her tiny paws around it, looking adorable.
No longer the most famous courtesan of Liangzhou, the woman smiled fondly and said, “My Meiniang is still the best. All she does is eat and sleep, free of worries. She’s always here when I want to see her, and stays away when I don’t. She won’t bear grudges either.”
She was no longer that girl called Fish Yuanyi, either. Resting her cheek against the cool wooden surface, she gently stroked the soft fur atop the cat’s head and murmured, as if to herself, “Would you ever want to live on your own, apart from me?”
Since Wu Meiniang could never reply, she continued asking and answering, “Maybe at first you would feel that way, but once you get used to it, you’d stop thinking about it. Even if you know it’s wrong and unhealthy, you’d still remain, unable to escape, wouldn’t you?”
“You’re nothing but a decorative vase—and not even a beautiful one at that. What’s there not to be grateful for, being alive?”
“You don’t compare to the maids in the courtyard, the lone swordswomen wandering the martial world, or even the child clutching a dagger full of hatred. You can’t even match anyone because you’ve forgotten your parents and your name. Who can you ever hope to impress? What worth do you have that anyone would spare more than a few words for?”
“And you’ll grow old, eventually…”
Outside the door, the young prince leaned silently, listening without a sound.
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