Chapter 22: The Cultivator Is Here

Tu Han limped closer and reached out to feel the bundle on the horse's back. Lowering his voice, he said, "Don't eat the provisions the sect gave you. They may be tainted! And remember this: once you're outside, find an opportunity to leave the Commandery Princess's party immediately. Find somewhere else to go. Don't come back here. The farther away you get, the better. Until you have the ability to protect yourself, it would be best if the Shangqing Sect can never find you again. And whatever you do, don't tell anyone that you and the Sect Leader are husband and wife. That could bring death down on your head. Understand? You're a clever man. I shouldn't need to say much more."

Niu Youdao heard the deeper meaning in his words and smiled. "I don't even have the strength to truss a chicken. If you tell me to leave on my own, where am I supposed to go?"

Tu Han flew into a rage. He seized Niu Youdao by the front of his clothes and hauled him close. His already savage face grew even more ferocious, the bristling beard along his cheeks seeming almost to tremble hair by hair.

"Bah! Don't give me that. You took advantage of me when I was drunk and coaxed plenty out of my mouth. Some of those questions were about doubts you had in cultivation. No strength to truss a chicken? Do you think I don't know you've been secretly cultivating all this time? I don't care what your true origins are. Since Martial Uncle Dong Guo was willing to accept you as a disciple, I don't want to know too much about anything else."

"So you've been pretending to be drunk all along!" Niu Youdao laughed.

"If you don't want to die, do as I say." Tu Han snorted and turned away.

Niu Youdao called after him, "What if the Shangqing Sect refuses to leave me alone? How am I supposed to protect myself then?"

Tu Han stopped. After a moment, he turned back. He glanced around, then lowered his voice.

"If it truly comes to that, find a way to reach Demon Ridge and look for a man named Zhao Xiongge. He is your master's junior martial brother. The Shangqing Sect regards him as a disgrace, and he was expelled from the sect years ago, but his strength is extraordinary. Once you find him, the protective talismans inside you will naturally prove your identity. He will protect you. As long as you're at his side, the Shangqing Sect won't dare touch you."

"Demon Ridge... Zhao Xiongge..." Niu Youdao repeated the name several times, committing it to memory. Then he asked curiously, "I'm not surprised that the Shangqing Sect might want to do me harm. What I don't understand is why you're telling me to leave the Commandery Princess's party too. Did she invite me out of the mountains just to harm me?"

Tu Han sneered. "Do you really think that because the Commandery Princess has such a lofty status, you'll be able to follow her and enjoy wealth and glory?"

Niu Youdao had long had doubts about the situation, but outwardly he spread both hands. "Why wouldn't I? Prince Ning, Shang Jianbo, was the Grand Marshal of the present dynasty and one of the Three Excellencies, one of the foremost dignitaries in the State of Yan. If I follow his family, how could I possibly lack wealth and honor?"

Tu Han gave a mocking grunt. "Keep dreaming. Prince Ning died five years ago, around the same time Martial Uncle Dong Guo and the previous Sect Leader met with disaster. People inside the sect suspect that the deaths of the three may have been connected somehow, but no one dares make that suspicion public. Apart from this daughter, Prince Ning also had a son named Shang Chaozong. You probably already know that much. What you don't know is that while Shang Jianbo was alive, his position was rather extreme and infringed upon the interests of cultivators throughout the realm. It's also said that the emperor was dissatisfied with him. Shang Chaozong inherited the princely title, but I heard he got into some trouble and the emperor seized the opportunity to strip him of his offices and drive him out of the capital. This journey to Canglu County is because he's being sent back to his fief. Put simply, because of Shang Jianbo, his son Shang Chaozong has been affected as well. I'm afraid there are people who don't intend to leave him alive."

"Oh!" Niu Youdao understood. "You mean I'll get dragged down with him."

"As long as you understand."

"So the Shangqing Sect wants to send me to my death?"

"Do you think I'm going to badmouth my own sect?" Tu Han gave him a contemptuous look and turned away again.

"That's it? Don't leave yet. There are still plenty of things I don't understand. Let's talk a little more."

"You're on your own from here. Take care of yourself."

Niu Youdao sighed, then smiled. "I know you're only doing this for my master's sake. Whatever the reason, Old Tu, thank you for turning a blind eye to me all these years."

Tu Han instinctively touched his one remaining eye. He turned his head and spat to the side.

"Bah. I'm leaving!"

He darted into the forest, planted one foot against a tree trunk, and vanished after only a few bounding leaps. Niu Youdao stood there for a moment, turning Tu Han's words over in his mind. Then he looked back the way he had come, mounted his horse, and galloped away. Once he emerged from the forest, he rejoined Shang Shuqing and the others waiting outside. Together, they rode into the distance... A waterfall plunged in a white torrent, hanging across the landscape ahead. The rushing water became a river; where the current ran fierce, it turned toward the deep mountains, while calmer waters flowed slowly toward the plains.

Far away on the main road, several hundred riders came thundering toward them. When they reached the shallow riverbank, they halted one after another and waited by the roadside. At their head, looking expectantly into the distance, stood Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting. After receiving treatment and rest along the journey, Shang Chaozong looked considerably better despite the hardship of constant travel. At the very least, he was now properly dressed instead of wrapped in rags. His face was firm and handsome, his spirits high, and there was a distinctly masculine vigor about him.

Behind the two men waited nearly five hundred riders in fitted clothing. Every one carried weapons such as sabers, swords, bows, or crossbows. More than a hundred fine horses were mixed in among them. Some were riderless and kept as remounts; others carried supplies for the journey. The moment the party halted, the five hundred riders quickly spread out to secure the surroundings, their killing aura unmistakable. Several riders galloped to higher ground to keep watch. Their movements were practiced and coordinated. They waited for nearly an hour, but no one appeared.

Shang Chaozong could not hide his concern. "We agreed to meet at dawn. Could something have happened to Qing'er?"

"That shouldn't be the case," Lan Ruoting replied. "Whatever else one says about the Shangqing Sect, it still carries the name of an upright and renowned sect. They wouldn't openly harm the Commandery Princess."

Shang Chaozong gazed in the direction of the Shangqing Sect and sighed. "With Mr. Dong Guo gone, I'm afraid the Shangqing Sect will only drift farther and farther from my imperial house."

Lan Ruoting stroked his beard and remained silent for a time. It was difficult for him to say that the imperial house had been the first to fail the Shangqing Sect. Of course, the imperial house could not be blamed for everything. It too had been forced into its choices by pressure from the cultivation world.

After pondering for a moment, he said, "To some extent, the Shangqing Sect truly was implicated by the late prince. That brought suppression from cultivation factions throughout the realm, accelerating the sect's decline until it fell to its present state. Even when the late prince was alive and held military authority, he still found it difficult to contend against the power of the cultivation world strongly enough to protect the Shangqing Sect completely. Now that the late prince is gone, the sect has lost its last powerful shield. Its position is extremely difficult. It is understandable that they would refuse to send anyone to assist Your Highness. We cannot truly blame them."

Shang Chaozong nodded. "I'm not so narrow-minded that I would hate someone merely because they refused to help me. If I were, wouldn't that make me a petty man?" Then, as though something had suddenly occurred to him, he turned toward Lan Ruoting. "Sir, there is something I don't understand. If you already knew the Shangqing Sect would not send me a retainer cultivator, why did you still agree to let Qing'er make this trip?"

Lan Ruoting smiled. "Does Your Highness truly believe the young Commandery Princess went there merely to request a retainer cultivator?"

Shang Chaozong looked surprised. "Wasn't that why she went?"

Lan Ruoting sighed softly and stroked his beard. "There is something Your Highness doesn't know. When the Commandery Princess was first born, there was no birthmark on her face. But she cried incessantly, and even the finest physicians could do nothing. By coincidence, Mr. Dong Guo came to visit, so the late prince asked him to examine the Commandery Princess and see whether she suffered from some hidden illness. After examining her, Mr. Dong Guo said there was no hidden illness. She cried because she had been born to a bitter fate."

Shang Chaozong looked completely baffled. "Born into a prince's household, a cherished daughter of imperial blood, clothed in silk and fed on delicacies, with reasonable and loving parents—how could that be called a bitter fate?"

Lan Ruoting shook his head. "I didn't understand it at the time either. But Mr. Dong Guo had considerable knowledge of the mysteries of fate and destiny. He said that judging from the Commandery Princess's innate constitution, she had been born with the fate of a beauty who brings calamity. When she grew up, her beauty would inevitably become peerless. In an age of chaos like this, how could a woman destined to please others with her beauty escape suffering? The late prince immediately begged him for a way to avert it. Mr. Dong Guo said that because the Commandery Princess had been born into a prince's residence, even if her fate was bitter, it would inevitably be sweetness first and bitterness later. If one wished to break that fate, her destiny had to be changed. The late prince asked how. Mr. Dong Guo answered that sweetness first and bitterness later could be changed into bitterness first and sweetness later. The late prince asked him to do it. Mr. Dong Guo then cast his art and planted that ugly birthmark on the Commandery Princess's face. The strange thing was that as soon as the birthmark appeared, the Commandery Princess stopped crying. She actually began giggling instead. The late prince was overjoyed and naturally believed Mr. Dong Guo's words completely. The one who suffered was the Commandery Princess, who has had to bear that mark all these years. At the time, Mr. Dong Guo said that when the proper opportunity arrived, the Commandery Princess could come to the Shangqing Sect and find him. He would restore her true appearance. Unfortunately, I'm afraid not even Mr. Dong Guo himself foresaw that he would die before that day came."

Hearing this, realization dawned on Shang Chaozong. He smiled. "I understand. Sir means Qing'er took the sword to the Shangqing Sect because she wanted them to restore her true face."

Lan Ruoting nodded. "Their arts come from the same lineage. Since Mr. Dong Guo possessed such a method, the Shangqing Sect should have something similar. Even if they refuse to send cultivators to assist us, they should not refuse to remove the disfiguring mark from the Commandery Princess's face. They could take back the sword at the same time and repay their debt of gratitude. The Commandery Princess would get what she wanted as well."

A sharp whistle sounded from a high slope ahead. Everyone looked over. The sentry made a hand signal in the direction of the Shangqing Sect. Before long, the faint sound of hoofbeats reached them. Shang Chaozong looked into the distance and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. They were back. Six riders came galloping toward them. The rider at the front wore the familiar gauze-veiled hat. The extra horse, however, made Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting exchange puzzled looks.

Could their guess have been wrong?

Had the Shangqing Sect actually dared to send someone as a retainer? The six horses splashed through the shallow river and charged up the bank before stopping in front of them. Shang Shuqing reined in her horse. Her clear voice rang out.

"Third Brother, Mr. Lan, I did not fail the mission. I've brought the cultivator."

Suspicion showed on Shang Chaozong's face. Lan Ruoting frowned slightly. Both men were studying Niu Youdao.

Wasn't he far too young?

What cultivation could someone this age possibly possess? Sending such a young man as a retainer cultivator was practically a joke. It was hard to know who would end up protecting whom. Their first instinct was that the Shangqing Sect was merely going through the motions, sending some random person to make up the numbers and get rid of them. Niu Youdao was quietly observing the two of them as well, an innocuous smile on his face from beginning to end.

"This is my third brother, Shang Chaozong, and this is our adviser, Mr. Lan Ruoting." Shang Shuqing first introduced the two men to Niu Youdao.

Niu Youdao cupped his hands with a smile. "Greetings, Your Highness. Greetings, Mr. Lan."

Shang Shuqing then introduced Niu Youdao to them.

"This is Mr. Dong Guo's final disciple, Niu Youdao!"

[End of Chapter 22]