Chapter 24: Master Dao, Monkey

That night, nearly everyone who should have been sleeping had gone to rest. Niu Youdao took the opportunity to inspect the party's defensive arrangements. Although the five hundred men rotated between rest and sentry duty, from the look of things it would be difficult for any unusual movement within several li to escape their notice. That put his mind somewhat at ease. Inside one of the tents, a curtain was drawn open by a narrow slit.

Lan Ruoting carefully observed Niu Youdao's movements through the gap, then smiled faintly and murmured to himself, "Interesting..."

After strolling around for a while, Niu Youdao returned to his own tent and took out the letter he had been given. By the light of the campfire outside, he drew the treasured sword and carefully used its edge to pick open the seal. He pulled out the sheet inside and turned it over several times. It was completely blank. There was not so much as a dot of ink on it. He repeatedly held the paper toward the firelight outside, then brought it to his nose and sniffed it several times. Finally, he even stuck out his tongue and licked the paper all over, smacking his lips as he tested the taste. He had been worried that some substance might have been used to conceal writing on the page. One taste told him everything he needed to know. It was a fake letter.

"The abbot of Nanshan Temple at Little Nanshan in Guangyi Commandery..." Niu Youdao frowned to himself. "Looks like Old Tu's warning wasn't baseless. They really do want to harm me. Do they honestly think I'm made of clay..."

He considered the matter over and over. If the Shangqing Sect truly intended to keep haunting him like an unquiet ghost, things could become troublesome. There were still too many matters whose depth he did not understand. After thinking it through repeatedly, he gradually formed a plan. Then he folded the blank sheet again and slipped it back into the envelope...

Early the next morning, while the sky was only beginning to brighten, everyone ate and prepared to set out. Some people took down tents while others packed them. The horses had already been fed and led over. Niu Youdao did not have to concern himself with anything. Every detail was handled neatly and efficiently. They were clearly a thoroughly trained group. The party set out once again, thundering along at speed. Niu Youdao quickly noticed something different from the previous day. No one was keeping him penned into the center of the column anymore. After they had ridden for a while, he suddenly urged his horse forward and drew level with Shang Chaozong, Shang Shuqing, and Lan Ruoting at the front. The three looked over at him.

Niu Youdao casually found a topic. "Your Highness, with your status, you only have five hundred men at your side?"

Shang Chaozong answered, "Under the ancestral regulations, at my rank, so long as I hold no official office, I am permitted only five hundred personal guards."

"Oh! So that's how it is." Niu Youdao nodded.

In truth, he had only wanted an excuse to start talking. Once he had come up to the front, he simply stayed there and refused to fall back. Riding behind everyone else and eating their dust was hardly pleasant.

Lan Ruoting suddenly smiled. "Forgive my limited learning, Cultivator Niu, but may I ask where the tombs of Wuling's heroes are?"

"Uh..." Niu Youdao immediately realized this had to do with his Peach Blossom poem.

He could not help glancing at Shang Shuqing. Unfortunately, her face was hidden behind the veil, so there was no point looking.

He chuckled. "I made it up."

That answer genuinely left Lan Ruoting speechless. Afterward, he asked Niu Youdao about the Shangqing Sect.

Niu Youdao had spent several years there, but in truth he knew almost nothing. He dismissed every question with some variation of, "It's a long story."

He was telling the truth. But to Lan Ruoting and the others, the man did not seem to have a single truthful sentence in him. The morning was more than half gone. They crossed mountains and traversed barren plains until the road again began following a river. As Niu Youdao watched the scenery along the way, thought and memory gradually appeared in his expression. Only when he saw three gnarled old trees standing side by side at the foot of a mountain across the river did he finally confirm it. The mountain village he had left five years ago should not be far away. The river began winding into the mountains.

Just as they approached a side path leading inward, Niu Youdao suddenly turned his head. "Your Highness, could we stop at the road ahead?"

They had already reached it while he was speaking. Shang Chaozong raised a hand, and the riders gradually pulled on their reins and halted.

"Cultivator Niu, is something the matter?"

Niu Youdao lifted his riding crop and pointed toward the small road. "To tell Your Highness the truth, there's a mountain village in there. It's where I was born. I left when I was young and have never gone back. I'd like to see how things are there now. It shouldn't delay us very long. Could I ask Your Highness to wait for me?"

Shang Chaozong looked toward Lan Ruoting, clearly asking his opinion.

Lan Ruoting glanced around, then smiled. "In that case, Your Highness, why don't we all go see what spiritually blessed and beautiful place could produce a cultivator like this?"

Shang Chaozong understood the implication. Lan Ruoting wanted to use the opportunity to investigate Niu Youdao's background.

He nodded. "Very well."

Niu Youdao understood perfectly well too, but could not be bothered explaining anything. He smiled. "It's nothing but a poor mountain hollow. I only fear Your Highness will find it beneath you."

"Let's go!" Shang Chaozong pointed ahead with his riding crop.

Several scouts immediately spurred their horses forward to examine the road, while the rest of the party followed at a measured pace. As they passed through densely forested stretches of mountain, no orders were necessary. Riders on both flanks began stringing bows and crossbows or gripping their weapons, their attention fixed sharply on the surroundings. Niu Youdao looked back at them. He could tell that these were no ordinary soldiers. Every one of them possessed considerable real combat experience.

"Whee... whee... whee-whee."

A birdcall suddenly sounded from the mountain forest. Niu Youdao reacted as though struck by lightning. His head snapped toward the sound, his eyes widening.

"Your Highness, that bird call isn't natural," one of the guards warned.

Shang Chaozong and the others immediately reined in and became highly alert. Some riders moved to protect Shang Chaozong and the others. Others began closing around Niu Youdao again, their bows and crossbows faintly turning toward him. They watched him like tigers. Apparently they suspected that he had deliberately lured them into a trap. At the slightest sign that something was wrong, they were ready to attack him.

"Whee-whee... whee-whee."

Another faint sequence of birdcalls came from farther away. Niu Youdao immediately grew excited. His eyes swept the forest as he pursed his lips.

"Whee... whee... whee."

He answered with three birdcalls of his own. Silence fell throughout the surrounding forest. They waited for a while. Then two calls came back.

"Whee... whee."

Niu Youdao's eyes instantly lit up.

Ignoring the threat from the weapons around him, he roared, "Move aside!"

Lan Ruoting was silent for a moment, then waved a hand, signaling the riders to make way. Niu Youdao immediately spurred his horse out from among them. After riding a short distance, he stopped again.

"Wheee..."

He pursed his lips and released one long, drawn-out birdcall. Then he turned his horse slowly in place, continuously searching the surrounding hills and forest. Before long, branches crashed somewhere in the woods. A figure burst into sight. A burly young man rushed halfway down the mountainside and stopped beneath a large tree. He stared wide-eyed at Niu Youdao, studying him without the slightest concern for the bows and crossbows trained on him. Niu Youdao stared back in equal astonishment. For a long moment, the two simply studied each other. Farther behind, Shang Chaozong and the others watched in puzzlement. The burly young man was clearly overwhelmed with emotion. His lips trembled for a long time before he finally spoke in a shaking voice.

"Master... Master Dao, is that you?"

Those two long-unheard words—Master Dao—truly sent Niu Youdao's blood surging. He clenched a fist hard, drew his elbow back, then thrust a finger toward the young man. His voice rang out with uncontrollable excitement.

"Monkey!"

That single word shattered the burly young man's remaining self-control. Ignoring the thorny brush, he charged straight down the slope and jumped onto the mountain road. Niu Youdao leapt from his horse. The two threw their arms around each other and hugged with all their strength, pounding hard on one another's backs. They were practically more passionate than a pair of lovers reunited after a long separation. Lan Ruoting and the others nearly broke out in gooseflesh at the sight. But at least they understood one thing now. From the moment they first met Niu Youdao, they had sensed that he was calm, collected, easygoing, and difficult to rattle. Yet now he had lost control of himself completely. This had to be an old friend whose bond with him was far from ordinary.

The guards around them still did not lower their vigilance. Every pair of eyes remained alert to the surroundings.

By this point, anyone who failed to understand that those "birdcalls" were actually signals between people would have to be an idiot.

And one other thing was now certain. Niu Youdao was extremely familiar with those signals. Outsiders could never understand the loneliness the two men had endured in this world. It was a loneliness buried deep within the soul. Nor could outsiders understand the bond between them. Only after both men gradually calmed down did they step apart and look one another over. Their eyes held far too much emotion to put into words.

Seeing Monkey's powerful build, and realizing the man now stood half a head taller than he did, Niu Youdao remembered that the nickname "Monkey" had originally come from his thin, wiry frame.

Suddenly, Niu Youdao bent over laughing. The loss of control Monkey had shown a moment before vanished without a trace. He seemed to return instantly to that old cold, expressionless look of his. Cool and hard-edged. Some things carved into the bones and rooted in the soul could never be changed.

"Master Dao, what are you laughing at?" Monkey asked.

Niu Youdao shook his head and chuckled. "Don't you think there's something wrong with your build now?"

Monkey froze for a moment. Then understanding dawned. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, showing that he too found it amusing.

Once Niu Youdao managed to suppress his laughter, he asked in surprise, "How did you end up here? I thought I saw you escape into the passage."

Monkey answered calmly, "If I hadn't gone into the passage, I might have had a chance to survive."

Niu Youdao stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"The whole passage collapsed. There wasn't even anywhere to dodge."

"..." Niu Youdao was speechless.

He had always assumed Monkey had escaped because he had been fast enough. He had never imagined the man's end had actually been even worse than his own.

After sighing, he tipped his chin toward the end of the mountain road. "Did you come out of Small Temple Village too?"

Monkey nodded. "You're Niu Youdao?"

Niu Youdao laughed. "How did you know?"

"When I woke up, I discovered I'd been shot by an arrow," Monkey said. "Only then did I learn that the village had recently been looted by marauding soldiers. While I was recovering, I heard that someone in the village named Niu Youdao had started acting strangely. They said he went around asking everyone questions like an idiot, as though, like me, he couldn't remember anything. The villagers didn't even know when he had left. I realized immediately that it was probably you. But this body was badly injured at the time. I wasn't in any condition to look for you, and I had no idea where to begin searching anyway."

Shang Chaozong and the others watched from a distance. They were too far away to hear what the two men were saying. Niu Youdao fell silent, then nodded.

He raised a hand and patted Monkey on the shoulder. "I always thought you'd escaped that day. If I'd known you came here too, I never would have left Small Temple Village alone."

Monkey gave him a single word.

"I know."

That one word was enough. Niu Youdao did not explain further. With his hands clasped behind his back, he looked out over the surrounding mountain forest and sighed with deep emotion. Then he smiled faintly in relief.

"Good thing I happened to pass this way and thought I'd come back to see the villagers and repay a little of what I owed them. Otherwise, who knows when we would've met again."

Then he looked Monkey up and down.

"By the way, with your abilities, how could a little mountain village keep you here? You never thought of going out to see this world? Or did you get some family's daughter pregnant?"

[End of Chapter 24]