Chapter 72: Martial Uncle

Those who recognized the fierce beast immediately thought of one person. The previous generation's Demon Sect Saintess had ridden a rare Golden-Furred Hou.

Later, that demoness became entangled with a disciple of the Shangqing Sect. Love bound them so tightly that neither could separate from the other, and she ultimately met disaster because of it. The Shangqing Sect disciple was expelled from his sect for her sake as well. Afterward, the rare Golden-Furred Hou had remained beside that expelled disciple. Given the old story, the appearance of a Golden-Furred Hou at the Shangqing Sect today could not possibly be coincidence. Those who knew enough more or less understood.

The man from Demon Ridge had come! The Liuxian Sect disciples, so aggressive only moments earlier, now wore ugly expressions. None of them seemed to have expected this.

Tang Susu's face looked no better as she stared at the magnificent Golden-Furred Hou standing high upon the peak, golden coat blazing as it gazed down with overwhelming presence. She despised the beast's master. Luo Yuangong's expression was complicated as well. The Golden-Furred Hou had appeared at the Shangqing Sect's most dangerous moment. His emotions were equally tangled.

"Martial Uncle..."

Tang Yi murmured the words to herself. This was far beyond anything she had expected. Joy shone in her eyes. That man had been someone she admired from childhood. He had not disappointed her. A trace of delight also flashed through Su Po's eyes. He had not been certain the man would come. He had merely sent Tu Han to try. Yet he truly had come.

Clearly, the man must have arrived earlier and been waiting somewhere near the Shangqing Sect. Otherwise, the timing could not have been so perfect. He must have seen the signal arrows and heard the warning bells before revealing himself. He had heard the Shangqing Sect was in danger and come here simply to wait nearby. That intention alone brought Su Po immense comfort. Emotion filled his heart.

Senior Brother, Senior Brother, your spirit in Heaven can rest easy now. Your eye for people was still the keenest. The three disciples you accepted were each better than the last!

Some people recognized only that the Golden-Furred Hou was one of the strange beasts recorded in the Record of Strange Beasts, an ancient-bloodline remnant now exceedingly rare. They had no idea why such a creature had appeared here and knew nothing of the history behind it. Wu Shaohuan's face was taut and grim. He swept his gaze across the surrounding peaks but saw no sign of the Hou's master. Even so, after exchanging looks with the fellow Elders beside him, they all knew they could no longer act rashly.

The man from Demon Ridge was a notorious madman. Alone, he had swept through more than a dozen sects, all of them substantial powers. He ranked ninth on the Golden Core Ranking. The Liuxian Sect simply could not afford to provoke him. No one here had imagined that the expelled Shangqing Sect disciple would actually come forward for his former sect. The moment the Golden-Furred Hou appeared, Wu Shaohuan no longer dared act presumptuously. Otherwise, he might bring annihilation down upon the Liuxian Sect.

He did not have the confidence to gamble on that. Wu Shaohuan brought the moon wheels in his hands together.

"Leave!"

A number of Liuxian Sect disciples looked astonished.

What was going on?

They had arrived with such momentum and spoken such harsh words, yet had done nothing at all. Now they were simply going back? But the other Elders were already gesturing for everyone to withdraw immediately, their expressions unmistakably grave.

The Liuxian Sect disciples had only just begun turning away when Tang Yi, who had been searching the surrounding peaks, suddenly fixed her gaze somewhere and shouted, "All of you, stop!"

That man had come. She now had confidence. The Liuxian Sect disciples halted. Wu Shaohuan and the other Elders turned back.

Wu Shaohuan said heavily, "The Liuxian Sect was blind and offended your honored sect. We apologize and ask your forgiveness."

Tang Yi's voice was sharp.

"You forced your way into the Shangqing Sect's mountain gate and killed the disciples guarding our mountain. One apology and you think this is over?"

"..."

Wu Shaohuan opened his mouth, then stopped. In the end, he decisively reached behind himself and drew one of his moon wheels. He extended one arm. The other hand swept the moon wheel across.

Swish!

Its edge flashed. Blood sprayed. His arm was severed cleanly at the shoulder and flew away before dropping to the ground.

"Senior Brother!"

Several Liuxian Sect Elders cried out. They rushed forward to support him and struck acupoints around the wound, stopping the blood that was spraying out. The Liuxian Sect disciples who did not understand the situation stared in shock. Liuxian Sect disciples specialized in fighting with paired moon wheels. Losing an arm was little different from losing half one's strength. What kind of circumstances could force a Golden Core Realm Elder to cut off his own arm? Wu Shaohuan, his face now somewhat pale, shook off the junior brothers supporting him.

He bowed toward the Shangqing Sect disciples.

"My apologies."

Then he turned and left. The Liuxian Sect disciples, their faces filled with uncertainty and alarm, quickly followed and withdrew at speed. Many had already realized something. Their gazes shifted toward the imposing Golden-Furred Hou atop the mountain, its fangs bared. Everything had changed only after this beast appeared. More than a few disciples decided that once they returned, they would find out exactly what was going on. The Shangqing Sect disciples watched the Liuxian Sect retreat in haste.

Then they looked at the severed arm Wu Shaohuan had left behind as his apology. Some were stunned and confused, unable to understand what had just happened. Others wore complicated expressions. Once the Liuxian Sect disciples had gone into the distance, the Golden-Furred Hou atop the peak raised its head and roared again.

"ROAR!"

The sound echoed through the mountains and forest. Then the beast slowly turned. Its powerful body moved away, tail swaying, and vanished over the mountaintop. Tang Yi abruptly launched herself into the air. One floating bound carried her a hundred zhang away as she flew toward the peak where the Golden-Furred Hou had disappeared.

"Sect Leader, come back!"

Tang Susu roared in fury. She knew exactly whom Tang Yi wanted to find. She was about to flash after her and call her back when Luo Yuangong seized her arm and held her firmly in place. He knew how deeply she hated that man.

With a soft sigh, he said, "Junior Sister, whatever else may be said, he helped the Shangqing Sect avert a great calamity. By sentiment or by reason, we owe him a word of thanks."

Tang Susu's old face tightened until it was rigid... Tang Yi ignored her shout. She flew to the peak and looked around. The Golden-Furred Hou was racing through the forest below as though the rugged mountain terrain were flat ground. Its form flashed and vanished into the depths of the trees. Tang Yi immediately shot after it.

A short while later, beside a mountain stream, she found the Golden-Furred Hou splashing in the water and shaking droplets from its golden coat. On a large boulder beside the stream sat a scruffy man with one leg bent. He held a wine jar in both hands and tipped it high, pouring wine straight into his mouth. He was not drinking so much as dumping it in. Wine splashed across his face. Water flung from the Golden-Furred Hou sprayed over him as well and perhaps even landed in his mouth.

He did not care. He kept pouring the wine. At last he lowered the jar and belched. Then he looked directly at Tang Yi, who had landed before him, and smiled faintly. Seeing him again, Tang Yi could scarcely believe her eyes.

In her memory, he had been an elegant gentleman versed in poetry, lyrics, song, and verse, dressed in white as pure as snow, handsome and refined as carved jade. How had that man become this disheveled? His tangled hair was full of bits of grass, as though he had been sleeping in a haystack. His beard was just as unkempt. The grime on his face proved he had not washed in who knew how long.

The clothes on his body were probably not even their original color anymore. Years without proper washing had stained them into layers of black, some dark, some darker still. Tang Yi remembered him teaching her when she was little. Comparing that man with the figure before her now, she hardly knew what to say. He had once been the most gifted disciple in the Shangqing Sect. He had once been the Sect Leader's most favored successor.

Countless people throughout the sect had pinned their hopes for the Shangqing Sect's revival on him. Yet he had fallen in love with a woman he should never have loved. A woman of the demonic path. The Demon Sect Saintess. In the end, he was expelled from the sect. Tang Yi later heard of his deeds outside.

He had not failed the admiration she had held for him as a child, nor the expectations so many within the Shangqing Sect had once placed upon him. His strength had advanced by leaps and bounds until his name shook the realm. Among the Top Ten of the Golden Core Ranking, he occupied a place of his own.

After her father Tang Mu became Sect Leader, Tang Yi had often heard him sigh that Third Junior Brother had been a great pity. Had he not strayed onto the wrong path, Tang Mu himself would never have become Sect Leader. In Tang Yi's mind, this man ought to have been someone who roamed unhindered beneath Heaven and laughed at wind and storm. She could never have imagined that the elegant Martial Uncle she remembered would fall into such shabby neglect.

For a demoness...

Had it truly been worth it?

"Martial Uncle!"

Tang Yi finally gathered her courage and called to him.

"Urp..."

The scruffy man belched again, then shook his head with a smile.

"Girl, there's no Martial Uncle of yours here. Don't call people carelessly."

Tang Yi remained firm.

"Thank you, Martial Uncle, for saving the Shangqing Sect from disaster."

The scruffy man patted the two wine jars beside him.

"Back then, your father, Dong Guo Haoran, and I each buried a jar of wine in these mountains. We agreed we'd drink them together after a number of years. I heard your father and Dong Guo Haoran had both passed away. That reminded me of the wine, and I wondered whether it was still here, so I came over for a look. Who would've thought it really was? Good wine. Fine wine! I came to find wine. I didn't help the Shangqing Sect with anything. The affairs of the Shangqing Sect have nothing to do with me either. You're thinking too much."

Seeing that he refused to admit it, Tang Yi did not argue. She cupped her hands instead.

"The Shangqing Sect's present situation is extremely difficult. Martial Uncle's name shakes the realm. You are precisely the support the Shangqing Sect most desperately needs. I beg Martial Uncle to remain and help us."

The scruffy man ignored the request and asked with a smile, "Girl, I heard you got married?"

At the mention of her marriage, Tang Yi immediately looked awkward. The rights and wrongs behind that marriage were far too difficult to explain.

"I possess nothing worth giving away, so I have no proper gift for you. Take one jar of this good wine, buried for thirty years, as my wedding present."

The scruffy man swept his sleeve. One jar whistled through the air. Tang Yi caught it. She fell somewhat silent as she gently brushed the dirt from its surface. She did not know whether this was the jar her own father had buried. The scruffy man lifted the other jar and took another mouthful. Then he chuckled.

"Dong Guo Haoran had a crow's mouth. Back then he said the man I was didn't match the name I carried, and sooner or later one of them would change. I never expected his words to become prophecy. I hear that husband of yours is his final disciple? The boy may have been accepted on his deathbed and in some haste, but Dong Guo Haoran was never a man who took disciples at random. If he did it, there must have been a reason. If the relationship can still be salvaged, you might as well find a way to make peace."

With that, he rose, picked up the other wine jar, and leapt into the air. He drifted down onto the back of the Golden-Furred Hou, which was still playing in the stream.

Seeing that he meant to leave, Tang Yi hurriedly called out, "Martial Uncle! Are you truly willing to watch the Shangqing Sect fall like this?"

"The past is already past. Turn back and nothing can be restored. Before any of us lies no yesterday, only tomorrow and the far horizon. The Shangqing Sect has reached its present state because merely preserving what remains is useless. It will only grow worse and worse. Girl, you're not stupid. No matter how you came to be Sect Leader, you are Sect Leader now. Stop shrinking back at every turn. When the time comes to show a Sect Leader's resolve, don't hesitate. Face things bravely according to your own judgment. Otherwise, what use does the Shangqing Sect have for a Sect Leader like you? I'm off!"

The scruffy man left those words with his back turned. Then the Golden-Furred Hou beneath him suddenly broke into a run. It thundered through the stream, racing upstream against the current and throwing spray high into the air. The man on its back tipped his head up and poured wine into his mouth amid the flying water. As beast and rider receded, he seemed like the stamen at the heart of some great flower blooming in spray...

[End of Chapter 72]