Chapter 297: Motive Unknown

The rising sun shone over Qingshan Commandery, brilliant golden light spilling across layer upon layer of forested mountains. With heavy steps, Shang Shuqing climbed to the summit of one of those mountains and reached the newly built ceremonial archway outside Liuxian Sect's new grounds. Breathing hard, she looked up at the words inscribed on the arch, then raised her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her brow.

Fei Changliu had received word and came out quickly to greet her in person. Cupping his hands, he asked, "What brings the Commandery Princess here?"

Shang Shuqing smiled. "Sect Leader Fei, is there any new word from Master Dao?"

Fei Changliu said, "It's difficult for the Commandery Princess to come and go from this place. If there were any fresh news, I would naturally go inform you."

His gaze passed over the fine beads of sweat on her forehead and face. The three sects' newly established mountain grounds posed no difficulty to cultivators, but for ordinary people the terrain was steep and treacherous. Climbing here truly was not easy.

Shang Shuqing said, "My brother is rather concerned about Master Dao's situation in the Qi capital, so I came to ask."

In truth, she herself had been unable to stop thinking about it. Only yesterday, news had arrived that someone in the Qi capital was deliberately making trouble for Niu Youdao. He had barely reached the city when a whole group of people went to his door looking for trouble, saying that the next day there would be a decisive fight at some place called Flying Waterfall Terrace.

After hearing that, she had tossed and turned all night without sleeping well. The moment dawn broke, she had come to ask for news.

Shang Chaozong had no direct channel of communication with Niu Youdao's side. Tianyu Sect's messages were sent directly back to Tianyu Sect, not to Shang Chaozong. Up here on the mountain, however, they could contact the disciples of the three sects directly. Naturally Shang Shuqing had come to them first for information.

Fei Changliu nodded. "I've been paying close attention to the matter as well, but no news has arrived yet. Commandery Princess, rest assured. The moment word comes, I'll have someone notify you immediately."

"It still hasn't come?" Shang Shuqing asked, unable to hide a trace of disappointment.

Fei Changliu shook his head slightly. "Not yet. Judging by the timing, there should already be a result. The message ought to arrive soon. Commandery Princess, please come inside for tea." He stepped aside and gestured invitingly.

Shang Shuqing gave a gentle smile. "No need. I won't disturb you. I'll take my leave."

"Very well." Fei Changliu nodded. He had just waved someone over, preparing to have a disciple escort Shang Shuqing down the mountain, when a man came striding from behind with a sheet of paper in hand.

"Sect Leader, news from the Qi capital has arrived."

"Oh!" Fei Changliu immediately took the paper and read it.

Shang Shuqing, who had been about to turn away, stopped. One finger lightly brushed away a bead of sweat on her chin as she watched him without blinking. A smile gradually appeared on Fei Changliu's face. He held out the paper.

"Niu Youdao is Niu Youdao after all. When he acts, it is never ordinary. What looked like an endlessly entangling problem has already been casually resolved by him. Commandery Princess, please take a look. You can tell the Commandery Prince to set his mind at ease."

Shang Shuqing accepted the paper and carefully read the translated message. It said that Niu Youdao had not accepted the challenge at all. Instead, he had sent a group of people to slaughter the challenger in full view of everyone. The move had intimidated all the petty opportunists in every direction, and no one dared challenge Niu Youdao again.

"Thank you, Sect Leader Fei. I'll go report this to my brother now." Shang Shuqing returned the paper with both hands.

Fei Changliu accepted it, then waved toward a female disciple nearby. "Escort the Commandery Princess down the mountain."

"Yes. Commandery Princess, please."

Fei Changliu watched Shang Shuqing's graceful figure descend the mountain and sighed regretfully.

"Ah! Such a fine woman in both character and bearing, and her birth isn't poor either. Yet her face is terrifying. The best years of her life have truly been ruined by that one face. What normal man would dare marry her? And even if he did, how would he face it? I'm afraid she'll spend this life alone. What a bitter fate."

By now he had grown accustomed to Shang Shuqing's face. The first time he had seen it, however, he truly had found it difficult to look at directly.

It was not a question of whether she was beautiful or ugly. An ordinary or even unattractive face would have been one thing. Hers was frightening. How could a perfectly fine person have been born with such a terrifying birthmark across her face? It truly made one sigh. The mountain path was steep. Shang Shuqing descended with care at every step, yet worry continued surfacing in her eyes.

Master Dao had once again resolved the danger before him smoothly, but he had already encountered an expert ambush on the road, and the moment he arrived in the Qi capital, someone had tried to trap him again. She did not believe the rest of his journey would suddenly become smooth sailing. Who knew how many dangers still waited ahead? Peril at every step. Merely thinking about it made her heart tighten...

On a densely wooded mountainside elsewhere, Huyan Wuhen stood in a straw rain cape and conical hat, quietly watching the cliff opposite. Movement suddenly appeared atop the cliff. A row of figures emerged, swept their arms forward, and threw a line of ropes down from the summit.

The ropes were still swaying against the rock face when more than a dozen young men on the cliff jumped straight over the edge. One after another, they kicked off the steep wall as they descended at great speed. Huyan Wuhen's pupils abruptly contracted. He stared fixedly at the scene. Beside him, Zha Hu slowly turned his head and glanced at Huyan Wuhen's reaction. Batch after batch of young men leapt from the summit. Several wooden rafts floated on the river below. Dozens of men stood aboard them.

Among them, Yuan Gang suddenly raised a drumstick and struck the drum.

Boom!

The dozens of men on the rafts immediately jumped into the water and swam desperately toward the cliff.

Meanwhile, the young men who had descended the rock face released the clasps at their waists, turned, and sprinted toward the river. They plunged into the water as well and swam for the rafts.

The soaked young men who reached the bank seized the ropes hanging from the cliff and began climbing rapidly toward the summit.

Those who reached the rafts instead braced themselves against the drifting timber and, from the water, pushed the rafts upstream against the current with all their strength. Only Yuan Gang remained standing upright on one of the rafts. Gradually, the raft receded upstream.

On the cliff, the final group reached the summit and immediately hauled up the ropes. Once the hanging lines vanished from the rock face, the young men disappeared beyond the far side of the cliff as well. No one knew where they had gone.

"Hoo..." Only then did Huyan Wuhen slowly let out a long breath.

He had heard that Yuan Gang was taking the shop workers into the wilderness and putting them through some kind of training. Unable to resist his curiosity, Huyan Wuhen had come to see exactly what the man was doing. The key problem was that the people reporting to him had not been able to explain it clearly either. Now that he had come to see for himself, he had witnessed something completely unexpected. The sight of groups of young men descending the cliff at such speed had shocked him deeply.

He had never heard of such a thing, much less seen it. More than a hundred men. Some climbed the mountain, others entered the water. Yet in only a short span of time, they had all vanished without a trace. Speed. True speed. It had left a powerful impression on him.

Zha Hu smiled. "What does the General think?"

Huyan Wuhen said, "In war, speed is precious! A surprise force!"

He paused, then added with emphasis, "Not cavalry. A force for the unexpected."

Zha Hu said, "On the grasslands, a method like this would seem to have nowhere to be used."

Huyan Wuhen said, "A surprise force! What he's training isn't a body of men meant to clash head-on on the battlefield. It's a force for unusual operations—penetration, reconnaissance, small-unit raids, things of that sort."

Zha Hu said, "Even if they aren't used on the grasslands and are sent into another state, cultivators take part in battlefield security. Penetration and reconnaissance by men like these would still have little room to operate."

Huyan Wuhen nodded slightly. "I don't know what he intends to do by training them this way. But..."

"In only a few days, he's managed to drill a group of men into this state. That's genuinely difficult to believe. Are there no problems with these people?"

Zha Hu said, "They weren't this smooth from the beginning. They've spent the last several days practicing nothing but this climbing and descent. At first their movements were clumsy, but now they're gradually taking shape."

"As for the men themselves, I checked them all. There are no problems with their identities. Every one of them was personally selected by Third Young Master from more than ten thousand applicants."

"I personally asked Third Young Master as well. An Taiping did not interfere with his selections in any form. Third Young Master himself chose people more or less at random. The only ones An Taiping truly intervened to hire were those two veterans missing an arm and a leg."

"Afterward, An Taiping carefully selected a little over two hundred strong young men from among the three hundred Third Young Master had chosen. The moment he had them, he started drilling them."

"During the day, half work while half train under him, then they switch."

"There should be no problem."

"Think about it, General. If there truly were something suspicious, would An Taiping dare do all this so openly?"

"Besides, with only this many ordinary men, they couldn't stir up much trouble against the cultivators guarding the capital. If these were two hundred cultivators, then we'd genuinely need to be careful."

Then Zha Hu added, "There is one thing that's rather strange. According to the Tofu House's shopkeeper, someone from Among the White Clouds seems deliberately interested in approaching An Taiping."

Huyan Wuhen turned his head. "Who?"

"Su Zhao. The woman the Prince of the Western Court keeps at Among the White Clouds."

Huyan Wuhen looked puzzled. "What does she want?"

Zha Hu said, "Motive unknown."

Huyan Wuhen said, "Don't let some entanglement between a man and woman create trouble. The Prince of the Western Court has become increasingly strange in temperament. It's difficult for me to say much about him. You beat him until he was crippled, so he's afraid of you. Keep an eye on things. Don't let anything happen to An Taiping."

Zha Hu suppressed a laugh. "What if it's really as the General says, but An Taiping is the one who takes a fancy to her? Even heroes have difficulty passing the trial of beauty. That woman is quite attractive."

Huyan Wuhen turned, clasped his hands behind his back, and began descending the rugged mountain path.

"With proper guidance, An Taiping can become a fierce general. More importantly, his heart is upright. He can hold fast to himself. In this chaotic age, that's exceedingly rare."

"That is backbone."

"An army seasoned by a hundred battles needs backbone, and that's precisely the kind of man my Valiant Cavalry needs."

"An army of thousands is easy to obtain; a single good general is hard to find."

"He still has a great future ahead of him. For the state and the people, which matters more?"

"We cannot let a woman from a brothel ruin his reputation."

"If necessary, kill her."

At the Tofu House, Yuan Gang came riding along the lakeside and turned into the alley. He had barely dismounted in the rear courtyard when Shopkeeper Gao came running over.

"Proprietor, the proprietress of Among the White Clouds is here. She specifically asked to see you again!"

"No." Yuan Gang refused flatly.

Then his brows moved slightly, as though he had remembered something. The hand tying off the reins stopped.

"Wait."

Shopkeeper Gao, who had already turned to carry back the refusal, looked at him again. Yuan Gang finished tying the horse, turned, and walked out. As he passed Shopkeeper Gao, he left behind a single sentence.

"I'll go see her."

"Yes!" Shopkeeper Gao chuckled.

Upstairs in the shop facing the street, Su Zhao sat by a window, eating a bowl of tender tofu pudding while watching the pleasure boats on the lake outside. She was in a rather good mood. And why shouldn't she be? Niu Youdao had run into trouble again. This time, she had nothing to do with it. Watching from the side as someone else dealt with him felt wonderful—relaxed, easy, and deeply satisfying. So she had found herself in the mood to come here again.

[End of Chapter 297]