Chapter 446: Meeting Zhao Xiongge Again

Rivers and lakes, wilds flourishing and withering, highways and byways, sun rising and setting—the green mountains never aged. Hooves drummed along the road through rolling dust, occasionally accompanied by Guan Fangyi's muttered curses. The target of those curses showed no reaction, merely smiling faintly from time to time. Yuan Gang, however, found the grumbling irritating. Every so often, a cold glance went her way. In the end, Guan Fangyi had left after all.

She had simply left together with Niu Youdao, accompanying him on the road. There were not many of them. Only ten riders traveled in the group.

Yuan Fang had missed the entire storm that swept through Nanzhou and apparently felt somewhat restless about it. This time, when he heard Niu Youdao intended to travel again, he shamelessly insisted on coming along. As for Gongsun Bu, no one from his side accompanied them this time.

Following Niu Youdao's instructions, Gongsun Bu had expanded the intelligence network, and his responsibilities had gradually increased. It was no longer suitable for him to keep running around.

This journey was headed for the State of Song. Both Yuan Gang and Guan Fangyi regularly participated in Wuliang Mountain's intelligence network and knew how to contact the agents in Song, so there was no need to bring anyone else from Wuliang Mountain.

Along one stretch of mountain road, the group reined in their mounts and stopped at the entrance to a path leading into the hills. It was the road to Small Temple Village. Niu Youdao and Yuan Gang both studied the surroundings. They had not returned for several years. Seeing the entrance again stirred old feelings in both men. Niu Lin, Yuan Huo, and Niu Shan rode out from the group and cupped their hands in farewell.

"Master Dao, we're going."

Niu Youdao smiled and nodded. "Give my regards to the villagers."

Niu Lin could not help asking one more time, "Master Dao, you really won't go back and take a look? Your family's old house is still there."

He was only a step away from mentioning the ancestral graves. Guan Fangyi's eyes flickered. She looked curiously toward the far end of the mountain road.

In truth, she wanted to visit this so-called Small Temple Village. She wanted to see what sort of auspicious ground could produce an oddity like Niu Youdao. And not merely Niu Youdao. She might not get along with Yuan Gang, but she had eyes and could see that he was no ordinary man either. For one tiny mountain village to produce two men like this—how could she not be curious? It was not only her.

Even Uncle Chen and the others traveling with them could not help taking a few extra looks toward the end of the mountain road. Niu Youdao only smiled without answering. Some questions did not need an answer.

Yuan Gang barked, "Stop dawdling."

Niu Lin and the other two had no choice but to cup their hands once more. Then they turned their horses and galloped into the mountain road.

Niu Youdao tilted his head toward Yuan Gang. "You're not going back for a look?"

Yuan Gang did not answer either. He pressed his heels against his horse's belly and took the lead, galloping down the road ahead. Niu Youdao urged his horse after him. The group resumed its journey. From Qingshan Commandery to the State of Qi and then to Changping City, many things had happened.

Only after more than thirty of his men died, especially during the desperate rescue of Shang Chaozong, did Yuan Gang finally come to understand why Niu Youdao had wanted him to withdraw behind the scenes.

Just as Niu Youdao had once felt about him, Yuan Gang now sensed the distance widening between himself and the men under him. There were risks he could withstand. If he ordered his brothers to charge into the same dangers beside him, it would amount to sending them to their deaths. Only then did he understand that certain ways of thinking they had brought from another world no longer fit this place.

There was little meaning in continuing to train all those men down the same road. The main problem was that their values were different. He and Niu Youdao could make the four seas their home. But the idea that his men would eventually marry, establish households, and build livelihoods of their own was deeply rooted in them. It would be unreasonable to expect so many people to live exactly as the two of them did.

After Yuan Gang's desperate rescue of Shang Chaozong, Shang Chaozong had come to value the men beneath him greatly. Now Shang Chaozong controlled all of Nanzhou and desperately needed capable people.

So Yuan Gang had simply taken advantage of the situation and handed his men over to Shang Chaozong, letting them seek futures for themselves in the secular world. Yuan Gang had let go.

This time, Niu Lin and the other two had returned to Small Temple Village because they intended to move everyone in the village out of the mountains. Nanzhou was vast enough to let the villagers leave their isolated home and live a different kind of life. In truth, Niu Youdao did not particularly want the people of Small Temple Village to move away. He did not believe that leaving the village necessarily meant they would live better lives.

But Niu Lin and the others believed it would. Perhaps the villagers thought the same. So Niu Youdao did not oppose them. Everyone had his own choices. He would not force these people one way or the other.

As for why Yuan Gang was traveling openly with him again rather than remaining behind the scenes, Yuan Gang himself had already proven his strength. He could now withstand a Golden Core Realm cultivator head-on... Mountains and waters stretched together beneath the eye. In the distance lay a place rich with spiritual beauty. Guan Fangyi had already investigated every notable location along their route.

She pointed ahead and asked, "Master Dao, that place is the Shangqing Sect, isn't it?"

"Mm," Niu Youdao answered.

The mountains were still those mountains. The waters were still those waters.

As the group galloped past like a gust of wind, Guan Fangyi asked again, "Master Dao, you aren't going back there for a look either?"

Niu Youdao did not say a word. He did not even spare the place another glance. They swept past like the wind... In Beizhou, several riders galloped along an official road through the mountains. Tang Yi and Su Po rode abreast in front, while several Shangqing Sect disciples followed closely behind. A malignant creature had been causing trouble within Beizhou's borders.

The group had gone at Shao Pingbo's order to eliminate the creature and reassure the people, and they were now returning to report the successful mission. These days, this kind of errand work was about all the Shangqing Sect could do.

"ROAR!"

A furious bellow suddenly rolled out from deep within the forest. The horses panicked and nearly ran out of control. After quickly calming their mounts, everyone turned toward the source of the roar, startled and uncertain. That sound did not seem to have come from any ordinary beast. There was something strange about it. And it sounded familiar.

"The Golden-Furred Hou!" Su Po remembered.

"Martial Uncle!" Tang Yi blurted out, almost in unison with Su Po.

Joy instantly appeared on her face. She sprang from the saddle and flew toward the forest. Su Po immediately signaled two disciples to remain behind and watch the horses, then led the others after her. He could hardly allow the Sect Leader to run alone into the wilderness. Tang Yi, however, did not appreciate the escort. She stopped atop a treetop and raised one hand to block those following her.

"Elder Su, Martial Uncle does not wish to see people from the Shangqing Sect. I can go pay my respects alone."

That was true enough.

Su Po said gravely, "Sect Leader, be careful. If anything goes wrong, signal us immediately."

Tang Yi nodded and continued flying toward the source of the sound, eager to see the master of the Golden-Furred Hou. Over the years, the Shangqing Sect's predicament had weighed heavily on her. She had never found a path out. She had not expected to hear the Golden-Furred Hou here today. She urgently hoped its master might still remember his old ties to the Shangqing Sect and lend the sect a hand.

Beside another mountain stream, a powerful beast that looked somewhat like a lion and yet was not a lion splashed through the water. Its fur gleamed a brilliant gold. It was pouncing after fish. Whenever it caught one, it stuffed the fish into its mouth and chewed savagely. On the pebble bank nearby lay a disheveled man with one arm folded beneath his head. In his other hand was a wine gourd.

From time to time, he tipped it up for a swallow. Tang Yi floated down from the sky, skirts drifting like an immortal's robes, and landed on the pebble bank. The Golden-Furred Hou instantly stopped moving. It glanced back at her, then resumed playing in the stream.

"Martial Uncle!" Tang Yi cupped her hands in greeting.

Zhao Xiongge opened his bleary, drunken eyes after belching wine. He looked at her with some surprise.

"Girl, it's you? Stop calling me that. I'm not your martial uncle. How did you find this place?"

Apparently feeling that standing while speaking to him was improper, Tang Yi sat cross-legged on the ground.

"I happened to be passing nearby and unexpectedly heard the Golden-Furred Hou's call. I came to look, and it truly was Martial Uncle."

Zhao Xiongge casually picked up a pebble and threw it at the Golden-Furred Hou.

"What are you roaring about?"

Without even looking back, the Golden-Furred Hou flicked its tail.

Crack!

The incoming pebble shattered instantly. Tang Yi could not help glancing at the sight. She had not expected an idle flick of the Golden-Furred Hou's tail to contain such force. No wonder it had once served as the mount of the Demonic Sect's Holy Maiden. Zhao Xiongge hugged the wine gourd and sat up, breathing alcohol.

"Why are you sitting here? You've already seen me. Go back. Don't disturb my peace."

Tang Yi cupped her hands. "Martial Uncle, the Shangqing Sect is suffering in desperate straits. This disciple is incompetent. For Grandmaster's sake, please help the Shangqing Sect."

Zhao Xiongge said, "The Shangqing Sect has nothing to do with me."

He raised the gourd and drank again.

Tang Yi pleaded, "Martial Uncle, if the Shangqing Sect continues like this, it truly will fall apart. Can Martial Uncle really be so heartless as to watch the Shangqing Sect perish?"

Zhao Xiongge replied lazily, "Don't you think it's pointless telling an outsider like me all this? It's not as though your Shangqing Sect has no capable people. Why come begging an outsider?"

Tang Yi smiled bitterly. "The Shangqing Sect has withered until talent is scarce. What capable people do we have? If there truly were someone capable, how could the sect have fallen to its present state? Martial Uncle..."

Zhao Xiongge cut her off. "That Niu Youdao has some ability. Even out at Demon Ridge, I've heard of some of the things he's done. With his ability to overturn clouds and rain, helping one little Shangqing Sect out of its predicament shouldn't be difficult if he were willing. Ai. Dong Guo Haoran did have some discernment after all. He took in a fine disciple! Girl, you refuse to use one of your own people, then come nagging an outsider. What kind of logic is that? Do I look like someone eager to slave away as your ox and horse?"

At this, Tang Yi's face filled with bitterness.

"Martial Uncle, you know what happened. Niu Youdao has already been expelled from the sect."

Zhao Xiongge seemed somewhat forgetful. "Did that happen?"

Tang Yi said, "It isn't that this disciple never sought him out. But he swore to sever himself from the Shangqing Sect. I was willing to hand him the position of Sect Leader with both hands, and he still refused to turn back."

"Young as he is, he certainly has a temper," Zhao Xiongge muttered. Then he glanced sideways at her. "I remember you and he went through the wedding rites and became husband and wife, didn't you? The relationship between fellow disciples may be gone, but your relationship as husband and wife still exists. A husband helping his own wife is only natural. There is nothing shameful about a wife asking her own husband for help. You should go ask him. If you can't even lower yourself that far, if you aren't willing to save yourself, how can you expect an outsider to do it for you?"

With that, he flashed onto the Golden-Furred Hou's back and sat astride it.

"ROAR!"

The Golden-Furred Hou threw back its head and bellowed, preparing to turn and leave.

Tang Yi immediately stood and called urgently, "Martial Uncle, can you truly bear to watch the Shangqing Sect perish before your eyes?"

"Girl, remember this. If I had that ability, I wouldn't have ended up the way I did back then. For a sect to stand firm amid the grudges and struggles for profit of the cultivation world, relying on one person to fight and kill is useless. No matter how strong one person's martial power is, at most he can preserve a sect for a time. If you want to lead a sect into a lasting future, you need someone with real brains and real ability."

Seated atop the Golden-Furred Hou, Zhao Xiongge tipped back his head and drank another mouthful of wine. He belched, then continued, "What has happened over these past years proves that Niu Youdao truly does have that sort of ability. You can safely put him to work now. I hear Niu Youdao is already on the road to the State of Song. His destination is Myriad Beasts Sect. Girl, if you truly want the Shangqing Sect to rise again, go find him!"

The moment those words fell, the Golden-Furred Hou abruptly broke into a run. Water sprayed in every direction as the beast charged away along the stream.

[End of Chapter 446]