The Situation in the Northwest

The following day, after seeing off the martial artists of Puning County who had rushed over to offer thanks and gifts, Fang Shaobai joined Wang Yu and the other two, now stripped of their disguises, as they ate breakfast in the inn's common room. "Brother Zhao, it turns out you're even younger than me!" Fang Shaobai had finally seen Wang Yu's true face, yet his admiration for him had only grown. To speak such insightful words at such an age, and even offer guidance that had steered his mindset back from what was, in a sense, a crooked path—that was certainly not something an ordinary person could achieve. Put it this way: in the entire Taihua Sect, there were only a handful of people capable of giving him pointers! Lin Zhiyuan and Wei Yan were also present. The gazes they directed at Wang Yu and his companions were filled with both surprise and shock; they had never imagined that these three were the legendary Prince of Zhenxi, Zhao Yu, and the Female Top Scholar, Li Yunxiu. The martial arts of these two might not be exceedingly high, but their fame was truly immense. "Just now, we even saw the Twin Heroes of the Southern Mountains, the Jiang brothers," Lin Zhiyuan said. "They tried to convince Senior Brother to hand Zhao... the Prince and the Princess Consort over to them, but Junior Brother Wei and I turned them away." "When traveling the jianghu, avoid using official titles," Wang Yu reminded them. The others burst into laughter at his remark. "It truly is a case of three men making a tiger—rumors can really ruin a reputation," Wei Yan mused with emotion. "Brother Zhao is clearly so witty and humorous, so how did word spread that he was perverse, arrogant, and domineering?" "That depends on who I'm dealing with," Wang Yu chuckled slyly. "If that monk Hongzhao from the Great Vajra Monastery were to mention me, I doubt he'd have anything nice to say." Lin Zhiyuan and Wei Yan, who already knew what had transpired the night before, laughed heartily once again. Fang Shaobai looked at Wang Yu, still showing a hint of concern. "That Tendon-Changing Bone-Forging Pill really is a secret elixir of the Great Vajra Monastery, specifically used to complement the cultivation of their temple-guarding divine art, the Vajra Dragon-Elephant Art. You just swallowed it down yesterday—are you really all right?" "I'm fine!" Wang Yu waved his hand dismissively. "That monk was just sensationalizing. After taking the pill, I feel my meridians are tougher and my bones are sturdier. It's all benefits—where's the harm?" "That's good, then." Fang Shaobai set his worries aside. "In any case, your Prince of Zhenxi's Manor isn't lacking in wealth or medicinal herbs, so even if there were an issue, you wouldn't need to fear." At this point, Fang Shaobai couldn't help but chuckle. "The main ingredients of the Tendon-Changing Bone-Forging Pill are hard to come by. It requires the bones of pure-yang bears and tigers, as well as hundred-year-old wild ginseng and Solomon's seal. The Great Vajra Monastery might not even brew a single furnace in several years. Now that you've swallowed one, their hearts must be bleeding." Both the Taihua Sect and the Great Vajra Monastery were located in Hexi Circuit, and were even neighbors. Although both were renowned orthodox sects that exchanged courteous flattery whenever they met, it was impossible for them to have no friction at all. With one fewer Tendon-Changing Bone-Forging Pill, the strength of the Great Vajra Monastery was bound to be weakened by a fraction, and the Taihua Sect was naturally pleased to see it. While Fang Shaobai had always focused wholeheartedly on martial practice and stayed out of such intrigues, he was far from ignorant. Lin Zhiyuan reminded them, "No matter which route Brother Zhao takes to return to the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor, he must pass through Daxing Prefecture." Fang Shaobai had asked the inn attendant to warm a pot of yellow wine for him early this morning. He took a sip now, savoring it slowly. "I'll accompany Brother Zhao back to Longshan Prefecture. I'd like to see whether Master Zongshan of the Great Vajra Monastery will personally block our path." The corner of Lin Zhiyuan's mouth twitched. "Surely it won't come to that!" Master Zongshan was the abbot of the Great Vajra Monastery and a world-renowned martial grandmaster. In terms of seniority, he was even half a generation higher than the Taihua Sect leader; no matter what, he could never stoop to personally intercepting Wang Yu from traveling to the princely manor to take up his post. ... And so, they set off on the road. Since they had resumed their real identities, Wang Yu sold the ox cart and replaced it with a horse carriage. Although it was not as spacious or luxurious as their previous carriage, it was much more comfortable than an ox cart, and far faster as well. Li Yunxiu and Zi Ling sat inside the carriage, while Wang Yu and Fang Shaobai sat outside. As they departed Puning County, Fang Shaobai pointed out two men lurking near the edge of the woods outside town: one was the Golden Sabre Duan Ping, and the other was the Iron Palm Mountain Cleaver Meng Chonghu. However, upon noticing Fang Shaobai pointing at them, the two immediately slipped into the woods and vanished. "I had no idea there was friction between the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor and the Great Vajra Monastery," Wang Yu remarked after a moment of thought. "The Great Vajra Monastery should have more experts than the princely manor, right?" "The Great Vajra Monastery in the west and Prajna Monastery in the east are known as the Two Schools of Buddhism, so of course they have many experts," Fang Shaobai replied as if it were obvious. "However, the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor holds imperial orders to govern three prefectures and commands an army of fifty thousand. Has the Great Vajra Monastery lost its mind to dare attack the manor?" Wang Yu curled his lip. "Yet Monk Hongzhao dared to seize me." Fang Shaobai chuckled. "Who told you to be separated from your men? Of course they wouldn't dare kill you, but if they invited you to the Great Vajra Monastery and forced you to sign a humiliating treaty under duress, they'd gain tremendous advantages. You must understand, the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor wouldn't dare lightly target the Great Vajra Monastery either." Though the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor commanded fifty thousand troops, the Great Vajra Monastery possessed a host of masters; no one wanted to sleep with one eye open every night. Wang Yu turned his head toward the carriage. "And yet you still dared to take me down this road before?" Li Yunxiu replied calmly, "Before, we were accompanied by a contingent of Imperial City Guards. The Great Vajra Monastery is an orthodox sect; they would never assault imperial troops." Wang Yu: "..." Wang Yu sighed. "I stayed in the capital for ten years, so I really have no grasp of the situation in the northwest. Aside from the Great Vajra Monastery and the Taihua Sect, what other powers are there in the northwest?" "Now you've hit the nail on the head," Fang Shaobai clapped his hands and laughed. "The Great Vajra Monastery is, after all, an orthodox sect and cares about saving face. The Great Bandits of Mount Qi, on the other hand, care nothing for face whatsoever." "The Great Bandits of Mount Qi?" "The Great Bandits of Mount Qi and the Qiang tribes of the northern desert are the greatest threats to the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor," Li Yunxiu said. "The Qiang dwell in the northern desert, separated by towering mountains and perilous passes, so entering the Central Plains is no easy feat for them. The Mount Qi bandits, however, lurk within the Mount Qi range and threaten the northwestern trade routes, posing the greatest danger in truth." Northwest of Jingji Circuit lay Hexi Circuit, and northwest of Hexi Circuit lay Anxi Circuit. The Prince of Zhenxi's Manor was situated at the border between Hexi Circuit and Anxi Circuit, governing Longshan Prefecture in Anxi Circuit, along with Qing'an Prefecture and Fengming Prefecture in Hexi Circuit. Among them, Longshan Prefecture and Qing'an Prefecture lay to the north, directly facing the Qiang of the northern desert. Fengming Prefecture lay to the south, bordered on the west by Qishan Prefecture of Anxi Circuit, directly facing the thousand-li Mount Qi range and the Great Bandits of Mount Qi hiding within. Wang Yu nodded, knowing that the bandits and outlaws of a wuxia world were not like the bandits of real history. Beyond being similarly concealed in deep mountains and difficult to eradicate, they were also led by martial arts masters, causing the danger to skyrocket. Sha Tongtian could be an honored guest of a Jin prince; Xiao Shiyilang ranked among the world's top three; and Lang Fanyun was outright the supreme martial artist under heaven. "What about the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions?" Wang Yu asked. While in the capital, he had seen exotic goods brought from the Western Regions and had heard of the foreign Hu maidens of the Thirty-Six Kingdoms, whose fame far exceeded that of the Great Bandits of Mount Qi or the northern desert Qiang. Further west beyond Anxi Circuit lay territory outside the imperial court's jurisdiction, where the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions were scattered across the western deserts, grasslands, and oases, connecting to even greater empires further west. "The Western Regions span ten thousand li of yellow sands, vast yet sparsely populated, and the Thirty-Six Kingdoms are a scattered heap of sand—nothing to worry about," Li Yunxiu shook her head. Fang Shaobai gave a thumbs-up. "The Female Top Scholar truly possesses grand spirit!" Though the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions were small states with sparse populations, bandits still lurked and horse raiders still plundered. There were master swordsmen hailing from the west, as well as sabermen venturing beyond the pass from the Central Plains; there was certainly no shortage of experts. Of course, Li Yunxiu speaking this way did not mean she was unaware of the experts in the Western Regions; it was simply that the Western Regions had no intention of encroaching upon the Central Plains, and the martial artists there harbored no grudges against the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor. That being the case, there was naturally no need to dwell on them. "Compared to the martial world of the Western Regions, the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor actually has two formidable enemies, and it is a personal grudge," Li Yunxiu stated. "Who?" Wang Yu asked. "The disciples of Old Man Xingxiu from the Xingxiu Sea, of course—Zhaixingzi and Zhuixingzi." Fang Shaobai chimed in with a grin, teasing Wang Yu, "Back then, your father fought one against two at the Xingxiu Sea, severing Zhaixingzi's arm and lopping off Zhuixingzi's leg, turning the Twin Stars of the Sea into the Maimed and Crippled. It caused quite a sensation in the jianghu at the time—don't you remember?" Wang Yu thought to himself: *Like hell I remember!* "I just didn't expect the grudge to linger even after my father passed away," Wang Yu covered for himself. "That's not up to you; it's up to the Maimed and Crippled," Fang Shaobai said with a laugh. "While your father was alive, they didn't dare head north. Now that he's gone, I reckon their ambitions have stirred again." Wang Yu shot Li Yunxiu a resentful glance, thinking, *Why didn't you mention this to me before?* Li Yunxiu's expression remained placid, her thoughts answering, *What if I told you and scared you out of your wits?* Even so, neither Fang Shaobai nor Li Yunxiu was overly concerned about these two formidable enemies of the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor. For one thing, their features were too distinctive, making them easy to spot the moment they entered the princely manor's domain, allowing for early vigilance. For another, as long as Wang Yu stayed inside the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor, even if those two were Xiantian experts, they could never withstand the endless barrage of heavy bows and repeating crossbows from the manor's guards. As long as Wang Yu remained cautious, the danger was not actually very great. ... The carriage clattered along, leaving Hangu Prefecture and entering Daxing Prefecture. Along the way, shadowy figures indeed appeared around them, but almost all vanished in a flash and never dared approach within a hundred feet, so as to avoid causing any misunderstanding. Even after entering the Great Vajra Monastery's sphere of influence, no monks appeared, let alone blocked their path. It had to be said that the deterrent of a Xiantian expert was formidable indeed—not to mention a young Xiantian expert with limitless potential and powerful backing. Li Yunxiu also looked upon Wang Yu in a new light. She had not expected him to get along so well with Fang Shaobai; with Fang Shaobai accompanying and escorting them along the way, the journey was far safer than traveling on their own. With no one blocking their path, Wang Yu could finally take his time experiencing this world at ease. Alongside enjoying the scenery, he witnessed the real lives of ordinary folk living under the imperial court's rule. The party journeyed westward, crossing Daxing Prefecture, entering Fengming Prefecture, and then turning north into Longshan Prefecture. Before long, the prefectural seat of Longshan rose prominently into view. The next moment, a cloud of dust billowed at the city gates as a troop of horsemen galloped forward, the lead rider carrying a red banner edged in gold. Upon the banner, a large character for "Zhao" fluttered boldly in the wind.