Behind the small courtyard stood two new graves. Before one was set a wooden marker bearing the words: "Grave of the Courtyard's Grandfather and Granddaughter." The other was an unmarked, desolate mound.
After dismissing the imperial guards to sleep in the wing rooms on either side, Wang Yu and the two women settled into the main house.
Dusk faded, and the night deepened.
Wang Yu rubbed his hands together and asked eagerly, "Um, so..."
Zi Ling laid one quilt on the western side of the main room's large heated brick bed, placed the other two on the eastern side, and only then glanced sideways at Wang Yu. "What is it you're trying to say?"
"I wanted to ask—when will you teach me the Seven Forms of the Setting Sun?" Wang Yu said.
Zi Ling was rendered speechless.
Li Yunxiu couldn't help a chuckle, though she understood his eagerness. "If you still have the energy, we can start right now."
Wang Yu nodded vigorously. "Of course I do!"
Was this even a question? Misty Jiangnan in the drizzle, endless desert and long rivers, galloping across the martial world, roaming the earth sword in hand, drinking fine wine, sleeping beside beautiful women...
What son of Huaxia didn't harbor a wuxia dream?
That Wang Yu had held back until now before asking already proved his extraordinary self-restraint.
"You have never practiced martial arts. Leaping straight into a sword style like the Seven Forms of the Setting Sun would be like building a castle in the air—your foundation will be unstable," Li Yunxiu said. "Yet teaching only the fundamentals is bound to be dull. So, I will teach you the sword basics and the Seven Forms of the Setting Sun side by side. But you must spend far more time drilling the basics than the Seven Forms for your foundation to be solid."
"Deal!" Wang Yu agreed without hesitation. With the perspective of someone from a modern past life, he knew she was absolutely right.
And so, Li Yunxiu began by teaching Wang Yu the fundamentals of swordsmanship—nothing more than thrusts, points, upward slashes, parries, flicks, and the like.
Once Wang Yu had committed all the basic techniques to memory, she moved on to the Seven Forms of the Setting Sun.
"The Seven Forms of the Setting Sun consists of seven sword stances, each with seven variations, making forty-nine variations in all. That is enough to handle most situations.
"Naturally, I learned these Seven Forms of the Setting Sun from Zhao Yu. However, I am not skilled in swordsmanship, nor have I cultivated Flowing Fire Reflection. Therefore, I only grasped its outward form without its underlying intent, and I cannot experience the circulation method of its internal energy.
"Thus, I can only teach you the stances and variations of the technique. As for how to channel internal energy into the sword strikes, that will be for you to figure out yourself.
"These are the first through fifth forms. Though first-rate sword techniques, they are not particularly astonishing.
"The true essence of the Setting Sun Sword Art lies here: the sixth form, Seventh Month Flowing Fire, and the seventh form, Setting Sun Reflection.
"One is wide-sweeping and overwhelmingly fierce, with continuous sword intent that never seems to abate—a path designed to confront an enemy head-on.
"The other catches opponents unawares, profound and marvelous, harboring life within utter ruin; fleeting as a flash, it is a strike made to achieve victory through surprise."
One was willing to teach, and the other was eager to learn.
To Li Yunxiu's surprise, Wang Yu learned remarkably fast. Though it was obvious he was learning for the first time, he caught on to most things almost immediately. While his form was still unpolished and his posture somewhat shaky, those were matters that practice and familiarity would resolve in time.
The moon climbed to the zenith. Only when Zi Ling's steady breathing grew deeper and louder did the two finally stop, exchanging a quiet smile.
"Go to sleep. We have a long journey ahead tomorrow."
"All right!"
...
Morning sunlight filtered through the window paper, falling across Wang Yu's eyes.
Drowsy and disoriented, Wang Yu blinked awake. "Did I forget to draw the curtains yesterday?"
Opening his eyes wider, he took in the roof beams overhead, from which hung a few strips of cured meat, the wooden window to the east with torn paper panes, and Li Yunxiu and Zi Ling still sound asleep beside him. Reality finally rushed back to him.
The moment Wang Yu stirred, Li Yunxiu woke instantly. Zi Ling rubbed her eyes blearily. "Is it dawn already?"
Li Yunxiu nodded. "It's dawn. Time to hit the road."
Wang Yu grumbled, "That phrasing sounds a bit ominous."
Li Yunxiu gave a faint smile. "It's only bad luck when our own people die. When it's someone else dying, it's very auspicious."
While they talked, Zi Ling shook off her sleepiness, rose to fetch water, and assisted Wang Yu and Li Yunxiu as they brushed their teeth and washed up. By the time they finished, Song Yong and the other imperial guards were also ready.
Next, Li Yunxiu and Zi Ling took down two travel bundles from the carriage, then instructed the guards to take the carriages back to the official highway and return all the way to the capital.
Song Yong was reluctant at first; after all, his orders had been to escort the three of them back to Longshan Prefecture. But once Li Yunxiu wrote a personal letter for him to deliver to the Commander of the Imperial Guard upon his return, he ceased to insist.
Having sent the guards off, the three did not set out immediately. Li Yunxiu pulled a few eyebrow pencils and some cosmetic powders from a bundle, gathered some coal dust and scrap threads from around the yard, and began applying disguises to the three of them.
A short while later, a down-on-his-luck scholar, his dowdy wife, and a dependent younger sister-in-law fresh out of the mold emerged.
Wang Yu looked in a bronze mirror. Li Yunxiu had aged his appearance by seven or eight years, adding a weathered cast to his face. While it diminished a third of his handsome looks, it gave him an air of weary experience.
Although a close look might still reveal traces of his true features, this was not a technologically advanced society. Unless someone had seen him in person, relying solely on paper portraits would never allow them to recognize him.
Li Yunxiu and Zi Ling had undergone similar transformations—subtly altering their facial features and temperament, so that at first glance they appeared to be completely different people.
"I had no idea your makeup skills were so impressive!" Wang Yu praised.
Though her skills fell short of legendary face-changing arts or the heavy modern makeup techniques that could practically replace a person's identity, it was still remarkable enough.
"Of course!" Zi Ling said proudly. "When my young mistress disguised herself as a man to sit for the imperial examinations, no one found out until just before the palace exam!"
Wang Yu stole a curious glance at Li Yunxiu.
*They're quite big, though. How could nobody notice?*
Li Yunxiu shot Wang Yu a sharp look. "We'll head to the nearest town first and buy an ox cart. It will make traveling easier."
An ox was cheaper than a horse and attracted far less attention.
And so, shoulder-packs in place, the three took side trails out of the mountains. Along the way, Li Yunxiu gave Wang Yu pointers on lightness techniques, so by the time they emerged from the forest, he had mastered the most basic footwork of qinggong.
...
*Rumble, creak...*
An ox cart wobbled along the packed-earth official highway. An old yellow ox trudged lazily forward, pulling a carriage shed fashioned from wood and bamboo.
Sitting in the driver's seat up front was an impoverished scholar who appeared close to thirty. The cart was crude, with wind leaking through the canopy, where a plain-looking woman and a younger girl sat inside.
It was indeed Wang Yu and his two companions in disguise.
After leaving the courtyard in the woods, they had purchased an ox cart in the nearest market town and taken an alternative route toward Longshan Prefecture.
To their relief, ever since adopting disguises and switching routes, they had not encountered a single assassin.
Wang Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
*Thank goodness. It's still a normal world—not like Jin Yong's where everyone constantly runs into each other by pure coincidence, nor like Gu Long's where every single person comes with a built-in radar. This world is relatively realistic.*
Three days had passed since the battle at the courtyard in the woods. Over those three days, when not traveling, Wang Yu had practiced his martial arts diligently.
Unfortunately, the medicinal potency provided by the Lesser Restoration Pill was quite limited. Aside from a modest improvement in his physical aptitude, slightly widened meridians, and reaching the first level of Flowing Fire Reflection with the turtle shell's assistance, his swordsmanship and lightness skills remained strictly at the beginner level.
The silver lining was that their past three days had been peaceful. Not only had they avoided assassins, but they had also departed Jingji Circuit and arrived in Hangu Prefecture of Hexi Circuit.
"Once we pass Hangu Prefecture, we'll reach Daxing Prefecture. Further west lies Fengming Prefecture, and turning north from there will take us out of Hexi Circuit into Anxi Circuit, entering the territory of Longshan Prefecture," Li Yunxiu explained.
"It's just a pity the ox cart is so slow. Getting to Longshan Prefecture will probably take over a month," Zi Ling sighed.
"That's a good thing!" Wang Yu said leisurely. "We won't have to plunge into petty schemes and intrigues so soon, and we can enjoy the scenery along the way. It's practically a paid vacation! How could you be dissatisfied?"
"That actually makes some sense?" Zi Ling pondered, somewhat persuaded, before turning to Li Yunxiu. "Besides, it's not like we're intentionally stalling. Elder Yan died, after all, and we have to steer clear of assassins, right?"
The corner of Li Yunxiu's mouth twitched. In just three days, her maidservant had been completely hoodwinked.
Wasn't it obvious that the sooner they returned to Longshan Prefecture, the safer they would be?
As long as they remained on the road, they faced the risk of exposure and assassination. Only by returning to the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor, where Wang Yu would assume the title of Prince of Zhenxi, would they be truly safe.
Naturally, Li Yunxiu also understood Wang Yu's misgivings. He wanted to use this month to practice martial arts a bit more and become more familiar with Zhao Yu's character and mannerisms.
Yet Wang Yu always managed to frame his thoughts and actions in reasonable-sounding arguments—arguments so sound that even she found them hard to refute at times, let alone a simple-minded girl like Zi Ling.
Sitting inside the cart, Li Yunxiu watched Wang Yu's back through the slits in the front bamboo blind.
In truth, she hadn't interacted with him much previously. Aside from instructing him in martial arts and helping him familiarize himself with Zhao Yu's behavior, she had only spent every day in his company after the Emperor bestowed their marriage and they left the capital together.
Originally, her impression of Wang Yu had been that of an honest, law-abiding young man of decent birth. Though kind and reasonably clever, he could not conceal his timid and constrained nature.
Yet after being frightened unconscious during an assassination attempt, the Wang Yu who woke up had changed drastically. He was calmer, bolder, and handled crises with greater wit and composure. Even his tongue had grown silver-smooth.
If Li Yunxiu hadn't been present from beginning to end, she might have suspected that the Wang Yu before her had been replaced once more.
*Still, such cases are not unheard of. Buddhism speaks of a blow to the head awakening one to truth, and Daoism speaks of the Golden Millet Dream. Having walked between life and death, it is only natural for his wits to suddenly sharpen.*
Wang Yu quietly drove the cart while Zi Ling began taking in the scenery. Li Yunxiu pulled her thoughts together as well, quietly pondering how to reclaim authority and govern the region once they reached the Prince of Zhenxi's Manor.
Just then, a figure tumbled down from a large tree by the roadside, stumbled slightly, and regained his footing. Raising his left hand—which clutched a sword—he started to wave toward Wang Yu.
Catching himself, the man hastily pulled back his left hand and tucked the sword behind his back, though the hilt remained in plain sight. He then raised his right hand, holding a wine gourd, and called out, "Greetings, brother! This humble brother indulged in a cup too many and missed the hour. Would you be so kind as to give me a lift?"
Chapter 8