Prologue

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Prologue

The July heat was suffocating, leaves were falling all around.

The majority of the Southern lands were masses of water. As the season passed, the expanse of lotus leaves covering the water surface was now reduced to withered remains. The ferry dock that was often desolate was surprisingly graced with the presence of people today.

The man wore a black cloak with the hood covering the upper half of his face. Underneath his feet was a small boat of unknown origin with no roof1.

He had been standing here for nearly six hours2 now, from when dusk started to fall until the moon hang clear in the sky, as if there were roots under his feet holding him there unmoved. After a while, a gust of cold wind brought with it the sounds of leaves crunching under feet as another figure in dark clothes came over from the small road overgrown with weeds.

He bowed and made a formal greeting before he approached. “My apologies for making you wait, my lord3.”

“The feuding at Jing Han Pass has been resolved, not to mention you had to travel far, do not worry about it.” The man in cloak gestured him to come closer, his voice somewhat raspy. “However, you have made a fatal mistake by letting someone tail you here.”

That alarmed the other man. Throughout the grueling journey, it was impossible for him to put up his guard all the time, and he had no idea since when he had been followed. Clearing his mind, he refocused his internal energy4 to his eyes and ears and found out there were a dozen of figures silently moving across the wild forest behind him.

“It is a mistake that deserves lethal punishment, my lord, please-”

“If they did wish to engage you, I’m afraid I would have to find your bones in a dog’s belly by now.” The cloaked man scoffed and turned his head to look back. The water surface was disturbed as another small boat drew near. On them were two people: The one with long hair and wearing ash gray clothes was standing behind respectfully, and the one in front of him wore white clothes and jade hair bind5.

The man in white clothes was holding up a brocade box, his face bright6 and smiling. “It really has been ten years since we last saw each other, Xiwei. Not only have you grown taller, you also seem much more mature now.”

“Ten years is enough for a person to change.” The cloaked man waved his sleeves, causing slight ripples in the water. He appeared right behind the man in white before the third ripple could materialize, a hand stalling the weapon by the man in gray’s hip. “Don’t put yourself on a high pedestal7, it will only backfire on you.”

The man in gray narrowed his eyes. He saw the accompanying man’s displeased look in his peripheral vision and slowly loosened his grip on the weapon, but his entire body remained tense.

“Solid foundation, but reflex needs more work. For the amount of time he serves under you, his disciples’ abilities are quite…” The cloaked man paused, choosing a less aggressive word, “…inadequate8.”

The man in white coughed softly. “Members of the Lue Ying9 Force possess varying skills. Their commander’s main task is disciplining, don’t wrong him like that.”

“Brother10 Ziyu, surely you don’t come this far just to waste your time?” The chilly wind blew by, adding a layer of coldness to the cloaked man’s words. “What do you seek me out for?”

“The Lue Ying Force detected your subordinate’s presence at Jing Han Pass, who I thought was an enemy’s spy at first.” The man in white was unmoved upon facing the other man’s vicious aura and continued to explain calmly. “After investigating, it was clear that the man came there with Lue Ying’s commander in mind… Even though the Lue Ying Force has eminence attached to its name, every member’s identity is kept tight under wrap, not to mention that of the leader. After thinking it over, it can only be you who know his identity and paid him that much attention.”

The cloaked man lifted a corner of his lips. “Are you disappointed that I’m still alive and well?”

The man in white shook his head, hands caressing the flying heron pattern carved on the box. “In the past, maybe… Now I’m beyond elated that you’re still here, Xiwei. At least now I won’t dream of him getting angry with me.”

The cloaked man’s body seemed to stiffen. His gaze focused on the box as his voice got gruffer. “What do you mean?”

“The Northern savages invaded Jing Han Pass last month, but you must already knew this. You wouldn’t have sent your men there to nose around otherwise.” The man in white glanced at the dock, where the cloaked man’s subordinate was surrounded by his own agents, and lowered his voice. “Jing Han Pass is a crucial location in the Northern border, laying claim to it means the border will be wide open for the taking, but the Northern tribes have been scheming for a while, and this time…”

“Chu Ziyu, answer my question!” As he brandished his sleeves, the hood of his cloak was blown back by the strong wind and the man’s figure was revealed under the moonlight. He looked around twenty with elegant brows and almond-shaped eyes, hair as dark as ink. Usually he would have given off a superficial, shallow vibe, but at the moment his thin lips were pressed tight shut, face tensing. He radiated menace, a weapon on the verge of attack.

Da Chu royalty used their country name as surname. The emperor was crowned when he was young, and had executed many political reforms and adjustments regarding the military and people’s welfare. His new law was slowly being put into effect, and whether it was praised or criticized, even a child would know the monarch who dared introduce it, changing up the old tradition was named Chu Xun, courtesy name11 Chu Ziyu.

The emperor did not showed displeasure at being interrupted, he continued, “The defending guards of the Pass died in battle, and the situation was dire. As there are dusty old court officials trying to antagonize me, I had to put out a secret order for the Lue Ying Force to make haste for Jing Han Pass and act accordingly.”

There was a clear distinction in the way the court and jianghu did things. Officials would be more lenient to jianghu-related matters, and errant jianghu wanderers would not use their martial art skills to intervene with the law – such was the strange relationship between two sides in recent years.

But the Lue Ying Force was an exception.

Changing dynasties was something as old as time itself, and the current Da Chu had only been under the rule of three emperors. The first of them started out from a military background and possessed in-depth knowledge about the common folk, so when he ascended the throne, he secretly gathered martial art masters to create an organization of spies which he called Lue Ying – that was over sixty years ago.

The second emperor had a soft heart and resented Lue Ying’s operating method, so he removed it and things stayed that way for a long time. However, the first thing the newest monarch did upon taking over is re-establishing the organization and re-recruiting spies and assassins, forging the sharpest weapon for himself.

A blade that was hung over his enemy’s neck, biding its time to be dropped.

No one knew how many there were in that organization, or where they were hiding, not even… who they were.

Chu Xun’s hands caressed the box increasingly more slowly. He spoke in a quiet voice, “I permitted them to protect Jing Han Pass at all cost, but I would have never imagined the size of that cost…”

“…the Northern tribes’ force was formidable, and there was a mole inside the pass who was secretly contacting the enemy. In just ten days, over half of a hundred and seventy eight Lue Ying members lost their lives… In the end, three days before the opposing army got through, he snuck into their tents and assassinated their leader Hu-Ta-Er.”

“Hiding among your enemies was already dangerous, not to mention being exposed to the entire army after the assassination of their lord.”

The cold wind crawled on the other man’s back like a venomous snake as he heard Chu Xun’s voice getting quieter and quieter, “After the fight, Lue Ying members checked every single corpse, but unfortunately most of them were mutilated beyond recognition…”

“Shut up…!”

“Finally, they found him. He was pinned to a cliff by numerous arrows, his entire body littered with wounds, but still holding on to his Jing Hong sword tightly.”

“I told you to shut up–!”

With a loud shout, the man advanced toward Chu Xun. The man dressed in gray held up his own sword to meet the bare hand slicing down; as flesh met metal, not only the softer one wasn’t harmed, there was a sound akin to metal meeting metal instead. The man didn’t have time to be surprised as the cloaked man continued his motion, and the four-knuckles-wide long sword was broken into two.

The momentum of his hand didn’t stop there; as the sword was snapped, his arm – as light as a dragonfly skimming on water12 – swept pass, fingers conveniently grasping a broken piece and holding it near Chu Xun’s neck in a blink of an eye. Only then did the other part of the blade fell to the ground.

There was horror in the man in gray’s eyes, and he gestured to his subordinates to surround the other man on the dock. But then he saw Chu Xun smiled. “Your kungfu is impeccable, this “Nipping Flowers” move is not a far cry from that of shifu13.”

The cloaked man lifted a corner of his lips. “I don’t believe a single word you just said.”

“That is fair. He would never break his promises, but… how can one stand against fate?” Chu Xun pushed the blade away and chucked the box into the other man’s arms. “He once said he would keep his head on his shoulders and wait for you to come claim it, but now that he had been pierced with a thousand arrows and his remains had been cremated, there was only Jing Hong left… I’m giving it to you on his behalf.”

“Chu Xiwei, all those grudges and hostility of the past… they end now.”

Finishing his words, he suddenly and quickly blocked a major meridian point14 on Chu Xiwei’s body with his fingers. While Chu Xiwei was in shock and confusion, he was tapped on the shoulder, a touch which felt like a hit of internal energy that erupted inside his muscles. He paled, immediately retreating to his small drifting boat, trembling fingers clutching the brocade box. His voice was chilling, “You used “The Thunder”.”

“You and I shared the same master; as I was by his side all these ten years, it would not make sense for me to fall short.” Chu Xun stood there with his arms crossed, his face remaining courteous. “It is late, time for me to return to the palace… I only hope that from now on, our paths will never cross again.”

The water rippled into waves as the boat left as silently as it came. The people at the dock had also disappeared. Chu Xiwei’s subordinate jumped onto one end of the boat despite his injuries and knelt. “I was entirely careless, please punish me, my lord!”

Chu Xiwei ignored him. His left hand held up the box as his right hand touched the brass lock. His ever-unwavering figure trembled slightly, as did his arms. It took him a while to unlock it, and only when he saw the dark long sword in its scabbard did he calm down.

The sword was about a meter long and two knuckles wide, the scabbard a smooth black color. On the sword was a pattern of a swan goose taking flight; it looked very animated, as if the bird would free itself from the metal to fly at the person’s eyes. The blade was as reflective as the autumn waters and bright as white dew on a reed field. The moonlight shining down on it showed a face as white as a sheet.

Wordlessly, tears streamed down his face.

“I’m crying…” He belatedly wiped his drenched face, “Turns out… I can still cry after all!”

All of his tears were unceremoniously wiped away. He tried to smile, but that smile was even more unsightly than him crying.

He picked up the sword, laughing, “How… could you die? You clearly had said, you would wait for me to come take your life… How dare you die without my permission?”

After a while, he choked on his laughter and coughed a few times. He murmured, “Shifu… how could you die?”

His kneeling subordinate clearly wasn’t able to see his lord’s expressions at that moment.

He looked lost and stumbling, like a child who wasn’t able to find their way home.

Index |

Footnotes.

1 The original term used is 草棚, I can’t find a proper picture for some reason so imagine this type of roof but on a boat.

2 时辰 (shí chen) is a time measurement, each 时辰 is two hours.

3 尊主(zūnzhǔ) is generally used by servants or individuals of lower rank to address their master in an organization/alliance/etc.

4 内力 (nèilì) is the energy cultivated within a martial artist’s body, allowing them super strength, agility, etc.

5 A 冠 (guān) is a type of hair ornament for males, below is an example:

6 The idiom used is 面如圭璧 – lit. A face like gemstones. 圭璧 refers to a type of gemstone used in court for its distinctive energy and is carved into variations of this shape – a circle with a hole/smaller circle in the middle layering over a blade-like shape:

7 The idiom used is “Don’t wave your sword in front of Lord Guan”. Guan Yu is a military general under the late Eastern Han Dynasty, known for his sword-wielding skills.

8 The phrase used here is 绣花枕头 – lit. floral-embroidered pillow, meaning “people with decent face value but no real skills”.

9 掠影 means “fleeting shadows”.

10 兄 (xiōng) is an honorific mostly used to address older men/boys compared to the person using it, but can also be used among men of the same social standing, regardless of their closeness.

11 字 (zì) is the name bestowed on an individual when they reach adulthood, as compared to 名 (míng) which is their birth given name.

12 The original idiom is literally translated as “egrets skimming on water”.

13 An honorific used towards one’s master.

14 This is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine; the meridians are connected points on one’s body through which life-energy flows.

Translator’s Notes. It’s good to be back! Unfortunately I’m still busy with a lot of things so there will be no fixed schedule at the moment, and considering how dense this novel is, I’m afraid updates won’t be as often as I want. Nonetheless, I hope you will enjoy this new journey with me! (If you like Faraway Wanderers, this may be right up your alley – it has a more serious tone but still features all the good old jianghu disputes and dramas you can ever want.)

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