“Daemons are impossible. There are no daemons in this world.”
Although the identity of the man in the straw hat remained a mystery and his martial arts were strange, there were still clues to be found.
“โฆSo? You want to know what martial arts the owner of Piaoping Pavilion, my benefactor, practices?”
The swordsman Su Li hurried to a village outside the city under the guidance of blacksmith Wang. Wang urged his wife and daughter to pack their belongings and prepare to leave Run County. While they were busy, Meng Qi arrived and asked Su Li this question, leaving the swordsman somewhat stunned.
“She knows the way.” Meng Qi pointed to Lady Liu, whom he had brought along.
Upon seeing this old neighbor of many years, Blacksmith Wang felt a surge of anger. He had nearly been killed beforeโhow could he not be furious?
“Aunt Liu, I never would have guessed. You humble yourself by selling needles and sachets in the street, yet you possess such martial skills. You must have been living an unhappy life in this small place. Well, it’s all over now. No need for anyone to keep wearing masks and pretending to be friendly.”
Faced with the blacksmith’s sarcastic remarks, Lady Liu, knowing she was in the wrong, remained silent.
If she tried to argue that she hadn’t been monitoring the blacksmith’s shop and had no intention of harming Wang’s family, how could she explain that she knew the exact location of Wang’s wife and daughter in their rural home? Meng Qi arrived so quickly that he clearly didnโt even need to ask for directions; he knew exactly which house in the village belonged to the Wang family.
Blacksmith Wang had once been half a martial artist, with many old enemies. He was always cautious about such matters. When neighbors asked about his wife and daughter living outside the city, he would give vague answers and never let his family come to the shop to bring him meals or water.
The swordsman warned him of danger, but Wang wasn’t pleased and thought the swordsman was making a fuss over nothing.
Nowโฆ he was still angry, but when he thought about it, he realized that the swordsman had done his best to look out for him.
Wang, with his anger having no place to go, directed it toward Lady Liu, who was right in front of him.
“You don’t need to tell me who you people are, and I don’t want to know.” Wang looked exasperated, as if he had run out of luck, and turned to help his wife continue packing.
His departure indeed made it easier for the swordsman and others to continue their conversation.
Whether it was about opium or the attempts of the Western Liang descendants to restore their kingdom, these were major issuesโordinary people knowing too much would only put them in more danger.
At this moment, in the low, narrow woodshed, four people stood or lay about, the atmosphere tense.
Lady Liu was the one half-lying down. She was severely injured, and Mo Li had already checked her pulse. It would take at least three to five months for her to recover.
โInternal injuries require rest, avoiding the use of inner strength, taking medicine but not random tonics, or having a master skilled in inner cultivation to help with the healing.
The problem was, Lady Liu had none of these. Her “master” had abandoned her, and Meng Qi was not a kind personโhe had carried her like a sack of sand on the way here. Now, she was under someone else’s roof, even having to watch the blacksmith’s expressions, wishing she could shrink into a corner and be ignored.
“Youโฆ and you too!”
Meng Qi first pointed to Lady Liu, then to the swordsman Su Li.
“Only the two of you have any knowledge of that man. Tell me everything you know.”
That man referred to the man in the straw hat. Meng Qi didn’t know his name and, feeling repulsed by his aura of death, naturally didn’t give him any respectful title.
The swordsman’s face darkened. Mentioning the man in the straw hat always brought up complicated feelings.
On one hand, the swordsman didn’t agree with the man’s use of opium to control assassins and suspected that the so-called “favor” was merely for manipulation. On the other hand, he had to admit that, regardless of the reason, the man had indeed pulled him out of a pit of despair. Even if it was for use, it had given him a path to survival.
What good is having a strong physique for martial arts? The first ten years of the swordsman’s life were a total messโbeing compared to rotting vegetables in a mud pit wouldn’t be too far off. No one spared him a glance, and no one cared whether he lived or died.
“He rarely showed his skills in front of me. He only gave me guidance on my martial arts, and the blade techniques I practice were taught by him.” Su Li chose his words carefully, cautiously speaking, “I don’t know the extent of his martial skills, but I faintly sense that his strength surpasses mine.”
“The master is very strong.” Lady Liu spoke softly.
She really didn’t want to say anything, but the resentment in her heart, combined with the fact that if she were discovered to have “survived,” Shopkeeper Sun would certainly order someone to kill her to silence her, meant that even if she said nothing, she would still be labeled a “traitor.”
“The master practices the martial arts of the Mojie Temple, called ‘Inextinguishable Reality.’ It’s an extremely profound martial art. In the past, only the elders of the Mojie Temple could read it. Itโs said that even the great Master Nimo, who created this technique, couldn’t comprehend the final step, but the master succeeded.” Lady Liu spoke with fear, cautiously continuing, “The Inextinguishable Reality has a natural suppressive effect on those who practice the Thirteen Heavenly Demons of Self. We cannot possibly resist the master.”
Mo Li found this strange. How could there be something that naturally suppresses? Even water and fire have strengths and weaknesses.
Meng Qi snorted and sneered, “Inextinguishable Reality? Sounds impressive. Isn’t the highest martial art of the Mojie Temple the Heavenly Demon of Mฤra?”
When it came to Buddhist doctrines, Mo Li was a bit confused.
Mr. Qin never taught that, and over the past twenty years, learning martial arts, medicine, and literacy had already taken up all of his timeโthere was no room for studying these things.
Thinking of the man’s aura, it did indeed seem more like he practiced a heretical technique.
“Heavenly Demon of Mฤra is a misnomer used by outsiders. What we practice isn’t demonic arts, just like how outsiders mistakenly call ‘Empty Flower Formation’ the Heavenly Demon of Mฤra.” Lady Liu argued, feeling somewhat indignant.
Meng Qi didn’t buy it and sarcastically said, “I admit that the martial arts of the Mojie Temple are indeed unique. The monks who founded the temple years ago meditated on the ลลซraแน gama Sลซtra, turning martial arts into a means to disturb the mind with the demon Mฤra, thereby breaking through delusions and strengthening their devotion to Buddhism. Although I don’t believe in what they believed, the martial arts of Mojie Temple were originally not meant to compete with others. Unfortunately, over time, the monks of Western Liang gradually focused only on the power of these martial arts, ignoring their true purpose. Some even interfered in politics, obsessed with power, and got involved in the internal conflicts of the eight great clans.”
The ลลซraแน gama Sลซtra is a very special Buddhist scripture that thoroughly discusses how demonic illusions deceive practitioners and how to break through them.
Hence the saying, “As long as the ลลซraแน gama Sลซtra endures, all Buddhist scriptures and teachings will endure.”
Although Meng Qi didn’t believe a word of it, martial arts have always had a foundation, and since the martial arts of Mojie Temple originated from this, it was natural that later generations, who forgot its essence and became obsessed with increasing the power of the martial arts, had strayed from the right path.
“Even when Western Liang was destroyed, there were still monks in Mojie Temple who devoted themselves to Buddhism and were indifferent to worldly matters. But what about you?” Meng Qi said coldly, “You probably haven’t even studied the scriptures properly and only memorized the martial arts techniques. You should be thankful that your skills are lacking; otherwise, with the wrong mindset and technique, you would have gone mad with inner demons sooner or later.”
Lady Liu was stunned, instinctively wanting to refute but, considering Meng Qi’s strength, she immediately shut her mouth.
Forget it, whoever is stronger has the final say.
Su Li frowned and said, “No matter what kind of martial arts he practices, I’ve never seen him lose control.”
“That doesn’t mean much.”
This time it was Mo Li who spoke, the doctor suspecting that the man in the straw hat had turned his martial arts into a dark art.
Qin Lu once said that some people are exceptionally gifted and naturally inclined to martial arts. Even if given a completely wrong technique that has been carelessly altered, they might just take a few detours, fix and adjust it themselves, and eventually create a new martial art.
This kind of thing has happened more than once in the martial world.
Some people, for various reasons, need to harm others and create a flawed martial art technique, hoping to drive the other person mad with inner demons.
Some succeeded, but others ended up backfiring, like someone who, after being given a third-rate inner technique, managed to comprehend a long-lost first-rate technique, infuriating the person who tried to harm them.
It sounds strange, but in fact, the third-rate inner technique and the first-rate technique were created by the same founder of the sectโthe former was a simplified version of the latter. Since someone could create it, others could deduce the complete martial art from fragments or even simplified versions.
This still makes sense, but it’s more common for people to take fragments of martial arts and complete the second half on their own, turning orthodox, profound martial arts into heretical practices. People have free interpretations and can play around, like in those stories about White Bone Claws or Yin Transforming Palms.
In short, giving martial arts manuals to an idiot with no insight won’t amount to anything; they’ll just follow the instructions by rote and be easily defeated by a skilled opponent. But those born extraordinaryโif they’re not stubbornly superstitious about the authority of manualsโmight be better off without a manual. If someone maliciously gives them a flawed or incomplete one, they’ll only end up creating a terrifying enemy.
If the man in the straw hat is extraordinarily talented, he might have directly altered his inner technique upon realizing he was about to lose control.
The swordsman took some time to understand what Mo Li was saying and then was somewhat dumbfounded.
Having no idea that so many things had happened in the martial world and that there were so many subtleties, the swordsman thought: Is it that hard to just hire an assassin? Why go to such lengths to harm people, only to have it backfire?
Then Su Li realized that he seemed no longer to be an assassin, and he couldn’t even make a living if someone hired one.
But if not an assassin, Su Li didn’t know what else he could do and felt quite lost for a moment.
“You call him ‘benefactor,’ and you call him ‘master,’ yet neither of you knows his name?” Meng Qi continued to question.
Su Li nodded, making Lady Liu look at him with an indescribable expression, as if wondering how someone like him could exist.
“Our master is the disciple of the last King of Dharma from Mojie Temple. It’s said that he is from the Feiting tribe.”
After Lady Liu finished speaking, Meng Qi was slightly stunned, then immediately laughed, “What a coincidence.”
“What?”
“The National Preceptors of Western Liang all came from Mojie Temple, and Miti was one of the four Kings of Dharma in the temple. I remember that the last National Preceptor of Western Liang seemed to be Miti.”
After hearing this, Mo Li’s expression also became strange, and he asked in a low voice, “So what about this Western Liang National Preceptor? Was he defeated by you?”
If he died at Meng Qi’s hands, wouldn’t that make the man in the straw hat harbor a great grudge for his master’s death?
The title of National Preceptor originally came from Western Liang, about a hundred years ago when Western Liang conferred the title on a high monk from Mojie Temple. Only after that did the Central Plains have this title. The National Preceptors of Western Liang throughout history were all very prestigious monks, not necessarily skilled in martial arts but perhaps well-versed in Buddhism or skilled in wielding power. Mo Li hadn’t thought of this before, so was the battle between Chu and Western Liang initiated by a duel between the two countries’ National Preceptors?
“No, that King of Dharma caught the plague while preaching to the Feiting tribe.”
“โฆ”
“At that time, a plague broke out in the southwestern border of Xia Prefecture, spreading to the entire Feiting tribe in a short period. Nine out of ten yurts were empty, and most of the nobles died, not to mention the herdsmen and slaves. That King of Dharma was old and only survived for half a year by relying on his inner strength. He died of grief and anger when he heard that Chu had occupied the capital of Western Liang.”
Mo Li glanced at Meng Qi, thinking that it indeed involved both national and personal enmity.
“The disciple of the King of Dharma should have a Dharma name at Mojie Temple, and you don’t know it either?”
“I heard… he was a disciple accepted shortly before the previous King of Dharma’s death, too young to take the vows. Later, Mojie Temple was destroyed by warโฆ”
Mo Li suddenly said to Lady Liu, “You don’t seem like a person from Western Liang?”
Of the dozen or so Western Liang experts who practiced the Empty Flower Formation, not all had distinct ethnic features. On the contrary, their characteristics were not particularly obvious, especially Lady Liu, who looked no different from the people of Run County.
Mo Li wasn’t sensitive to people’s appearances, only now noticing it.
“I am not. My ancestors were Han people who settled in Western Liang. After the fall of the kingdom, we were forcibly relocated inside the pass and gathered into villages.” Lady Liu stared at the three, her tone sharp, “Are you asking why, as a Han, I would want to restore the kingdom of Western Liang?”
Meng Qi didnโt respond, but the swordsman found it odd and asked, “Is there no one left in your family? If your parents and siblings were all there and you were chosen to learn the martial arts of Mojie Temple, could you have chosen differently?”
Lady Liu choked on her words, losing her aggressive stance.
Mo Li looked at her for a moment and then softly said, “If you had any family, their life must have been hard after being relocated inside the pass.”
Restoring a kingdom or not, ordinary people don’t care; they just want to survive.
These former citizens of an enemy state, after a few years of relative peace under the Chu Dynasty, faced the madness of Emperor Yuan of Chu, who fought against powerful ministers to the detriment of the nation. The following Qi Dynasty was even worse, with Emperor Lu Zhang, who had no sympathy for foreign tribes and lacked capable ministers to manage internal affairs and provide good governance.
“โฆNot a single burdensome tax was missing, and even the corvรฉe labor was twice as heavy as that of ordinary border citizens. We were frequently called lowly slaves, just because our ancestors served a foreign race.”
Lady Liu’s face was expressionless, but a tear rolled down her cheek, “We lived worse than the assimilated Western Liang people. At least at the border, the Western Liang people who could raise horses and hunt were respected, called real men. But the people in our village couldnโt even raise their heads when they went out. Each generation lived worse than the last. My father died from hard labor before he was thirty, and my cousin couldn’t bear the forced labor and fled, leading to seventeen families of the same surname being enslaved, herding sheep and horses for the border troops. My ancestors were also taken as slaves outside the pass by the Western Liang people, and after much difficulty, they were freed and became citizens. But when we returned to the Central Plains, we were still slaves for generations.”
Meng Qi sighed.
There were probably many people like Lady Liu.
Otherwise, the man in the straw hat wouldnโt have found so many followers.
“No matter which dynasty, if they donโt let the people live, they will naturally rebel.”
National righteousness and ethnic pride aside, ordinary people like Lady Liu, with no education and almost unable to survive, will follow anyone who gives them a way out.
“Enough.” Meng Qi changed his tone and asked Lady Liu, “How many years have you been under that disciple of the King of Dharma? How many times have you seen him? Has his martial skill always been like this?”
Lady Liu replied, puzzled, “I’ve been practicing the Empty Flower Formation for over twenty years, and I havenโt seen the master often, maybe four or five times. As for his martial skillsโฆ I’m not skilled enough to notice any changes.”
Meng Qi turned his gaze to the swordsman.
The swordsman, uncharacteristically sharp, asked, “I’ve also been with him for about twenty years. He rarely showed up, and I was focused on training my sword skills. When I was young, I couldnโt figure out his level, and I still can’t. But the way you’re asking, it seems you’re not talking about changes in skill?”
“Death energy,” Meng Qi replied concisely.
Mo Li added, “When did that deathly aura around him appear? Was it there from the beginning?”
If it had been there from the start, the swordsman, who had been beaten so badly in his youth that he nearly died, wouldnโt have seen his โbenefactorโ as a good person. Even with a simple mind, he would have been terrified and wanted to run awayโwho would dare to stay and repay kindness?
But the swordsman gave Mo Li and Meng Qi an unexpected answer.
“What death energy?”
“โฆ”
The four of them looked at each other for a moment before Mo Li was the first to speak, explaining the suffocating and eerie feeling that surrounded the man in the straw hat.
“When the master was angry, there was that feeling, but wasnโt that just because our martial arts share the same origin but arenโt as strong as the masterโs?” Lady Liu was also confused.
The swordsman, who hadnโt learned the martial arts of Mojie Temple, asked, “Doctor, are you talking about death energy, not killing intent?”
Mo Li nodded and described the aura he felt again.
After a while, the swordsman shook his head and said, “No, Iโve never felt anything like that, andโฆ”
“Hmm?” Mo Li sensed something amiss.
“The feeling youโre describing is strange. If itโs truly terrifying death energy, why would it resemble a lifeless desert rather than a plague-ridden village? Normally, wouldnโt it feel more like a battlefield littered with corpses?”
Mo Li was stunned.
He suddenly realized that the so-called death energy might be something only he and Meng Qi could sense.
Only a dragon vein would perceive a desert as having โdeath energyโ because it lacks life.
T/N: For humans, death energy would mean the energy you felt seeing the death of many humans. For dragon veins, death energy means the death of nature. How profound. (umu, this is me pretending to be a scholar.)
