In front of the city gate of Run County, chaos reigned.
Wealthy families, bringing along their households and valuables, used several large carts, driving their servants and family members, to argue with the soldiers guarding the gate.
The officer in charge of the gate was at his wit’s end, and the soldiers under his command were also somewhat dazed, their attitude in blocking the crowd from storming the gate far less resolute than it had been the previous night.
The strange whirlwind that had just risen from the Chenghuang Temple, whether it was a demon flood dragon or not, had already made it clear that this was not something they could resist. Who would want to risk their life?
“There was a loud noise outside the city last night, the ground trembled faintly, and I heard that something invisible broke into the barracks…”
“Hiss! That big fire at the Sweet Spring Bathhouse?”
“Who knows? Maybe the authorities knew long ago that it was the work of a daemon… They wanted to capture the daemon and eat its flesh and inner elixir, but the daemon fought back desperately, was severely injured, and escaped. Then the authorities used the excuse of catching bandits to conduct a massive search in the city. daemons have practiced for hundreds of years; boiling their flesh can prolong life. The shamans back in my hometown always said so.”
“Is that really the case?”
The crowd was left dumbfounded, even the soldiers guarding the gate were confused.
Had they all been deceived by the county magistrate?
Shopkeeper Sun, hidden among the crowd, was so angry he wanted to spit blood, but the current situation was exactly what they needed. Only if the county town fell into complete chaos could the people they had hidden in the city successfully “clear their names” and escape. So not only could he not stop it, but he also had to fan the flames of the idea that daemons were causing trouble.
“No, the magistrate didn’t know about this! After the fire broke out yesterday, it was our shopkeeper and a few old gentlemen from the east of the city who went to report it to the authorities. If anyone is most suspicious, it must be…”
The person speaking glanced at the soldiers near the gate, suddenly put on a frightened expression, and vaguely changed his words, “It must be those who can command the troops!”
The common people didn’t have time to react when a hoarse voice from the crowd shouted: “Why are you stammering, you dog? If it’s not the county captain, it’s his cronies! They’ve messed up Run County like this, and now the daemons have come to take revenge, and you still won’t let us curse them? My family also has distant relatives in government, who’s afraid of whom?”
“That’s right, every debt has a debtor! Go take revenge on the right people!”
“Look at what you’re saying, if a daemon is confused, do you think it can tell people apart? Even fierce ghosts and zombies don’t have the brains to avoid harming the innocent! Open the gate, save the villagers!”
“Open the gate!”
The increasingly inciting shouts made everyone more and more anxious.
The momentum of the crowd storming the gate grew, and the soldiers guarding the gate began to waver.
These wealthy families were not people they could afford to offend. It was fine to beat up their servants, but if they really had to use force, it was broad daylight, and it would be hard to do anything without being seen. So the gate officer climbed up the city wall stairs and shouted to the crowd: “There are no daemons in the city, this is a rumor! Arrest those who spread such nonsense!”
No one was willing to listen, especially the common people who had originally been watching the commotion near the gate. Hearing those words, their expressions also changed, and they hurried back to pack their bags.
The gate officer saw that the situation was about to get out of control. He feared being held responsible, and even more, he feared that the county captain or magistrate would chop off his head afterward. In a panic, he shouted: “The daemon rumor was spread by bandits, the gate cannot be opened, the bandits want to escape by blending in with the crowd, there are no daemons in the city…”
Before he could finish his last sentence, the crowd erupted into chaos.
Bandits were mixed in with them??
Whether it was bandits or daemons, both could kill!
Especially since there were bad actors among the soldiers guarding the gate, they were now beyond saving.
“Don’t listen to the boss, there really aren’t any daemons. But causing such a commotion, do you believe it’s the work of mountain bandits?”
The soldiers who heard this instinctively nodded. Yes, what’s harder, the wall or my bones? Is the roof beam stronger, or am I? Blocking this would be suicide.
The people in the front were afraid of the bandits and wanted to run, while those in the back, who hadn’t heard the gate officer’s words, pushed forward desperately, breaking through the hesitant soldiers. They pounded on the gate, urgently trying to get out.
Shopkeeper Sun gave a signal to his subordinates, who immediately spread the order.
“Whoosh.”
Several people leapt out, kicked down the gate officer, pried open the latch, and quickly drew out the door bolt.
The heavy gate was immediately pushed open by the crowd.
The crowd cheered as they surged out, and some people, unable to avoid the rush, fell to the ground.
But no one cared about their fate at this moment.
A woman wailed, reaching out her hand; her child had been swallowed by the crowd, and she was pinned against the wall of the gatehouse, unable to move.
In the chaos, the woman’s desperate cries could not be heard, only her painfully contorted face could be seen.
Suddenly, an invisible force pushed the crowd, causing the fleeing people to stumble and sway as if a daemonic wind had blown through.
“A daemon! There’s really a daemon!”
The gentry’s carriage was nearly overturned, and people retreated in terror, the ground littered with shoes that had been knocked off in the panic.
The woman only saw a blur before her eyes, and suddenly, a sturdy child appeared in her arms—it was her child who had been knocked down.
The child’s forehead was bruised, there were footprints on his body, and he was crying loudly.
The woman didn’t know how her child had returned to her. Hearing the crowd shouting about a daemon, she instinctively held the child tightly, her face pale.
No one saw a figure fall onto Shopkeeper Sun’s carriage amidst the “daemonic wind,” silently lifting the curtain and entering.
“Master.”
Shopkeeper Sun respectfully made space for the newcomer.
The man in the conical hat nodded slightly, his cold gaze falling on the frightened woman clutching her child.
“Thanks to the master’s mercy, the child narrowly escaped death.” Shopkeeper Sun knew what had just happened and wasn’t surprised.
Even a ruthless killer might occasionally show kindness, especially when it was a disciple of the Maitreya King like the man in the conical hat.
“Only children still have some innate spirituality in this world; it would be a pity if they died. However—”
The man in the conical hat shifted his tone, half-closing his eyes as he said, “Though the child was fortunate today, he will certainly die in the future. That woman, carrying a bag, with a bundle over her shoulder, refused to let go of any of her valuables, and insisted on holding her child while pushing through the crowd. How could nothing go wrong? Human nature is always like this; they don’t want to give up what they already have in hand, yet they also want everything they haven’t gotten. If the empire were at peace and the country flourishing, they might keep what they’re clutching. Unfortunately…”
Unfortunately, the world is bound to descend into chaos, and war is on the horizon.
The child escaped danger today, but the woman’s carelessness will eventually lead to death—that’s what the man in the conical hat meant.
Shopkeeper Sun kept silent, having seen similar things more than once.
This time, the man saved a life, but sometimes he would suddenly kill and take away children too young to remember.
——The most successful of the wandering assassins of the Piaoping Pavilion, Su Li’er, was a child the master had “raised.”
The carriage slowly moved with the crowd, many people forced to follow along with the flow, looking around in fear. Fortunately, that “daemonic wind” didn’t appear again.
Shopkeeper Sun gazed at the gradually receding city walls, and the cannons upon them, feeling a growing heartache.
Such a great opportunity, ruined in an instant.
“Once abandoned, don’t think about it again,” the man in the conical hat said coldly.
Shopkeeper Sun hesitated to speak. When he saw that the man had returned alone without bringing back a single Western Liang master skilled in the Empty Flower Formation, his heart sank. The news was true, there was no longer any excuse to deceive himself—the Grandmaster of the Chu dynasty was truly not dead and had miraculously regained his youth.
“Master, now that the Fengxing Pavilion is no longer a significant threat, we must find a way to eliminate Meng Qi.”
“Wrong.”
The person in the carriage slowly removed his conical hat, revealing a shiny bald head, devoid of even a single hair.
Not only was he hairless, but even his eyebrows were completely shaved.
His nose was broad, and his eyes were a striking blue.
Behind his ears was a tattoo in the shape of a leaf, with the veins and lines made up of extremely fine Sanskrit characters—a single leaf was an entire scripture.
With such an unusual appearance, it was no wonder he needed to conceal it with a hat, or he would surely attract attention on the streets.
This was no longer the Chu dynasty, and even in a place like Run County, where trade caravans gathered, it was rare to see people from the Western Regions with strange hair and eye colors. The dark-skinned Kunlun slaves had almost disappeared, whereas they used to be so common in Taijing that even the patrol soldiers of the Five City Army could speak a few words of foreign languages.
Those with Hu features like the Western Liang remnants wouldn’t be particularly noticeable when traveling with trade caravans, but the man in the conical hat was different.
“The Fengxing Pavilion must be eradicated; even ants can’t be underestimated, especially those that can send messages thousands of miles away.” The man in the conical hat looked up, a trace of impatience in his pale blue eyes.
Shopkeeper Sun kept his head down, cautiously asking, “What about Meng Qi—”
“If you go, it’s to your death.”
“But this man… this man will surely ruin our plans for restoring the nation. Decades of effort, and we finally have the best opportunity now. If we don’t eliminate him, the master’s grand cause will be difficult to achieve.”
“He is no longer the Grandmaster of the Chu dynasty as he once was.” The man in the conical hat sneered, his tone icy as he rebuked Shopkeeper Sun, “What does he have now? Is it the elite army of hundreds of thousands of the Chu dynasty, the emperor’s trust, or the ministers and generals with great power at court? He’s just like us, a man from a fallen nation, wandering. Sun Xi, does having the talents of a genius and the wisdom that surpasses all others mean one can do anything?”
No, it doesn’t.
Alone, there’s only so much one can do.
Even if he is the world’s greatest master.
“Gather your men, avoid facing Meng Qi directly, and persistently find ways to trouble him. Losing men, again and again, that’s what will truly destroy my efforts and ruin our great plan.” The man in the conical hat softened his tone, speaking coldly, “The story of Tian Ji’s horse race—only by using one’s strengths against the enemy’s weaknesses can one achieve a great victory. Meng Qi’s advantage now is his martial arts. Even the holy monk of the Mojie Temple couldn’t stop him back then, and I don’t have absolute confidence either. My advantage over Meng Qi lies in having loyal subordinates like you, and many compatriots with the will to restore our nation. Why let Meng Qi use his strength to crush my forces? In the vast sea of people, once we destroy Fengxing Pavilion, Meng Qi, no matter how skilled, won’t easily find and eliminate our forces… Hmph, it’s not that simple. Dewei, you are usually good at planning and decision-making, but in the future, you must consider the bigger picture more carefully.”
Shopkeeper Sun was convinced and kowtowed in gratitude to his master.
The man in the conical hat nodded slightly and continued, “The rumor you had your men spread earlier was well done.”
There always had to be someone to take the blame. As long as the county magistrate suspected the county captain and saw that Li Zhubo’s fate in the military camp was uncertain, the chaos within the city wouldn’t be resolved for at least ten days to half a month, allowing their people to escape completely unscathed.
“Master, could it be that Meng Qi’s youthful appearance is related to the martial arts he practices?” Shopkeeper Sun’s thoughts wandered in another direction.
Speaking of the Mojie Temple, it was already regarded by the Central Plains martial artists as a place for practicing “evil arts,” but they knew their own business. No matter what kind of technique it was, could it possibly reverse aging? Meng Qi was clearly of the same generation as the Maitreya King.
“It’s not the martial arts.”
The man in the conical hat only said this much, then fell silent.
Shopkeeper Sun waited a long time for more but, realizing the man didn’t want to elaborate, felt a deep sense of regret.
Power, strength, immortality… these were the most tempting things. If this could be used to create trouble, Meng Qi would attract countless enemies.
“I will lead him away.”
After saying this, the man in the conical hat’s figure flickered, and he disappeared from the carriage.
***
“By the way, there’s something I don’t know if it counts as unusual.”
Lady Liu suddenly looked up and said to Meng Qi, “I’ve never seen the upper half of his face; he’s either wearing a conical hat or sitting in the dark.”
“Hmm?” Meng Qi asked with interest, “Is it that you’ve never seen it, or that you’re not trusted?”
Lady Liu’s face turned pale, as her background was a painful subject she couldn’t escape from.
The Han people looked down on them, and the Western Liang remnants, desperate for people, had accepted them.
“I… I don’t think that’s it. Maybe only his close confidants know.” Lady Liu steadied herself and thought carefully, “He comes and goes like a ghost, and usually only the local managers see him. Among those who trained with me in the Empty Flower Formation were nobles from the eight tribes of Tangut, and in twenty years of living together almost constantly, I never saw the master’s true face, and neither did they.”
Meng Qi pondered for a moment, then smiled, “If it’s not about trust, then maybe it’s because his appearance is unsightly.”
“Brother Meng!” Mo Li frowned, signaling that this was not the time for jokes.
“Don’t be annoyed, doctor. There are many reasons for someone to hide their face. If their appearance is very different from ordinary people’s and stands out in a crowd, it’s not something you’d want to reveal easily.”
After saying this, Meng Qi turned to the swordsman and asked directly, “What about you? Have you ever seen your benefactor’s face?”
“I don’t know.” The swordsman grunted, “I suspect what I saw wasn’t his real face. His appearance was very ordinary, but each time he came, there seemed to be slight differences. Assassins are skilled in disguise, so…”
Anyway, true masters recognize each other by aura, not appearance.
Meng Qi was feeling disappointed when the swordsman suddenly added, “But now that I think about it, I don’t recall ever seeing his eyes—they were always covered by something.”
Author’s note:
Man in the Conical Hat: Meng Qi is now alone, what is there to fear?
Meng Qi: Nonsense, I still have the doctor.
Mo Li: And through treating people, I’ve met the new emperor of the Qi dynasty.
Meng Qi: I also met the commander of the Jinyiwei, Gong Jun, through a cat.
Mo Li: And through treating people, I’ve met the second-in-command of the Stone Mountain bandit gang.
Meng Qi: I also helped Master Yuan Zhi break through his martial arts by wearing a piece of clothing.
