Swordsman: I Was Suddenly Needed with Nowhere to Go
The sky gradually brightened.
The fire had long since gone out, and faint wisps of smoke drifted through the woods.
From a distance, these strands of white looked like morning mist between the trees. In this transcendent scene, all that was missing was a small boat and a fisherman in a straw raincoat.
The figure in a straw raincoat soon appeared, but he didn’t resemble a fisherman. He staggered as he walked, looking around cautiously.
“Where are you going?”
Following the question that echoed from deep within the forest, the person in the raincoat immediately dropped to his knees with a thud, and then instinctively curled up, shielding his head.
Meng Qi rubbed his forehead, feeling both amused and exasperated.
The surviving common folk in the reed marsh had been treated as slaves for so long that they were not only covered in scars but had also been mentally broken. One command, one movement—without an order, they dared not move. The adult men still had thin shackles around their ankles, walked clumsily, and their eyes were vacant.
Only this boy, about ten years old, was nimble, stubborn, and full of mischief, having already attempted to escape twice this morning.
If it weren’t for the fact that he had been starved since childhood and his eyesight failed him at night like a blind person, he might have tried to flee last night when Meng Qi and Mo Li weren’t around.
“Do you know the way out? Do you know how to escape?” Meng Qi easily lifted the boy by his collar.
The raincoat fell to the ground, revealing a body as thin as kindling.
Dr. Mo had said, judging by his bones, that he was already fifteen.
Fifteen years old—at this age outside, one could already be discussing marriage, and the more eager ones might have even married by now. According to Chu dynasty law, labor taxes started being collected at age eighteen, meaning he would have been the main laborer of his family. But this little guy before Meng Qi looked no more than ten years old, skinny to the point of being skin and bones, with large eyes and prominent cheekbones.
Despite being so thin, his eyes were bright, and when he curled up, he looked like a pitiful little monkey.
“There’s not even a boat here. Were you planning to swim out?”
Meng Qi brought him to the dock, and the boy’s eyes kept darting around, until he saw the bloodstains on a patch of reed grass not far away, causing his face to turn pale.
Meng Qi hadn’t intended to scare him. It was just that the Xiliang people who had been trapped in the swamp and failed to escape yesterday were all dead, including Ayanpuka. Their bodies had likely fed the crocodiles. The wild animals around the reed marsh were numerous, and the group of crocodiles was large as well. Dying here would truly leave no remains.
After making such a commotion, if this boy recklessly ran outside and ran into the crocodiles, what would happen?
Meng Qi, without much effort, scooped up the frightened and speechless child and brought him back.
He handed him a piece of roasted corn freshly retrieved from the ashes of the stove.
“Eat.”
The little monkey grabbed it and started gnawing, devouring it eagerly without leaving a trace of the kernels behind.
From the looks of it, if he could have chewed through it, he might have swallowed the cob too.
Meng Qi took one for himself and, upon taking a bite, found that it was surprisingly tasty.
He didn’t hesitate to walk inside and hand the corn to Mo Li, placing it by his mouth, while praising, “This corn is really fragrant.”
Mo Li had just finished treating a man’s back wounds, which were still bleeding. Without washing up, he naturally took a bite from the same spot where Meng Qi had eaten, and although it was a bit hard, it was indeed more flavorful than regular rice. The common folk couldn’t afford refined grains, and while the corn was shriveled, it tasted pretty good.
“Where did it come from?” Mo Li thought about something but didn’t say it. He suspected that the corn would suit sand rats’ taste.
The kernels were larger than rice grains and would be fun to gnaw on in neat rows.
But this was Jingzhou; only northern farmers planted corn.
“Brought by the Xiliang people. There’s a whole big bag behind the warehouse.”
The rescued commoners were severely injured, so Meng Qi went to find some food, and the corn came in handy.
A sparrow hopped out, eyeing the corn by Mo Li’s mouth with greedy eyes.
Its wing was wrapped in cloth, bandaged quite neatly.
According to Meng Qi, there was no need for a doctor or bandages. Just send it back to the valley where the Feihe mountain vein was, and if the dragon vein stayed in human form for three months, the injury would naturally heal.
It’s a dragon vein, so why pretend to be injured and waste the doctor’s time and effort?
The sparrow was so angry it almost jumped up to peck him.
Now, seeing the sparrow, looking even “plumper” with the bandage, Meng Qi took out a handful of carefully selected full grains and placed them on a stool.
“Here, eat.”
His expression said, “There’s plenty of food, don’t stare at someone else’s mouth,” while the sparrow indignantly chirped twice, then hopped onto the round stool and started picking at the grains. It found that they were all good kernels, and suspiciously glanced at Meng Qi.
Could I have been mistaken? The Feihe mountain dragon vein buried its head and ate without noticing the expression on Mo Li’s face behind it.
Mo Li stared at Meng Qi with a mix of reproach and helplessness.
After staring, he couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the sparrow happily eating, its head bobbing up and down.
Now it was Meng Qi who felt uncomfortable, and he secretly asked, “Does the doctor perhaps like this bird that can’t fly?”
“It can’t fly because it tried to help us and even showed us the way.” Mo Li paused and looked up. “And you’re giving him ‘food thrown with disdain,’ just bullying a dragon vein who hasn’t studied or taken human form yet! He doesn’t understand; he probably thinks you kindly picked out the good stuff for him.”
Meng Qi pretended not to catch that pause and snorted, “So what if he hasn’t taken human form? I was already eavesdropping at the academy near Dragon Claw Peak before transforming into a dragon vein myself. What difference does it make? If he hadn’t secretly listened and learned, how would he know how to write the character for ‘dragon’?”
“What if he learned to write from Anahduo Mountain?”
“……”
“And besides, is there an academy near Feihe Mountain?”
Meeting Mo Li’s teasing gaze, Meng Qi steadied himself and stubbornly denied it: “There probably used to be, I didn’t pay attention. This Feihe mountain dragon vein must have secretly listened to the village school, but wasn’t paying attention. He only learned to write simple characters like a young child.”
His writing was crooked and ugly.
As Meng Qi continued to be disdainful, the sparrow carried the last kernel, hopped over to Meng Qi’s side, and coyly rubbed its head against his leg.
——Nice selection, everything tasted good.
Though they didn’t get along, since the Taijing dragon vein had “made peace,” the Feihe mountain dragon vein couldn’t keep sulking.
“Pfft.”
Mo Li couldn’t help but laugh as he turned and walked away, leaving Meng Qi standing there stiffly while the sparrow rubbed against him.
***
The sound of grass rustling came in a flash as a figure darted swiftly past.
Swordsman Su Li moved coldly through the forest.
It is said that, relying on his superior martial arts, he took advantage of the deep night’s silence to break into the residence of the Chunshan Sect’s leader and gave the sect leader a brutal beating.
The leader of a prestigious martial arts sect had never suffered such humiliation.
For someone of his stature in the martial world, even if there were enmity, no one would ever sneak into another’s bedchamber to launch a surprise attack. That wasn’t a feud; it was assassination.
— Little did they know that Su Li was the head of the number one assassin organization in the martial world.
Sect Leader Ying had always been proud of his martial arts skills, especially after the death of the Qingwu Ancestor. He prided himself on being among the top in the martial world, certainly within the top five. Yet after less than a hundred moves, he was beaten to the point of searching for his teeth on the ground, nearly fainting from the humiliation and frustration.
Unable to win in a fight, he considered trying to deceive Su Li into leaving, but Su Li somehow knew about their plot to frame Master Meng. He pressed the sect leader for details, demanding to know who was truly pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Sect Leader Ying found it laughable—anyone who wanted the naval defense map of the Qi Dynasty must be Prince Jing. But Su Li didn’t believe him, forcing him to recall every detail about the mysterious visitor.
Once Su Li had extracted all the useful information, he knocked the sect leader unconscious and hung him beneath the plaque at the entrance to the Chunshan Sect’s headquarters.
The next day, the sect members’ acupoints automatically unsealed, and they rescued their leader.
As for the uproar this incident caused in the martial world, Su Li couldn’t care less. With the greater tides of the world turning, who had time to care about the Chunshan Sect?
Even if they were the largest and most populous sect, in the end, they were nothing more than a local landlord in the Yuzhou region!
Meanwhile, the Xiliang people were trying to restore their kingdom, and war between the Qi Dynasty and Prince Jing was imminent. In the southwest, Xuanchuan Pass was in danger, and Master Yuan Zhi warned that King Tianshou might launch an attack. At the same time, King Wu was scheming to bribe the Piaoping Pavilion to assassinate King Tianshou. Who knew what else was going on!
Unknowingly, Su Li’s identity as a “martial artist” had become distorted.
But Su Li hadn’t yet realized this.
Based on the information he obtained from the Chunshan Sect, Qiu Jing’s face changed dramatically, eventually stating that the issue might have been stirred up by people on Prince Ning’s side.
—Great, now all three princes of Old Chu were involved.
Su Li muttered to himself, “So this is how it is. Along with King Tianshou’s Holy Lotus Altar, the Xiliang people, and the Qi Dynasty… What is this, a pigsty fighting for food? One step too slow and there’s nothing left, and everyone wants a piece?”
The people from Fengxing Pavilion had left, and Su Li’s mind began to turn. He thought that to untie the knot, he had to leave it to someone skilled in doing so. Since Meng Qi had crossed the river, he was likely going to meet Ayanpuka. No matter what, the first step was to cross the river.
And as soon as he crossed the river, Su Li’s luck took a turn.
He encountered Shopkeeper Sun, Ayanpuka’s trusted confidant.
Su Li had never met Sun Xi, but Sun Xi was investigating matters near the Qi Dynasty’s naval camp in Jingzhou at the time.
Although Su Li wasn’t particularly sharp-minded, he was an excellent martial artist and learned many things simply by eavesdropping.
For example, Ayanpuka had set a trap, waiting for Meng Qi and Mo Li to fall into it.
The Xiliang people mentioned “returning to the mountain” and “the water route.”
Sun Xi had gone out and would naturally bring back supplies like fruits, vegetables, rice, salt, firewood, wine, and tea when returning to the reed marsh.
The only place nearby with both mountains and water and a particularly complex water route was Feihe Mountain.
Su Li originally wanted to seize the opportunity to kill Shopkeeper Sun or capture one of his men to guide him. But Sun Xi was too sharp and sensed something was wrong, immediately retreating with his men into the Qi Dynasty’s naval camp. Su Li dared to stir up trouble in the Chunshan Sect, but the naval camp was another matter. If he caused a misunderstanding and inadvertently provoked a premature conflict between the Qi Dynasty and Prince Jing, it would be a disaster.
Su Li reluctantly carried his blade and left.
He traveled day and night, heading straight for Feihe Mountain.
All the while hoping Meng Qi wouldn’t fall into Ayanpuka’s trap.
***
Mo Li looked at the people in the room and sighed deeply.
The rescued commoners numbered only six in total.
The youngest was that monkey-like boy, with two adult men and three women who were somewhat mentally unstable.
External wounds were easy to heal, but the wounds of the heart were hard to mend.
The three women couldn’t stand the sight of strangers and refused to leave their shabby hut, squatting inside only to wash clothes.
When Mo Li took away the washbasin and clothes, they huddled in a corner, clutching their heads.
It was impossible to treat them without sealing their acupoints, let alone administer medicine.
The two men, too, would kneel at the sight of anyone, not daring to lift their heads.
Mo Li told them that the Xiliang people occupying the reed marsh had already left and asked them to gather their belongings and leave with him, to find a village outside Feihe Mountain to live in.
—But at the mention of “outside,” the two men turned pale and repeatedly shook their heads.
They would rather remain slaves to the Xiliang people, starving here, than leave the reed marsh.
Outside, the authorities would forcibly conscript able-bodied men. They had long been labeled as rebellious rogues, and their heads could be taken as trophies for suppressing bandits.
The reed marsh lacked medicine, but the warehouse still had tea, rice, oil, and salt, and the land could be farmed. But if left unattended, these people would not survive long.
Not to mention, if the Xiliang people returned, they would have no way to live.
Mo Li could, of course, force them to leave, but then what? The frightened villagers might even risk being devoured by wild animals by fleeing into the swamp.
As Mo Li worried over this, he couldn’t help but think.
General Liu, the Second Prince, the swordsman Su Li—if any one of them were here, things would be better.
Author’s note:
Corn was introduced to China during the Ming Dynasty. While the setting here is fictional, the timeline is roughly accurate, so let’s just assume there’s corn in this story.
————
Proud sand rat: Here, eat this.
Confused sparrow: ……
Satisfied sparrow: Tasty, you’re a good dragon vein.
