Mo Li’s brow twitched, and he turned his head to look at the street.
Dust flew, several swift horses ran towards the city gate.
In the instant they brushed past, Mo Li saw the riders’ anxious and terrified expressions.
——Could something have happened?
Mo Li quietly retreated, and hid into a small alley.
“Senior, please stop.”
A voice suddenly emerged behind him, Mo Li not only did not stop, but instead quickened his pace.
When he waited until a secluded place, the elderly old man with white hair and white beard turned into a thirty-something scholar in the blink of an eye, hurriedly changed into an outer robe, and since it was hard to hide the rattan box, he just wrapped it with cloth, bowed his head and walked along the corner of the alley, his steps were weak and unsteady, and from time to time he even pretended to cough weakly twice.
This place was the stronghold of the Fengxing Pavilion, openly and secretly there were unknown countless pairs of eyes, even an ordinary commoner by the roadside might sell information to the Fengxing Pavilion, and if it were not for the whole city being under lockdown and martial law, even more people would have noticed Mo Li.
Even so, Mo Li still encountered several groups of Jianghu people within a short hour.
For example, just now, because the dust kicked up by the galloping horses did not fall on Mo Li’s face, he was immediately discovered by a Jianghu spectator by the roadside, who tested him by calling out “Senior” and followed him——fortunately, following a martial arts master carried a risk of losing one’s life, that person did not dare to get too close, and thus Mo Li easily shook him off.
Now that he had to disguise himself, Mo Li instinctively chose a type of person he was familiar with.
Patients.
Which muscles twitched on the face when coughing and panting, and what reactions occurred when enduring a ticklish throat, Doctor Mo could imitate them vividly.
Most advantageous of all, nobody wanted to approach such a poor scholar who coughed nonstop, fearing to catch the same illness.
Since they were unwilling even to approach, who would carefully examine what he looked like?
But this effect, was it actually too good?
“Pa.”
A small inn with its door half open, the waiter who probed for information caught sight of Mo Li across the street and directly closed the door.
At a tea stall that had no time to move the door plank, an old woman simply swung a broom to drive him away: “Consumptive ghost, hurry up and leave, what are you looking at?”
Mo Li thought, was he pretending too much?
It should not be. Tuberculosis did not have such symptoms. Usually, if one coughed a few times, at most, people would walk around him. It would not come to the point of being driven away, would it?
If he truly had tuberculosis, let alone carrying heavy objects on foot, he probably would not even be able to get out of bed.
The clothes on his body were merely of an outdated style in terms of fabric, which had been provided by the Cihui Hall for Mo Li, so naturally they could not be genuinely old clothes, but when traveling outside it was best not to show wealth, so he deliberately chose this kind of dull gray and inconspicuous outer robe.
The cuffs and hems were not even stitched with two rows of thread, leaving them rough and ragged, and the material was poor, plus it happened to be a long robe. It was currently midsummer, and aside from elderly men and scholars, everyone wore single-layer short garments. After all, the Mo Li whom Cihui Hall “knew” was an old gentleman, and now that Mo Li had turned into a thirty-something appearance, wearing such attire, did he not look just like a poor and sickly scholar?
But Mo Li had not even approached yet, how did these people behave as if they had seen a plague?
Mo Li felt somewhat puzzled, stopped, raised his head to look around, and covered his mouth and nose, feigning a cough.
“Hey, the pharmacy is on the next street to the left.”
The tea woman actually shouted once more.
The assistant at the pastry shop next to her laughed: “Why did the tea woman suddenly grow a kind heart, talking too much with a consumptive ghost?”
The old woman waved her broom at him and said irritably: “It was still chaotic outside, and that poor, sickly scholar who came out alone without anyone to care for him, if he was not homeless, then he was in a hurry to find a doctor to save his life. If he still could endure, and his family had spare food, who would go out of the quarter?”
Last night first came the funeral bell, followed closely by the palace catching fire, and even ordinary commoners knew the situation had turned chaotic.
Who would not fear death?
Mo Li froze, he had not expected that it was already unusual for a patient to appear on the street at this time, and ordinary commoners did not know how to distinguish the severity of the illness, so pretending was all in vain.
Doctor Mo carried on forward with complicated feelings; since he had already begun pretending, he might as well continue to the end.
After walking only a few steps, he unexpectedly encountered the Jianghu man who had just called him “Senior” and followed him into the alley.
That man walked past Mo Li, looking around nervously, suddenly halted, then slowly turned around in doubt.
“Senior?”
“……”
Mo Li’s fingers stiffened slightly; he had already covered half of his face with a cough. Be it appearance or gait, both were entirely different from before. He did not believe his sickly act would be unconvincing, so how did the other recognize him at a glance?
Could it be he was probing him? Because it was strange for a sick patient to be out at this time?
Mo Li coughed twice more, and that man said helplessly, “Senior, I was ordered to search the city for you and…”
Perhaps he was unsure of Mo Li’s identity and, out of caution, did not say Meng Qi’s name. He only clasped his hands and said: “In Ning Tai, and throughout the entire Jiangnan region, I dare say there is no martial arts master I do not know. Senior’s martial arts were extraordinary; when the galloping horses kicked up dust right before your eyes, you could silently evade it, which exactly matched the characteristics of the person I sought. In a moment of urgency, I chased after you, and I hope senior will forgive me.”
His manners could be considered thorough, but Mo Li still could not understand where he had slipped up.
He had changed his appearance and his clothes as well, so how——
Mo Li’s gaze suddenly stopped at his own shoes.
“……Senior’s disguise methods were truly admirable. One might search throughout the Jianghu and not find a second person with such skill. Had it not been that, in haste, you could not find a second pair of shoes to change into, I would have been deceived.”
Mo Li’s face remained expressionless, and he slowly lowered his right hand that had been covering his mouth and nose.
——No, this disguise was not magical at all. On this path of disguise and makeup, he might still have a long way to go.
“So it was indeed Doctor Mo. Pardon my impoliteness. May I speak with you a moment?”
That man had obviously seen Mo Li’s portrait. At any rate, Mo Li was now in his thirties’ scholar appearance, which was close enough.
“My surname is Shan. In the Jianghu, I have a nickname, the ‘Mountain-Shaking Tiger.’”
“……”
Mo Li once again regarded this Jianghu-dressed man before him and said woodenly: “Then the ‘Mountain-Quaking Tiger’…”
“Is my junior apprentice brother.”
“The ‘Mountain-Emerging Tiger’ Yuan Ting?”
“Is my senior apprentice brother.”
“Shopkeeper Bao?”
“Precisely my master. This time, coming to Ning Tai City was upon Master’s orders.” The Mountain-Shaking Tiger shook his head, somewhat perplexed, and said, “Master suddenly ordered us not to get involved in the matter of King Ning’s succession. He also told us to connect with all sides and support Pavilion Master Qiu, saying that Fengxing Pavilion would undergo great upheaval. You and National Master Meng have just arrived in Ning Tai, unfamiliar with people and places, and have no sources of information, so you may have nowhere to settle. Master specifically instructed me to search the streets for you.”
Mo Li could not help but decline politely: “Shopkeeper Bao is too courteous. My friend Meng and I have our own plans…”
A sharp signal arrow suddenly whistled through the air.
Mountain-Shaking Tiger’s expression changed drastically, and he leapt aside to dodge.
Yet midair, he was forcibly pulled aside by Mo Li’s single hand, as if dragging some cargo. In the blink of an eye, the two figures had moved ten steps away.
Mountain-Shaking Tiger landed in a muddle. Once he steadied his footing and took a look, he realized that the signal arrow had only been a diversion. More than a dozen bluish-green needles were pinned into the wall where he had intended to dodge, instantly causing him to break out in cold sweat.
“Many thanks to senior for saving my life.”
Mountain-Shaking Tiger hurriedly bowed and saluted.
Though frightened and furious, he was extremely quick-witted. In front of these black-clad men surrounding them from all directions, he did not mention Mo Li’s surname again.
Mo Li did not respond, for another few dozen sharp arrows flew over.
A fierce gust of wind stirred the hems of his robe. Mo Li waved his sleeve lightly, using gentle force to make those arrows fall to the ground one after another.
Suddenly, his pupils contracted. Raising his right hand, he tossed the “collected” arrows high into the air, and at the same time, his figure darted forward like a roaming dragon soaring through the clouds.
On his first step, he trod upon a wall; on the second, he stepped on a drifting fallen leaf by the roadside; on the third, as he shifted his force, he was already within arm’s reach of the bowman.
“Bang——”
“Ah!”
The bowstrings snapped and rebounded, injuring the archers. They covered their hands and cried out in pain one after another.
Everything happened in an instant.
On this side, the Mountain-Shaking Tiger saw the short blade in Mo Li’s hand that cut through more than a dozen bowstrings. Only when he looked down to touch his waist did he discover that his own weapon had disappeared.
On that side, the first wave of arrows thrown into the air collided one arrowhead against another, unexpectedly sparking and then exploding with a boom.
“The Hunyuan Arrows of Pilitang?”
The Mountain-Shaking Tiger broke out into a second cold sweat, his face turning deathly pale.
If Mo Li had been careless just now, failing to notice that one arrow’s exterior pattern looked off and had casually tossed it aside, at this moment, he would have been injured by the blast even if not wounded by shrapnel.
“Who are you people, that you dared to run wild on Fengxing Pavilion’s turf?” The Mountain-Shaking Tiger shouted angrily.
All the commoners in the street had been frightened away, leaving only a group of black-scarved, masked men.
Mo Li raised his hand to stop the Mountain-Shaking Tiger from advancing.
His hair had not been properly bound because of the rush in changing clothes and disguising. Just now, after a series of swift and perilous movements, his footwork seemed as light as willow fluff and as weightless as a swan’s feather, but in fact, it was dangerously close. It caused a few strands of his hair to slip loose, draping down his temples and cheeks.
At a glance, it unexpectedly added a few degrees of carefree and unrestrained Jianghu charm.
“Ning Tai City was sealed inside and out, so strictly that it surpassed an iron drum. Think about it: what kind of group could have escaped so many eyes and come here to launch a surprise attack, even using arrows? Where did these weapons come from?”
Mo Li’s tone sounded calm, and the Mountain-Shaking Tiger’s entire body shook. He roared in anger: “Which brother of Fengxing Pavilion are you? I called you brothers, yet you shot at us with hidden arrows behind our backs. Now you still dared not admit it? Have we come to the point of letting our own people kill each other?”
“Hmph, Mountain-Shaking Tiger, the first to have crooked thoughts were you and your master.”
A voice came distantly from afar, followed by many people emerging from the end of an alley, from shops, and from the street corners.
Leading them was a tall, eight-foot man, carrying a ghost-headed saber, powerfully built.
“Mister Qiu had long seen through the treacherous ambitions of you and your master, who intended to sow discord in Fengxing Pavilion while King Ning was dead! Listen up, brothers: if we did not remove these despicable and scheming people, what face would we have to meet the Pavilion Master, to meet Mister Qiu?”
“You!”
The Mountain-Shaking Tiger was furious enough that his hair nearly stood on end, and he was about to argue.
Who would have expected that the man with the ghost-headed saber still thought it was not enough, and pointed at Mo Li, saying: “The ironclad evidence stood before us. You and your master had long colluded with National Master Meng and others, even going so far as to betray Fengxing Pavilion. You were not my brother. We had no such brothers who curried favor with the powerful, bowed and scraped to flatter others.”
The Mountain-Shaking Tiger nearly choked with anger. He had merely been courteous, so how had he become someone who groveled and flattered Mo the Doctor?
Could he not at least repay a life-saving grace with a salute?
“Come, kill…”
The third word had not fully left the lips of the ghost-headed saber wielder when a strong gust of wind rushed toward him. He tried his best to tilt his head, but alas, the “hidden weapon” came too swiftly.
“Mmmph!”
The ghost-headed saber wielder covered his mouth in shock and fury, blood filling his mouth as two of his upper molars were knocked out.
The hidden weapon was only a copper coin.
“Curry favor with the powerful?” Mo Li thought for a moment, then imitated Meng Qi’s manner by folding one hand behind his back and holding a copper coin with the other, saying, “I truly did not know when Brother Meng and I became a ‘power’ in our own right. It turned out that just the two of us could be considered a rising sun that others chased after to cling to, begging to attach themselves to our influence?”
Author’s Note:
Mo Li: How should I disguise? I got it! Lightbulb.JPG
——Pretend to be a patient, cough vividly and lifelike.
Mo Li: How should I show off? I got it! Lightbulb.JPG
——Learn from the Sand Rat
Well, everyone should know what the light bulb in the cartoon meant, right? In early comics, drawing a light bulb beside a character’s head indicated that the character suddenly had an idea.
