Qiu Si looked with interest at the letter-opening knife in Mo Li’s hand, then at Meng Qi’s empty palms.
——Even his belt did not seem to be holding a soft sword.
“Yellow sands buried bloody bones, green rivers interred heartfelt feelings. Among the two most renowned weapons in the Jianghu, it was said that the latter fell into the National Advisor’s hands, yet I wonder why Qiu had no chance to witness it?”
A soft sword could still be hidden in one’s clothes. It was odd that Mo Li had changed his blade. Qiu Si revisited Fengxing Pavilion’s intelligence and derived an interesting guess.
These two had lost their personal weapons.
Meng Qi did not seem to care about the code of “if the sword was lost, so must be the life,” but as a top master, he actually lost his sword, even losing his companion’s weapon along with it. If there was no story behind that, it would have been strange.
“So Mr. Qiu wanted to die under a famed sword? What a pity that the name of that sword was too apt. I, Meng, gave it away.” Meng Qi looked quite serious, even somewhat frivolous. “Instead of killing and fighting, why not win a beauty’s smile?”
At the courtyard door, Mo Li: “……”
What a blatant lie! The sword was given away, but it made no difference whether it stayed with Meng Qi or himself. Especially when a certain someone turned into a sand rat, Mo Li had to keep both clothes and sword for him. It was entirely a verbal gift, not costing a single thing! Even after giving it away, he still used it to fight and kill. Win a beauty’s smile, my foot?
Although Meng Qi did not look at Mo Li when he mentioned this, and the term “beauty” did not only refer to a beautiful and talented woman, it could also refer to a noble man of virtue. In literary expressions, “beauty” as the beloved person did not distinguish between men or women. But in Jianghu and among the common folk, that was not so. “Beauty” always referred to a woman.
Meng Qi could cast away his dignity, but Mo Li could not.
——He had to pretend that this matter had nothing to do with him.
“I see, but……could it be that Doctor Mo’s knife also bore a similar fine name, and that was why you changed it?” Qiu Si asked casually, his gaze wandering back and forth between the two.
Mo Li said coldly: “As a physician, my true weapons were not Jianghu blades and swords, but medicinal moxa and silver needles.”
Qiu Si raised his brows, lightly clapping his palm and smiling: “Well said. I underestimated you two.”
Even Qiu Si’s attendants were startled by this.
It made sense for Mo Li’s words, but what was so praiseworthy about Meng Qi giving away his weapon for a beauty? And Mr. Qiu said he had underestimated Meng Qi? Could it be that the National Advisor, though aged, still had a youthful heart, playing among the blossoms?
Everyone’s gaze fell on Meng Qi and then tightened.
The man did not seem old.
These attendants were skilled in various Jianghu tricks, including the fraudulent techniques of Taoists and charlatans.
For example, how to make a Buddha statue grow taller each day, or how to make blank yellow paper show red bloodstains. Therefore, they did not believe in ghosts and gods, and they had been certain that this Master Meng must have been an impostor, because no matter whether it was disguise or bone-shrinking techniques, none were that magical.
Crude bone-shrinking techniques were mere street acrobatics. Even with deep inner power support, one could not turn into a child out of thin air, and while disguise techniques could somewhat conceal one’s true face, whether changing male to female or old to young, there would be flaws.
Qiu Si squinted to examine Mo Li. Meng Qi came twice, both times with a young appearance. At most, last time he pretended to be a guard. Mo Li, however, was different.
Although Qiu Si could not do martial arts, his eyesight was impeccable.
On one side, they harbored wicked thoughts; on the other, the two also noticed Qiu Si’s oddity.
“Someone just boiled medicine in the courtyard,” Mo Li transmitted via sound.
Unfortunately, some time had passed, so it was impossible to tell exactly which herbs were used.
Mo Li looked around and focused on the room on the far right, which was close to the woodshed and kitchen, presumably where they cooked medicine.
Meng Qi observed Qiu Si and the others, using sound transmission: “These people did not seem injured, so the medicine was probably for Qiu Si.”
“……This is not certain,” Mo Li replied. Merely looking at him, Mo Li could not discern Qiu Si’s problems. “He looked overly thin, but did not seem ill.”
Qiu Si was emaciated, even excessively so, yet not to the point of skin and bones.
His complexion was not bad either, unlike elderly patients with diabetes-like conditions.
“Many diseases required taking the pulse. Just observing complexion and bearing, you could not accurately identify them,” Mo Li said quickly. In fact, he suspected, like Meng Qi, that Qiu Si might have some troublesome ailment. Otherwise, a normal person would not have wanted to ‘seek death’ like this.
But then again, who knew? People from wealthy backgrounds often took tonics in old age. Besides, Qiu Si’s line of work was not peaceful at all.
If his body had been weaker, he would have died long ago and would not have endured to old age.
“Not only that, look at the people around him,” Meng Qi smiled on the surface, but his tone was solemn. “When we were in the palace, it was not this group of people.”
Compared to the previous guards, the difference was huge.
Those earlier guards only needed to follow orders, had some martial arts foundation, and could stand firmly in armor, keeping calm. But these before them now? They were probably top-notch in Fengxing Pavilion. Their martial arts might not necessarily be first-rate in Jianghu, but their ability to adapt to danger at once was truly remarkable. More importantly, their minds were steadfast. Even when suddenly facing powerful enemies, they showed no sign of wavering.
If not for today’s sudden arrival, catching them off guard, Qiu Si’s attendants would not have been exposed.
“Mr. Qiu looked to be in a hurry. I wonder where you intended to go?” Meng Qi asked leisurely, while gathering his inner energy without releasing it.
One must know that his inner energy was not just inner energy. In the courtyard, the atmosphere gradually stagnated, and Qiu Si’s complexion gradually turned greenish.
Mo Li did not strike. He was perceiving the changes in the flow of spiritual energy.
After suffering losses in the palace’s rockery, how could they not grow more cautious?
“The carriage outside the gate, and the item wrapped in black cloth in that attendant’s arms.”
Mo Li quickly noticed something amiss. However, this anomaly was much lighter than in the royal palace. It seemed that the previous time was indeed a lucky coincidence. Qiu Si could not immediately produce a sealed environment like that copper pavilion in the rockery and fumigate them with poison. Although he could find something containing spiritual energy, it was difficult to maintain the effect to influence Meng Qi and Mo Li.
After all, once removed from a stable environment, the spiritual energy would merge with others.
At the current level, hoping to ambush Meng Qi was less likely than hoping Meng Qi would slip off the top of a pine tree.
Mo Li glanced at the pine branch under Meng Qi’s feet.
…That would never happen, unless he turned into a sand rat, which might fail to hold onto the branch due to being too fat.
These old pine needles would probably be quite prickly.
Mo Li glanced at the pine branch, but no movement in the courtyard escaped his eyes.
The attendant holding the potted landscape suddenly raised his hand and flung it straight over, at the same time dashing forward, wielding an Emei dagger, lunging straight at the pine tree in the courtyard.
Mo Li tilted his head to avoid the ornamental rock and greenery, raised his hand and brushed lightly, using hidden force to block the doorway.
The potted landscape spun around, and when the water splashed out, not a single drop touched Mo Li. The strong fragrance of the mountain eggplant flowers dispersed with the wind.
The attendant who threw the potted landscape seemed like a signal. Almost instantly, except for Yuheng, everyone else swiftly pulled out bamboo-tube-like spring-loaded hidden weapons from their boot shafts, waistbands, or bosoms. They formed a formation of three in front and five behind. Some pressed the triggers, while others threw their bamboo tubes into the air, making them burst suddenly when struck by other projectiles.
Meanwhile, Yuheng protected Qiu Si and rushed toward the courtyard gate.
Yuheng drew his sword, his movements extremely fast, the swordplay strange like a spirit-snake emerging from its hole.
“Clang.”
The first sound was Mo Li’s knife striking the sword tip.
The sword’s momentum deflected, then Yuheng flipped his hand and thrust upward, straight toward Mo Li’s wrist.
At this moment, Yuheng unexpectedly switched the sword to his left hand using a bizarre technique. He had used this move to ambush many experts before. Because the higher one’s skill, the more they relied on familiar combat routines. Such a sudden sneaky move, even if dodged, would disrupt the opponent’s rhythm.
Yuheng did not target a vital point; he did not want to kill because he was not so arrogant as to think he could defeat Mo Li. He only wanted to break through the blockade at the courtyard gate.
“Swoosh——”
The second sound seemed like a gale shaking the trees, leaves falling like sudden rain.
It was not caused by the spring-loaded hidden weapons hitting the trees. Although these hidden weapons were numerous and dense, against Meng Qi, who had been silently gathering inner strength, they could not achieve the effect of restraining him.
When the hidden weapons collided with that invisible barrier formed by inner force, their momentum slowed.
Meng Qi sneered slightly and, from a distance, gathered a handful of pine needles, flicking them out with bent fingers.
Those attendants who had just launched their hidden weapons and prepared to besiege were immediately struck by the pine needles, crying out in pain.
Meng Qi shook his robe sleeve, shattering the layer of inner force barrier. The trapped hidden weapons broke into fragments of iron. By the time Meng Qi silently landed on the ground, a bizarre “sword” had appeared at his side, formed by binding those weapon fragments together with inner force, mixed with a few pine needles.
With a sweep of this makeshift sword, the attendants who had barely formed a formation in the courtyard were forced to split into two sides.
Qiu Si could not discern the strength of the battle. He only knew that Yuheng had already changed tactics multiple times. The clash of blade and sword rang out in a steady rhythm, as if every strike hit the same spot.
Yuheng’s heart pounded wildly. No matter how he increased his force or took desperate risks, that ordinary-looking letter-opening knife, which did not even have a proper edge, was always waiting in front of his sword strike.
These attendants that Qiu Si had raised for many years acted methodically. Even when falling behind, they fought fiercely and resorted to cunning tricks repeatedly.
“Enough!”
Qiu Si suddenly closed his eyes and shouted.
The sound of fighting stopped abruptly. Mo Li suddenly raised his hand, and the letter-opening knife flew out, striking aside an attendant who was about to reach into his bosom for something. At the same time, Yuheng in front of Mo Li cried out in pain, as a shard of iron had embedded deeply into the side of his neck. If pulled out rashly, he would likely die on the spot.
Yuheng remained rigid, not daring to move. In his right hand he held something that looked like a small firecracker.
The man whose head was bleeding from the letter-opening knife strike also rolled out a similar object from his bosom.
“You!” Mo Li was about to blame Meng Qi for not noticing the man’s small action, but then realized he himself had also made an oversight, and could not help but hesitate.
Such a situation happened because both sides had half their attention on the other.
Meng Qi coughed lightly and said nonchalantly, “It seems you also have Pili Hall’s gadgets. Pili Hall’s business is not bad.”
He pretended to caress the “sword” in his hand, and said to the tense crowd around him, “If you want to test the power of some devices, what a coincidence, I also want to test how many people this makeshift sword can kill.”
“We do not need many, just one will be enough.”
Mo Li’s words shocked everyone, and they hastily closed around Qiu Si.
The courtyard was utterly devastated. The courtyard gate swayed precariously, and the walls were covered with countless marks from cuts of strong gales, with iron fragments and pine needles embedded in them.
Mo Li saw that those attendants’ faces had several bloody holes from the pine needles.
Infused with inner force, the pine needles were fine and hard, causing severe pain but no bleeding.
Whether pulled out or shaken out with inner force, the victim would suffer again, and the wounds would still sting unbearably.
Mo Li looked up at the completely bald pine tree in the courtyard and muttered to himself: “It seems these pine needles were indeed old and quite prickly.”
Meng Qi: “……”
He felt an inexplicable chill, as if something about him had just lost its covering of fur.
Author’s note:
The doctor suppressed his restless heart. He just wanted to put the sand rat on the pine tree to see if it would feel the prick. That would depend on how thick its fur was. A good method to measure fur thickness.
When writing about the pine tree this chapter, I do not know how many times I mistakenly typed squirrel instead of pine. = =
Crowd: We never expected that the National Advisor, though old, still indulged in the flowers?
National Advisor: ?? No, it’s indulging in the ponds.
Also, “beauty” really did not only refer to women.
That famous phrase, “Qing ben jia ren, nai he zuo zei” (You were originally a beauty [a noble-minded individual], how could you turn into a bandit?), definitely was not a frivolous tease. Here “beauty” meant a gentleman, a virtuous scholar, and “thief” referred to becoming a brigand. Apart from admonishment, it also carried a strong sense of regret.
In other words, in the story “Lu Xiaofeng,” the Emperor said to Ye Gucheng, “Qing ben jia ren, nai he zuo zei,” meaning: A person like you, why would you rebel together with the Prince of Nan and his son? The context fits perfectly because the Prince of Nan and his son were truly stupid OTZ.
Today we can joke around with this phrase, but we must not misinterpret its proper usage in serious contexts.
