Early the next morning, Baihong woke up from his meditation and stepped out of the inn to find a few people waiting outside. At the head of them was Yanqing, whom he had just met yesterday.
Yanqing waved at him. "Baihong, over here."
Baihong hurried to Yanqing's side, looked at the others with him, and asked, "Who are these people?"
Yanqing introduced them: "Baihong, don't be nervous. According to standard procedure, the Xianzhou must vet anyone of unknown identity. It was too sudden last night to disturb you, but this morning I went down to Starskiff Haven to check the passenger logs for recent arrivals, and there were no clues. I also asked around at the Ministry of Development, but that didn't yield anything either.
"I know your memory has been impaired, so I wanted to ask Lady Fu Xuan of the Divination Commission to take a look at you, but..."
Yanqing turned his head to look at a tall, grey-haired man. "This shouldn't have troubled the General—he has his hands full of affairs and is constantly worn out by official documents—but when he heard what I said, he insisted on coming to see for himself."
While Yanqing's words sounded apologetic, there was a hint of grievance beneath them. He seemed somewhat put out that the General wouldn't trust him to handle such a minor matter on his own. Did the General think him incapable?
The General wore a gentle, easygoing smile, though his eyes looked lazy, and a tuft of fluffy hair half-covered his forehead.
Sensing that this man possessed immense internal strength yet radiated a mild and accommodating aura, Baihong concluded he must be someone reasonable to talk to. "I am Baihong. Greetings, General." Baihong bowed with cupped hands to show his respect.
The General looked back at Baihong with a smile. "No need to be so formal. Just call me Jing Yuan.
"The moment I saw your dashing demeanor, I knew you must be a martial arts prodigy." Jing Yuan glanced at Yanqing. "As it happens, I think you two get along quite well. Why don't you exchange pointers on martial arts? What do you say?"
Then, turning back to Baihong, he continued, "As for your background, I'm not worried. Although there are no leads right now, I may not have many other talents, but I do have an eye for people. I'm certain Baihong is a kind-hearted and thoughtful young man. I trust my judgment won't fail me." With that, he cast one more glance at the two of them and strolled off leisurely.
Yanqing was left somewhat baffled. Was that really all? Or was the General testing him?
At that moment, Fu Xuan, who had remained silent throughout, spoke up to remind Yanqing: "Don't overthink it. The General and I discussed this last night. Since you were the one who rescued this young man, he will naturally place more trust in you. The Xianzhou is facing certain complications right now—in other words, we may find ourselves stretched thin, though I consider this little matter to be nothing more than a minor nuisance.
"So, spend some time getting along with him properly, and keep the General and me informed if anything comes up."
With that, she turned her gaze to Baihong and instructed, "You are Baihong, aren't you? I am Fu Xuan, the Master Diviner.
"Rest assured, we bear you no ill will. It's simply that all of this happened so abruptly, and we have no choice but to be cautious. Once this storm passes, I will help you myself."
Baihong nodded. "I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Lady Fu Xuan. If any assistance is needed, I will certainly spare no effort."
Fu Xuan nodded in satisfaction; such a response was well within her expectations. Furthermore, while Jing Yuan was speaking earlier, she had cast a divination and deduced that Baihong likely possessed an extraordinary background. *He appeared here without relying on any external methods,* she thought to herself. *Could it be some kind of spatial teleportation technology like a wormhole?* With these thoughtful reflections, she turned and left.
Once the two of them had departed, Yanqing turned back to explain, "The two people you just saw are General Jing Yuan of the Luofu Xianzhou—who is also my master; usually he's the one supervising my sword practice—and Lady Fu Xuan of the Divination Commission. She uses the Scryvoyance Device to cast divinations. I don't really understand it myself, but basically, she can use various clues to deduce the past or forecast the future.
"However—" Yanqing propped his chin on his hand, "judging by Lady Fu Xuan's words just now, it sounds like the Xianzhou has run into trouble, which is why the Master Diviner doesn't have the time to help you right now."
Baihong waved a hand. "It's fine. Matters like this cannot be rushed. Besides, an unidentified person like myself has already caused you no small amount of trouble, and I am endlessly grateful that you were willing to take me in."
"Ah! It's almost time for my patrol. Baihong, go walk around the neighborhood for a bit; I'll come look for you later." After giving him a few essential instructions, Yanqing handed Baihong a Xianzhou sightseeing guidebook and a booklet on common Xianzhou phrases, then hurried off.
Baihong walked over to a quiet, secluded corner and carefully read through the two books Yanqing had given him. There wasn't much content, and he finished them quickly. *This isn't difficult at all,* he thought. Still, he needed to figure out how to acquire some money—specifically the "Credits" Yanqing had mentioned. But how should he go about it?
Just then, a fiery red figure caught his eye—a young girl with red hair tied into a single ponytail that fluttered in the wind like a ribbon.
Beating a gong and a drum, the girl shouted at the top of her lungs, "Folks, step right up and take a look! Today, your Little Guizi is putting on a show again—and no, I'm not biting a lighter! First up, smashing a boulder on the chest!"
She looked down at Sushang, whose face was not looking well. "Sushang, hang in there!"
"Ah, this is already the fifth time we're doing the boulder-smashing-on-the-chest today! You might not be tired, but I'm about at my limit..."
Seeing that Sushang was starting to roll her eyes, Guinaifen made a split-second decision. With a sudden leap, she brought her spear down in a chop, cracking the massive boulder resting on Sushang's chest wide open before it shattered completely.
"Aww, how unoriginal!" "Boring! Little Guizi, if you don't have any real tricks, go bite a lighter!" The surrounding crowd looked unimpressed. Very few chipped in to cheer, and the jeers were loud.
"Well, looks like the audience is tired of the boulder trick. I told you that move wouldn't work!" Sushang climbed down from the table unsteadily and tried to calm her nerves. "Thank goodness my physical conditioning is decent, or I'd be dead because of your schemes. Why don't you try doing a handstand while eating noodles instead?"
Watching the two girls perform on the street, Baihong thought that perhaps he could take a page out of their book. He needed to make a living here somehow. With that in mind, he walked over to them. "Hello, Miss Sushang. We meet again."
Seeing an exceptionally handsome youth walk up to her, Guinaifen greeted him without ceremony. "Oho! Young man, are you here to watch our performance too?
"My name is Guinaifen, and you?" She turned to Sushang. "You know this handsome guy?"
"Yeah, we've met once before," Sushang said, scratching her head as she tried to recall. "I remember yesterday Aunt Gao called me and said she'd run into an outlander, telling me to come take a look, so I went over.
"What a coincidence running into you again today, though. Are you getting used to the Xianzhou?"
Baihong nodded. "Thanks to the kind help of Yanqing and Sushang, I'm currently fretting over how to establish myself here. Seeing you two performing on the street looked rather interesting, and I thought I might lend a hand."
With that, he drew the sword from his back, leaped into the air, and executed a brilliant series of sword forms. A ring of fire swirled around him before dispersing in all directions, finally bursting into a cluster of gorgeous fireworks.
"Ooh! How pretty!" The surrounding onlookers broke into a chorus of praise. "That's amazing! Isn't this way better than Little Guizi's act? Toss 'em some rewards, toss 'em some rewards!"
Watching the Shield coins rain into the bag laid out before them, Guinaifen's eyes sparkled with stars as she asked in sheer adoration, "Wow! H-how did you do that?!"
"I used internal energy to drive it. It's nothing much," Baihong explained simply.
"Huh? Internal energy? Is that the kind of internal energy they always talk about in martial arts stories?" Sushang asked.
"Martial arts stories? Is that how you view it? You flatter me; I am merely a nameless nobody. What I just did was just a trifling trick, not worth mentioning."
"Ah, don't sell yourself short! In all my years on the Xianzhou, I've never seen anyone wield a sword with such vivid, lifelike flair. You must be the protagonist of a martial arts adventure novel!
"I, Little Guizi, must have used up all my luck today to have the honor of seeing a real martial arts youth. I can die happy now."
Guinaifen danced around in excitement before remembering to shout out to the crowd, "Come take a look, folks! A martial arts youth has stepped back into the pugilistic world... Those with money, throw some money; those without, lend your presence!"
Watching her best friend's reaction, Sushang could only massage her temples in defeat. "Seriously, Little Guizi, you don't have to go that far! We earn an honest living with our own skills—we don't freeload, and we don't rely on others. My mom told me, *he who takes what others give is left with a short hand*—anyway, doing things this way isn't right!"
*This Miss Sushang may not be very learned, but she certainly has her principles,* Baihong thought to himself before stepping in to persuade them. "The two of you needn't worry. I've just arrived here, and since Brother Yanqing helped me out earlier, I've been wanting to return the favor. However, I have no money to my name and currently lack any means of making a living. Perhaps we could cooperate—how does that sound to the two of you?"
The two girls exchanged glances and asked in unison, "For real?"
"Huh?"
"Oh, sorry, I just said that out of habit. I mean—is that true?"