"Brother Niu, today we became sworn brothers despite starting off as rivals! Right here in this tavern, I want to become sworn brothers with you!" Chen Xiaofei raised his cup, looking with utmost sincerity at Niu San, whom he had run a long way to drag back.
"Alright! From now on, weal and woe we share together," Niu San declared boldly, raising his jar of wine.
Chen Xiaofei beamed with surprise, "I've been an orphan since childhood, raised by my master, who passed away before I even reached adulthood. To finally have a brother today!"
As he spoke, Chen Xiaofei managed to squeeze out two tears.
"No worries!" Niu San took a hefty gulp of wine. "You're older than me, so I'll call you Brother Fēi from now on! You have no family, so from now on my family is your family, and my dad is your dad!"
Chen Xiaofei's eyes welled up with hot tears, deeply moved. "Right, right, right, your dad is my dad!"
"Third Brother!"
"Brother Fēi!"
"Third Brother!"
"Brother Fēi!"
"Third Brother!"
"Wait!" Xia Yun reached out to pause this brotherly reunion. "Why are you calling him Third Brother? Who is Second Brother? Don't tell me it's me, I'm the youngest."
Chen Xiaofei cast a look of utter disdain. "You wish. Our dad only has two sons: me and my brother."
"Exactly, exactly. Calling you Brother Niu doesn't sound right either," Niu San agreed wholeheartedly.
"Then what about me?" Xia Yun felt deeply wronged.
"What else do you want? I even took you to find a master, and you still want to cozy up." Chen Xiaofei continued to look down on her with absolute contempt.
"Oh, right." Xia Yun brightened up again.
"Find a master? Who for? Brother Fēi is so amazing, why does she need to find someone else to be her master?" The more Niu San spoke, the more frustrated he felt with Xia Yun, thinking her taste was terrible.
"She wants Baili Chengfeng to be her master. She invented a new martial art called Poison Sword, and now her body is full of poison—she just lacks the sword."
Seeing how serious Chen Xiaofei sounded, Niu San offered a suggestion, "Must it be a poison sword? A poison sabre works too, and I'd be willing to teach you a poison axe as well."
"No, none of you can beat my master," Xia Yun refused.
"Whoa, you're eating my food," Chen Xiaofei panicked, looking entirely incredulous. "And you're saying I'm no good?"
"But you really can't beat him," Xia Yun said earnestly.
Chen Xiaofei looked utterly dejected. "Whoa, your words are so cold, as if I've never made you happy."
"Brother Fēi, what are you guys planning to do next?" Niu San asked, eager to join in.
"Take her to find her master." Chen Xiaofei doubted whether something was wrong with Niu San's brain, seeing as he had just said it.
"Wait, aren't you going to have a fight with Baili Chengfeng while you're at it?" Niu San grew excited. "I want to go see, I want to go too."
"Hahaha!" Chen Xiaofei stood up, drained the wine in his jar in a single gulp, and then smashed it on the floor. "Of course! Six years ago I lost by a single move, and now after years of bitter training, I'm going to take back the face I lost!"
Seeing Chen Xiaofei act so boldly, Niu San was infected by his spirit. He stood up as well, finished the wine in his jar, and hurled it to the ground to shatter it. "Take it back!"
"You guys better pick up the shattered jars first. Smashing a wine jar costs ten taels."
The tavern owner appeared behind them.
"I forgot I can't hold my liquor." Chen Xiaofei fell flat backward onto the floor.
"He's my big brother, put all the tabs on my head!" Niu San patted his chest heroically.
"Good brother, hearing those words warms your big brother's heart. My drunkenness just vanished instantly." Chen Xiaofei scrambled up from the floor, brushed the dust off himself, and his eyes welled up with tears. "Boss, keep the drinks coming! I'm going to drink with my brother until we're both dead drunk!"
"Bring another roast chicken."
Xia Yun raised her hand to add.
"Brother Fēi, as soon as we finish this meal, we'll hit the road together!" Niu San was overjoyed to have finally met a good brother today, and such a heroic one at that.
"Third Brother, that's called setting off together."
...
At the foot of Lingshan.
Li Qingshan walked out of the Lingshan territory, dressed in monk's robes with a red longsword strapped to his back.
"Finally coming down the mountain?"
A middle-aged man in Taoist robes sat quietly by the roadside, a blade of grass hanging from his mouth and a playful smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Sensing his ill intentions and the aura emanating from him, Li Qingshan finally remembered who he was.
"The King of Jiangcheng, Lu Guan."
Lu Guan burst into laughter. Just as he was about to speak, Li Qingshan didn't give him the chance; the red longsword on his back flew straight into his hand, reaching right before Lu Guan's eyes in the blink of an eye.
Lu Guan vaulted away to dodge, summoning a golden book consisting of seven pages. With a pinch of two fingers, the first page of golden paper shot out, intercepting the blood-red longsword.
Li Qingshan flipped his wrist and swatted the piece of golden paper away with his sword. The golden paper spun in the air and flew back into Lu Guan's hand.
"As expected of the Blood Sword King. To block my golden book so effortlessly—I almost can't bear to kill you now." Lu Guan spat out the blade of grass in his mouth and smiled faintly at Li Qingshan.
"There has long been no Blood Sword King. I am the Lingshan Sword Chi."
Hearing this, Lu Guan laughed so hard he doubled over, unable to stand straight. "Does the Buddhist Sect really take in someone like you, stained with debts of blood? Still, what of it? We aren't fighting inside Lingshan, so the Buddhist Sect won't say a thing. If you're scared, why don't you just tuck tail and run back like you did before?"
Li Qingshan offered no further reply. Wielding his longsword, blooming blood-red sword lotuses spread outward, and amidst the petals, he lunged toward Lu Guan.
Lu Guan showed no fear. The first, third, and sixth pages of the golden paper sprang forth, shooting into the air to meet the blood-red sword lotuses.
Li Qingshan's Sword Qi was razor-sharp; within moments, he brushed past the three pages of golden paper, his sword light pointing straight at Lu Guan.
Sensing the soul-absorbing power within that blood aura, Lu Guan stopped holding back and raised the seventh page of golden paper.
A powerful oppressive force enveloped Li Qingshan.
Lu Guan burst out laughing. "The few years you spent staying at Lingshan haven't washed the blood off your sword. Some things can never be washed away."
The golden book emitted a brilliant radiance, and Li Qingshan felt as though he had been instantly dragged into pitch-black darkness, while Lu Guan's six pages of golden paper took turns tangling with him.
Yet here at the foot of Lingshan, there was no golden book at all—only the Lingshan Sword Chi dancing with his sword alone.
Amidst the swirling blood-red light, Li Qingshan's cold glare flashed, slashing the surrounding vegetation to pieces one by one.
Trapped in the darkness, Li Qingshan felt that something was increasingly amiss. Though those six pages of golden paper were troublesome, they didn't seem to deal any actual damage. Then he suddenly recalled this King of Jiangcheng's cultivation technique.
He had been away for too long and had forgotten many things.
"What a marvelous Book of Illusions."
Li Qingshan stopped the longsword in his hand, standing quietly in place and letting page after page of the golden paper pass right through his body.
After the first three pages passed through him, they all turned illusory.
However, just as the fourth page flew toward his chest, Li Qingshan suddenly sensed danger. By then it was too late to dodge away, so he could only twist his body with all his might to evade a fatal strike, though the golden paper still slashed open his right arm.
Blood poured from his right arm.
The golden paper that had turned illusory condensed once more, shifting between real and fake, leaving Li Qingshan overwhelmed and covering his body with numerous wounds.
"It's not just illusions." Li Qingshan stared at the direction where the fourth page of golden paper was revolving, his eyes narrowing. "I've found you!"
A bloody Sword Qi erupted from the red longsword, and Li Qingshan drove that blood-red sword light to pierce through the darkness.
Dawn broke.
Back in reality, Lu Guan was nowhere to be seen; only a single torn page of golden paper lay on the ground.
"Good, very good. It seems Lingshan really has washed away quite a bit of your karmic obstacles for you to break free from my illusion so quickly. Just wait, Li Qingshan, Qingming Pavilion will not let any traitor go."