The previous night, after soaking in hot water, An An slept peacefully without anyone rushing him out early the next day. When Xie Xihai woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. Feeling much better after a good night’s sleep, he was reluctant to leave the warm bed. He turned and looked at Sheng Lin nearby.
Sheng Lin was meditating with his eyes closed, but it seemed like he had a third eye. Whenever Xie Xihai glanced at him, Sheng Lin would open his eyes and meet Xie Xihai’s gaze, asking, “Awake?”
“Not yet, still asleep,” Xie Xihai replied. He turned away, facing his back to Sheng Lin, deciding to sleep a little longer. Before finding a comfortable position, he was lifted up by Sheng Lin.
Pulling back the blanket, Xie Xihai, still in his sleepwear, had his upper body exposed to the chilly air. He complained and sat up, grabbing his clothes from the bedside to put on. He scolded Sheng Lin, “This young master hasn’t fully recovered; you might give me a fever again.”
Impatiently, Sheng Lin said, “Get up when you wake.”
“Why the rush?” Xie Xihai frowned, putting on his clothes and muttering, “Really…”
“What is it?” Sheng Lin picked up the wooden sword, looking at him leisurely.
Xie Xihai hesitated for a moment, then, enduring humiliation, said, “Really, a chivalrous hero with love and righteousness.”
Sheng Lin nodded without praising Xie Xihai. He turned and walked to the door, waiting for Xie Xihai. Reluctantly, Xie Xihai finished dressing, grabbed his belongings, and followed him out.
When they stepped out of the inn early in the morning, a carriage was waiting outside. Sheng Lin’s two horses were hitched to it.
“Get in,” Sheng Lin pointed to the old, worn-out carriage with his chin, instructing Xie Xihai.
Xie Xihai suddenly felt a sense of bitterness and sweetness, like the taste of perseverance bearing fruit and constant dripping wearing away stone. He reached out, grabbing Sheng Lin’s arm. His eyes were getting moist, and he said, “Sheng hero, truly a chivalrous hero with love and righteousness.”
“Get in,” Sheng Lin said without looking at him, repeating himself.
“How do I get on this carriage?” Xie Xihai looked around, “Go find someone to kneel down and let this young master step on him. This young master is getting on a carriage.”
Sheng Lin reached through Xie Xihai’s armpits, lifting him up. Xie Xihai, feeling like a fish in water, lifted the curtain and crawled inside.
“Only for three days,” Sheng Lin’s voice came from outside the curtain. He sat on the carriage, becoming Xie Xihai’s driver, holding the reins.
Pulling the reins, the two horses pulled the carriage forward, kicking up dust on the dirt road of Yicheng. After going down a street, Xie Xihai suddenly emerged from the curtain at the back, whispering in Sheng Lin’s ear, “Ten days.”
Xie Xihai was an expert in this kind of childish bargaining. Three days were not enough for him to enjoy the rest he deserved.
Sheng Lin, still facing forward, raised his right hand, pinching Xie Xihai’s chin to move him away slightly, gazing at the road. “Five days.”
“Ten days,” Xie Xihai grabbed Sheng Lin’s neck, just like when he coquettishly clung to his mother. But this time, Sheng Lin seemed to have a stiff body. Xie Xihai noticed and squeezed Sheng Lin’s shoulder to help him relax. They continued the final tug of war. “Great hero, eight days.”
“Fine,” Sheng Lin agreed. “Get in.”
Xie Xihai helped Sheng Lin massage his shoulders before retracting into the carriage.
The carriage swayed, and there was a soft bed inside. Xie Xihai, tired from the journey, lay down to rest. He fell asleep in the carriage, unaware if it had stopped. He was later awakened by the sounds of clashes and screams.
He pulled back the curtain, revealing a scene of blood on the ground, severed limbs in front of the carriage, and Sheng Lin standing with his back to him. Sheng Lin had the Wandering Sword on his back, holding another person’s sword in his hand. Apart from Sheng Lin, there were no living people outside.
In the desolate wilderness, there was no need to dispose of corpses. Sheng Lin checked the assassin’s clothes and found a mark on the hilt.
Duan Lou specialized in making a living by killing. The mark was green, indicating that this time the buyer had purchased the second-tier assassin from Duan Lou.
“The first-tier assassins have the privilege of choosing their targets,” Sheng Lin explained. “It seems they all backed off when they heard the target was me.”
“Why do you always use other people’s swords?” Xie Xihai glanced at the sword and then pulled down the curtain, asking inside, “Whose was it this time? Those with flowers on their chests again?”
“The people on the stage,” Sheng Lin said.
“How many?” Xie Xihai asked again.
Sheng Lin pointed to the heads on the ground and said, “Seven.”
He got on the carriage and drove forward again. After a short distance, Xie Xihai asked from inside, “Tell me, who hates my father the king so much, wanting me dead?”
Sheng Lin didn’t speak outside. Xie Xihai continued, “Oh, no wonder my father said this journey is dangerous. Hero Sheng, I need to learn some martial arts from you.”
Xie Xihai waited inside for a while but didn’t get a response. He stuck his head out, smelling the bloody scent on Sheng Lin, and withdrew back inside, saying, “Teach me some self-defense techniques, or else when I reach the capital, won’t I be at the mercy of others? What do you say, Hero Sheng?”
“No,” Sheng Lin directly refused.
Xie Xihai choked on his words and fell silent, pondering where he could learn some self-defense skills.
In the past, his mother had found several masters to teach him martial arts, but with Xie Xihai’s lazy nature, he would collapse on the ground pretending to cry after just a short period of practicing horse stances. Now, looking back, he somewhat regretted it.
Ahead of Yicheng was another small town of similar size, called Qingchi Town.
The town was situated between two mountains, with a lake named Qingchi. This lake marked the boundary of Prince Ning’s territory. Once they passed here, they would leave Prince Ning’s territory.
Xie Xihai stayed inside for a while, then lifted the curtain and saw a sign not far away that read “Qingchi Town.”
“We’ve arrived at Qingchi,” Xie Xihai climbed out and sat beside Sheng Lin.
The space for the driver on the front of the carriage was not large. The two men were sitting somewhat cramped. Xie Xihai moved forward a bit, looking at Sheng Lin sideways.
The bloody smell on Sheng Lin had dissipated, leaving only a few dark red stains on his sleeves. He sat, appearing reliable and steady, almost perfect if he were a bit more sociable.
“We’ll be in the capital soon,” Xie Xihai said, sighing. “If no one teaches me martial arts, I’ll be beaten to death by those eunuchs in the palace.”
Sheng Lin finally looked at him directly, but Xie Xihai’s words were always hard to respond to. Sheng Lin remained silent.
“Even a little would be good,” Xie Xihai pleaded with Sheng Lin, his voice soft and sweet. “You’re just sitting there bored; teaching me would be interesting.”
“No time,” Sheng Lin said, pulling the reins and stopping at the entrance of the Qingchi Inn.
There was a Guanyin temple near Qingchi, known for its efficacy in fertility prayers. People from nearby often came here to burn incense and pray. The rooms in Qingchi Inn were more in demand than those in Yicheng.
They arrived late, and only a small room on the ground floor was available.
Fortunately, Xie Xihai was used to it and didn’t complain. He focused on pestering Sheng Lin to teach him self-defense techniques, from the inn’s entrance to their room.
Sheng Lin listened without saying a word, pushed open the window, and suddenly a white dove flew in, perching on the edge of the bed with a small tube tied to its leg. Sheng Lin pulled out a scroll from the tube, unfolded it, and Xie Xihai didn’t dare to get too close. Judging from the style of the writing, it seemed to be a sealed letter.
After reading, Sheng Lin burned the letter. It was from his master, informing him that a person who had escaped from the family eliminated by Sheng Lin in the Miao region the previous year had found a sinister individual within the family, possibly plotting revenge against Sheng Lin. Despite being in a state of internal instability due to breaking through the ninth level, Sheng Lin didn’t take these minor threats too seriously.
“You can write letters?” Xie Xihai asked enviously. “Can I borrow your carrier pigeon?”
“Need to write a letter?” Sheng Lin patted the dove standing on the table and fed it some dry food from his bag.
“Write to my mother,” Xie Xihai said. “I miss her; I just want to let her know I’m safe.”
Sheng Lin looked at him, as if questioning why he should lend the pigeon to him.
Xie Xihai hesitated for a moment, then handed Sheng Lin the purse his father gave him. “My travel expenses are all in here. Take it and let me send a message to my mother.”
Sheng Lin and Xie Xihai glanced at each other, and Sheng Lin reached out to take it.
Xie Xihai didn’t expect Sheng Lin to really accept his purse. He had to grit his teeth in his heart but couldn’t show it on his face.
Sheng Lin weighed the purse and said, “Writing a letter is fine. I have one condition; I wonder if Your Highness can agree.”
Xie Xihai gritted his teeth again, wrote down eighty-eight “inferior” characters in a small notebook, and said, “Please enlighten me, Hero.”
“Starting from the moment you begin writing the letter, for twenty-four hours, Your Highness must keep your mouth shut and not say a word,” Sheng Lin said to Xie Xihai. Xie Xihai actually sensed a hint of narrow-mindedness in Sheng Lin’s eyes, which quickly disappeared.
Xie Xihai struggled with himself for a long time but finally agreed, “I won’t speak! This Prince is afraid of you!”
As he was about to write, seeing Sheng Lin standing beside him, he urged, “Don’t look!”
Sheng Lin shrugged, sat aside, and closed his eyes to practice his internal energy.
Xie Xihai wrote a bunch of random things, rolling the paper for quite a while until it formed a small scroll. He walked over, poked Sheng Lin, but got a painful shock from the surging energy around him.
“I’m done,” Xie Xihai took two steps back and said.
Sheng Lin opened his eyes after a while, took the small scroll from Xie Xihai, and the carrier pigeon rested at the end of the corridor outside. Sheng Lin went out to call the pigeon.
“Don’t peek,” Xie Xihai followed him anxiously, Sheng Lin turned around, raised his hand, and used a finger to press down on Xie Xihai’s lips.
Xie Xihai’s heart inexplicably sped up, and then he remembered the condition he had agreed to earlier. He could only reluctantly move to the side and continue to keep his mouth shut.
Sheng Lin walked out of the room, intending to directly insert the letter into the small bamboo tube tied to the pigeon’s leg. Suddenly, he thought of Xie Xihai’s sly appearance and glanced at the tightly closed room door. He opened the letter to read.
The letter read:
“Dear Mother,
It has been many days since we last met, and Xie Xihai misses you a lot. I hope you are in good health.
… Xie Xihai is following the number one expert in the world, Sheng Lin, to the capital. Surprisingly, he refuses even to teach this Crown Prince self-defense techniques. If convenient, please find someone to beat him up for me. After Xie Xihai enters the capital and pays respects to the emperor, he will come back to reunite with you. Mother, please don’t worry…
Sheng Lin quickly scanned the letter, rolled it back to its original form, and stuffed it into the pigeon, letting it deliver the message to Prince Ning’s residence.
Turning back to the room, Sheng Lin pushed open the door. Xie Xihai was sitting cross-legged on the bed, imitating Sheng Lin’s meditation posture, pretending to cultivate his internal energy.
Hearing Sheng Lin’s voice, Xie Xihai wasn’t surprised. He slowly opened his eyes, looked at Sheng Lin leaning against the door, pointed to his own mouth, shook his head, and then nodded towards himself.
Sheng Lin nodded in response, looking quite satisfied. Xie Xihai snorted, closed his eyes again, and continued to feign meditation.
After dinner, Xie Xihai insisted on going out again.
Unable to speak, he squatted beside Sheng Lin, ignoring his dignity, and rubbed Sheng Lin’s clothes.
Annoyed, Sheng Lin lowered his head to look at him. Seeing Sheng Lin’s eyes open, Xie Xihai was overjoyed. He pulled Sheng Lin’s hand to make him pay attention, tightly sealed his lips, pointed to his own clothes, and then drew a large cross.
Frowning, Sheng Lin asked, “What?”
Xie Xihai pointed to his own mouth, shook his head, and Sheng Lin understood. “Oh, you can’t speak.”
Xie Xihai nodded and continued to tug at his clothes, shaking his head and wagging his tail. Then he grabbed Sheng Lin, trying to pull him up, opened the door, and attempted to walk outside. However, the Sheng Lin he grabbed seemed immovable.
Xie Xihai looked up at him, his expression urgent, as if saying, “Why don’t you understand?” Xie Xihai couldn’t comprehend why Sheng Lin seemed so clueless. All he wanted was to go out and buy new clothes; even a fool could see that.
Sheng Lin gently pushed Xie Xihai away, then walked back. Xie Xihai had no clothes to wear and didn’t care about his appearance. He hugged Sheng Lin’s waist and tried to drag him outside. However, he was no match for Sheng Lin and was pulled back to the bed.
Xie Xihai sighed heavily, walked to the table, and wrote down a few big characters: “Accompany this prince to buy clothes.”
While Sheng Lin was cultivating, Xie Xihai handed the note to him. Sheng Lin took a look and asked, “Didn’t Your Highness give me your purse?”
Xie Xihai was stunned, sneered, and walked back to the table, writing again: “But I have no clothes to wear.”
Sheng Lin, indifferent, said, “What does that have to do with me?”
Xie Xihai crumpled the paper in his hand, threw it at Sheng Lin, who was lying on the bed, and couldn’t hold back anymore. He loudly accused Sheng Lin, “You peeked at my letter!”
Sheng Lin caught the crumpled paper thrown back at him. Xie Xihai, red-faced, violated the agreement and wanted to confront Sheng Lin: “We agreed not to look!”
“When did I agree not to look?” Sheng Lin stood up, looking down at him.
Xie Xihai stared at Sheng Lin for a while and realized that Sheng Lin indeed hadn’t agreed.
“But this is a matter of etiquette!” Xie Xihai took a step forward, grabbed Sheng Lin, and forced him, “Unless you take me out, this prince will have to settle this score with you.”
Sheng Lin pinched Xie Xihai’s wrist to pull him away and pushed him a bit farther. Then he said, “With such vitality, it seems we can save on tomorrow’s travel expenses.”
Thinking that he only had this one set of old clothes, Xie Xihai felt uneasy. However, he couldn’t argue or win in a fight, so he could only sit on a stool, contemplating how to get a few new outfits.
At that moment, Sheng Lin took out some silver from his purse, tossed it to Xie Xihai, and said, “If this prince dares, you can go buy them yourself.”
Unfinished, Xie Xihai picked up the silver coins from the ground for a while before standing up. He told Sheng Lin, “No problem, I’ll go now!”
With that, Xie Xihai turned and left the room, tucking the silver coins into his belt.
His previous clothes were all custom-made by tailors sent by merchants, using the best fabrics and the latest styles. He had no concept of clothing prices. Xie Xihai asked for the location of a tailor shop and hurriedly headed there. Qingchi Town was small, and he arrived in no time. Walking into the tailor shop, two elderly tailors were sitting and sewing. When they saw Xie Xihai come in, they didn’t bother to greet him, just saying, “Feel free to look around, sir.”
In the tailor shop hung two rows of men’s clothing, all appearing wide and outdated. Xie Xihai browsed for a while, realizing he couldn’t go without clothes, and reluctantly picked a few smaller ones before paying.
On the way back to the inn, Xie Xihai felt more and more wronged. In his mind, he mentally criticized Sheng Lin repeatedly. Lost in thought, he suddenly found himself in a dead-end alley with the night already fallen, and there was no one around.
Xie Xihai, holding a large package, rushed out of the alley. Outside, all he could see were houses, and there was no sign of Clear Pond Inn. His legs shook, and he looked up at the crescent moon in the sky. Anxious and on the verge of shouting Sheng Lin’s name, he coincidentally encountered two people carrying lanterns.
Desperate, Xie Xihai approached them, and luckily, they were locals from Clear Pond Town. They directed him to the inn, and after a short walk, Xie Xihai finally reached the inn’s back entrance.
Nervously, he entered and found their room. To his dismay, Sheng Lin was not inside.
Xie Xihai’s scalp went numb; he closed the door, placed the package on the table, and searched the room for Sheng Lin, but it was not that big, and she was nowhere to be found.
“Sheng Lin…” Xie Xihai called in confusion, pushing the door open and sticking his head out, calling again, “Sheng Lin…”
Panicked and exhausted, he raised his voice, walking through the inn’s stairs, calling out desperately, “Sheng Lin… Sheng Lin…”
Suddenly, his shoulder was touched, and Xie Xihai turned around abruptly to find Sheng Lin standing behind him, expressionless, looking at him.
Xie Xihai’s heart slowly descended from the half-air, his eyes moist with water vapor. He complained to Sheng Lin, “Where did you go?”
Sheng Lin’s gaze, initially calm and unreadable, became somewhat difficult to fathom. However, Xie Xihai was filled with fear and couldn’t discern Sheng Lin’s change. He grabbed Sheng Lin’s arm and said, “You scared me.”
“What’s there to be scared of?” Sheng Lin led him into the room, hugged Xie Xihai’s shoulder, and had him lean against his chest. “Someone was eavesdropping at the window earlier; I went after them.”
Xie Xihai’s hands were cold, nervously interlocking, and he asked Sheng Lin, “Did you catch them?”
Sheng Lin shook his head, surprising Xie Xihai. “There are people even Grandmaster Sheng can’t catch?”
Entering the room, Sheng Lin noticed the large package on the table and asked, “Did you buy the clothes?”
“Clear Pond is indeed a small place, not much in terms of fashionable clothes. I didn’t bother with them, just picked a few that could barely pass,” Xie Xihai opened the package for Sheng Lin to see, adding, “I also got lost on the way back.”
Sheng Lin stared at Xie Xihai’s waist, and Xie Xihai immediately covered the spot where he hid the small silver pieces, saying sternly, “What are you looking at?”
He still had some money left from buying clothes, intending to use it as his secret travel funds.
Xie Xihai hadn’t given up on his escape plan and planned to ask Sheng Lin for protection heading north. When they got closer to the merchant areas, he intended to leave. Ideally, he also hoped Sheng Lin would teach him some life-saving skills, although it seemed Sheng Lin wasn’t very willing to do so at the moment.
“It’s nothing,” Sheng Lin averted his eyes, sat at the table, and poured himself a cup of tea. “Your Highness is truly of noble descent, able to find your way back even if you stray.”
Xie Xihai paid no attention to Sheng Lin’s sarcasm and said, “I encountered two kind-hearted passersby who showed me the way. I thought, if random people on the road are so helpful, I wonder why some famous heroes are so stingy.”
“Are you talking about me?” Sheng Lin put down the tea cup and calmly asked Xie Xihai.
Xie Xihai locked eyes with him for a moment, sadly shaking his head, “How could it be? Just a passing thought.”
Sheng Lin stood up, walked to the side to wipe his sword, and Xie Xihai followed, saying, “Hero, when will we reach Lizhou?”
“Three to five days on horseback,” Sheng Lin wiped the blade of Dusheng Sword with a cloth strip, emitting a faintly dangerous aura, “Seven to eight days by carriage.”
“In that case, couldn’t I just take the carriage to Lizhou?” Xie Xihai said with satisfaction, hands behind his back, “Not bad, not bad. Please, Hero Sheng, arrange for a carriage.”
“I heard there is a Yingchun Lane in Lizhou.” Xie Xihai suddenly paused suspiciously. Sheng Lin finished wiping the sword handle and looked at him. Xie Xihai had a faint blush on his face, and his eyes sparkled as he looked at Sheng Lin.
Seeing Sheng Lin’s silence, Xie Xihai sighed, and, for some reason, his sigh sounded somewhat sweet, “My mother never allowed me to go to such places. I only heard about them in the teahouse.”
“Just go in for a drink; it shouldn’t take much time.” Xie Xihai forcibly squeezed himself to sit next to Sheng Lin, holding Sheng Lin’s arm and saying.
“Your Highness,” Sheng Lin looked down at Xie Xihai, who was smiling sweetly, and asked, “Have you forgotten to promise me something?”
Xie Xihai’s smile stiffened, and Sheng Lin pointed at his lips, saying bluntly, “Shut up.”
Xie Xihai made a nasal sound, glared at Sheng Lin again, took off his clothes, climbed into bed, wrapped himself in a quilt, and sat in bed watching Sheng Lin meditate. After a while, he looked around, found a wooden stick, and started tapping the bed, trying to create a disturbance. Ideally, he wanted Sheng Lin to lose focus and become a puppet obedient to his commands.
Unexpectedly, Sheng Lin remained unmoved, but it was Xie Xihai who, tapping away, eventually fell asleep.
