Chapter 94: A Feast for the Eyes
A total of seven wells had been dug at the smithy, their water sweet and cool, exuding a chilling air.
Rumor had it that Master Ruan, who had once lived on Qilong Alley for some time, was a deity who could forge swords, one whom even the imperial court held in great esteem. Officials from the Ministry of Rites and Young Master Wu had both personally visited him. Thus, Master Ruan’s identity was far from ordinary and absolutely beyond doubt. Many people wanted to send their children into the smithy, but unfortunately they were no longer taking apprentices. However, on one occasion when Master Ruan went to town to buy wine, he picked two children as apprentices. The next day, the wine shop was packed to overflowing with adults and elders dragging their own children. The problem was that no one was actually buying wine; they all waited eagerly, hoping Master Ruan would take a liking to someone. The children cared nothing about their futures and ran around in high spirits, causing chaos and uproar.
Before the arrival of County Magistrate Wu Yuan, the townspeople only knew that they were subjects of the Great Li Dynasty and that the Dragon Kiln fired porcelain for the Great Li Emperor’s household—nothing more. The town had very little flow of people; there was no such thing as visiting relatives, traveling for study, or marrying far away. The books didn’t teach such matters, nor did the elders speak of them. Generation after generation passed like this. Among the Four Surnames and Ten Clans, those who knew some inside information dared not divulge the heavenly secrets.
The lucky ones chosen by the Destiny Porcelain could go out to see the magnificent landscapes beyond, but before the fall of the Pearl of Li Cave Heaven, they had no chance to return home in glory. This was one of the rules established long ago by the sages of the town.
Now, according to the notices posted at the county office and explanations from literate people, they learned that it was because the mountain roads of Longquan County had been too steep and treacherous. The court had only recently spent great effort to open up the roads, all for the sake of the mountain-opening matter—to gift those peaks to certain influential figures who admired the local feng shui. At the same time, a group led by clerks from the Rites Department of the county office began explaining various rules to the local populace on how to get along with outsiders.
For example, one must not point at outsiders indiscriminately, children must not bump into pedestrians on the streets, and it was absolutely forbidden to touch outsiders’ mounts without permission. If any dispute arose, the people must truthfully report it to the Longquan County Office and act not on their own authority; the government would handle it impartially.
The Four Surnames and Ten Clans showed no great enthusiasm for this, nor did they offer to help the county office in any way they could. Instead, they watched coldly from the sidelines. As to whether they were waiting to see the county office make a fool of itself—only Wu Yuan and those old foxes knew in their hearts.
The great changes in the town did not deeply affect Ruan Xiu, who had grown up in the Wind and Snow Temple, the ancestral home of the military strategists. Or rather, she paid them no mind.
Ever since she encountered a certain short, stout woman, she had been in low spirits.
That overbearing woman had swaggered into Chen Ping’an’s house, not only that, but she had also broken the copper locks on the courtyard gate and the house door. When Ruan Xiu had gone to clean the two houses earlier, she had run into the group of people who came to replace the locks. Ruan Xiu was so angry that her willow-leaf brows shot up, and she ran over to reason with them. Those people seemed to know her identity and respectfully apologized, but when it came to the real culprit behind it all, they put on a rogue-like attitude, saying something like, “Miss Ruan, even if you beat us to death, we wouldn’t dare say.” That was bad enough. Then Ruan Xiu demanded they hand over the old locks and new keys. When she returned to the smithy, she ran into that short, stout woman, who even had the nerve to smile and say she had accidentally broken the copper locks.
Ruan Xiu had also, as agreed, hired people to repair a dilapidated, unoccupied house on Niping Alley. The roof had a large hole caved in, the beams were rotten, and the red paint was peeling. Ruan Xiu insisted that the local bricklayers and roofers make careful repairs, painstakingly adding tiles and bricks. Finally, still uneasy, she watched over them for most of the day.
Furthermore, the neighboring Yasui Shop and Caotou Shop were both registered under Chen Ping’an’s name. The old assistants at these two long-established shops had left one by one, so they had to hire new help. She didn’t dare pick slick characters, so she asked people from her own sword shop to recommend some honest and nimble women and girls to help manage the business.
The Yasui Shop continued to sell various pastries and snacks, while the Caotou Shop continued to peddle miscellaneous items—scholar’s ornaments, old zithers, calligraphy and paintings—a motley assortment of things.
Whenever Ruan Xiu had nothing to do at the sword shop, she would lean on the counter of one of these shops, staring blankly into space. Often, half the day would slip away leisurely. After all, she didn’t need to solicit customers, and she wasn’t good at haggling. In fact, both shops were part of Chen Ping’an’s assets, and the girl in blue wished she could sell a single pastry for the exorbitant price of several taels of silver. But in the end, she was a kind-hearted girl and couldn’t bring herself to do that. She just hesitated whether to find him some people who were good at reading expressions to help the shops earn more money. Yet she feared that if she did, he might not like it when he returned to his hometown.
Because he wasn’t that kind of person.
The girl, who had never been particularly gluttonous for sweets, now had a chin that was gradually losing its roundness and becoming slightly pointed.
Like a small lotus bud emerging from the water, fresh and moving.
Ruan Qiong had mentioned a few times that if she found the town boring, she could go for a stroll around Shenxiu Mountain’s Hengshuo Peak—the scenery there was quite nice. But the girl always put it off, dragging her feet, and Ruan Qiong let it be. Yet the more listless the girl seemed, the more focused she became when forging swords, her concentration and spirit abundant, and her cultivation realm soared without hindrance. This set Ruan Qiong’s mind at ease. Since it was good for her practice, he wouldn’t interfere.
Because the graves of ordinary mortals were already overgrown with lush grass, and even their descendants had white hair, yet those who had achieved success in cultivation at the same age still appeared as beautiful young women.
These past two days, Ruan Xiu had been even more irritated. Every time she came to the shop to daydream, someone would disturb her.
It was a young man with a vermillion long flute tucked into his waistband, dressed in brocade robes and a jade belt, wearing a purple-gold crown. He had a very arrogant demeanor. As for what he looked like, she had forgotten—or rather, she had never really paid attention.
Because ever since Ruan Xiu could remember, she had seen too many people like this. Her father was Ruan Qiong, not only a great cultivator of the Wind and Snow Temple but also the foremost sword-forger in the Eastern Vase Continent.
But after arriving here, Ruan Qiong had told her that he had already notified the Great Li court that within sixty years, Great Li could not use his reputation, the golden signboard of Ruan Qiong, to scheme for anything. If he, Ruan Qiong, found out, they could discuss it, but as for the consequences, Ruan Qiong would not guarantee anything. After the cave heaven fell and became part of Great Li’s territory, the battles had not only terrified the surrounding cultivators, but also the Great Li court and the powers on the mountains further away. They had all learned to respect Saint Ruan’s temper. No one was willing to use their life to reason with Ruan Qiong. Anyone who dared to do so would either be beaten to death by Saint Ruan on his own turf, or dragged into a boundary and beaten to death in plain sight.
Without Ruan Qiong having to say it outright, the small group of truly great figures in Great Li understood clearly that this saint, who had left the Wind and Snow Temple to establish his own faction, had one true reverse scale: his daughter, who was universally acknowledged as exceptionally talented. If not for Ruan Xiu, Ruan Qiong would never have left the Wind and Snow Temple in the first place, nor taken over the Pearl of Li Cave Heaven from Qi Jingchun. Back then, no one considered guarding this small cave heaven a good assignment, for it meant that one’s cultivation and realm were suppressed by the heavenly dao. Maintaining one’s realm without falling and preserving one’s body from decay was already the utmost.
Of course, Qi Jingchun was an exception—a very big exception.
Since Ruan Qiong’s lifeline was his daughter, Great Li now deliberately helped keep things secret, never daring to casually mention Ruan Xiu’s name.
And so, some ignorant fellow, wandering aimlessly into the Caotou Shop on Qilong Alley of the small town, saw the girl with the ponytail and was immediately struck as if by a divine being. He thought to himself, “A girl from a shop—her status can’t be that high. With my looks, eloquence, and family background, it’ll be a piece of cake. I’ll make her fall in love with me at first sight, willingly become a maid to add fragrance to my sleeves, and a servant girl to grind my ink.”
But he was, after all, here on a family mission to buy a mountain. The town now harbored hidden dragons and crouching tigers—not to mention that hot-tempered military saint high above, but also people from the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Observatory. It was even said that the county magistrate was a proud disciple of the Great Li National Master. So this young master heeded his father’s instructions: when in town, keep a low profile. If he caused trouble, his family wouldn’t even come to collect his corpse. Therefore, he dared not act as recklessly as he did in his own territory. Besides, robbing women and such—though he was quite familiar with the process—was really boring.
This self-proclaimed romantic young master probably never imagined, even if his head were smashed, that the seemingly naive and lazy girl was actually named Ruan.
Today, he again crossed the threshold, pretending to browse the rows of treasure shelves for something he liked, then pretended to haggle with a woman. Finally, he smiled and greeted the girl in blue, who seemed to be the shopkeeper. He lightly raised a piece of ornamental stone that caught his fancy—about a hand high, shaped like clouds, rain, and a beauty’s waist—priced at thirty taels of silver. He asked if the girl could lower the price, since thirty taels was really too expensive.
To him, what was thirty taels of gold?
Ruan Xiu didn’t even look up. “No,” she said flatly.
The man shrugged with affected nonchalance, said he’d buy the stone, then picked two more items. He asked again if, after buying so much, she couldn’t give him a discount. Moreover, he planned to live in town for a long time and would be a repeat customer, so he’d often patronize the shop... In short, he babbled on and on. Behind the counter, Ruan Xiu was annoyed. Still not looking up, she said flatly, “You can buy things, just pay the price. Talk less.”
The young master laughed instead of getting angry. Oh? Didn’t expect that—a spirited little filly, was she?
He wasn’t actually angry; he just felt his competitive spirit stirred. Buying the mountain was already a done deal; he was just here to show his face and sign the papers for his wealthy family. Why not find some harmless fun? So he had the woman pack the three items, and as he left, he smiled, “Miss, I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Ruan Xiu finally looked up and faced him directly. “Don’t come again.”
The young man gazed at her with interest, his face becoming more pleasing the longer he looked—definitely not comparable to the cheap beauties at home. He smiled slyly, “Why?”
Ruan Xiu’s expression was calm. “This shop belongs to my... friend. So I can decide which customers are welcome and which ones are just an eyesore.”
He pointed to his nose, his smile widening. “An eyesore? Where does that come from, miss?”
Ruan Xiu leaned back onto the counter, waving her hand. “You can go now. I don’t want to talk to someone like you.”
Outside the shop stood a big, burly man with a displeased, murderous look, glaring coldly at the impertinent town girl.
The young man smiled and gestured for his attendant to stay back, signaling with his eyes not to scare his prey. After paying, he walked to the door but turned back and said, “See you tomorrow.”
Ruan Xiu sighed, stood up, walked around the counter, and said to the man who had just stepped out and turned around, “I suggest you listen to others more in the future.”
The young man looked at the girl’s stunningly graceful figure, feeling that this trip had brought him extraordinary luck.
As for what the girl said, he heard it, but he didn’t take it seriously—certainly not as a real warning.
Suddenly, the attendant’s body tensed, his scalp tingled, and he felt like needles were pricking his back. Before he could act, the girl in blue and his young master both crashed into the wall across Qilong Alley.
He watched helplessly as the girl pressed her hand against his young master’s forehead, driving his entire head and back into the wall.
The young master lost consciousness instantly, blood streaming from his seven orifices. The wall behind him cracked into a huge spiderweb.
The girl said to the man, who was rolling his eyes and fainting, “You need to listen to advice in the future, understand? Hmm? Or don’t you?”
She raised one leg high and delivered another swift kick.
The already pitiful young master, along with the wall, caved in further—a truly miserable sight.
The girl withdrew her leg, turned, and walked back into the shop, saying to the towering attendant, who dared not move a muscle, “Take him away. Remember to fix the wall.”
The attendant, a Fifth Realm martial artist, swallowed hard and couldn’t even muster a harsh word.
He was just the obvious bodyguard. The real backbone was a clan elder who had joined as a guest. That elder was now, like many forces, up in the mountains, following behind the Ministry of Rites Vice Minister and the Imperial Observatory’s Black Tortoise Gentleman, both to maintain relations with Great Li and to symbolically inspect the two mountains they had purchased at a heavy price.
It wasn’t that Fifth Realm martial artists were a dime a dozen and could be bullied. It was that this ponytailed girl’s attack was simply too terrifying.
After all, their young master had already reached the Fourth Floor. Though not comparable to true prodigies from immortal mansions, if he could eventually reach the Fifth Floor, he would have the qualifications to dominate a region. In the Great Li territory, where martial artists were abundant, qi refiners were far more favored. So those two mountains were to be the young master’s land of rising fortune.
This Fifth Realm martial artist didn’t bother announcing his background to intimidate the merciless girl. He immediately flew to the wall across the alley. A moment later, the man turned around, eyes red, face iron-gray, and roared, “You little slut! Do you know you’ve ruined my young master’s foundation of cultivation?!”
Ruan Xiu had already entered the shop. She stopped but didn’t turn around, only twisting her head. “I know. I deliberately didn’t kill him so he could suffer.”
The martial artist almost lost his mind. Was this girl a lunatic with a broken brain?
The girl smiled. “You cursed at me. I won’t argue with you, because I’ll settle accounts with your clan. According to your usual routine, when the junior is beaten, the elder comes running. So feel free to call his elders or friends to come find trouble with me. Don’t worry, I’ll wait right here. I won’t go anywhere. If no one comes to seek revenge or apologize, let me make it clear: don’t pretend nothing happened.”
She thought for a moment. “If your clan’s patriarch or reinforcements can actually defeat me, then I’ll bring out my father. I have no choice—he’s the only family I have.”
Then, for no apparent reason, the girl suddenly became happy, so happy that she had to press her lips together to keep from showing it too obviously.
Now she seemed to have one more friend—the owner of this shop.
The martial artist stared at the girl’s “eerie” smile, convinced she was truly insane.
He didn’t dare linger. The priority was to preserve his young master’s cultivation as much as possible. He hoisted the young master onto his back and sprinted down Qilong Alley. He wasn’t entirely stupid—after running a distance, he roared toward somewhere in the distance, “My young master is from the Fengcheng Chu Clan! He is a honored guest of your Great Li! Our clan’s patriarch is the vice sect master of Yaoling Mountain!”
But there was no response.
The martial artist’s heart immediately turned to ice, chilling him to the bone.
The Great Li spies lurking in the shadows had chosen to stand by and watch him die!
This was absolutely against common sense, against protocol!
The martial artist was utterly crestfallen. Had his young master provoked someone they couldn’t afford to offend? But hadn’t the patriarch explicitly said that, aside from the two successive saints and the local snakes entrenched in the town for generations, there were no great threats? How could a mere shop girl have such terrifying strength?
In the distance, a young man sat silently on a wall hidden from view, one hand supporting his cheek. After yawning, he sneered, “Do you really think Great Li is afraid of some Fengcheng Chu Clan?”
Finally, he withdrew his gaze, looking toward the shop. He could no longer see the girl behind the counter. He murmured with a smile, “No wonder she’s known as the easiest-going girl at the Wind and Snow Temple.”
Then he quickly wiped away his smile and continued monitoring the surroundings. At the slightest sign of trouble, he had the authority to mobilize all nearby Great Li death warriors to kill, regardless of cost or consequence, no matter who the opponent was.
But he also guessed that this storm wouldn’t end here. It might even involve the Emperor himself, as well as Saint Ruan Qiong. Because the Fengcheng Chu Clan could blow this out of proportion, make a big issue of it, and use public opinion to pressure the Great Li court. Great Li’s national power was at its peak; they feared nothing, except that they had always attached great importance to the opinions of literati—both the previous emperor and the current one had treated scholars with great generosity and tolerance.
Inside the shop, the several women and girls were trembling with fear, hardly daring to breathe. Who would have thought that Miss Xiu, usually so good-natured, had this side to her? She struck someone half to death with one blow!
The girl leaned on the counter and continued to daydream.
Suddenly remembering something, she took a small stone from the counter drawer and placed it on the surface. Then she changed position, pressing her cheek to the table, and gently flicked the stone, watching it roll back and forth.
Miss Xiu, a feast for the eyes.