Old Liu Beidou walked some distance before a young married woman approached him. Seeing the withered old man, who looked old beyond description, letting his gaze linger on certain shameful parts of her body, she felt embarrassed and annoyed. But she was kind by nature, so after hesitating, she still warned him, “Stop wandering around. Zhao Fenghu has arrived. Hurry and run for your life.”
The old man chuckled. “Little girl, don’t be afraid. With me here, they won’t be able to stir up any trouble.”
The young woman ignored him and hurried toward her mother’s family’s village to deliver the news. She thought, Youliang was right after all. This rotten old man surnamed Liu is both lecherous and fond of boasting.
When she looked up and saw Li Qingshi approaching, her pretty eyes swept over his face. Suddenly, her cheeks flushed.
After Li Qingshi caught up with Liu Beidou, the old man was craning his neck, his gaze following the young woman’s figure. He muttered to Li Qingshi, “See her? That’s Wang Dazhu’s daughter-in-law. Don’t you think she looks like she’d be good at bearing children?”
Li Qingshi had attended Wang Youliang’s wedding banquet and had seen the young woman then, but she had been wearing a veil, so he had not seen her face. Following the old man’s gaze, he turned his head and looked several times before agreeing, “That fellow Wang Youliang really is quite fortunate.”
The young woman suddenly looked back and saw Li Qingshi staring at her. As if scalded, she quickly turned away again. She thought, This man is really handsome. I’ve been married into the family for several days already—how come I’ve never seen him before? Why does he keep looking at me... Her thoughts wandered somewhere unknown, and even the roots of her ears turned red.
After the master and disciple were caught peeking, they acted as though nothing had happened. Li Qingshi said, “At your age, people would already think you’re too old to be someone’s grandfather, yet you still stare at women. Can’t you have at least a little shame?”
The old man said, “What do you know? No matter how old a man is, he likes young women.”
After watching for a while longer, he finally turned his neck back and said, “How wonderful.”
On that wrinkled old face, an unprecedented, indescribable loneliness suddenly appeared.
Li Qingshi thought, What is Old Liu remembering?
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he heard the old man begin humming that same strange little tune again...
“A bronze mirror reflects an innocent face, hair tied in a ponytail; if you run wild, I’ll gladly offer you wine and spend this life keeping you company...”
..
The old man and the young man left Baitou Village. Somehow, the old man produced a book and tossed it to Li Qingshi. “Hurry up and read it. You don’t have much time left.”
Li Qingshi opened it and found a sword manual. A few spare strokes outlined a humble figure, while a straight line represented a longsword. The figures were posed in sword moves, with three or five words beside each one explaining the key to exerting force.
The style made it obvious that Old Liu had drawn it. His medical books were just as simple, yet difficult to understand. Without his personal explanations, probably no one in the world could make sense of them. Compared with those medical books, this sword manual was already a work of conscience. Though simple, every move and form was presented with perfect clarity.
“Since you understand martial arts, why didn’t you teach me earlier?” Li Qingshi said irritably.
“With the aptitude you had before, teaching you would have been useless. It would only have wasted my effort.” The old man did not even look at him.
Li Qingshi was left speechless. He always felt that the old man was using the matter of aptitude as an excuse to fob him off, but unfortunately, he had no evidence. At that moment, he had a hundred thousand questions in his mind, yet after thinking it over, he held his tongue and lowered his head to study the sword manual.
The old man had said he would use those Brutal Bandits under Zhao Fenghu for sparring practice with him. It sounded far too unreliable, but Li Qingshi still did not dare lower his guard. Given the old man’s temperament, he really could do something this absurd. And once a fight began, as long as there was no danger to his life, the old man would certainly just stand by and watch the fun. To suffer less pain, he might as well learn as many moves as he could while he had the chance.
Li Qingshi could now basically confirm that Old Liu knew martial arts, and that his cultivation was higher than that of Old Immortal Niu from Clearwind Manor.
The withered old man walked ahead with his hands behind his back, admiring the mountain scenery as he went, strolling with leisurely ease.
Li Qingshi followed close behind, flipping through the sword manual with his head lowered and his expression focused.
His memory had always been excellent, almost reaching the level of never forgetting anything he had seen. This was partly due to his extraordinary talent, but more importantly, he had always been focused when doing things. Whenever he studied something, he quickly entered a state of complete selflessness, with no distracting thoughts.
This sword manual contained fifty-six forms. After reading it once, Li Qingshi found the sword moves very simple. That was not strange. Everything progressed from simple to difficult, so this was probably only a set of Beginner Sword Technique for stepping onto the path of martial arts.
However, when he read it a second time, he gently furrowed his brow and discovered that it seemed somewhat different from the first reading. The sword manual appeared to be a little complicated.
When he read it a third time, his brows drew together even more tightly. The sword manual seemed even more complicated now!
Just after finishing the third reading, he walked straight into Liu Beidou’s back. He raised his head in confusion and only then realized that, without noticing, they had already entered Guidang Mountain.
Li Qingshi was not unfamiliar with the mountain. He often entered it to hunt, but even after all these years, he had still never seen the entirety of Guidang Mountain.
The mountain was simply too vast. Its terrain rose and fell without end, with high peaks and dense forests. Once Zhao Fenghu’s group disappeared into the mountains, there was no way to know where to find them unless they came out on their own.
A clearing lay before them, filled with lush grass, birdsong, and the chirping of insects. It was indeed a fine place to practice martial arts.
Li Qingshi looked around and saw that Old Liu had already found a flat boulder and sat down on it. He thought, Judging by Old Liu’s intentions, could he want me to practice swordsmanship here? Once I’ve practiced enough, will we go outside the mountain and wait for those bandits to come out on their own?
But those bandits would probably descend from the mountain to raid tonight. In less than a day, the most I could do would be to practice until the moves felt familiar.
Forget it. With Old Liu backing me up, I might as well practice first and worry about the rest later.
He drew his longsword and had just assumed the opening stance of the first move when a burly man emerged from the woods opposite them.
The man looked to be in his thirties or forties. He had a full beard, a vicious appearance, and a scar about three inches long across his forehead. A long saber hung at his waist.
He clearly had not expected to encounter anyone there. After staring blankly for a moment, he split his lips into a delighted grin.
The Chief had sent him out to scout the terrain. If he got the chance, he was also to investigate the nearby villages and towns, gathering information in advance.
He had originally worried that if he rashly left the mountain and the government had already learned that they had entered it, they might have prepared an ambush outside. If he went alone, would that not mean walking into a trap?
He had not expected to encounter someone in the mountains. It was an unexpected delight. This would save him trouble: he could capture them and interrogate them, and then he would know everything.
Only after his surprise did he notice that the young man before him was holding a longsword!
He had initially thought that the old man and young man were nearby villagers who had entered the mountain to hunt. Now it seemed that was not the case, so he immediately became somewhat more cautious.
However, after sizing up the two of them, he relaxed again.
With that old man’s frail little body, he suspected a gust of wind could blow him away. Someone who looked like that could absolutely not be a master.
As for the young man, he was at most twenty years old. Even if he had practiced martial arts since childhood, he could not be very skilled at that age. And judging from the shabby sword in his hand, he probably knew only a few mediocre rural moves.
After analyzing the situation, the man felt completely reassured. He had been fleeing for his life in panic these past few days and had not even eaten a proper meal. He had almost forgotten what women felt like, too. Once he learned the situation from these two, he would descend the mountain tonight and enjoy himself thoroughly!
At this thought, he suddenly noticed that the young man before him was even more handsome than a woman. He thought, That bastard Wu Yizhou is into this sort of thing. If I kidnap this young man and bring him back, I wonder how he’ll thank me.
Across from him, Li Qingshi had nothing like those rich inner thoughts. He merely froze for a moment and thought, This... what are the odds? Then he began carefully maintaining his guard while recalling and pondering the moves in the sword manual.
The man swaggered forward a few steps and was just about to speak when the withered old man on the nearby boulder spoke first.
“What are you waiting for? Take him down.”