SS CH3

The seventh-generation Villa Master of Duanshui Villa, Xie Wuyi, was thirty-four years old. Accomplished in both literature and martial arts, he excelled at using the family-inherited Duanshui (Water-Severing) Saber Technique. Using this as a foundation, he had comprehended the Canglan (Dark Blue Waves) Thirteen Sabers. He possessed upright features and a gentle, virtuous disposition. At sixteen, he first entered the jianghu, rushing to the Western Regions for five years. Having experienced eighty-two battles with only one draw and one loss, his name spread throughout the world from then on. Afterwards, he returned to the Central Plains and participated in the Martial Arts Saber and Sword Conference with his father, challenging heroes from all over without a single defeat. Because he was still young at the time, his saber skills shocked the martial arts world, earning him the eighth spot on the Heroes Ranking.

Since Xie Wuyi was twenty years old, few people came forward to test his blade. However, for a period three years ago, the number of challengers suddenly increased. There were even many assassins lingering near the villa, lying dormant and waiting for an opportunity.
There was no other reason for this but the rumors spreading at the time that Xie Wuyi might not live much longer, and that the Canglan might truly seal its blade into its scabbard forever.

Three years ago, on the first day of the first lunar month, a masked swordsman from the Western Regions arranged a duel with Xie Wuyi atop the summit of Lingyun Peak. Unable to win, he resorted to a poisonous plot to assassinate him in secret, causing both of them to fall off the high cliff. Spectators searched everywhere but couldn’t find them. Three days later, Xie Wuyi returned heavily injured. More than ten famous doctors of the jianghu were invited, but all stated that he had been poisoned by a bizarre toxin that was extremely difficult to cure, and his days were numbered.

Two days after that, the Ghost Doctor Sun Minfeng arrived in Luoyang. After examining him, even he found it quite tricky. He set a deadline of forty-nine days to try his best, but the chances of success were no more than fifty percent.

If Xie Wuyi was truly incurable, then dying without ever suffering a defeat would make him the eternal Number One Saber Under Heaven. Aside from enjoying grudges and revenges, people in the martial arts world also sought fame and profit. Those who had once been defeated by him, and those who feared Canglan and hadn’t dared cross the line, now flocked from all directions like flies. It was simply annoying beyond measure.

“So what happened next?” Ye Fusheng asked softly, sitting on a wooden plank, swinging his legs as he spoke with the manager.

Since Xie Wuyi was still alive today, presumably that Ghost Doctor either possessed divine skills and a Buddha’s heart capable of bringing the dying back to life, or he was simply a street hawker selling vigor pills and spouting nonsense.

After entering the city, the caravan split into two groups. Ye Fusheng and the manager drove Xue Chanyi toward the east of the city, while the rest headed to an inn they had agreed upon beforehand to settle down first. Naturally, the manager didn’t feel at ease letting this half-blind man drive the carriage, so he controlled the reins while giving a concise answer: “I’m not clear on what happened next either. I only know that after the forty-nine days passed, Xie Wuyi was still alive, but he never fought anyone again. So rumors gradually started spreading in the jianghu that although the Ghost Doctor saved his life, he destroyed his martial arts…”

“Nonsense!” An explosive shout suddenly came from inside the carriage. Miss Xue flung the carriage door open, and a long whip came whistling out, nearly splitting the manager’s mouth into three pieces.

“Miss Xue, please do not be angry. If the two of us have spoken inappropriately, I, Ye, apologize to you first.” Ye Fusheng grabbed her long whip, his smile friendly and harmless. Unfortunately, the veteran of the flower fields hit a spiked caltrop this time. Miss Xue’s willow-like eyebrows stood up, and with a flick of the long whip, she broke free from his grasp, still aiming for the manager’s face.

The wind howled with a sound like clashing metal. If this whip landed solidly, who knew if he’d be reincarnated with a yin-yang face in his next life.

Miss Xue’s beautiful eyes were filled with murderous intent, determined to whip the manager until his face blossomed. Unexpectedly, two fingers suddenly tapped onto the wrist holding the whip. She felt the tendons and bones in her wrist tremble, and the strength in her hand loosened. Those two fingers swept past phantasmagorically, effortlessly intercepting the whip from her palm. With a light flick, the long snake coiled back and landed obediently in his hand, as deftly as if he were merely plucking a flying petal from the wind.

Before Miss Xue could even complete a breath, her weapon had been easily snatched away. She looked in disbelief at the handsome but somewhat down-and-out man. His face was as bloodless as a living ghost, yet he possessed such skill.

Miss Xue was unruly, but she wasn’t brainless. Lifting her chin, she said: “I didn’t expect you to be a deeply hidden expert.”

“I wouldn’t call myself an expert, though there is certainly a sinner here who offended Miss.” Ye Fusheng coiled the whip up and returned it to her with both hands, his smile as gentle and polite as ever. “We both came from the northern borders and are unclear about these old jianghu matters. If we said anything wrong, may I ask Miss to enlighten us?”

Miss Xue sneered: “Enlighten is out of the question, but isn’t chewing tongues behind someone’s back a grave mistake?”

Hearing this, Ye Fusheng understood. This Miss Xue, before him, was Xie Wuyi’s sole disciple, Xue Chanyi.

Thirteen years ago, when Xie Wuyi returned from the Western Regions, he rescued a young girl surnamed Xue in a border town. He took her as his disciple and taught her meticulously. Aside from the family-inherited Duanshui Saber Technique, he didn’t even hold back the Canglan Thirteen Sabers. Unfortunately, Xue Chanyi’s natural aptitude was lacking; she could only master forty to fifty percent of her master’s skill. She was completely ignorant when it came to saber techniques, and only her whip skills were worth mentioning.
Ever since Xie Wuyi’s accident three years ago, Duanshui Villa had been left tottering overnight. If Xue Chanyi hadn’t returned in time to barely hold up the crumbling main beam alongside the Old Villa Master, Duanshui Villa would probably have ceased to exist long ago.

It was a pity that while her personality was fierce and unyielding, her martial arts were far inferior to her master’s. Now that the Old Villa Master had also passed away, if Xie Wuyi had truly become a cripple, Duanshui Villa would sooner or later be swallowed by the great waves of the jianghu.

Duanshui Villa was located in the east of the city. The surrounding neighborhood was quiet, almost empty enough to say there was no one in the alleys. The quaint manor didn’t look particularly prominent, with flying eaves, green tiles, and high, deep grey walls. There were no guardian stone lions at the entrance, only a black basalt stele standing over five zhang (fifteen meters) high and about three chi (one meter) wide. Engraved upon it with a sharp, piercing blade were bold and unrestrained characters: “The winds and clouds of the world emerge from my generation”.

The carvings deepened from shallow to deep, shifting from displaying sharp brilliance to restraining its imposing aura, much like a brash young kid just entering the jianghu gradually growing into an unfathomably profound senior expert.

Unfortunately, in just three short years, Duanshui Villa’s glory was no more. Only the old, weak, women, and children remained, struggling to survive, supporting the signboard of “Number One Saber Under Heaven” with increasingly hunched backs.

By now, the rain had stopped, and the daylight had brightened a bit. Ye Fusheng’s eyes clouded over again, only barely able to make out outlines. He simply closed his eyes and gestured vaguely with one hand: “Miss Xue, please alight from the carriage.”

Xue Chanyi snorted: “Why are you closing your eyes? Is your perspective so high that you look down on the gates of Duanshui Villa?”

Ye Fusheng smiled without answering, and Xue Chanyi’s eyes darted around: “You, what is your name?”

Ye Fusheng stood quietly with his eyes closed, speaking in pedantic, scholarly phrases like a sour pedant: “A floating life (Fusheng) is like a leaf, a person’s death is like a lamp going out. I am Ye Fusheng.”

“A person’s death is like a lamp going out…” Xue Chanyi chuckled mockingly. “You’ve never died, how do you know what death feels like?”

Ye Fusheng: “To tell you the truth, I am actually a wandering ghost, but unfortunately, the King of Hell detested me and refused to take me in, so I had to borrow a corpse to resurrect and cause trouble in the human world once again… Tsk, having lived twice, I only feel that living is like adding fire to firewood, while dying is like blowing out a lamp and pulling out the candle. Nothing could be simpler, yet nothing could be harder.”

Xue Chanyi was amused by him: “Then how did you die before?”

Ye Fusheng tilted his head in her direction: “I couldn’t think things through, so I sought death.”

“Then why have you thought things through now?”

Ye Fusheng didn’t expect this eldest miss to be so interested in him, so he replied: “I once made a promise to someone; even in death, I must save my last breath to wait for him to see me off.”

The manager, who had been left hanging on the side for quite a while, couldn’t help but interrupt: “Your children?”

“Better than.”

Xue Chanyi’s expression turned somewhat cold: “From all corners of the country, from all walks of life, is there ever a day in this jianghu where no one dies? Since ancient times, life and death are destined, wealth and honor are up to heaven. You made a promise, but can you definitely fulfill it?”

She spoke extremely bluntly, but Ye Fusheng laughed: “If the day truly comes when my death is imminent, my soul will definitely turn into a gentle breeze and fly a thousand miles to send him a dream.”

Xue Chanyi’s expression relaxed. At this moment, the manager was standing outside the carriage, and Ye Fusheng’s eyes were tightly shut, so naturally, no one clearly saw the complex, indescribable expression on her face. Her mouth twitched, looking like a mix between a smile and a cry.

After a long while, she wiped her expression completely clean and said with a straight face: “Ye Fusheng, I have a piece of business I want to do with you.”

The manager quietly tugged at the corner of Ye Fusheng’s clothes. Unfortunately, this guy relied on being blind to act completely unaware, answering with a beaming smile: “What is it?”

Xue Chanyi said: “Lately, there have been many incidents in the city. I want to find another guard to help me watch over my Shidi. If you agree, you won’t have to muddle along waiting for death in this tiny caravan once the matter is done.”

The manager’s face flushed bright red, unable to resist wanting to stoop to the level of this pretty but unreasonable young miss. But this time, Ye Fusheng’s hands were fast. He pressed down on the manager’s shoulder and turned his head to smile: “Thank you for the honor, Miss Xue. Unfortunately, my life is cheap. I only hope not to worry about food and clothing; I have no grand ambitions.”

Xue Chanyi said, “Your whole group is outsiders, completely unaware of the market and connections in Guyang City. How easy do you think it is to gain a firm foothold in a short time? Even if you don’t consider yourself, you should think about those who are old, weak, sick, and disabled.”

The manager’s figure stiffened, his face looking exactly like a withered melon. Ye Fusheng turned around, pointing at his own eyes with one hand and patting his right leg with the other, looking somewhat sorrowful: “Miss, look at me, blind and crippled. What use can I be?”

“Just treat it as me hiring a meat shield; at the very least, you can endure three stabs and six holes.” Xue Chanyi cracked her whip impatiently. “One sentence: do you accept or not?”

Ye Fusheng said seriously: “I will not sign a contract selling myself into servitude!”

While saying this, he kept a stiff, coffin-like face, his back pinched numb by the manager. Hearing the sound of wind by his ear, he raised his hand and precisely caught an ingot of silver.

“Take it to buy some decent gear, don’t dirty the face of my Duanshui Villa.” Xue Chanyi stepped down from the carriage, leaving behind one sentence: “Come see me at the third quarter of You hour (5:45 PM). I will instruct the servants to let you in.”

Ye Fusheng shrugged his shoulders. With a gentle snap of two fingers, he broke off a corner from the silver ingot, handed the rest to the manager, and chuckled playfully: “Thank you for looking after me these past few days, manager. I will never dare forget the grace of saving my life. In the future, if you have any instructions, I will wade through mountains of blades and seas of fire for you.”

Holding the silver, the manager trembled with anger, patting his shoulder repeatedly: “I didn’t save you for any ulterior motives. You don’t have to wade into muddy waters for us! Which of these martial arts people are easy to deal with? Blades and swords have no eyes; why is a blind and crippled invalid like you joining the commotion? Relying on your three-legged cat skills, is climbing a tree not enough? Do you want to ascend to heaven?”

Ye Fusheng: “Hey, hey, hey, don’t get angry! What if your asthma acts up later?”

“Roll away, you calf! Go seek death, no one will collect your corpse!” The manager shook him off in a huff, turned to hitch the horse to the carriage, and left them in a cloud of dust, nearly splashing a face full of mud spots onto Ye Fusheng.

Hearing the rumbling of the carriage gradually fade away, Ye Fusheng tossed the silver piece up and down in his hand. His face was pale, and beneath a pair of eyebrows shaped like distant mountains lay a pair of peach-blossom eyes. He looked somewhat like a man with feminine features, but when he didn’t speak, his expression was cold and hard, making him look somewhat devoid of human vitality.

He felt around his waistband and pulled out a brocade pouch. Embroidered on the snow-white silk was a cluster of green bamboo; the messy stitches made the perfectly good bamboo leaves look as crooked as caterpillars, stained with some dried, blackened blood. He felt it carefully through the pouch; inside was a square jade pendant.

“How can you say you have no clothes? I share my robe with you. The king is raising his army, we repair our spears and halberds…”

He hummed a tune of “Odes of Qin: No Clothes”, tucked the fragrant pouch back in, and walked away, shaking his head and swaying slightly.

At this moment, the sky was gradually darkening. The faint light fell upon the stone stele in front of Duanshui Villa, the carved characters blurring amid the interplay of light and shadow.

The winds and clouds of the world emerge from my generation; once entering the jianghu, the years urge us on.

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