SS CH3

The seventh-generation Manor Lord of Duanshui Manor, Xie Wuyi, was thirty-four years old. Accomplished in both literature and martial arts, he excelled in wielding the family-inherited Duanshui Daofa (Water-Severing Saber Art). Using it as a foundation, he comprehended and created the Canglan Shisan Dao (Thirteen Sabers of the Deep Blue Billows). His appearance was upright and handsome, his temperament gentle and benevolent.

He first entered the Jianghu at sixteen, rushing to the Western Regions for five years, where he experienced eighty-two battles. With only one draw and one loss, his name became renowned across the world from then on. Afterward, he returned to the Central Plains and accompanied his father to participate in the Martial Arts Saber and Sword Assembly, challenging all the heroes of the martial world without suffering a single defeat. Because he was still young at the time, yet his saber arts stunned and overwhelmed the Jianghu, he ranked eighth on the Heroes List.

From the age of twenty onward, few came to test their blades against Xie Wuyi. However, for a period of time three years ago, the number of challengers suddenly increased. There were even quite a few assassins loitering near the manor, lying dormant and waiting for an opportunity.

The reason was none other than the rumor spreading at the time: Xie Wuyi might not live much longer, and the Canglan might truly seal its blade into its scabbard forever.

On the first day of the first lunar month three years ago, a masked swordsman from the Western Regions challenged Xie Wuyi to a duel at the summit of Lingyun Peak. Outmatched, the swordsman surprisingly set a venomous trap for a sneak attack. Both of them plunged off the high cliff together, and the spectators searching everywhere could find no trace of them. Three days later, Xie Wuyi returned heavily injured. More than a dozen renowned doctors of the Jianghu were invited, yet all declared that he was afflicted by a bizarre poison that was incredibly difficult to cure, and that his remaining days were numbered.

Two days later, the Gui Yi (Ghost Physician) Sun Minfeng arrived in Luoyang. After a thorough diagnosis, even he found the situation quite thorny. He set a deadline of forty-nine days to try his absolute best, though his chances of success were no more than five out of ten.

If Xie Wuyi truly had no medicine that could cure him, then before he died, having never suffered a defeat, he would forever remain the Number One Saber in the World. Aside from finding joy in resolving gratitude and grudges, people in the Jianghu also sought to fight for fame and profit. Those who had once been defeated by his hands, and those who feared the Canglan and dared not cross the boundary, now all rushed over from all directions like flies, making it utterly, unbearably annoying.

“So, what happened next?” Ye Fusheng sat on a wooden plank, swinging his legs while whispering quietly with the steward.

Since Xie Wuyi was still alive today, he figured that either the Gui Yi possessed divine skills, a Buddha’s heart, and hands that could bring back the spring of life, or he was simply a street peddler selling snake oil, spouting absolute nonsense.

After the merchant caravan entered the city, they split into two groups. Ye Fusheng and the steward drove the carriage carrying Xue Chanyi toward the east of the city, while the rest agreed to meet them later and headed to an inn to settle down first. Naturally, the steward didn’t trust this half-blind man to drive the carriage, so while holding the reins, he gave a brief and concise answer: “I’m not clear on what happened afterward either. I only know that after the forty-nine-day deadline passed, Xie Wuyi was still alive, but he never engaged in a martial fight with anyone ever again. Therefore, rumors gradually spread in the Jianghu saying that although the Gui Yi saved his life, he ruined his wugong (martial arts)…”

“Absolute nonsense!” A sudden, explosive shout rang out from inside the carriage. Eldest Miss Xue violently threw open the carriage door. Her long whip whistled out, nearly splitting the steward’s mouth into three pieces.

“Miss Xue, please do not be angry. If the two of us have spoken inappropriately, I, Ye, apologize to the Miss first.” Ye Fusheng caught her long whip, smiling as harmlessly as a tame animal. Unfortunately, this old hand in the flower bushes had bumped into a spiky caltrop this time. Miss Xue’s willow brows shot up vertically; she flicked her long whip, breaking free from his palm, and still swung it straight toward the steward’s face.

The wind whistled, sounding like the clashing of metal and stone. If this whip strike landed solidly, who knew if the man would 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 steward’s face into a blooming flower. Unexpectedly, two fingers suddenly tapped the wrist holding the whip. She only felt the tendons and bones in her wrist jolt, the strength in her hand loosening. Those two fingers brushed past like a phantom, leisurely and effortlessly hijacking the whip right out of her palm. With a light flick, the long snake coiled back, landing obediently in his hand, as effortlessly as plucking a drifting flower petal from the wind.

Before Miss Xue had even completed a single cycle of breath, her weapon had been effortlessly snatched away. She stared in disbelief at the man who possessed handsome, regular features but looked somewhat down and out. His face was as utterly devoid of blood as a living ghost’s, yet he still possessed such absolute skill.

Miss Xue was unruly, but she wasn’t completely brainless. She lifted her chin and said, “I didn’t expect you to be an expert who deeply hides his abilities.”

“I can’t be called an expert, but there is one sinner who has offended the Miss.” Ye Fusheng coiled the whip into a circle and presented it back to her with both hands, his smile still as gentle and polite as before. “The two of us are from the northern borders; we are unclear about these old affairs of the Jianghu. If there was anything we said wrong, I wonder if we could ask the Miss to instruct us?”

Miss Xue sneered coldly. “Instructing is out of the question, but isn’t chewing people’s tongues behind their backs a massive mistake?”

Hearing this, Ye Fusheng understood. This Miss Xue before him was none other than Xie Wuyi’s sole disciple, Xue Chanyi.

Thirteen years ago, when Xie Wuyi returned from the Western Regions, he saved a young girl surnamed Xue in a small border town and took her in as his disciple. He taught her meticulously, and aside from the family-inherited Duanshui Daofa, he didn’t even hold back his Canglan Shisan Dao. Unfortunately, Xue Chanyi’s natural constitution for martial arts was poor. She could only grasp four or five parts of her master’s skill, and regarding the saber arts, she was completely clueless. Only her whip techniques were somewhat worth mentioning.

Since Xie Wuyi’s accident three years ago, Duanshui Manor had been teetering overnight. If Xue Chanyi hadn’t rushed back in time to barely prop up the crumbling main beam alongside the old Manor Lord, Duanshui Manor would likely have ceased to exist long ago.

Unfortunately, although her personality was fiercely unyielding, her wugong was far inferior to her master’s. Now that the old Manor Lord had also passed away, if Xie Wuyi truly had become a cripple, Duanshui Manor would eventually be swallowed up by the massive waves of the Jianghu.

Duanshui Manor was located in the east of the city. The surrounding neighborhood was silent, practically an empty alley with no people. The quaint and rustic manor didn’t look particularly prominent—with its soaring eaves, green tiles, high walls, and deep courtyards. There were no majestic stone lions guarding the entrance; only a black basalt stele standing over five zhang (fifty feet) tall and three chi (three feet) wide. Carved onto it with a sharp, fierce blade were words of free-spirited, unbridled arrogance: The winds and clouds of the world emerge from our generation.

The carved marks went from shallow to deep, transitioning from sharp and imposing to profound and restrained, just like a reckless greenhorn first entering the Jianghu gradually growing into an unfathomably deep senior expert.

Unfortunately, in a mere three years, the glory of Duanshui Manor was no more. Only the old, the weak, women, and children remained, dragging out their final breaths, using their increasingly hunched backs to prop up the signboard of the “Number One Saber in the World.”

By now, the rain had stopped, and the sky had brightened slightly. Ye Fusheng’s eyes clouded over again, barely able to make out rough silhouettes. He simply closed his eyes and extended a hand in a guiding gesture: “Miss Xue, please step out of the carriage.”

Xue Chanyi huffed. “Why are you closing your eyes? Could it be that Your Excellency’s standards are so high that you look down upon the gates of Duanshui Manor?”

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

Standing quietly with his eyes closed, Ye Fusheng chewed on his words like a sour, pedantic scholar: “A floating life (Fusheng) is like a leaf; a person’s death is like a lamp extinguishing. This lowly one is Ye Fusheng.”

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

Ye Fusheng replied, “I dare not conceal the truth: this lowly one was originally a wild ghost, but unfortunately, King Yama loathed me and refused to take me in. I had no choice but to borrow a corpse to return my soul and plague the human world once more… Tsk, having lived twice, I only feel that living is like adding fire and wood, and dying is like blowing out a lamp and plucking the candle. It couldn’t be simpler, yet it couldn’t be harder.”

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

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

“Then why have you thought it through now?”

Ye Fusheng didn’t expect this Eldest Miss to take such a great interest in him, so he said, “I once made a promise to someone. Even in death, I have to save a breath to wait for him to see me off.”

Having been left hanging to dry on the side for quite a while, the steward couldn’t help but interject: “Your son or daughter?”

“Better than.”

Xue Chanyi’s expression turned slightly cold: “The Five Lakes and Four Seas, the Three Religions and Nine Schools—which day in this Jianghu doesn’t see people dying? Since ancient times, life and death are ruled by fate, and wealth and honor are decreed by heaven. You made a promise, but can you definitely keep it?”

She spoke with extreme bluntness, yet Ye Fusheng began to laugh: “If one day I truly face imminent death, my soul will certainly transform into a gentle breeze, fly across a thousand li, and deliver a dream to him.”

Xue Chanyi’s expression relaxed. Right now, the steward was standing outside the carriage, and Ye Fusheng’s eyes were tightly shut. Naturally, no one could clearly see the complex, unspeakable expression on her face. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly, looking as if she were both smiling and crying.

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

The steward quietly tugged at the corner of Ye Fusheng’s clothes, but unfortunately, this fellow, relying on his blindness, acted as if he didn’t notice a thing, smiling as he asked, “What is it?”

Xue Chanyi said, “Recently, there have been many incidents in the city. I wish to find another guard to help me watch over my junior martial brother. If you agree, once the matter is settled, you won’t have to waste your life waiting to die in this tiny merchant caravan.”

The steward’s face flushed bright red, unable to resist getting petty with this beautiful but unruly Eldest Miss. This time, Ye Fusheng’s hands were quick. He pressed down on the steward’s shoulder, tilted his head, and smiled. “I thank Miss Xue for the high regard. Unfortunately, this lowly one has a cheap life. I only hope to not worry about food and clothing; I have no grand ambitions.”

Xue Chanyi said, “Your group are all outsiders. You are completely ignorant of the market prices and connections in Guyang City. How easy do you think it is to gain a firm foothold here in a short amount of time? Even if you don’t consider yourself, you should at least think about the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled traveling with you.”

The steward’s body stiffened, his complexion exactly matching a withered melon. Ye Fusheng turned around. Pointing a finger at his own eyes, he patted his right leg with his other hand, looking somewhat melancholic: “Miss, look at me. My eyes are blind and my leg is crippled. What use can I possibly be?”

“Just treat it as me hiring a meat shield; at least you can withstand three sabers and six holes.” Xue Chanyi impatiently flicked her whip. “One word: do you accept or not?”

Ye Fusheng said seriously, “I will not sign a slavery contract!”

As he said this, he maintained a stiff coffin face, while the steward viciously pinched his back until it went numb. Hearing the sound of wind by his ear, he raised a hand and perfectly caught a silver ingot.

“Take this to buy some decent gear; don’t dirty the face of my Duanshui Manor.” Xue Chanyi stepped down from the carriage, leaving behind one last sentence: “Come see me at three quarters into the You hour (5:45 PM – 6:00 PM). I will order a servant to lead you inside.”

Ye Fusheng shrugged. Gently pinching with two fingers, he broke off a corner from the silver ingot, handing the rest to the steward. He smiled mischievously, “These past few days, many thanks to the steward for your care. I absolutely dare not forget the grace of saving my life. If you have any orders in the future, I will wade through a mountain of blades or a sea of fire for you.”

Clutching the silver, the steward trembled with anger, repeatedly slapping his shoulder: “I saved you and brought you back without expecting anything! You don’t have to wade into muddy waters for us! Which of these Jianghu people are easy to deal with? Swords and sabers have no eyes! What are you, a crippled, blind invalid, joining the excitement for? Relying on your three-legged-cat wugong, is climbing a tree not enough for you, do you want to ascend to the heavens!?”

Ye Fusheng: “Aiya, aiya, don’t be angry, what if your asthma acts up later?”

“Scram, you little calf! Go seek death; no one will collect your corpse!” The steward angrily shoved him away, turned around, hitched the horses, and drove the carriage away. He disappeared in a cloud of dust, nearly splattering a face full of mud right onto Ye Fusheng.

Hearing the rumbling of the carriage gradually fade away, Ye Fusheng tossed the silver piece in his hand lazily. His face was pale. Beneath his distant-mountain eyebrows lay a pair of peach-blossom eyes, making him look somewhat androgynous. Yet, when he wasn’t speaking, his expression was cold and hard, making him seem somewhat devoid of human warmth.

He pulled a brocade pouch from his wide belt. A cluster of green bamboo was embroidered on the snow-white silk, but the stitching was messy, twisting the perfectly good bamboo leaves to look like caterpillars. It was stained with patches of dried, blackened blood. Feeling it carefully through the pouch, inside was a square jade pendant.

“How can you say you have no clothes? I will share my robes with you. The King is raising an army; we will repair our spears and halberds…”

Humming the tune of No Clothes from the Odes of Qin, he tucked the incense pouch back in and walked away, shaking his head and swaggering along.

At this moment, the sky was gradually darkening. The faint light fell upon the stone stele in front of Duanshui Manor. The carved words blurred in the interplay of light and shadow.

The winds and clouds of the world emerge from our generation; once entering the Jianghu, the years urge one to age.

Note: 

“How can you say you have no clothes? I will share my robes with you…” (豈曰無衣？與子同袍…) is quoted from Wu Yi (No Clothes) in the Odes of Qin from the Classic of Poetry (詩經). It is an ancient military song expressing deep camaraderie, loyalty, and a shared resolve to face enemies together among soldiers.

“The winds and clouds of the world emerge from our generation; once entering the Jianghu, the years urge one to age” (天下風雲出我輩，一入江湖歲月催) is a famous Wuxia couplet, popularized by the 1992 film Swordsman II (笑傲江湖之東方不敗). It expresses the grandeur of rising heroes, but also the sorrowful, rapid passing of youth and the inescapable burdens once one steps into the martial world.