Chapter 32#
Mere Embracing Void Realm#
When Xiao Man returned to the official inn, Mo Juntian and several fellow disciples were still practicing their swordsmanship in that open space. In the room, however, Shi Tang was no longer sleeping; she was sitting under the lamp writing something. The items bought at the night market earlier had been divided into several portions and neatly arranged on the table and floor.
“What are you doing?” Xiao Man asked curiously.
Shi Tang looked up and smiled at Xiao Man. “I plan to send them back to Yuntai Town tomorrow, so I don’t buy more and more things in the coming days and find I can’t take them all away.”
She then held up the letter in her hand and gave it a shake. “I’m also writing a letter to apologize in advance for leaving home without permission. That way, after I go back, I might receive less of a scolding.”
Xiao Man went over and patted her head, saying warmly, “You won’t be scolded.”
“I’ll take those words as a blessing!” Shi Tang cupped her hands toward him.
He sat opposite Shi Tang, took out the previously mentioned scroll, and continued reading by the light of the lamp. Shi Tang moved her brush, ink, and paper to her side. She wrote for a long time, her elegant small regular script filling sheet after sheet of paper, until finally, she put down her brush.
Shi Tang let the ink dry, folded the letters, and put them into envelopes. After sealing them, she leaned toward Xiao Man. “What have you been reading all this time?”
“History,” Xiao Man said.
“Oh.” Shi Tang nodded, smiled, put the letters into her sleeve, and said, “Then I’ll go to rest first.”
Xiao Man said “Alright.”
The lamp in the small room burned all night. Xiao Man sat by the table reading history the entire night, gaining some understanding of the grievances between Beicang and the other countries. Based on these old grudges, anyone could potentially come to cause trouble at this once-in-a-decade grand festival.
When day broke, he pushed open the door and walked onto the corridor, looking up at the osmanthus tree in the courtyard that was in full bloom, and slowly let out a breath.
Mo Juntian, who had practiced his sword for the whole night, returned. He cautiously changed into his women’s clothing. Seeing that Shi Tang was still sleeping, he asked in a low voice, “We can’t practice dancing in the inn. Should we go out for a walk?”
Xiao Man said, “Shi Tang wants to send some things home. Let’s go out after breakfast.”
“She’s not going shopping again, is she?” Mo Juntian thought of the previous night’s situation and felt a headache coming on.
“If you tell her directly, she’ll understand,” Xiao Man couldn’t help but laugh.
“Alright,” Mo Juntian responded softly.
Shi Tang slept a bit longer this time.
Sister Qin prepared breakfast and brought it over personally. Seeing her still in bed, she reached out without a word and shook her awake. Shi Tang got out of bed with a dazed face to find her shoes. After Sister Qin left, Xiao Man performed a cleansing spell on her, making her feel refreshed, and she finally woke up.
“What’s for breakfast?” Shi Tang asked.
Xiao Man opened the food box, identified the items, and said, “Steamed buns. Likely filled with pickled vegetables, cabbage, and green beans.”
“All vegetarian again.” Shi Tang pursed her lips in disappointment.
“Just eat for now. We’ll buy meat buns when we go out later.” Mo Juntian was starving and didn’t complain at this moment. He took out two, ate them in a few bites, and poured some cold tea into his stomach. Finally, his stomach felt full.
Xiao Man also ate one. Shi Tang picked and chose, and finally took a green bean-filled one.
Wei Chuyun and Qu Hanxing, to sneak into the inn, had found temporary jobs here and were not as free as Xiao Man and the others. Only the three of them went out to wander Shenjing City.
As the time for the festival grew closer, Shenjing City became more lively. Walking on the street, one could occasionally see people dressed in exotic costumes, and the stalls on both sides had many imported goods not seen yesterday.
The autumn sun shone like gold, making the various goods look exceptionally beautiful. Xiao Man and Mo Juntian’s attention was caught by a barbarian saber shimmering with cold light. The two glanced at each other and couldn’t help but step forward for a closer look.
Shi Tang wasn’t interested in weapons. She looked around and said to them, “I’ll go check out the shops ahead!”
“Alright, but don’t go too far.” Mo Juntian didn’t even look at her as he nodded.
She lifted the corners of her skirt and jogged forward. Instead of going into shops selling rouge, powder, silks, or satins, she went to a small, narrow shop that specialized in the mail-delivery business.
“Do you help send letters here?” Shi Tang went inside through the curtain and asked the person sitting behind the table.
The person was the owner of the shop, who managed a group of couriers. At the moment, he was categorizing letters to be sent out. Hearing her, he simply pointed to the price list hanging to the side.
“Can you send items too?” Shi Tang asked.
The shopkeeper said, “Of course.”
Shi Tang looked around the shop’s decoration and furnishings a bit and then asked, “Is it possible to wait until after the festival to help me send the letter and items?”
“Certainly. It will be done according to the specified time,” the shopkeeper nodded.
“Thank you. Please send this letter to the Shi residence on Tiger Drum Mountain in Yuntai Town.” Shi Tang placed the letter she had written the previous night, the organized items, and a silver ingot on his table. “There are more items; I’ll bring them over in a bit.”
“Please write down the specific address.” The shopkeeper opened a ledger and pushed it toward Shi Tang.
Shi Tang wrote down her home address and returned to the street. Xiao Man and Mo Juntian had already left the shop selling blades. That barbarian saber turned out to be all flash and no substance; once the scabbard was pulled, the blade was actually of very poor quality and expensive. The two didn’t want to be suckers.
They met in front of a sweet soup shop. Shi Tang smiled and said, “I’ve found a courier!”
The remaining items were in Xiao Man’s Qiankun Ring. Hearing this, Xiao Man immediately followed her over.
“I don’t really like wandering the streets aimlessly.”
After entrusting all the items to the shopkeeper, Mo Juntian pulled back Shi Tang, who intended to go on a big shopping spree, and truthfully spoke his mind.
Shi Tang asked, “Then where do you want to go?”
“We’re not here for fun,” Mo Juntian’s tone was serious.
“I’m sorry…” Shi Tang was startled, then realized it was indeed her fault, and a bit of bashfulness appeared on her face.
Mo Juntian took out a map from his Qiankun Ring and said solemnly in a low voice, “Last night, I obtained a map of Shenjing City and asked a fellow disciple to draw the route of the festival parade. We can go walk it and see if we can find any ‘opportunities’.”
The festival parade started from the south city gate. Floats from various places entered the city in order, moved along the main avenue, stopped in the center to begin performances, and then followed directions to the east or west.
Xiao Man and his group followed the parade route in reverse, from north to south.
They used lightness talismans, but even so, they walked for half a day before reaching the vicinity of the South City Gate.
As noon approached, the temperature rose, and the wind was not as cool as in the morning.
The river surface beneath the bridge reflected the brilliant sun in the sky, so bright it was hard to keep one’s eyes open. A child was not afraid of this dazzling light, standing on the grass by the riverbank and skipping stones into the river.
Plop, plop. The stones sank directly to the riverbed, ripples spreading one after another and then vanishing.
“It feels like there’s no way…” Shi Tang walked under the shade of a tree, hands on her waist, took a breath, shook her head, and said, “We’d be better off praying they continue to have stomach problems.”
Mo Juntian’s gaze was on the riverbank. Seeing the child run away in disappointment, he propped himself up, jumped over the railing, and stood where the child had just been. He picked up a small stone from the grass, moved his wrist skillfully, and threw it.
Under the sunlight, the stone flew away, skimmed the water, and splashed crystal-clear droplets.
“You’re amazing!” Shi Tang came down from the bridge and exclaimed in admiration.
She then walked forward a few steps, leaned down, cupped a handful of water, and put it to her mouth.
She was too tired and drank several handfuls in a row. When she finally felt refreshed, she looked up and said to Xiao Man and Mo Juntian, “Didn’t you say last night that there’s spiritual energy in the water? Do you want to try and see if there’s any here?”
Mo Juntian gave an “Mm,” tried it, and gave another “Mm.”
“There really is?” Shi Tang hurried to lean down. “Then I should drink more!”
“I always feel that spiritual energy in the water isn’t right.” Mo Juntian walked to Xiao Man’s side and whispered.
“It’s not right.” Xiao Man lowered his eyelids, his voice very low, and he spoke euphemistically, “Shenjing City has no spiritual veins; there shouldn’t be spiritual energy in this river.”
Mo Juntian’s expression changed slightly.
Xiao Man didn’t want to say more about this in such a place and immediately changed the subject, slightly raising his voice, “It’s getting late. Let’s go back to the inn for lunch, or Sister Qin will nag us about being out all day.”
“But I can’t walk anymore.” Shi Tang only heard the last part and sighed by the river.
Xiao Man raised an eyebrow, went to grab her arm, and then grabbed Mo Juntian, leaped up, and flew off on the wind.
This wasn’t the first time Xiao Man had taken Shi Tang flying. She had long lost the sense of novelty and was no longer as afraid as she had been initially. She just held onto Xiao Man’s sleeve and looked down at Shenjing City.
It was exactly lunch time, and smoke from cooking fires rose from every house. Restaurants and eateries were busy, and the fragrance of food floated through the streets and alleys. Shi Tang watched intently for a while, then turned to look at the other side of Shenjing, where the “Famous Flowers Overthrow Kingdoms” stage was.
“If I can’t go to ‘Famous Flowers Overthrow Kingdoms’ to dance, it doesn’t actually matt—” She looked there and spoke in a low voice, but before she could finish her sentence, the sound of something cutting through the air came—
A sharp arrow was flying straight at them!
“The arrow is poisoned!” Mo Juntian noticed the substance on the arrow tip and warned in a deep voice.
Xiao Man didn’t change his expression and led the two in a swift dodge.
In the next instant, a second arrow arrived.
Xiao Man spun again, but unexpectedly, a third arrow came after he dodged. He had to descend rapidly and return to the ground.
He was forced down.
This place was not far from the inn, but it was secluded and uninhabited, clearly pre-designed. Xiao Man’s gaze quickly scanned the surroundings. He released Ah Tu from the Buddhist beads, pushed Shi Tang behind it, and then grabbed his longbow, firing an arrow at a certain spot.
It hit the mark in one shot, but the opponent was clearly not just one person. Before long, another attack approached from a different direction!
Mo Juntian drew his sword, blocking the strike with a clang, and stood back-to-back with Xiao Man.
“We’re surrounded,” Mo Juntian whispered.
Xiao Man looked at the surroundings, exchanged the bow in his hand for a sword, and said, “The ones coming are no experts, just Guarding One realm.”
Excluding the one Xiao Man had shot dead, there were eight others, wearing uniform clothing and masks, their faces hidden.
One who seemed to be the leader sneered, “Mere Embracing Void realm, you dare look down on our Guarding One realm? No wonder you dare talk big. Since you’re good-looking, why not stay and play with us brothers?”
“Watch your mouth!” Accompanied by this sharp shout, Shi Tang threw out an object that was hard to identify.
In an instant, a faint light shone, and a defensive formation appeared beneath Xiao Man and Mo Juntian’s feet.
Then Shi Tang took out a voice transmission talisman and shouted, “Brother Wei, Brother Qu, we’re in danger, come and help quickly!”