Chapter 94: Lost: Zhang Jie and His Companions

The Heavenly Dragon world, Suzhou’s Taihu Lake.

It was the third month of spring, when all things grew, grasses flourished and orioles flew.

A scene of vigorous life and thriving abundance.

Rowing on the lake, admiring the water and mountains, Zhang Jie swiftly unfurled the folding fan he carried solely for the sake of refined pretense.

Poetic inspiration surged: “Spring waters bluer than the sky, asleep in a painted boat listening to the rain.”

“Master’s uncle has such fine spirits!”

Fan Bailing, seated in the boat, praised him.

Zhang Jie smiled slightly—he had inherited many poems and classical texts from the Water Margin Zhang Jie.

Otherwise, he’d now be shouting: “Oh sea, you’re all water!

Oh steed, you’ve got four legs!

Oh beauty, you’ve got big eyes and a mouth!”…

Zhang Jie gently waved his fan: I don’t produce literature—I’m merely a courier of it.

Hearing Fan Bailing’s praise of Zhang Jie, Yue Laosan, rowing at the stern, couldn’t help rolling his eyes:

“Master, how much longer till we reach the Mantis Grove?”

“I’ve got strength, but not enough to be wasted like this!”

As he spent more time with Zhang Jie,

he’d come to see Zhang Jie as truly refined and easygoing—hence his boldness to complain.

Under the capricious Duan Yanqing, he’d never dare speak so freely.

“Uh!”

Zhang Jie’s smile froze; his fan hand halted mid-air.

‘That damn Yue Laosan—can’t he read the situation?’

Zhang Jie mentally cursed the overly blunt Yue Laosan to hell.

This whole matter began when they arrived in Suzhou:

After eliminating Duan Yanqing and Yun Zhonghe, and detaining Ye Erniang,

Zhang Jie set off for Suzhou with Fan Bailing and Yue Laosan.

He’d originally planned to bring only Yue Laosan,

but Fan Bailing insisted on serving beside his master’s uncle.

Zhang Jie strongly suspected the chess-obsessed Fan Bailing wanted more games with him.

Still, seeing Yue Laosan’s simpleminded demeanor, Zhang Jie brought him along.

After all, letting the fearsome Yue Laosan handle lodging and meals

would scare the waiters and shopkeepers to death.

Zhang Jie came to Suzhou partly to fulfill Wuyaozi’s dying wish—to see his daughter Li Qingluo (Madam Wang).

And partly to retrieve the secret manuals stored in the Langhuan Jade Cave.

The original repository of the Xiaoyao Sect’s martial manuals was called the Langhuan Fudi.

It lay in a deep valley cave within Wuliang Mountain in Dali,

the secluded retreat of Xiaoyao Sect’s master Wuyaozi and his sister Li Qiushui, housing martial arts manuals from all under heaven.

Yes, the very place where Duan Yu encountered the goddess who haunted his dreams.

Later, after Wuyaozi and Li Qiushui fell out, they went their separate ways.

Wuyaozi took Su Xinghe and others to Leigud Mountain.

Li Qiushui fled far to the Western Xia, married the Western Xia king,

and took control of the Pin Yi Tang to continue her love-hate rivalry with her beloved senior sister, the Child of Mount Tian.

After her marriage, Wuyaozi’s daughter Li Qingluo moved all these manuals to the Wang family estate in Suzhou,

hiding them within the “Langhuan Jade Cave” at the Mantis Grove.

At Zhang Jie’s level, he had reached the point where he needed to study all martial arts under heaven.

Yet he had no immediate desire to roam the world or sneak into Shaolin’s Scripture Library like Xiao Yuanshan or Murong Bo.

Thus, the Langhuan Jade Cave was his first choice.

Besides, those manuals weren’t Wuyaozi’s private property—

they were the collective heritage of all Xiaoyao Sect disciples.

As the undisputed third-generation master of the Xiaoyao Sect,

Zhang Jie felt obligated to take charge of the Langhuan Jade Cave and benefit the vast number of Xiaoyao disciples.

What if Su Xinghe and Xue Muhua no longer needed martial manuals?

They didn’t—but Zhang Jie did!

The master is still just an ordinary Xiaoyao Sect disciple!

The journey from Leigud Mountain to Suzhou went smoothly.

Even when occasional bandits tried to “borrow some cash,”

they all fell beneath Yue Laosan’s Crocodile Shears—cut cleanly in two.

Though Yue Laosan was powerless against Zhang Jie,

his reputation as one of the Four Evils was earned through sheer bloodshed!

It wasn’t that Yue Laosan was weak—it was that Zhang Jie was overpowered.

Arriving in Suzhou city was equally smooth; hiring a boat went without issue.

But when Zhang Jie named their destination, the boatman instantly refused.

It wasn’t fear—they simply knew the Mantis Grove’s terrible reputation!

Anyone living near Taihu knew:

any man who entered the Mantis Grove would be turned into fertilizer by its wicked women!

Silver was good, but life mattered more.

For a few taels, why risk your life?

After rejecting Yue Laosan’s proposal to use force, Zhang Jie reluctantly paid silver to rent a boat,

then sailed into Taihu with Fan Bailing to find the Mantis Grove themselves.

Zhang Jie had planned that all three were seasoned veterans—

finding a small place like the Mantis Grove should’ve been easy.

But after entering Taihu, the expected became unexpected:

Lost in the complex waterways, they were lost!

Zhang Jie, with his excellent memory, remembered the way back,

but since he’d never been to the Mantis Grove, he couldn’t find the way there…

“Old Three, let me help you.”

Believing Yue Laosan was truly exhausted, Fan Bailing rolled up his sleeves to take over the oar.

“No, no—I was just complaining, no need to trouble you, Elder Brother.”

Yue Laosan at the stern quickly declined.

Hmm—when Zhang Jie intended to take Yue Laosan into the Xiaoyao Sect as a guardian,

yet refused to accept such an old man as a direct disciple,

it was Zhang Jie’s good elder brother Su Xinghe who resolved the issue:

He directly accepted Yue Laosan as a nominal disciple, thus bringing him into the Xiaoyao Sect’s fold.

Since then, Yue Laosan had grown close to Fan Bailing, who had spoken well of him.

“Old Three, how dare you mock the master?”

“I’m lost because I’ve never lived on rivers and lakes—

yet you, the Crocodile God of the South Sea, are a land crocodile!”

Zhang Jie shot back, never letting a grudge go unreturned.

Yue Laosan fell silent, unable to reply.

Though born of the South Sea Sect and called the Crocodile God, he truly couldn’t swim.

Only his internal energy kept him from vomiting overboard.

Fan Bailing was the same: called the Chess Demon,

he cared for nothing but chess, and naturally couldn’t navigate by the lake.

For a moment, the three stared blankly at each other.

“Shall we go back and hire a guide?”

Finally, Fan Bailing suggested.

Yue Laosan looked to Zhang Jie: though he occasionally teased Zhang Jie,

Zhang Jie was the undisputed core of their trio—

major decisions still rested with him.

Zhang Jie was tempted: Taihu stretched hundreds of miles,

wandering aimlessly like this wouldn’t work.

What if the guide is unwilling or afraid of death?

Then just spend heavily!

He who inherited Wu Yashu’s legacy is certainly wealthy.

At this moment, Zhang Jie’s ears twitched slightly; he immediately had an idea and pointed to the right:

“Row in that direction.”

“Understood.”

Yue Laosan, upon receiving the order, began rowing diligently.

Amid the splashing water, the small boat turned and rowed toward the direction Zhang Jie indicated.

Dozens of meters away, after passing through a cluster of reeds, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

Before Zhang Jie and the others, on the green waves of the lake, a small boat drifted slowly toward them,

where a girl of about sixteen or seventeen, with a delicate face and skin as white as jade, rowed gently,

softly singing “Cai Sangzi”: “The fragrance of lotus fills ten hectares of marsh; the young girl, eager for play, delays picking lotus.

Evening water splashes wet the prow; she takes off her red skirt to wrap the duckling.”

Her voice was tender and innocent, blending seamlessly with the surrounding scenery,

causing Zhang Jie to suddenly feel the longing: “I still remember her green silk skirt, everywhere I recall fragrant grass,” as if immersed in the poem’s world.

The green-clad girl on the boat regarded the oddly matched trio with her beautiful eyes:

a refined middle-aged man, a graceful youth as smooth as jade, and a fearsome-looking servant.

Seeing the three approaching, the girl was not afraid:

on this vast marsh, even if they harbored ill intent,

she, who had grown up here, was fully confident she could escape.

‘Besides, such a refined youth, like orchid and jade tree—how could he be evil?’

Gazing at the outstanding Zhang Jie, the girl’s beautiful eyes sparkled.

With Yue Laosan’s vigorous rowing, the two boats quickly drew near.

Standing at the bow of his boat, Zhang Jie closed his fan and bowed:

“Miss, this humble one is Zhang Jie.”

“I am A Bi. What may Master Zhang desire?”

The green-clad girl replied in sweet, clear, soft Wu dialect.

‘Indeed, she is one of the two maids of the Murong family of Suzhou,

A Bi, famed alongside A Zhu as the “Zhu-Bi Twin Beauties.”’

With this suspicion in mind, and hearing A Bi’s voice—so sweet, so clear, so effortlessly soothing—Zhang Jie understood.

Zhang Jie, slightly embarrassed, clasped his fists:

“I originally intended to visit an old friend.

But none of us three know how to swim, and we’ve become lost here—making A Bi Miss laugh.”

A Bi paid it no mind and chirped: “Taihu is vast;

countless people like Master Zhang get lost—what’s there to laugh at?”

Zhang Jie gazed at the gentle A Bi and suddenly felt:

‘Eight parts beauty, plus twelve parts grace, equals a beauty surpassing even perfect talent.’

Eight parts beauty, combined with twelve parts grace, makes one no less than a beauty of exceptional talent.