Chapter 35: Yao Guang Meets Bai Hu

Because Xue Shen’s malicious interference in the cultivation transmission ended, Li Guanyi slept poorly all night.

All people have a thirst for knowledge—just like being stuck midway through a game’s plot, neither advancing nor retreating. The next morning, when Li Guanyi stepped out, the coachman Zhao Da had already waited at the gate, along with two graceful maids carrying food boxes filled with medicinal dishes.

Zhao Da took a bite of a large pancake.

Inside it was rolled smoked meat and the white and green parts of scallions—he refused to eat either!

One bite, and the flavors layered clearly; he nodded in satisfaction: “It’s the old master’s order.”

“He said he heard the guest minister’s aunt is frail, so he specially prepared these medicinal dishes to send over. These two girls were raised from childhood by the Xue family—virtuous daughters sent here to assist in caring for the guest minister’s aunt and her household. If you worry about disturbing them, I’ll bring them back to the Xue residence every day when I drop you off.”

Li Guanyi told his aunt, then sat in the carriage and asked Zhao Da why he didn’t just eat some too. The man laughed loudly: “Medicinal food tastes awful—we’d rather stick with this! I’m from the Central Plains; even though I’ve been in the south for a while, I still find pancakes more satisfying than rice.”

“My wife bakes them—tough and flavorful!”

“Can’t share any with you.”

He flaunted the pancake in his hand; Li Guanyi smiled and changed the subject.

“But won’t sending these two girls over disrupt your usual duties?”

Zhao Da said: “The Xue family is large and numerous—it’s no issue.”

“There are already so many girls in the household…”

Li Guanyi frowned: “So many? Where do they come from?”

Zhao Da smiled: “Where do you think? The Xue family doesn’t engage in such trade. Rather, the Xue family helped them…” He hesitated, then asked: “Do you know about the palace female officials?”

Li Guanyi nodded.

Zhao Da said: “Over two hundred years ago, when Chen Guo was founded, our Wu Emperor decreed the abolition of slave status from the chaotic era—even servants must sign contracts. If nobles killed their servants, they faced heavy punishment, even death.”

Li Guanyi said: “That law was good.”

“It was good—but that was then. Two hundred years have passed. Wu Emperor is dead, slain on the wastelands. He’d see the rules he established in chaos being broken one by one. Now, those eunuchs in the palace go out to buy supplies.”

“To pocket kickbacks, they began buying girls and boys from slave traders. Human trafficking slowly took root. Now, the palace routinely buys young girls from slave traders—it’s cheaper by over a third than hiring virtuous families. Most importantly…”

Zhao Da hesitated: “If a virtuous girl dies accidentally, you must pay a large sum.”

“But if she’s a slave bought from a trader, no payment is needed.”

“Senior eunuchs periodically kill off some palace maids, then pocket their compensation funds to buy property outside. This has led slave traders to kidnap people by any means—even rumors say they knock down beautiful women on the road and drug them.”

“That’s why property in Jiangzhou is astronomically expensive. I’ve heard even a third-rank official can’t afford a house and must rent one—they call it ‘Fool’s Money.’”

“‘Fool’s Money’ refers to the money earned from those female officials.”

Li Guanyi looked at Yicheng of Chen Guo—Yicheng was prosperous; Jiangzhou must be the most glamorous place under heaven. But such darkness could only be known by great clans like the Xue family. Zhao Da said:

“The second miss witnessed this. She bought the girls and brought them to the Xue family. She couldn’t openly defy the senior eunuchs in the palace, and the Chen Emperor’s reaction is unknown.”

“After the old master learned of this, he bought out every child slave from slave traders in ten surrounding counties.”

Li Guanyi asked: “Won’t that make the slave traders even worse?”

“Of course not…”

Zhao Da laughed:

“After that, no one ever saw those slave traders again.”

“And the flowers on Nanshan bloomed better than in the past thirty years.”

Here, no more words were needed.

Zhao Da drove with perfect steadiness. When they arrived, Li Guanyi leapt down lightly, donning his heavy saber and longbow, then went straight to the Xue family’s martial arts dining hall—meals prepared for warriors, mostly meat with rice and a cup of ginseng soup. The servers themselves had martial skill, their hands steady, ensuring you’d never leave hungry.

The “Breaking Formation Melody” required immense energy to refine the body, and Li Guanyi, being a teenager in his peak growth phase, ate heartily until full.

During training, Xue Shuangtao seemed to have forgotten yesterday’s “Xue sister.”

She taught with strict seriousness. Though Li Guanyi had gained some archery foundation from the transmission, she still emphasized fundamentals, and he learned diligently. By the end, his bones and muscles ached, yet the girl’s expression remained sharp, her archery fierce.

The Xue family’s eldest daughter had been raised by Xue Daoyong since childhood, began Qi cultivation at five, excelled in music and mathematics.

Her martial skill was no less than others her age.

Li Guanyi and Xue Changqing sat on the grass.

“Was Miss Xue always this strict?”

Xue Changqing drank a large gulp of chilled tea and murmured: “No… I don’t know.”

“It wasn’t like this before.”

“Today, Sister seems to have intensified her training—as if someone angered her. But she doesn’t look furious. Master, do you have any idea why?”

Li Guanyi thought, then smiled with shy sincerity and answered firmly: “I don’t know.”

ZZZZT!—An arrow shot from the other side, spiraling through the air, the bowstring humming like a swarm of bees. The arrow pierced the bullseye, shot clean through the target, and stuck firmly into the wall. Xue Shuangtao brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, turned with her bow, her expression as gentle as the first day they met: “Practice archery.” Xue Changqing’s face turned pale.

Who the hell angered this she-tiger?! Master, do you have any idea?

The pale-faced child frantically signaled to the boy beside him.

The young man remained calm and sincere, thought for a moment, then offered a warm smile in reply.

“I don’t know.”

Archery and footwork were taught by Xue Shuangtao, but the “Seven Pounding Palm” came from another—a drunken old man who demonstrated it. Only then did Li Guanyi understand why Xue Shuangtao didn’t teach him this technique. The old man swayed before Li Guanyi, executing all seven moves in sequence.

Arc step, groin sweep; side step, groin sweep; retreat step, groin kick.

Eye-covering punch to throat; throat strike, eye gouge; elbow strike to Dazhui from behind; side strike, throat strike, eye gouge.

Only seven moves. The old man showed how to apply them in every scenario, then walked away.

“These are the techniques of our beggar sect’s street urchins—no meat to eat, weak strength, no weapons.”

“Ugly? Yes. But they’re mostly effective.”

“Masters of great schools may have elegant fist techniques, but before entering the realm, these seven moves are more lethal. Use them sparingly—they require little strength yet can kill.”

Because there were only seven, Li Guanyi mastered them quickly.

At noon, he hurried to the library to browse scrolls. He found the Xue family’s history—leaving the city required entering the realm; receiving the transmission also required entering the realm. But the best method to enter the realm had been hidden by Xue Shen.

Li Guanyi remembered.

He said a friend named Yao Guang had found the Xue family a fengshui treasure site, prompting their relocation to Yicheng. So the historical scrolls should contain records of this. Xue Daoyong had originally come to summon Li Guanyi to the Listening Wind Pavilion for a meal, but upon learning he’d gone to the library, he let it be.

Still, hearing Li Guanyi borrowed the first book was the Xue family’s genealogy, he was surprised.

He pondered, couldn’t understand, and finally chuckled: “Truly different from others.”

“Let’s see what he’ll do.”

“Can’t possibly dig up a golden house or jade pavilion.”

After several days of repeated searching, Li Guanyi found three possible clues: the back mountain outside the city, a river flowing through Yicheng, and the Xue family’s ancestral home. He decided to test all three.

If all else failed, he’d have to find a way to grip the divine bow again.

Two more days passed. Li Guanyi first went to the back mountain. Aside from killing a lone wolf with his Suni bow, he gained little—only stole some fruit from squirrels, returned home, cleaned a jar, and made pickled fruit.

The Xue ancestral home couldn’t be approached lightly. He went to the river instead, following the stream. Many people strolled along its banks, but as he went deeper, crowds thinned. Finally, he found a secluded ravine—nothing else.

“So it’s at the ancestral home after all…”

Li Guanyi felt disappointed, lost in thought.

As he turned to leave, his steps paused: “No—he feared the emperor of that time would punish the Xue family, so he hid his battle spear in the Tangxiang people’s sacred mountain. He left the transmission within the divine weapon. Such a man would surely have considered the possibility that the Xue family’s ancestral home might one day be abandoned.”

“The Art of War says: ‘When real, appear false; when false, appear real.’”

“If it were him…”

Li Guanyi stared at the cold, dark ravine, gritted his teeth, stripped off his clothes, hid them, and dove in. Beneath the surface, he found the ravine deeper than the stream suggested—hollows opened in every direction, leading nowhere he could tell.

After circling for a while, he surfaced, gasping for air.

“So it’s here… but it’s hidden.”

“But where?”

Li Guanyi pondered long, watching the sky darken.

“Yao Guang… sounds like Yao Guang, the seventh star of the Northern Dipper. The Northern Dipper… north?”

Li Guanyi decided to try. He dove in again.

He chose the northern passage among the hollows.

Using his internal Qi, he swam a while, then saw light ahead. He surfaced, gasped deeply, looked around curiously, and climbed out to examine his surroundings.

This was what the Xue family’s divine general left behind? At that moment, a new visitor arrived at the stream of Yicheng.

A hooded youth walked slowly along the stream, circling rocks and layers of water, finally reaching a ravine enclosed by stone. The ravine was quiet and clear. The youth took a faded scroll from his sleeve, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

“Is this the secret realm found five hundred years ago by Yao Guang and the Bai Hu Grand Master?”

“Searching here for traces of the Bai Hu Grand Master’s aura might help locate the current Bai Hu Grand Master.”

The current Yao Guang’s eyes flickered—then widened in surprise.

He saw neatly folded clothes behind a rock.

“Someone’s already here?”

(End of Chapter)