Chapter 44: A Letter from Home Is Worth Ten Thousand Pieces of Gold

Li Guanyi hadn't slept at all the night before. After noon he said he wanted to rest, so Xue Daoyong had a guest room set aside for him in a side courtyard of the front compound. He slept soundly for over a shichen, only then recovering his strength. He sat cross-legged on the bed, watching the sunset outside, his spirit languid.

Thinking about what to do next.

He picked up a piece of silver and set it on the bed.

"Break through the pass."

Then he placed an arrow before the silver.

"But it would be best to enter the realm… if I could pick up a set of inner armor when breaking through the pass, that would be ideal."

"And I still need to deal with the poison on my body."

"I need the strongest foundation for entering the realm."

"And…"

"Money. Enough money."

Li Guanyi looked at the irregular silver pieces on the bed and sighed. This silver was the haul from last night's slaughter of Qian Zheng's remnant band — thirty-three taels of silver in total, over a hundred copper coins, some of them the current Taiping coins, some the former dynasty's Da'an coins, wrapped up in a cloth.

For the old him, it would have been enough to get by, but breaking through the pass to the State of Ying, plus the cost of cultivation, was clearly not nearly enough.

Old Master Xue hadn't offered to add to the sum.

Li Guanyi figured he had to find a way to scrape together some money.

He couldn't, every time something came up, just turn his head, look over, and open his mouth to call for the Young Lady.

While thinking, Li Guanyi sorted through the spoils — apart from the silver, there was some hemostatic powder, already gone somewhat black, extremely pungent, the kind that worked well but had a violent medicinal nature, highly irritating.

Besides that, there were some letters, a few of them already yellowed. Li Guanyi opened one to read — they were all family letters. The yellowed one was the earliest, its tone already somewhat complaining.

"Elder Brother, this year's winter clothes were made a bit slowly. You wrote saying that if it wasn't possible, you'd send money over, but this year's taxes were too heavy, there's not much money, only half. Elder Brother has his military pay, you shouldn't have spent it all."

"Just endure the cold for a few days."

It seemed that when Qian Zheng was at the border, he'd asked his parents to send him winter clothes.

The Chen State's border region bordered the State of Ying, a place neither south nor north.

Winters were as cold as the north, yet as damp as the south. When the west wind blew, cotton clothes would be soaked through with moisture, clinging to the body like a layer of ice needles, piercing the skin and drilling into the bones. Border soldiers by their fifties or sixties mostly had bad bones — agonizing.

But Chen State was Iron Fushu — even the border soldiers had no money?

Li Guanyi recalled Xue Daoyong's words and turned to the next letter.

"Elder Brother, don't write to urge us. You said the army is short of silver. Mother has already gone to borrow money for you. Grandfather went down to the fields in winter. Father is in the army and yours aren't supposed to merge together, right? Father isn't young anymore — you should be the one looking after Father."

The third letter.

"I heard your army also took orders from Marshal Yue, and won several battles."

"Elder Brother's reward silver was sent back home. Grandfather was very happy and drank a little wine."

"He also arranged a good match for me — the second son of Old Liu's family at the town entrance. You used to play with him as a child, I wonder if you still remember him."

"Elder Brother, you ought to find yourself a sister-in-law too."

The next several letters were all family matters, and the one word that could not be avoided within them was tax.

Five years of tax, three years of tax.

And Qian Zheng risking his life to slay the enemy and earn reward silver.

When Li Guanyi reached one letter, he paused slightly.

"The officials are collecting the spring tax again."

"They collected three years' tax before the new year. Elder Brother, your reward silver was all taken away. The family has none, and can't borrow any. Grandfather's leg was broken, and he was bedridden. First he got sores, then the sores festered, he couldn't stand up, and then he was gone…"

"Grandfather told us not to spend money treating him. He stopped eating, and passed away."

"Elder Brother, I heard Marshal Yue has been transferred away. Father offended his superior and was punished — are his injuries serious?"

"Along with this letter are some copper coins. Treat Father's wounds properly."

The fourth letter.

"Father is gone. Mother cried herself blind. Old Liu's family won't have me anymore."

"No choice. A great eunuch came to the city, saying the palace still needed people. I thought about it — the conditions were good, so I went into the palace first. Part of the money is for you, part is left with Mother. You said once you entered the realm things would be much better. I'll wait for you. Don't worry."

"It's fine here. No one hits me, no one bullies me."

Then came the last letter, written on fine, smooth paper.

"Today, the palace maid Qian Qian died. Per regulation, compensation is fifty guan of cash."

"With no one to oversee matters, five guan for her burial, five guan for disrupting palace affairs, thirty guan for various outstanding debts, five guan forwarded to the courier station on her behalf, three guan and seven mo for sealing the letter, stamping it, and sending it, plus other miscellaneous expenses. Remaining: one hundred and thirty-five wen, forwarded to her brother Qian Zheng, in witness of Zhengde."

Li Guanyi was silent for a long while.

He saw the mottled bloodstains and water marks on this letter.

He saw the cloth bundle of over a hundred copper coins, polished to a bright shine from being handled.

And so he understood the madness of Qian Zheng.

Li Guanyi set the letter down.

Then he put the one hundred and thirty-five copper coins back into the cloth bundle and wrapped it up.

He gazed outside, as if thinking about something.

In the end, he gathered in all the chaotic emotions and thoughts that had welled up in his mind, exhaled a breath, and murmured to himself: the border is rotten, reward silver is lacking, yet the soldiers' families must bear heavy taxes. Qian Zheng's case is not the norm, but neither will it be an isolated one.

In such a situation, the generals are also wronged.

"It's done for."

There was no need to deduce further.

Li Guanyi's sense of history became intuition, almost slamming the answer into his face.

An overwhelming sense of urgency — he had to raise his realm as quickly as possible. If Qian Zheng could have broken through to enter the realm earlier, perhaps the story would have been different. No matter how much Li Guanyi had seen within it, at this moment, in his heart, stepping into the realm of Sufficient to Enter the Realm had become the top priority.

In this broken world, without strength, he couldn't even protect himself and his aunt.

He was only skilled in offense, so he had to defeat that Tiele Third Prince as soon as possible and get his hands on the 【Cang Wolf Guard】. When Li Guanyi walked out of the courtyard, he saw Xue Shuangtao still practicing archery. Just as Li Guanyi picked up the bow, he suddenly called out to Xue Shuangtao. The young girl looked at him in confusion, and Li Guanyi said: "I just said that what I shot down was a crow that fed on human flesh and rotting flesh. I was wrong."

"It was originally a raptor that hunted in the sky."

"It went mad because of this sky, and in the end began to feed on carrion."

Xue Shuangtao looked at him.

She took half a step back.

Then she used the bow in her hand to tap the youth's forehead and said: "Although I don't know what you're hinting at, Li Guanyi—"

She paused, then said: "Let's practice archery first!"

The young girl raised her brows, pointed at the arrows over there, and said: "Playing the qin can soothe the heart, and practicing archery can calm the mind. No matter what the matter is, once the body is tired, one will figure out many things."

"Don't worry, until you've thought it through, I'll practice archery with you the whole time."

While practicing archery, Xue Shuangtao asked curiously:

"Then, when you shot that vulture, did you feel any regret?"

Li Guanyi looked at the young lady with clear eyes, unsure whether she understood something, or simply assumed he had killed a bird and was getting sentimental, so he answered: "It was already a carrion-eating evil bird."

So he felt no regret.

He was still a spirited youth of this world, so thoughts would still flash through his heart.

Would I too, one day, change my appearance amid this chaotic age?

He inexplicably thought of Yaoguang's words.

As long as you do not become a tyrant who plunges the world into chaos, I will stay by your side always.

Arrows fell like rain. What Li Guanyi was learning now was the various methods of shooting the bow, not accuracy. Xue Shuangtao had been brought up by Xue Daoyong since childhood, and her archery foundation was solid and outstanding; this was exactly what Li Guanyi lacked.

When the sun had begun to slant down, he set down the bow and arrows.

Xue Changqing had long since collapsed onto the stone table. Li Guanyi unhurriedly took out the arithmetic book and began the lesson. After another hour, Xue Changqing was nearly completely burned out, his little face pale, and he said: "How about, Mr., you tell me some other stories, no more arithmetic."

Li Guanyi said: "I do know them, but I came here precisely to teach you arithmetic."

Xue Changqing said upon hearing this: "I'll pay more!"

He took out a small piece of silver and set it on the table, his eyes bright, and said: "Mr., don't teach arithmetic anymore! Just go by your salary, and tell me one more hour of stories today."

Li Guanyi said thoughtfully: "Then, let's talk about the Tiele Third Prince from five hundred years ago."

Xue Changqing clutched his head in frustration and howled: "I don't want to listen to 【History】 either!"

The youth laughed: "My story is different."

His storytelling was unlike the dry, ordinary history books; it was more like that of a wandering knight-errant, drawing on the martial-arts tales Li Guanyi had heard in the past, treating the Tiele Third Prince as a great enemy. Even Xue Shuangtao listened with curiosity: "Where did you hear these stories?"

The youth's face showed a shy smile: "It was on my flight from hardship, I met two people drinking. One was surnamed Jin, the other surnamed Gu. They were drinking against each other while telling stories, and I just picked it up by listening."

Xue Shuangtao said, annoyed: "Making things up again."

Then she crossed her arms, also lay on the stone table, and listened to the story with curiosity.

Xue Changqing said: "Wasn't the Tiele Third Prince a big fellow three zhang tall, three zhang around the waist, with a green face and fangs? That's not what you described, Mr."

Li Guanyi said: "Good description."

Xue Changqing said proudly: "You've never seen him either, maybe it really is just as I described?"

Li Guanyi said: "Then based on your description, let me give you an arithmetic problem. A piece of wood three zhang tall and three zhang around—what is its volume, and how many wooden chairs can it make? If it's split into firewood three chi long and two fingers wide, how many pieces are there?"

Xue Changqing's little face went pale.

Xue Shuangtao took a fruit and lightly tossed it at Li Guanyi, saying:

"Stop scaring him, tell the story."

Li Guanyi smiled slightly, and in a martial-arts style recounted the history of the Tiele Third Prince he had looked up before, saying: "The Tiele Third Prince was skilled with a curved saber, his saber technique was light and nimble, he had a great beard but a handsome face. The history books all say he was the reincarnation of a Cang Wolf from the heavens."

His tone was calm, the story captivating.

In the story, the one who crossed blades with the Tiele Third Prince was a saber-wielder. The saber-wielder used a heavy saber and faced the Tiele Third Prince head-on. Suddenly the blades collided, and the Tiele Third Prince's saber leapt along the blade like a butterfly, then slashed downward in a gorgeous posture.

The youth telling the story under the setting sun had black hair stirring slightly in the wind, his eyes warm, scholarly in bearing.

The light of the setting sun was reflected in his eyes.

A cold glint reflected in the depths of Li Guanyi's eyes.

Li Guanyi spun, raised his hand, and held the Weight in Palm heavy saber horizontally to block, clashing with the Tiele Third Prince's saber.

A clash between saber-wielders.

It was the interweaving of a legend from five hundred years ago and a person of the present. By now it was night, and he had come into this Mystical Realm to challenge the Tiele Third Prince once more. General Xue Shen watched this scene with a smile. The youth widened the distance, evaded that gorgeous saber dance, and looked at the enemy who had killed him countless times.

"Tiele Third Prince."

"Today, I will definitely defeat you."

General Xue Shen raised a brow, smiling: "Good, you've got courage. Then how about we raise the stakes? If you can defeat him this time without dying—"

"Besides the 【Cang Wolf Guard】, I'll give you one more thing—my inheritance and a gift."

"It's something even that great Emperor of those days wanted."

"If you lose, I'll write this 'zheng' character right on your body."

At this moment, the Tiele Third Prince had already let out a long howl, and the Cang Wolf Dharma Form manifested. Arms crossed, Cang Wolf Guard—he charged forward in great strides!

Li Guanyi said to General Xue Shen: "Then you'd better be ready!"

The bronze cauldron rang out and trembled.

He gripped the bow.

And so dragon roars and tiger cries.

And so at his left and right, dragon and tiger accompanied him.

(End of chapter)