Chapter 7: Pixie Alley

Zhou Dong nodded: "Wang Jia, exactly so. Li Dahuan's martial arts are truly formidable, but the jianghu has no idea what martial arts he practices."

Zhao Ti slowly drew his body back, leaned against the chair back, somewhat silent. Why did Li Xian's martial arts feel oddly familiar, as if... the Sunflower Manual?

The Sunflower Manual appeared during the Smiling Proud Wanderer era of the Ming dynasty, with explanations saying it was created by a eunuch of a previous dynasty. That previous dynasty certainly does not refer to the Yuan; nine times out of ten it refers to the Song.

But... could this have been created by Li Xian?

Although Li Xian was immensely favored during Emperor Shenzong's reign, having served as Director of the Palace Attendant Bureau and Commissioner of the Imperial City Office, later being dispatched on horseback to the outside, serving as an Inspector-General of a circuit, and at his peak during the five-circuit campaign against Western Xia serving as wartime Military Governor of the Northwest, commanding five armies, Li Xian's reputation in later generations is actually not as great as that of his adopted son Tong Guan.

Zhao Ti was suspicious in his heart, but even if it wasn't created by Li Xian, the other party should know the true origins of this martial art.

"Li Xian..." he thought for a moment. Where was Li Xian now?

After Emperor Shenzong passed away, Zhao Xu was young, and Grand Empress Dowager Gao Taotao took the throne and handled state affairs. No one shielded him anymore. All his past mistakes, the oversights during his administration of the Northwest, were picked up by court officials, who memorialized to impeach him.

Although Empress Dowager Gao had no personal grudge against Li Xian, to quell the public anger she demoted him to Vice Commander-in-Chief of Yongxing Army Circuit and Superintendent of Chongfu Palace. Over the next few years, impeachment memorials kept coming, so he was repeatedly exiled, finally serving as Observer of Xuanzhou and Superintendent of Mingdao Palace.

It seemed that later Li Xian requested retirement, Zhao Xu approved it, allowing him to reside wherever he pleased.

Residing wherever one pleased meant finding any place to stay, but Li Xian was originally a native of Dongjing, so he most likely returned here to spend his old age.

Thinking of this, Zhao Ti called Bai Zhan in, ordering him to summon Wang Fu's chief steward Zheng Fu.

Zheng Fu was his personal eunuch in the palace, brought out when the residence was established, in charge of all internal affairs of Wang Fu.

After a while Zheng Fu entered and paid his respects. Zhao Ti looked at him and said: "Do you know where Li Xian lives now?"

Zheng Fu was stunned upon hearing this, and said cautiously: "Does His Highness mean Tong Guan's adoptive father Li Xian?"

Zhao Ti nodded: "I know you have always had dealings with Tong Guan. Has he ever mentioned it to you?"

Zheng Fu deliberated for a few breaths: "Your Highness, I recall now. Tong Guan indeed mentioned this matter, saying that after his adoptive father retired he returned to Jingcheng and lives in Pixie Alley."

"Pixie Alley?" Zhao Ti raised both eyebrows. This was an alley on the western side of Dongjing's inner city. Those who lived there were not officials or court ministers, but Daoist priests, Fang Shi, and lay practitioners at home. The alley's name came from this.

"Li Xian was once a great frontier official, commanding thousands of troops and horses, with merit against Western Xia. How did he end up living in that place?"

"This..." Zheng Fu said: "Your Highness, Tong Guan said Li Xianggong was not liked by court officials, and the army also had many complaints against him, so he chose Pixie Alley. It's quiet there with no disturbances, perfect for retirement."

Zhao Ti deliberated for a few breaths, glanced at the sky outside: "Since that's the case... come with this king to meet this Eunuch Li Dahuan."

Having confirmed it was Tian Long, Zhao Ti felt there was no time to lose. Although the path of practicing martial arts from childhood was not wrong, he still had to seize every moment.

Tian Long began during the Yuanyou era of the Great Song, but he didn't know exactly which year of Yuanyou, nor whether the matter of Wuliang Mountain's Sword Lake Palace had occurred yet.

If it had not yet occurred, he must find a way to secretly leave Jingcheng to go investigate, obtaining the Lingbo Weibu and Beiming Shengong manuals. If it was currently happening and the Wuliang Sword Sect was attacked, that was also fine—he could fish in troubled waters and seize them amid the chaos.

But either way required his own martial arts to be powerful, at least enough to protect himself in front of the other party, even under the hands of the Four Great Evils. After all, if he happened to arrive when the Wuliang Sword Sect was being attacked by the Divine Farmer Gang, and the Four Great Evils had also gone there, these four killed indiscriminately, and if he encountered them they would not reason with him.

Even though he had practiced martial arts from childhood, upon consideration even the weakest Yun Zhonghe could not easily escape from him.

The reason was simple: although he had practiced martial arts from childhood, he had not cultivated internal arts.

It was not that the palace lacked internal arts for him to practice. With his status, obtaining internal force cultivation methods from the Imperial City Office guards, or from some gangs and martial arts halls in the marketplace outside, was very easy. And indeed he had obtained several manuals, but upon examination he did not practice them.

The reason was that he felt those internal force cultivation methods were somewhat too crude and shallow. Those who practiced those internal arts were not particularly formidable in their methods, even less impressive than he who only practiced fast sword and external techniques.

And once one practiced internal arts, it was laborious and taxing on the mind. Moreover, if he encountered better ones in the future, whether two types of internal force could coexist was also a question. As for switching to practice another, it probably wouldn't be easy either. That was why he had delayed until now.

But now that he knew it was Tian Long, things were different again. It wasn't that those famous Cultivation Techniques were bad to practice—apart from being able to obtain Beiming Shengong, which was compatible with everything—otherwise he had to first cultivate one wondrous and renowned martial art.

Beiming Shengong was his current first choice, but going to Wuliang Mountain required self-protection. He couldn't find other masters in Jingcheng at the moment. Although Li Xian most likely practiced something like the Sunflower Manual that cut off one's own retreat, it was hard to guarantee he didn't have other divine art manuals on hand. He could ask for them, then head to Wuliang Mountain to investigate.

He set off at once. This time he did not walk, taking a horse carriage. Still Zhou Dong and four others, plus Zheng Fu leading the way, heading straight for Pixie Alley in Chengxi.

It was early summer then, the daylight long. When they reached Pixie Alley it had not yet turned dark, only approaching dusk slightly. A huge sunset hung in the western sky like rouge, looking quite stunning and strange.

The carriage entered the alley. Inside the alley it was very quiet, only the sound of horse bells in the ears, no other sounds to be heard.

Su Da slowed the carriage. Zheng Fu looked left and right from the yoke.

Most residents of this alley were Daoist Priests and lay practitioners, well-off types, so the houses were not small, but compared to the mansions of some court officials they fell far short.

"Your Highness, it seems this residence is Li Xianggong's dwelling," Zheng Fu pointed at a house by the road and said toward the carriage interior: "This servant sees the others have no plaques, but this house has the two characters 'Li Fu' written on it."

Zhao Ti leaned out from the carriage compartment and took a look. Indeed, a house by the road had characters written on it, except this house was far from reaching the scale of a fu, and having characters written on it was rather awkward and amusing.

"Let's go down and take a look."

He jumped down from the carriage and walked toward the gate. Just then the gate creaked open with a "squeak," and a dejected-looking man came out from inside.

This man was around thirty years of age, with no beard under his chin, sallow skin, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, seemingly strong and powerful, yet wearing a face full of dejection.

"Daofu..." Zheng Fu saw this person and hurriedly called out.

"Ah?" The man was startled upon hearing this, looked at Zheng Fu, then his gaze fell on Zhao Ti. He immediately shuddered, hurriedly stepped forward two paces and bowed: "This servant Tong Guan, pays respects to Prince Yan."

Zhao Ti nodded. This man was indeed Li Xian's adopted son Tong Guan. It seemed the house ahead was undoubtedly Li Xian's dwelling.

"Wang Jia graciously condescends to come here..." Tong Guan's face showed a puzzled and bewildered expression.

"Daofu, Wang Jia has come to visit Li Xianggong. Is Li Xianggong at home..." Zheng Fu frowned: "With that bitter melon face of yours, has something happened?"

"My adoptive father is indeed at home, but, but he is gravely ill, I'm afraid his days are numbered." As Tong Guan spoke, tears actually streamed down his face.