Our views are similar.
Meng Qi realized he didn’t understand Mo Li well enough, and he became more eager to visit Zhushan County. What kind of place was Qimao Mountain really? What were the people there like? Would the formation of the mountain spirit be affected by these factors? Or was it actually all thanks to the divine physician Qin Lu?
Meng Qi thought a lot, which made him appear as if he was lost in a trance.
A person of transcendent temperament, his expression indifferent, his gaze as if fixed upon the heavens. He seemed to float above the ground, the hem of his robe untouched by dust, as if he would ascend to immortality in the next moment.
“Snap.”
Meng Qi glanced casually in the direction of the sound.
An elderly woman dressed as a palace servant looked over in shock, her basket having fallen to the ground.
“Aunt Yu, what happened to you?” someone asked loudly from down the slope, only six or seven steps away from the woman. By the time these people climbed up, they saw only the back of Meng Qi.
Everyone was startled, almost believing a demon had appeared, or that they were dreaming; how else could such a celestial figure suddenly emerge in this wild and desolate place?
The imperial mausoleum had always been home not just to the military but also to exiled prisoners.
Some were disgraced nobles who had fallen from favor, some were members of the royal family who had committed grave offenses, and there were even palace servants from both the former and current dynasties.
The royal family of the Qi dynasty was now very thin, with only the emperor and the princes. The Lu family received none of the treatment due to royalty, but being confined in the mausoleum was quite fitting.
As for the palace servants, the situation was much more complicated.
After the fall of the Chu dynasty, many citizens of Taijing died or were injured, and amidst the turmoil, many palace servants of age to leave the palace had no home to return to. Those without rank who wished to stay in the palace needed the skill to maneuver or else be sent to the most toilsome and exhausting places.
The mausoleum was not a good place to be. Some servants arrived bearing crimes, having angered a certain concubine, while others were simply ousted there. They were given titles of responsibility, but their lives were no different from those of prisoners.
They saw no salary, and they could not leave.
Their lives were harsh, filled with laborious cleaning and farming, weaving to support the expenditures of the mausoleum.
The money allocated by the court was for mausoleum repairs and the refurbishment of ancestral temples. The rest, which could be embezzled, had already been pocketed by the mausoleum’s stewards. The rest of the people, to avoid starving, had to fend for themselves.
The palace servants were still better off; those prisoners who were graced not to be exiled to bitterly cold or swelteringly hot lands could not bear it at all. People accustomed to luxury, now without even hot water to drink, often wouldn’t last more than two or three years here.
Gradually, the mausoleum was left with these aging servants.
There were servants from the Qi dynasty and also from the Chu dynasty. This Madame Yu was one of the latter.
Madame Yu was stunned for a long time, her face frighteningly pale.
“…I heard that people have come from Taijing to hold a ceremony, and just now the army was looking for a noble person from the capital, could this be the person they were looking for?”
The crowd nodded, but Madame Yu vehemently denied: “Impossible.”
Seeing everyone looking at her, Madame Yu hurriedly said: “The clothes he wore were very plain. Which noble doesn’t wear brocade clothes and silks?”
This made sense, but unfortunately, the person had left quickly, disappearing without a trace.
Madame Yu squatted down to pick up her basket, her mind unsettled, almost tripping several times.
As everyone was discussing the extraordinary person, no one paid much attention to Aunt Yu’s abnormal behavior. Carrying their baskets, they continued on their way.
Clearly, the palatial buildings within the imperial mausoleum were not for them to reside in; they had to change clothes even just to clean there. The place where they, as servants, lived was somewhat remote, conveniently opposite the Lu family estate—one to the west of the mausoleum, the other to the east. Shortly after they set off, there was a loud noise ahead. Dust rose, and there were faint sounds of angry shouts.
The palace servants were panicked, not knowing what had happened. Such a commotion naturally alarmed the nearby mausoleum garrison, and soon many soldiers hurried over.
The commotion was neither caused by Mo Li nor by Meng Qi. After catching up with Mo Li, Meng Qi swiftly took cover behind a tree with his people, watching the frightening fight unfold before them, and asked Mo Li, who had arrived earlier, what was happening.
“It seems to be two martial artists from the pugilistic world; somehow they ended up fighting here,” Mo Li thought for a moment and then added, “Mediocre martial skills.”
At that moment, dust and stones flew chaotically, making it almost impossible to see the figures involved. The scene was astonishing. It sounded similar to when Meng Qi would make a move, but in fact, it was different. When Meng Qi released his internal energy, most of it was concentrated towards his opponent, like when he chased Elder Song Ya from the Spring Mountain Sect. Everyone saw his hand reach for Song Ya’s neck, and even Song Ya knew it, but he couldn’t avoid it no matter how hard he tried. The ground bore a deep mark where the earth and rocks had collapsed.
The two fighting now were indistinguishable, whether they were fighting or destroying the landscape, demolishing buildings near the mausoleum. Their shouts were continuous, and the fight seemed evenly matched, with their internal energy fanning out, often causing destruction around them before their moves could even hit each other.
When Meng Qi and Mo Li had fought with all their might, the courtyard was destroyed due to the aftermath of their clashing internal energies, and the stones couldn’t withstand Meng Qi’s sword energy, breaking cleanly or shattering into fine particles. Mo Li called these two “mediocre” because they wasted much of their strength. Stones, intact, were flipped and rolled everywhere, and the flying sand was blinding.
“…Actually, it’s better not to provoke such ‘masters’ of the martial arts,” Meng Qi said sincerely, arms crossed. “Fighting with them would cost a fortune just in damages.”
A true master can control their internal energy, both in release and withdrawal. They can fight without destroying their surroundings or harming others, like when they encountered Ning Changyuan outside Qiuling County. Even during their exchange, nothing was damaged, and they even stopped falling rocks, saving many people on the mountain path.
Speaking of compensating for damages, Mo Li glanced at the nearby buildings, which were empty.
“What is this place, and why are there so many empty houses?”
“Probably where the servants of the mausoleum live,” Meng Qi said without thinking. After he spoke, he was momentarily stunned. When he was a State Teacher, he rarely visited the Chu dynasty’s mausoleum. How did he know so much about the layout of the mausoleum? Could it be—
Meng Qi’s expression darkened. In his heart, he disliked those who dug around in the mountains. Yet the imperial tombs of the successive dynasties in Shangyun Mountain in Taijing were not lacking. If not for the fact that all the decent feng shui sites were occupied, future emperors would likely continue to build tombs in Taijing.
“Your aura is disturbed,” Mo Li warned, ready to act if anything was wrong with Meng Qi.
Meng Qi took a deep breath and shook his head, “I’m fine.”
The fighters on the other side seemed to have tired, the commotion diminished, and gradually the figures within became visible. They were both wrinkled old men, full of vigor. Upon seeing the imperial mausoleum’s garrison approach, not only did they not retreat, but one of them even burst into laughter.
“Golden Sword, dare you decide the superior here with me?”
“A joke, the mere Spring Mountain Sect, as if I’d fear it.”
The two old men were not clearly distinguishable because they were covered in dirt, their hair and beards turned yellow. But in front of the court’s official army, they carelessly revealed their sects, not fearing the trouble it might bring their factions later. Perhaps they had intended to trap each other but ended up dragging themselves down too.
The sword-wielding elder fought on, cursing, “The so-called ‘Three Friends of Winter’ from your sect have a big reputation in the martial world. I thought you’d be formidable, but it turns out your most powerful Elder Song Ya died mysteriously outside?”
The other elder, furious, retorted, “Golden Sword, before you speak, take a look at your own house! Didn’t I hear that your lay disciple and also your proud student, Luo Bin, encountered the Holy Lotus Sect in Pingzhou and had his martial arts crippled?”
They aired each other’s dirty laundry, fighting tooth and nail. Mo Li suddenly realized, “No wonder the name Luo Bin sounded familiar. It’s the ‘hero’ from Qingcheng Sect we met in Qinghu Town.” Claiming to avenge the wronged merchants of Qinghu Town, he led a charge into the town, only to be caught by a master from the Holy Lotus Sect.
“Qingcheng Sect, Spring Mountain Sect… what a coincidence,” Mo Li mumbled to himself.
Meng Qi raised an eyebrow, casually smiling, “It’s not a coincidence. The rumors about Li Emperor’s Mausoleum are spreading far and wide, attracting more and more people from the martial world, which is why we’re encountering them here.”
Mo Li nodded, his sharp eyes spotting vague figures in the distance, as some martial artists watched the excitement. Some avoided the soldiers, others, confident in their martial prowess, paid no heed.
The camp around the mausoleum was in disarray. Meng Qi, moved by an impulse, lightly raised his palm and grasped at a fence in the void. Deep-set wooden bars, along with earth and stones, flew out, knocking down a row of fences and affecting the garrison’s camp, with houses shaking and roof tiles falling one after another.
“Brother Meng?”
“To create a path for those who want to leave,” Meng Qi said, looking around at the dust-covered scene with satisfaction. He had controlled it just right; the dust could also cover people’s tracks.
Mo Li, with his exceptional vision, faintly saw a few people quickly heading toward that area, disappearing in the chaos.
“This is?”
“Servants of the mausoleum, mostly not directly guilty of any crime; they’re either implicated or are the elderly palace servants,” Meng Qi explained.
Mo Li looked in the direction from which they had come and saw more people cowering there, afraid to move.
“They refuse to leave?”
“Some want to, some don’t. If they have no relatives, or their hometown is too far, without household registration or a travel permit, even if they escape, life will be difficult.”
Meng Qi put on his bamboo hat and then said to Mo Li, “Physician, let’s go this way.”
With their light-footed skills, they easily blended in with the onlookers.
“The Spring Mountain Sect’s Head, Ying, must have deepened his internal power to damage the fence from such a distance,” the watching martial artists chatted excitedly, unaware that the very Sect Head Ying they were discussing was staring in shock at the area. It wasn’t his doing, nor was it the work of the Golden Sword elder.
Sect Head Ying and the Golden Sword elder exchanged glances, realizing there was a master hidden nearby and that they could not continue the fight. Thus, both sides made a feint, dropped some harsh words, and left grudgingly.
The onlookers from the martial world sighed in disappointment; such a duel was a rare spectacle. As for the fight spilling into the imperial mausoleum? A joke—what about it? The mausoleum of the Qi dynasty was still empty; the founding emperor was not dead. Besides, who doesn’t know that this emperor usurped the throne? What does it matter?
Mo Li and Meng Qi followed the crowd as they gradually dispersed. Suddenly, someone approached Mo Li.
“Old pal, what do you make of Elder Song Ya from the Spring Mountain Sect’s death?”
“…I just learned of this news,” Meng Qi intercepted the conversation quickly.
The man’s eyes lit up, thinking Meng Qi must be no ordinary person due to his demeanor.
Strange, why hadn’t he noticed him before?
“I haven’t asked for the two gentlemen’s names yet. I’m originally from Taijing and have a nickname, ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger.'”
A nickname in the martial world is a kind of alias, a claim to fame.
Mo Li didn’t have a nickname, and neither did Meng Qi. Expecting Meng Qi to make one up, Mo Li was surprised when Meng Qi deftly diverted the topic.
“Where, where, we are nobodies, just happened to be here.”
Seeing their attire, ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ thought they might be sect disciples hiding their identities and became even more eager to probe Meng Qi for information. But first, he’d have to offer some valuable information himself.
“The Qingcheng Sect has been declining in recent years, and the disciples of the Golden Sword elder are having a streak of bad luck,” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ said, moving closer to Meng Qi and speaking non-stop. “What was once a great sect is now facing hard times. His eldest disciple died suddenly from qi deviation, the second was crippled by Elder Song Ya from the Spring Mountain Sect, and these past years, they’ve relied on a third disciple with a wealthy family to maintain appearances. Oh, and there’s also a talented young disciple, said to be the Golden Sword elder’s nephew by common descent.”
“Can a nephew also be taken as a disciple?” Mo Li couldn’t help asking, given the importance usually placed on seniority.
“How could he not? The head of the Tianshan Sect and his eldest disciple are actually brothers!” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ waved off.
“…”
Mo Li gained a more direct understanding of the martial world’s disregard for trivial formalities.
Speaking of the Tianshan Sect, the person who lost the Sword of Heartfelt Emotion by Qingjiang two hundred years ago also seemed to be a head of the Tianshan Sect.
“The Golden Sword elder’s days, well, he was doing alright, but then his third disciple went home during the festival, and guess what, he’s from Qiuling County in Pingzhou, did you hear about the upheaval there?”
Mo Li and Meng Qi exchanged glances and nodded.
“Good to know!” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ slapped his thigh, lamenting, “Just like that, the third disciple of the Golden Sword elder is dead, and that young disciple Luo Bin, who was visiting Pingzhou with his third senior brother, tried to act the hero against the Holy Lotus Sect, and ended up taking a big fall, his martial arts crippled! Talk about bad luck. The position of sect head of the Golden Sword elder likely can’t be passed to his disciple now, probably to a fellow sect brother instead, must be infuriating.”
Meng Qi pondered and said, “The Qingcheng Sect is far in Yizhou, so the Golden Sword Daoist came so quickly, presumably not for the treasures of Li Emperor’s Mausoleum, but for his disciple?”
“Exactly!”
‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ looked around cautiously, then lowered his voice, “The death of Elder Song Ya is said to involve the former dynasty’s State Teacher. Some say that the world’s number one expert thirty years ago was not the divine physician Qin Lu, but rather that State Teacher hidden within the court—Meng Qi!”
Mo Li: “…”
Meng Qi, seeing Mo Li’s complex expression, decisively said, “Pure nonsense! The medical skills of Divine Physician Qin are well-known to all of us in the martial world. Where did this Chu dynasty state teacher crawl out from? Never heard of him!”
“Exactly!” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ lit up with joy, “Truly, great minds think alike!”
“…”
Honestly, with such a martial world nickname, he didn’t want to have anything in common with him, especially not opinions about mountain spirits or dragon veins.
Meng Qi coughed to shift the topic while also spreading some rumors. He said earnestly, “The matter of the Li Emperor’s mausoleum treasure is also mysterious. Why would Cangfeng Temple know of it and not dig quietly, instead spreading the word to the world?”
“That’s it!” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ was even happier, whispering, “The Qingwu Ancestor is also considered the number one expert in the world. Now there’s a rumor of a Chu dynasty state teacher being the top expert; maybe someone has a grudge against Cangfeng Temple! There’s a big story behind this!”
“The treasure is a ruse, the conspiracy is real,” Meng Qi boldly pinned a black hat on the head of Qingwu Ancestor.
“Brother, your words have enlightened me,” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ said politely, but his gaze kept slipping towards Mo Li.
Meng Qi felt a slight displeasure, so he excused himself, “The matter is not yet conclusive; we should wait and see. We shall take our leave now.”
‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ didn’t persist. He actually bowed and handed out a business card.
“To be honest, I am from the Wind Pavilion. If you two want to inquire about news or find someone, you can go to the Peony Block in Taijing. With this card, you can get a discount. I truly feel a kinship with you, hence the gift of this card, and I hope you won’t discard it.”
With a laugh, he turned and walked away.
“…I think he’s recognized me, the mysterious doctor who resolved the conflict with the Golden Phoenix’s son and later cured many ailments of people in the martial world,” Mo Li said with a troubled expression, noting the scent of medicine on both of them.
“No need to worry, Physician. The smell of medicine might mean we’re injured,” Meng Qi casually pocketed the card, reassuring him, “He’s just suspicious, looking for someone among the crowd who knows about the Li Emperor’s mausoleum treasure, Elder Song Ya’s death, and the identity of the mysterious doctor. When it comes to gathering information, they are all juniors.”
“Then why give the card?” Mo Li asked, surely he didn’t really think their conversation was that promising!
“Perhaps he thinks I’m not an ordinary person, and then… he took the opportunity to do business?”
Meng Qi naturally praised himself, passing the card to Mo Li and seriously said, “Moreover, he spotted the Physician’s exceptional nature in a crowd. His eyesight is commendable.”
Mo Li: “…”
Despite being praised countless times by his patients, only the one before him managed to flatter in a way that made him utterly uncomfortable; he used to want to grab a knife, now he wants to grab a bamboo cup to catch mice.
Author’s note:
It’s not easy for our sand rat to praise himself, the physician, and even the physician’s teacher today. If he wasn’t plump, how could he blow so hard, right? 【No】
——
Elder Qin from Zhushan County: Achoo
Our views are similar.
Meng Qi realized he didn’t understand Mo Li well enough, and he became more eager to visit Zhushan County. What kind of place was Qimao Mountain really? What were the people there like? Would the formation of the mountain spirit be affected by these factors? Or was it actually all thanks to the divine physician Qin Lu?
Meng Qi thought a lot, which made him appear as if he was lost in a trance.
A person of transcendent temperament, his expression indifferent, his gaze as if fixed upon the heavens. He seemed to float above the ground, the hem of his robe untouched by dust, as if he would ascend to immortality in the next moment.
“Snap.”
Meng Qi glanced casually in the direction of the sound.
An elderly woman dressed as a palace servant looked over in shock, her basket having fallen to the ground.
“Aunt Yu, what happened to you?” someone asked loudly from down the slope, only six or seven steps away from the woman. By the time these people climbed up, they saw only the back of Meng Qi.
Everyone was startled, almost believing a demon had appeared, or that they were dreaming; how else could such a celestial figure suddenly emerge in this wild and desolate place?
The imperial mausoleum had always been home not just to the military but also to exiled prisoners.
Some were disgraced nobles who had fallen from favor, some were members of the royal family who had committed grave offenses, and there were even palace servants from both the former and current dynasties.
The royal family of the Qi dynasty was now very thin, with only the emperor and the princes. The Lu family received none of the treatment due to royalty, but being confined in the mausoleum was quite fitting.
As for the palace servants, the situation was much more complicated.
After the fall of the Chu dynasty, many citizens of Taijing died or were injured, and amidst the turmoil, many palace servants of age to leave the palace had no home to return to. Those without rank who wished to stay in the palace needed the skill to maneuver or else be sent to the most toilsome and exhausting places.
The mausoleum was not a good place to be. Some servants arrived bearing crimes, having angered a certain concubine, while others were simply ousted there. They were given titles of responsibility, but their lives were no different from those of prisoners.
They saw no salary, and they could not leave.
Their lives were harsh, filled with laborious cleaning and farming, weaving to support the expenditures of the mausoleum.
The money allocated by the court was for mausoleum repairs and the refurbishment of ancestral temples. The rest, which could be embezzled, had already been pocketed by the mausoleum’s stewards. The rest of the people, to avoid starving, had to fend for themselves.
The palace servants were still better off; those prisoners who were graced not to be exiled to bitterly cold or swelteringly hot lands could not bear it at all. People accustomed to luxury, now without even hot water to drink, often wouldn’t last more than two or three years here.
Gradually, the mausoleum was left with these aging servants.
There were servants from the Qi dynasty and also from the Chu dynasty. This Madame Yu was one of the latter.
Madame Yu was stunned for a long time, her face frighteningly pale.
“…I heard that people have come from Taijing to hold a ceremony, and just now the army was looking for a noble person from the capital, could this be the person they were looking for?”
The crowd nodded, but Madame Yu vehemently denied: “Impossible.”
Seeing everyone looking at her, Madame Yu hurriedly said: “The clothes he wore were very plain. Which noble doesn’t wear brocade clothes and silks?”
This made sense, but unfortunately, the person had left quickly, disappearing without a trace.
Madame Yu squatted down to pick up her basket, her mind unsettled, almost tripping several times.
As everyone was discussing the extraordinary person, no one paid much attention to Aunt Yu’s abnormal behavior. Carrying their baskets, they continued on their way.
Clearly, the palatial buildings within the imperial mausoleum were not for them to reside in; they had to change clothes even just to clean there. The place where they, as servants, lived was somewhat remote, conveniently opposite the Lu family estate—one to the west of the mausoleum, the other to the east. Shortly after they set off, there was a loud noise ahead. Dust rose, and there were faint sounds of angry shouts.
The palace servants were panicked, not knowing what had happened. Such a commotion naturally alarmed the nearby mausoleum garrison, and soon many soldiers hurried over.
The commotion was neither caused by Mo Li nor by Meng Qi. After catching up with Mo Li, Meng Qi swiftly took cover behind a tree with his people, watching the frightening fight unfold before them, and asked Mo Li, who had arrived earlier, what was happening.
“It seems to be two martial artists from the pugilistic world; somehow they ended up fighting here,” Mo Li thought for a moment and then added, “Mediocre martial skills.”
At that moment, dust and stones flew chaotically, making it almost impossible to see the figures involved. The scene was astonishing. It sounded similar to when Meng Qi would make a move, but in fact, it was different. When Meng Qi released his internal energy, most of it was concentrated towards his opponent, like when he chased Elder Song Ya from the Spring Mountain Sect. Everyone saw his hand reach for Song Ya’s neck, and even Song Ya knew it, but he couldn’t avoid it no matter how hard he tried. The ground bore a deep mark where the earth and rocks had collapsed.
The two fighting now were indistinguishable, whether they were fighting or destroying the landscape, demolishing buildings near the mausoleum. Their shouts were continuous, and the fight seemed evenly matched, with their internal energy fanning out, often causing destruction around them before their moves could even hit each other.
When Meng Qi and Mo Li had fought with all their might, the courtyard was destroyed due to the aftermath of their clashing internal energies, and the stones couldn’t withstand Meng Qi’s sword energy, breaking cleanly or shattering into fine particles. Mo Li called these two “mediocre” because they wasted much of their strength. Stones, intact, were flipped and rolled everywhere, and the flying sand was blinding.
“…Actually, it’s better not to provoke such ‘masters’ of the martial arts,” Meng Qi said sincerely, arms crossed. “Fighting with them would cost a fortune just in damages.”
A true master can control their internal energy, both in release and withdrawal. They can fight without destroying their surroundings or harming others, like when they encountered Ning Changyuan outside Qiuling County. Even during their exchange, nothing was damaged, and they even stopped falling rocks, saving many people on the mountain path.
Speaking of compensating for damages, Mo Li glanced at the nearby buildings, which were empty.
“What is this place, and why are there so many empty houses?”
“Probably where the servants of the mausoleum live,” Meng Qi said without thinking. After he spoke, he was momentarily stunned. When he was a State Teacher, he rarely visited the Chu dynasty’s mausoleum. How did he know so much about the layout of the mausoleum? Could it be—
Meng Qi’s expression darkened. In his heart, he disliked those who dug around in the mountains. Yet the imperial tombs of the successive dynasties in Shangyun Mountain in Taijing were not lacking. If not for the fact that all the decent feng shui sites were occupied, future emperors would likely continue to build tombs in Taijing.
“Your aura is disturbed,” Mo Li warned, ready to act if anything was wrong with Meng Qi.
Meng Qi took a deep breath and shook his head, “I’m fine.”
The fighters on the other side seemed to have tired, the commotion diminished, and gradually the figures within became visible. They were both wrinkled old men, full of vigor. Upon seeing the imperial mausoleum’s garrison approach, not only did they not retreat, but one of them even burst into laughter.
“Golden Sword, dare you decide the superior here with me?”
“A joke, the mere Spring Mountain Sect, as if I’d fear it.”
The two old men were not clearly distinguishable because they were covered in dirt, their hair and beards turned yellow. But in front of the court’s official army, they carelessly revealed their sects, not fearing the trouble it might bring their factions later. Perhaps they had intended to trap each other but ended up dragging themselves down too.
The sword-wielding elder fought on, cursing, “The so-called ‘Three Friends of Winter’ from your sect have a big reputation in the martial world. I thought you’d be formidable, but it turns out your most powerful Elder Song Ya died mysteriously outside?”
The other elder, furious, retorted, “Golden Sword, before you speak, take a look at your own house! Didn’t I hear that your lay disciple and also your proud student, Luo Bin, encountered the Holy Lotus Sect in Pingzhou and had his martial arts crippled?”
They aired each other’s dirty laundry, fighting tooth and nail. Mo Li suddenly realized, “No wonder the name Luo Bin sounded familiar. It’s the ‘hero’ from Qingcheng Sect we met in Qinghu Town.” Claiming to avenge the wronged merchants of Qinghu Town, he led a charge into the town, only to be caught by a master from the Holy Lotus Sect.
“Qingcheng Sect, Spring Mountain Sect… what a coincidence,” Mo Li mumbled to himself.
Meng Qi raised an eyebrow, casually smiling, “It’s not a coincidence. The rumors about Li Emperor’s Mausoleum are spreading far and wide, attracting more and more people from the martial world, which is why we’re encountering them here.”
Mo Li nodded, his sharp eyes spotting vague figures in the distance, as some martial artists watched the excitement. Some avoided the soldiers, others, confident in their martial prowess, paid no heed.
The camp around the mausoleum was in disarray. Meng Qi, moved by an impulse, lightly raised his palm and grasped at a fence in the void. Deep-set wooden bars, along with earth and stones, flew out, knocking down a row of fences and affecting the garrison’s camp, with houses shaking and roof tiles falling one after another.
“Brother Meng?”
“To create a path for those who want to leave,” Meng Qi said, looking around at the dust-covered scene with satisfaction. He had controlled it just right; the dust could also cover people’s tracks.
Mo Li, with his exceptional vision, faintly saw a few people quickly heading toward that area, disappearing in the chaos.
“This is?”
“Servants of the mausoleum, mostly not directly guilty of any crime; they’re either implicated or are the elderly palace servants,” Meng Qi explained.
Mo Li looked in the direction from which they had come and saw more people cowering there, afraid to move.
“They refuse to leave?”
“Some want to, some don’t. If they have no relatives, or their hometown is too far, without household registration or a travel permit, even if they escape, life will be difficult.”
Meng Qi put on his bamboo hat and then said to Mo Li, “Physician, let’s go this way.”
With their light-footed skills, they easily blended in with the onlookers.
“The Spring Mountain Sect’s Head, Ying, must have deepened his internal power to damage the fence from such a distance,” the watching martial artists chatted excitedly, unaware that the very Sect Head Ying they were discussing was staring in shock at the area. It wasn’t his doing, nor was it the work of the Golden Sword elder.
Sect Head Ying and the Golden Sword elder exchanged glances, realizing there was a master hidden nearby and that they could not continue the fight. Thus, both sides made a feint, dropped some harsh words, and left grudgingly.
The onlookers from the martial world sighed in disappointment; such a duel was a rare spectacle. As for the fight spilling into the imperial mausoleum? A joke—what about it? The mausoleum of the Qi dynasty was still empty; the founding emperor was not dead. Besides, who doesn’t know that this emperor usurped the throne? What does it matter?
Mo Li and Meng Qi followed the crowd as they gradually dispersed. Suddenly, someone approached Mo Li.
“Old pal, what do you make of Elder Song Ya from the Spring Mountain Sect’s death?”
“…I just learned of this news,” Meng Qi intercepted the conversation quickly.
The man’s eyes lit up, thinking Meng Qi must be no ordinary person due to his demeanor.
Strange, why hadn’t he noticed him before?
“I haven’t asked for the two gentlemen’s names yet. I’m originally from Taijing and have a nickname, ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger.'”
A nickname in the martial world is a kind of alias, a claim to fame.
Mo Li didn’t have a nickname, and neither did Meng Qi. Expecting Meng Qi to make one up, Mo Li was surprised when Meng Qi deftly diverted the topic.
“Where, where, we are nobodies, just happened to be here.”
Seeing their attire, ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ thought they might be sect disciples hiding their identities and became even more eager to probe Meng Qi for information. But first, he’d have to offer some valuable information himself.
“The Qingcheng Sect has been declining in recent years, and the disciples of the Golden Sword elder are having a streak of bad luck,” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ said, moving closer to Meng Qi and speaking non-stop. “What was once a great sect is now facing hard times. His eldest disciple died suddenly from qi deviation, the second was crippled by Elder Song Ya from the Spring Mountain Sect, and these past years, they’ve relied on a third disciple with a wealthy family to maintain appearances. Oh, and there’s also a talented young disciple, said to be the Golden Sword elder’s nephew by common descent.”
“Can a nephew also be taken as a disciple?” Mo Li couldn’t help asking, given the importance usually placed on seniority.
“How could he not? The head of the Tianshan Sect and his eldest disciple are actually brothers!” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ waved off.
“…”
Mo Li gained a more direct understanding of the martial world’s disregard for trivial formalities.
Speaking of the Tianshan Sect, the person who lost the Sword of Heartfelt Emotion by Qingjiang two hundred years ago also seemed to be a head of the Tianshan Sect.
“The Golden Sword elder’s days, well, he was doing alright, but then his third disciple went home during the festival, and guess what, he’s from Qiuling County in Pingzhou, did you hear about the upheaval there?”
Mo Li and Meng Qi exchanged glances and nodded.
“Good to know!” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ slapped his thigh, lamenting, “Just like that, the third disciple of the Golden Sword elder is dead, and that young disciple Luo Bin, who was visiting Pingzhou with his third senior brother, tried to act the hero against the Holy Lotus Sect, and ended up taking a big fall, his martial arts crippled! Talk about bad luck. The position of sect head of the Golden Sword elder likely can’t be passed to his disciple now, probably to a fellow sect brother instead, must be infuriating.”
Meng Qi pondered and said, “The Qingcheng Sect is far in Yizhou, so the Golden Sword Daoist came so quickly, presumably not for the treasures of Li Emperor’s Mausoleum, but for his disciple?”
“Exactly!”
‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ looked around cautiously, then lowered his voice, “The death of Elder Song Ya is said to involve the former dynasty’s State Teacher. Some say that the world’s number one expert thirty years ago was not the divine physician Qin Lu, but rather that State Teacher hidden within the court—Meng Qi!”
Mo Li: “…”
Meng Qi, seeing Mo Li’s complex expression, decisively said, “Pure nonsense! The medical skills of Divine Physician Qin are well-known to all of us in the martial world. Where did this Chu dynasty state teacher crawl out from? Never heard of him!”
“Exactly!” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ lit up with joy, “Truly, great minds think alike!”
“…”
Honestly, with such a martial world nickname, he didn’t want to have anything in common with him, especially not opinions about mountain spirits or dragon veins.
Meng Qi coughed to shift the topic while also spreading some rumors. He said earnestly, “The matter of the Li Emperor’s mausoleum treasure is also mysterious. Why would Cangfeng Temple know of it and not dig quietly, instead spreading the word to the world?”
“That’s it!” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ was even happier, whispering, “The Qingwu Ancestor is also considered the number one expert in the world. Now there’s a rumor of a Chu dynasty state teacher being the top expert; maybe someone has a grudge against Cangfeng Temple! There’s a big story behind this!”
“The treasure is a ruse, the conspiracy is real,” Meng Qi boldly pinned a black hat on the head of Qingwu Ancestor.
“Brother, your words have enlightened me,” ‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ said politely, but his gaze kept slipping towards Mo Li.
Meng Qi felt a slight displeasure, so he excused himself, “The matter is not yet conclusive; we should wait and see. We shall take our leave now.”
‘Mountain Shaking Tiger’ didn’t persist. He actually bowed and handed out a business card.
“To be honest, I am from the Wind Pavilion. If you two want to inquire about news or find someone, you can go to the Peony Block in Taijing. With this card, you can get a discount. I truly feel a kinship with you, hence the gift of this card, and I hope you won’t discard it.”
With a laugh, he turned and walked away.
“…I think he’s recognized me, the mysterious doctor who resolved the conflict with the Golden Phoenix’s son and later cured many ailments of people in the martial world,” Mo Li said with a troubled expression, noting the scent of medicine on both of them.
“No need to worry, Physician. The smell of medicine might mean we’re injured,” Meng Qi casually pocketed the card, reassuring him, “He’s just suspicious, looking for someone among the crowd who knows about the Li Emperor’s mausoleum treasure, Elder Song Ya’s death, and the identity of the mysterious doctor. When it comes to gathering information, they are all juniors.”
“Then why give the card?” Mo Li asked, surely he didn’t really think their conversation was that promising!
“Perhaps he thinks I’m not an ordinary person, and then… he took the opportunity to do business?”
Meng Qi naturally praised himself, passing the card to Mo Li and seriously said, “Moreover, he spotted the Physician’s exceptional nature in a crowd. His eyesight is commendable.”
Mo Li: “…”
Despite being praised countless times by his patients, only the one before him managed to flatter in a way that made him utterly uncomfortable; he used to want to grab a knife, now he wants to grab a bamboo cup to catch mice.
Author’s note:
It’s not easy for our sand rat to praise himself, the physician, and even the physician’s teacher today. If he wasn’t plump, how could he blow so hard, right? 【No】
——
Elder Qin from Zhushan County: Achoo
