Blade - Unbound

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" Zhang Shitong frowned. "There's still a banquet later. It's the perfect chance to introduce you to some people..."

"Thank you for your kind invitation, Senior Brother Zhang." Li Yan shook his head. "I have business outside the city tonight and need to head back to prepare."

The year-end gathering had lasted a full four hours. At first, Li Yan had been interested, mainly because of the masters who had reached the Core Jin Realm. Activating his divine ability to observe them, he found that things were exactly as he had suspected.

The aura of a Core Jin Realm expert was completely restrained. If these people changed into fresh clothes and took a bath, the scent clinging to them would probably become almost imperceptible.

Moreover, experts of their level undoubtedly had extensive dealings with the Daoist sects. If they possessed protective artifacts like Xiong Baodong's, ordinary cultivators would probably flee the moment they saw them.

Of course, these experts had merely appeared to make an appearance. After the president of the Shanzhou Divine Fist Association expressed a few words of gratitude and everyone exchanged the usual pleasantries, they all departed one after another, clearly heading for another gathering.

The rest of the meeting consisted of reports from the various regions. The longer Li Yan listened, the more tedious it became, until he could hardly sit still. The moment the meeting finally ended, he immediately prepared to leave.

Zhang Shitong tried to persuade him for a while, but seeing that Li Yan would not budge, he grew irritated and snapped, "The old man said that you’ve stirred up so much trouble despite having just arrived in Chang'an. He figures you're the type destined to die young, so he told me to find a way to help you settle down. Are you really that dense, or are you pretending to be stupid?"

Li Yan raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Of course I'm pretending."

Zhang Shitong immediately flew into a rage. "You!"

"Don't be angry, Senior Brother Zhang." Li Yan laughed helplessly before cupping his fists with a serious expression. "Please thank the old master for me. But I'm simply not someone who can live a quiet life. I like the life I'm living now."

Naturally, he understood exactly what Zhang Shitong meant. But to be honest, he had never once considered the path the other man had arranged for him.

"Forget it." Zhang Shitong waved his hand and sighed. "The jianghu is full of storms and dangers, a place where tomorrow is never guaranteed. People wander the jianghu just to earn a living. Sooner or later, you'll regret it."

Li Yan burst into laughter. "Hahaha, I'll worry about regret when it comes."

He cupped his fists in farewell, and turned to leave. Watching his rapidly disappearing figure, Zhang Shitong shook his head with a sigh before turning back toward the main hall.

"Senior Liu, you have to drink a little more later."

"Brother Wu, I heard you've taken another concubine..."

***

Before anyone realized it, snow began falling once again.

"A timely snowfall promises a bountiful harvest. An excellent omen!" Standing in the courtyard, Wang Daoxuan gazed at the falling snow with delight and smiled. "The Daoists of Queen Mother Courtyard said next year would be a drought. Looking at this, it certainly doesn't seem like it."

Sha Lifei chuckled. "Exactly. Heavy snow this year means good wheat next year. The old folks have never been wrong about that. Maybe the Daoists miscalculated."

The door creaked as it was pushed open. Li Yan had already packed everything. Large and small bundles were slung across his body.

He frowned as he looked at the heavy snowfall. "If the snow's this heavy, tonight's going to be miserable. I can go alone. Why suffer along with me?"

Ever since returning from the Divine Fist Association, he had been preparing to head to the mass grave south of the city that night to attempt cultivation. To his surprise, both Wang Daoxuan and Sha Lifei had insisted on accompanying him.

Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard and smiled. "I've been entertaining all those distinguished nobles these past few days, and I’ve been feeling stifled to death. A journey through the snow at night has its own unique charm."

Sha Lifei curled his lips and snorted. "With snow this heavy, you're going alone to a mass grave? There's no way we'd be able to sleep peacefully back home."

Warmth welled up in Li Yan's heart. The jianghu was filled with hardship, but having friends who had faced death alongside him, sharing old wine and laughing together through the journey, was its own kind of happiness.

"Alright then. Let's go. Did you bring enough wine?"

"Don't worry. We've got wine and meat to last through the long cold night!"

With everything decided, the three wasted no more time. Locking the door behind them, they donned their straw rain capes and bamboo hats before striding into the wind and snow.

They had barely left the street when they ran into a procession. A group of people were beating gongs and rolling drums as they wandered through the streets. At the very front, someone wore a ghost mask and tattered hemp garments that hung in strips all over his body. Holding a mourning staff, he hopped and danced through the snow. He was followed by people dressed as exorcists in ritual masks, striking gongs and drums with loud clanging sounds as though they were driving away evil spirits, herding "ghosts" back and forth.

The entire group beat their instruments chaotically while screeching strange cries. Every time they stopped in front of a shop, the owner would toss out a few copper coins with an expression of disgust.

The performers didn't mind at all. They picked up the coins, stuffed them into their pockets, and then drove the ghosts toward the next shop.

Stroking his thick beard, Sha Lifei smiled. "I almost forgot. Today is when they go Night Fox Hunting'. It's supposed to be an exorcism ritual. Once they show up at your doorstep, you've got to pay them off and send them away, otherwise you'll invite bad luck. Looks like it's going to be lively all the way."

Just as Sha Lifei had said, the streets were incredibly bustling. Groups performing the ritual wandered about dressed as all kinds of ghosts, immortals, and deities through every district where merchants gathered.

Many of them were beggars, drifters, and various street hustlers, each with different methods of exorcism. Some were fairly decent. They would put on an energetic performance at a shop, creating a festive atmosphere. If the merchants were pleased, they would give money and some food.

Others, however, resorted to much shadier tactics. For example, some dressed up as the God of Wealth, carrying a crudely made statue of the deity that looked like junk scavenged from somewhere. Beating gongs and drums, they would simply thrust the statue into the shop owner's hands.

They were basically delivering the God of Wealth to the owner. If it was refused, the owner would literally be driving the God of Wealth away. But if they accepted, a few copper coins would no longer be enough to get rid of them.

When some bold merchants cursed at them, without another word, the group who had come would smash the statue right in front of the shop. Nothing could be more unlucky than that.

The same trick existed in other forms as well. Those groups delivered every deity and all the store owners could decide was how much to give. Since the New Year was coming, most people pinched their noses, accepted the offerings for the sake of good fortune, and then handed over some money to make the performers leave.

Naturally, several merchants eventually lost their patience. After being targeted several times in a row, some shopkeepers prepared basins of filthy water that stank to high heaven. Anyone who came to their door got drenched on the spot. Others had even worse tempers, throwing punches as soon as a group arrived. Both sides rolled around in the snow while onlookers cheered loudly.

In short, Chang'an was exceptionally lively that day.

The streets were constantly clogged with people. By the time Li Yan and his companions reached the southern city gate, dusk had already begun to settle. The gates were about to close, so they wasted no time. Passing through the gate, they headed out across the snowy wilderness south of the city.

Whoosh!

Wind and snow howled around them, making the hems of their clothes snap violently in the gale. Everything around them was pitch black. The north wind blew fiercely, and even with torches lit, visibility was so poor that they were practically useless.

After walking for several hours, they finally arrived at a mass grave. The nighttime snowstorm had grown even fiercer, and the freezing wind left all three of them feeling numb.

Sha Lifei suddenly looked to the left in a daze and muttered, "Little Yan... Why do I see a woman in white standing under that tree? Have I awakened a divine ability too?"

Having traveled with Li Yan and Wang Daoxuan for so long, he had seen enough that ordinary ghosts no longer frightened him. Instead, he suspected he had gained supernatural sight himself.

"Shut up. I think the cold's frozen your brain." Li Yan joked, but even so, he gripped the Divine Tiger Token tightly, stepped in the formation of the Big Dipper and chanted, "Nuogao, I alone open the descendant Wang Jia. Six Jia Azure Dragon, Six Yi Encountering Star, Six Bing Bright Hall, Six Ding Hidden Yin... By my command, move swiftly!"

ROAR!

As the Northern Emperor Mountain-Climbing Technique [ref]Father of the Baopu Mountain-Climbing Technique[\ref]was unleashed, the roar of a tiger echoed beside all three of them.

Now that Li Yan had obtained the more authentic version of the Northern Emperor Mountain-Climbing Technique, and with his cultivation growing ever deeper, the power of the Divine Tiger Token he could unleash had naturally increased as well.

Sha Lifei could clearly feel the yin wind around them weaken somewhat. He couldn't help but comment, "What is this...?"

Li Yan called out, "The yin qi around this graveyard is dense. Quite a few of those things have gathered here. They're trying to freeze us to death. Come on, there's a sheltered spot up ahead!"

Holding down his bamboo hat against the wind, Li Yan led the three off the mountain path to the left, pressing forward through the snowstorm.

The rotten gate creaked open, and wind and snow immediately rushed inside. Sha Lifei quickly turned around, shut the gate tightly, and braced it with a thick wooden beam, finally blocking the raging blizzard outside.

They had arrived at an abandoned Mountain God Temple, hidden within a hollow beside the mountain path. With the blizzard obscuring everything, no one without Li Yan's divine ability could possibly have found the place.

Sha Lifei relit the torch, and a row of decaying coffins immediately came into view inside the ruined temple.

His expression darkened as he looked toward Li Yan and complained. "How unlucky."

"It's fine. They're all empty coffins." Wang Daoxuan shook the snow from his straw rain cape and smiled. "These are just empty coffins. They're not worth much. They were probably dumped here by the beggars in the city who collect roadside corpses. It makes their work more convenient."

Roadside corpses referred to people who had died suddenly in the streets. Some came from impoverished families, suffering from serious illness with no one to care for them. Others had drunk themselves to death and frozen on the roadside. Some were the unlucky ones who died in street brawls.

Generally speaking, these roadside corpses were handled by the Beggars Guild in the city. After the authorities posted official notices, if no relatives came to claim them, the bodies would simply be carried to the mass grave for burial.

Hearing that the coffins were empty, Sha Lifei immediately grew bolder. He stepped forward and opened them one by one. Sure enough, they were all empty.

He scoffed, "Well then. That gave me quite a scare."

Although the coffins themselves were worthless, they might one day become the final resting place of some unfortunate soul. Destroying them would be a heartless thing to do.

In the end, the three went outside again, gathered dead branches, and built a campfire. They warmed two pots of wine, heated their dried flatbread and braised meat over the fire, and after devouring the meal ravenously, finally felt life return to their frozen bodies.

Sha Lifei wiped his mouth, and asked, "Little Yan, what's the plan for tonight?"

Li Yan glanced outside and shook his head. "No rush. Let's wait until the wind dies down a bit. We'll find a place with concentrated yin killing qi, and Daoist Wang can help me set up the altar. Once the yin killing qi has been drawn in, the two of you should stay well away so the yin creatures don't find you. If this works tonight, my cultivation should advance much faster."

Sha Lifei immediately brightened when he heard that Li Yan's cultivation could improve. "Good!"

After waiting a little longer, the storm finally weakened. Wang Daoxuan immediately picked up his geomantic compass and led Li Yan and Sha Lifei back outside.

A place rich in yin killing qi was not difficult to find. Before long, they discovered a cave that appeared to be half of an unfinished burial chamber. Whoever had excavated it had apparently realized something was wrong and abandoned it immediately.

But the interior was completely covered in thick frost. Killing qi had gathered there, making it the perfect place for Li Yan's cultivation.

The three immediately got to work. Sha Lifei hauled over several large logs to block the wind and snow so the candles would not be blown out, while Wang Daoxuan assisted Li Yan in arranging the ritual altar. Once everything was ready, the two men exchanged glances, nodded, and quickly withdrew.

Soon the killing qi would converge around Li Yan. If they were careless, they could easily become its victims. Li Yan then opened his pack and carefully took out a stick of Soul-Guiding Incense. His expression grew solemn as he lit it. The item was made from rhinoceros horn, and had cost him quite a bit of silver.

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