Su Fan pulled out paper and brush, and tossed them to Liu Xiaolou. “Sign it. Once you do, whatever happens between us is nobody else’s problem, and Fifth Sister won’t come after me for it. Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you. I just want you to suffer a little.”

Liu Xiaolou glanced at it and saw it was a formal challenge letter, already signed by Su Fan. He couldn’t help but laugh, then picked up the brush, signed his own name, and tucked it into his chest.

Su Fan frowned. “Hand it over,” he demanded.

Liu Xiaolou turned to fetch the Three-Mystery Sword from the carriage. “This challenge letter is useful to me. You’ve got no use for it. Wait while I get my sword.”

Su Fan gave a cold laugh. “Heh, just what are you relying on?” A flash of white light appeared in his palm, and with it, a soft trident slithered into view at his side, like a snake.

He was about to strike at Liu Xiaolou from behind when, out of nowhere, a rope shot out and wrapped around him. In an instant, nine out of ten of his  acupoints were sealed. With almost no real combat experience, he’d thought only of ambushing others, never of being ambushed himself. Panic hit him at once. He grabbed for the rope, but no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn’t budge.

If he had just stayed calm, he would have realized that even though the Mysterious True Cord sealed ninety percent of his  acupoints, the remaining ten percent was still enough to move his true energy around. At worst, his strength was only cut down by half a layer.

But Liu Xiaolou wasn’t about to give him time to adjust. His body suddenly whipped back and slammed hard into Su Fan, knocking both him and the trident to the ground. In the next instant, the Three-Mystery Sword flared with a five-inch sword light that wrapped tightly around Su Fan’s neck.

Su Fan froze. How could he dare to move even a fraction? He quickly tossed away the Water-Serpent Trident. He wanted to save face with a few harsh words. Maybe accuse Liu Xiaolou of a cowardly sneak attack. But Liu Xiaolou had no patience for that. He drove punch after punch into Su Fan’s waist and stomach, pounding his meridians into chaos. Su Fan’s eyes bulged like a dead fish’s, and white foam spilled endlessly from his mouth.

After more than a dozen blows, Liu Xiaolou saw he was about to pass out and finally pulled back. Climbing off him, he sneered, “With that pitiful strength of yours, don’t go bragging about realms. Even if I were at the fifth layer, I’d still beat you bloody all the same!”

He rifled through Su Fan’s clothes for a moment and actually found three spirit stones. Weighing them in his hand, he pocketed them, then spat in Su Fan’s face. “What a joke. You came here just to hand me money?”

He climbed onto the little cart and called out to Big White, “Let’s go. To General’s Temple to pick someone up.”

Ding-dong… ding-dong…

A string of wind chimes swayed in the breeze, ringing with a clear, crisp sound. Beneath their music, a big white goose strained to pull a small cart up the mountain path.

On the cart sat a wooden chest, and Liu Xiaolou was perched on top of it, flipping through a Daoist manual titled The Secret Methods of Serpent Gu. Since he had seized this magical tool, of course he needed to study it. If his own True Mysteries Scripture techniques could make use of it, wouldn’t that be another life-saving trick up his sleeve?

Up ahead was his home at Qianzhu Ridge. As they passed a dirt embankment, the wheels got stuck at the base. They tried twice to push through but couldn’t make it over.

Even Liu Xiaolou, seated on the cart, was jolted. He lifted his eyes from The Secret Methods of Serpent Gu, leaned forward, and asked, “What’s going on?”

Big White tilted its head back with a loud honk honk. A black shadow leapt out of the roadside bushes. It was Little Black. Little Black shot a dissatisfied look at Liu Xiaolou, still sitting calmly on the cart, then helplessly went to the back. Rearing up on its hind legs, it set its front paws against the cartwheel.

Meow~

Honk~ honk~

“Push harder!”

Meow, meow~

Honk, honk~

“Come on! One more push!”

The rumble of wheels sounded again as the cart finally rolled over the embankment and continued uphill. Liu Xiaolou went right back to reading his Daoist manual.

Before long, the cart reached a flat terrace. Big White let out a cheerful honk, slipped free of the harness, and flapped its wings as it flew onto the fence wall. Little Black bounded up in a leap, landing on the wooden gate.

Honk—?

Meow—?

But this time their cries cut off halfway, as if something had startled them.

Liu Xiaolou stepped down from the wooden chest on the cart. Lifting his eyes from the Daoist book, he looked up. And froze. “Hm?”

The courtyard was still his familiar little yard, but now there was someone inside. A stranger. He looked about twenty, with a square face: narrow in the upper half, broad in the lower, features sharp as if carved with a blade, giving him an air of fierce toughness. At the moment, he was crouched at the kitchen stove, feeding the fire beneath an iron pot of boiling water. When he turned his head toward Liu Xiaolou, his eyes carried a hint of menace.

They locked eyes for a moment before Liu Xiaolou cupped his hands in greeting. “Friend, why are you here?”

The young man shot him a glare, stood, and pulled a longsword from the roof beam. With a flourish of the blade, he snarled, “Leave! Don’t disturb this master’s cultivation!”

That… made Liu Xiaolou sober up a little. He studied the man but couldn’t gauge his strength. He was just about to press for a few more words, to probe the stranger’s background and find out why he had taken over his cave dwelling, when a burly figure came running up from the foot of the mountain. In the blink of an eye, he was on Qianzhu Ridge.

“Xiaolou! You’re back?”

It was his good friend, Tan Bajhang.

Tan Bajhang rushed forward and swept Liu Xiaolou into a bear hug, overflowing with joy. “Xiaolou, I heard from Brother Zuo that his woman came back and even brought him a son. I knew it had to be your doing, so I hurried over. And sure enough, it was you, haha…”

Liu Xiaolou jumped in alarm and quickly corrected him. “Don’t talk nonsense! That wasn’t me!”

Tan Bajhang laughed. “How long are you staying this time?” Before Liu Xiaolou could answer, he spotted the young man in the courtyard. His face darkened. “Junior Fang, I said you could find a place for yourself, but I didn’t mean here. Do you even know whose place this is? Huh? Get moving, the rightful owner’s back!”

The young man, clearly unhappy, muttered in a muffled voice, “Senior Tan, it wasn’t easy for me to track this place down. I just spent several days fixing up the courtyard…”

Tan Bajhang gave a cold laugh. “Junior Fang, no matter how well you fixed it up, this courtyard still belongs to someone else. Do you understand? Ask around all of Wulong Mountain and see whose land Qianzhu Ridge is. Next time you want to take over a place, make sure you check first. Back when I was opening my own cave-dwelling, I stayed in touch with all the brothers on Wulong Mountain, and only after asking around did I move in.”

The young man swallowed his anger, then gathered up his things. He packed his bedding, bamboo mat, and a few changes of clothes into a big bamboo basket.

Tan Bajhang turned to Liu Xiaolou. “That fellow’s name is Fang Bu’ai. He’s from the Pai Sect in southern Xian, third branch. His master died in the battle at Zhuoshui, and the sect pushed him out. With nowhere to stay, he came here to Wulong Mountain. His cultivation is on the low side, but he’s brave and fierce. In the Zhuoshui fights, he was always charging to the front. We felt sorry for him, so we agreed to let him make a living here on the mountain.”

“What layer has he reached in his cultivation?” asked Liu Xiaolou.

Tan Bajhang answered, “The third.”

Liu Xiaolou was surprised. “The third? And he still went into battle at Zhuoshui? What was his master thinking?”

Tan Bajhang let out a sigh. “His master didn’t get along with a few of the sect leaders. He couldn’t keep the boy by his side, so he had no choice but to take him along. He was hoping to fight to the death for a chance at a future in cultivation. In the end, there was no future won, and the man died fighting…”

As they were speaking, the young man, Fang Bu’ai, had already finished packing. He came out still fuming, muttering under his breath, “I cleaned up Ghost Dream Cliff and wasn’t allowed to stay. Now I fixed up this courtyard, and I still can’t stay…”

Hearing his story, Liu Xiaolou couldn’t help but think of his own past. Seeing how neatly he had tidied up the courtyard, he called out, “When you head down the mountain, you’ll see a few old pines halfway. Behind them there’s a small path. Follow it, and you’ll find a little plateau. My master had a close friend who once cultivated there. There are two houses, though they’re a bit run-down. If you’re willing, you can fix the place up and stay there.”

“You’re letting him stay at Half-Pine Plateau?” Tan Bajhang said. “Isn’t that still part of your Qianzhu Ridge?”

Liu Xiaolou let out a sigh. “Let him stay. Looking at him is like seeing myself back then…”

Fang Bu’ai stiffened his neck. “I don’t need your pity,” he said.

Liu Xiaolou smiled. “It isn’t pity. You just remind me of how I used to be, that’s all.” He pulled out ten taels of silver. “Here, take it. I can’t let you clean the place for nothing.”

Fang Bu’ai hesitated, then accepted the silver. “I’ll count it as a loan from you, senior. I’ll repay you double one day… May I ask your honorable name?”

Tan Bajhang cut in irritably. “What’s there to repay? You wanted to live here, yet you never thought to ask who owned the place? Let me tell you. This is none other than Master Liu of the Sanxuan Sect, son-in-law of Shenwu Mountain. At Zhuoshui, wasn’t he the one you admired so much? And here he is, right in front of you! And you even dared to take over his house. Talk about blind!”

Fang Bu’ai scratched the back of his head. “Ah…” He bowed deeply to Liu Xiaolou with clasped fists. “So it was Senior Liu…”

Liu Xiaolou chuckled and waved his hand. “Off you go now. Before it gets dark, hurry and clean that place up. Those two old houses at Half-Pine Plateau haven’t been tended in years. You’ll have your hands full.”