Stranger Danger

“We just happen to share a destiny, that’s all.”

Ye Qing smiled. He wasn’t expecting to enter a state of enlightenment so suddenly either. Maybe it was because he had entered the initiate level of the “Records of Laojun Studying The Dao On A Bull”, but his perception of nature and the world itself had become clearer than before. It could also be because he fought against the Mara Sacrament Heavenly King and so became more familiar with the concept that was martial intent. Maybe it was because the Earthly Sovereign Bell had recently devoured many precious treasures and became a lot stronger, and it indirectly accelerated his growth in some ways. Or maybe it was because he finally got the chance to relax, admire the snow white scenery, observe the sunrise and sunset and more for the past couple days...

Whatever the case, today was the day he and the black bull received an opportunity. It was that simple.

That was why he did not mind giving the white bull an additional opportunity. A drop of profound yellow refined blood really wasn’t much to him anyway.

A few moments later, the white bull’s aura finally stabilized, and the dazzling light it was giving off no longer pierced the eyes as well. When it finally opened its eyes, the entire world brightened a tad like the beginning of dawn.

“Moo...”

After the white bull awakened, it happily rose to its feet and twirled on its feet twice, the bell on its horns ringing melodiously as it did.

“Stop spinning!”

Yi Pin gave the white bull a pat on the leg and said sincerely, “Congratulations, you stinky bull!”

This time, the white bull did not butt heads with Yi Pin. Instead, it gave him a delighted bump on the arm before turning around to face Ye Qing. Then, to everyone’s surprise, it knelt on all four and touched its head on the ground. It was as if it was a person kowtowing to Ye Qing.

“Please. It is just a whim of destiny. Who knows, we may never meet again after today.”

Ye Qing waved his sleeve and stopped the white bull from kowtowing a second time. Then, he lifted his hand and forced the white bull to a standing position.

“I must warn you though. If one day you have attained the Great Way, but you decide to perpetuate outrages and sow calamities, then I will come for you no matter what, understand?”

Ye Qing suddenly said sternly as he gave the white bull a pat on the head.

The reason he chose to help the white bull wasn’t just because of destiny, but also because he did not sense any evil energy or bloodthirst from it. Clearly, the white bull rarely killed barring exceptional circumstances.

“Moo!”

The white bull nodded, its clear eyes shining with determination.

“Alright. You should go now.” Ye Qing was all smiles once more.

The white bull took a moment to rub its head against Ye Qing’s arm, its reluctance clear. Finally, it looked at Yi Pin and mooed at him.

“Mm. Take care.”

Yi Pin gave it a pat on the head before rebuking it jokingly, “Now fuck off, you!”

The white bull decided to play one last prank on the old Taoist and exerted just a little more strength, pushing Yi Pin to the ground before he could react. Then, it turned tail and ran away merrily.

“Don’t run if you dare, stinky bull! I promise I’ll kick your ass!”

His head covered in snow, Yi Pin pretended to give chase for a bit. There was no anger on his face, however.

The white bull ran faster and faster. It wasn’t long before it became one with the wind and snow.

“Stay alive, bull! I’ll come visit you if I have the time!”

Ye Qing yelled in the direction of the wind.

“Mooo...”

A loud moo came back, long and resonant. A moment later, the white bull was gone.

“Let’s go.”

With that done, Ye Qing and the rest of the group turned around and began trekking toward the town at the foot of the mountain.

......

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“This town is busier than I thought it was!” Ye Qing remarked curiously as he examined the tall walls and endless traffic of the town.

He thought for sure that a town neighboring the borders and the snowy mountains would be small and rundown. At the very least, he thought that the people would suffer from poverty and nature. In reality, not only was the town as grand as an ordinary commandery, the traffic seemed to be endless as well. Just where did these people come from?

“You don’t know this, young master, but this is the Myriad Buddha Town. It’s the biggest town in fifty kilometers except Snowview City.”

Old Man of Snowy Mountain was clearly familiar with this place. He explained, “The name of the town probably clued you in already, but the Myriad Buddha Town is the closest town to Myriad Buddha Plains. Not only is it the place for rest and resupply, the Buddhist thieves, treasure hunters and the like usually choose to sell their treasures here. A ton of merchants were drawn to this town because of this, and over time, Myriad Buddha Town became what it was today.”

“No wonder there are so many jianghu people in this town.” Ye Qing nodded. Besides the merchants, the large majority of people going about the town were armed, jianghu people. Considering the stench of blood and casual air of violence they exuded, it was clear that they were very familiar with blood and death.

In fact, they had witnessed plenty of fights and murders on their way over. There were even snow-covered blood and bodies in the surrounding trees.

It did not take a genius to figure out that Myriad Buddha Town was no peaceful place. It was more or less the same as Bei You.

These unruly, wild-natured jianghu warriors were acting surprisingly meek when they reached the entrance of the Myriad Buddha Town though. They were standing in lines and waiting for their turn to enter the town. At the entrance, several arrogant-looking jianghu warriors dressed in fine garbs were collecting the entrance fee from them.

“Who are those people?” Ye Qing asked in a low voice.

“They’re Brocade Shirt Marquis’ men.”

Old Man of Snowy Mountain answered, “Brocade Shirt Marquis is the lord of Snowview City. He’s also the master of Myriad Buddha Town.”

“Brocade Shirt Marquis? Is he a Marquis of Wei?” Ye Qing asked.

“No. It’s the official title of a lord of Snowview City.”

Old Man of Snowy Mountain took a moment to organize his words. “Brocade Shirt Marquis’ true name is Zhao Changming, and he was originally a jianghu man. After he reached a certain level in his cultivation, he became a Brocade Shirt Bandit and robbed others for a living. One might say that there is no crime under the sun that he hasn’t committed.”

“Later, Zhao Changming submitted to the imperial court and was conferred the lord of Snowview City. Because Zhao Changming enjoyed wearing brocade clothes and carrying himself like a marquis, he came to be known as the Brocade Shirt Marquis.”

“Although he is now the lord of a city, Zhao Changming was unable to change his bandit ways. As a result, his men were also lazy and unruly. They also prefer to dress themselves like jianghu warriors rather than an official.”

“I see.” Ye Qing nodded in realization.

For obvious reasons, the four empires—Yan, Chu, Qi and Wei—were very different from each other in many ways. The Heavenly Martial Emperor of Yan was tyrannical and forceful. His regime was highly centralized, and all tribes and sects must obey the state’s laws and regulations.

Chu preached the principles of benevolence, justice, propriety, and wisdom, so its politics and laws were fairly lenient. The imperial court and the sects generally did not get involved with each other’s affairs unless circumstances demanded it.

Qi was a religious state where gods and spirits maintained the realm, and the people obeyed a caste system. As a result, the sects had a much weaker foothold in Qi, and the large majority of them lived secularly on islands, avoiding as much interaction with the Qi court as possible.

Wei was uniquely different from the three states. Due to its inherently complicated domestic power structure, and because the imperial family had gone through multiple changes for various reasons, Wei was the only empire where the imperial court was weak, and the sects were strong.

There were many sects in the state, most of all sects of the Dark Ways. Knowing the danger they posed, the state of Wei recruited people from the wulin en masse and bestowed them titles and positions. Because of this, the literati and the martial jointly ruled the realm. It was also why the generals and the ministers of the state were mostly people of the jianghu or sect members.

Most countries would not choose to recruit wulin or jianghu people to be officials, but this was just another day in Wei.

Of course, this also meant that Wei’s internal situation was far more complicated than most states. The imperial court in particular was anything but united. The orthodox, the heretics, the Confucianists, the Dark Way sects, even the Buddhists occasionally interfered with the governance. They fought endlessly for their own interests, throwing the entire court into chaos and making it extremely difficult to implement any government decree at all.

Wei was the most chaotic state of the four, but it was also the state with the greatest martial culture.