Iron Bull taucht wieder auf

Kapitel 202

"Don't be afraid, the guardian spirit of the village won't hurt you." She gazed at me intently again.

I shook my head: "I'm not afraid. People who travel the world have long since become indifferent to life and death."

The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive. She retrieved the picture frame and gently wiped it with her sleeve.

Shui Lan is a beautiful name. I have a strange feeling that the impression a girl in a photo gives seems to change. At first glance, she looks like a cheerful and outgoing American, but upon closer inspection, she has the typical features of an Asian. Now, viewed from the side, reflecting the snow, her skin appears a light brown, a physical characteristic of people from the Americas.

I let out a sigh of relief, waved my hand to dispel the stench of snake in the air, and pressed, "What did you do to that baby?"

She breathed on the frames twice, wiped them carefully again, put them back in her arms, and then slowly said, "Actually, you can tell what I want to do, and you have his sharp eyes too—but I didn't accomplish anything, Brother Tian stopped me. His tender care for that baby only fueled my anger."

A woman's jealousy is like thousands of active volcanoes that could reignite at any moment and destroy the entire world.

I gazed at the dim night sky to the south, somewhat puzzled by my elder brother's destination: "Is he going to the Heavenly Ladder? To enter the 'Second Epang Palace' that Su Lun mentioned? What is he going there for? Could there really be something from the mysterious world there?"

"One day, Brother Tian said he was leaving, taking the child to the perilous Lan Valley. I couldn't stop him, nor could I get any more information about 'Shui Lan' from him, so I left a note and quietly departed. If I couldn't hurt others, at least I could give up my own life. I'm going back to the Seventy-Two Linked Caves to steal the 'Azure Blood Night-Shining Toad.' There is no greater sorrow than a broken heart. From the moment I learned that he only loved Shui Lan, my heart died."

"Heaven truly mocks the common people. I wanted to die, but I couldn't. Moreover, I successfully stole that treasure. When I returned here, I found the place deserted. His message was only a few words: 'Leave my sword to the one who masters the sword technique. Take care.' From then on, I never saw him again, and he was lost to the world of martial arts forever."

She sighed softly, stood up, and pointed south into the distance: "Feng, do you think that might be the direction he went?" The night wind howled and whipped her hair, making it flutter like mist. Thinking of how she had buried her youth in this forest for her older brother, I felt a deep sense of guilt.

"I don't know, but after the weather clears up, we will keep moving forward, cross the Orchid Valley, and reach the Heavenly Ladder." For Suren's sake, I have no other choice, and of course, I will not let go of any clues related to my elder brother.

The bottle was empty. He Jishang had finished speaking her heart, and with a smile tinged with tears, she sighed, "In all these years, you are the first man to listen to this story so calmly. There have been several men who said they were willing to listen, but whose hearts were filled with endless filth, and they all perished under the snake's bite of the village god. Feng, thank you for letting me pour out all my sorrow."

I smiled and nodded: "I'm the one who should say thank you. It would be a waste to keep such a touching story buried in my heart."

"Tonight, I might be able to get a good night's sleep. After all, all the burdens on my mind have been lifted, and I'm no longer confused." She was slightly tipsy, and her body swayed unsteadily.

"Miss He, what is the baby's name?" I asked the crucial question. I remembered that in my dream, my elder brother called me "Feng". Wouldn't He Jishang notice anything after hearing my name?

He Jishang thought for a moment, then looked up and smiled: "Name? He's still so young, he doesn't have a name yet. Brother Tian just calls him 'Baby'."

My heart suddenly ached, and my eyes immediately welled up with tears. Fortunately, she didn't notice. She staggered down the stone steps, waved without turning her head, and said, "Goodnight." Then she went into the nearest wooden building.

"Baby, baby..." I whispered the name, feeling the unspoken, genuine concern my older brother held for me. I believed that the hallucinations I experienced had all truly occurred, such as in the study at Xunfuyuan in Hokkaido, and in the vision of the Epang Palace that Master Xianyun had given me—he had always kept me by his side until he could entrust me to the scalpel with peace of mind, and only then did we officially part ways. Clearly, I was deeply cherished in his life, just like that "Water Blue."

"Who is Shui Lan?" I strolled downstairs and lay down in He Jishang's bed.

A stick of incense burned in the corner of the room, its smoke rising in wisps from the coiled mouth of a snake. I instinctively got up and used the remaining tea in my cup to extinguish the flame. I didn't need the incense to help me sleep; I could fall asleep peacefully on my own.

This is the house that my elder brother built himself and lived here for a long time, which is why his image is on the second floor. He Jishang didn't mention the knife he left behind, only a mysterious "knife manual." So, where did the knife go? In the scalpel's narrative, there's never been any mention of him carrying any precious sword. So, in my memory, my elder brother was a great hero who could defeat anyone in the world with his bare hands.

"A sword manual? A sword that transcends distance? A treasured sword?" These three questions kept swirling in my mind.

In fact, He Jishang said something very true: "Transcending distance is equivalent to the speed of light." Once you have mastered the "Transcending Distance Blade," you will have the same lightness skill as the speed of light, and you will be able to cut into the cycle of time from any angle.

Looking up at the dark rooftop, I felt my heart pounding faster and faster, as if something was about to happen. Did my elder brother ever enter Lan Valley back then? How did he overcome the obstacles posed by those strange snakes? Was the goal he was pursuing the same as what Suren was looking for?

Part Two: A Smile That Captivates a City

— Chapter 4 — The True Faces of the Jiang Brothers —

I rolled over and looked at the doorway, which was completely exposed. I was genuinely worried that the guardian spirit of the village might sneak in in the middle of the night.

Members of the Five Poisons Sect spend their lives among venomous insects, their bodies brimming with various toxins, causing pythons to flee at the mere sight of them. We outsiders, however, are different; without any protective measures, attacks by snakes and insects are inevitable.

Suddenly there was movement on the stone steps. I cautiously leaned out and looked out. A white shadow flashed in, its lightness skill reaching the extreme. It paused briefly on the first floor and then floated up to the second floor, silent and ghostly.

I could see it clearly; it was He Jishang, only she had changed into a silver-white robe and looked extremely bewildered.

"Is he sleepwalking?" That was my first thought. I quickly sprang to my feet and leaped towards the stairs. Without any lights, the building was very dimly lit, and I could only vaguely make out objects by the reflection of the snow-covered ground outside.

"Oh, Brother Tian, Brother Tian, where have you gone?" He Jishang sighed repeatedly, his voice coming from the direction of the window.

I peeked out from the corner of the stairs and saw her sitting on the windowsill with her knees bent, one hand supporting her chin, facing out the window.

"I only say I don't miss you, but longing makes me grow old; after much thought, I still think longing is the best. Brother Tian, I relive the feelings you had for Shui Lan back then every day, do you know that? So many years have passed, how could you be so heartless as to not give me even a single piece of news? People in the martial world are saying you're dead, but I know you're still alive—if you were gone, I would feel like my heart is breaking, but now, I only feel the madness of longing, not the pain of separation. Tell me, where are you? I'll go through fire and water to see you..."

I didn't want to accidentally discover He Jishang's secret, so I quietly retreated, lay back down on the bed, and listened intently.

He Jishang muttered to herself for a while, then slowly went downstairs and stopped in front of my window. I could feel her gaze sweeping over me from head to toe.

"Who are you? Who exactly are you? Why do I feel that you and Brother Tian have so much in common? Tell me... tell me... Perhaps, we should form an alliance, go through that ancient cave, and find Brother Tian together? Right?"

I closed my eyes, regulated my breathing, and pretended to be fast asleep.

She leaned down, extended her icy hand, and pressed it against my forehead, whispering as if in a dream: "Brother Tian, what is he to you? What was that baby to you back then? Why did you leave without saying goodbye? Was I not good enough? Although I am a Miao person from the deep mountains and marshes, I was willing to leave the Five Poisons Sect for you, to forget my people forever, and to follow you across mountains and rivers, to the ends of the earth. Tell me, tell me..."

I felt her fingers gradually tightening their grip. I immediately gathered my strength and surged upwards, silently resisting her pull, ready to counterattack at any moment. Her fingers tightened on my forehead like five steel hooks, then suddenly released and pulled back, crying out in a panicked whisper, "No, no, I can't kill him! He's Brother Tian's darling! If I kill him, Brother Tian will never forgive me—"

Suddenly, she spun around and rushed out, leaping down the stone steps and disappearing.

I jumped up and hid in the shadows by the door, but I never saw her again.

Just thinking about her fingers and the tone of her voice makes me realize how she treated me when I was still an infant, and a chill runs down my spine. How could a baby who couldn't even speak withstand a sudden attack from a master like her? Luckily, heaven had mercy on me and I survived.

After lying down again, I slept soundly and deeply. When I opened my eyes in a daze, the sun had already risen in front of the window.

"Good morning, Mr. Feng." Standing by the window was Fei Yue, her face slightly flustered. Ever since the stone wall incident, she had been in a bad mood and had lost her usual chatter and laughter.

"What happened?" I threw off the covers and sprang to my feet, at the same time hearing a large group of people talking noisily. In fact, it was this noise that woke me up.

The sunlight was a bit dazzling, and the snow on the stone steps outside had long since melted into water, leaving them damp. I shook my head, composed myself, and first needed to figure out what had happened.

Feiyue pointed towards the door: "The people from the Consort's Palace have all arrived, but the group led by Xiao Guan has become six corpses, and the blood has stained Changxi red. Everyone is waiting for your decision on the specifics." Her hair looked very disheveled, and her clothes were full of wrinkles, so she must have just woken up suddenly from a dream, just like me.

I had a bad feeling about this before, and when Li Kang reported it to me on the phone, I already guessed what was going on.

I led Feiyue down the stone steps. Everyone was standing in the middle of the wooden building on the main road, in small groups, making a lot of noise. The Jiang brothers were standing in front of Feiying, gesturing and talking excitedly. When they saw me, they immediately dropped Feiying and strode towards me.

The Bacon brothers stood around a wooden stretcher, on which lay a man covered by a thin blanket—none other than the once-arrogant Schiller.

"Mr. Feng, the Jiang brothers are demanding money to retreat. They've been yelling and screaming, and the eldest brother is about to lose his temper," Fei Yue whispered behind me. Her tone carried a hint of sarcasm. No wonder; with the Jiang brothers' skills, if they angered Flying Eagle, they'd likely suffer a major setback. These folk martial artists will never understand the complexities of the martial world; they're always shouting and yelling, as if they're still in their own little village.

"Mr. Feng, write me a check, and we'll leave the expedition immediately. We've had enough of this constant fear!" Jiang Guang huffed, his sleeves half-rolled up, revealing his muscular arms. He glared at me without any politeness, as if a creditor had openly come to collect a debt.

I stared at his rough face, remembering how Suren had stubbornly ventured into the mountains after hearing the brothers' stories, only to end up in this state of complete silence. I couldn't help but feel a little angry: "Money is no problem, but you have to tell me that whole story again. I need all the details. Once you've told me, I'll write you a check, and we'll go our separate ways, how about that?"

A greedy glint appeared in Jiang Liang's eyes: "Really?"

Tens of thousands of RMB are nothing to me, and I have no reason to lie to them, but I'm too lazy to explain. I turned to Feiyue and said, "Tell Feiying, Liang Wei, Xiao Guan, Li Kang, and Li Zun'er to come to He Jishang's wooden building. Everyone has to listen carefully, the more carefully the better."

Such a difficult expedition would be extremely challenging if the burden were placed solely on one person. It would be better to have everyone listen to the Chiang brothers' opinions and brainstorm together; perhaps new discoveries could be made. As for having Li Zun'er participate, it was to verify whether there were any major errors in his original record.

"Mr. Feng, Xiao Guan has gone missing. Apart from six corpses, no one else was found at the scene," Fei Yue replied anxiously, and immediately went to relay my message.

Missing? Does that mean they were devoured by some monster?

I retreated back into the wooden building, puzzled. He Jishang leaned against the door, arms crossed, gazing across the street. If nothing unexpected happened, she would likely drag me back to that spot this afternoon to watch the footage of my older brother appearing again.

“Miss He, I have two guides who will be telling you about their experience many years ago when they passed through Lan Valley and the Heavenly Ladder and entered a huge underground palace. Would you like to come and listen?”

My words weren't funny, but she frowned and sneered after hearing only half of them: "Passing through Lan Valley and the Heavenly Ladder? Is this another huge lie to swindle money? I've heard many different versions of lies. This time, I don't want your tour guide to become the village guardian's breakfast."

This question coincided with my own. I spent very little time in the concubine's palace and didn't have time to inquire about this matter in detail, which is why it has been delayed until now.

"Miss He, have you been to Lan Valley?" In her account last night, she didn't mention the search she started after her elder brother left, but this was unavoidable. Since her elder brother's goal was the Heavenly Ladder, she would definitely follow him.

“Yes.” She nodded.

People speak the truth when they're drunk. Now that I'm sober, the distance between us seems to have grown a little more, not too far, not too close, just right.

Flying Eagle and the others had gathered and were walking towards the stone steps. After a long journey overnight, Liang Wei didn't look too well; his boots and trouser legs were covered in dust.

He Jishang still held back. Some people's secrets could only be revealed under the cover of alcohol and the *night* (a banned book, please delete). It seemed that she was precisely that kind of person. Miao people are naturally open-minded and straightforward, expressing their thoughts immediately. The fact that she had cultivated this personality must be because she had been deceived and tricked many times over the past ten years, naturally learning to protect herself, just like the ugly mask on her face.

I smiled kindly and said, "Come and listen. Our goal is to cross Lan Valley. If we happen to get any clues about Hero Yang Tian, we will definitely send someone back to inform you."

The Chiang brothers were probably used to recounting that harrowing history in front of many people. They began with vivid descriptions, like storytellers taking the stage: "More than thirty years ago, in early winter, my brother and I were being hunted. We fled into the deep mountains, surviving on pheasants and rabbits. Our enemies were waiting outside the mountains, threatening to kill us after the New Year. We had no choice but to keep going deeper into the mountains until one day we discovered a strange snake with two wings. We were cold and hungry, so we found a cave, cooked the two-meter-long, frozen snake, and ate it."

Driven by the desire for money and fame, they must have processed this material many times, getting straight to the point by mentioning the flying snakes in the Orchid Valley at the beginning.

He Jishang did not come in, but leaned against the door frame and looked south into the distance.

"As we walked, we found more strange snakes everywhere—by the roadside, in the streams, under the rocks, on the branches—all of them frozen stiff or half-dead. The elders said that treasures were hidden where these strange snakes appeared, and that they were the guardian spirits of those treasures. Since we couldn't leave the mountain, we continued walking down the valley. Not far from the valley, on a long cliff, there was a round stone house, even the entrance was round, though there was no door. It was snowing lightly at the time, and we went inside without thinking twice."

Li Zun squinted and smiled, looking very proud. He had personally recorded these stories, and presumably, he had also "artistically embellished" them with his own imagination. One can imagine how proud this pedantic old village teacher was when others vividly recounted the works he had "compiled."

"What is that? Is that stone house the ladder to heaven?" He Jishang suddenly asked, turning her face away.

Jiang Guang laughed: "Of course! There are red characters carved on the stone house. Although we don't recognize those crooked characters, we still managed to copy them down. We brought them back to show Old Li. He is very knowledgeable and recognized the two characters 'Heavenly Ladder'."

Li Zun'er nodded with feigned elegance, ignoring He Jishang's question.

"And on the way? You didn't encounter anything and just passed through Lan Valley safely?" He Jishang's tone was also strange, full of mockery.

Jiang Guang was taken aback: "On the way? What do you mean?"

Everyone in the room turned their gaze to He Jishang, especially Jiang Guang, Jiang Liang, and Li Zun'er, whose faces were filled with anger, as if they would scoff and be furious at anyone who dared to doubt this experience.

He Jishang slowly shook her head: "I don't mean anything by it, you can continue. What good will it do once you reach the Heavenly Ladder? Can you go to heaven and earth and do whatever you want?"

I understand that what she knows must be vastly different from what the Jiang brothers told us, which is why she spoke in this tone. In fact, given her agility and methods, she was already being very lenient with the Jiang brothers. The village guardian was nearby; with just a whistle from her, the Jiang brothers would likely vanish from the face of the earth.

“Mr. Jiang, please continue.” I waved my arm to bring everyone’s attention back.

Jiang Guang seemed a little distracted, so Jiang Liang continued, "We entered the stone house, which was empty, with nothing inside. Suddenly, the ground dropped rapidly, as if we had fallen into a deep well, falling without any support. We didn't have watches, so we don't know how long we fell. When we could see things again, we were in a huge square. Opposite the square was an ancient palace, with a huge black plaque with gold characters hanging above the entrance. Old Li recognized the characters as 'Epang Palace'."

Jiang Liang's eloquence was clearly inferior to his brother's, and he delivered the most thrilling part in a bland and uninteresting way.

To be honest, this is an adventure story that easily sparks the imagination. Monsters, deep wells, underground palaces, Qin Shi Huang's Epang Palace… It is said that after Qin Shi Huang conquered the six states, he looted all the treasures from the capitals of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, and Wei, transporting them in massive quantities to the Epang Palace on Mount Li. If the place the Jiang brothers visited was also an "Epang Palace," one can only imagine the treasures inside.

Li Zun'er coughed lightly with extreme arrogance: "May I fill in the details of what follows?"

His thinking may still be stuck in the era of "respecting Confucius and Mencius, and using classical Chinese phrases," so he is often self-centered, regardless of the actual environment.

Li Kang tugged at his collar and kept giving him colorful gestures.

Li Zun turned his head unhappily and scolded, "Kang'er, I wrote down their experiences myself, transcribed them word by word. Shouldn't I also be remembered in history?"

Flying Eagle shouted, "And then what? You took nothing but a compass? What about the gold? The luminous pearl? The ancient sword? Did you leave with nothing else? I don't believe it!"

To enter a treasure mountain and return empty-handed is the most regrettable thing. Given Flying Eagle's personality, he would not be satisfied until he had looted the entire ancient tomb he discovered.

Jiang Liang replied, "We only found this one inside. We searched all the rooms, but they were empty, without a single person in sight. We got tired and went back to the round room that led into the square, then we rose back up to the ground and came back down. That's all we experienced."

He Jishang sneered: "This isn't a child's game. Do you think people will believe you based on this little bit of information? What a joke!"

Jiang Guang glared at her impatiently: "What do you know, you ugly hag? Get out of here. I'm talking to Mr. Feng. Others are listening for free. Why are you so fussy?"

These words appeared in detail in Li Zun'er's notes, and there were many embellished and exaggerated chapters, such as describing the splendor and vastness of the Epang Palace.

The Jiang brothers were nothing more than country martial arts instructors outside Xianyang. Their understanding of the martial arts world consisted only of street thugs causing trouble and fighting. They had never encountered a true master who could take a life in an instant. In their minds, this was a law-abiding society in broad daylight, and no one would dare to raise their hand to kill. Therefore, they dared to lose their temper with anyone without ever thinking about who Flying Eagle and He Jishang were.

Even the flying snakes in Lan Valley freeze solid? That's strange. If only we had waited until after the heavy snowfall in the mountains, wouldn't that have saved us all this trouble?

He Jishang ignored Jiang Guang's rudeness and smiled faintly: "The village guardian has not eaten for a long time. I'll go check on him." She turned and went down the steps, her face expressionless.