The sky over the rivers and lakes is very clear

Chapter 6

"The fourth case involves an old man surnamed Sun who was guarding a mortuary. He was found dead in his residence there. Because the mortuary was located in a remote area, it did not implicate anyone else. The reason this case is connected to the others is that before the incident, a gambler saw several strangely dressed people enter the mortuary from a distant hillside. One of them was carrying a large hammer, and another was carrying a knife. They disappeared in a flash, and at the time, he thought he was seeing things..."

The boy's brows furrowed: "A hammer? And a knife?" Images of shattered skulls, severed heads, and dissected chests and abdomens flashed before his eyes...

The man in blue hummed in agreement: "The village you visited is called Half Moon Village. The villagers are all native farmers. Although the farmers are strong and muscular, none of them know any martial arts! In fact, apart from the Donglin Escort Agency, everyone is just an ordinary person. They would avoid any fights with hooligans and have absolutely no connection to martial arts feuds!"

The young man in white pondered for a moment: "Besides the fact that most of them were ordinary people and that their entire families were massacred, are there any connections or commonalities among these families?"

"Yes! There definitely is—" the man in blue said solemnly.

The young man raised an eyebrow: "Oh?"

"—But we haven't found it yet." The man in blue shrugged innocently.

He paused abruptly, looked at the sheathed sword pressed against his throat, and carefully pushed it away with two fingers. The sword's sharpness, even before it was drawn, made his neck ache with a chilling aura.

"It was just a joke, there's no need to resort to knives and swords!" the man in blue said, sounding "wronged."

The young man in white slowly put down his sword and said leisurely, "I was just joking."

The man in the blue shirt stared at him, then suddenly smiled.

This young man in white, the color of maple leaves and snow, possesses a gentle and refined demeanor that conceals a powerful spirit within. He truly deserves to be called a leader among the younger generation!

He picked up the now-cold teacup: "Please, my beauty, sing me a song!"

With a casual wave of her blue sleeves, several courtesans lying on the floor let out soft moans and slowly opened their eyes.

The Sky Over the Martial World is Clear - Part One: The Sky Over the Martial World is Clear - Chapter 3 (2)

"Her evening makeup was just finished, a touch of sandalwood and agarwood lightly applied. She subtly revealed her clove-like teeth, and sang a clear song, briefly parting her cherry lips. Her silk sleeves were stained with a faint crimson, and the deep cup was stained with fragrant wine. Leaning against the embroidered bed, she was charmingly helpless, chewing on red velvet, and laughing as she spat it at her lover."

The courtesans were singing Li Yu's "A Measure of Pearls".

The "Cherry Blossom" painted boat slowly drifted down the Liuhua River amidst the melodious and beautiful songs sung on the clappers.

After walking for a short while, they arrived at Peach Blossom Ferry, where flower boats and small boats gradually appeared on the river.

Peach blossoms lined the banks, pink mist drifted, and a soft fragrance filled the air.

Amidst the ten miles of peach blossoms, tourists stroll leisurely in groups, walk alone under green bamboo umbrellas, or engage in lively discussions in twos and threes; under the misty rain, beauties vie with the red rain for charm, and scholars compete with Liu Lang for elegance, truly a scene of unparalleled elegance.

The "Cherry Blossom" boat moored at the shore. The man in the blue shirt had someone open the window of the pleasure boat, and he and Feng Xuese sat inside, drinking wine and admiring the flowers through a thin gauze curtain.

“‘A cluster of peach blossoms blooms unattended, lovely in both deep red and light red.’ Countless poems have been written about peach blossoms throughout the ages, but I believe that Du Fu’s line is the most affectionate.”

“Brother Zhou, you are mistaken. Du Zimei was indeed deeply affectionate, but when it comes to praising peach blossoms, I think Li Bai’s ‘Peach blossoms drift away on the flowing water, a world apart from the human realm’ is a masterpiece.”

"No, no, I think Mr. Mengde's lines, 'Half of the hundred-acre courtyard is covered in moss, the peach blossoms are gone and the rapeseed flowers are in bloom. Where has the Taoist who planted the peach trees gone? Liu Lang has come again, just as before,' are very simple in words but extremely poignant in sentiment..."

On the shore, beneath a peach tree in full bloom, three pedantic scholars were engaged in a lively debate, their voices growing louder and louder.

The man in blue smiled helplessly, "These people are talking so enthusiastically, but they're being quite noisy."

Upon hearing this, Feng Xuese couldn't help but smile slightly, raising her cup to invite the man in blue to drink together.

Just as he was about to order someone to steer the boat to find a quiet place, he suddenly heard a great commotion on the shore, and someone shouted, "Get out of the way! Be careful not to get splattered with blood!"

The two looked toward the source of the chaos and saw a strange and unusual group of people approaching from a distance.

The young man was dressed in tattered clothes, his shirt open, revealing his undergarment, the color of which was indistinguishable from the greasy fabric. On his feet were a pair of worn-out shoes with several holes, six of his ten toes sticking out arrogantly, each dirtier than the last. He wore a soft hat askew on his head, which, though not new, was relatively clean, but his messy hair had not been combed in who knows how long, as tangled as a crow's nest, with bits of grass clinging to it, as if he had just crawled out of someone's chicken coop. Looking at his face, it seemed he hadn't washed it for years, his face covered in filth, making it impossible to recognize his original features. His hands, blackened with dirt, were on his hips as he walked, shouting and yelling.

Despite his filthy appearance, resembling a slovenly ghost, he was surprisingly imposing when he was cursing, even displaying a certain air of arrogance and pride.

Behind him followed thirty or forty people. These people were all the same old, weak, sick, and disabled, the oldest being over seventy and the youngest just fifteen or sixteen. They were all dressed in tattered clothes, and the able-bodied ones either had extra or missing body parts. What was striking was that this group of people were pushing a cart with two people on each cart, on which were two large wooden buckets and a long-handled wooden spoon. Even from dozens of feet away, the stench was so foul that it made one want to vomit.

This group of people marched in this direction in a large, imposing manner, exuding a murderous aura.

The men and women visiting the peach blossom grove glanced sideways, and upon recognizing the newcomers, they quickly covered their noses and moved away. One boorish man cursed, "Damn it, even the chamber pot purgers in Qingyang City are rebelling!"

The impoverished scholar, a staunch supporter of Du Zimei, shouted, "Where did these lowly servants come from? Is this a place for you? Get out of here!"

The disheveled youth in the lead snarled, "Shut your bird mouths! Get the hell out of my way!"

Those who supported Li Bai were trembling with anger: "You scoundrel, how dare you be so disrespectful to us! Guards, take my letter and go to the yamen in the city..."

The hooligan kicked him in the butt, sending him tumbling over.

When a scholar encounters a soldier, reason is useless. Scholars are incredibly eloquent, but when faced with a barbarian who eats raw rice, they can only flee in terror!

Seeing the situation was turning against them, the "pro-Liu Mengde faction" and the "pro-Du Zimei faction" grabbed the "pro-Li Taibai faction" members and the three of them ran away in a flash, shouting as they went, desperately trying to save face: "You wait! You wait! We're going to report this to the authorities right now!"

The Sky Over the Martial World is Clear - Part One: The Sky Over the Martial World is Clear - Chapter 3 (3)

The ruffian ignored them, craned his neck to look into the Liuhua River, pointed at one of the magnificent vermilion flower boats, and roared, "That's it—Rouge Qi! Everyone, charge!"

Feng Xuese and the man in blue both looked at the sign "Rouge Qi," a light red brocade banner embroidered with three large black characters—it was clearly "Rouge Studio." Apparently, this rascal couldn't read very well, not even distinguishing between "Qi" and "Zhai"!

The group of old, weak, sick, and disabled people, all eager to get started, shouted in unison, pushed their carts towards the riverbank, and when they got close, they opened the wooden buckets, scooped up the yellowish-white substance inside with long-handled wooden ladles, and threw it forcefully at "Rouge Qi".

Before "Rouge Qi" could react, she was already doused with countless drops of "gold." The singing girls on the boat screamed in terror, their delicate cries tugging at one's heartstrings.

A fat madam and a skinny pimp jumped out of the cabin, pointing their fingers and cursing, "Where did these bastards come from, daring to act wildly here!" Before they finished speaking, a ladle of "golden soup" flew over and smeared her fat face completely.

The fat madam was so overwhelmed by the stench that she tumbled onto the deck, crying and cursing. The skinny pimp, quick-witted as ever, darted back into his cabin and never came out again.

The scoundrel laughed loudly, "You dare bully my Hua Hua? I'll make you all pay! Everyone hurry up, they're trying to escape!"

Upon hearing this, those on the shore swung their ladles even harder.