Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 184: Wang Clan of Langya

Ten thousand dragon boats weave through the green willows along the canal, sailing to Yangzhou but never to return.

It’s as if heaven decreed the opening up of the Bian River, where there are to be no mountains for over a thousand li.[1]

A large boat flying the Cao Gang’s flag headed north along the river.

During the chaos in Jiangnan, the Cao Gang had stopped sending resources from the south to the capital. In an unusual move, the imperial court had ordered for the resources in Jiangnan to be kept where they were. There were many young men from the Cao Gang who were now assisting the government in resisting the efforts of the Maitreya Cult to spread their influence. Wan Dongliu’s secret identity as a member of the Four Idols Cult still had not been revealed nor come into play. The Cao Gang remained a legitimate organization closely tied to the government.

There were not many people on this boat at the moment, and the cargo being transported was just for the personal business of the Wan Clan. Their destination was not the capital, but Qingxu.

There was another thing special about this boat. It carried two passengers who were neither workers nor paid for passage. One of these shameless passengers even brought with him a horse. Ever since the global announcement that the Tome of Troubled Times issued, Zhao Changhe no longer dared to continue operating within the sphere of influence of the Maitreya Cult. If he were to get captured by them, the consequences he would have to face would be no joke. The very night that the Tome of Troubled Times displayed his change in ranking, he immediately headed north to Yangzhou and happened to hitch a ride on Wan Dongliu’s boat to continue his escape northward.

Those who had taken this boat in hopes of going to Wushan, on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, found that this boat was not headed toward the destination they had hoped. But in the current chaos of war, there were pretty much no boats that were going the right way. They much rather set off first and figure things out later. Heading north seemed like a good alternative—perhaps there would be places of safety at Yanmen Pass, perhaps....

The other passenger who had hitched a ride was Daoist Priest Xuan Chong. He was returning to his sect, the Taiyi Sect, which was on Mount Tai. Luckily for him, the boat was heading in the right direction as far as he was concerned.

At this moment, Xuan Chong was sitting on the bow of the boat, enjoying the breeze that blew on his face and leisurely drinking wine as he admired the picturesque scenery.

What made him find the experience particularly enjoyable was the presence of a chessboard right in front of him. Opposite him sat someone with a bear-like figure, sitting cross-legged with a furrowed brow. The other person had not made a move for about an incense stick’s worth of time at this point.

“Brother Zhao,” Xuan Chong said leisurely. “When you said that you didn’t know how to play Go, we switched to chess[2]. But when it comes to chess, it seems that you can’t handle it either. As for Gobang, you’re the one who made it up. Now that we’re in a deadlock, what other game do you want to try next?”

Zhao Changhe sniffed and muttered under his breath, “Are you guys even martial artists anymore? You’re all experts in the four arts. Also, you’ve never played Gobang before, right? How are you so good?”

“The rules for it are just too simple. There’s no need to have played it before to do well in it,” Xuan Chong said leisurely. “It’s more accurate to say that when it comes to things other than martial arts, your brain is simply too...um...too....”

After hesitating for a while, it seemed like he could not come up with any way to say what he wanted lightly. But if he were to directly say stupid, he worried that the person sitting in front of him would get angry.

“I can play the guqin now, so don’t you dare say that I don’t have any talents in the arts,” Zhao Changhe said. Feeling somewhat distressed, he pulled out a copper coin and handed it over. “Here, take it. I admit defeat. As expected, gambling really isn’t my thing... “

Xuan Chong almost burst out into laughter at his expression.

During their journey, both of them claimed that they did not gamble, so they decided to just use a copper coin for entertainment.

I never thought that Zhao Changhe would feel so distressed from losing just a single copper coin. He seems really different from how people think of him.

“What are you smirking like that for? I was so busy diving and drilling holes into the boats that I forgot about the banknotes I was carrying. All my banknotes got soaked in the water, so now I have no money...” Zhao Changhe was very distressed. “Why aren’t there any storage pouches in this world? It’s so inconvenient. I even had to hide my saber in the reeds.”[3]

Xuan Chong burst into laughter.

“Hey, Daoist brother, are the people in your sect cultivating to become immortals? Have you ever heard of things like storage pouches or storage rings, or do you know if they might have existed during the previous era?”

“It has been mentioned in stories, but I’ve never personally seen one,” Xuan Chong said thoughtfully. “As for such items having existed in the previous era.... Hmm, it seems quite possible. I mean, these items are basically a form of spatial magic. The people of today aren’t really capable of such things. However, just because we can’t does not mean that the gods and demons of the previous era also couldn’t. According to various legends, they were in fact capable of such feats. If you really need something of the sort, then maybe you can get lucky and stumble upon one in some ruins.”

Zhao Changhe curled his lips. The Sword Emperor’s tomb was actually a top-tier ruin in a sense; it was a pity that nobody dared to explore it too deeply. Besides some of the inheritances on the outskirts, there was not anything particularly valuable, let alone storage treasures. He wondered if Sisi had seen one. Unfortunately, nobody had mentioned anything about such items.

But even if they did exist, with the current level of cultivation that everyone had, they probably would not even be able to use them.... What would they use to access the items stored inside a storage ring? True qi? Nowadays, their level of true qi was not even enough to grab something and move it through the air....

Zhao Changhe wanted to experiment a bit and suddenly stretched out his hand, attempting to lift the pieces on the board up into the air. The pieces moved slightly, but he could not lift them up.

Xuan Chong did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Brother Zhao, you might be able to succeed with a piece of paper but forget about chess pieces. You don’t really have much of a chance at being able to do something special like that unless you’ve specifically practiced absorption-type martial arts, such as the Dragon Subduing Art, and you’ve grasped special types of energy.”

Zhao Changhe’s eyes lit up. “There are actually such kinds of martial arts? Where can I find them?”

“You can go check the Thieves Guild. Is there anyone else in this world who’s better at stealing things?”

“Well...”

Speaking of which, where has Ji Chengkong gone? Zhao Changhe suspected that the man had recognized Sisi. If he really did recognize her, then he probably left since he no longer needs to look for anyone. The Thieves Guild seems interesting. I’ll see if I can improve my relations with them if I have the chance.

Feeling that Xuan Chong was also quite knowledgeable, he took the opportunity to inquire about something else. “If I were to look for a powerful and aggressive fist art, which school is the most renowned? The Beggars Gang?”

“Although the Beggars Gang is indeed an option, their martial arts primarily focus on rod or staff arts. Their fist arts aren’t particularly famous. Besides, the Beggars Gang does not follow the path of aggression,” Xuan Chong said, looking puzzled. “It’s surprising how lacking you are in knowledge of the jianghu. I know you haven’t been in the jianghu for long, but you have a good relationship with Yue Hongling and First Seat Tang. Yue Hongling has traveled all over the world, while First Seat Tang has an extensive information network. What have you been talking about with them all this time?”

Zhao Changhe felt like slapping a clown mask onto his own face.

Xuan Chong continued, “If you’re looking for the most powerful and aggressive hand-to-hand combat art, then it’s undoubtedly His Majesty’s ‘My Fist.’ Its power and aggression are unmatched in the current era.”

“His Majesty’s what now??”

“That’s what His Majesty calls it.”

Zhao Changhe secretly wondered if everything the emperor had was given a name as cheesy as Dragon Bird.

“What’s next?”

“The next would be the Heaven-Suppressing Sea Palm belonging to the Wang Clan of Langya, and the fist art of the Black Tortoise from the Four Idols Cult. I don’t know the name of that one, but it’s said that a single punch can blast a person apart...”

Blasting a person apart might be believable if it was done by injecting true qi internally to cause an explosion, but relying solely on brute force to do so seemed a bit far-fetched to Zhao Changhe. After pondering for a moment, he felt that both the Wang Clan and the Black Tortoise were out of his reach. Could it be that he really was on the road to acknowledging another father?

“What about the Taiyi Sect? Are you really cultivators?”

“Our Daoist sect follows the path of using softness to overcome hardness. Although our hand-to-hand combat arts are good, they are not what you’re looking for.”

Is that so? Zhao Changhe looked at him thoughtfully, but did not pursue the topic further. Just as he was about to ask about the next tier of fist arts, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from the distant shore.

Both of them had keen senses. Although the hoofbeats were distant, they sensed that the riders were approaching the boat them. They exchanged a glance and ended their conversation.

Before long, a cavalry troop swept over, halting at the shore in perfect formation.

The leader of the troop raised his voice and shouted, “Stop the boat!”

The boatmen of the Cao Gang were used to being unruly, so how could they care about what some random people said? They let the boat continue moving forward without even taking a second glance at the group.

“How daring! Has the Cao Gang become so audacious as to challenge our Wang Clan?” the leading cavalryman sneered. The next moment, he suddenly leaped into the air from the back of his horse, soaring toward the edge of the boat.

There was obviously quite some distance between the boat and the shore. When Zhao Changhe had to wait for Cui Yuanyang to row to the shore, he had to wait for quite a while before he could leap onto the shore. However, this cavalryman’s leap actually took him very close to the boat.

Zhao Changhe watched with great interest. Just as the cavalryman was about to start falling, he suddenly threw out a grappling hook, which accurately latched onto the edge of the boat. With the help of this hook, he smoothly landed on the bow of the boat.

The people on the shore saw this and cheered, “Amazing!”

Zhao Changhe also secretly praised the cavalryman in his heart. That move is quite interesting. I wonder if I can learn it. Damn, I’ve got too many things on me. It might not be convenient to do that.

The captain walked out of the cabin with a somewhat ugly look on his face. “The Wang Clan?”

The cavalryman replied proudly, “Indeed.”

The captain thought to himself, This guy is really arrogant. If I had not heard you say that you were from the Wang Clan, you would have been shot full of arrows long ago.

Of course, since he was from the Wang Clan, he could afford to be arrogant. The Cao Gang did not really dare to offend him. The captain could only swallow his anger and ask, “May I ask why the Wang Clan has called for my boat to stop?”

The cavalryman did not answer. Instead, there was suddenly a loud smack as he slapped the captain across the face, causing him to stumble backward.

Xuan Chong stood up abruptly, and Zhao Changhe’s gaze instantly turned fierce.

The man suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as if he were being eyed by a fierce tiger. However, he did not know which of the two men on the bow of the boat the feeling was coming from.

1. This is an excerpt from a work by Pi Rixiu, titled “Two Poems Reminiscing of the Bian River”. ☜

2. This is Chinese chess, also known as elephant chess. ☜

3. Just a note that the silver notes he was carrying are called silver notes because they are the equivalent of silver taels, not because they are made of silver. This is historically accurate—paper money was already circulated in ancient China. ☜