Chapter 83

Chapter 83

As the year drew to a close, the story of *The Swordsman* also neared its end.

In the book, Liu Qingyu stayed on Wuyu Mountain, where she was accepted as a direct disciple by the sect leader.

The elders of Wuyu Mountain could only shake their heads, sighing in resignation; this woman was one who defied convention, and their sect leader was no different.

With these two becoming master and disciple, Wuyu Mountain was likely in for a lot less peace.

This Martial Arts Tournament ultimately did not select a new Martial Arts Alliance Leader. The guardianship of the *Heart Sutra* was decided by having each sect leave some personnel behind to jointly watch over it until the next tournament, when an Alliance Leader would be chosen and the sutra entrusted to them.

The enemy nation's secret guards were escorted by Wuyu Mountain disciples to the local authorities for interrogation to see if there were any other plots against Wu Country, allowing for strengthened defenses.

Han Ying and his four companions continued their journey northward, through endless mountains, grasslands, deserts...

Scene after scene of vast, distant landscapes unfurled before the teahouse patrons.

Guided by Shen Yuan's narration, they saw flocks of birds over mountain ranges, galloping steeds on expansive grasslands, and camel bells swaying in the yellow sandstorms...

They met hermit blade masters in the mountains, horse gangs on the grasslands who fought the powerful and robbed from the rich to aid the poor, and chivalrous warriors in the desert who offered a lifeline to those lost in the sands.

And there was the chaotic border region between nations, spawning a shadowy trade zone where people from both countries struggled to survive.

The patrons listened to their daily lives and imagined their existence, which didn't seem all that different from anyone else's.

Everyone was simply trying to live as best they could.

Han Ying encountered Ling Feng in a frontier town amidst swirling yellow sand.

He was no longer young, his hair streaked with grey.

Everyone in the town called him Hero Ling. Whenever someone was in a bind, they would seek Hero Ling's help.

Lu Shuitan and Chen Ranfeng watched as Ling Feng helped an elderly woman carry heavy loads, got a kite down from a tree for a child, stood up for a bullied youth, and recovered a stolen money pouch for someone...

The two asked Ling Feng in confusion, "Hero Ling, didn't you want to roam the *jianghu* and become a great hero? Why stay here, doing trivial chores every day?"

As he spoke, Ling Feng, quick as lightning, swatted away a sandbag thrown from nearby at Lu Shuitan.

He tossed the sandbag back, telling the kids to be careful, before answering their question. "Acts of chivalry aren't measured by their scale. Helping villagers fight off bandits is chivalry. So is helping them carry a heavy load. I am here because this place needs me."

Lu Shuitan asked, "Then why didn't you stay in Liu'an County back then, Hero Ling? The people you saved there probably needed you too."

Ling Feng lowered his gaze. After a long pause, he sighed. "I was too much of a fraud back then. My mind was full of chivalrous ideals, but at heart, I wanted to make a name for myself in the *jianghu*, to have the name Ling Feng known across the martial world. Once I left Liu'an County, I could never convince myself to return. Rivers, lakes, seas—so vast, boundless, free and unfettered. They called to me, and my selfish desires did too."

"Back then, did you ever consider that the group you saved in Liu'an County, without your protection, might not have been able to survive on their own?" Chen Ranfeng inquired.

"I did," Ling Feng said, looking at the swords in their hands. "On one side, a long-cherished dream; on the other, shackles for who knows how long. What would you choose?"

"Where there are people, there are desires. One cannot resist a dream on the verge of realization. The more confined one feels, the stronger the urge to escape." Ling Feng suddenly paused here. "That's what I thought back then."

Later, after various experiences, the unease and guilt within him grew deeper.

Finally, he stopped his steps in this frontier town.

Ling Feng confronted the weaknesses of his humanity and his own desires. These things made him who he was.

Only, a person's choices affect not just the present, but also a distant, unreachable future. Though he had traveled ten thousand miles, from beginning to end, Ling Feng had never truly left Liu'an County.

Because of this, he had not completed his training journey and could not return to the Unity Sword Sect.

Shen Yuan's voice, deep and tinged with regret, continued the story. "Han Ying did not pass any judgment on Ling Feng. He merely told Ling Feng what had happened in Liu'an County afterward, and that their master had instructed every disciple who left the mountain to search for Ling Feng. Some were killed in Liu'an County, some escaped, some never passed through Liu'an County."

Ling Feng had never imagined his departure would lead to such consequences.

The thought that fellow disciples had come to harm while searching for him deepened the remorse in Ling Feng's heart.

Having found Ling Feng, Han Ying had essentially completed the task entrusted by his master.

The five stood before the town gate, gazing at the road ahead, swallowed by endless yellow sand.

Lu Shuitan asked, "Does Hero Ling still count as a chivalrous person?"

Before Han Ying could answer, they saw two women passing by. One was weeping bitterly, the other comforting her, "Sister-in-law, don't worry. Let's go find Hero Ling. Little Sha will surely be saved. Last time, Old Zhang's grandson also fell into that pit, and Hero Ling got him out."

The weeping woman clung to this lifeline. "Really?"

The other woman nodded emphatically, without a hint of falsehood. "Of course! Hero Ling is amazing. He flew right up with the kid! Don't worry."

The two women walked quickly, growing more distant.

Han Ying said, "To me, he does. For those who were helped and saved by Senior Brother in the past, in that moment they were saved, Senior Brother was the hero who pulled them from the fire. Even if not saving others, merely saving oneself, ensuring one's own survival—then one is one's own hero."

"Many definitions exist, all resting on a single thought within the human heart."

Lu Shuitan nodded slowly. At the very least, Ling Feng was Hero Ling to this frontier town.

He said, "Brother Han, where do we go from here?"

Han Ying replied, "I'll send word of Senior Brother's whereabouts back to the sect, then continue our travels. I wish to journey through various countries, upholding justice and helping the weak."

Zhao Yue immediately followed, "I'll travel the countries with Hero Han. I want to see the medical arts of other places."

Zhao Fan promptly added, "Me too."

Lu Shuitan and Chen Ranfeng exchanged a glance, then smiled. "Let us travel the countries together, punishing evil, promoting good, and upholding justice!"

As the sun set, sand swirled.

Han Ying, holding his sword, smiled. "Let's set off!"

The story concluded here, yet the team that called themselves the Six Heroes of Jiangnan, though in reality only five, continued to uphold justice in an uncharted world.

On some future day, the sixth hero would meet them again.

With the final sound of the storyteller's block marking the end of *The Swordsman*, the teahouse patrons felt a momentary sense of loss and wistfulness.

In this story, they had witnessed too many different landscapes and experienced the chivalry and swift vengeance of the *jianghu*. They understood what it meant to be a swordsman, were amazed by Han Ying's swordsmanship, and were filled with an endless yearning for martial arts and chivalry.

From the various deeds of the Six Heroes of Jiangnan, they also saw the power of life. So many people struggling to survive, so many chivalrous figures who cared not for other matters, only wishing to uphold justice and punish evil. Many of their own thoughts seemed to slowly change along with the story's progression.

The rewards for this final session were the highest since the very first one.

Having finished telling *The Swordsman* at the Ji Family Teahouse, Shen Yuan wasn't idle. He prepared to create a simpler, abridged version of *The Swordsman* for storytellers to perform in the streets and alleys.

The Xie family secret guards had told *Love Between Human and Ghost* for three rounds in the streets before stopping. Those still telling it now were people who had heard the story earlier, relying on their memory to scrape together some reward money for a meal.

However, lacking proper training and with incomplete memories of the story, the details never matched up from one telling to the next.

But for the ordinary folks, it was enough; having something to listen to was better than the silence they had before.

The Ji family servants were needed to run the tea houses, so Shen Yuan thought of recruiting a new batch of storytellers specifically to perform in the streets and alleys.

Old matters should not linger into the new year. The simplified version of *The Swordsman*, the recruitment of new storytellers, the *The Swordsman* paintings, and the preparation of the new character puppets—all these tasks had to be finished before the year's end.

Although Shen Yuan no longer had to go to the tea houses to perform, he was busier than usual.

Fortunately, with Ji Xingwang around, the recruitment could be handed over to him, and he could also oversee the production of the character puppets.

Shen Yuan was sensitive to the cold. Now that the weather had turned chilly and he didn't have to perform, he holed up at home to revise his stories and paint.

With Ji Xingwang overseeing the Storytellers' Union and Guo Mingchen and Xu Kangfu keeping an eye on the yamen, he had nothing to worry about.

After three days of buried writing, he was dragged out by Shen Anniang on a bright, sunny day to bask in the sun and, incidentally, to air out the bamboo slips in his room.

Shen Yuan felt he really ought to move around a bit, so he called his younger brothers to help.

When Song Zijuan first left, Shen Xi had asked Shen Yuan if he knew where his master had gone.

Shen Yuan thought about it all night and ultimately chose not to hide it from Shen Xi. The next day, he earnestly told Shen Xi about Song Zijuan’s true identity.

Shen Xi, who was usually cheerful and clingy, became despondent for several days, his face devoid of smiles.

Shen Anniang thought the child was physically unwell and grew frantic with worry.

During those nights, Shen Yuan slept with Shen Xi every evening, telling him over and over that his eldest brother would not leave.

Once his spirits recovered, Shen Xi never mentioned Song Zijuan again.

He remained as he was before, always cheerful and clingy.

But Shen Yuan noticed that Shen Xi spent a long time every night reading bamboo slips, and he practiced his characters more and more diligently.

He even dragged Shen Dong and Shen Nan along to learn to read, and he didn't even spare Shen Bei, making his youngest sister sit to one side and watch.

Literacy was a good thing, so Shen Yuan let Shen Xi do as he pleased.

These past few days, Shen Yuan spent his mornings at home revising stories and his afternoons painting, often pulling the little ones over to teach them a few brushstrokes.

After all, one can never have too many skills.

The brothers' rooms held quite a collection of bamboo slips and silk scrolls.

Shen Yuan’s collection consisted mostly of the full manuscripts for *Love Between Human and Ghost* and *The Swordsman*; piled high like mountains and seas, they were quite a spectacular sight when laid out.

He continued to rummage through a wooden chest until he pulled out a rolled-up canvas.

Shen Yuan’s expression shifted slightly. Even without opening it, he knew what was painted inside.

Yet, as if possessed, he opened it anyway.

Under a magnolia tree, that familiar jade-like face appeared, ethereal and graceful.

It was the portrait Shen Yuan had painted of Xie Yulin.

He had transformed Xie Yulin’s unapproachable coldness into the poise of an immortal, adding a sense of the ethereal to that detached air.

Back then, to perfect this painting and capture the feeling in his heart, he had spent many days on it.

It was a pity he never got to give it away.

And he likely would never have the chance to give it away again.

Shen Yuan rolled the scroll back up with somewhat forceful movements, as if he were angry, stuffing it deep into the wooden chest.

A few days later, Shen Yuan hitched the horse to the cart and took the revised version of *The Swordsman* to the Storytellers' Union.

Ji Xingwang came to report on the recruitment and the progress of the character puppets, and he also showed Shen Yuan the reward rankings for *The Swordsman*.

Shen Yuan looked at the name at the very top of the list, his eyes widening instinctively. He asked in bewilderment, “Why is Xie Yulin the top donor?”