Eastern Sun (6)
Yun Danjing flew into a rage upon hearing this, cursing, “Ha, what insolent nerve for a slave!” He raised his arm, grabbed a new wooden sword from the rack, and struck at Ah Ku.
Yun Changliu had been secretly overjoyed at the little medicine person’s words “I came to find you,” not knowing what to do with himself, but the next moment he heard Ah Ku actually wanted to spar with him and couldn’t help but panic. Even now his mind was still full of the horrific scene from that day in the Medicine Gate’s blood extraction room—that cold iron bed and the wrists that wouldn’t stop bleeding… It had only been a few days since then, and Ah Ku had suffered great blood loss. How could he engage in combat?
Thinking of this, Yun Changliu didn’t hesitate to raise his hand and block Yun Danjing’s sword, deftly pushing his younger brother back while speaking very sincerely, “How could I possibly beat you? I’ve never practiced swordsmanship, don’t make things difficult for me.”
Yun Danjing, who had just been knocked flat on the ground in one move by his elder brother who had “never practiced swordsmanship,” nearly coughed up blood. He grabbed his brother in exasperation with a look of disappointment, “Hey! How can you admit defeat so easily!?”
Then pointing at Ah Ku, he said, “Just who is he? You’re the Young Sect Leader of the Zhuyin Sect—how can you let some medicine slave push you around!”
“Silence!” Yun Changliu’s expression suddenly turned ice-cold, his eyes turning toward Yun Danjing with a rare and oppressive severity. His fingers hidden in his sleeves clenched into fists as he bit out word by word. “Danjing, he is not a slave! Whoever insults him insults me.”
Young Master Danjing had always thought his brother had a soft temperament and had never seen Yun Changliu like this. He couldn’t help but freeze.
Taking advantage of this opening, Ah Ku over there laughed lowly twice. He paid no attention to Yun Danjing, only saying to Yun Changliu, “This won’t do, Young Sect Leader. I know you’re very capable. Today I’m just going to pester you!”
Yun Changliu was about to decline again when Ah Ku had already slashed over with his sword. The Young Sect Leader had no choice but to raise his wooden sword to block, and in the blink of an eye the two had already exchanged several moves.
How could the martial arts instructor have anticipated such chaos would break out? He didn’t know the background of this child dressed in the blue robes of a medicine person yet with such extraordinary bearing, much less how he had entered this training ground.
He did want to intervene, but this child clearly had an unusual relationship with Young Sect Leader Changliu. This instructor had only ever taught Yun Danjing, and now with this Young Sect Leader involved, he momentarily didn’t know what to do.
In his moment of hesitation, the two small figures in blue and white robes had already become entangled in combat, fighting farther and farther away within a few breaths.
Yun Changliu was worried about Ah Ku’s condition and only dared use fifty or sixty percent of his strength, purely defending without attacking, immediately falling into a disadvantageous position.
Yet even as the Young Sect Leader was forced to retreat again and again, he was actually distracted, thinking: If I lose, does that mean we won’t have to fight anymore?
He also thought secretly: I harmed him to this point—what would it matter if he really hit me a few times? If it could make Ah Ku happy for a moment, that would be worth it.
With his mind relaxed, the sword in his hand naturally slowed. Ah Ku was thrusting his sword blade straight forward when he saw the Young Sect Leader staring at him in a daze, actually not even blocking. He couldn’t help but be greatly alarmed. But the force had already been committed and it was too late to withdraw the sword, so he could only slap his left hand against his right wrist, combining the strength of both hands to pull that sword away from in front of Yun Changliu.
The wooden sword crashed into the ground with a boom, energy scattering in all directions, leaving a deep groove. Ah Ku was both angry and frightened, stabbing his wooden sword into the ground. “Are you even fighting seriously or not!? If not, I’m leaving!”
Yun Changliu was slightly stunned. He hadn’t actually felt any danger from what just happened—after enduring the Fengchun Sheng poison for so long, ordinary pain couldn’t move him in the slightest. Only when he heard Ah Ku threaten to leave did his heart tighten.
He really didn’t know what he’d done to anger this little medicine person again and hurried forward to tug at his sleeve corner. “Don’t…”
In fact, if the Young Sect Leader hadn’t tried to coax him it would have been fine, but once his attitude softened, Ah Ku deliberately turned cold and ignored him. Yun Changliu carefully held his hands near Ah Ku’s wrists without quite touching them, hesitantly saying in a small voice, “Don’t be angry… Once you’ve recovered, if you want to practice swordsmanship or do anything else, I’ll definitely accompany you.”
“You…” Ah Ku’s expression changed. He suddenly understood why Yun Changliu was unwilling to use his full strength. In that instant his heart melted into softness, and he couldn’t help but turn his face away and say quietly, “I’ve really already recovered. I came to find you only after I got better.”
After a pause, he raised his eyes again and said, “Young Sect Leader, I truly want to have a proper match with you. If you win, I still have something to give you.”
“Young Sect Leader!”
Before Yun Changliu could say anything, the martial arts instructor had already rushed forward. That sword strike from Ah Ku just now had scared him out of his wits. Dripping with cold sweat, he repeatedly waved his hands. “This absolutely cannot be, absolutely cannot…”
“This, this…” He had wanted to say “this medicine person,” but remembering the Young Sect Leader’s harsh words just now, reluctantly changed his wording. “This… young master, his strikes have no sense of restraint. If he were to injure you, what would we do? How would this humble one explain to the Sect Leader…”
Meanwhile, among the several children on the side, Wen Feng was the first to recover and also hurriedly tried to persuade the Young Sect Leader. On the contrary, Yun Chanjuan, fearing the world wasn’t chaotic enough, was clamoring to watch them fight and got slapped on the head by Yun Danjing.
Unexpectedly, their persuasion instead provoked Yun Changliu to mild anger. The Young Sect Leader looked deeply at Ah Ku, then suddenly said, “Fine, I’ll fight you seriously.”
Ignoring everyone’s faces changing in an instant, he calmly ordered, “Stand down. No one is to interfere.”
Having said this, Yun Changliu shook his wooden sword this time and actively attacked.
In the blink of an eye, within this training ground, Yun Changliu and Ah Ku’s wooden swords clashed together once more.
Many people thought that Young Sect Leader Changliu, plagued by poison since childhood, was a medicine jar who couldn’t get out of bed or leave his room. Little did they know that Yun Changliu had sat idle in Changsheng Pavilion for many years. Apart from meditation and breathing exercises, his daily activities consisted of reading books. Yun Guyan naturally wouldn’t let him read anything interesting that might easily stir his emotions. What the Young Master could read were just the martial arts manuals from within the Zhuyin Sect, at most adding some books of music and qin scores left behind by his deceased mother.
And Yun Changliu had the most patient and quiet temperament. Over several years, even the most profound techniques within the sect had been studied by this child in silence until the book bindings fell apart. He had long been familiar with numerous exquisite sword techniques but had never had the opportunity to use them.
At this very moment, as the wooden swords crossed, those memories from books unconsciously began to come alive. Yun Changliu’s martial arts talent was truly astonishing. After just exchanging a few moves with Ah Ku, he actually began using those techniques without a teacher.
Ah Ku made a soft sound of surprise. Sensing that Yun Changliu was getting into his stride, he didn’t press hard but only made a few feinting attacks, gradually drawing out the Young Sect Leader’s sword momentum.
And Yun Changliu had already completely immersed himself in the exhilaration of wielding a sword, actually entering that realm of enlightenment that even many martial arts masters could only hope for but rarely achieve. For the first time he experienced the thrill of combat with another person, like a normally calm and waveless heart-lake that suddenly ignited with an unquenchable fire.
At a certain moment, Yun Changliu felt a strange flash of inspiration strike his mind. His sword edge suddenly accelerated, sweeping upward in a wondrously strange arc that was absolutely masterful, striking precisely on the hilt of the sword Ah Ku held in his hand.
With a crack, Ah Ku’s wooden sword was immediately knocked into the air!
Unexpectedly, however, when the wooden sword left his hand, Ah Ku instead curved his lips. Those eyes like black ink flashed with a gleam of triumph. His right hand that had been gripping the sword smoothly formed a finger strike, suddenly stabbing forward!
This strike was naturally the Duanmu family’s Twelve-Point Acupoint Technique. The two were already very close, and Yun Changliu hadn’t anticipated this kind of follow-up move at all. He couldn’t help but cry out “Ah!” in surprise. In that split second, the Young Sect Leader instinctively bent his waist backward, and Ah Ku’s fingers extremely dangerously brushed past the major acupoint on his chest.
The martial arts instructor broke out in a cold sweat. He could see this blue-robed child’s martial arts were truly formidable, and if they continued fighting something serious might really happen. He shouted, “That medicine person! Stop immediately!”
But the two children were already fighting intensely. Even the Young Sect Leader, usually so detached, had his battle spirit aroused—how could they stop?
Yun Changliu smoothly planted one hand on the ground and flipped backward, withdrawing. But Ah Ku didn’t press his advantage. Instead he reformed his hand into a palm, caught the wooden sword falling back from the air, swept the sword tip, and made a great sweeping strike, targeting precisely the opening where the Young Master’s lower stance was unsteady.
Yun Changliu could only grit his teeth and continue retreating with lightness skill, but Ah Ku’s sword followed like a shadow. Wherever his feet landed, the blue-robed little medicine person’s wooden sword struck there.
The Danjing and Chanjuan siblings, both young, cried out repeatedly, long since staring dumbfounded. Wen Feng was extremely anxious, afraid that if they weren’t careful Young Sect Leader Changliu would get injured, but could only fret uselessly, “Stop… stop! Don’t fight anymore!”
Ah Ku paid no attention. His sword moved even faster, and it could be seen that the moments when Yun Changliu’s toes could touch the ground grew shorter and shorter, danger mounting.
The Young Sect Leader was already completely overwhelmed by this series of unpredictable yet extremely fluid techniques, with no strength to fight back. Yet he was still afraid outsiders would interfere and injure Ah Ku. Amidst the flashing sword shadows, he managed to find a brief moment to turn and shout, “No one is to come forward!”
The next moment, Yun Changliu used lightness skill to leap up, his white robes fluttering like a hunting banner. Ah Ku’s sword pressed him so he couldn’t land, so the Young Sect Leader simply leaped onto a thick old pine tree in the corner of the training ground, borrowing force from the treetop.
Ah Ku, fighting with rising excitement, how could he let him go? He thrust his sword and slashed over, wanting to knock Yun Changliu directly down.
But unexpectedly, as soon as he went up the tree, what greeted him was Yun Changliu’s sword turning back!
This move from the Young Sect Leader was actually advancing by retreating. That wooden sword, concealed by the shadows of tree leaves, unexpectedly came pressing over. Ah Ku hurriedly raised his sword horizontally with both hands to block, but after all he hadn’t completely recovered. Short of energy, he actually couldn’t completely receive this move.
There was a “crack” beneath Ah Ku’s feet—the tree branch he was standing on was actually broken by the force of Yun Changliu’s sword strike!
With the ground suddenly empty beneath his feet, Ah Ku fell straight toward the ground!
“Ah Ku!”
Yun Changliu’s heart jumped violently in fright. How could he care about anything else? He threw away his wooden sword and flew down, catching Ah Ku in his arms mid-air and holding him as they descended.
Fortunately they hadn’t been flying very high with their lightness skill, and the two landed safely and steadily.
The Young Sect Leader’s soul had just settled. He could see that it wasn’t that Ah Ku couldn’t receive that sword strike but that his body couldn’t keep up. For a moment he was so nervous he forgot to release the little medicine person he was holding. “How are you? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?—That’s right, your injury!”
“I’m fine.” Ah Ku’s breathing was slightly disordered. He let Yun Changliu check his left and right wrists, sincerely praising, “You’re amazing. I lost.”
“Your body hasn’t healed. I took advantage of you.” Seeing that his wounds hadn’t reopened, Yun Changliu relaxed a bit and said quietly, “I couldn’t actually beat you.”
“If I lost, I lost. Can’t I afford to lose?”
Ah Ku smiled lightly, but thought secretly to himself: If we’re counting like that, if Yun Changliu hadn’t been troubled by the Fengchun Sheng poison since childhood, had never properly practiced swordsmanship, and lacked experience, he wouldn’t have been able to gain the upper hand at one point either.
Who knows… once this Young Sect Leader seriously begins practicing martial arts in the future, whether he’ll still be able to beat him.
The several people forced to observe the battle on the sidelines now also hurried over. However, they suddenly heard a low, authoritative voice boom like thunder in everyone’s ears:
“It’s one thing to be unable to match Liu’er, but you can’t even beat a medicine person and yet dare to think highly of yourself. Aren’t you ashamed?”
That voice was so familiar. The martial arts instructor’s whole body shook, and without even daring to raise his head he knelt toward where the voice came from. “Greetings to the Sect Leader!”
Yun Guyan wore a pitch-black wide robe, his features stern. No one knew how long he’d been there, yet not a single person could detect his presence—truly as unpredictable as a ghost.
Wen Feng also knelt to pay respects to the Sect Leader. The Yun siblings each stepped forward to bow to their father. Only Ah Ku neither knelt nor called out, just standing to the side.
Yun Danjing knew those words were directed at him, and also knew his father had watched the entire thing. Ashamed beyond measure, his face flushed red. “Jing’er is ashamed.”
But in his heart he couldn’t help feeling bitter.
The young master hadn’t realized that Yun Guyan’s first words weren’t praising his elder brother but rather pointing out his own shortcomings. He just couldn’t help feeling sad: Father has never cared about my martial arts practice, yet today he personally came for elder brother’s sake and hid to the side watching for so long…
Yun Guyan didn’t acknowledge his second son, nor did he take Ah Ku’s small defiance to heart. He just absentmindedly waved for everyone to dispense with formalities.
His gaze lingered uncertainly between Yun Changliu and Ah Ku, sometimes dark, sometimes bright. After a long while, as if finally making some decision, he spoke:
“Tomorrow, you two come to Yangxin Hall to see this lord.”
……
After leaving the training ground, Yun Changliu followed Ah Ku all the way toward his peach forest wooden hut. He hadn’t been there for several days in a row and inevitably felt somewhat apprehensive, but Ah Ku acted as if nothing had happened, joking and talking with him as usual.
“As promised for winning against me.”
When entering the peach forest, Ah Ku suddenly pulled something from his clothes and tossed it into Yun Changliu’s arms.
The Young Master caught it and looked—it was actually the second volume of that storybook “Jin and Jade Fated Connection” that Ah Ku had shown him that day.
Vaguely guessing something, Yun Changliu opened it. Before looking at the details, he first flipped to the end, where he saw written—
“But when gold wind and jade dew meet, even karmic bonds bear good fruit.
This love asks not about old dust, only hopes for future flowers and moon.”
Yun Changliu then knew that Young Master Jin and Miss Yu had ultimately ended up together. Thinking that this was a story the blue-robed child beside him had actively shown him, the implications were self-evident. He couldn’t help but feel warmth spreading through all four limbs and hundred bones.
Ah Ku teased from the side. “Does the Young Sect Leader know how those two got together? It was Young Master Jin who pursued morning and evening, repeatedly declaring and revealing his feelings, finally coaxing Miss Yu’s heart to soften. But with us it’s backwards—how is it that I have to run here to coax you?”
Yun Changliu moved a bit closer, saying gently, “I’ll coax you.”
Ah Ku raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself that he wasn’t even angry so what was there to coax, but what came out of his mouth was: “Let me hear you coax me then?”
“I…” Yun Changliu moved his lips but became bewildered.
How would someone like him know how to coax anyone?
Of course Ah Ku knew Yun Changliu couldn’t say anything flowery. He glanced at that “Jin and Jade Fated Connection” storybook and just blurted out, “Don’t you have something in your hand? Learn from it and recite.”
He was just in a good mood and couldn’t help but start teasing this Young Sect Leader for fun again. Unexpectedly, Yun Changliu actually opened the book, hesitated only briefly, then very solemnly, facing those black words on white paper, began reciting word by word in his cool, detached yet pleasant voice:
“…My darling, my dear, no matter how much I cherish you it’s not enough, no matter how much I love you it’s not enough.”
The Young Sect Leader had flipped from back to front, and by that point Young Master Jin and Miss Yu had already become a couple, so naturally the whole page was full of love words.
“…”
Ah Ku stumbled, looking exactly like he’d seen a ghost in broad daylight, staring at Yun Changliu in shock.
He thought blankly: My Young Sect Leader, I told you to recite it, but did you really have to actually recite it…
Yun Changliu continued reciting blandly, his tone completely flat. “I want to hold you and kiss you, want to embrace you and love you. You’re killing me, my darling…”
Ah Ku stood stunned for a long while, then suddenly burst out laughing.
“You, you’re making me die of thirst, die of longing…”
Yun Changliu bit his lower lip. His handsome, refined face tried hard to maintain calm, but his snow-white earlobes had already flushed slightly red. He turned another page in the book. “…You’ve completely captivated my soul. When I look at spring flowers, they’re you; when I look at autumn moon, it’s also you.”
The little medicine person couldn’t hold back anymore and finally doubled over laughing.
While laughing uncontrollably, he pulled that storybook from Yun Changliu’s hand. “Young, Young Sect Leader… stop reciting, ha, please stop reciting…”
Saying this, Ah Ku bent over laughing again, laughing until both his eyes were bright and glistening with moisture.
With these smiling eyes, he looked at Yun Changliu, murmuring, “Young Sect Leader, you really are…”
In that instant, Yun Changliu felt his heartstrings violently struck.
The Young Sect Leader’s thoughts became ethereal all at once.
Clearly the peach blossoms had already fallen, yet he felt intoxicated by their fragrance.