Free Web NovelChapter 1: The Young Martial Artist
As dawn broke, the first rays of light pierced the mist that drifted gently across the land.
Grain Buds had just passed, and as the saying went, “as Grain Buds passes, the grains begin to fill.” The winter wheat north of Changjiang had just started to mature. They were plump, but they weren’t fully ripe, hence the “buds” part of the term.[1]
A thousand years of wind, rain, frost, fire, and booming war drums had long since faded into the earth of the Guanzhong Plains. Only the gentle morning breeze brushed lightly against the sea of wheat, shaking loose the dew and bringing with it a soft rustle.
***
Bailu Plains.
Two youngsters strolled through the village of the Li Clan's Fort.
The one in the back was lean and gave off an experienced aura. He was dressed in coarse black clothes with wraps around his legs. He had a spear casually resting on his shoulder.
The young man was tanned, and when he smiled, he revealed a set of pure-white teeth. It was a clear sign that he was accustomed to working the fields all year round. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Children of farmer families followed their elders into the fields from a young age, allowing neither the winds nor the rain to stop them. After so much sweating under the blazing sun, it was no surprise they had been tanned brown.
The youngster walking in front was clearly a head taller. He had a straight back, fair skin, and refined features. His hair was tied up in a casual knot, and he was clad in the same black clothing and leg wraps.
Unlike his companion, he carried a bow on his back and a saber at his waist.
Despite his refined features, though, he couldn’t be considered too handsome. His pair of sharp eyes was all that stood out about him.
He had what was known as red phoenix eyes, marked by a narrow, upturned corner. Yet his pupils shone like black suspended pearls. If anyone met his gaze, they would feel a sharp chill, as well as a sense of underlying authority from him.
These were called dragon eyes, and the Classic of Observing People described them thus: “Dragon eyes are the mark of an otherworldly spirit. The light within is still, like the gleam of a mysterious pearl; calm as autumn water in a cold pond. They are a true wonder of the human realm.”
As for having dragon and phoenix eyes... That combination was even more unlikely.
The young man’s name was Li Yan, and he indeed was not a man of this world.
When they arrived at the ridge, he couldn’t help but reach out to brush the heads of the wheat, feeling how full they had gotten. He narrowed his eyes and smiled, making the intimidating chill around him fade.
He had planted the entire field of wheat around him with his own hands. When he first arrived in this world, Li Yan had felt some discomfort. However, as the dazzling lights of his former life faded from memory, he slowly got used to his new way of living.
The massive land could hold all things in its embrace.
After many days of rising at sunrise and resting at sunset, the anxiety of his previous life was gradually buried beneath the yellow earth under his feet, and the joy of harvest slowly scattered his past memories.
“Brother Yan,” the youngster behind him called, breaking his train of thought. He looked around, then said, “Third Blindy might have already run away! Let’s head back.”
Li Yan tilted his head a little. “Coward. Aren’t you going to avenge Erniu, Heidan?”
“What are you talking about?!” The youngster jumped slightly like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. His face flushed and he gripped his neck. “Erniu was my sister! If I don’t take revenge on her behalf, I will pluck out all my hair and strangle myself with it! It’s just that wolves only come at dusk when the chickens roost or at noon when grandpas go to sleep. We don’t come out at night, and we don’t wander around at noon. Why are we here so early? What can we even find?”
“Big words coming from you! Are you planning to take the imperial exams?!” Li Yan chided him before gazing at the distant mountains and shaking his head. “Third Blindy... is not an ordinary wolf.”
Wolves had terrorized the Guanzhong Plains since ancient times, but in the past two years, it had gotten worse than ever. Something seemed to have happened in the Qinling Mountain Range. Ferocious wolves constantly descended the mountains to rampage around the plains.
These wolves were larger than normal, and they were several times more vicious and cunning.
They didn’t just attack livestock. They liked eating children even more.
Like Heidan said, those wolves liked coming out when the chickens roosted and when grandpas went to nap.
It was easy to explain how wolves entered the villages at dusk, but some might wonder why wolves dared to enter villages at noon. Since the villages labored from dawn till dusk, they avoided the fiercest midday sun by heading back for a nap. That was the perfect time for the wolves to act.
They were cunning, grabbing children who lay between sleeping adults. It was what people called “pulling garlic shoots.” They would even hide in the fields, mimicking the cries of children and snatching curious children who went to take a look.
Third Blindy was one of the wolves that had come from the Qinling Mountain Range. However, it was much larger than the others.
In recent years, the villages in the Bailu Plains had started to dig traps to protect themselves against wolf attacks. When Third Blindy first came down, it had fallen into a trap and lost an eye to an arrow. Because of that grudge, it started targeting the Li Clan’s Fort.
The villagers tried many times, but they always failed to catch it.
Soon, the name Third Blindy started to spread. Some claimed it had grown up in the Zhongnan Mountains, absorbing spiritual energy and treading the dao. There were also some who feared Third Blindy so much that they wanted to build a shrine to appease it and pray for it to stop terrorizing their village. Fortunately, those people were stopped by the head of the Li Clan.
Whatever it was, Third Blindly had already become a symbol of fear in the Li Clan Fort.
Erniu was Heidan’s sister, and she was barely two years old when it happened.
When their parents went out to the field, they carried her along, fearing she wouldn’t be safe alone at home. Since it wasn’t exactly comfortable to hold her while plowing the fields, they had placed her down on the street right beside the main road. Since there were many villagers walking around, they thought it would be a little safer.
Never in their wildest dreams would they have thought that Third Blindy would emerge from nowhere, pick her up, and run in the blink of an eye.
Villages who lived in the Li Clan’s Fort chased Third Blindly with their sickles and hoes for a few li, but when they found her, all that was left was a lump of blood-soaked remains.
Heidan’s mother nearly cried herself to death, and his father dragged a bunch of friends to search the mountain in a fit of rage. Unfortunately, even after several days of flipping everything on the mountain upside down, they failed to find the wolf. In the end, several people stepped in and advised them to let it go. After all, Erniu was only a girl, and farming season was upon them. Soon, the search stopped.
But even though the others had given up, Heidan could not. Thus, he went off to find Li Yan for help. With the same desire to get rid of the threat of Third Blindy, Li Yan started to think of a plan.
He felt that Third Blindy was a really crafty one; it operated much like guerillas. It wouldn’t attack during dusk or midday like the saying went. Rather, it would appear before dawn, where everyone was in deep sleep.
That was why he had woken Heidan up four hours earlier in the past few days to start their hunt.
It was a shame that even after several days, they hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Third Blindy.
With such failure, Lu Yan couldn’t help but start to doubt his judgment. The edges of the horizon had started to brighten by the time they completed their search for the morning. Smoke started to emerge from the Li Clan’s Fort.
“Let’s go.” Li Yan sighed, resting his hand on his saber. “We’ll continue tomorrow.”
Even though Heidan was disappointed, he nodded resolutely.
People of the Guanzhong Plains were stubborn. Since he had promised to take revenge for his sister, he wouldn’t stop till the wolf was dead.
The two of them didn’t take the main road as they walked back. Instead, they decided to stick close to the side of the hill as they descended.
Heidan didn’t actually have permission to head out for the hunt in the morning. He had been sneaking out everyday by climbing over the back wall of his house. In order to continue, he had to return before he was discovered.
The closer they got to the village, the more downcast Heidan looked. He grew quiet and no longer joked around with Li Yan.
Glancing at him out of the corner of his eye, Li Yan raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter?”
After some time, Heidan finally grumbled. “In a few days, my father will take me to work as a harvester.”
A frown formed on Li Yan’s face. “You’re not harvesting your own fields? Why are you going to work for others?”
“Father said that a lot of factories opened in Jinmen and Jiangnan last year... Many young guys ran over to make some money. There aren’t many people left in the village and a couple of families are hiring. A few of the big landowners have already announced that this season’s pay will be better. My father wants to take me there to earn more money so that I can save some for my marriage,” Heidan mumbled. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
***
People had been taking wheat harvester jobs since ancient times.
Due to the weather in the Guanzhong Plains, their wheat would mature from south to north, from west to east.
Harvesting wheat was like putting out a fire. Every time the season started, it was a massive race against time.
They had to harvest everything before the weather turned bad, and even though it was the dry season on the Guanzhong Plains, no one knew when the Dragon King would decide to sneeze.[2]
Rain was the greatest enemy of wheat harvesting. The moment the wheat got wet, they might sprout again or get moldy.
That was why, every harvest season, the big players of the Guanzhong Plains would hire as many wheat harvesters as they could to hasten the process. They generally didn’t earn much; at least, not in the past few years. In fact, they were quite grateful when their employer was kind and treated them to white flour steamed buns.
In years when the harvest was bad, employers could barely afford to provide coarse grain biscuits. Actual wages were out of the question. Yet workers still flocked to the fields—after all, if they ate the food provided by the employer, they could save their own food for tougher times.
In bad times, putting in a little more effort just to live was the way to go.
***
Li Yan knew Heidan wasn’t afraid of the job being tough. He was afraid that Third Blindy would run to another village after the harvest season, or hide away in the Qinling Mountain Range. If that happened, he wouldn’t be able to avenge his sister.
Patting Heidan’s shoulder, Li Yan declared, “Relax! I ate your chicken, and that’s your deposit. I’ll deal with Third Blindy.”
“Brother Yan, I trust you!” Heidan nodded solemnly.
Wandering martial artists had always been revered across the eight hundred li of the Guanzhong Plains. It was known that if one of them promised something, then it would be done. Li Yan’s father had been a famed bladesman of this place. Many people believed that Li Yan would take in his father’s footsteps.
Reassured, Heidan looked at the distant mountain with longing in his eyes. “I heard those who left last year have already sent money back before the new year... Brother Yan, what do you think lies past those mountains?”
A sneer formed on Li Yan’s face. “What do you think? It’s just a mountain, and beyond it are just humans....”
But as he spoke, his expression suddenly changed. He grabbed Heidan and started to sniff the air. He whispered, “Do you smell that?”
Sniffing the air, Heidan asked in confusion, “No?”
Li Yan did not say anything else, but his expression turned grave.
There was nothing much to do in their village. They’d only get real entertainment during the festivals or the temple fair, when the village would hire a performing troupe from Chang’an City. When that happened, everyone would gather around to watch.
Other than that, the only entertainment was folklore passed down from the older generation. There were some real-sounding stories about kings and generals, but most of them were ridiculous and fantastical legends. Several stories like The Eye-Covering Ghost, Possession, and Grandma Tiger were told and retold.
Some people sincerely believed in the stories, and they could even recount similar things that happened in other villages. Of course, they all had one common point: They’d never witnessed those things themselves. Others snorted in disdain at those stories, thinking they were nothing more than a joke.
Li Yan wasn’t on either side. He had a feeling some of these stories were real. The reason was simple: A year ago, his sense of smell had started to transform. Not only had it become more sensitive to ordinary smells, but he could even smell things others could not.
For example, he could detect a faint scent of incense at the temple by the village’s entrance even though none was lit. There was also Widow Wang... Every time he passed by her house, he could feel a strange incense smell mixed with a fishy odor.
Now, he smelled something else—something pungent, cold, and... bloody.
He had detected this scent before. It was right before they discovered Erniu’s remains!
1. Solar terms are twenty-four points on the Chinese lunisolar calendar that mark certain astronomical events. They reflect seasonal changes and natural phenomena, among other things, and are used to guide agricultural activities. Grain Buds is on May 21. ☜
2. In Chinese culture, the dragon is associated with water (not fire like Western dragons) and is a generally benevolent divinity, said to tread on clouds and bring about rain. ☜
