Free Web NovelChapter 145: Chapter 119: Broken Hand Stealing Skill
The 33rd year of the Zun’an Era.
January 23rd.
The sky in Shuzhou was like a young wife’s face—not what it seemed. It looked pure and bashful, but secretly, it hid an endless, gloomy rain.
Just moments ago, the sky had been clear and bright, but in a blink, it turned overcast.
A light rain fell, and not long after, it became cloudy again.
The mountains stretched on endlessly, with clouds like fine silk. They also resembled a great, majestic eagle, its shadowy form weaving between the mountainsides, a magnificent sight.
Viewed from afar, with the mountains, the clouds, Heaven, and Earth, it was truly a natural scroll painting.
A Storyteller, overcome with poetic inspiration while observing the scene from a distance, dubbed it simply: "The eagle girds the waist."
Among these nameless mountains, the highest and steepest was called General Peak.
At the foot of the mountain lay a small town.
Like a sparrow, it was small but had all the vital organs. The town didn’t have many residents, but it had everything one would need.
"You must be from out of town, sir. There’s a story behind that General Peak, you know."
At a tea stall with very few customers, the bored young owner was spitting tales, vividly recounting local history and legends to a towering Mighty Man.
"Legend says that over two hundred years ago, a General from In the Court fell from grace. He fled south and hid here."
"Back then, this area was overrun with bandits. But that General—his righteousness soared to the heavens! He took up a Ghost Head Saber and slaughtered every last bandit around the town. He fought from the peak down to the base, then from the base back up to the peak. For ten days and ten nights, he fought without so much as blinking an eye!"
"After that, he’d finally killed his way to peace for this place. The General then went into hiding in the mountains for ten years."
"Ten years later, a mountain-farer went up to gather herbs and found a suit of rusted Armor on the highest peak. The General’s bones had long since been gnawed clean by beasts."
"Later, to commemorate the General, we common folk built a temple up there. They buried the Armor beside it and erected a stele, treating it as his cenotaph."
When Zheng Xiu followed the trail from Post Station Feng Bei and arrived in the small town at the foot of Yunliu Temple’s mountain...
...he discovered that the name "Xie Yunliu" was widely known in this town.
A disgraced general from two hundred years ago.
He had happened upon this place, slaughtered the surrounding bandits, and left behind a legend.
The townspeople, to commemorate this General, had built "Yunliu Temple."
The small town was later renamed "General Town."
Zheng Xiu had just arrived. Knowing Feng Bei was nearby, he randomly found a place to have some tea.
He asked a few casual questions.
And got his answers.
No Difficulty at all.
Basically, anyone who came here could find out about this Xie Yunliu.
As his tea grew cool, Zheng Xiu continued to chat idly with the shop owner.
As they talked, the owner started to feel that something was off. He suspected that this exceptionally handsome Mighty Man was planning on skipping out on the bill.
A woman in black approached as swift as the wind.
"When did you get here?"
Feng Bei had spotted Zheng Xiu from a distance. Her brow furrowed for a moment, then quickly smoothed out. It was like a ripple spreading across a still pond—it gently dissipated, leaving the surface calm, but only the water itself knew of the undercurrents stirring below.
Zheng Xiu waved to Feng Bei and said with a smile, "I didn’t bring any money."
"Brother Zheng, you again... It’s alright. I’ll pay."
Feng Bei let out a soft sigh, but the faint smile that played on her lips as she paid made it hard to believe she was actually exasperated.
Leaving the tea stall, the two of them walked down the street.
Feng Bei asked, "Brother Zheng, when did you arrive?"
Zheng Xiu: "Just now."
"Brother Zheng, you really do move like a ghost."
"Ahem, I’m just average."
Zheng Xiu asked about Yue Yan and Dou Xie.
"They went up the mountain last night, heading for Yunliu Temple."
Zheng Xiu looked at Feng Bei, puzzled. "You didn’t go with them?"
Feng Bei turned her head, hiding her expression from Zheng Xiu. In a soft voice, she said, "It’s fine. Xie Yunliu is a figure from two hundred years ago; he’s long since turned to dust. Yunliu Temple has stood for over two centuries. If it were hiding anything, it would have been discovered long ago. They’ve gone ahead to scout. If there’s anything unusual, they will send word down the mountain."
Zheng Xiu nodded. ’That makes sense.’
They had been chasing the Cannibal Painting all the way from the Imperial City to Shuzhou for nearly a month without even a glimpse of the painting itself. Zheng Xiu didn’t believe it would be so easy as to find the painting just sitting obediently in Yunliu Temple.
Feng Bei and Zheng Xiu gathered information on the streets. Besides the painting, Zheng Xiu also asked the locals about a person called the "Playful Monk."
Dou Xie was a rookie, but Yue Yan was not. Yue Yan was strong enough to protect herself, and splitting up to gather intel was more efficient.
After about two hours, they had explored nearly half of General Town.
"Did you notice?"
At a stall selling paper-mâché masks, Zheng Xiu feigned casualness as he picked up a black crow-style mask, pressed it to Feng Bei’s face, and whispered in a low voice.
Then, he laughed loudly and said, "This mask suits you well." fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
"Does it?"
Feng Bei studied her reflection in a mirror, wearing the crow mask, and answered Zheng Xiu’s first question without a change in expression. "Someone is spying on us. But who could it be? The Incompleteness Tower?"
Zheng Xiu shook his head. "The Incompleteness Tower is pretty easy to recognize. Unless the people they sent this time aren’t ’incomplete’."
"How much?"
The stall owner replied, "Sir, that mask isn’t very auspicious for a lady to wear. How about this one instead?"
The owner gestured to a cute little white rabbit-shaped one nearby.
There was a whole row of white rabbit masks, clearly the bestseller. But there was only one lonely black crow mask, an unpopular item. The difference was obvious at a glance.
Feng Bei rummaged through the masks on the stall. She picked out a very bizarre one for Zheng Xiu—it was a ferocious, green-faced ghost head with a jutting chin and four long, interlocking fangs. The eye-slits were crescent-shaped, making it look like a demon grinning menacingly. The mask was also covered in numerous patterns.
