Chương 41: Tianhu's decision II

"Here, this will fill your body with qi," Old Mo said, handing Tianhu some kind of green sludge, apparently made from the Verdant Hare Grass they had found the day before.

"Practice the sword art after eating it, and you'll see a much greater effect than usual. Just be careful and be sure to control your body meticulously; it would be bad if you got injured."

"Thank you," Tianhu said, accepting the sludge. A week had passed since Tianhu and Old Mo met up with Shen Ye and his children. Tianhu couldn't remember ever feeling this happy. He wished he could spend his entire life wandering the Black Beast Mountains, honing his swordsmanship. It would be especially nice if Xiaoshi were there with him.

'I guess I need to return home after this trip, to show everyone that I'm doing well.'

'My nephew or niece should already be five years old now, and I've never even met them. Perhaps there are even more nephews and nieces already. I wonder if Tianan has gotten married yet. And Xu…he should be 17 already. I wonder how his swordsmanship has developed.'

"You look stupid when you're lost in thought like that," Old Mo came up and took a seat beside him. Tianhu was used to his teacher saying things like that, so he just nodded without responding.

"I don't have the energy to get you started," Old Mo said with a sigh, "I'll just go over to that Ye kid when he's finished eating. He's a lot more fun."

"Oh," Tianhu said. He stared down into the green sludge in the bowl in his hands. It didn't look very good, but Tianhu needed to grow stronger, so he couldn't waste the opportunity. Tianhu had actually never planned on entering the Black Beast Mountains; he just wanted to go to the Sword School to train and meet other swordsmen who might be able to teach him. But Old Mo said that only in real battles against beasts can your swordsmanship truly improve, and Tianhu had to admit it made sense.

Since Old Mo was an Innate warrior, Tianhu didn't worry too much. They weren't looking for the Black Beast, and Old Mo was experienced in traveling these mountains. The risk was very small that they'd run into a beast they couldn't handle. Of course, now that they were traveling with Shen Ye, this was even less of a worry. A Master doesn't have many things that can threaten him.

"Pretty impressive, right. That Shen Xiaoshi girl," Old Mo commented. Tianhu had thought he was done talking, but he still looked up at Xiaoshi, who was practicing her sword art in the distance.

"She is," Tianhu said with a nod. While he couldn't really tell if her swordsmanship was anything like her father's when she got serious, since they hadn't encountered any beasts so far, Tianhu could tell she was very talented. He even suspected she might be an Innate warrior already, just like her brother. She had that feeling about her.

"Taken a fancy to her? She's very pretty," Old Mo asked with a grin.

"I guess I have," Tianhu admitted.

"You- Wait, really?" Old Mo asked, looking a little stumped.

"Yeah, why? Is that strange?" Tianhu asked.

"I guess not…I just didn't expect you to be so candid about it," Old Mo said slowly. Tianhu just shrugged his shoulders slightly; he didn't think it was anything worth hiding.

"Well…She's very talented, you know," Old Mo said.

"I know," Tianhu said.

"Like…very talented. She's your age, and has already advanced to the Master stage." The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. At that, Tianhu almost fell over in shock despite sitting down. He turned to his teacher with his mouth wide open.

"Master? How? Is that normal in Martial Families?"

"Not normal at all. With luck, a genius like her might appear once in a century," Old Mo said, giving Tianhu a sympathetic smile, "So you can imagine how important she is. And how desirable her bloodline is."

"I… see," Tianhu said slowly. He didn't really care about all that bloodline stuff. He knew what his teacher was getting at; she was probably expected to marry into a powerful family in the future. But how could a genius like that be forced into a marriage? He didn't see how anyone could make a Master do anything. There were no Saints in the Yan Kingdom from what he'd heard. So for him, nothing had really changed. Besides, he had made his decision, and he wouldn't change it for any reason.

But hearing how talented she was, Tianhu actually felt a little inadequate. He thought he'd let go of that feeling years ago. He had always had a pretty steady mind, and ever since advancing to the 2nd-grade stage with his sword art, he had felt he was on the right path, and there was no need to rush or compare himself to others. Like his father had always said, he only needed to compare himself to where he was yesterday. But now, Tianhu actually felt a strange sense of despair.

It was like somewhere deep inside, he believed he would eventually catch up to the geniuses he met. But Xiaoshi was already a Master. That wide gap seemed insurmountable. He couldn't fool himself into thinking that was a level he could ever reach. Old Mo patted Tianhu's shoulder comfortingly and stood up.

"Well, don't get too hung up on it. I'll go mess with Shen Ye for a while."

'Whatever. No need to think about it too much. Just grow stronger every day as best as I can.' Tianhu gulped down the green sludge, glad that it didn't actually taste as bad as it looked. He then unsheathed his sword and started his practice, his mind once again becoming calm. There was nothing to think about, just the next sword strike. Hours later, it was time to move again. Old Mo still hadn't found any tracks, so they were just wandering around aimlessly.

"It's strange. How can there not be a single beast around for a week?" Old Mo asked.

"We've perhaps overhunted the beasts lately," Shen Ye said, "It's been several years since the search for the Black Beast began, after all. The other beasts here have been caught in the crossfire."

"You only see the surface of things," Old Mo said with a shake of his head, and the two quickly broke into an argument again. Tianhu had already grown quite bored with them, finding their back-and-forth repetitive. He looked up further ahead and saw Xiaoshi had put on a black robe. It reminded him of a story his father had told him and his siblings a long time ago.

'Come to think about it. Mom always really likes listening to Dad's stories, and she seems very happy whenever he tells them.' Tianhu quickened his pace and walked up to Xiaoshi.

"You're wearing a black robe." Xiaoshi turned to look at him in confusion, but still smiled politely and responded, "Yeah. I've always liked black for some reason."

"Have you ever heard the story about Zhu Qinze and his son Zhu Ling?" Tianhu asked.

"I don't think so," Xiaoshi answered. Tianhu cleared his throat slightly and tried to quickly go through the story in his mind so he wouldn't forget anything.

"Well, it goes something like this. Zhu Qinze and Zhu Ling were farmers in a small village. There was only the father and son in the family, as the mother had passed away early. One day, war broke out, and Zhu Ling was enlisted. His father was deeply worried, but prepared his son as well as he could. He gathered the young men from the village who were being sent off to join the war, and he taught them everything he knew about war, along with the other more experienced villagers.

"When it was time to leave, Zhu Qinze gave his son and the others two sets of robes he had prepared. One set was white, and one was black. He told them that if everything went well, and his son made it out alive, they should wear white robes when they returned, so he could see them from the hilltop and know his son's fate as soon as he spotted them in the distance. If his son had passed, they should instead wear the black robes.

"Half a year passed. And Zhu Ling returned to the village along with the other boys; they had all made it out alive. But they had forgotten Zhu Qinze's instruction about the robes. Since the black robes made it easier to hide, they had gotten used to wearing them. So no one thought of changing out of them as they returned to the village.

"When Zhu Ling came back to his home, expecting to meet his father full of joy, he noticed that the house was empty. He then finally remembered what his father had told him when he left, that he would be looking for their return from the hilltop. So he ran over there as fast as he could.

"But he was too late. His father had seen the black robes and assumed that his son was dead. Overwhelmed by grief, he had taken his own life. Only his dead body was left on the hilltop." Xiaoshi stared at Tianhu with an open mouth for a few seconds before bursting out, "That's it? What kind of story is that? Why wouldn't the father make sure his son was dead? Isn't it normal to forget something like that after half a year? Why would you tell me such a sad story?"

"Er…" Tianhu hesitated. Xiaoshi didn't react like he had expected.

"Maybe I'm remembering it wrong. It made sense when my Dad told the story. Maybe…he didn't kill himself. He reunited with his son, and they lived happily ever after."

"Pfft!" Xiaoshi burst out laughing, "You just made that up. And isn't that the ending lovers have? What kind of father and son live happily ever after?"

'So it does work.'