Volume One: Menial Tasks in Changshui County, Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Peach Blossom Haven

The black-clad woman led the way. Though her face was still pale, there was now a faint flush of color to it, and she no longer looked as though she might expire at any moment.

No one had expected the big black dog’s saliva to have such miraculous effects. It went far beyond Lu Jiuzhang’s previous understanding.

“I’ve thought of a good business,” Lu Jiuzhang said to the big black dog beside him. “If we can get out of here, we can bottle up some of your saliva and sell it. It’s a holy medicine for healing wounds. We can’t charge too little for it. A small vial should fetch at least dozens of taels, maybe even a hundred taels of silver.”

“Make a hundred vials a day, and that’s several thousand taels, maybe even ten thousand.”

“By that calculation, in a month we could make several hundred thousand taels of fine silver.”

At that pace, even Zhong Zhengming could only look on in envy.

“What are you thinking? How could this divine beast’s saliva be sold? That would be an insult to me,” the big black dog scoffed.

“Then I’ll find you a few little she-dogs later, especially pretty ones.”

“Lu Jiuzhang, are you ever going to stop? I don’t want little she-dogs. Those little she-dogs aren’t worthy of me...”

“...”

The journey remained fairly cheerful.

After roughly half an hour, under the black-clad woman’s guidance, the group arrived at a place resembling a mountain stronghold.

The stronghold was built rather neatly, standing in stark contrast to the broken walls and ruins all around it.

“This is the place,” the black-clad woman said, stepping forward.

“Elder Feng, it’s me!” she called through the gate.

“Who are these outsiders?” a hoarse old voice came from within.

“They’re people who came in from outside. They’re not from the Burning Flame Sect or the Northern Blade Sect,” the black-clad woman explained.

“How can you prove that?” the voice asked again.

“I am the director of the Demon-Slaying Office in Changshui County. Since you all came in decades ago, you should have heard of Changshui County and the Demon-Slaying Office, shouldn’t you?” Zhong Zhengming said.

“Wait here. I’ll ask the manor lord.”

After about a cup of tea’s time, there came a creak as the heavy wooden gate opened, and an elderly man with graying hair appeared before them.

“This is Elder Feng, one of the few people in Severing Sword Manor with the highest cultivation,” the black-clad woman introduced. “When Elder Feng came in, he was only six years old. Now he is already quite old.”

“Are you truly from the outside?” The man who had seen Lu Jiuzhang earlier, Elder Feng, had tears welling in his eyes, and they soon spilled down his cheeks.

He did not know the Demon-Slaying Office, nor had he ever seen its uniforms.

But Changshui County sounded familiar to him, words deeply carved into memory.

“Absolutely genuine!” Zhong Zhengming said, walking at the front as he stepped into the grounds of Severing Sword Manor.

“Please follow me. The manor lord wishes to see you.”

The white-haired Elder Feng led the group onward.

“I’ll head back first. Remember, my name is Feng Wanqing. Once you’re done, you can come look for me. There aren’t many people in this place, so ask around a bit and you’ll easily find out where I live.”

The black-clad woman smiled faintly at the group, then left.

As she departed, she deliberately glanced at Lu Jiuzhang several more times.

There simply were too few people here, and most were related by blood or marriage; the people of the same generation had all grown up together since childhood.

Lu Jiuzhang was an outsider, newly arrived.

So Feng Wanqing felt a bit more curious about him.

After introducing herself, the black-clad woman departed.

This place could hardly be called a sect; it was more like a mountain stronghold.

People lived around the perimeter, while the manor lord’s residence stood at the very center.

The dwellings of the ordinary disciples surrounded the manor lord’s estate like stars encircling the moon.

The entire stronghold was clearly divided into different sections. There were tall towers dozens of zhang high, where various martial techniques and documents were stored.

Not far from the manor lord’s residence was a medicinal herb garden spanning several mu.

The herb garden was guarded by dedicated attendants, and with the manor lord living nearby, no one would dare act rashly.

Even from several hundred zhang away, Lu Jiuzhang could already catch a faint fragrance on the wind.

The quality of the herbs here far surpassed those he had seen at the Thousand Mechanisms Tower in Changshui County.

It seemed likely that they would be quite effective for cultivation.

“Manor Lord! A few guests have arrived!” Elder Feng knocked on the door.

The door creaked open, and a man who looked to be in middle age stepped out.

Feng Wanqing had said the manor lord was fifty-six years old, but this middle-aged man looked exceedingly young. He must have cultivated for so long that his appearance had aged slowly.

“Manor Lord!” Elder Feng said with a bow.

“Manor Lord!”

Following local custom, Zhong Zhengming, Lu Jiuzhang, and the others also bowed to the manor lord.

If this had been outside, Zhong Zhengming, as the director of the Changshui County Demon-Slaying Office, would have held a status far beyond that of these minor sects.

The two sides were not even in the same league.

Behind Zhong Zhengming stood the enormous Demon-Slaying Office and the vast Great Zhou Dynasty.

A small sect like Severing Sword Manor was merely one of the exploited lower tiers of cultivators.

“You are too courteous,” the middle-aged manor lord said with a smile. “Severing Sword Manor has been in this relic for more than seventy years. This is the first time we’ve ever had guests visit, so you are certainly honored guests.”

“Go fetch some firetree medicinal tea,” the middle-aged manor lord instructed.

Elder Feng nodded and hurried off to see to it.

The manor lord then invited the group into the residence.

The place was not large, about twice the size of Lu Jiuzhang’s own courtyard.

“Forgive us for the plainness of the accommodations. The people of Severing Sword Manor grow fewer with each passing year. In the past, there were still servants to tend to my daily needs, but now I must handle everything myself,” the manor lord said apologetically.

When they first entered the relic, Severing Sword Manor, counting elders, disciples, and servants, had numbered around a hundred and forty or fifty people.

Over the past seventy years, the old had grown older, the dead had died, and now only about fifty or sixty remained.

Perhaps in another ten or twenty years, Severing Sword Manor would vanish on its own, without any enemy needing to lift a finger.

“Please, have a seat,” the manor lord said, pointing to the chairs in the hall. “The surroundings are rather humble and cannot compare with your Demon-Slaying Office. I hope you will forgive us.”

“The manor lord is too kind,” Zhong Zhengming said, clasping his hands as he sat in the seat of honor, facing the manor lord.

“I once heard the previous manor lord, my father, speak of the Demon-Slaying Office. He said it was the largest organization in the Great Zhou Dynasty, with the greatest number of experts, and that it served only at the emperor’s command.”

“There are even third-rank and second-rank martial experts among its ranks.”

“When my father spoke of the outside world, I would listen with great longing, feeling that the vast world beyond was the true heaven and earth in my heart. At night, I would often imagine what the outside world was really like, and how splendid it must be!”

Zhong Zhengming shook his head. “The outside world is not something worth dwelling on. Only after you have experienced it for yourself can you truly understand. No matter how much one says, words are useless. Although the manor lord is confined here within the relic, at least you need not endure all the intrigue and scheming of the outside world.”

“Factional strife, struggles for imperial power, a mere word or gesture from those great figures can affect countless lives. There is joy to be found here as well, so why envy the outside world?”