Green Mountain

Chen Ji became increasingly unable to decipher Old Ears’ identity. Sometimes, he thought the man was a skilled master, but seconds later he felt otherwise. Sometimes, he thought the man was truly just an old guy working on ships, but seconds later he felt otherwise.

When it was Chen Ji’s turn to collect his wages, Old Li weighed the broken silver with a small copper scale and prepared to pour it into his hands, but it was intercepted by Old Ears.

Old Li was taken aback: "What are you doing?"

Old Ears chuckled: "He owes me. From now on, I’ll collect his wages."

Old Li glanced at Chen Ji: "As long as you’ve agreed, next one."

Chen Ji returned to the deck empty-handed, only to see the crew sitting around in threes and twos, eagerly watching Gousheng cook the meal.

He sat at the edge of the ship, silently watching the wide river surface. More than ten cargo ships sailed alongside them, some heading north to the Imperial Capital, some going south to Suzhou and Hangzhou.

A large ship sailed towards them, and Old Li on the stern tower shook the crescent flag pole, rotating it three times to the left and two times to the right. On the approaching large ship, someone also waved a flag, rotating it once to the left and twice to the right before stopping.

Chen Ji couldn’t understand what this was about.

Old Ears suddenly sat down next to him, explaining: "This is asking if there have been any encounters with cargo-robbing river ghosts ahead. The other side responded that they encountered some and paid two hundred taels of silver for safe passage."

At this moment, the other side was the first to shake the flagpole, and Old Li responded with a flag signal.

Old Ears chuckled happily as he explained: "They asked about the current tea prices in the Imperial Capital, and Old Li replied that it’s a good time to sell at high prices."

The flag holder on the large ship ahead signaled with their flag three times, and Old Li responded with identical flag signals.

Old Ears translated: "Safe travels, safe travels."

Chen Ji curiously asked: "Is the person on the other side Old Li’s friend?"

Old Ears shook his head: "No, the Jianghu is vast, and they just happened to meet by chance. That’s what’s interesting about the Jianghu. But don’t assume everyone’s heart is kind; it’s just that they’re in different trades. Otherwise, upon an encounter, they’d want nothing more than to pierce each other’s ship’s bottom."

Chen Ji was silent for a moment: "Why aren’t you collecting silver this time for giving explanations?"

Old Ears candidly responded: "No silver needed this time, this old man just wants to show off a bit."

Chen Ji fell silent again for a moment: "You’ve traveled north and south for all these years, have you been to all the famous mountains and rivers?"

Old Ears glanced at him: "What is it? Are you inquiring about a place? Rest assured, in this world, no one has traveled longer paths than this old man, and if I can’t provide an answer, no one else can."

Chen Ji instinctively said: "Then do you know such a place, north of Chongwu Mountain, where the Huangsha River bends, Copper Bull Sword..."

Old Ears interrupted: "Forgot the rule? Exchange stories."

Chen Ji pondered hard about what kind of story would attract the other: "In Taiyuan Prefecture, there was a scholar who encountered a young and beautiful woman crying sadly. The scholar approached to inquire, and the woman claimed to be a concubine from a wealthy family who escaped due to abuse from the main wife. The scholar became infatuated and secretly took the woman back to his study, hiding her from his wife for secret night meetings."

Old Ears was intrigued: "And then?"

Chen Ji recalled the story of A Painted Skin: "A few days later, the scholar encountered a Taoist priest, who was shocked upon seeing Wang Sheng and bluntly stated that he was surrounded by evil aura..."

Old Ears impatiently interrupted: "I said, no tales of gods or ghosts."

Chen Ji queried curiously: "I thought you just despised celestial beings, why not ghost stories either?"

Old Ears dug in his ears: "Ghost stories are merely meant to scare people, but those wandering souls and ghosts were just pitiful people during their lifetime, what’s there to fear? Quickly switch to another story, or this old man will leave."

Chen Ji deliberated for a moment: "In the Imperial Capital, there once was a bureaucrat’s daughter who fell in love with a man more than twenty years older..."

"Oh?" Old Ears became energetic again: "This I haven’t heard... was the man a talented Prime Minister or from which family? Qi, Chen, Liu, Hu, Yang?"

Chen Ji coughed twice: "After marrying the man, the woman discovered he married her only because she resembled his deceased wife. Upon learning this, she wanted to separate from the man, but he refused and simply ignored her. In her despondency, she fell for another man, but unfortunately, the man was her husband’s younger brother."

Old Ears widened his eyes: "Couldn’t it have been a different family?"

Chen Ji continued speaking on his own: "She and the brother secretly exchanged affection and conceived a pair of twins. Reluctant to abort them, she went back to engage with her husband, deceiving him that the children were his... Later, the husband suspected the affair between his wife and brother and killed the brother..."

Chen Ji spoke for a considerable time, and Old Ears listened with great interest. At the conclusion, he asked: "You made this up, right? In this old man’s memory, no family in the Imperial Capital matches this story. What’s the story called? Rest assured, as long as it’s interesting, even if it’s made up, it’s worth money."

Chen Ji honestly answered: "Zhen Huanchuan."

Old Ears pondered for a moment: "Alright, this story is worth one thousand taels of silver. If you want to ask me something, you have to tell another story."

Chen Ji’s eyes lit up. It’s that valuable?

He thought for a moment and then said: "An Emperor leaves the palace in disguise and accidentally meets a woman named Xia Yuhuo. The two fall in love and Xia Yuhuo gives birth to a daughter, Xia Zhiwei, out of wedlock. The Emperor leaves without a word... Years later, Xia Yuhuo passes away, and Zhiwei sets off to the Imperial Capital seeking her father with a token. Along the way, she meets Jianghu woman Little Swallow... Together they enter the palace. Through a twist of fate, Little Swallow is mistakenly made Princess Huanzhu, while the real princess, Zhiwei, ends up as a maid, and the Emperor falls in love with Zhiwei instead..."

Old Ears scratched his greying hair: "Hearing this makes my old brain itch... Where the hell did you find such melodramatic stories, it’s over the top."

Chen Ji said righteously: "Don’t worry about it, as long as it’s interesting. If you like listening, I have plenty more stories like this."

Old Ears moved closer to Chen Ji: "Tell me another one."

Chen Ji reached into Old Ears’ sleeve and took out the boatmen’s wages, taking Old Ears’ share as well: "The previous one also counts as one thousand taels of silver, now you still owe me four hundred ninety-six taels and six fen four li."

Old Ears laughed in exasperation: "You’ve got nerve, now what were you asking just now?"

Chen Ji repeated: "North of Chongwu Mountain, where the Huangsha River winds, the Copper Bull Sword, what place is this?"

Old Ears closed his eyes: "The first of the West Three Classics is Chongwu Mountain, south of the river... This is not within the Ning Dynasty’s territory, but on Jing Dynasty’s Longyou Road."

He opened his eyes and looked at Chen Ji: "Chongwu Mountain is originally a legendary place, but this old man who has traveled far and wide, thinks only the Zhongwei Xiangshan north of Guyuan matches the ancient texts’ description. And north of this Zhongwei Xiangshan, the Yellow River indeed flows by. I’ve heard of a strange tale, over three hundred years ago, the Yellow River changed its course, revealing a Bronze Bull beneath the riverbed, with an Ancient Bronze Sword slanted on its back, known as the River Guardian Copper Bull, Backsword God King."

Chen Ji shuddered inside, he actually managed to deduce the Land of Hidden Swords, Wu Yun meowed in Chen Ji’s arms: "Awesome!"

Chen Ji inquired: "Are the Copper Bull and sword still there?"

Old Ears recollected: "They should still be there. It is said that this Copper Bull is peculiar, even the Executive Officers of the Seeking Dao Realm cannot move it, as if it is rooted to the ground. This old man had once been curious and went looking for it, but the Copper Bull was submerged by the Yellow River again."

Chen Ji looked Old Ears up and down, as if he had found a treasure. Old Ears forced a smile: "From your expression, I know I’ve been at a loss. No more melodramatic stories in the future, this old man wants to hear real stories."

At this moment, Gousheng shouted: "Time to eat!"

Old Li waved his hand from the aft deck: "Eat up, then go to sleep!"

The boatmen gathered around the pot, watching as Gousheng cooked a large pot full of pig and sheep innards, sprinkling a handful of pepper on top. One sip of the peppery hot soup and their bodies warmed instantly.

Old Li filled a bowl and took it to the top level of the aft deck. Chen Ji watched his silhouette enter the room, still puzzled as to why the ship owner remained behind closed doors.

Old Ears also filled a bowl, tasted it, and frowned: "The food on your ship is as bad as ever. Can’t you damn well hire a ship cook? Eating your horrible food makes this old man too scared to die, fearing I’d have to eat this junk again in front of the wheel of life."

Old Li emerged from the aft deck and, hearing the jibe, responded with a laugh: "What do sailors care about? Just being able to take silver home to give to parents and wives is enough."

Old Ears placed his bowl on the deck and slipped into the cabin: "Time to sleep."

The boatmen finished eating and returned to the cabin together. To make space for cargo, the bunks for the boatmen were stacked into upper and lower beds, and they lay inside wooden slots like coffins.

Chen Ji lay among them, and within a few breaths, snores resounded one after another. The next moment, the immense Ice Flow in his Dantian surged out, flooding his limbs and bones in an instant.

Chen Ji clenched his eyes shut, teeth chattering from the cold, yet he refused to let his consciousness sink into the black cloud sea.

Wu Yun, sensing his strangeness, pressed tightly against his chest, guarding his last remaining heart.

In a deep slumber, Chen Ji awoke slowly, not knowing how much time had passed.

He opened his eyes and saw Wu Yun curled up on his chest, the boatmen were nowhere to be found, and the sound of splashing waves came from outside the ship.

"Thank you," Chen Ji patted Wu Yun, standing up to walk on deck, only to be stunned by the sight: Anlan was drifting upon an endless sea, with no land in sight when he looked back.

Old Li was commanding from the aft deck, while the boatmen worked on the deck. Old Ears, upon seeing him come up, slid down from the mast lookout: "Couldn’t wake you for six hours, this old man thought you were dead."

Chen Ji turned to look at him, hesitating: "Why has the ship gone to sea?"

Old Ears gleefully said: "Didn’t the person who arranged for you to board the ship tell you? This ship, loaded with cow tendons and cow horns suitable for bow-making, was originally going to be sold to the Jing Dynasty."

Chen Ji stood frozen.

No wonder there’s an Executive Officer guarding the cargo, and no wonder it requires someone like Old Ears, who has connections in both the Ning and Jing Dynasties. Aunt Ping tricked him, she didn’t want him surviving by the edge of a sword in the Ning Dynasty, she only wanted him to journey far away.