Chapter 684: Living Alone
The sun was beautiful, casting a warm glow. The willow trees lining the street were already covered in tender green leaves that swayed gently in the breeze. Owners of small shops sat by their doors, soaking up the sun. Occasionally, people strolled by with leisurely steps.
Xu Wuyi stood by the street. The mask was gone from his face, revealing his youthful features. For the first time in over three months, he finally didn’t have to wear that thing anymore.
He crossed the street and walked into an alley. More than two months ago, using another fake identity, he had bought a small courtyard house in the Xingjing West District. The courtyard was in a remote location, tucked away in an old hutong and surrounded by ordinary households. When he bought the property, he had entrusted the entire process to an agent, never once showing his face. The payment was made from an anonymous account, and the registration used a forged identity. No one knew who had truly purchased the courtyard. He had decided back then that once he left the Inspection Department, he would come live here for a while.
Xu Wuyi walked through the narrow hutong to its very end, stopping before a mottled wooden door. A new lock hung on it, looking completely out of place among the old locks of the neighborhood. He took out his key, unlocked it, and pushed the door open to step inside.
The courtyard wasn’t large, only about forty or fifty square meters. The main house consisted of three single-story rooms, flanked by wing rooms on the east and west. An old locust tree stood in the courtyard, casting its shade over a hand-pump water well. Its overall style was extremely archaic. Built decades ago, the old architecture was completely out of place in this era of advanced technology. The previous owner had been an old man. After he passed away, the house had sat empty for over half a year, and the weeds in the courtyard had grown waist-high. After Xu Wuyi bought it, he hired someone to do a basic cleanup—pulling the weeds, cleaning the rooms, and adding some essential daily supplies.
Standing in the courtyard, he looked at the old locust tree, the hand-pump well beneath it, and the dusty gray exterior walls of the three-room house. A strange feeling suddenly welled up in his heart. It was a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a very long time. From the moment he stepped onto the path of Martial Arts, from his rise to prominence at Star Martial University, and from his ascension to Quasi-Grandmaster, he had been constantly climbing upwards and charging forward. He had never stopped.
Now, he had finally stopped.
It wasn’t a temporary rest, but a true halt. He had no missions, no goals, and absolutely nothing he needed to do. All he had to do was live here, buy groceries, cook for himself every day, and lead the most ordinary life imaginable.
Xu Wuyi walked into the main room, leaned the Liaoyuan Long Spear against the corner of the wall, placed his change of clothes into the wardrobe, and set his personal terminal on the table. Once everything was in order, he sat on the edge of the bed, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness into his sea of consciousness.
Within his sea of consciousness, the dark golden marsh continued to undulate slowly, deep and profound. Deep within the marsh, the blue sun hovered silently, its light much richer than it had been three months ago. He could feel that his Power of Heart Image had grown significantly compared to when he first joined the Inspection Department. This growth wasn’t an increase in quantity, but a metamorphosis in quality. It was like a piece of iron that, after repeated forging, had its impurities gradually hammered out until only the purest refined steel remained.
But it still wasn’t enough. He knew he was still one final step away. The last veil had yet to be pierced.
Opening his eyes, he stood up and walked out of the room. The sunlight in the courtyard was perfect, casting mottled shadows from the old locust tree onto the ground. He walked over to the hand-pump well and pressed it a few times. Cool well water flowed out, splashing onto his hands. He washed his face, then left the courtyard, locked the door, and walked out along the hutong.
There was a small market at the entrance of the hutong. Every afternoon, farmers from nearby areas would carry their produce on shoulder poles to sell. He had seen it when he passed by a couple of days ago, and today he planned to buy some groceries. The market wasn’t large, consisting of only about a dozen small stalls selling vegetables, meat, and tofu. They had a bit of everything. The vendors were mostly middle-aged or elderly people, shouting at the top of their lungs, their voices mingling with the continuous sounds of haggling.
Wearing an ordinary gray jacket, Xu Wuyi walked among the crowd without anyone giving him a second glance. He approached an old lady selling vegetables, squatted down, and looked at the fresh produce in her baskets.
"Buying vegetables, young man?" the old lady greeted him warmly. "These are all homegrown, just picked this morning. They’re very fresh."
Xu Wuyi nodded and picked out a few cucumbers, two tomatoes, and a handful of leafy greens.
The old lady weighed them and said, "Eight-fifty in total."
Xu Wuyi took out his phone and scanned the code to pay.
Seeing the payment confirmation on her phone, the old lady smiled. "Do you live nearby, young man? I haven’t seen you around before."
Xu Wuyi nodded. "I just moved in. I live in the courtyard at the very end of the hutong."
The old lady let out a sound of realization. "That courtyard, I know it. Old Zhang’s house. It’s been empty for over half a year since he passed."
Xu Wuyi didn’t say anything more. He picked up his groceries and stood up.
The old lady added, "Do you live alone, young man? Do you want to buy a bit more? I won’t be coming tomorrow; I have some family matters to attend to."
Xu Wuyi thought for a moment, then bought a few potatoes and a handful of garlic sprouts. Carrying his groceries, he walked back through the hutong to his small courtyard.
After closing the door and placing the vegetables in the kitchen, he sat on a stone stool in the courtyard, staring blankly at the old locust tree. He thought about the old lady’s warmth, the sounds of haggling in the market, and the neighbors coming and going in the hutong.
They were all ordinary people, living ordinary lives. They didn’t know what a Heart Image was, what a Quasi-Grandmaster was, or what the Inspection Department was. They only knew how many vegetables they had sold today, what family matters they had to attend to tomorrow, and that they had to pay their children’s tuition the day after.
This was a different kind of Order. It wasn’t the Order of the Martial Artist World, nor the Order of the world of power. It was the Order of the ordinary people’s world. Simple, unadorned, day after day, year after year.
Xu Wuyi sat quietly, watching the sunlight filter through the branches and leaves of the old locust tree, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow on the ground.
Meanwhile, everything he had seen in the Inspection Department over the past three months—the big shots, the major cases, the intricate webs of relationships, and the darkness hidden beneath the surface... Now, all those things were far away from him, so far they felt like affairs of another world.
He was deliberately avoiding contact with his neighbors. When the old lady had asked him questions, he had only replied simply without saying much. When people occasionally passed by in the hutong, he merely nodded and never initiated a conversation. He seemed to have become someone completely detached from society, living solely within this small courtyard and his own world.
He had already witnessed the Order of human society and seen the Rules, both overt and covert. Now, what he needed to do was detach himself from those Rules, break out of that framework, and examine everything from a higher perspective.
Only then could he truly understand what Order was, and subsequently control it, and establish it.