The night passed in utter silence.
Liu Yan sat silently in the chair. After sitting for so long, his thoughts grew hazy. Lost in a daze for what felt like an eternity, he suddenly noticed the room brightening—dawn had arrived. He glanced toward the corner where Tang Lici sat and saw him leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, still motionless. Straining his arms, Liu Yan painstakingly shifted himself from the chair and crawled inch by inch toward Tang Lici. "A-Li?"
"I'm fine," Tang Lici replied without opening his eyes. "In another half-hour, it'll be fully light. Yang Guihua took them away, and questioning them all night means they'll likely come back to search this place first thing in the morning." Liu Yan sighed. "Can you stand?" Tang Lici smiled faintly and wearily opened his eyes. "I've been thinking about two things." Liu Yan frowned. "What things?" Tang Lici spoke slowly, "Shen Langhun reduced you to this state—so where is he now?" Liu Yan replied indifferently, "How would I know? He just wanted to see me suffer a fate worse than death." Tang Lici said, "After doing this to you, logic dictates he'd be secretly following you—the more you suffer, the happier he'd be. At the very least, he wouldn't let you die by someone else's hand. Yet when the Seventeen Shaolin Monks tried to drag you into the Six Paths of Reincarnation, he never showed himself." Liu Yan said, "Maybe he left." Tang Lici gave a faint smile. "I suspect something might have happened to him. More than one group is tracking you. Since everyone's target is you, there's bound to be scheming and infighting. In terms of martial skill and cunning, he's no match for Peach Girl." Liu Yan fell silent. "Peach Girl? Xifang Tao?" Tang Lici's voice softened. "Yes, the gentle, beautiful, and clever Peach Girl. Once, you confided in her completely, never doubting her. Even now, don't you realize it was her scheming that led to your defeat at Good Cloud Mountain, casting you out like a stray dog?"
Liu Yan listened, silent for a long while before exhaling deeply. "You plan to save him?" Tang Lici's eyelids lowered slightly. "It's still unclear whose hands he's fallen into. We'll see." Liu Yan didn't respond. After a pause, he suddenly asked again, "Can you stand?" Tang Lici said, "The second thing—your newly taken disciple is no ordinary person. I doubt the prison cells of the Ministry of Justice can hold him." Liu Yan pressed once more, "Can you stand?" Tang Lici hesitated, no longer able to evade the question, and a faint blush actually colored his cheeks. Liu Yan suddenly felt the urge to laugh—was admitting helplessness really so difficult? Raising his arm with effort, he barely managed to reach the teapot on the nearby table. He shook it, only to find it empty. Holding the teapot, he placed it on the floor, braced himself with both hands, and crawled forward two steps. Then he picked up the teapot again, set it a little farther ahead, and crawled another two steps. Slowly, inch by inch, he made his way toward the kitchen.The kitchen wasn’t far from the hall. Tang Lici leaned against the wall, listening to the faint crackling of firewood and the bubbling of boiling water from the kitchen, when he suddenly spoke, “Do you still remember that alley during the Ghost Festival with the Silver Gang?” Liu Yan’s voice came from the kitchen, calm and steady, “You mean the alley where you got beaten up by a few Silver Gang thugs? That day, I helped you beat them up in return, and later you set the alley on fire, didn’t you? Hard to believe that was over a decade ago.” Tang Lici chuckled, “That was the first time someone fought alongside me. Before that, I’d been beaten up many times, but people always ran when they saw a brawl, and my parents never cared.” Liu Yan was pouring water into the teapot, “Why bring this up now?”
“No reason. Just thinking… if I’d known martial arts back then, maybe I would’ve killed someone, and then I wouldn’t have met you.” Tang Lici mused, “Maybe I’d have everything, know no one, and never lose.” Liu Yan set the filled teapot on the ground and slowly crawled back, step by step, “If we’re talking ‘what ifs,’ I’d rather never have met you either. Spending my life as a bar singer, strumming a guitar, making a few ordinary friends—that would’ve been better than anything.” Tang Lici laughed, “Hahaha… Too bad for you, now you’re the illustrious Liu Yan, the gallant wanderer. Even if time could rewind, you’d never again be ‘Brother Yan,’ the easygoing guy from the Charming Bar.” Liu Yan’s tone cooled slightly as he felt for a teacup on the table, pouring hot water and placing it in front of Tang Lici, “You haven’t changed at all. You were a madman back then, and you’re still a madman now.”
Tang Lici slowly reached out, picked up the cup, and swirled the scalding water inside, rinsing the rim before pouring it onto the ground. He reached into his robe and pulled out a small pale-green box. Opening it, he revealed a pinch of fresh green tea leaves. He tapped a few into his cup, and as Liu Yan pushed his own cup forward, Tang Lici dumped the rest of the leaves into it before tossing the box aside.
Boiling water cascaded in, releasing an elegant, soothing fragrance. Tang Lici took a sip, his deathly pale cheeks flushing almost instantly. Liu Yan also drank, “You actually carry tea leaves on you.”
“I always carry many things.” Tang Lici exhaled, his brow furrowing slightly, “But never food.” Liu Yan held up a steamed bun—leftovers A Shui had left in the kitchen. After a moment, Liu Yan sighed, “If anyone knew we’d be relying on this bun to get through the day—” Tang Lici smiled faintly, “Split it in half. Soon, it’ll be fully daylight, and this place is very dangerous.”
Liu Yan broke the bun in two. Tang Lici tore off a piece and put it in his mouth, only to suddenly cough violently, covering his mouth as he spat it out. Liu Yan froze, watching as Tang Lici vomited blood and water in turns, his face turning ghastly pale again. “If you can’t stand, I’ll carry you out.” Liu Yan quickly finished the remaining bun, “I heard you have a friend who knows the Golden Physician of the Bright Moon, Shui Duopo. Do you know where she lives?”
“Cough… Golden Physician of the Bright Moon, Shui Duopo…” Tang Lici’s lips curled slightly, “Huijing Mountain, Bright Moon Tower.”Before long, on the streets of Luoyang, passersby stared in astonishment at a strange man crawling on the ground with his hands. Clad in gray cloth and with crippled legs, he dragged a wooden cart behind him using two ropes slung over his shoulders. The cart carried a large wooden barrel securely fastened to it. Grasping a brick in each hand, every movement seemed to drain all his strength, his bones creaking audibly as the cart lurched forward with each painful advance.
Though some onlookers felt pity and considered helping, the man's tattered clothes and the gray cloth covering his face made them hesitate—who knew what kind of person he was? Eventually, they watched as he laboriously made his way to a stable in the city, where he surprisingly produced a gold ingot to purchase a horse-drawn carriage. With assistance, he transferred the large barrel from the cart into the carriage, then took the reins and drove straight eastward.
The man was undeniably suspicious. Less than a quarter of an hour after his departure, the city patrol received reports of a man matching his description and the large wooden barrel appearing in Luoyang—possibly connected to the recent string of murders in Bianjing and Luoyang.
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