Wayfarer

Chapter 3: Body of Yin

Amidst a fit of coughing, the gates to the inner courtyard swung open.

The skies had darkened by then, and despite the red lanterns that shone around the estate, it was difficult to make out fine details. Xiao Nanfeng was wearing the elder's blue clothes, his body hunched over, his face covered with the elder's handkerchief. He walked out coughing.

"Sir, have you convinced the young master?" the captain of the guards couldn't help but ask.

Xiao Nanfeng feigned a cough and nodded amidst the faint darkness.

The captain of the guards sighed in relief. The young master had finally given in!

Mimicking the elder's speech, Xiao Nanfeng said, "The young master is feeling rather vexed at the moment, so don't bother him at the moment. Before the bride arrives tomorrow morning, have a servant help dress him for the occasion." He coughed once more.

"Yessir!"

Xiao Nanfeng nodded, then walked away very slowly, as though waiting for something.

Indeed, as he took a fifth step, the captain of the guards couldn't help but ask, "Sir, will you be bringing your black wolfdog with you?"

"Just in case..." Xiao Nanfeng devolved into another coughing fit.

Without turning back, he slowly walked off, waving at the guards with a hand.

Only when he was far into the distance did the captain of the guards breathe out in relief. "He truly is prudent, to let the wolfdog remain in the inner courtyard to keep guard over the young master and prevent him from doing anything foolish. It seems like he's thought of everything, so we don't have to go check in on the young master until the next morning, just in case something goes wrong and the chief steward holds us accountable."

Everyone believed that Xiao Nanfeng was still in the inner courtyard; no one could have expected that he was already on his way out of the manor.

Along the way, the servants and maids all throughout the estate bowed down respectfully to him. Thanks to Xiao Nanfeng's years of obedience, the elder held a very high position in the fiefdom, and no one dared accost him.

Xiao Nanfeng walked right out of the Xiao manor, the guard patrols not having deterred him one bit.

After leaving the estate, shrouded in a patch of darkness, Xiao Nanfeng couldn't help but look back at the house he had lived in for six years and the prison for ten. After a long, interminable silence, he turned his head and vanished into the night.

The next morning, countless guards rushed over to the Xiao manor and packed it completely.

Early at dawn, the servants of the manor had discovered the unusual circumstances of the young master's study and reported it immediately. A huge group of soldiers and guards had immediately surrounded the manor, causing the atmosphere to be one of oppressive, stifled silence.

Within the inner courtyard and surrounding Xiao Nanfeng's study were a group of guards, staring fiercely at the paralyzed and frightened elder on the ground, along with a black wolfdog carcass.

When the guards heard the elder recount his story, they were all shocked. They looked at him as though he were a dead man walking—after having allowed for such a grievous mistake, he would not survive the chief steward's punishment. How many people would die alongside him would depend on the chief steward's mood.

"Chief Steward, to think the young master was so skilled at deception... How long did he take to plan out all this?!"

"We were all deceived by the young master! The butler will have to die to atone for his crimes, of course, but what should we do about the young master?"

"To think that the young master had been planning this all along—his mentality is fearful to behold. And he was lucky enough to pick up a spiritual cultivation manual, too! Who can tell me what technique he cultivated?"

The chief steward looked grimly at a note on his desk, ignoring the indignant statements of the staff around him.

Xiao Nanfeng had left the note behind before his departure:

"Don't die before I return to claim your head."

"Have you found him?" the chief steward finally asked, after a pregnant silence.

"Chief Steward, the young master has had a night's head start, and he may already be out of the city by now. My men have found no trace of him, but I've sent for hunting hounds to track him down," a captain replied.

"Find him immediately, all of you!" the chief steward roared, unable to restrain his anger any longer.

"Yessir!"

The guards all rushed out of the study, leaving the petrified elder alone with the furious chief steward.

The elder was still paralyzed, but he didn't dare ask for help under the present circumstances. As the chief steward looked at him, he felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"You were responsible for screening the young master's scrolls and documents. Just what spiritual cultivation technique did he learn?" the chief steward interrogated in a chilling tone.

"I... I don't know, Chief Steward," the elder replied, stammering.

"Guards! Detain every member of this man's family and interrogate them one by one!" the chief steward shouted menacingly.

"Yessir!" A number of guards immediately rushed in from outside.

"Chief Steward, please! I've been hardworking and loyal to you all these years—please spare my family, please! I'm willing to offer up all my wealth in compensation!" the elder begged.

The chief steward said not a single word as he glanced at the note in his hands. He was in an extremely bad mood, especially after learning that Xiao Nanfeng had somehow managed to get his hands on a spiritual cultivation manual. This could well come back to bite him in the future.

Everything would have been under his control if not for this useless piece of trash before him, ruining his fame and reputation and leaving a huge mess behind. If he were to spare him, who would compensate him for his losses?

Ten days later, a black sailboat passed downstream along a river.

Xiao Nanfeng sat cross-legged at the bow of the boat, closing his eyes and absorbing the first ray of dawn light as it struck his body. Using a special breathing technique, he sucked in the dawn light along with the morning fog. After about half an hour, he spat out a mouthful of turbid air as he slowly awakened.

"I suppose the hunting hounds have been released by now? Ha! Can they track me across water?" Xiao Nanfeng's face turned somewhat disdainful.

The boat continued to float downstream as Xiao Nanfeng retrieved a map from the cabin and compared it to the sights in the background.

"I'll be able to leave the Tianshu Empire in just half a month. The Taiqing Immortal Sect was where my father found his mentor. Father, you left me this ring... I wonder if your senior brother will still remember it?" Xiao Nanfeng rubbed at the golden ring of ancient make in his hand as he glanced toward the map.

After carefully ensuring that he was still on track, Xiao Nanfeng stowed the map again, then retrieved a manual from within his robes, Body of Yin.

"With Body in your name, who would ever have thought you a manual for a spiritual cultivation technique? I truly have to thank you, Body of Yin, for giving me something to rely on all these years," Xiao Nanfeng marveled. "I know just how dangerous it might be to keep such a treasure by my side, but don't worry, I'll make sure your fame spreads far and wide."

He read Body of Yin one final time, ensuring that he had committed it firmly to memory, then struck a match and set the manual aflame.

The manual burned quickly, leaving nothing but ash over the surface of the expansive

river. The ash sank into its depths and vanished.

"Body of Yin is an arcane spiritual cultivation technique. Despite having studied it for eight years, I feel like I only understand it on a superficial level, but somehow, I seem to be able to improve my understanding by studying other Taoist scriptures instead. The insights I glean from those scriptures are somehow applicable to Body of Yin, as though Body of Yin is some sort of outline or framework for the entirety of cultivation, and every piece of insight can slot into it in some manner or another. It truly is a marvel..."

Xiao Nanfeng then retrieved an ordinary Taoist scripture from the cabin, which he read as he gnawed on some rations. It was a scroll he had purchased along the way, one which would have been obscure, impenetrable, and uninteresting to others, and yet Xiao Nanfeng seemed to be enjoying himself.

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