by Tao Wong
It was Elder Ko who first realized what the group meant. The elder was still sharp eyed, even at his age. Immediately, the elder barked out orders to the villagers. His father, hearing the cries, slowed down his approach, losing some of the intimidating air he had projected, but he did not stop, only turning to call out behind him.
Wu Ying watched all of this with a half smile. He had forgotten the kind of commotion his visit would likely cause. Or maybe had not forgotten but not considered it, since it was not as if he had ever been gone. In fact… when was the last time the village had had a cultivator return? Wu Ying had vague recollections of talk of a similar celebration a few generations ago? A long time at least.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was going to be such a big deal,” Wu Ying said to his friends as the villagers gathered into an appropriate greeting committee while others scurried around pulling tables into the village square, shouting for food and drink to be brought, for the fire pit to start.
“Hua dan!” Yin Xue swore at Wu Ying, shaking his head at the peasant’s forgetfulness. His return would obviously create a commotion, one that would throw off all kinds of plans.
Tou He just offered his friend the placid calm he always projected, though Wu Ying heard a muttered prayer when he turned away.
Wu Ying took a deep breath before facing the oncoming villagers. He plastered on a smile, readying himself to greet them and explain matters. What would come would come. And really, this wasn’t so bad. They were his friends, his family, people he had grown up with. He could sit through their celebration, give them the hope of making their way out.
And if he found some of the conversations boring, a little prosaic, Wu Ying kept it to himself.
***
The celebration lasted well into the night, ending only because the village ran out of food and wine to supply their esteemed guests. Tou He, Li Yao, and Bao Cong were highly popular at the celebration, their easy familiarity with everyone making them favored guests. Yin Xue held himself aloof, as was his wont. Still, Wu Ying noticed a few of the younger girls clustering around the noble Lord, offering him smiles and hints of further pleasure. More than one parent kept an eye on Yin Xue and the young girls, ready to head off any unfortunate incidents. Ambition was good, but unchecked ambition without hope of achievement only led to disappointment and grief.
As for Wu Ying, he was of course the proud returning son, the honored guest. It was only late in the night, when most of the villagers had stumbled off to sleep off the alcohol, that he found time to speak with his parents. Seated in the warm and familiar surroundings of their small hut, Wu Ying regarded his parents.
“The village looks prosperous,” said Wu Ying. It was an obvious comment, but face to face with them, he was not sure what else to say.
“It is. Thanks to you. And Li Yao is a very lovely girl.” Wu Ying’s mother offered him a smile. “She will make a fine cultivator. And wife.”
Wu Ying narrowed his eyes, trying to discern the meaning of her words. But he could not find the barbs within them, so he could only nod and smile in return.
“I am very happy you have so many friends, so many willing to help you with this foolishness of yours. Even if I’m surprised that one of them is Lord Xue,” his mother said.
“He’s not a friend,” Wu Ying said.
“But what you’re doing is foolish,” Yu Ri said. Wu Ying’s father glowered at his son, rubbing his aching knee in reflex. “Joining the army, but not officially with your Sect? Journeying into the State of Wei? What made you choose such idiocy?”
“Need. It’s the only way Lord Wen was willing to let you all go. And they’re taking slaves now,” Wu Ying said. “There’s no way I am allowing you to become a slave.”
“No need to worry about that. Your father’s too broken to become a slave. They’d just kill me first,” Yu Ri said wryly.
Unsurprisingly, his mother smacked his father on the shoulder.
“It’s okay, I would kill you first,” his father told his wife.
That received a much harder blow.
“Putting aside your father’s black humor, you are doing too much for us. Filial piety can only go so far,” Fa Rong, Wu Ying’s mother, said.
Wu Ying set his jaw. “It will go as far as I need it to go. I will not abandon you.”
His parents shared a sad look before they clasped Wu Ying’s hands.
“Your path is different from ours now. You might not see it yet, but we do. Do not let the past hold you back from your future,” Fa Rong said.
“My future will have no meaning without my past,” Wu Ying said firmly.
To those confident words, his parents only shared a smile. Turning away from more serious topics, the family spoke about the other, more important portions of their lives, the everyday occurrences that wove together a person’s existence.
***
The group left late the next morning, saying goodbye to a much smaller crowd. Unlike the villagers, the higher cultivation levels among the Sect members meant they recovered faster after drinking. Of course, faster did not mean entirely untouched; but the group had watched their intake. Even so, the group was subdued as they rode their horses away, intent on making up the distance between them and the army.
“They are a nice group,” said Bao Cong.
“Thank you,” Wu Ying replied with a smile. He turned around, regarding his friends. “They liked you all too.”
“I know.” Tou He shook his head. “Some of the younger girls were…”
“Aggressive,” finished Bao Cong.
“As were their mothers,” Li Yao said with a laugh. “Both ways.”
“That’d be Auntie Qiu,” Wu Ying said with a half-smile. “I thought Bao Cong almost fell for Qiu Er.”
“She is quite lovely…” Bao Cong’s voice grew remote, his eyes dreamy. Tou He smacked Bao Cong’s leg with his hand. “What? She was.”
“I noticed her shooting glares at Li Yao,” Tou He said. “Did you insult her somehow?”
“I did nothing!”
“She had a crush on Wu Ying,” Yin Xue said, speaking up from behind. “Though he was always oblivious to it.”
“I was not!” Wu Ying scratched his head. “I just didn’t want to get involved with her. And you. And Fa Hui.”
“Fa Hui?” Li Yao said.
“My friend. My best friend from the village.” Wu Ying quieted as he recalled his friend. His friend who had not answered a single letter. Who had not written to him. Not a single letter in two years.
“Har. Yes, we did fight over her back then, did we not?” Yin Xue’s voice was amused.
“I noticed she avoided you,” Wu Ying said.
“We talked.”
“And?” Wu Ying probed.
Rather than answer, Yin Xue kicked his heels into his horse and sped up, leaving the group behind. Wu Ying exchanged a glance with Li Yao, who shook her head, dissuading her boyfriend from bothering Yin Xue further.
The group rode together for a time, stopping at a village when it was time for lunch. Seated together, Wu Ying extracted a map to allow everyone to see it. He traced the route they would have to take, first down the roads and across before they stopped at the town of Xin Ming. He tapped the town.
“We have a decision to make here.” Wu Ying traced his fingers down the map along the river, stopping and tracing it further east as it met a canal. He then returned his finger back to the starting point and did the same with the southeasterly road. “These are two routes we can choose. The first might be faster. If there are no obstructions and we can find a boat to take us, sailing will be faster. Of course, that requires us to pay for the boat, or potentially buy one.
“The other option is technically shorter, but slower as we will be going over land. It is a direct route though, and we won’t be at the mercy of blockages. In either case, I expect it will take us about two weeks to get close to the army.”
“And how do you expect us to sneak by the border guar
ds?” Bao Cong asked.
“Simple. We buy some new clothing and disguise ourselves as scholars,” Wu Ying said.
“Scholars in a war zone?” Yin Xue said. “Flimsy disguise.”
“What would you suggest then?” Wu Ying said.
“Li Yao or I could play nobles,” Yin Xue said. “The rest of you could play guards. Maybe even Li Yao and I could be husband and wife on our first journey around, perhaps visiting the ancestral shrine. It would give us a good reason for being there. And for having so many guards.”
Bao Cong nodded. “That will allow us to keep our weapons. And it’s better than playing a merchant. We don’t have the money to buy the goods.”
“Why are you and Li Yao husband and wife?” Wu Ying said huffily. “Bao Cong is a noble too.”
“He doesn’t look like much of one. No offense meant,” Yin Xue said.
“None taken. Working the forge has given me a strong tan.”
“Aren’t we forgetting someone?” Li Yao said, interrupting the burgeoning argument between Wu Ying and Yin Xue. She fixed her gaze on the quiet Tou He, tracking her eyes upward to rest on his bald pate. “Even if we all disguised ourselves, our monk here can’t disguise his hair style.”
“I can go alone.” Tou He shrugged. “No one ever looks twice at a monk on a pilgrimage.”
“That means you can’t have any meat on you,” Wu Ying teased.
Tou He made a face but nodded.
“I don’t think we should have anyone travel alone,” said Bao Cong.
“Then what do you suggest?” said Yin Xue.
The group fell silent as they contemplated their options. Wu Ying grinned and leaned forward, inspiration striking him like a thunderstorm on clay roofing tiles.
***
In the end, the group chose to wait to decide on the route until they arrived at the town. There, they would be able to learn how things fared on the river and canal. The merchants would certainly know better than they did. They did, however, choose to adopt Wu Ying’s disguise plan when they left the tavern.
The group split, with Wu Ying and Tou He in one group, acting as fellow wanderers. Wu Ying would be what he was—a herb gatherer for mundane herbs, supplying apothecarists and other medical professionals. His knowledge of herbs and plants would be the perfect disguise and would explain his presence. After all, a wandering gatherer without his own herb garden needed to travel to ply his trade. Tou He would be a monk on a pilgrimage to the temple in the capital of Wei. Together, the pair had banded together for mutual protection in these turbulent times. They would be the ones at the forefront. In this way, the group behind would have a scout for potential issues, especially as the nobles were the “juicier” targets.
Li Yao and the other two nobles would act as a noblewoman and her guards. She would be a dutiful and tragic widow sent to a convent after the death of her husband as her new family had little use for her. That the convent in the State of Wei was well-known for accepting the widows of nobles and peasants and for safeguarding them all bolstered Li Yao’s cover story.
For all their precautions, they were still far behind the front lines of the war. Even bandits, like the ones they had met before, were rare. Chaos would arrive soon enough, but it was still a dark rain cloud on the horizon, threatening a deluge but only sending threats so far. It was at the gates of the town of Lipu, after a long period of traveling, that Wu Ying realized his first mistake with their disguise.
“Passes?” the guard said to Wu Ying and Tou He, his tone bored from the hours spent asking the same question.
Tou He reached into his robes and pulled out a simple token. The guard scanned it, glancing at the name of the temple then at Tou He, before he returned the token without further questions. He turned to Wu Ying, who hid his surprise at his friend’s resourcefulness and started his own excuse.
“I’m sorry, honored sir. I was waylaid by bandits. My pack and most of my belongings, including my pass, were taken.” Wu Ying bowed his head low. “I was hoping to speak to the magistrate to reacquire my travel pass and my merchant license.”
“With what money?” The guard sneered at Wu Ying. “If you have no pass, you will not be allowed entry into the city. In fact, we should take you into custody to ensure that you are not a runaway.”
Wu Ying lowered his voice and leaned forward, passing his hands over his storage ring and extracting a palm-sized root of ginseng. In addition, he extracted a small number of coins. “They took most of what I had, but not all. I keep some things hidden on me.” Wu Ying extended his hands and the guard automatically palmed the ginseng and coins. “I understand that there is an entrance fee. I am not attempting to avoid that. But I’m sure there are better things we can do with our time than waste it on more paperwork for both of us. Don’t you think so?”
The guard glanced at the ginseng and frowned in consternation.
“It’s only fifty years old,” said Wu Ying, acting as if the ginseng’s age was something to be ashamed of.
“Fifty years old…” The guard looked Wu Ying over once again, taking in his dusty clothing and worn fingers, his cracked fingernails still caked with dirt. He glanced at his fellow guard, who was still busy with his own line, before he waved Wu Ying through. “Make sure you get your permit dealt with immediately. Speak to Junior Magistrate Khoo. He is my cousin. Tell him I sent you.”
“Thank you, benefactor,” Wu Ying said, bowing slightly before hurrying off after Tou He.
The ex–monk had continued to walk on, not wanting to mess with Wu Ying’s deception. They turned the street and walked a couple of blocks farther before they felt comfortable enough to break the silence.
“I didn’t realize you still had your old temple seal.” We Ying shot a glance at his friend, amusement in his eyes. It seemed that Tou He was more of a rebel than he looked.
“And I didn’t realize you were so knowledgeable about bribing,” said Tou He.
“It’s a fact of life. Even in the towns we sold our goods at, we occasionally had to bribe the guards. So long as we are circumspect about our actions and are not asking for too much, they will look the other way.” Wu Ying sighed then rubbed his storage ring. “But the next bribe will be expensive.”
Tou He shrugged. He had no experience in this matter. Bribing the magistrate was something Wu Ying would have to handle directly.
“I do hope that Li Yao and the others will manage…”
***
They met later that night at an inn Yin Xue knew of, in a private room at the top of the building. Wu Ying and Tou He sneaked into the room after the servants had delivered the evening’s meal for them all. Wu Ying carried his usual travel bag filled with purchased herbs and other materials he had scavenged along the way and kept within his storage ring, as well as the newly written permits. All that, of course, meant Wu Ying had used even more coins, leaving him significantly bare of purse.
“How did you get in?” asked Wu Ying.
“I showed them my family seal,” Li Yao said matter-of-factly. She looked somewhat surprised at Wu Ying’s question. “Why? Did you have trouble?”
Wu Ying sighed and shook his head. Of course they’d had no issues. No one questioned nobles about where they went or why. The restrictions on travel were only for those who weren’t nobles or cultivators. Already, Wu Ying missed being able to enter cities without having to pay or show documentation.
“Did you learn anything?” said Yin Xue.
“No.” Wu Ying winced. The time he’d needed to fortify his disguise meant that he was unable to do the necessary research on their potential routes.
“Then why—”
Tou He interrupted Yin Xue. “The river route is still open. There is no indication that there are any blockades on the river itself. But the canals might be troublesome.”
“Troublesome?” said Bao Cong.
“The canals are narrow and easy to guard. The captains were speaking of a lot of bandits working them during the last war. Many re
fused to go on them any longer. I don’t know if we could find passage when we needed it.”
Wu Ying imagined the map, thinking of the route they would need. The nearest canal took them farther south than they wanted to go. They’d have to cross the ground on horseback if there was no transportation, adding at least a few days to their trip. Any time they saved by taking a ship south would be eaten up by the additional distance. And then they would still have to head slightly north to catch up to the army from there. If they could find another ship, they could save up to a week. If.
“It looks like we will be going over land then,” Yin Xue said, stating what they all thought.
“Yes! I get to ride more,” Li Yao exclaimed. “I’ve really come to like Qiufeng. He’s big and strong and lets me ride him without complaint, all day long.”
“Qiufeng?” said Wu Ying.
“My horse.”
“Of course.” Wu Ying shook his head, hiding his mouth behind a raised teacup. “Then we are agreed. We go by land.”
***
Travel by land had one advantage, at least for Wu Ying. Even on the horse he rode, he could cultivate. His training on learning to cultivate while running allowed him to optimize his time. Cultivating in this way was not as efficient, especially for his cultivation exercises, but considering they were traveling for hours at a time, he could still progress.
In terms of his actual cultivation—his progress with the Yellow Emperor’s style—he was stymied by the same blocks. To break through, he needed to collect a large amount of chi and force the breakthrough—unless he managed to achieve a moment of enlightenment—and that was too dangerous to do out here. Better for him to wear away at the edges of the blocks, decreasing their effectiveness. If he did it right, his next attempt at a breakthrough would be easier.
But mostly, all that was a by-product of his other training. While they traveled, he focused on his aura cultivation exercises, working on suppressing his aura while at the same time making it semi-permeable. Working on the new cultivation technique to increase the speed of his cultivation, of his recharge rates.
