Following Little Monkey as he fled the inn, a horse neighed and ran after him. It was Little Monkey's sole companion, his horse. The journey continued for the man and his horse. Onward they traveled, treading a path that was not yet over.
If a person knew the exact date of their death, how might their life change? No human, except perhaps a divine being, knows what tomorrow will bring. Perhaps you will meet a beautiful woman tomorrow. Or perhaps you will die in an accident.
You might win big at a gamble and become a rich man. Conversely, on your way back from the gambling hall, you might meet a robber and lose every penny you won. Generally, every human's tomorrow is filled with excitement, anticipation, and adventure, and is captivating in its own way.
But if you knew you were going to die tomorrow, could you still be happy about winning the lottery today? It is a question worth considering. For someone who knows the future, the excitement and anticipation of every tomorrow will simply vanish. If you know the exact date of your death, you will likely spend the remaining time doing whatever you please.
You might seek pleasure with many women. You might drink alcohol from dawn till dusk. You might travel to places you've never been. However, for a person whose joy is gone, no matter how they try to console themselves, it will be in vain. It will be flat and tasteless, like a dish without salt.
What about Little Monkey? He was just a man like any other. He felt frustrated. He felt sad. He desired happiness. He longed for contentment and joy. But he understood that his life was not an ordinary life. He realized that he could not survive with the ordinary perseverance and diligence of a common man. This was an insight born from a lifetime of suffering.
He tried harder than anyone else. He put in more effort. That is why his martial arts had improved so much in such a short time. After the fight with Jing Hu, far from being discouraged, he felt even more energized. A lesson learned is an extremely useful thing, if one knows how to use it.
Yet, knowing that he would die within the next five years made him unusually depressed. A desire to drift aimlessly through life surfaced. He wondered, Am I the only one who is lonely in this vast world? Am I the only one who is so unlucky? However, just as he was about to give up on life, Little Monkey's nature—the man who would not surrender easily—reasserted itself.
That innate drive fiercely stopped him. Five years—was that not still many hours, many days, many months? He would set a strict schedule and do as much as he could during this five-year period. Then, he would return to Zhongnan Mountain. He would quietly await the final moment of his life under the vast sky. This was Little Monkey's final decision.
Qingqing...
Thinking of Qingqing brought a pang of pain to Little Monkey's heart. This girl was a royal flower. A royal flower belonged only in the royal chamber. He and she were as far apart as heaven and earth. Heaven and earth should never merge. If a leper's hand were to touch a gold cup, the value of the gold cup would surely diminish.
Little Monkey decided he would try his best never to meet Qingqing again. This would be the only way to spare her.
As Little Monkey pondered and stared aimlessly, he realized that the three-month deadline he had set with Bear was about to expire. Bear must have found the answer to his question by now. Bear was a man who kept his word. If he hadn't, Little Monkey would have to make him keep it.
Little Monkey then spurred his horse to full speed toward Yellow Crane Mountain. Every second was precious to him now. Bear's Eatery at the foot of Yellow Crane Mountain was a ramshackle, dilapidated place that hardly looked like a restaurant from a distance. Yet, it was always bustling with people.
Today, as usual, the restaurant was so crowded that there were no empty seats. The restaurant's daily income was substantial. However, the main source of income for the owner, Bear Tong Jhin, was information trafficking. That's why Tong Jhin took the business of trading information extremely seriously. He had strict rules and always kept his promises.
Tong Jhin highly valued his reputation for being trustworthy and never breaking a promise in the information trade. That reputation would easily spread through the jianghu, like a word passed from ear to ear.
Today, to fulfill his promise, Tong Jhin was waiting for someone in the private room. The private room was located in the empty lot behind the shop. It was a separate structure and was extremely secure—not even a dog or a cat could get in.
Seeming impatient with the wait, Tong Jhin frowned and immediately gulped down the cup of herbal wine that had been poured for him. He had been waiting for quite a long time, and he certainly had reason to be impatient. It was truly frustrating to wait for someone when he could be spending quality time with his wife.
Just then, the door opened, and someone walked in. A chill permeated the entire room, and Tong Jhin instinctively knew, without looking, that it was the youth who had asked the question worth fifty thousand taels three months ago. The young man's aura was indeed unique.
"Oh, young nephew, you've arrived! I've been waiting for quite a while. If you hadn't shown up by midnight tonight, I would have to consider the deal void," Tong Jhin said, smiling.
"Stop with the unnecessary talk. I made it on time, didn't I? I want the answer to the question I asked. I don't have much time. If you can't answer, I will have to take your life as compensation," the youth said.
There was no need to say that the young man was Little Monkey. His voice was icy-cold. His tone suggested he would do exactly as he said.
Bear Tong Jhin was terrified; his knees were shaking. However, maintaining his composure, he controlled his trembling voice and said,
"Please sit, young nephew. Please sit. Have some Bamboo Green Wine. I will explain everything to you slowly."
"Young nephew, you appear to be the young man who has recently become famous. We know that you were severely injured in the fight with Elder Jing Hu. And thanks to Young Mistress Murong's assistance, you survived. Unfortunately, we also know that you have only five years left to live."
"Are you investigating me?"
Little Monkey's voice was harsh. It was clear he was in a murderous rage.
Bear Tong Jhin hastily explained,
"Oh no, young nephew! By now, you are one of the most prominent people in the martial world! There's no need to specially investigate news about people like you. Information about famous people travels on its own, young nephew."
"You talk too much, sir. Please just give me the answer to my question," Little Monkey said quietly.
"Very well, young nephew. I will explain what I have found. Please listen patiently."
"Your question concerns one of the top families in the martial world, young nephew. The master of this family is also the second rank among the top ten masters of the jianghu. The incident happened about 18 or 19 years ago, so a considerable amount of time has passed. Another point is that no one in the martial world knows about the incident you asked about. We have thoroughly investigated."
"This means the family itself wants to keep the incident secret, to close the curtain on it. You can imagine how dangerous it was for us to secretly investigate an incident that the Gongsun Family themselves have kept hidden. If we had become enemies with this family, we would surely have been shattered like an egg thrown at a mountain wall. But because this work is something I value, I didn't give up. I investigated day and night for three months. I spent all the information resources I had. In the end, I must say I reaped the benefits of my perseverance. I found some clues just a few days ago."
Tong Jhin explained at length, ensuring Little Monkey understood how hard he had worked.
"The incident is like this..."
The heat was intense. Inside Tong Jhin's private room, it felt slightly cooler than outside. Tong Jhin seemed exhausted from speaking for so long. He took a sip of wine and continued:
"The incident is like this. Since the question you asked, young nephew, relates to an event from about twenty years ago, all my team members were quite busy. We had to track all the movements of Young Mistress Gongsun from twenty years ago. Did she go out into the jianghu then? For what reason? Who accompanied her? Where in the jianghu did she go? When did she return home? My tracking team exhausted all its resources, searching everywhere for the answers to these questions. But we could find no trace, no clue. Just when we were about to give up after three months of finding nothing, we unexpectedly met someone. According to this man, he personally saw Young Mistress Gongsun near the Spring Bridge Temple outside Kaifeng City about twenty years ago. And it wasn't a simple presence. He said she was fighting an enemy. Furthermore, the enemy sealed her meridians with a single move and captured and carried her away."
Bear Tong Jhin paused, seemingly exhausted from his long narrative, and took another sip of wine.
"Who was the person fighting the Young Mistress, sir?"
Little Monkey asked hastily, sounding eager. Tong Jhin looked at Little Monkey and smiled:
"Don't be so eager, young nephew. I have invited the person who witnessed the incident."
Tong Jhin knocked three times on the room door. The door opened, and a thin, miserable-looking man with the face of a thief—shifty-eyed and scraggly—walked in.
"His name is Thief Ah Jhi. The vicinity of Kaifeng City is his territory—his stealing and scrounging territory, that is. He was the one at the Spring Bridge Temple twenty years ago, young nephew."
"Now, Ah Jhi, tell this young man exactly what you saw. We have already agreed on your fee," Tong Jhin said to Little Monkey, and then to Thief Ah Jhi.
"Very well. It's not important to me anyway, so I'll tell you. Could I have a drink, please?"
As the thief was speaking, he suddenly grabbed Tong Jhin's wine cup and gulped it down.
"The incident was like this, sirs. That day, I wasn't having any luck, so I was sleeping in a small room behind the temple, frustrated. Just then, I heard some voices outside the temple. It was a man's voice and a girl's voice. The man's voice was like a middle-aged man. The girl's voice was like a teenager's. I thought it was strange to hear voices in the middle of the night, so I peeked outside the temple through the crack in the door. The moon was bright that night, so I could see clearly. When I saw the girl, I was quite surprised. Why? Because it was Young Mistress Gongsun, Gongsun Yong'e! Don't think a thief like me wouldn't know Young Mistress Gongsun. In those days, every man knew Young Mistress Gongsun. She was famous as a goddess. The person talking to her, on the other hand, was so ugly, sirs. I have to say, in my whole life, I have never seen such a repulsive face! His lips were split—and his bottom lip was about a span thick! His nose was hooked like an eagle's beak! His eyes were narrow, his ears were flared, and he had patchy hair on his head! I can't even describe what he looked like, sirs! This man must have been about 40 years old. This man might have been ugly, sirs, but his martial arts were amazingly powerful! The Young Mistress didn't even have time to draw her sword! She was immediately meridian-sealed and fainted! As soon as the Young Mistress fell, this man picked her up and leapt away! He was as fast as lightning, sirs! That is what I saw that day."
Seeming tired from speaking, Thief Ah Jhi grabbed Tong Jhin's wine cup and drank again.
Tong Jhin looked at Little Monkey and said,
"That's all the clue we have found, young nephew. But we are not giving up. The kind of appearance Ah Jhi described is extremely unique. So, I have compiled a separate list of people from that era, around 40 years old, who looked like that. When I filtered the list, there were only three people with that kind of appearance in the jianghu at that time. There is one problem here: the martial arts of these three men do not match the martial arts of the person Ah Jhi described. It's rare for anyone in the martial world to be able to contend with the Gongsun Family's swordsmanship, right? If Ah Jhi's account is true, that man could capture the Young Mistress with a single move, meaning his martial arts must be extremely high. The skill of these three men is not that high. The first of these three men is a thief from the Fuzhou region named Luo Jin. The second is a ghost-crying man from Changxi County named Ouyang. The last one is a Jiangnan local, the Old Flower-Plucking Monkey, Fang Qin. All three of these men are notorious in the jianghu for being extremely ugly. And twenty years ago, all of them were around 40 years old. The only thing is that these men are all low-class Dark Path members in the martial world. Their martial arts are only ordinary. It's doubtful whether they would have the courage to provoke Young Mistress Gongsun."
Bear Tong Jhin seemed quite tired from his long speech. He grabbed the wine pot and drank greedily. Then he continued:
"So, we had to re-examine whether these three men had a grudge against the Gongsun family. The problem is that when the Master of the Gongsun compound, Gongsun Yang, was young, he had severely punished these men. He had grudges with all three of them. Currently, all three of these men have been missing from the martial world for quite a few years, young nephew. We've lost the trail."
Tong Jhin looked at Little Monkey while speaking, and smiled at him with pity.
"In conclusion, the person you are looking for must have extremely high martial arts and be extremely ugly. He must be around 60 years old now. You find the lost by searching, young nephew. Don't give up."
Tong Jhin comforted Little Monkey.
The sun had set behind the mountain spur. Darkness slowly enveloped the Earth. As night fell, the scene seemed to transform. Since the sky was clear of clouds, the cool moon gradually emerged in the pale blue sky. The gently falling mist and the cool moonlight combined to bathe the world in a silver glow. Anyone witnessing this scene would surely feel a sense of melancholy and longing in their heart.
Standing still in the falling mist was a man. This man, wearing golden robes and a golden mask, was none other than the Ninth-Heaven Master, who once shook the entire martial world.
A moment later, the Ninth-Heaven Master's hands began to move. It was a movement that seemed to bring with it all the demons and evil spirits from the world of the dead.
Only a golden shadow could be seen swirling around the grassy area where he stood. Due to the intense heat wave accompanying his movement, all the grass blades on the lawn withered.
Because of the intense heat, not only the small grass blades but also the surrounding trees were scorched black and dry, as if hit by a firestorm. The hot energy waves made the environment roar as if thunderstorms were raging.
After a long while, his movement stopped. The surroundings were silent, as before.
"Congratulations on successfully mastering the Nine Yin Heat Scripture, Sect Leader. The time has come to dominate the martial world."
Along with the voice, two shadows rushed over: Fox Pi Wu Zun and Whirlwind Zong Qi. The Ninth-Heaven Master's left and right bodyguards.
"Hahaha, good! Let's begin our work. Have you two successfully mastered the Bone-Piercing Nail Technique?"
"We have, Sect Leader!"
"Then begin Phase 1."
Before the words were finished, the Ninth-Heaven Master vanished in a flash. What an unparalleled grand master!
The Yellow River...
The Yellow River is thousands of miles long and the second longest river in China after the Yangtze River. This river valley region is the cradle of Chinese civilization. It was a prosperous region in early Chinese history. It was named the Yellow River because its waters are silty and have a yellowish color.
During the spring, the river often floods due to the melting of mountain ice. During the flood season, the river water rises many feet, looking terrifying as it seems capable of breaking through mountains and even overturning the ocean.
Nevertheless, this river is the lifeblood of this country and this people.
Today, however, the Yellow River was flowing gently, showing the composure of a reserved young woman. The cool breeze blowing across the river's surface could not calm the heart of the youth standing on the riverbank.
The young man held his horse and stared mournfully at the river. His heart was filled with a sense of emptiness. The ruthless look that used to be in his eyes was gone, replaced by sadness.
The young man was Little Monkey, who had left Bear Tong Jhin's Eatery. Now, his quest to find his father was over. What meaning did the saying, The dead are soon forgotten, the lost are soon found, hold for him now?
And how could he, who could not even defeat the Jade Fan Scholar, hope to defeat his grandfather, Gongsun Yang, who was rank two in the martial world? The reasons and objectives for him entering the martial world were shattered. A man without hope is as good as dead. How was he any different from a dead man?
In the end, he decided to return to Zhongnan Mountain.
He would build a small house at the foot of the mountain. He would beautify the house with plants and flowers. He would hunt. He would collect honey. In his free time, he would raise birds. He would spend the final time of his life in peace. In time, people would forget Little Monkey.