15. Tang Family Fortress

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Wuqiao Town lay roughly fifty li from Qingwu County.

After leaving Wuqiao Town, one had to travel ten li along a rough, uneven path before reaching the main road, which led straight to the county seat. All in all, the road was fairly easy to travel, and during the day there was little chance of encountering bandits.

At night, however, that was another matter.

Especially in late autumn, when the weather was bitterly cold and food scarce—the very season when bandits were most active.

Chen He clearly knew this well. He urged the carriage onward at an increased pace, reaching the county gates by early afternoon.

The towering walls rose before them, magnificent and imposing, with soldiers patrolling faintly visible along the battlements. At the gate, a squad of armored soldiers stood guard, their presence enough to deter anyone from causing trouble.

Merchants and commoners streamed endlessly in and out, each holding a travel permit as they queued to pass through.

Qingwu County lay on the frontier of Great Qian, and a Thousand-Household Guard Station had been established there. Inspections at the gates were therefore strict. Even locals needed a travel permit stamped with an official seal before they could enter or leave.

Xie An had no household registration, so naturally he could not obtain such a permit. Whenever he came to the county seat before, he had used a permit from the Li Residence, claiming to be on official business for the pawnshop.

Now that he was traveling with Chen He, things were much simpler. All he had to do was say that he was Chen He's assistant.

“Soldier, here is the travel permit.”

Chen He presented the document with both hands. After examining it, the guard glanced at Xie An behind him, his expression darkening.

“And his?”

Without drawing attention to himself, Chen He slipped a few bits of silver into the guard's hand and said with an ingratiating smile, “He's my coachman, helping me transport some goods. I hope you might make an exception, sir.”

Once the guard had pocketed the silver, his stern expression softened considerably. He nodded.

“Go in. Curfew begins at the Hour of the Dog and ends at the Hour of the Rabbit the following morning. Don't miss the time to leave the city.”

“Thank you for the reminder, sir.”

Bending at the waist, Chen He thanked him and hurriedly led the carriage into the city.

Cities throughout Great Qian generally enforced a curfew. Only during major festivals, such as the New Year, was the ban lifted for seven days, supposedly so the people and the emperor could celebrate together and all under heaven might rejoice.

Once inside the county seat, broad roads paved with blue-gray stone stretched in every direction. Shops lined both sides, crowded with people, while carriages passed one after another. The surrounding buildings stood close together, grand and imposing, exuding an air of majesty.

Although Xie An had visited the county seat many times, several years had passed since his last visit. Now that he found himself here once more, he still felt like a country bumpkin seeing the city for the first time.

Now this was a place worth living in.

Once he had made something of himself and earned enough money, he would buy a grand four-courtyard residence in the city, hire several pretty maids, and live like a proper master of the house.

He was a little old for such dreams, perhaps, but a man still had to have dreams.

That was what Xie An was thinking.

“Brother Xie, the newly opened antiques market is at the end of Flower Willow Lane in the eastern part of the city. I need to exchange some medicinal ingredients first. Shall we meet at Flower Willow Lane in an hour?”

“Sounds good.”

The two parted on Central Avenue. Chen He headed for the medicinal market, while Xie An, familiar with the way, found several large pawnshops and went from one to another, offering the chamber pot for an outright sale.

The pawnshops in the county seat were indeed much grander. Their appraisers were sharp-eyed and highly skilled; at a glance, they could tell that the chamber pot was a valuable object.

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After comparing the offers from three shops, Xie An was still dissatisfied. He went directly to the largest pawnshop in the county seat, the Yong'an Pawnshop, to inquire about its price.

As expected, the larger the pawnshop, the more it valued its reputation, and the less often it resorted to cheating customers by forcing down prices.

An old appraiser with a white beard immediately offered the highest price.

“This is indeed an article once used by royalty a hundred years ago. If you pawn it and retain the right of redemption, I can offer two hundred and twenty taels at three percent interest. For an outright sale, two hundred and fifty taels.”

Xie An felt that the old appraiser truly knew his trade, and that he spoke with unusual decisiveness.

“An outright sale.”

An outright sale meant a single, final transaction. The item could never be redeemed.

Xie An had never once considered reclaiming a chamber pot of all things…

The white-bearded old man brought over five large silver ingots and handed them to Xie An.

“If you come across more objects like this, you may come to me at any time. My surname is Liu, and my given name is Ji.”

Xie An acknowledged this, then wrapped the ingots in the cloth bag he had brought with him and turned to leave the pawnshop.

With two hundred and fifty taels of silver tucked against his chest, he walked down the street with his back noticeably straighter.

They said a person's confidence came from his strength.

Money was a kind of strength, too.

With his purse swollen, he naturally had to treat himself to a proper meal.

Xie An found an inexpensive tavern and ordered a bowl of braised beef, a spicy lamb's head, and a serving of white rice. He ate to his heart's content.

The day's hunger was greatly eased, and even his inner organs seemed thoroughly satisfied.

While eating, he overheard the diners at the next table discussing something.

“Have you heard? Old Master Tang of Tang Fortress is close to death. He's trying to find a gifted disciple to inherit his ultimate art, the Six-Elephant Force. Unfortunately, he still hasn't found a suitable candidate.”

“What a pity. Old Master Tang is one of the few unusual martial masters in Qingwu County to have reached that rank through a life-nourishing art. To think that, at the end of his life, he still can't find anyone to inherit his life's work.”

“You can't blame people for that. The world is in turmoil these days, and anyone with talent goes off to practice martial arts. Who would bother with life-nourishing exercises?”

“Exactly. Three to five years of martial training can produce tremendous results, whereas life-nourishing arts require thirty or fifty years of accumulation before they show even the slightest effect. Only an idiot would practice them.”

“…”

Only an idiot would practice life-nourishing arts…

Xie An's heart jolted. He suddenly remembered that Tang Qingfeng—the man who had introduced him to the life-nourishing art—was from Tang Fortress.

Tang Qingfeng had told him back then that if he managed to cultivate a sense of internal energy, he could seek him out at Tang Fortress and might have the opportunity to obtain a fortuitous chance.

Could this opportunity be Old Master Tang's ultimate art—the Six-Elephant Force?

Although Xie An knew very little about Tang Fortress, from the diners' conversation he learned that Old Master Tang had reached the rank of martial master through the life-nourishing art. That alone was enough to glimpse the man's extraordinary nature.

And besides… one could actually become a martial master by practicing a life-nourishing art?

That was something Xie An had never considered before.

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All along, Xie An had wanted to practice martial arts, believing that to be the proper path. The only reason he had delayed until now was that he could not afford a martial arts manual.

If practicing a life-nourishing art could also turn him into a martial master skilled in killing and combat, did that not mean he was already walking the right road?

But the life-nourishing art consisted largely of empty forms. Aside from strengthening the body and increasing one's physical power, it contained no techniques for killing or fighting.

How, then, had Old Master Tang managed it?

Xie An faintly felt that he had touched the threshold of an entirely new world, yet he was still missing too many pieces.

“It's a pity I haven't developed a sense of internal energy. Otherwise, I could go to Tang Fortress. Even if I did go, no one would take me seriously…”

Feeling somewhat disappointed, Xie An saw that the time agreed upon with Chen He was approaching. He paid the bill and hurried outside to meet him.

When he reached the end of Flower Willow Lane, he saw Chen He anxiously waiting by the roadside with the carriage.

“Brother Xie, you nearly gave me a heart attack. If we'd been any later, the antiques market would have closed. Come on, come on—we're going treasure hunting.”

The newly opened antiques market was quite large. It offered all manner of objects, with more than a hundred stalls and a constant chorus of hawkers' cries.

Chen He dragged Xie An from stall to stall, weaving through the market.

“Take a good look. See if there's anything valuable.”

“Don't rush me. I'm looking.”

After making a circuit of the market, Xie An could only shake his head.

Chen He was deeply disappointed.

“Not a single bargain?”

Xie An gave a wry smile and explained, “Finding a genuine bargain isn't that simple. Antiques are never sold at fixed prices, and their value fluctuates wildly. Unless there's a price difference of several times the purchase cost to guarantee a profit, it's easy to end up stuck with the item—or to have gone through all that trouble for nothing. Everything here has already passed through several hands. There's no profit left. If you truly want to find treasures at a bargain, you need to buy directly from tomb robbers. That's where the real money is.”

Only then did Chen He understand. After their brief delay, it was already nearly time for the curfew, and the two had no choice but to hurry out of the city.

If they missed the curfew, they would have to spend the night inside the city. Both men made their living by serving others—one managing a pawnshop, the other overseeing a medicinal shop. If they failed to return for a single day, their employers would be furious.

By the time they left the county seat, dusk had already fallen.

Halfway through the journey, night descended. No trace of human presence remained along either side of the main road. Only the indistinct shadows of trees and the harsh cries of crows broke the silence.

“We wasted too much time. Traveling at night isn't safe. We need to hurry back.”

Chen He struck the horse's rump hard with a bamboo whip, urging it onward.

As they passed a bend in the road, three masked men suddenly appeared ahead, each carrying a broad-bladed saber.

“Whoa! Whoa!”

Chen He hurriedly reined in the horse, his face filled with terror.

“Gentlemen, what do you want?”

The tall man standing in the middle gave him a vicious look.

“Old man, you walked out of the Yong'an Pawnshop with two hundred and fifty taels of silver. You must be very rich. I'm short of money lately, and I just happen to like fat sheep like you.”