Chapter 25 | Dominating the World with Nine Yin and Nine Yang

Guo Jing learned from Ke Zhen'e that Huang Yaoshi had appeared in Jiaxing, so he could no longer sit still.

Early the next morning, the group went around the city asking for information.

Taverns, teahouses.

They even questioned the old man selling wontons.

As a result, they got plenty of leads, but hardly any were reliable.

Some said they had seen an old man in green robes a few days ago.

Others said the old man could shatter wine cups from a distance.

Yet another swore up and down:

"That was definitely Island Master Huang!"

Guo Jing quickly asked:

"Do you know Island Master Huang?"

The person shook his head:

"Nope."

Guo Jing: "..."

"Then how can you be so sure it was Island Master Huang?"

The man said:

"The storyteller talked about him!"

"Green robes, a weird temper, and skilled in martial arts."

"Isn't that obvious enough?"

For a moment, Guo Jing didn't even know how to respond.

Standing beside him, Huang Rong nearly burst out laughing:

"Brother Jing."

"Going by what he says..."

"...you could find at least a few dozen people like that in Jiaxing City."

...

They couldn't find Huang Yaoshi.

However, the matter regarding Da Wu and Xiao Wu couldn't be delayed any longer.

After all, paper could never contain fire forever.

Every day, Da Wu and Xiao Wu clung to the threshold, sobbing and begging for their mother.

Huang Rong simply called the two brothers over, squatted down, and gently explained the truth about Madam Wu Sanniang's passing.

Da Wu froze completely, looking as if he hadn't understood.

Xiao Wu was the first to cry:

"Impossible! My mother never lies to us!"

Xiao Wu turned and bolted outside:

"I'm going to find Mother!"

Guo Jing grabbed him, but Xiao Wu struggled wildly.

"Let me go!"

"I want my mother!"

His voice grew raspier with every cry.

Da Wu had still been standing, listening to his younger brother cry.

His lips trembled a few times, and finally, he broke down too.

He squatted on the ground, covering his face with both hands, his entire shoulders shaking as he wept:

"Mother..."

"Didn't you say you'd definitely come back?"

Holding Xiao Wu, Guo Jing's eyes turned red as well.

He wasn't very good at comforting people, so he could only pat the boy's back again and again:

"Go ahead and cry. Cry if it hurts."

"Don't hold it in."

Sitting by the window, Ke Zhen'e gripped his iron staff tightly and remained silent the entire time.

Only after a long while did he speak in a low voice:

"Your mother..."

"...the thing she couldn't stop worrying about before she left..."

"...was you two."

Da Wu slowly raised his head, his eyes already swollen from crying.

Ke Zhen'e continued:

"She was afraid you'd wait too long in the vegetable cellar."

"She was afraid you'd go hungry."

"She was afraid you'd get cold."

"And she was afraid this old man wouldn't find the place."

Xiao Wu cried even harder.

Ke Zhen'e's voice grew slightly raspy as well:

"Even right to the end..."

"...she was still calling out your names."

"So you must grow up strong and well, and not make your mother worry."

This single line utterly broke the two children.

The two brothers wept heart-wrenchingly, tears and snot flowing down their chins like rivers, nearly passing out from choking on their sobs.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong coaxed and comforted them continuously with sweet water and hot meat porridge, finally lulling them to sleep on the daybed, where they fell into a dazed slumber.

Night fell, and total silence filled the side room where Da Wu and Xiao Wu slept.

Guo Fu held her hair ribbon between her teeth while carefully cradling two glossy, red candied haws in her arms.

The hawthorns were coated in a thick, crystal-clear layer of crispy sugar glaze, giving off a sweet fragrance.

Tiptoeing to the small wooden table beside the bed, she gently placed the candied haws against the rim of a coarse earthenware bowl, then turned and vanished in a flash.

Early the next morning, a rooster crowed.

Xiao Wu rolled over while rubbing his eyelids, which were swollen like walnuts, when he suddenly spotted the two bright red candied haws on the table.

Xiao Wu immediately woke Da Wu.

Surprised, the two brothers grabbed the candied haws and ran out of the room, just in time to bump into Guo Fu kicking a shuttlecock under the covered corridor.

Xiao Wu swallowed his saliva and asked in a low voice:

"Sister Fu... were these candied haws put in our room by you?"

Guo Fu kicked the shuttlecock far away, put her hands on her hips, and straightened her neck stiffly:

"I would never give you these!"

"Candied haws are my favorite! I don't even get enough for myself, so why would I waste them on you two crybabies?"

She rolled her eyes, raising her chin high:

"My mother said before that when your mouth is sweet, your heart won't hurt as much."

"She must have bought them back last night. Eat them or don't! If you don't want them, go feed them to the big yellow dog in the backyard!"

With a swish of her red skirt, she turned and ran off.

Behind a pillar around the corner, Huang Rong poked out half her body, hiding her laughter behind her hand.

She gently nudged Guo Jing beside her with her elbow:

"Brother Jing, look at Fu'er. She clearly wanted to be nice to them, yet she insists on putting on such a spoiled front."

Guo Jing scratched the back of his head sheepishly, grinning as he said:

"Rong'er, I think... Fu'er's temper is the spitting image of yours when you were young."

Huang Rong's willow-leaf eyebrows instantly stood on end, and she reached out to pinch the soft flesh at Guo Jing's waist:

"Oh, great, Brother Jing! Are you talking in circles to say I'm no longer young and have turned into an old hag?"

"And you even dare to imply I have an unruly temper?"

"I think you're looking for a beating!"

Guo Jing dodged and ran:

"Rong'er, I'm innocent! I didn't mean that at all..."

Guo Jing fled with his hands over his head while Huang Rong, lifting her skirt, laughingly chased after him to hit him.

Ke Zhen'e happened to step out of his room right then, and hearing the commotion, his face darkened:

"So noisy first thing in the morning."

"How old are you two now?"

"You're already a father and mother, yet you're still chasing each other around like children."

...

These past few days, Yang Guo spent two shichen every day channeling his internal energy to force out the poison.

At first, his entire right arm had turned purplish-black.

Now, his shoulder and upper arm had returned to normal.

The poison was being forced back into his forearm bit by bit.

Every time he finished circulating his energy, he was drenched in sweat, as if hauled out of hot water.

Little Shitou was particularly attentive to this.

Every day after Yang Guo finished circulating his internal energy, he would take a piece of charcoal and draw a mark on Yang Guo's arm.

Today it receded half a finger-width compared to yesterday, and tomorrow it receded a bit more.

Aniu squatted nearby, watching with utmost seriousness:

"Yang Guo."

"At this rate of receding, in another ten days or so, will it recede all the way to your fingertips?"

Yang Guo said softly, "Pretty much."

Little Shitou suddenly asked:

"And what after it recedes past the fingernails?"

Yang Guo glared at him:

"Wouldn't that mean the poison is purged?"

Little Shitou actually thought about it seriously.

Looking at his dumbfounded expression, Yang Guo instantly felt as if the poison in his system had flared up again.

Apart from this,

Yang Guo was also mulling over another matter: teaching Aniu and Little Shitou some martial arts.

The world was too chaotic, or Li Mochou might come back killing on any given day.

He had to teach them some kung fu for self-defense.

The Nine Yang Manual certainly couldn't be given to them directly; that was the old monk's instruction.

Yang Guo had no intention of breaking his promise either.

However, the most fundamental breath-regulation principles within the Nine Yang Manual...

...once he fully digested them himself, re-sorted them, and removed the core mnemonic...

...leaving only the breathing and internal energy cultivation techniques to help them strengthen their bodies, that wouldn't count as passing on the manual, right?

Yang Guo patted his pant legs, stood up, and put his hands behind his back, striking the posture of a grandmaster:

"Sit up straight, both of you!"

"Getting beaten up every day is no way to live. Today I'll teach you two a breath-regulation method so you won't get used as punching bags in the future."

Hearing that they were going to learn martial arts, Aniu and Little Shitou's eyes lit up, and they nimbly sat cross-legged.

Yang Guo cleared his throat:

"First step: sink your qi into the dantian, and press your tongue against the upper palate."

"Inhale slowly, deeply, and continuously, letting it sink gradually down your throat to three inches below your navel."

Aniu closed his eyes, his cheeks tightly clenched, looking quite believable.

Yang Guo squatted down and patted Aniu's belly with full expectation:

"How is it? Does your dantian feel like a warm stream slowly swirling around?"

Aniu slowly opened his eyes, let out a long yawn, and rubbed his belly tearfully:

"Didn't feel any warm stream, but it's pretty comfortable."

Yang Guo excitedly asked again:

"And then? Is there any strange sensation throughout your body?"

Aniu collapsed backward onto the pile of rotten straw:

"And then... I'm so tired. I kinda want to go to sleep."

Speechless, Yang Guo pulled him right back up: "Keep practicing!"

He turned his head to look at Little Shitou.

Good grief!

Little Shitou was frozen stiff on the spot, his neck swollen two sizes thicker, his eyebrows twisted into fried dough twists.

That little dark face of his had flushed red from holding his breath, veins bulging on his forehead, his two eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

Yang Guo's scalp tingled wildly in panic; he rushed forward and pried Little Shitou's mouth open:

"Holy shit! What the hell are you doing?! Breathe already!!"

"Pffft-hah!!" Opening his mouth, Little Shitou instantly blew out a huge breath of stale air he had been holding in for ages.

Little Shitou gasped frantically for breath, his voice turning high-pitched:

"Cough, cough, cough... Yang, Yang Guo! Didn't you tell me to hold a breath in?"

Yang Guo wiped the spittle from his face and let out a long sigh to the sky:

"I told you to regulate your breath!"

"I didn't tell you to suffocate yourself to death!!"

First teaching session: total failure!

Half a shichen.

Aniu almost fell asleep.

Little Shitou almost sent himself to the afterlife.