Early the next morning.
In a daze, Li Wu heard the sound of horse hooves fading into the distance. Forcing his eyelids open, he caught sight of the temple door swinging shut from the wind outside.
By now, the campfire had gone out, leaving only a pile of ashes and a few charred logs.
He waited a moment longer until he was certain the hoofbeats had vanished entirely into the northern wind before letting out a long breath, his tense body finally relaxing.
“They're finally gone.”
Li Wu scrambled up and stretched, his bones popping noisily.
Walking over to where the pair had sat the previous night, he noticed less than half a piece of leftover curd cake beside the ash pit. Unbothered, he picked it up, blew off the dust, popped it into his mouth, and began grumbling incoherently.
“Can't be helped. Here in Grand Shuo, might makes right. Over in Grand Zhao, even when strangers meet in the martial world, they at least observe first come, first served. If you're borrowing someone's fire, you ought to show a little courtesy.”
This was not merely the arrogance of a single person, but a microcosm of the entire culture of Grand Shuo.
From the Golden Tent Royal Court down to the smallest outlying tribes and clans, and from high-ranking Martial Arts Grandmasters down to lower-realm martial artists, everyone implicitly abided by these rules.
The strong didn't need to be reasonable, and the weak had no right to demand fairness.
In a place like this, virtues like benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness were not passes to traverse the martial world.
Fists were.
If you wanted people to treat you with respect, you first needed the clout to earn it.
Chen Zui had opened his eyes at some point. Hearing Li Wu's complaining, he said plainly without looking up, “If you hate their way of doing things so much, why didn't you draw your sword last night?”
“Last night was a hero knowing when to back down!”
Li Wu declared righteously, swallowing the last bite of the curd cake and licking his fingers with lingering desire.
“I was reading the situation! That was the Mountain and Sea Realm, Brother Chen. One step further and you're in the peak Third Rank Inquiry Realm! Even if the two of us were tied together, we wouldn't survive a single slash from them!”
Chen Zui chuckled and scolded, “Cowardice is cowardice. Don't make so many excuses for yourself.”
Li Wu didn't take the remark to heart.
“Alright, alright, they're gone now. Let me stop huddling by the door drinking the wind.”
He walked over, reignited the campfire, and called Chen Zui over to warm up.
The two sat around the fire and shared the rest of their dry rations.
After resting for a short while, they scattered the remaining firewood, confirmed the embers were completely extinguished, packed their belongings, and stepped out of the ruined temple.
The northern wind over the plains was still biting, but it had abated considerably compared to yesterday.
The pale sun on the horizon finally offered a touch of warmth, casting a light golden sheen across the withered grass.
Walking ahead, Li Wu's steps were noticeably lighter.
That was just the kind of person he was—as long as his stomach was full and his body had a bit of warmth, he could completely forget last night's humiliation.
As he walked, he used his rusty sword to push aside the dead grass in his way, humming a bawdy tune he had picked up from some teahouse. He sang so off-key that even he wouldn't be able to recognize the original melody.
“Brother Chen, where do you think we should head next?”
Li Wu turned back to ask, but before Chen Zui could reply, he carried on himself.
“Actually, anywhere is fine. I mean, we're knights-errant! That means wandering around, drawing our swords when we see injustice. No need for a fixed destination—wherever our feet take us is where we go. If we run into unfairness, we step in; if not, we keep walking. That's how true children of the martial world live—carefree and boundless!”
He spoke with animated delight, looking as though he had already turned into one of those snow-white-clad, righteous great heroes from a storyteller's tale.
Following behind at an unhurried pace, Chen Zui merely smiled and refrained from answering.
Li Wu's reasoning happened to align perfectly with his own long-standing way of doing things.
Over the past year, he had walked from Grand Zhao to Grand Shuo, crossing borders, plains, and deserts without any clear destination in mind.
Wherever he ended up was fine.
If he encountered a matter worth meddling in, he meddled; if not, he kept walking.
Carefree in the martial world, drifting across the four seas.
Those eight words he had spoken to Lin Jianxi were not empty pleasantries, but the life he truly desired to live.
As for Li Wu, although he was a bit chatty, a bit boastful, and a bit cowardly...
He was easy to be around.
The two had met in a gambling house in a border town, and they had been traveling together ever since—it had been three or four months now.
During these three or four months, they had scared off street bullies terrorizing local markets together, chasing away several punks collecting protection money until they scrambled down the street.
They had protected herdsmen from being raided by horse bandits together.
Every time after doing such deeds, Li Wu would feel immensely proud, puffing out his chest as he walked down the street, wishing he could carve the words "A Great Hero" on his forehead.
He had even compiled a "Record of Righteous Deeds" for himself.
In it, he logged who he had saved or helped on what year, month, and day. His handwriting was crooked, but he recorded every detail meticulously.
For Chen Zui, however, the experience points gained from meddling in these small matters were a mere drop in the ocean compared to what he needed to level up in his current mid stage Wind-Riding Realm.
Still, he was in no hurry.
With his present strength, while he couldn't claim to be invincible across the Two Realms, those who could beat him were indeed few and far between.
So long as Earthly Sword Immortals like Shen Xingzhi and Lü Beisheng didn't make a move, and Boundless Realm Grandmasters didn't easily step into the mortal world, a Wind-Riding Realm expert like him could walk tall anywhere.
Since there was no rush to break through, taking things slow and wandering around to see the world was quite nice.
“Brother Chen!”
Walking ahead, Li Wu suddenly stopped in his tracks, pointing forward with an exclamation.
“Look over there!”
Chen Zui looked in the direction he pointed and saw several corpses lying haphazardly in the withered grass not far ahead.
The two picked up their pace and walked over.
There were five corpses in total.
Some lay face up, others face down, their wounds dried and blackened by the northern wind.
Among them were a man and a woman lying together.
They were none other than the man and woman who had commandeered their fire in the ruined temple last night!
Li Wu sucked in a sharp breath.
Squatting down, he closely examined the saber wound on the man's neck, then flipped through the woman's stiff fingers before looking up, a rare look of gravity on his face.
“These cuts are clean and precise. To be able to kill Mountain and Sea Realm experts, those other three clearly weren't simple either.”
As he spoke, he went to stand up, but his foot caught on something, nearly tripping him over.
Steadying himself, he was about to curse when he looked down, his eyes instantly locking in place.
The woman's right hand tightly clutched a manual. Her knuckles were stiff and pale, but her fingers still held on with a death grip.
She had clearly been protecting this object even in death.
Li Wu squatted back down, summoned his courage to pry open her fingers, and pulled out the manual.
The booklet felt heavy in hand. Its cover was crafted from some unknown leather that felt icy cold to the touch, stamped with four ancient seal-script characters:
《Hunyuan Qi Gathering Art》.
“An internal cultivation manual!”
Li Wu's voice pitched up half an octave.
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