Book 2 Chapter 9 – Early Glimpse into The Mystery

By the time Yun Yuzhen and the troops under her command left, it was almost dawn when the two boys finished dragging the sacks of salt into square-shaped piles that was empty in the middle. With their body weary and their strength exhausted, they entered the square and immediately fell into a deep slumber.

By that afternoon, voices from the shore have woken them up. The two boys crawled up and saw more than a dozen fast boats anchored on the shore. What attracted their attention the most were Han Gaitian and the pretty nun. Terrified, the two boys shrunk back and returned to the forest.

Fortunately Yun Yuzhen had given them direction earlier; otherwise, this time it would be like their wings have been plucked and not able to fly.

The two boys did not even have the courage to go outside to pick wild fruits. Even when the voices have gone, they still hid inside their cozy nest.

That evening suddenly a rain came. Luckily they had built roof from tree branches and sogon grass mixed with mud, which was able to deter most of the rainwater, so that the trickling water inside their nest was still bearable.

Kou Zhong happily said, “This rain is so timely, it will wash away the traces on the ground; that Han Pudi must have thought that we are already far away from here.” [Translator’s Note: play on words: gai tian – covering the sky, pu di – falling face down on the earth/ground.]

Xu Ziling could not help laughing, “Gai Tian Pu Di, these names are as brilliant as that Yuwen Huagu.”

Kou Zhong reached out to stroke the almost-a-cun­-long beard on Xu Ziling’s face. He laughed and said, “Xiao Ling, you look a bit more macho now, it’s just that your beard is a bit shorter than mine. Do you want me to pull them clean by my miraculous hands, so that you’ll become ‘little white face’ [i.e. pretty boy]?”

Xu Ziling pushed his hand away and said, “When our beard grew until we can’t even recognize ourselves, then we can go sell our salt for profit. Do you understand?”

Kou Zhong slapped his thigh in praise; but then he said in distress, “Is our martial art skill that lacking? Why did we clearly feel in our heart that we would be able to block our beautiful Shifu’s jade move, but our hands and feet did not want to obey us?”

Xu Ziling mused, “I never thought about that. In my opinion, we learned an exceptionally amazing power from the ‘Secret to Long Life’, but we still cannot apply it to the moves. Moreover, each type of weapon has its own unique characteristic, which we have not grasped yet. Naturally we cannot use it as our hearts’ wish.”

Kou Zhong raised his thumb to praise him, “This kid is amazing, he actually came up with the same idea I did. This proves that your natural endowments are as good as mine!”

They chatted and joked until darkness fell, and then the two boys slipped out. After they saw that the Haisha Bang people have left and not a single one remained, they left to find wild fruits to allay their hunger under the cover of darkness.

After that, the two boys tore each other apart on that beach and sparred against each other in high spirit. They thought that they might as well take off their clothes and just wore shorts, playing in the sea waves joyfully. It was not until Xu Ziling accidentally made a minor scratch Kou Zhong’s arm did they stop their sparring.

Lying on the beach, the two boys found their interest waned, because no matter how diligent they trained, the true qi within their body and the styles of their movement could not be fused into one. Other than obtaining more understanding on how to use their weapons, it could be said that they did not gain anything.

Not too long afterwards, the two boys fell asleep.

When Xu Ziling awoke, bird songs entered his ears. He opened his eyes and looked up, and happened to see a seagull circling over the sea, its bearing natural and graceful, it looked so carefree and happy. The seagull suddenly dove down at an angle into the water. When it reappeared, there was a wriggling, struggling small fish in its claw.

Watching this, Xu Ziling’s mind was severely shaken. He grabbed Kou Zhong at his side and said in hoarse voice, “I understand it!”

To his surprise, he was grabbing an empty space. Looking all around, he did not see an