Chapter 192: Looking for the Sword by the Marked Boat

Outside Luo City, Guangji Temple.

Deep in the night, during the Zi hour, a sound came from the 'Borrowing Emptiness Hall' inside the temple. A section of the wooden floor was pushed open. She Dengke was the first to poke his head out of the tunnel, and then he was startled.

Inside the Borrowing Emptiness Hall, candles were lit. Two temple-guarding monks sat in meditation and contemplation in front of the Shakyamuni Buddha statue.

Hearing the sound, the two monks opened their eyes and looked over, then closed them again, as if all was empty, and they didn't take She Dengke to heart at all.

She Dengke was originally a little afraid seeing these two monks. Once they closed their eyes, he hurriedly said into the tunnel, "Come up quickly."

The Prince, Liang Maoer carrying Liang Gouer, and She Dengke pulling Chunhua, together crawled out of the tunnel.

She Dengke closed the floor back properly, turned and quickly led the group past the temple-guarding monks. The temple-guarding monks didn't look at them again.

The Prince, following at the end, suddenly asked in a low mood, "How do we leave the Ning Dynasty?"

She Dengke explained, "We'll take the sea route."

The Prince sighed softly, "The sea, ah..."

She Dengke asked curiously, "Prince, what's wrong?"

The Prince lowered his head and said, "We said before in the medical hall that we wanted to go see the sea together."

She Dengke and Liang Maoer were both startled. That day, old man Yao even ridiculed them, saying that as long as they were exiled, they could go see the sea together. Although their current situation wasn't exile, it wasn't much better.

Old man Yao's words had become a prophecy.

However, the group was missing two people: Chen Ji and Bai Li.

It was as if they would forever be left on this land, through spring and summer, autumn and winter.

The Prince asked in a low voice, "How do we save Bai Li? She's still in the eunuch party's hands."

She Dengke said with difficulty, "Prince, we probably can't save her. Look at Brother Gouer, he's already like this..."

The Prince thought for a moment, "I still have a few friends."

She Dengke shook his head, "Chen Ji said that the first time something happened at the Prince's Manor, all your friends hid."

The Prince grunted, "Then how do we go to sea?"

She Dengke said as they walked, "Miss Zhang Er explained that there's a small pier just outside Guangji Temple, with a small boat docked there now. We'll go to Jinling first, then transfer to a boat and go through Zhenjiang, Jingjiang, Nantong, and reach the sea via Qidong. We'll take the sea route to detour to the Northern Jing Dynasty and get off the boat at Lüshun."

The Prince was in a depressed mood and casually asked, "Is this route viable?"

She Dengke explained, "Miss Zhang Er said that the Xu family has always used this sea route for trade with the Jing Dynasty. You can definitely get through. When we reach the Qidong pier, there will be Zhang family dead soldiers to meet us."

At the entrance of Guangji Temple, the Prince suddenly stopped. Heavy snow fell on him. "We? You... you're not going?"

She Dengke hesitated for a long time before finally mustering the courage to say, "Prince, I'm sorry, it's too dangerous following you. I haven't even left Luo City since I was little. Now you're asking me to go to the Jing Dynasty, I'm worried that after I go..."

The Prince asked softly, "What if the eunuch party chases you?"

She Dengke lowered his head and looked at his toes, "The eunuch party shouldn't know I participated in the prison break. At most, they'll just arrest Chunhua, but she's not an important figure. She goes to the manor with a plain face every day, the eunuch party won't recognize her. My family and I have agreed that I'll go to my fourth uncle in Mengchi tonight and work in the fields with him."

Saying that, She Dengke took Chunhua's hand, "After the dust settles, I'll use the money from the cement dividend to buy a few mu of paddy fields and live peacefully with Chunhua."

The Prince grunted, "Very well. It's just, I still don't know how to repay you."

She Dengke added, "Prince, you don't need to thank me. I went to save Chunhua... I'm just the son of a laboring family, not the same as you. I can't handle big winds and waves."

The group fell silent.

The Prince forced a smile, "Since you've discussed it with your family, then go quickly."

She Dengke retreated step by step towards the door, "Then we'll go, Prince, Brother Maoer, Brother Gouer, take care."

After speaking, he pulled Chunhua and walked out of Guangji Temple.

Just as they stepped out of the threshold, the Prince suddenly raised his hand and shouted, "She Dengke."

However, She Dengke was pulling Chunhua. He heard the Prince's voice and his body only paused for a moment before he continued walking forward, without turning back.

The Prince slowly lowered his hand, "...Thank you."

The next moment, he raised his hand again and wiped the corner of his eye, then raised his head and looked at the night sky, sniffing.

Liang Maoer looked at the Prince, "Prince, let's go too."

"Okay."

The remaining three people lifted their feet and walked towards the pier.

Outside the temple gate, they could see a boat docked at the river pier from a distance.

However, there was still a person by the boat. Tianma stood in the snow in a white robe, like a banished immortal. Yet, this immortal-like figure was the one with the heaviest killing intent in the secret spy office.

The Prince subconsciously turned around, wanting to go back to Guangji Temple for help. Turning back, he saw the temple gate of Guangji Temple suddenly close, shutting the three people outside.

The Prince saw Tianma making several hand gestures from a distance, but no one could understand them.

They looked at each other from afar.

The Prince suddenly said, "Brother Maoer, Brother Gouer, you go. They want to kill me, it has nothing to do with you."

Liang Gouer laughed, "At this point, what's the point of running? If we die, we die. At least the road to the Yellow Springs won't be lonely. Among the few people from the Prince's Manor and the medical hall, only you have some drinking capacity. Maoer, listen, put me down, you go."

Liang Maoer said stubbornly, "I'm not going."

However, just at this moment, a sneer came from the heavy snow behind them, "How touching, ah. If the future dramas don't have this scene of yours, I won't watch."

The Prince suddenly turned his head and saw old man Yao, with his hands behind his back and a hunched back, slowly walking past them in the heavy snow.

"Physician Yao!" The Prince was startled.

Old man Yao didn't pay attention to him, only waved his hand at Tianma as he walked, "Go back, this is none of your business."

Tianma hesitated for a moment, then made several more hand gestures.

Old man Yao happily responded, "He pretends to be a god and talks nonsense all day, he still can't control me. Entrusted by an old friend, no one can touch these few people. Go back to the capital, when the inner minister asks, just say I took these few people away."

Tianma nodded, cupped his fists in a bow, turned around, and strode away.

The Prince was in a daze.

Old man Yao walked to the edge of the boat, turned his head, and looked over, "Still not on the boat?"

"Coming, coming," The Prince and the other two quickly boarded the boat. Liang Maoer helped Liang Gouer sit down in the boat, while he himself went to row the oar.

The sound of water splashing came, and the small boat slowly sailed into the distance.

Old man Yao stood at the railing of the boat and said to the Prince behind him without turning his head, "Prince, on the day the Prince fell ill, I told you something in the medical hall, you haven't forgotten, have you?"

The Prince shook his head, "I haven't forgotten."

Old man Yao said calmly, "The Prince exchanged his life for the two of us to enter the Jing Dynasty. This road is difficult, have you thought it through? I am a little soft-hearted in my old age. If you really want to regret it, it's still not too late to leave now."

The Prince shook his head, "I don't regret it, but what about Bai Li?"

Old man Yao said casually, "Let's see their fate."

The Prince asked hopefully, "Can you perform a divination?"

Old man Yao chuckled softly, "That disciple of mine is someone who doesn't believe in fate. Divination is useless, heaven won't take him. Prince, this journey is long, you may not be able to come back. Say goodbye to the Prince."

After speaking, the old man turned around, lowered his head, and entered the boat, leaving the Prince alone standing at the railing looking at the river.

The Prince suddenly had tears streaming down his face, knelt at the boat railing, and kowtowed three times towards the north, bidding farewell to his father and his homeland.

The heavy snow fell on the water surface, making a rustling sound. In the time when the heavens and the earth were quiet, the falling snow also had a sound, desolate and profound.

The Prince suddenly picked up a wooden oar and wrote in the water:

Youth is long and bright, pouring wine and turning through red alleys.Power as brick walls, profit as tiles, guests and friends fill the tent.Awakened, lamenting the short day, a big dream twenty turns.Suddenly feel those同行常 eight or nine, true heart no two or three.Alas, listening to the snow on a lonely boat, sitting and watching the distant heavens and earth.

The Prince wrote the first and also the last rough poem of his life. No one saw the poem, it was hidden in the dark river, flowing eastward with the great river.

He got up and knelt down towards Liang Gouer in the middle of the boat, "Please teach me the Liang family knife method, Master!"

The Prince, who had been wealthy and noble for the first half of his life, was now full of knife intent.

Liang Gouer leaned in the boat, silent for a long time, and asked dryly, "Why do you want to learn my Liang family knife method?"

The Prince said in a low voice, "Inherit my father's will, kill immortals."

"Can you endure hardship?"

"Yes!"

"Do you dare to kill people?"

"Dare!"

Liang Gouer laughed loudly, "Good, good, good, then I'll pass on this Liang family knife method to you. It's just that my governor meridian is already broken, I probably won't live to see the day you kill immortals. If one day you can really kill immortals, then say to the immortals for me, 'Earth chickens and tile dogs, nothing more than this, not even as good as one little finger of my master.'"

The Prince said seriously, "Good."

Liang Gouer sighed, "Call me master."

The Prince prostrated himself in the boat, kowtowing nine loud times, then raised his head and said, "Master, it's a pity there's no wine or tea."

Liang Gouer smiled, picked up a ladle from the side and threw it to the Prince, "Children of the Jianghu drift uncertainly, flowing water as wine is also wine."

The Prince turned around, scooped a ladle of water from the river, and handed it to him. Liang Gouer gulped down a mouthful of mountain river water and shouted, "Painful! You're much more painful than that boy Chen Ji!"

Old man Yao glanced at him, "Don't court death."

Liang Gouer pouted and didn't say anything. He also didn't know what realm old man Yao was in, but someone who could wave a sleeve and make Tianma leave was definitely not simple.

Old man Yao took out a small wooden box from his bosom and pinched out a white pill with blood from inside, "Prince, swallow it. This 'Life Feather Pill' can help you cultivate."

The Prince was startled, "Life Feather Pill? Why don't you keep it yourself? Your lifespan..."

Old man Yao smiled, "It doesn't matter. Receiving a good disciple before death, I have no regrets."

"Chen Ji, he..."

"His path is more difficult than yours."

Mao hour.

The snow stopped, and the sky was about to clear.

Chen Ji rode back to Anxi Street. The Jing Prince's Manor was already sealed with white strips, and messy white paper was scattered in front of the door, flipping rustlingly in the wind.

Coming to the entrance of Taiping Medical Hall, he pushed open the large door, "Master, I'm back!"

But, the medical hall inside was already empty.

Chen Ji walked inside, "Master?"

"Master, where are you?"

"Master..."

Chen Ji stood in the courtyard, looking around blankly. The small Taiping Medical Hall was cold and quiet, no longer full of life... Everyone was gone.

He came to the apricot tree and took down the red cloth strips on the tree one by one.

The Princess wrote first, safe, joyful, smooth, no worries.

Chen Ji then unfolded the one Liu Quxing wrote, "Master, health and longevity," and then the one She Dengke wrote, "Master, ten thousand years without limit." In his ears, he seemed to hear the sound of laughter and play under the moon that day again.

In a trance, he seemed to see She Dengke and Liu Quxing chasing each other around the apricot tree again.

But in the blink of an eye, the people of the past were all gone.

Memory is just like this, only punishing the nostalgic.

Chen Ji turned around, carried the remaining strong wine out of the medical hall, mounted his horse, and galloped towards the Drum Tower.

As he galloped, he drank wine and turned his head to look at the distant sky.

When he reached the Drum Tower, Chen Ji bribed the guards with a silver peanut and climbed the wooden stairs step by step to the top of the building.

He carried the wine jar and sat on the railing, swaying as if he would fall in the cold wind, as if he would drop at any moment.

Chen Ji looked at the side with drunk eyes, "Liu Quxing, what do you want to do later?"

Someone in the wind said, "I want to follow my master's path and become an imperial physician!"

Chen Ji laughed, "Good, then you'll be the imperial physician of the Jing Prince's Manor later!"

He asked loudly again, "Liang Maoer, what do you want to do later?"

Someone in the wind answered again, "I want to buy a few mu of land."

"Good, I'll send it to you tomorrow!"

Chen Ji asked again, "Prince, what do you want to do later?"

"I want to be a great hero! Only then do I realize those classics are useless. After the wind blows, I'll read whichever page it turns to, and tear up whichever page is hard to read! Beat the drum!"

Someone in the wind said angrily, "Brother, have you thought it through? If you hammer it down, the soldiers guarding the Drum Tower below will be exiled to the army!"

"Then I won't knock."

The sun came out.

Chen Ji raised his head and looked over, only to see a red sun slowly rising at the edge of the world. The sky was clear for ten thousand li, and the orange-red light gradually shone on his solitary figure.

Like a reflection in a mirror, the moon in the water, a human dream.

In the morning sun, Hei Yun walked along the wooden railing. It climbed into Chen Ji's bosom and raised its head. Chen Ji stroked its fluffy head, his eyes looking at the distant horizon.

Hei Yun meowed and asked, "Chen Ji, what are you doing here?"

"Carving a boat to seek a sword."

Volume Three, Carving a Boat to Seek a Sword, complete.