Chapter 3: Hua Xiaomei

Only after the meal was in the pot did he go to Liu San’s corpse and begin to search it.

To his delight, this Liu San was quite wealthy, and he actually found a few taels of silver fragments.

In this world, one tael of silver is equal to one string of copper coins, and one string of copper coins has seven or eight hundred copper coins, which is a huge fortune for Shi Feizhe now.

But soon, he found a square tattoo with an inner pattern on Liu San’s arm.

Shi Feizhe recognized this pattern, the local gang in Yiyang City, the Four Directions Gang.

There are three major gangs in Yiyang City, the Four Directions Gang, the Live Slaughter Gang, and the Blood Wolf Gang.

With the Yellow Heaven taking over Yiyang City, the three gangs have been fighting fiercely recently, and the area where Shi Feizhe is located belongs to the Four Directions Gang.

He had killed a member of the Four Directions Gang, so he couldn’t go to the medical clinic. Although the gang members were very respectful to the head of the medical clinic, they were arrogant and domineering towards the other staff, acting like they owned the place!

So, should he go to other parts of Yiyang City?

Yiyang City is square-shaped, fifteen kilometers long from east to west and ten kilometers long from north to south. It is a major city connecting the north and south of Yi Province!

As long as he hides in other parts of the city, the Four Directions Gang would naturally not be able to find him.

No, living in fear and anxiety wouldn’t allow him to practice martial arts properly!

He had to escape Yiyang City and then train until the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》 reached the small success stage. Then he would come back and kill every member of the Four Directions Gang, one finger at a time, to quench his hatred!

Thinking of this, he rolled his only two sets of clothes into a bundle, ate his meal, and walked towards the south gate.

His home was actually closest to the north gate, but the road to the north gate passed by the medical clinic. He was afraid of being seen by the people in the medical clinic, which might lead to trouble, so he went to the south gate.

It was already past Chen time in the morning, the sun had completely risen, the Yellow Heaven above the City Lord’s Mansion had disappeared, and the sky had turned light blue again.

The shops around the south gate also opened one after another, and the sounds of hawking and shouting began to ring out everywhere, as if the whole Yiyang City had suddenly come to life and become lively.

Seeing these scenes of daily life, and thinking about the life-or-death struggle last night, Shi Feizhe felt as if he had passed through a lifetime.

After thinking for a moment, he decided that since he was going on a long journey, he should make more preparations.

So he went to a pawnshop and bought an old umbrella. Then he went to a dry food store and bought some dry food to carry with him. He also bought a crooked-mouthed gourd to hold water.

Having packed these things, he followed the flow of people out of the gate of Yiyang City and set off towards Qiuyang City to the south.

He walked during the day and found lodging at night. By the third day, Shi Feizhe felt that his body had recovered a lot. He hurried on his way but missed the lodging place and had to sleep in the wilderness.

This was also due to Shi Feizhe’s lack of experience. He didn’t know that people in this era could only walk a limited distance each day. Especially since many of them were traveling merchants, with oxen and horses pulling goods, they couldn’t walk fast at all.

Therefore, on the main roads, there were inns and other lodging places every few dozen miles, specifically for travelers to stay temporarily.

If you missed one, it would be another few dozen miles to the next.

Qiuyang City is four hundred kilometers south of Yiyang City. Walking forty miles a day, it would take nearly twenty days to get there.

Even a fast horse, which could cover four hundred kilometers in a day and a night, would need to change horses constantly at post stations, regardless of the horse’s stamina, to achieve such speed.

Unless there was a martial arts expert who could travel a thousand miles a day, they could rush from Yiyang City to Qiuyang City within a day.

“Sigh, transportation is really inconvenient! If only there were high-speed rail…” Shi Feizhe gathered a pile of firewood, found a sheltered spot in the woods near the main road, started a fire, and lamented.

High-speed rail would get you there in an hour or two!

The temperature in the wilderness at night dropped quite drastically. During the day, he felt sweaty all over, but at night, he was so cold that he had to make a fire.

Sleeping alone in the wilderness is very dangerous. Not to mention bandits passing by, even if the bonfire went out and the temperature suddenly dropped, poisonous insects and snakes would be troublesome.

If there were two people, they could take turns keeping watch, but alone, he couldn’t sleep well. Shi Feizhe could only practice his standing meditation.

After a few days of rest, although his flesh wounds hadn’t completely healed, the meridians in his body no longer hurt, and he could try standing meditation and circulating his energy.

✿✿✿

Just like the sword stance he had practiced before, he stood with his feet firmly planted, hands pressed against his legs, body straight, and with each inhale and exhale, true energy was generated in his dantian.

“A strong physique is necessary to cultivate true energy,” “For decades, no one has successfully cultivated the 《True Origin Sword Finger Formula》”!

Shi Feizhe no longer dwelled on what Liu San had said.

He could be killed for just one inexplicable reason. This world was too dangerous for someone like him, who was alone and without power or influence.

He had lived another life, and he didn’t want to die like a blade of grass, confused and without purpose!

He could only grasp the only power that could keep him alive.

When the moon reached its zenith, after Shi Feizhe had circulated his true energy through his Ren meridian for several small cycles and it had gradually grown stronger, he suddenly heard someone talking.

“I didn’t expect anyone to be here!”

Shi Feizhe looked up and saw a man, a strange man, slowly walking out of the darkness.

He was wearing a white brocade robe with a large cloak over it. The cloak was embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns. He wore a black swastika scarf on his head. A white jade belt inlaid with gold was tied around his waist, and he held a folding fan in his hand.

He had a face like a jade crown and eyes like bright stars, resembling Leslie Cheung.

He didn’t look like he was in the wilderness, but rather like he was attending some kind of banquet!

“Who are you?” Shi Feizhe raised his guard. The sudden appearance of a handsome man late at night was indeed suspicious.

“I am Hua Xiaomei, greetings, little brother!” The man cupped his hands and said politely.

Strange, a man named Hua Xiaomei.

“I am Shi Feizhe!” Shi Feizhe replied politely.

“I was returning from a banquet and passed by this place. I saw the firelight and came to take a look.” Hua Xiaomei said.

A banquet? What kind of banquet could there be in the wilderness?

“And then?”

“What then?”

“After taking a look, what then?” Shi Feizhe asked warily.

“Ha~” Hua Xiaomei said with a smile, “Little brother, don’t be nervous! I mean no harm. I just found your standing meditation interesting, so I showed myself to chat.”

“Oh? What’s so interesting about it?”

“I used to practice that stance when I was young.” Hua Xiaomei was about to continue when he suddenly stopped and looked in another direction.

Shi Feizhe followed his gaze and saw a woman dressed in white suddenly appear near the bonfire.

“The weather is cold, I invite both gentlemen to my humble abode to shelter from the wind!” The woman’s voice was clear and cold, very pleasant to hear. She wore flowing white clothes, a silver hairpin in her hair, and a thin veil over her face, obscuring her features.

But her eyes were very sharp, even too sharp when looking at the two of them!

Hua Xiaomei’s expression changed and he said, “No!”