"So you didn't have this blade at the time?" Fang Dingwu vigorously wiped his body with a towel, his gaze falling on the Tang sword by the well. "Then how did you come by this treasure?"
Ye Beizhi squatted by the well washing his hair, and after a long pause, he said, "That’s another story."
The weather was still a bit chilly, and the two of them didn’t plan to wash their whole bodies. They only casually cleaned their upper bodies. Both were martial artists, so they could tolerate this level of cold. Before the chill struck, their bodies began to warm up.
After washing, they couldn't completely dry off all the way. Fang Dingwu took out a wine pouch from his bag, and the two of them sat with their upper bodies bare in front of the woodshed, drinking lightly. It was already midnight, and the faint sound of snoring came from inside the house, letting them know that the old man had fallen asleep.
"Hah." Fang Dingwu exhaled a wine-laden breath towards the half moon in the sky, squinting with a look of enjoyment. He casually asked, "Brother, after we’ve gone to Xuanfeng Valley, where do we go next?"
Ye Beizhi tilted his head back, finishing his wine in one gulp, and shook his head. "I don’t know."
"Don’t know?" Fang Dingwu was stunned for a moment, then chuckled and smiled derisively. "Alright, alright, it doesn’t matter where we go, wherever we are, it's still the jianghu."
Ye Beizhi looked down, playing with his wine cup, his expression unreadable.
Fang Dingwu, taken in by the moment, waved his hand and pointed around. "Brother! Do you know where we are now?"
Ye Beizhi looked up at Fang Dingwu and hesitated for a moment before he answered, "The edge of Xiangxi."
"No, no, no..." Fang Dingwu wagged his finger like a rattle, laughing loudly as he pounded the ground. "We are in the jianghu. No matter when or where, we are always in the jianghu!"
Focusing his gaze on the resting house of Chi Nanwei, Ye Beizhi softly said, "Lower your voice."
Fang Dingwu chuckled and said, "The jianghu is full of fighting. Who can escape unscathed? To be honest, little bro, Old Master Wu raised me since I was young. When I was a child, I admired the old master a lot. He was a legendary armed escort!
"So imposing! Hehe, but the old master insisted I go study. Pah. I'm just not cut out for books! After three days, I had beaten up those little scholars in the school so badly that they were crying for their parents, and the teacher had to drag me back. After that, the old master never mentioned schooling again."
Ye Beizhi glanced at Fang Dingwu, who looked quite pleased with his younger self.
Fang Dingwu seemed to be in high spirits today and continued, "It was from then on that I decided I wanted to become a legendary armed escort like the old master, someone whose name could support an entire escort agency.
"But when I grew older and started doing the escort work, I understood the old master's good intentions and why he wanted me to study. He had hoped I could maintain my distance from the jianghu, even if the distance was not much... The old master always told me that the jianghu is a dangerous place.
"I didn't understand it when I was young, but after my first job as an armed escort, my first time seeing blood, my first time killing someone, and my first experience of betrayal, I finally understood why he called it dangerous."
Fang Dingwu poured himself another drink, finished it in one gulp with a slurp, and sighed, "Sometimes I think, if I really had gone to school back then, maybe I’d be a scholar now."
"No way," Ye Beizhi suddenly patted Fang Dingwu’s shoulder and said seriously, "You're just not cut out for it."
"Go to hell!" Fang Dingwu cursed with a laugh.
"When the escort agency was still around..." Fang Dingwu continued, "At least there was some hope, thinking that one day I could become a legendary armed escort and show off how strong I am. But now, I honestly don’t know what to do anymore... Hey, brother, speaking of which, you were also forced into the jianghu. All these years, what have you been doing?"
Ye Beizhi frowned and thought for a long time. After some thought, he said a single word, "Killing."
"Tch." Fang Dingwu pouted. "People kill others in the jianghu every day, and others get killed too. But the jianghu should be about more than just that. Besides killing, surely you've done something else?"
Ye Beizhi frowned again in thought. After another, he slowly recounted, "Eating, sleeping, traveling, killing... That’s it."
Fang Dingwu bared his teeth and said, "Sometimes, I really don't know how to talk to you."
Seeing that Ye Beizhi didn’t say anything, Fang Dingwu didn’t know what to say either. The two of them fell into a companionable silence.
After a while, Fang Dingwu sighed. "Maybe you're right... you've only done those things."
"Mm." Ye Beizhi nodded.
"The jianghu is pure in its simplicity," Fang Dingwu said as he looked up at the sky. "Perhaps you only thought about surviving, getting by, but then one day, you realize you've stepped into the jianghu without even knowing it. You are now caught up in its conflicts."
"Those in the jianghu aren't in control of their fates," Ye Beizhi suddenly said, "Those who don’t want to enter it have even less control."
Fang Dingwu turned back and smiled, "You’re one of those who didn’t want to enter the jianghu, right? I can see that. But before you entered, did you ever think about what you wanted to do?"
Ye Beizhi shook his head. "No... I only wondered when I’d die on the battlefield."
Fang Dingwu gave Ye Beizhi a thumbs-up. "So pure."
Fang Dingwu scratched the back of his head and noticed his hair hadn't dried yet. "Actually, it’s the same wherever you are, whether or not you're in the jianghu. No one can escape death. The difference is just where you die and whether you can earn a glorious death."
"Ugh..." Fang Dingwu exhaled a breath that carried the scent of alcohol. "The jianghu is rarely peaceful. Lately, who knows where this evil current is coming from, the jianghu is in turmoil again. It's not hard to understand, with war on the border, people in the jianghu can't sit still. Who knows how many will die? Let the court worry about that."
"No," Ye Beizhi took his Tang blade and placed it on his lap. "I choose to live."
Fang Dingwu was momentarily stunned before realizing Ye Beizhi was answering what he said about earning a glorious death. He smiled and said, "Makes sense. Guys like us, small fish and shrimp, should stay far away from the action. We can't handle those big waves. Staying alive is the hard truth. Once the jianghu is peaceful again, then we can jump around again."
Ye Beizhi shook his head, stood up with the knife in hand, and turned to look at the wall. "Wrong again... The jianghu has never known peace."
As soon as his words fell, there was a loud crash. The wall of the neighboring courtyard collapsed in an instant, and a figure tumbled out from the rubble, landing at the feet of the two men.
It was the tall, thin man they had seen earlier that day.
Shirtless, Ye Beizhi held the Tang blade with one hand and quietly stared at the wall. In the darkness behind the wall, a shadow flickered in and out of view.
Fang Dingwu stood frozen, holding his wine cup.
A blade is never sheathed for good. With a single step, the jianghu is all around. Wine still has its warmth, and the world changes with a single sip.