Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

Jiang Ran smiled and was about to speak, but all the heads quickly ducked back inside.

He didn’t manage to get a single word out.

He was speechless for a moment.

As he walked out of the courtyard, he saw a person leaning against the opposite wall.

He was cradling a saber, his expression cold and proud.

Upon seeing Jiang Ran, he looked up at the sky.

"It’s been an hour, hasn’t it?"

"Don’t you have anything better to do than watch me all the time?"

Jiang Ran was at a loss for words as he looked at Li Tianxin.

"To see what else you’re capable of."

Li Tianxin said lightly.

"Weirdo..."

Jiang Ran shot him a glance.

"You’re not a woman in disguise, are you? Why else would you be so gossipy all day long?"

"..."

Li Tianxin was stunned for a moment, then sneered.

"When you fought Wu Zhong just now, it looked like you had the upper hand. Did you actually just scramble your brains?"

"You’re the one with scrambled brains."

"Then how did you come up with such a ridiculous idea?"

"Well, I’ve just never met many men like you..."

"Well, now you have."

With that, Li Tianxin turned and walked away.

Jiang Ran didn’t think much of it at first, but as he watched Li Tianxin’s retreating back, he suddenly felt a bit dazed.

He vaguely sensed something strange about the way he walked.

But he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was wrong.

He rubbed his chin. A flicker of inspiration sparked in his mind, but he shook his head, unable to grasp it.

Li Tianxin didn’t just abandon Jiang Ran; he led him back to their guest rooms.

Entering the courtyard, he saw that Chang Sheng and Fang Li were both there.

Luo Qingyi sat by the stone table, looking from one to the other as the two men stared each other down, neither willing to yield.

"What’s going on here?"

Jiang Ran walked over and sat down.

The two of them couldn’t help but look at Jiang Ran at the same time, then shouted in unison:

"You lose!"

"They’re having a staring contest. If you move your eyes, you lose."

Luo Qingyi said with a deadpan expression, "Even the bandits at Feiyun Stronghold aren’t this bored."

"What are the stakes?"

"Nothing... which makes it even more boring."

"That really is pretty boring."

Jiang Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Fang Li quickly spoke up.

"Jiang Ran! That poison you gave me earlier—there’s an antidote, right?"

"I was just messing with you."

Jiang Ran casually poured a cup of tea. "It wasn’t poison. It was just a Qi Replenishing Pill."

"...Oh, I see."

Fang Li breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Ran then took a prescription list filled with medicinal ingredients out from his robes and handed it to Fang Li.

"Good, you’re here. Saves me the trouble of looking for you."

"Tell your father that to cure the Azurefall poison, we’ll need these ingredients. I’ll have to trouble the brothers of the Three Rivers Gang to help buy them."

"No problem."

Fang Li immediately nodded. "We don’t even need to go to Sanshui County; we have an apothecary right here. After all, our line of work is a dangerous one. If we had to go to the county for every injury after a fight, it would be too late."

"So, we don’t just have an apothecary, we have doctors, too."

"I’ll get on it right away."

With that, he started to leave.

But after just two steps, he couldn’t help but turn and look back at Jiang Ran.

"Jiang Ran, this thing you’re carrying... is it really the Jiaowei zither?"

"The one and only."

"Can I take a look?"

After speaking, Fang Li quickly added:

"Just a look! I promise I won’t touch it!"

"No problem."

Jiang Ran casually unslung the Jiaowei zither and placed it on the table.

Fang Li stared at it, fighting a strong urge to pluck the strings.

But this was the Jiaowei, after all...

With an ordinary zither, even someone who couldn’t play could pluck it a few times without causing any real harm.

It would just be unmelodious and unpleasant to the ear, nothing more.

But this Jiaowei... it could kill.

Suppressing the urge to play it, he began to carefully study the patterns on the Jiaowei’s body, trying to uncover its secrets.

The instrument had been passed down for many years, after all, and all sorts of legends surrounded it.

Whoever obtained the Jiaowei would hope to one day unravel its mysteries.

Besides, there were no rules about what kind of person could be the one to solve it.

’What if I’m the chosen one?’

As it turned out, he wasn’t. After studying it for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he gave up.

He turned and left to get the medicinal ingredients for Jiang Ran.

But he ended up being gone for the entire afternoon.

By the time Fang Yinuo’s evening banquet had started, and even Ruan Yuqing had woken from her coma, Fang Li had still not returned.

After asking around, Steward Chen informed Jiang Ran.

He said that one of the ingredients on the list, the Centennial Seven-Life Lotus, wasn’t in their storehouse.

Fang Li had gone out to find it.

After hearing this, Jiang Ran still felt something was wrong.

’That ingredient isn’t actually hard to find.’

’The Seven-Life Lotus isn’t used often, and it needs to be of a certain age to be medicinal.’

’So while a Centennial Seven-Life Lotus sounds impressive, it’s actually quite easy to find.’

’Why would he be gone for an entire afternoon and still not be back?’

When he brought it up with Fang Yinuo, Fang Yinuo also felt something was amiss.

However, he still said:

"That kid is used to fooling around. He probably ran into a few ’like-minded’ souls on the road and went off drinking and chatting with them."

"Rest assured, Young Hero Jiang. I’ve already sent people to look for him."

"I expect he’ll be found before long."

Seeing that Fang Yinuo wasn’t worried, Jiang Ran nodded as well.

With the exception of Fang Li, everyone was present, and they took their seats as host and guests.

Fang Yinuo raised his cup and offered some pleasantries.

It was the usual fare—how it was the honor of a lifetime to have met Jiang Ran, and so on.

He also introduced Jiang Ran to many people from the Three Rivers Gang.

He declared that in the future, if Jiang Ran ever faced any difficulties or needed help within the Three Rivers Gang’s territory, he only needed to ask.