Chapter 516: Owe You One Thing

Chapter 516: I Owe You One

At the foot of Mount Emei, in the tavern of the town where Zhao Changhe had once spent a day pumping iron.

Sima Xiao cradled a wine jar, gulping it down noisily, claiming he was treating Zhao Changhe to a drink, but ended up getting himself half-drunk first.

Zhao Changhe was speechless. Ignoring him, he secretly poured wine into his own gourd.

Earlier, he’d been too embarrassed to ask Sisi for wine to fill this gourd, and it had been empty for over a month now…

Come to think of it, this was the first time since the year’s great battles and his rise on the rankings that he hadn’t ended up battered like a dead dog. He could even go drinking with a companion—for Zhao Changhe, that was a leap forward, truly no small feat…

“Hey.” Sima Xiao finally drank his fill, setting down the jar. “Why aren’t you drinking?”

Zhao Changhe rolled his eyes. “I’ve never been a drunkard like you, you know.”

“If you’re not a man of the cup, why do you carry a wine gourd?”

“Why must liking a few drinks make me a drunkard? Are you a binary thinker? Which forum did you graduate from?”

Sima Xiao: “?”

He didn’t understand.

Zhao Changhe answered honestly: “Actually, it’s because carrying a long blade on my shoulder and a gourd at my waist looks really cool when I walk—very Jianghu.”

Sima Xiao laughed in exasperation. This bastard had crushed his peers so thoroughly they paled in comparison?

He said sourly, “You even stole my Drunken Steps, and you still say you’re not a drunkard.”

On the surface, he was calling him a drunkard, but really, he was bitter about Zhao learning his move.

Zhao Changhe said, “Hey, we’re familiar, but talk nonsense and I’ll still sue you for slander… Back in Langya, I mimicked the Drunken Steps, but that was just for show—I never actually learned it, okay? Either teach me? You already taught me the Wind-Thunder Palm, so one more thing won’t hurt.”

Sima Xiao was amused by his shamelessness. “You really are… Now you’re at the Second Secret Repository, number one on the Human Ranking! Standing before me, I should be the one seeking your guidance! How can you still have the face to ask me to teach you?”

“Why does that sound so sour?”

Caught out? Sima Xiao scowled and said nothing.

“How about I teach you something instead?” Zhao Changhe casually grabbed paper and brush from the tavern counter, scribbled a page, and handed it to Sima Xiao. “Though I’ve barely used the Wind-Thunder Palm since learning it… ah, call it a trade.”

Back then, Sima Xiao had meant to help a friend, generously teaching Zhao when he wanted a fist or palm technique.

Now, the roles were reversed—Zhao Changhe was the one helping him.

With a belly full of muttered complaints about how times had changed, Sima Xiao took the paper and glanced at it. With a “pfft,” he sprayed a mouthful of wine everywhere.

Afraid to ruin the paper, he twisted his head wildly to spit, nearly snapping his neck, coughing uncontrollably.

On the paper was a body-tempering method for rapid healing.

If Zhao Changhe’s Blood Asura Body’s aggression conflicted with their Divine Firmament Sect’s invulnerable body-tempering direction, making them hard to combine, then this healing property was almost tailor-made for his sect—no conflict at all.

This wasn’t just a trade for Sima Xiao; it was a supreme opportunity that would send the entire Divine Firmament Sect into ecstasy, the kind that belonged in the sect’s core secret archives!

“You… cough… you…” Sima Xiao coughed painfully. “Do you know what level of body-tempering method this is!”

“I know, Second Secret Repository level.”

“And you just pour out a secret method of that level to me like pouring wine?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Zhao Changhe said. “It’s a technique I figured out myself. I teach whoever I want.”

Sima Xiao fell silent, then sighed after a long while. “You know, I thought you’d hate rebellion. But you don’t show it at all—in fact, you seem even closer to it.”

Zhao Changhe asked in surprise, “What’s with you today? Why are you hung up on this?”

“If our paths differ, even the best friends become strangers.”

“But who told you I hate rebellion? With Zhai Muzhi being the pathetic piece of trash he is, if you stayed in his territory this long without rebelling, I’d look down on you.”

Sima Xiao was dumbfounded.

Had we heard the rumors wrong? Was my impression of the Wang family’s attitude toward you in Langya false? Are you really not the Crown Prince?

Earlier, when Sima Xiao was attacking the stockade gate, Zhao Changhe’s conversation with Zhai Muzhi and Lu Shouyi was quite close—Sima Xiao had overheard some of it. Lu Shouyi said that protecting Zhai Muzhi was Xia Longyuan’s will… In truth, the root of the Great Xia’s decay was Xia Longyuan himself.

If rebelling in Zhai Muzhi’s territory meant rebelling against Zhai, then in the Great Xia’s territory, did it mean rebelling against Xia Longyuan?

Zhao Changhe hadn’t shown Xia Longyuan any respect; he killed when he wanted, as if proving that point with his own actions.

What a filial piety farce.

As Sima Xiao was lost in thought, Zhao Changhe spoke: “I have a question.”

Sima Xiao steadied himself. “Go ahead.”

“Your master now holds Bashu. Will he change?”

“…” Sima Xiao knew what he meant and stayed silent.

At the start of an uprising, there may be no ambition, but once a real force is established, who knows if other thoughts will arise? Sima Xiao couldn’t guarantee that for his master. Still, the Divine Firmament Sect had some confidence: all its members were bachelors, with no descendants, making it hard for them to think of the world as a family inheritance.

Sima Xiao could at least guarantee this for his master: he had absolutely no interest in women…

“Instead of worrying about whether I’ll change, you should consider what Xia Longyuan will do now that fires are burning everywhere.” A voice came from outside the door—Li Shentong’s. “When I rebelled, I was ready for Xia Longyuan to come take my head. I never thought about what came after.”

Zhao Changhe stood up. “Senior, aren’t you leading your men to Chengdu?”

“I sent Junior Shi instead.” Li Shentong said indifferently, “Did you really think I love fighting? Better to come drink.”

With that, he strolled inside, snatched his disciple’s wine bowl, and drained it in one gulp.

Sima Xiao stretched out his hand helplessly, his face full of pain but not daring to make a sound.

Zhao Changhe: “…”

“Bang!” Li Shentong finished the wine with gusto, set down the bowl, and looked at Zhao Changhe with undisguised admiration. “I didn’t finish the task you entrusted to me. That’s a bit embarrassing.”

Zhao Changhe said, “Senior means the matter of looking after Hong Ling?”

“Yeah… I sent people to search, but they didn’t find her. Never helped at all.”

“That’s not your fault, Senior. Hong Ling was in the Miao borderlands. I met her myself, and nothing happened. The fact that you remembered it already makes you a man of your word.”

“Not finishing it is not finishing it. I owe you one. You can name another request.” Li Shentong said with a meaningful tone, “Except asking me to surrender to Xia Longyuan.”

Zhao Changhe was silent for a moment. “What about surrendering to someone else?”

Li Shentong showed a hint of a smile. “You?”

Zhao Changhe waved his hand. “I’m just a wanderer in the Jianghu… Senior is joking.”

Li Shentong said leisurely, “It depends on who it is… For now, unless Tang Wanzhuang becomes empress herself, no one else is worthy.”

Zhao Changhe’s eyes widened. Was there anyone in the world who could think in that direction? Tang Wanzhuang as empress—what a sight that would be, too beautiful to behold.

In truth, Li Shentong’s implication was that Zhao wasn’t worthy yet, but it seemed to hide a seed for the future… He couldn’t say it outright. That he came specifically to say these things already carried some meaning.

Li Shentong said, “Maybe you’ve been in the Miao borderlands too long and don’t know the current state of the world. Two days ago, the Wang and Huangfu families jointly proposed abolishing the canal for sea transport. Whatever the games behind it, the world is bound to fall into chaos. The Wang family will surely raise their banner; Wan Tianxiong has roamed the Jianghuai region for years and isn’t to be underestimated; the Tang family in Jiangnan already shows signs of dominance… It’s not impossible for the Tang family to vie for the throne. Don’t look so shocked.”

Zhao Changhe’s heart skipped a beat. This day had finally come… Thinking that this proposal had been his own idea, his feelings were truly complicated.

Sima Xiao clicked his tongue. “This poisonous plan to abolish the canal for sea transport—I wonder which sonless, eyeless strategist came up with it…”

Zhao Changhe shot him a sidelong glance, considering taking back the technique he’d just given him.

“No matter how the world turns, the real root lies in what Xia Longyuan thinks. Otherwise, it’s all monkey shows.” Li Shentong finished speaking and turned to leave. “That’s it. I won’t disturb you two brothers drinking…”

Zhao Changhe no longer had any heart for drinking.

He almost wished he could sprout wings and fly straight to the capital to see Tang Wanzhuang... and to see Xia Longyuan.

No, come to think of it, he ought to go see Cui Wenjing first.

He had once agreed with Old Cui that upon returning from the southwest, he would marry Yangyang... But now the world was in turmoil, and if the Wang family rose up, they would likely take one of two directions: westward into Puyang, or southward into Xuzhou.

If they went west, would Old Cui still have any mind for marriage negotiations?