Have You Met My Brother?[Comprehensive Martial Arts + Sword Three] Chapter 15

Chapter 15 The First Meeting of Three: Liu Yuan, I’m the Real Older Brother!

The moon hung high in the sky, bright as frost and snow, scattered stars twinkling faintly. The night wind swept past, bringing waves of refreshing coolness. Tree shadows danced, casting patches of shimmering light on the ground. As the night deepened, pedestrians on the streets gradually thinned out, and the sounds of people laughing, scolding, and joking seemed to drift into the distance.

After continuously asking several pedestrians and shop owners, Yan Bugui finally managed to check into the room Chu Liuxiang had transferred to him, paying the owner an extra two days’ deposit during registration. Having been busy all day, he could finally settle down. After washing up, he could rest in bed.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, gazing at the bright moon through the window, the growing silence made the swordsman somewhat nostalgic for Bai Renyu, who was not by his side. When the little parrot was around, he inevitably found it too talkative, noisy, and unable to keep quiet. Yet, only a few days after separating from Little Yu, he couldn’t help but feel it would be quite nice to have it accompanying him.

Yan Bugui sighed, trying hard to suppress his worry for Xie Donghai and Liu Yuan, whose whereabouts were unknown and whom he might never see again. He lay down, closed his eyes, and prayed once more that he would wake up to good news the next day.

.

At the same time, in a room in an inn near the foot of the Taihang Mountains in the north, Liu Yuan had just withdrawn his gaze from the bright moonlight. He sat quietly on a round stool, wiping the short blade in his hand.

Lately, he had been very troubled. Since waking up on a certain beach that day, he had sought out the nearest town, asking passersby for the place name to confirm his location. In fact, upon seeing the clothing and demeanor of the townspeople, he had vaguely sensed something was amiss. This feeling of unease gradually grew into a towering tree as he traveled north—

The Central Plains was still the Central Plains; many place names and directions matched. However, the imperial court was no longer the Li family’s Great Tang Dynasty. The martial arts world lacked the factions he was familiar with, and instead, there were many sects and guilds he knew nothing about… All of this culminated when he couldn’t find his home—the Badao Villa—in the most familiar location in the Taihang Mountains. He realized then that he might no longer be within the borders of the Great Tang!

“…It’s all Xie Donghai’s fault!” Liu Yuan returned the short blade to its original position, his teeth slightly gritted as he took out his long saber.

He clearly remembered everything that happened before he woke up to find the world completely changed. He believed that if Xie Donghai hadn’t provoked his temper, he wouldn’t have drawn his saber on the beach, only to be tragically swept away by a whirlpool and brought to this strange Central Plains. He didn’t even know if Yan Bugui, who was also within the whirlpool’s range at the time, had come here too, or if he was alone; nor did he know if he could ever return.

Since things had come to this, further resentment was useless. Liu Yuan quickly calmed down. His first plan was to find someone—to find his younger brother, Liu Ze. As for Xie Donghai, who might have suffered the same fate as them, who cared about that guy’s life or death!

In fact, from the first time Liu Yuan met Xie Donghai, he found the Penglai Elder strange and difficult to get along with, holding little affection for the man.

He remembered it was the tenth year of Tianbao. He was using the alias “Yang Li,” intending to find some special crystalline minerals or suitable rare items to forge a more perfect weapon. He had mostly stayed in the Fenglei Valley before, only hearing about the outside martial arts world from his clansmen. So, after leaving the valley for the first time, driven by curiosity about the Jianzang Villa, he set his first planned destination there.

Unexpectedly, before reaching Jianzang Villa, he ran into Yan Bugui in Yangzhou. Yan Bugui was only eighteen that year, having just left the East Sea and arrived in the Central Plains. The young swordsman wore neat, light, and dashing attire, like feathers, a bamboo hat on his head, and was accompanied by a chattering, multicolored little parrot. He had become a regular on the fighting stage.

When Liu Yuan arrived, he learned from the onlookers that the young swordsman on the stage had successfully defended the challenge for three days. Every day, at least ten to twenty martial artists challenged the youth, trying to defeat him and claim the increasingly generous bounty. However, the young swordsman remained undefeated.

At that time, the horizontal saber in Yan Bugui’s hand was just an ordinary blade, and his martial arts had not reached their current level, but his relentless momentum and calm, sharp demeanor had never changed.

Although Liu Yuan only brought a long saber of decent quality to conceal his identity and considered himself more skilled in forging than fighting, seeing the swordsman win so spiritedly on the stage, he couldn’t resist the urge to try. He stepped onto the stage and issued a challenge—and then, unable to use his family’s inherited martial arts or weapons, he was defeated by Yan Bugui without suspense.

Bai Renyu, that wretched bird, showed an extraordinary talent for trash-talking even at a young age. Seeing Liu Yuan’s embarrassing defeat, it actually burst into “cackling” laughter: “Look how tall and strong you are, why are you so weak? You couldn’t even last half an hour. Will you ever find a wife?”

“Little Yu, you shouldn’t talk nonsense.”

Yan Bugui didn’t let Bai Renyu ramble on, but only offered a verbal warning without taking any action. Perhaps sensing Liu Yuan’s hostile gaze toward the parrot—the kind that wanted to strangle it and turn it into a side dish—the young swordsman immediately changed the subject, “I can feel that you were holding back. Today’s fight was far from your true level. We should fight again when we have the chance.”

That was their first meeting. After that day, the young swordsman defended the stage for three more days, winning every time, until the owner behind the stage sent people to “invite” him to leave. Even when the swordsman stated he didn’t need the bounty and just wanted to borrow the space, he was refused. Then, the dejected man and bird left together with Liu Yuan, who concealed his origins but insisted on challenging and losing repeatedly every day.

Liu Yuan later reflected that, initially, it seemed like his stubborn temper and unwillingness to admit defeat—especially losing to a boy several years younger—led him to spar with the swordsman daily, which gradually brought them closer. However, Yan Bugui had actually met many other martial artists then, some even more formidable than the Liu Yuan who couldn’t use his true skills. Those people had also invited the swordsman to wander the jianghu with them.

Yet, Yan Bugui ultimately chose to proactively ask “Yang Li” if they could join him when he left—because “Yang Li” was the wealthiest and most mysterious martial artist the young swordsman knew.

Liu Yuan, who still didn’t know that Yan Bugui was actually his long-lost younger brother, Liu Ze, initially reacted by refusing. It was Yan Bugui’s persistent insistence on following him, coupled with Bai Renyu’s constant provocation and goading, that eventually led them to travel together for nearly two years.

In the twelfth year of Tianbao, while passing a river, they rescued a father and son. The child was only three or four years old, still懵懵懂懂 (muddled and confused). When he woke up, he couldn’t explain why they were floating in the river, only crying for his parents and saying he was hungry. The father, who looked to be in his twenties or thirties, woke up and, while they were distracted looking for food for the child, found a tree and hanged himself.

They learned the identities of the father and son from a nearby village. The man was a down-on-his-luck scholar who taught the children in the village. His wife was not only beautiful but also knew some medical skills, and many villagers envied him.

A few days ago, a Shence Army unit passed by, claiming they were conscripting soldiers, and forcibly took away many strong young men. The scholar was initially spared because he was too weak, but the leader of the small unit took a liking to his wife. Someone, jealous that their family hadn’t been “plundered,” pointed out that the woman also knew medicine and was useful, so she was forcibly taken away too.

Afterward, the scholar held onto his last breath and chased the unit to their encampment, demanding they return his wife. The soldiers initially intended to kill the man to silence him, but the unit leader spared his life. Instead, his wife’s corpse was thrown out, bearing many marks of abuse.

The scholar brought his wife’s body back to the village and buried her on the back hill. After that, he lived in a daze, neglecting his child. That morning, he suddenly ran out of the village with the child—it turned out he had jumped into the river… Knowing the man had hanged himself, the elderly village chief shook his head and sighed, saying they could let the child stay and they would raise him.

Liu Yuan and Yan Bugui found the Shence Army encampment. They agreed to see who could be the first to decapitate the leader, then, two men with two sabers, they charged into the camp. Amidst a hail of spears and arrows, they killed anyone who blocked their path. In the end, Liu Yuan was a step too slow, and Yan Bugui beheaded the target.

They barely fought their way out, inevitably sustaining many injuries. Unwilling to cause trouble for nearby villages, they retreated into the mountains, temporarily occupying a black bear’s cave to recuperate. That was why he truly hadn’t expected Xie Donghai to find them even there.

Penglai was far out in the East Sea, living an almost isolated life. Few people in the Central Plains knew of its existence, but their Badao Villa was one exception. At the time, Liu Yuan and most of the Liu family members didn’t know why their family library contained records of the Fang family of Penglai, assuming it was common knowledge. It was only later, when the identities of the Nine Heavens were almost openly known in certain circles, that they understood the reason.

In short, reading more books was useful. At least Liu Yuan immediately recognized Xie Donghai’s clothing and appearance, which were very similar to the descriptions of Penglai. While he was pondering why someone who seemed to be from Penglai would appear here, Yan Bugui beside him whispered in extreme surprise, “How did you end up here?”

Despite looking perfectly respectable, Xie Donghai’s way of speaking inexplicably caused displeasure. Even his cold laugh sounded particularly like a malevolent spirit to Liu Yuan. He only heard Xie Donghai say, “Why am I here? Don’t you know what good deeds you’ve done? If your original intention was to die somewhere I didn’t know… it seems I’ve arrived at a very inconvenient time.”

“Brother, listen to me, I’ll expl—explain!”

Yan Bugui, who had just taken off his outer coat to apply medicine to his wounds, rushed out of the cave, anxiously and disheveled, to block Xie Donghai, who had turned to leave. Liu Yuan, looking utterly confused, put on his coat and quickly followed to see what was happening. Bai Renyu, at this moment, was completely silent, behaving as obediently as if it were a different parrot entirely.

As soon as Liu Yuan stepped out, he heard Xie Donghai coldly say, “Kneel.”

Yan Bugui immediately knelt without hesitation, pulling at Xie Donghai’s sleeve and trying to explain softly, “Brother, I really didn’t mean to deceive you…”

Xie Donghai interrupted flatly, “You didn’t mean to deceive me? So the hundred letters you left behind were all written unintentionally while sleepwalking, and your fellow disciples took it upon themselves to mail them to me at a frequency of one per month?”

Speechless, Yan Bugui immediately changed tactics, hanging his head miserably and obediently admitting his mistake: “It was my fault. It won’t happen again. If you’re upset about anything, just punish me. Anger harms the body, please don’t be too angry.”

Hearing this, Xie Donghai looked at him with a half-smile: “If I were to break your legs right now, would you hand me the saber?”

Yan Bugui didn’t hesitate for a moment, picking up the horizontal saber by his hand and offering it up with both hands held above his head.

Liu Yuan, who had listened to their conversation up to this point, frowned severely and couldn’t help but interject, “You are Yan Bugui’s older brother? Regardless of what he did wrong, he is injured right now. Can’t you discuss this later?”