Have You Met My Brother?[Comprehensive Martial Arts + Sword Three] Chapter 4

“Candied hawthorns! Sweet, sweet candied hawthorns!”

“Steamed buns for sale! Hot, big meat buns—only three copper coins!”

“Gardenias! Gardenias! Still covered in dew!”

…

The golden crow soaring from the east gently scattered threads of warm light, waking the cities from their stillness. Travelers entering the city gates quickly caught the mingled sweet scent of food and the fragrance of flowers and herbs. Following these enticing aromas, they easily found the bustling marketplace.

Vendors lining both sides of the long street were shouting their wares loudly. Regardless of age or gender, their voices were extremely clear, rising and falling almost without pause. The spirited, confident look on their faces—full of expectation for the future—was particularly moving. Such a rich, undisguised atmosphere of everyday life signaled a rare period of peace.

Yan Bugui, walking along the road, slightly lifted his bamboo hat and glanced at a wonton noodle stall ahead. The aggressive aroma of scallions, ginger, and dried shrimp assaulted him, stirring up his appetite relentlessly.

The swordsman sighed silently, patting the small pouch hidden in his embrace. This palm-sized pouch looked unremarkable but was actually a spatial artifact that could hold many things. Although it didn’t contain his entire fortune, losing it would certainly leave him stranded and cause endless trouble. Fortunately, it hadn’t been swept away by the sea.

He had taken out and put on his bamboo hat before entering the city to block the enthusiastic sunlight. The small pouch also contained some miscellaneous items and silver, but not much food. After he finished the remaining two pieces of naan bread, he would have to buy provisions externally. The problem was, he had just noticed that the copper coins he carried seemed different from those used by the locals here.

His eyesight was excellent. His journey so far had allowed him to observe the shape of the copper coins used when vendors and customers traded. No matter how he looked at them, they were completely different from the ones stored in his pouch!

It was true that since the first year of Qianyuan, he had rarely left the East Sea for the Central Plains, spending most of his time traveling between the Blade Sect and Penglai. He also knew that the new Tang Emperor had ascended and changed the era name to Baoying, but he hadn’t heard that the Kaiyuan Tongbao coins were no longer in use!

The swordsman couldn’t help but look around again, observing the clothing, demeanor of the passing pedestrians, and the overall structure of the city. It was subtly different from the Central Plains he remembered—both before and after the war.

Was this truly within the borders of the Great Tang? Yan Bugui, filled with worry, walked into an inn. Before he understood the issue with the copper coins, it was best to avoid using them out of caution. Gold and silver, however, were fine. As long as he pinched off suitable chunks from a whole silver ingot, the vendor would accept it. The drawback was that he could only spend money at larger establishments, as the small roadside stalls wouldn’t be able to make change.

“Esteemed guest, are you looking for a meal or lodging?” A nimble waiter, who had just served a dish to a table, quickly approached to ask.

The inn Yan Bugui chose had a crowded ground floor, and many patrons were martial artists—people of the jianghu. He had done this intentionally, hoping to gather some general information about the current situation of this region from the scattered conversations, and also to replenish his dry rations.

Seeing the waiter approach, he asked, “Do you offer hard dishes and dry rations for takeout?”

The waiter immediately replied, “Yes, we do! Guest, our inn can pack you whole roasted ducks and roasted chickens, as well as dried cured beef jerky, and both plain and meat pastries. Which would you like?”

Yan Bugui glanced at the price list on the wall and pinched off two small pieces of silver. Besides one roasted chicken and one roasted duck, he requested several catties of beef jerky and both types of pastries. He also ordered a pot of tea and two signature dishes, treating it as an early lunch.

“Alright! This way, esteemed guest!” The waiter guided the swordsman to a small square table, flicked the towel over his shoulder, and ran off to place the order. Soon after, he returned with a pot of freshly brewed clear tea, saying, “Please enjoy your tea, guest. Your order will be ready soon!” Then he rushed off to continue his busy work elsewhere.

Yan Bugui didn’t mind that the tea was of poor quality. He sipped it slowly, focusing his attention on the conversations of the other guests. It was difficult enough to catch specific content from the buzzing chatter of a crowd, let alone filter out useful information. If he had any other choice, he wouldn’t want to undertake such a mentally taxing and potentially fruitless task.

However, if he didn’t want to expose his unique circumstances, he had to try this method first—at least he had done this often in the past, so he treated it as daily focus training.

The sheer number of people increased the difficulty for the swordsman to obtain effective intelligence, but casting a wide net also increased the probability of catching fish. Before his dishes were fully served, he overheard some noteworthy exchanges:

“…Hey, did you hear? Chief Ren of the Beggar Gang suffered a relapse of an old injury a few days ago, and no medicine could save him. He’s passed away!”

“That news has spread throughout the jianghu, who doesn’t know! Chief Huang, who retired years ago, has even returned to the jianghu because of this. After Chief Ren’s seven-day wake and burial, she will preside over a grand assembly at Junshan to elect a new chief! Counting the time, if you leave now, you can still make it and join the excitement!”

“Say, do you think Guo Daxia will attend the assembly at Dongting Junshan with Chief Huang this time?”

“That, I don’t know…”

“Chief Ren was such a good man, what a pity, what a pity!”

“I wonder how many candidates the Beggar Gang has for the chief position this time?”

“Nangong Ling, Chief Ren’s adopted son, should be one of them!”

“Ahem, I heard—just heard, mind you!—that Chief Huang seems inclined to let her son-in-law run for the position…”

“Ah? This—”

“Forget it, forget it, let’s not talk about that subject…”

Conversations like these were mostly fragmented or incomplete. By the time he finished his meal, Yan Bugui had learned several jianghu rumors:

“The ‘Thief Marshal’ Chu Liuxiang recently stole Young Master Jin’s ‘White Jade Beauty’ right under the noses of many heroes, and even ‘White-Clothed Divine Ear’ Ying Wanli couldn’t stop him”; “A new ‘Embroidered Bandit’ has appeared in the jianghu recently, who not only steals wealth but also blinds people”; “The Condor Hero has been particularly active lately”; “The Four Great Constables solved another major case,” and so on.

Carrying bags of food as he walked out of the inn, Yan Bugui looked up at the familiar sun in the sky, his heart filled with confusion. There was a Beggar Gang here, and its headquarters was indeed at Junshan, but the recently deceased chief was named Ren Ci, the previous chief was Huang Rong, the daughter of “Eastern Heretic” Huang Yaoshi, and the one before that was Hong Qigong. They could trace back many chiefs before that, yet no one mentioned familiar names like Yin Tianci or Guo Yan.

Similarly, Mount Song Shaolin, the Tang Clan of Shu, and the Duan family of Dali were completely different from his memory. There was no Chunyang Sect on Mount Hua, only a Huashan Sect. As for many other sects and powers, they simply didn’t exist! Moreover, the dynasty’s name here was not “Tang,” and the imperial family was not surnamed Li!

“Where exactly did that vortex sweep me away to…” Yan Bugui sighed inwardly, rubbing his aching head. The language spoken by the people here was clearly the official dialect he knew, but the entire jianghu situation was utterly bizarre. There was hardly anything familiar, and more importantly—were Xie Donghai and Liu Yuan also on this Central Plains land?

At the time, his two sworn brothers should have been caught in the vortex with him, but “Brother Chu’s” ship had drifted at sea for so long and only rescued him and five other corpses. They hadn’t encountered anyone else.

Undoubtedly, the three of them had been separated. Whether they had all arrived in this strange Central Plains, or gone to other, even stranger places; whether all three of them were scattered, or if his two brothers were together… None of this could be accurately determined at the moment.

Yan Bugui raised a hand and touched the area beneath his right eye, standing in the middle of the road, contemplating for a long time. Although what his eyes saw was no different from ordinary human skin, the touch was actually cold and sharp, like fish scales—this was the proof of his bond with a non-human divine beast!

Xie Donghai was not truly human. This secret was known only to a very few high-ranking members of Penglai and Yan Bugui. The latter had never told anyone else—including his biological brother, Liu Yuan.

Ancient legends claimed that east of the Bohai Sea lay five immortal mountains, with Penglai being one of them. Before the Fang ancestors settled on Penglai, the island was occupied by countless fierce beasts and raptors. The Fang ancestors had endured countless bloody battles with these exotic creatures before gradually establishing a foothold. However, the exotic beasts could not be completely eradicated, especially near a “land of spiritual energy” like Penglai. Various exotic beasts still survived to this day.

Currently, some of these beasts had been tamed by the Fang family, some cooperated with them, and others continued to resist… Xie Donghai’s situation was different from these beasts, however, as he was the only exotic beast—or rather, divine beast—who appeared in human form and even joined Penglai.

Not counting the years Xie Donghai lived in the Ruins Sea before transforming into human form and ascending Penglai, he had been a member of Penglai for two or three hundred years! The lifespan limits of divine beasts and humans were vastly different. Humans would always depart before divine beasts. The Cheng Huang clan and the Song family, who shared an ancient covenant, understood this deeply.

Even the Cheng Huang, whose “riders could increase longevity,” could not keep the humans they favored, as their fusion technique, if overused, would shorten their lifespan. With the gains and losses, the final result remained frustratingly the same.

Because of this, after Xie Donghai confirmed his romantic relationship with Yan Bugui, the first thing he did was form a “Life Contract” to equally divide their lifespans with the “short-lived” human. Since then, they had a special connection, which they used to be able to determine each other’s exact location.

Unfortunately, ever since Yan Bugui woke up on “Brother Chu’s” ship, he had lost this sense. Now he could only confirm that Xie Donghai was not in mortal danger—which at least allowed him to put one worry aside. However, he and Liu Yuan did not share such a mysterious contract. He had no way of knowing whether his Brother Liu was currently in danger.

Hmm, I can hold off on looking for Brother Donghai, but I must focus on finding Brother Liu… Yan Bugui mused inwardly. Of course, searching for people required strategy. One way was to walk along the coastline, asking everyone he met. Another was to find a way to make himself famous across the land, attracting the attention of his possible brothers so they would seek him out—so the swordsman decided to use both approaches.

Currently, the biggest upcoming event in this jianghu was the Beggar Gang’s Junshan Assembly. Yan Bugui decided to go and see what the Beggar Gang here was like, check if there was any way he could leverage the situation, and search for people along the way. With his mind made up, the swordsman asked a passerby for directions to Junshan, straightened his bamboo hat, and set off in the determined direction.