295 Snow Moon City’s Da-Shixiong
"Guest, the tea you ordered."
It was a small tea shop by the road. The waiter respectfully brought a teapot and poured a cup of tea for the guest in front of him. He’d grown up in this area and because his family was poor, he had been helping here for six or seven years. He had seen many guests stop here and developed an eye for people. As for the person in front of him, with one glance, he could tell that he was clearly no ordinary person.
The person was dressed all in black, his brows sharp as swords and eyes bright as stars. Although he looked very young, he possessed a faint yet dignified presence. The man picked up the tea cup that had a dense aroma of tea and blew at it gently. Then, he looked at the rain that was falling like a curtain outside the tea shop. He asked softly, "Has it been raining for many days?"
"Yes, it often rains here, especially during this season. Sometimes, it can continue raining for half a month," the waiter replied.
The man nodded and didn’t add anything else. The waiter was a little disappointed. It wasn’t that he wanted to claim some relationship with this person who was clearly no ordinary person. He just wanted to chat with these people, as if by talking to them, he could distinguish himself from the rest of the people in his village.
"Is the guest’s hometown very far from here?" The waiter tried to find a topic.
"Yeah." The man put down his teacup, looked at the curtain of rain and spoke thoughtfully. "I have two homes. They’re both very far away from here."
"Then why is the guest visiting these parts?" The waiter continued questioning.
The man smiled and said lightly, "To kill people."
The waiter couldn’t help but shudder all over. He calmed his mind and looked at the man's expression carefully. However, the man didn’t seem to be joking at all.
"Guest, you’re… really good at making jokes," the waiter stammered.
"Waiter, do you have wine?" The man interjected, not continuing the previous topic.
The waiter started, and nodded after he recovered himself. "I have some, but they’re not for sale. It’s just something I put together to drink for myself so I brought them from home."
"It's fine. I'll pay you three times what the wine is worth," the man offered immediately.
"It's not good wine. The guest is too generous!" The waiter ran away hurriedly, then returned with a small wine flask and immediately poured a cup for the man.
The man pushed out a stool. "Please sit. Let’s drink together."
The waiter was immediately overjoyed, completely forgetting that the man had just said he was here to kill people. He sat himself down and copied those poor and pedantic scholars in his village and said, "It’s an honor! An honor!" In this small teashop, there were only the two of them sitting inside. Since there were no other guests to serve, the waiter naturally didn’t refuse. Of course, being able to share a cup of wine with such a young man was something he could brag about for a long time when he went home.
After taking a sip of wine, the man gradually relaxed his brows and asked, "What wine is this?"
"This wine is worth ten coppers per flask, how can it have any name? It’s an old homebrew we brew at home. Not that I wanna brag, but this wine that’s brewed by my dad is not inferior to those fancy wines from the inns in the city!" The waiter took a sip of wine and his voice also became louder.
"Old homebrew?" The man chuckled. "I always hear them talk about it. I wonder if the old homebrew here is similar to the one in Fallen Snow Villa."
"Fallen Snow Villa? The name sounds so elegant. Is it a very beautiful and large manor?" The waiter asked excitedly.
"I don't know. One of them described it as you said, an elegant manor with snowfall facing the front door and floating blossoms facing the back. The other said it was a lousy broken-down inn. Probably a little bigger than your tea shop with wind leaking through gaps everywhere and holes in the roof." The man drank another cup of wine and put down his cup, a faraway look in his eyes. The waiter wanted to say something, but the look in the other man’s eyes caused him to hesitate. Then, the man in black placed a piece of silver on the table. "Waiter. I’m going to take over your tea shop for a while. You can come back after four hours or so."
The waiter was dumbfounded. "What does the guest mean?"
"You’ve forgotten what I said earlier." The man patted the waiter’s shoulder. "I'm here to kill people. Run now, before it’s too late."
The man's tone was solemn and his eyes were sincere. The waiter finally realised this man was not joking at all. He felt a sudden chill all over his body and even that flask of old homebrew could not dissipate the ice that penetrated his heart. He stumbled to his feet and ran out of the shop. And, not long after he left, tens of ferocious horses broke through the curtain of rain, stirring up muddy water as they galloped towards the shop at high speed.
"They’re finally here." The man withdrew his gaze.
"Stop." The leader shouted, and with a wave of his right hand, the tens of ferocious horses stopped instantly. The person in the lead took off the black veil that was used to block the rain, revealing a face full of blade scars. He looked at the black-clothed man sitting inside leisurely drinking his wine, and said slowly, "Snow Moon City’s head disciple, Tang Lian."
"The Four Guardians of Heavenly Revelations, Guardian of the North, Xuanwu." Tang Lian put down the wine cup and stood up. "That’s the identity I’m representing here. Of course, if you must add Snow Moon City in front of my name, you can.
"Snow Moon City's da-shixiong, Tang Lian. Because I'm here on behalf of my shidi!"
The leader jumped off his horse and slowly drew his sword. The rain hit the blade drop by drop and the man looked at Tang Lian. "Hidden River Su House, Su Zhan."
"When the Hidden River speaks their name, they won’t leave their prey alive. But I am a little curious, what’s your code name?" Tang Lian asked.
"Greedy Wolf," Su Zhan pronounced each word clearly.
Tang Lian smiled wryly, "Looks like this won’t be an easy fight."
Su Zhan nodded. "There will be many people coming to kill him, but you have chosen the most difficult group. That’s us."
"Yeah, but who made me their da-shixiong?" Tang Lian shook his head helplessly. "Isn’t the role of the da-shixiong to come here and bear the blade? What’s more, our Tang Clan has a blood feud with your Hidden River. Although I had different ideas from the Grandmaster, I grew up at his knees since I was a child after all. You killed him, and you should pay a little."
Su Zhan twirled the hilt of his sword lightly. "I heard that Tang Lian’s master was the number one young expert in Tang Clan, Tang Lianyue. And although you’re still young, you’ve already mastered the number one hidden weapons technique of the Tang Clan, Flying Flowers of Ten Thousand Trees. It is my honour to be able to see it today."
"You’re wrong." Tang Lian shook his head. "Although I’m from the Tang family, I’m here on behalf of the Xiao Clan after all. I have no hidden weapons. I have a palm, a fist and seven cups of wine." He suddenly stood up and with a flick of his sleeves, seven exquisite jade bottles lined up on the table.
"Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, Yaoguang. Imparted by the Wine Immortal, Seven Cups of Starry Night Wine.
"I invite you to drink it!"