Chapter 19, in which the hero learns that the sweetest elixirs sometimes turn out to be very bitter

* * *

The last trip was memorable for the rest of his life. It was not because of any interesting events but rather the opposite. Heading toward Bohai with a wagon full of slaughtered beasts and all sorts of goods taken from Gao, Xing had experienced what it was like to be burdened with things and to be held captive by circumstances, what it was like to be pulled to the ground by a heavy burden. True, back then, "heavy load" was really a thing, not a philosophical concept.

Now Xing was running light, with a single basket, as he had done in the old days. And once again, he was experiencing the sheer pleasure of running. Even the large sum of money was no longer a hindrance. In Myantao, he had deposited most of the money he had and had earned during his apprenticeship in the bank. Surprisingly, the Imperial Central Bank didn't charge anything for keeping the money! And Xing could get back the required amount of money in every major city just by waiting a couple of weeks!

He had more than two years to make plans and decide on his future goals. And now the new destination was the southern city of Mogao, the Empire's largest port, located on the heavily oceanic Dulunhai Peninsula. The peninsula was the only place on a huge chunk of rocky coastline where large ships could dock, so there were streams of goods from all over the Empire and even the world flocking to Mogao. Including, of course, scrolls, rare potion ingredients, and foodstuffs. It was because his mentor ordered the ingredients for his culinary masterpieces here that Xing knew so much about the city, and even though there were many other options, he chose it. Second on his mental list was the Capital City, where Xing was going to look for an Alchemist or a Talisman Master. The only problem was that Xing had nothing to offer for training. Money... masters of these professions were swimming in gold and didn't need money. However, he did not despair, planning to figure it out on the spot.

Even though his body was obeying perfectly and his qi was buzzing and pushing forward, Xing's mind was heavy. Was he a true hero who had overcome all obstacles and temptations, or was he a complete fool who had refused Bohai's offer for a goal he couldn't even outline? He didn't know how to push these doubts out of his mind, so he used the only method he could think of.

"Faster, you lazy turtle, faster!" He shouted to himself and picked up the pace.

The shadows of people, horses, carts and trees, hills, lakes, and rivers flashed past. Xing rushed on, putting himself into this running as if as if he were being driven by the strokes of a bamboo stick. Xing was impatient. He missed the bastard master. Not the beating and cursing, no. To find him and get even, to return twelve times all those offenses and insults, to turn his miserable life into a Hell.

Xing realized there was no chance of that yet. He was proud of his accomplishments but realized there was no hope. Despite all his training, he was still an ant in front of that bastard's mountain. He could destroy the old Han Nao with a single swipe of his finger, and he wouldn't have to do much now. But Xing was impatient to prove that he was no longer a juvenile, that this carp had grown huge teeth and would bite off the head of any dragon!

"Hurry up, turtle!" he shouted again.

"Turtle!" A voice echoed in the distance.

"Hit the turtle!" A shriek echoed in his ears.

The road he was running on went around a high rocky hill, the trees stopped blocking the view, and that cluster of qi lights Xing had sensed earlier turned into a group of armed men attacking a huge monster.

And, as if continuing a long ghastly tradition, this monster was barely perceptible in qi vision.

A huge, like a house, no, like a whole palace turtle, with ugly knobby limbs, a mouth full of sharp bony outgrowths, and a shell of unexpectedly beautiful turquoise-green color.

Contrary to his first urge, Xing decided not to attack immediately, but to take a closer look first. Even though the turtle was hiding qi, he could sense, albeit very weakly, its life force. And this gigantic creature was healthy and full of energy.

A large fishing village, or maybe a small town, which appeared to be a suburb of Mogao, had been badly damaged. The turtle had crawled ashore in a very bad spot, judging by the ruined pier, the masts of small schooners sticking out of the water, and a wide swath of houses reduced to piles of stone and shingles. A group of several dozen men had lured the beast into the open and were now attacking with spears and long harpoons at the only places they could reach - the paws and head.

Alas, the creature's limbs and head did not look so strong for nothing. The blades and points simply slid across them, leaving not even a scratch. And the creature's movements were lightning-fast, contrary to what one might think of turtles.

But no matter how dire the situation was, and how unequal the forces were, the situation somehow didn't look hopeless. Instead of sweeping her opponents with a couple of attacks and crushing them with her armored underbelly, she stomped on the ground.

"Hurry up, you assholes!" shouted a youthful-looking man dressed in a dirty silk robe covered with many colorful stains. "And the eyes! Don't hit the eyes! Whoever hurts its eye, I'll put his eye on his ass!"

The turtle, hearing these words, roared and moved forward again. The turtle's neck retracted a little so, in a moment, it could shoot its head forward with the force of a catapult. One of the hapless spearmen covered his face with his hands and fell on his ass. But instead of biting his head off, the turtle's jaws seemed to hit an invisible obstacle. A glowing spot in the form of the hieroglyph "Obstruct" appeared in the air.

Several flags stuck into the ground in front of the monster lit up with qi, and a light smoke came from one.

"The talismans won't last long!" shouted the same slob who was apparently the commander of this motley defense force. "Kill the creature! But don't hit it in the eye!"

On the commander's shoulder hung a large rectangular bag, apparently made of wood and upholstered in leather. He flipped open the lid, reached inside, and pulled out several small balls that emitted a strong energy.

"Eat the pills!" the sloppy commander yelled again. "And kill her at last!"

He quickly handed out one ball each to the warriors, who popped them into their mouths and were immediately enveloped in halos of qi.

The commander pulled out a small porcelain vial from his bag and unexpectedly deftly threw it at the turtle.

The bubble flew through the invisible barrier and smashed into the turtle's head. A dark liquid spilled at the point of impact. There was a loud hissing sound, and a thin crust of ice covered the turtle's head. The turtle froze for a while, shaking its head.

"Thank you, Mr. Shaolung!" Shouted one of the spearmen. "Hurry up! Let's hit the turtle!"

The emboldened warriors attacked the monster with renewed vigor. Their movements were much faster, and their blows much harder. But, despite this, they did no damage to the turtle.

"Rough day?" Xing asked "Mr. Shaolung," stealthily appearing behind him.

He jerked, jumped up, and turned around at the sudden voice behind him. When he saw Xing and gave him a scrutinizing glance, he shook his head, returning to watching the battle. His hands were rummaging through a square bag, which Xing could now see was separated by several partitions, and the compartments were glowing with qi various pills and vials.

Xing didn't take offense. He did not wear a chef's suit when he traveled, and he bought his traveling clothes for the sake of quality, not refinement. However, the person he was talking to was also clearly not from an Imperial banquet, even though the fabric of the robe had once been very expensive.

"Hurry up, you fools! The potion won't last long!" shouted the "gentleman" and added in a normal voice: "Damn! I don't know where this abomination came from. Tsai Shaolong."

"What?" Xing was surprised at the change of subject.

"My name is Tsai," he said slowly as if speaking to a child, "of the Shaolung clan."

"А! Xing Duo," Xing replied. "I have no clan."

"I see," Tsai sighed. "Are you asking me if I'm having a bad day? What do you think? The creature wrecked the wharf, sank the schooners that were not at sea, and crushed the only decent restaurant in the area. I guess we'll have to move to Mogao or beyond after all. There's nothing else to do in this dump. Hit her, you lazy bastards! Why are you petting her?"

He pulled out more vials and threw them at the turtle. They landed accurately again, hitting the knee joints of the front legs. Where the liquid had spilled, poisonous green smoke billowed out. The turtle lifted its head, which was almost ice-free, and roared.

"Where did you buy these things?" Xing asked. "They look useful."

"I might as well throw bags of gold," Tsai Shaolung sighed. "And it would be even cheaper. Kick its in the knees, assholes! Hurry up!"

The turtle recovered from the first bubble, shooting its head out again. Once again, the symbol flashed in the air, and one of the flags flared brightly and crumbled to ash.

One of the warriors leaned out, seemingly farther than he should have. A bone beak clicked. The hapless spearman was caught in its huge jaws. The turtle raised its head and swallowed the poor man. The spear, like the last bastion of defense, held on for a moment but immediately broke with a loud crack.

"The third talisman," Shaolung sighed. "Now, I guess we'll have to accept it and leave. Even if they somehow managed to kill the creature, the eyes, liver, and heart would barely cover the cost. Too bad, good ingredients. Hard to come by."

"So you're an alchemist?" Xing was surprised. "Why aren't you in the Capital?"

"In the Capital?" Tsai Shaolong laughed sadly, not taking his eyes off the turtle. "So every idiot who needed to remove a pimple on his ass would knock on my door, telling me about his glorious ancestors and the amount of gold he would shower me with? No, it's much better here. It was."

"So they don't come here?" Xing asked.

"They come. But it's a long way to get there, so they don't bother me for trifles. Of course, there are idiots among the locals, but at least I was able to threaten them, so now they behave properly. Then again, Mogao's a big port, and sometimes you get something interesting. Stab it in the knee, you armless imbeciles! It's a shame to leave this place. But I'll have to."

"Why?" Xing was surprised. "If it's so good here, why not stay?"

"Are you an idiot?" Tsai Shaolung stared at him. "Now this thing will destroy the last talismans, devour those armless, lazy monkey offspring, destroy Lunzi, and then go on a rampage. Maybe they'll stop it at Mogao, maybe not. They've got a good garrison and a navy. But they're used to chasing pirates, not something like this."

"And the army? Adepts and qi masters?" Xing was surprised. "Someone should be able to handle it, right?"

"It'll take the army at least a couple of days to get here. And the masters... I don't know, I don't know. I've only met two of them... stunning beauties. They promised to rip off my most precious possessions and stick them in my alchemical furnace. What women! Real huli-jing! They might be able to handle it, but that thing will do a lot of damage. And they'll ruin its eyes for sure!"

"Well, how about..."

"I'm leaving anyway! What's the point of staying here? Old man Tianhe was the only decent cook in the area. He cooked fish and octopus better than in the capital. Now," Tsai Shaolung waved his hand sadly toward the city, "you can see for yourself."

Another flag flashed.

"I have to go," the alchemist sighed. "I won't have time to pack anyway, and the creature is fast. I'll make a few pills, cure someone's hemorrhoids, and relieve their acne, and then I'll have enough for a new house with an alchemical furnace. I have money, of course, but you should know the prices in the capital!"

"And the ring?" Xing asked.

"What, "ring"?"

"A spatial ring! You can put anything in it and carry it wherever you want!"

"Oh, I wish I had one of those things! I'd make pills for it for a dozen years! For free! No, only the labor is free, but the ingredients that greedy bastard would have to bring himself!"

Xing hesitated for a moment. He had, of course, planned to find an alchemist much later, but the situation was very fortunate. He didn't know how skilled Tsai Shaolung was, but he only needed the basics for now. Besides, Xing had something to offer him.

Fate had sent Xing once again a sign, and who was he to argue with fate?

"I happen to be a cook. And a pretty good one at that," Xing smiled. "What if we made a deal?"

"A deal? You didn't bang your head on anything? What cook? Can't you see there's a monster! A huge, ferocious, invincible monster!"

"I'll feed you, and I'll feed you good food!" Xing decided to ignore his interlocutor's hysterics. "And in return, you'll give me some pointers. I've long been interested in alchemy and talismans. So, what did you say? Eyes, liver, and what else? Heart?"

"Monster! Beast! Animal! Demon!" Tsai waved his hands. "Huge! A turtle!"

Xing unhurriedly dropped the basket, pulled out a chain from behind his back, and removed one of the knives from his belt. The Qi was no longer restrained by his will and shone brightly.

"Exactly," he confirmed. "Exactly the turtle! Dear Tsai Shaolung, how do you feel about turtle soup?"

* * *

"What nonsense," Xing yawned and, suppressing the urge to toss the watching crystal away, carefully placed it in the recess of the lacquered case, "If I fought like this, I would have been eaten long ago. It's a shame I'm so often right!"

Now, three years after he had settled near Mogao, Xing dared to pay a considerable amount of money to buy a crystal so he could once again indulge in his once favorite pastime. He would have preferred to buy some familiar issue, even if he had to pay more for it as an antique. But alas, even here, at the crossroads of thousands of trade routes, the choice was limited, so he had to take what the merchants had to offer.

The flow of the river of time leads to the abyss, a once coined saying turned out to be prophetic in this case. Obeying the inevitable flow of time, the crystals collapsed into the abyss. No, they were still glistening with polished facets and contained subtle streams of qi. They were also sold in exquisitely polished wood boxes, though the unscrupulous merchant had lost the accompanying Almanac of Heroes. Only the contents were affected by the general decline and decay.

Now, the real heroes, agile, skillful, and deadly, were replaced by some pathetic poseurs. Awkward and clumsy movements, pathetic crooked stances that had a lot of vulnerabilities and gave the enemy a perfect opportunity to counterattack. Battles with enemies looked like a poor performance of a kid trying to play an episode of a real heroic story. In Duojia, even toddlers who hadn't discovered qi yet moved much better. Xing was pretty sure that Aunt Zhao alone could grab a broom and make a decisive difference in the final battle, beating the hero, the villain, and his henchmen and making them all work together to clean the stable and cook food for the pigs.

But the saddest part concerned the techniques. Xing could see from the balance and the folds in their clothes that the characters (he could no longer call them heroes or villains) were not jumping on their own, that they were being lifted by an almost imperceptible thread like the Iron Spider's web from the Forest of a Dozen Steps. Fire spells, too, turned out to be fake, simple fireworks, flashes of fire from rice wine five times distilled, and, which caused particular outrage, the simple flame of a torch positioned to make the fire seem several times larger. There was nothing to say about the hero's techniques! The loud shouts of the technicians, which would otherwise sound manly and majestic, now seemed like some sort of blatant mockery, an elaborate mockery and insult. If Xing didn't know the merchant was innocent, he would have taken the crystal back, shoving it along with the chest down the merchant's throat. Alas, the merchant's qi showed how happy he was to please his esteemed customer, and there was an unspoken rule in Mogao that a transaction was sacred, and no matter how much the parties insulted each other during the trade, or belittled or extolled the virtues of the goods, once the exchange was made, there was no turning back. The gods gave us eyes to see what we are buying!

Of course, Xing could try to sell the crystal to some simpleton and lose a lot of money. But that would make him feel like a real crook and a scoundrel, which would immediately put him on the same level as the bastard master, so he couldn't do that.

He sighed. Of course, he could try to buy another crystal from the old, real ones. The Under the Shell Restaurant was doing quite well, and Xing had some savings. But frankly, it was a pity. Experimenting with recipes required a lot of money, so he knew where to put his hard-earned coins.

It wasn't worth forgetting the past, but trying to bring it back brought strange results. First, Feng began to strive for hardship in a way that Han Nao couldn't even get him to do with a master's stick. Then, the desire to eat delicious food all the time disappeared. Even if, by interspersing rice, vegetables, and chicken breast with delicacies prepared by his hand, Xing felt much more pleasure in eating. Now, the crystals were completely disappointing as well, degenerating into some fake nonsense. Clearly, everything had a strong and clear reason, but still! Things were better back in Han Nao's time!

"What a pathetic, talentless piece of shit," Xing sighed. "Okay, to the demons! Hey! Every visitor of Under the Shell can watch this nonsense for free. If he orders something, of course, because I know you freeloaders!"

The visitors let out an enthusiastic roar. They didn't seem to have realized Xing had easily given away what he considered to be real trash. To them, it was a pastime beyond the reach of mere mortals. There was some truth to the rogue master's statement that only those who have no exploits of their own look at other people's exploits. Xing had his adventures.

"You could have shown them, Xing!" shouted one of the visitors.

"I'd cut them some stories!" said another.

"But first, you'd give them your mixtures!" The third one was choking with laughter. "Especially the Drunken Plum! Strong as the flames of the Underworld!"

"You'd cut it like a turtle!"

Unable to sour over the unfairness of the world order any longer, Xing smiled broadly to himself. After all, he had really cut up that turtle! Yes, it was a lot of work because the tough skin did not penetrate even his reinforced qi knives, the shell reflected any attacks, and the throws of a huge mouth, catching the attack of its target, could lead to instant death. In Xing's life, however, he had fought more difficult battles. This time, unlike in previous battles, he was not armed with a pathetic homemade spear with a tip made of stone or simple iron. No. He had a real weapon. And where a sword didn't work a good club would always work. Xing twisted under the blows of the huge beast like a six-footed creeper in a frying pan, but when he caught the right moment, and finally brought the loyal flail down on the lumpy head with his qi. The turtle was in a spin. The attacks of turtle head now resembled Lame Sun's movements after drinking, so it was not difficult for Xing to strike a second blow and a third.

After that, the battle with the dangerous monster began to resemble a simple beating. If it wasn't for so many dead people and destroyed buildings, he would even feel sorry for the turtle. In the end, when the dazed beast retracted its head into its shell, Xing even felt like some kind of villain bullying an unarmed man. Finishing the turtle wasn't much of a problem. It was much more work to extract the body. The turtle's fears of damaging the shell were in vain; it was as strong as any fortress wall.

As agreed beforehand, the eyes, heart, and liver of the turtle went to Tsai Shaolung. The alchemist also took some of the remaining insides that were not needed for cooking. The tedious task of cutting up the turtle was done with the help of the local people and the garrison arrived from Mogao.

According to the sacred laws of the Empire, the prey belonged to the hunter unless, of course, it was poaching in foreign territories. So Xing only gave the garrison commander a scornful glance in response to his demand for the trophy. After a long haggle, insults, and threats, they still agreed. The skeleton of the turtle went to two Qi masters, real fairies whose beauty and arrogance the alchemist did not exaggerate in the slightest, and the tough horny skin, for some reason inscribed with strange and full of Qi writing in an unknown language, went to the city guards as material for armor. For this, in addition to money, Xing received not only help in cutting and a considerable sum of money in the form of a bank receipt but also the assistance of the authorities with all the formalities of opening a restaurant and settling taxation procedures.

Xing had draped the empty shell, emptied of its contents, over the shore so that he could have a good view of the ocean at all times. He placed the emblem of Bohai next to the name, not to capitalize on his teacher's fame but to glorify his name here, where no one had ever heard of the Three Knives.

Originally, Xing didn't plan to stay here for long. He was just going to look around, but then his plans changed, and Xing decided to stay here until he could learn the most important things from the alchemist, supplement his cooking skills with the ability to brew potions and elixirs, and learn a few nuances of talismans.

But the turtle shell, which Xing had originally thought would be a good way to attract customers, held many surprises. The turtle's Qi, which was insensible on the outside, was condensed inside to the point of suppressing all other influences. Cooking here and directing qi was as difficult as carrying huge stones under the blows of a rogue master. And that meant only one thing - there was no better place in the whole Empire to train both qi power and control! A few years had passed, and Xing had recently celebrated the milestone of a dozen and a half, a milestone at which a teenager was considered a young man.

He not only visited Tsai Shaolung, where he learned various alchemical wisdoms but also hosted the master in his establishment. The latter loved to pretend to be a simpleton. When he was bullied by a visiting sailor, he would get into a fight. He use his qi to beat the offender to a pulp. Xing never broke up these fights but only demanded that they be moved outside the restaurant, first because it would interfere with the offending alchemist's training and then because it proved to be a great entertainment that attracted regular customers.

Xing's cooking was very good, and his prices were not high. He didn't plan on earning anything but simply improved his potion-brewing skills, strengthened his chi, listened to stories of sea adventures, and practiced. To his surprise, there was a surprising amount of money left over: sailors returning from months-long voyages liked to order not only expensive meals but also strong alcohol. The liquor was an unexpected addition to the elixirs, for in addition to the alchemical furnace, Xing had also acquired a distilling cube, first one small and then several large ones. This addition was most of all enjoyed by Tsai Shaolong, who gave some good advice on how to produce new types of these "special potions."

"...Xing, hey, Xing!" A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"What?" he grumbled unhappily.

"We're just talking about the Hair of Immortality!" came a shout from somewhere on the far table. "Remember when you decided to grow a beard, then shave it off, and dropped a hair... Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Xing laughed along with the visitors.

Of course, he didn't drop any hair, but he tried to grow a beard, taking advantage of the vegetation on his face. As it turned out, his beard was even worse than one cut from a dead man, and it stung his lips much more. In addition, Xing's facial hair was growing in liquid wisps, and the resulting beard looked very funny. And some visitors have forgotten the simple truth: Don't mock the person who cooks your food.

"What, chumps," Tsai Shaolung's voice rang out, "is this fun? You should be thankful it was Xing and not me. You wouldn't have gotten off that easy with me. You wouldn't have been out of the latrine for three days, but a month. No, a year! All right, Xing, pour... Oh, let's have some Hair, come on!"

Xing nodded, looked into the storeroom, selected a pot with the desired drink, and poured it into a pitcher, making sure to put a lump of seaweed inside. Surprisingly, the incident not only did not scare away visitors but even on the contrary. The drink created on this occasion with seaweed, which really resembled hair, was very popular.

On his way back, he glanced at the large bronze mirror hanging on the wall. In the semi-darkness from the single qi light, his reflection looked much older. "I'm good as I'm!" he remembered Bao Xiao's quote from his favorite, so old and correct crystal. He mentally visualized his master's image next to his reflection and smiled again. The good mood was even better: Xing didn't chase after good looks like many pampered palace sycophants, but it felt good to realize how far behind his master was in this aspect, with his disgusting, skewed face.

"Here you go, master," he set a pitcher and a porcelain cup in front of the alchemist.

"Give us a drink! We'll even drink to you!" Captain Tai, who had recently returned from a voyage, shouted.

"For Xing!" The visitors cheered.

"For Xing Duo!"

"Hail the best booze on the entire coast!"

"Yes, yes, praise me," Xing said, his chest sticking out dramatically. "But there will be no discounts! If you want cheap plum vodka, go to Auntie Zu."

"Her cheap moonshine costs too much!" Captain Tai said and grinned with his mouth. "Master Tsai, you shouldn't have shown her those alchemical things!"

"Tell me you idiots don't like it!" grinned the alchemist.

"That's the thing, I love it! You drink a jug of it and like everything, even Auntie Zu herself. But a mere mortal could never drink so much wine or beer!"

There was laughter again and salty jokes. From Aunt Zu, they switched to the girls in her establishment. They agreed that they complemented each other perfectly - after cheap moonshine, they became beautiful to look at once!

While the visitors chatted, Xing returned to the kitchen, picked a fresh fish, and threw it on the cutting board. Running his hand over the shiny silver side and releasing the qi, he rid the fish of its scales. Taking out both knives, he instantly flattened the fish lengthwise, separating the backbone. The blades of the knives glowed softly, and the bones and insides of the fish stuck to the knives, so Xing easily swept them into the trash can, and with lightning-fast movements of the knives, he turned the fish into a set of perfectly identical pieces, noting with satisfaction how natural and smooth it was.

He was concentrating here in the shell dome. He was doing several things at once. He not only cooked, training his qi power, strengthening his mind and memory, but also channeling external energy through all three dantians, filling his body with it and making it his own. Xing could certainly do this before, but only in a place where qi was abundant and without overwhelming external influence.

It's not just about strengthening his arms and legs to jump over steep cliffs or walk on water. It was much more than that! Alas, Xing was not even at the level of the heroes from the crystals, of course, the real and proper ones. What to speak of the level of a master? He didn't despair: the road will be traveled by the one who walks! A persistent snail... No, a persistent turtle will overtake a fox! Without fry, carp, or waterfalls!

"...fools! I said it doesn't happen!" Master Tsai was once again angry about something.

"But it was...! Right here in the crystal! Xing let me see it!"

"You're an idiot! It's not real!" The alchemist laughed. "Absorbing the qi of nature, under a suppressive talisman, while fighting with two daggers at once, using techniques? It's all bullshit!"

Xing was in complete agreement. It really wasn't real there. And everything is a lie! He raised the knives, a light glow of qi swept across the metal, cleaning the blade, and Xing slipped them back into their scabbards.

"Two crispy Fujian buns for everyone!" Crooked Zanzhong loudly proclaimed as he poured into the place. "Let's feel like aristocrats!"

"Yeah, I'd squeeze an aristocrat for her crispy buns!"

"And then you... be squeezed!

"You fools," Master Shaolong let out his usual bile chuckle, "you don't know your luck! Aristocrats! Pesky as hungry ducks! Oh, alchemy - so interesting! Won't you show me your laboratory? Just you and me, my mortar and your pestle. To hell with them!"

"Hey, Mr. Tsai, why send them straight to the demons? Why don't you send them to us? We'll show them the pestle, the harpoon, and the mast!"

"You don't need that, Zenzhon," Shaolung grinned. "Every maiden always has a crowd of relatives. Even more annoying!"

"That's okay, one day we'll ta... we'll be sailing by, and there's a girl alone on an island! Without any family!"

Crooked Zanzhong was a pirate. Everyone knew it, but no one could or would try to prove it.

There was more laughter, cackling, slapping each other on the shoulders, shouting suggestions as to what the maiden would pay for her rescue.

"Have fun, bros!" Zenzhong tossed the pouch onto the counter.

The one opened, shiny coins rolled, different ones, not just imperial ones.

"Rescued an aristocrat?" Xing's voice turned cold. "He was the one who gave you the money, wasn't he?"

The laughter and talking stopped instantly. The patrons looked at each other. Some even craned their heads into their necks. The days when the visiting sailors had tried to show this insolent cook his place were long gone. For the most natural of reasons.

"Hey, Xing, come on! I earned it, honestly! We went across the sea to sell our iron to their barbarians. They're there for the price of a miracle weapon. If you had forged a sword for them, you could have bought an island from them. You even could have become an invincible hero!" Zanzhong backed away, turning slightly pale. "Don't mind it, all that time at sea, of course, the boys need to relax, and there weren't any mermaids this time!"

An ominous silence hung until Xing nodded favorably in response to such an explanation. Zanzhong exhaled in relief, and the restaurant exploded with noise and shouts.

"Yeah. Sure, the mermaids gave you!"

"Mermaids! I caught such a fish yesterday. It's like a mermaid in the back! I can sell it!"

"Zenzhong, what do you need a mermaid for? To sniff, uh-huh-uh-uh, under her tail?"

"Why would they want your money at the bottom?"

"Better lure them ashore!"

"How do you lure them out?"

"With Xing's buns!"

Xing gave the visitors a favorable look and returned to the kitchen. After removing the protective qi from a piece of pre-made dough, he began to make Fujian buns. After all, it was necessary to make two. For everyone.

* * *

Unlike Master Bohai, Alchemist Shaolung valued the recipes of his pills and potions more than anything else. He was reluctant to share them, even the simplest ones. Of course, over the years, Xing had developed a trusted, almost friendly relationship with him (as much as one could with a man of such a nasty temperament), but still only to a point. Xing could call him anything he wanted - an acquaintance, a source of information, even a business partner - but never a mentor.

Tsai Shaolung was not particularly secretive about how ingredients were processed and combined, and Xing was grateful for that. But when it came to recipes... Xing had learned a fair amount by focusing on the flow of qi inside Tsai's lab and buying scrolls at the port, most of which went straight to the furnace.

Fortunately, after the battle with the turtle, the alchemist was fully convinced that Xing was cultivating the lower dantian. And this was the truth, even if it was only a part of it. It was a well-known truth that cultivators of the martial dantian could not make any serious progress in alchemy, which made Shaolung's suspicions much lower, even if he thought Xing was an idiot trying to swallow a piece bigger than his mouth.

The alchemical furnace, in which Xing used fire qi instead of the rare and very expensive Colorless Linden wood, was humming quietly. He sat at a wide table filled with porcelain bowls and vials and thoughtfully stirred the "Youth Potion" as it was called in the scroll attached to the holder. The profits of Under the Shell were eaten up by the scrolls containing techniques and recipes for various pills and elixirs, even if the cost was not equal to the price of a single crystal. Xing didn't open the restaurant today so as not to distract himself from his important alchemy experiments.

"Something is missing," he said thoughtfully, dipping his finger and tasting a drop of the potion with his tongue.

The recipes and techniques were mostly trash, deceptions designed either to cheat the gullible simpletons out of their last money or to confuse and misdirect those who wished to learn them. Xing didn't know what prevented him from going to the Imperial Library to get real, officially verified techniques from trusted masters.

Such things never stopped him. He was able to recognize an obvious forgery at a glance, but scrolls that hid a morsel of something real, whose meaning had disappeared, lost in the many retellings and rewritings, were another matter. Xing tried recipes and improved them, made them work, and did the same with techniques. Almost always, he became convinced the techniques were either fictional or nightmarishly ineffective, that the authors and rewriters had drowned real knowledge under layers of mystical and philosophical husks. Nevertheless, the movements and the concepts did, at times, strike him with interesting ideas. He tried them out, applied them to combat with flail, knives, guan dao, swords, and other weapons forged over the years, and incorporated them into his fighting style. Or rather, into that miserable misunderstanding called 'fighting style,' for Xing had never learned the real martial arts and techniques, unlike any true hero of the crystal.

"What's up, Master?" Xifeng asked, looking faithfully into his face and arching her back to maximize the considerable gifts the gods had bestowed upon her. "Did it work? As expected from my honorable mentor!"

Xing rolled his eyes in annoyance. It wasn't that he didn't like talking to pretty girls, but some of them were really shameless, trying to achieve their goals by any means necessary.

"How many times do I have to tell you?! I'm not your master! And that you can't just walk in here!"

The first heiress of the House of Ximing, one of the main clans of Mogao, pouted her pretty lips, but she didn't even think of adopting a guilty look. In Lunzi, close to Mogao, Xing had only settled in Lunzi to have access to the goods from the port, especially the rarities like scrolls, ingredients, and elixirs that were rarely available in the regular market. At first, he had no choice but to take advantage of the connections he had suddenly formed. Now, he was known throughout the district, and many captains were more than willing to ask around or whisper a word to someone they knew. Xing couldn't get rid of this determined and rather annoying girl.

"But you're my Master!" Xifeng took up her cause again. "I have learned so much from you, Master!"

There was no way Xing could say he wasn't attracted to her. He wouldn't even undertake to argue that the thuggish and unceremonious character didn't have some special charm. No, understandably, she couldn't compare to Mei in beauty, inner integrity, or character, but what woman ever could? Xing liked Xifeng, the main reason he tolerated her antics, even though the whole background of such behavior lay on the surface.

"Calling me master a hundred times won't make me a master," Xing grumbled, a little tired of this intrusiveness.

"Oh yes, Master! Another divine quote to be written down!" Xifeng shrieked, taking out a brush from her belt pouch and waving it like a knife.

Looking at her, Xing kept thinking that he had made a mistake, almost like when he, as Feng, had stepped into the shit that had determined his fate for a long time. Only by becoming Xing, did he step into the same situation twice, and how to wash himself off, he didn't know yet. The first one was Jie Buntao. But then, he didn't have much choice. He was literally living with his mentor's daughter under the same roof. And now it was Xifeng. And there were no excuses here.

Xing realized it wasn't because Xifeng found him so irresistible. She might have liked his looks, but he wasn't a master who had to resort to low tricks to get the attention of women. And it wasn't that Xing was such an outstanding fighter or a skilled blacksmith or cook. It was about alchemy.

The Ximing House had tried many times to find approaches to Tsai Shaolung, sending him Xifeng, or other daughters of the main or side branches of the inheritance, or even pretty maids. It is possible that trying to fend off all these female attacks hardened Master Tsai, having developed such a nasty character. It took Ximing House a long time to realize no amount of feminine charms could shake Shaolung's callous and cynical heart. Tsai had clearly hinted that any further attempts would be disastrous for the Ximing household, so they finally realized that even if a seventh-stage alchemist was equal to a heavenly being, they would have to look for someone more approachable. Xing, whose alchemy skills were not at the fourth level but certainly at the third level, seemed to be just that. No house in Mogao would be reluctant to take in a real alchemist, preferably by marrying someone from a side branch, but if that didn't work out, an heiress would do.

Xing had tolerated Xifeng until now, for despite his victory over the Giant Turtle, he did not have the intimidating reputation of a high-ranking alchemist. And the House of Xifeng, despite its many new connections, was not worth offending. It would block the possibility of selling unsuccessful or conditionally successful elixirs and pills through their shops, buying and ordering scrolls or ingredients. Well, if the offense proved great enough, then the influence of the house was more than enough to keep anyone in Mogao from doing business with Xing. He was willing to keep the restaurant just for the sake of one Tsai Shaolong, who didn't give a damn about Ximing's house, or to drag the shell into the courtyard of his mansion and work as his personal chef altogether. But Xing decided not to go to such extremes and just tolerate the one and only flighty girl. After all, patience and endurance had to be trained, too, and Xifeng's presence alone kept away the girls from the other houses who were also drooling over Xing.

That despicable bastard master never had any problems like this! Of course not. No one could deny Grandmaster Qi anything. He was a step lower than the Emperor himself! Any scrolls, ingredients, techniques - everything went into the scoundrel's hands when Xing had to snatch the smallest opportunity from fate and the people around him!

Xifeng, who had somehow decided that Xing would be her master, turned out to be very pushy and unceremonious. In addition to her self-appointed apprenticeship, she tried to use marine lingo, harassed visitors, and even bragged about becoming a pirate queen. It never came to anything bad, and there was no need to defend her, for everyone knew the reputation of the house, and even the strongest booze couldn't make the regulars of Under the Shell lose their heads that much. And, of course, such permissiveness could not help but spoil the spoiled Xifeng's character even more.

"Ah, Master," the girl whimpered once again, "I feel like I'm in the grave in this shell! Qi is not obeying at all!"

"It's nothing," Xing said. "Do something else. Calligraphy, for example. Or better yet, go home."

Calligraphy was the most effective way to distract her, for the girl was always silent when she was bent over the scrolls.

"I don't have any ink with me!" She whimpered again. "I'd rather watch you work!"

She peered over Xing's shoulder again, inadvertently pressing her bouncy hemisphere against him.

"Hmm, right," Xing realized. "Add Yellow Mountain Ink and Mermaid Charms!"

Two yellow crystals absorbed the poisonous part of the decoction, increasing the rejuvenating part, and a piece of sea sponge, so named by sailors because of its strong external resemblance to a woman's breasts, slowed down the reaction, making it flow smoothly and calmly. Of course, the potion did not bring back the years, for that would require cultivating qi. But still, the potion helped to strengthen the skin, smooth out wrinkles, and fight the merciless passage of time a little longer.

He channeled the qi, controlling the reaction. The liquid bubbled, threw out a large puff of smoke, and changed color to emerald green. Xifeng coughed, gulping the smoke, and Xing grimaced. There was nothing more stupid than poisoning yourself while brewing an elixir when you could protect yourself with qi or at least cover your nose with a mask.

The talismans hanging near the entrance to the lab and the window where the turtle's hind leg had once stuck out glowed softly. The smoke quickly dissipated, replaced by fresh air. Xing smiled victoriously as Master Tsai's lessons had paid off, and now he could not only train with his weight-increasing talismans but also ventilate the closed areas such as the bedroom, lab, and kitchen.

"It worked," Xing nodded satisfactorily, examining the contents of the vessel.

The clear glass, he created from sand remelted and purified with qi, not only withstood high temperatures but also resisted the components of elixirs that could sometimes melt table tops or dissolve iron.

"Yes, Master, you are the best!" The flushed Xifeng declared, trying to catch her breath.

"You don't," Xing said sternly. "If you're going to steal my secrets, you'd better be careful. You know how poisonous vapors can be and how deadly accidental drops can be."

"Oh, Master," Xifeng moaned, doing something with her clothes, "I think I'm not feeling well! There are drops on my body. If you don't save me, I might die!"

Xing, who was trying to write down the recipe changes in a scroll, didn't even immediately realize what she was doing. Despite Xifeng's attractiveness, he had long ago stopped looking at her as a woman. She was so annoying. If it weren't for Ximing's house, he would have thrown her over his knee long ago and slapped her firm buttocks so hard that she wouldn't have been able to sit for a full dozen days. The thought flashed and vanished, for while he was writing down the results of the experiment, he kept thinking about Zanjon's visit a few days ago. Should he have gone about exterminating the pirates as he had done with the brigands? Living in one place was good for training, but there was a feeling of dissatisfaction as if Xing was sitting around getting fat and not striving for a goal. Or would it be better to join Zanjong and sail to the wondrous lands beyond the seas?

"Xing Duo!" A voice rang out from outside. "Come out, you rascal, and answer for what you did to our sister!"

Xing clenched his teeth. The restaurant was not open today, as the sign on the door said. He had sensed these idiots' Qi long ago, even though the turtle shell had dampened it. And instead of saying what they wanted, they'd been jostling around outside for quite some time.

"Whoever is standing there, get lost!" Xing shouted angrily. "If you can't read, find someone who can!"

There was a deafening knock on the front door. Xing was even more angry. Although the turtle shell was very strong, he had made all the doors, windows, and partitions out of ordinary wood, which meant that any moron with a bit of qi could break them.

"Go away, Chan," Xifeng yelled in a sudden loud voice, "Everyone goes away! Don't disturb our love!"

Xing cast a suspicious glance at her. Xifeng slammed her eyes shut and slightly protruded her lips. Xing spat angrily. Unfortunately, the contents of the spit fell into the vessel of freshly brewed potion, which immediately sizzled, foam blue, and turned a disgusting brown color. Xing spat again, much angrier.

There were angry shouts, the pounding intensified, and the cracking of wood was heard.

Xing had to reckon with the House of Ximing, of course, but they also had to reckon with, if not with Xing, at least with common courtesy. Many crystals and scrolls mentioned the arrogant young heirs of great houses who took advantage of their distance from the capital to do whatever they wanted, whether it was bullying merchants, beating hesitant townspeople, or molesting pretty girls. Xing never thought that he would encounter a similar situation personally.

Well, in the crystals, such villains were put in place by the main hero, and Han Nao had always dreamed of being a hero. He quickly walked out of the lab and opened the door.

Seeing the expression on his face and feeling Xing's overwhelming qi, the uninvited guests recoiled. Xing looked them over with an attentive gaze. They were Chang and Guoji, Xifeng's older brothers, strong adepts whose qi was still below that of a master. Behind the brothers' backs, a squad of warriors in the colors of the Ximing House raised their swords and spears, each of them also wielding qi. At other times, it was an intimidating force, not a much weaker squad of dastardly Gao who had been devoured by the beasts of the Forest of a Dozen Steps. Now... Xing wasn't worried about their strength but their status. He was certainly contemplating leaving this place, but a little later, in a few months or six months. Apparently, the plans would have to be shifted.

"You rascal!" Guoji shouted. "You stayed alone with Xifeng to do inappropriate things to her!"

"Since when is brewing elixirs inappropriate?" Xing frowned.

"He admitted to drugging our sister with potions!" Chan shouted.

Xing began to boil. He could, of course, argue, try to refute the accusations, or explain, but that would have been appropriate for a philosophical conversation between two scholars, not a street quarrel between a highborn and a commoner.

"You must be feeling very brave," Xing grinned. "And very powerful."

"The House of Ximing is the most powerful house in all of Mogao!" Chang confirmed it immediately. "Don't try to fool us! You fought that turtle, but Master Shaolong and many warriors were there! A turtle like that could be defeated by any of the Ximing clan even alone! And if you think that a pitiful victory over a stupid beast allows you to pounce on our sister....."

"Yes! Pounce like a wild beast!" A woman's voice came from behind.

Xing turned his head. Xifeng was standing there in her underwear, her considerable breasts so large that they threatened to tear the thin silk of the baofu. He involuntarily admired her. She's good! So good! Sure, she may not be as good as Mei, but in some aspects, Xifeng surpassed even her!

"Disgraced! Abused and dishonored our sister! And he did it in front of many witnesses!" Guoji exclaimed triumphantly.

"The price for such a thing is death!" Chan added. "Or marriage! The House of Ximing is so noble and generous that it will accept even you, a commoner!"

It had been obvious to Xing from the beginning where this was going, and now he had only received the final confirmation. Once again, the situation with Gong Buntao and his daughter Jie was repeating itself, but this time in a much worse version. There was a very important difference between House Ximing and Master Buntao: Xing had no gratitude or respect for this house. Trying to tie him down through marriage, thus getting a low-level but very promising alchemist at their disposal, was also fundamentally different from Master Bohai's offer to voluntarily become a member of the family. Therefore, despite neither the beauty of Xifeng, whose appearance stirred the blood even at this moment nor the influence and resources of the house, Xing didn't hesitate for a moment. What Ximing was trying to do now was no different from House Gao's vile attempt to get hold of Master Buntao. The only difference was the method. Therefore, the way to solve the problem was also similar.

"Is the House of Ximing great?" Xing asked.

"Very great! The strongest and greatest in all of Mogao!" Chen raised his chin. "No, even in the entire province!"

"Are there any good doctors in it?"

"We have the best! The strongest warriors! Connections! Money and goods! Influence!"

"And the doctors?" Xing repeated the question.

"We have everything! And if we don't have anything, we can buy it!" Chen looked like he was about to burst with smugness.

"Why are you asking about doctors?" Guoji asked suspiciously.

"To know whether to treat you myself later or can I leave it like that?

The reaction from the brothers was very good. Their bodies flashed with internal energy, and they jumped to the sides. The adepts rushed forward, raising their swords and spears. The blades and points glowed with qi. The House of Ximing was indeed rich if it could afford warriors, even elite ones, such armaments. Xing would have forged something better, but these idiots didn't skimp on materials and metals. They skimped on brains.

Singh didn't rush into the house to get his trusty flail, knives, or other weapons. He took a couple of quick steps forward, fended off the spears pointed at him, grabbed the blade with his palm, and flung someone's sword away. Carefully controlling his efforts so he didn't actually kill someone, he threw a few solid kicks. He picked up one of the warriors by his armor and threw him into a pile of others, deciding that if they inadvertently stabbed his comrade with their spears, it would be up to them.

"Red Phoenix Flight!" A loud shout was heard, and a long tongue of flame burst out from Chen's palms.

Xing stopped and rolled his eyes. For such a formidable name, this so-called technique lacked... everything. He didn't even bother to dodge just extended his hand, caught the flame, and crushed it in his palm. Xing, of course, knew that he was nowhere near the level of heroes and masters in the mastery of qi, but compared to this kind of squalor, his skills were a carp next to not even a tadpole, but a mere spawn!

Shaking his head unhappily, he walked through the Ximing warriors, trying, in the old Duojia custom, to give every one of them such good and appetizing blows, leaving no one deprived. Reflected a couple more techniques, taking care only not to accidentally ruin the casual clothes he had long worn instead of hides. And when he was done after a couple dozen heartbeats, the pride of the great house from Mogao lay in a large groaning heap, crowned by brothers Chang and Guoji.

He turned toward the entrance to the shell. Xifeng yelped, covered her chest with her hands for some reason, and ran inside. Xing, whose anger was still bubbling, headed in after her.

He was as angry as he had been since his encounter with the Gao Clan. And even more - if he had been fully prepared to leave Master Gong, now he had to adjust his plans on the fly and hurry into the unknown. If earlier, he had planned to make arrangements with some of the captains in advance. To pack and prepare supplies, now he had to run away as it was. It was a particular pity to abandon the turtle shell - the only place in this life he could truly call home. Of course, if he were the hero of a crystal or book, he would have placed the entire turtle, along with his supplies, in a spatial ring. But alas, no merchant in Mogao could help with the ring, no matter how many times Xing asked them.

He stepped inside and slammed the door shut with the firm intention of catching Xifeng and throwing her out, laying the finishing touch on the battered heap of her house members. Xifeng caught on to this intention as well, so she shrieked and backed away.

The turtle was certainly huge, but only by the standards of a living creature. It was not a palace with a thousand rooms. So soon, Xifeng's back was against the ladder leading to the second tier, the room where Xing had stored his supplies and from which there was no exit.

He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her away. Xifeng shrieked again.

He didn't want to say anything, only to spit and curse. It didn't matter now whether he had really seduced and dishonored the beauty of a noble house or not. After Xifeng had left his residence in an inappropriate manner, which had been seen by many witnesses, any judge would recognize Xing's guilt. Now, there was no choice left. There was only one thing to do. To flee away from Mogao, where the influence of the Ximing House was so great. A thought swirled in his mind, stabbing him with a sharp pain. Xing even paused, increasing the circulation of qi in his upper dantian to bring it back.

The discovery was dumbfounding. After all, it really didn't matter whether Xing had done something or not, whether he had abused Xifeng or not. Moreover, it was the fact that he had done nothing, that he had to suffer for nothing, that turned out to be the most offensive.

He took another look at Xifeng. Huge eyes wide open, mouth open in surprise, long slender legs, large firm hemispheres peeking through the loose-fitting undergarments. She looked so good!

Xing tried to cling to the memory of Mei to remind himself to strive to be a hero. It didn't help. Mei was long in the past, and as for heroism... At the current stage, Xing's goal was not to become a hero, not at all. At first, he was going to become like his master, and there was no greater scoundrel in the world.

Xing laughed, lifted the ouching Xifeng in his arms, and dragged her into a room with a wide window and a large comfortable bed, bought, which made the situation even more savory, from the furniture shop of the Ximing House.

"Xing! What are you... I mean, Master! Master! What are you doing?" Xifeng shouted.

"You say I pounced like a wild beast?" Xing laughed. "Tore your clothes... just like that?"

He stretched out his hand, and thin streams of qi rushed out from his fingers and touched the remnants of her clothes. A moment later, small pieces of silk crumbled to the floor. Xing drew Xifeng roughly to him, feeling the soft, smooth skin beneath his fingers. His hand traveled down her slender leg, ending its journey on her firm buttock.

"Master! Master, please!" The girl whispered fearfully.

"When I lived in Myantao," Xing grinned, "I used to visit the Imperial Library. Here in Mogao, I've also read a lot of scrolls. And you know what?"

"What, Master?" Xifeng asked, stumbling until her feet rested on the edge of the bed.

"Not all of these scrolls had recipes. And not all of them had techniques. Although, you know, they did have techniques, just not combat ones. And you and I are about to test the efficacy of those techniques."

Xing took another step forward and Xifeng yelped and fell, collapsing right onto the soft mattress.

* * *

Despite his excuses, Xing felt like a real scoundrel. Yes, he had aspired to become a master, yes, House Ximing had tried to frame him, yes. He had repaid his meanness and dishonesty in the same coin. But still, what Xing did, a true hero would never do! In many stories, heroes have succumbed to the influence of inner demons, doing unsightly deeds and even real atrocities, only to overcome themselves later and return to the side of justice and harmony. But they never committed violence against women, and what happened could not be called anything else.

And Xing did it! And he didn't just do it! He thoroughly tested the validity of the Eighteen Plum Petals, Jade Vase, and Peach Tree Fruit treatises. Some positions that seemed completely impossible for the human physique could still be repeated with some discomfort, while others required the use of qi. Xing did not spare Xifeng, did not consider her feelings and desires, and took out his irritation on her, which he regretted now that his emotions had subsided.

She didn't look particularly unhappy now that it was all over when he was overcome with doubts and heartache. On the contrary, she doesn't care about the destroyed linen and putting on a dress on her naked body. She is bending seductively and trying to present her beauty in the most favorable light. And it was working! Xing could feel her sedated body becoming hot, so he was even angrier at himself.

"'Well, Dear," chirped Sifeng, "you really were like a wild beast!"

"Dear?" Xing asked suspiciously. "No longer Master?"

"Oh yes, Master!" she corrected herself immediately. "You have taught me so much! And you will teach me more!"

"Teach?"

"Of course you are! Now, after what happened between us."

"I forced you! I pushed you! And you say you enjoyed it?"

"Well, it hurt a little bit, and my throat... a couple of times I thought I was gonna choke, but... Hey, what are you doing?"

Xing jumped up from his bed and began to dress quickly. Was all this suffering for nothing? All these regrets, his conscience, his feeling of being a dirty bandit like the gang leader he met after leaving Duojia, all these things bothered only him.

Xing walked to the window and looked out at the ocean through the transparent glass he had made from the same sand. The surf was quiet. The waves were crashing against the rocks. The wind was free and untethered, and sparse clouds were blowing across the sky. The vastness beckoned.

"Beautiful!" Xifeng said, standing beside him and unceremoniously taking him under her arm. "But we'll find an even better place. My family has a lot of land, so we'll choose something in Mogao. And we'll build a bigger house. There's no more room than a commoner's hut. And I need you to see the new laboratory. House Ximing bought everything we need, but we didn't have a real alchemist before, so we might have missed something."

"Stop!" said Xing. "What house, what laboratory?"

A house! Instead of that turtle! No, we'll take the turtle too. We'll put it up so everyone can see the power of the Ximing House. But we'll throw away the sign, of course. You don't need to cook for yourself anymore. We have enough skillful cooks as it is!

The last doubts that had been weighing on Xing's heart finally vanished. He looked at Xifeng and smiled wide, carefree smile you get when the problem is bothering you suddenly disappeared.

"Let's go," he said. "Your brothers are waiting."

The qi stains that had gathered in front of the turtle still hadn't gone anywhere, only slightly dispersed. No reinforcements had arrived, no city garrison had rushed over, and not even the guards summoned to punish the criminal who had abused the heiress of a great house. Xingxing walked out hand in hand with Xifeng and looked back at his former opponents. They were no longer lying in a big heap on the grass but had pulled out chairs from under the awning and were seated at tables, differing from the usual diners only by their tattered clothes and bruised faces. At the sight of Xing and Ximing, Chen and Guoji jumped to their feet. They looked at Xifeng questioningly, and she replied with a slow affirmative nod.

Or else they haven't heard themselves what we've been doing here half the day! Xing snorted to himself.

"You're strong!" Chen grinned happily, walking over and clapping Xing on his shoulder. "I didn't expect it!"

"My Xing is the strongest!" Xifeng exclaimed smugly. "He has so much strength that the House of Ximing will be able to rise even higher and take over all of Mogao!"

"Yeah," Guoji smiled with a broken lip. "At first, I thought the talk about the turtle and the chef was exaggerated, but now I've experienced it firsthand!"

"Hey, don't you mind that I beat you up a little bit?" Xing was surprised.

"What grudges can there be between relatives?"

"Between relatives, none!" Xing smirked. "You have a great sister! Flexible like a dragon, fierce like a tiger! I'll visit her again if I'm ever in your neighborhood!"

"Again?" All three of them exclaimed.

"Again!" Xing confirmed. "But for now, I must go! A true sailor's home is the ocean! And I've always dreamed of being a sailor! Watch out!"

He walked up to the turtle shell, accelerating the energy in his dantian. His hands glowed with a soft white light. The radiance flowed from his palms and enveloped the entire shell. Xing quacked from the effort, crouched down, and lifted his entire house, flipping it over and throwing it off the cliff into the water.

He cast a quick glance at the members of the Ximing House - they stood there, eyes bulging, unable to believe what they were seeing.

Xing took a couple of quick steps towards Xifeng and slapped her firm ass in a completely unaristocratic and commoner manner.

"You were great," he said cheerfully, "your future husband will be very lucky! Well, I gotta go! We'll meet again someday, and we'll do it again!"

"I'll swim with you!" Xifeng came to her senses. "Together! Into the sunset!"

"You'll go home!" Xing laughed. "I'm going alone."

He easily pushed off the ground, soared into the air, and flew off the cliff straight into the ocean, where, landing on the sea surface, he ran to catch up with the shell caught up by the current. He had no time to prepare, he had no mast or sail, and a large and influential Noble House was on his tail. All the money was left in the bank account, and it would be very dangerous to go back for it.

But his qi stayed with him, and that was enough.

* * *

Chapter 20, in which the hero learns the value of all the sailors' tales.