Chapter Eighty-Nine: Tales of the Martial World and Young Heroes

He immediately swept away his displeased expression and broke into a bright, ingratiating smile. Laughing, he said, “Young master, I really wouldn’t know how to answer that. The whereabouts of those hidden clans are their most closely guarded secret. How could an outsider like me possibly know? Even the Wenren family and the Yi family, though they have long since stepped into the light, have very few people who know which sacred mountain their clan calls home.”

After a pause, he took a sip of tea and went on, “Besides, those mountains are all protected by seals. What looks like a tiny pebble on the surface may in fact be a small pool, who knows? Even if we knew the exact location, we still couldn’t get up there, could we?”

After hearing the man’s words, Luo Changning felt the good mood in his chest vanish at once, leaving him with a dull, suffocating discomfort.

Did that mean he could not even find out where the young boy lived? Was he doomed to meet him only if fate allowed it?

Unable to clearly name the feeling in his heart, Luo Changning thanked the man, paid for the tea, and left the teahouse.

As he walked, he shook his head at himself with a wry smile, thinking bitterly, Luo Changning, Luo Changning, have you truly gone mad? Why do you spend all day thinking of a young boy? Have you forgotten you still have a blood debt to avenge?

You are only a martial artist of the acquired realm right now. Instead of thinking about how to break through and advance, what are you doing, wasting your days on these meaningless thoughts...

Could it be that I truly have such a bent? At the thought, his steps nearly stumbled.

No, no, impossible. It could never be!

And yet, Luo Changning did not know that the dilemma tormenting him now, that he knew Yun Ruoyi’s identity but still could not discover where she lived, would soon be resolved.

When he passed a bookstore, something in Luo Changning’s expression stirred. He went in and bought the latest issue of Martial World Anecdotes, and sure enough, under the column for young heroes, he found the names Wenren Huan and Yi Xiaoyao.

Martial World Anecdotes was something like the gossip papers of the continent of Earth Dragon, except that what it recorded were not scandals, feuds, and romances among celebrities and noble houses, but the latest developments in the martial world.

It covered things like which expert had successfully broken through to the Heaven-Connecting Realm and become a powerful Heaven-Connecting Mirror master, which Heaven-Connecting Mirror master had fallen, which sect had wiped out another and risen to prominence, and so on.

Of course, it also recorded gossip and shameful scandals involving famous figures of the martial world, as well as the outcomes of life-and-death duels.

And the column for young heroes recorded the latest rising prodigies.

Among them, the ten most promising young talents would remain listed in the young heroes column until they were surpassed by others, died young, or turned eighteen.

Martial World Anecdotes described Wenren Huan like this: the most gifted and promising young clan head of the Qianwu first-rate Wenren family. At only twelve years old, he had already reached the minor achievement stage of the innate realm, and the moment he entered the martial world, he ranked among the top five hundred on the Earth-Comprehension List.

A gentleman as pure and luminous as jade, unparalleled under heaven, with a vermilion mole at the center of his brow that could steal the soul.

Equally skilled in literature and martial arts, he wielded a jade flute and fought with it as though it were a sword. He never let the flute be stained with blood; after killing, he would always play an unnamed tune upon it.

As for Yi Xiaoyao, it described him this way: the undisputed heir of the Qianwu first-rate Yi family, who at the age of thirteen left the Yi family alone and began roaming the martial world.

He took pleasure in vengeance and repaid kindness, sang with wine at his side, and neither rouge nor powder could keep him tied down. He wanted to travel freely across the whole martial world.

His strength was not the greatest, but he had the most friends—true friends, the kind who would draw blades for one another, even if they did not see each other once in an entire year. He carried a “Carefree Fan,” soft in appearance yet brimming with killing intent.

Jade flute sword, carefree fan!

These two portraits filled Luo Changning with excitement, passion, and longing for the martial world.

One day, he too would become a young hero worthy of being written into Martial World Anecdotes!

He only wondered how they would describe Wudao then. Ordinary and unremarkable, or unfathomable, low-key yet luxurious?

And it was only later, when Luo Changning was fortunate enough to become acquainted with those two young heroes, that he came to understand the bitterness and resolve hidden behind their glory.

Wenren Huan never drank tea. He only drank wine, especially apricot-blossom warmed wine.

He had no friends, because he was proud and aloof.

His mother was a woman his father had rescued from outside a brothel. She held no formal status, and after he was born, she named him Huan, wishing him happiness all his life.

Yet once the family discovered how exceptional his talent was, they brought him into the most ruthless and bloodthirsty training hall in the clan. Separated from his mother from childhood, he underwent endless training day and night.

Wenren Huan was just as his name suggested: he could only stand alone at the heights, listening to other people’s laughter and joy. And with pride he built a walled fortress around himself, imprisoning himself within it, healing alone, languishing alone.

Only Wenren Huan, in his loneliness.

After finishing the young heroes column, Luo Changning tucked Martial World Anecdotes into his robes.

Ordinarily, what he liked to read most were stories of powerful new weapons and marvelous elixirs appearing in the martial world. It was only because he had happened to hear others discussing the three names Wenren Huan, Yi Xiaoyao, and Yun Ruoyi together today that he had become interested in learning more about the first two.

And once again he thought of those pair of clean, righteous eyes, impossible to shake off, following him like a shadow.

At the same time, he mused inwardly: I wonder whether Brother Ma counts as a young hero too? He probably does. After all, he is only fourteen and already a martial artist of the minor achievement stage of the innate realm, only a year younger than Wenren Huan and Yi Xiaoyao.

If that is the case, then Brother Ma is even more impressive. After all, he has no support from a family, no help from anyone, and has always lived atop Mount No-Regret. He has never had the chance to take any precious pills or rare medicines.

To reach such heights entirely by his own strength is no small feat.

Ah, I really am still too weak. I am nowhere near those young prodigies, let alone the gap between me and that vile thief, Dugu Bancheng!

At that thought, Luo Changning’s mood sank again. What on earth could make him stronger, faster?

Just when he had finally squeezed Yun Ruoyi out of his mind and decided to make up for his clumsiness through hard work and devote himself to martial training, he would soon discover in dismay that heaven loved to play tricks on people.

When you yearned for something, you could go on waiting and never receive it. Yet the moment you decided to let it go, it would come knocking of its own accord!

When time had passed and all had settled into dust, Luo Changning could only feel that fate was cruelly fickle. Sometimes, once you missed someone, there would never be another chance.

Perhaps because Luo Changning had delayed too long on the road, that Miss Luo Qingshi finally grew impatient. Or perhaps she at last gained some sense and saw his rejection and dislike for her, deciding on her own to stop bothering him.

In any case, Luo Changning was delighted to discover that Luo Qingshi had not intercepted him at the Su Family Manor. At last, he could enjoy a little peace!

However, Luo Changning would soon learn, to his bitter dismay, that he had indeed been pleased far too soon.