Chapter 16: Wind and Snow at Jintai Temple

The nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.

After days of gloom, at the beginning of the sishi hour, scattered snowflakes began to fall.

Prince Lanyangs Estate, in mourning, showed no festive atmosphere of the approaching New Year. Or rather, even if there was joy in their hearts, it had to be secretly hidden to avoid violating the rites.

Outside the estate gate, however, it was a scene of bustling activity.

Several thick-walled carriages were parked at the foot of the stone steps, and maids and Nannies were busy placing fox furs, soft pillows, and warm stoves into the carriages one by one.

Today was the twenty-eighth day since the Prince of Lanyang’s death. Princess Consort of Lanyang and Madam Wu had to personally go to Jintai Temple at the foot of Dingding Mountain to offer sacrifices, but they happened to encounter this bad weather.

The Princess Consort’s travel had its regulations; by rights, she should have used the ‘An Che’ carriage, pulled by four horses abreast.

However, Madam Wu, the actual person in charge of the estate, did not wish to be ostentatious and also pitied the servants, not wanting them to suffer from the cold, so she only brought one Nanny.

Since the elder was so, Lin Hansu also only brought Granny Xu and Granny Zhang.

Lightly equipped and with few attendants.

The Prince Lanyangs Estate faced the bustling Fuzheng Street. When Madam Wu and Lin Hansu left the estate, curious onlookers couldn’t help but gaze from a distance.

Lin Hansu, dressed in plain white, supported Madam Wu, repeatedly cautioning her in a gentle voice as they descended the steps, “Mother, be careful, Mother, pay attention, don’t slip.”

Madam Wu also had a benevolent expression, occasionally patting Lin Hansu’s hand affectionately.

So much so that distant observers were quite puzzled: hadn’t this mother-in-law and daughter-in-law been fighting to the death last month?

But just looking at the scene now, anyone would praise them as a kind mother and filial daughter.

At the sishi hour, a convoy of three carriages slowly headed north out of Lanyang City amidst the falling snow.

Due to the slippery roads from the snow, it took a full two hours to reach their destination.

Jintai Temple was originally one of the most renowned temples in Lanyang Prefecture.

Since the rise of the Rites Sect, the people of Great Wu all turned to worship the Three Holy Ancestors of the Rites Sect, and Buddhist pilgrims became increasingly sparse, leading to the decline of incense offerings.

In stark contrast to the dilapidated Jintai Temple, the Tiandao Palace of the State Religion in the south of Lanyang City was undergoing a new round of expansion and renovation. Not only had its area more than doubled, but it also occupied the most scenic section on the north bank of the Zhebei River.

Palaces stretched endlessly, and believers flocked like tides, with thousands of people bringing their own dry rations daily to volunteer their labor.

In contrast, Jintai Temple now only had one abbot leading three young novice monks struggling to maintain it.

This small number of people couldn’t manage the five-courtyard grand halls at all. The latter three courtyards gradually fell into disrepair, with only the front hall dedicated to Buddha, and the second courtyard barely serving as monk dormitories and a place to receive and lodge pilgrims.

If not for Old Side Consort Madam Wu’s devout worship of Buddha and frequent assistance, these four monks would likely have already starved.

Today, with the female family members of the Prince’s Estate personally visiting, the monks quickly cleaned their living quarters and offered them to Madam Wu and the other women.

In the adjacent courtyard, another guest room for pilgrims was already occupied by three traveling merchants whose journey was blocked by the snowy weather.

The guest-reception monk originally intended to ask the three to Make Do for a night in the front hall to make room for the Prince’s Estate guards, but Ding Suian generously said, “Traveling is not easy, and meeting is fate. This guest room’s communal bed can sleep more than ten people, and there are only five of us. Let’s Make Do for a night together.”

The leader of the merchants, a man with thin lips and a garlic nose, repeatedly cupped his hands in thanks.

After arranging accommodation, Ding Suian surveyed the surroundings, set up covert sentries, familiarized himself with the terrain, and prepared escape routes in case of emergency—these were all part of his duties as a guard.

Meanwhile, Madam Wu and Lin Hansu, accompanied by a Nanny, went to pay respects to Du Jue.

Madam Wu again cried bitterly, and the monks, seeing this, praised the deep mother-son affection between the Old Side Consort and the Prince of Lanyang.

Lin Hansu, however, did not shed a single tear. Granny Xu, beside her, was anxious but helpless, knowing that the Princess Consort was becoming less and less willing to pretend.

After all this, and eating some vegetarian food, it was already completely dark.

The snowflakes that had drifted in the morning and noon had now turned into goose-feather-like white flakes dancing across the sky.

The female family members retired early.

But for Ding Suian, lodging outside was not like being in the estate; he needed to stay awake all night.

Hu Jiangjiu, simple-minded, sat on the communal bed, constantly dozing off while holding a long-handled saber.

Chest Hair sat on a leather-covered ebony shield, meticulously searching for lice among his dense leg hair.

Wang Xigui, however, was wary of the three merchants in the same room. While warming himself by the brazier, he continuously probed them for information.

But the merchant leader with the garlic nose answered flawlessly, yielding no useful information.

Wang Xigui grew even more suspicious of them.

By midnight, Jintai Temple was completely silent, with only the rustling sound of snowflakes falling.

Everyone was drowsy, but the three merchants sat around the fire, silent yet full of vigor.

Wang Xigui could no longer hold back. He gave Ding Suian a look, and the two walked out together.

As soon as they stepped out, the cold wind, laden with snowflakes, chilled them to the bone.

“Boss! I feel like these three merchants are not right!”

“It’s nothing.”

Ding Suian looked around the dilapidated temple, not taking Wang Xigui’s words to heart.

“Boss.”

Wang Xigui was about to persuade him further when he suddenly heard two not-so-loud but extremely penetrating ‘chiu-chiu’ sounds from the woods on the east side of the courtyard.

If others heard it, they might think it was a blackbird crying at night.

Wang Xigui’s expression changed, and he turned his head to look.

“There really are guests tonight,” Ding Suian muttered to himself, pulling a finger-length bamboo whistle from his waist and putting it in his mouth. “Chiu-chiu~chiu~chiu-chiu-chiu~”

“Chiu-chiu, chiu~”

There was a short response from the woods immediately.

Ding Suian’s expression became serious. “Shortened name says there are about twenty guests. Old Wang, go inside and tell the brothers to be alert.”

A quarter past midnight, wind and snow filled the sky.

From a high-angle view, the earth was a vast expanse.

Within a radius of two or three li, only Jintai Temple stood out abruptly.

The perpetually lit candles in the grand hall were the only source of light nearby, faint and flickering, as if they could be extinguished at any moment by the heavy snow filling the heavens and earth.

A hundred paces away, twenty riders in various outfits had dismounted early, walking with their sabers drawn, as if worried that the sound of hooves would alert those inside the temple.

Still forty or fifty paces from Jintai Temple, a man dressed in a long robe, disguised as a Scholar in Long Robes, waved his hand, gathering everyone around him, and gave his final instruction: “Later, don’t lust after women. Kill everyone quickly, leave no one alive. After returning to the mountain, there will be silver rewards for you lads!”

The group responded in low voices and moved towards the temple gate.

One of them quickly scaled the low courtyard wall, quietly pulled open the bolt, and when opening the door, deliberately lifted the door panel slightly by its lower edge.

This way, the grating ‘creak’ that the dry door hinge should have made disappeared.

It was clear they were seasoned bandits, accustomed to looting homes.

The group filed in.

The four monks who happened to be sleeping in the front hall that night thus unknowingly passed on to the Pure Land in their sleep.

The bandits did not linger, moving swiftly yet quietly into the back courtyard under the leadership of the Scholar in Long Robes.

‘Sizzle~’

Just as he reached the corner gate leading from the front courtyard to the back, the Scholar in Long Robes suddenly heard a sound similar to leaking air.

Noticing the anomaly, he quickly stopped.

However, the ruffian who had first stepped into the back courtyard did not stop, taking another three or four steps due to inertia, then suddenly fell straight to the ground.

Only then did the head, reluctantly, separate from the neck, rolling far away.

‘Sizzle~ sizzle~ sizzle~’

From the smoothly severed neck, blood spurted out more than a zhang in a radial pattern, instantly painting a crimson picture on the pristine white snow.

In a flash of lightning, the Scholar in Long Robes hadn’t seen who attacked, nor heard any sound of weapons cutting through the air, and was greatly alarmed.

“Someone’s behind the door!”

Among the bandits, a black-clothed man with a pockmarked face, hearing the warning, swung his long-handled nine-ringed saber horizontally, holding it with both hands to deliver a ‘thrust’ from spear techniques, stabbing directly into the wall.

‘Boom~’

‘Clatter~’

The foot-thick blue bricks shattered like rotten wood, and the wall exploded in response.

Ding Suian leaped back a step, dodging the flying bricks and stones, but also cleared the narrow corner gate, which was only wide enough for two people to pass side-by-side.

Seeing this, the Scholar in Long Robes knew his sneak attack plan was exposed, and immediately shouted, “Brothers, we’ve been found! There are only five of them, let’s go together!”

‘Leaking water’ was slang for ‘being discovered’.

The bandits all let out excited, inhuman shrieks and swarmed in.

The sneak attack turned into a frontal assault.

Inside the room, Hu Jiangjiu, usually slow to react, saw Ding Suian being surrounded by bandits, kicked open the door, and, holding his long-handled horse-slaying saber, was about to rush out, “Villains, do not harm my elder brother!”

Just as he took a step, Wang Xigui pulled him back by the collar of his clothes, “Follow the boss’s pre-arranged plan! Chest Hair, form a battle array!”

Chest Hair, who had been eager to try for a while, held a shield in his left hand and a single saber in his right, shifting his steps forward to the very front.

Wang Xigui drew the standard short crossbow, one of which was equipped for every squad of the Dragon Guard Army, from his waist. Before going out, he didn’t forget to coldly scan the three merchants in the room, threatening, “We are Soldiers of the Dragon Guard Army. You stay here honestly. If you dare to fish in troubled waters, this Military Officer will not spare you!”

“Hehe~” The garlic-nosed man sneered, “Go save your Squad Leader.”

This was not the time for verbal sparring. Wang Xigui said no more, a simple “Go,” and the three rushed out together.

Chest Hair held the shield in front, Hu Jiangjiu with his long-handled horse-slaying saber was to the left and slightly behind, and Wang Xigui, with a single saber in one hand and a short crossbow in the other, was to the right and slightly behind Chest Hair.

The group cut in from behind the bandits in a triangular arrowhead formation.

Ding Suian was in the center of the battle, and the various weapons slashing at him seemed impenetrable, yet he always managed to dodge them precariously.

Seizing an opportunity, Ding Suian bent his knees, lowered his shoulders, swept low at their lower limbs, followed by an upward slash.

“Ah~ ah!”

Two consecutive agonizing screams. One bandit’s legs were severed at the knee, and another’s right hand, holding a saber, flew high into the air.

Seeing his success, Ding Suian did not hesitate, pushing his saber forward, stepping with his left foot, then his right, and delivering another horizontal slash.

‘Clang~’

With a crisp sound, the bandit’s blocking weapon snapped on contact with the Kunwu saber. The Kunwu saber’s momentum did not stop, carving a two-foot-long wound from the bandit’s left shoulder to his right abdomen. His internal organs spilled out onto the ground.

It was clear he wouldn’t live.

The Kunwu saber is truly effective.

The three merchants had also moved outside the door at some point. The thin-lipped, garlic-nosed man nodded repeatedly, commenting with interest, “Not bad, not bad. Breaking through an encirclement with the Tiger Stance, and the frontal slashing transforming defense into offense—the Xia family’s Eight Stances are practiced by every Great Wu Soldier, but not many young people can wield such power.”

In the blink of an eye, two bandits were wounded, and two were dead.

With Chest Hair and his two companions cutting in from the rear in formation, the bandits immediately showed signs of panic.

The Scholar in Long Robes, who had already taken a stand in the courtyard, saw this and shouted again, “Silly Donkey! He must be that young fellow who just entered the Manifesting Elemental State. You go!”

The pockmarked-faced man immediately stopped his advance towards Wang Xigui and the others, turning to attack Ding Suian.

Upon getting close, he stomped and leaped over four feet high, raising his saber with both hands to cleave down.

The nine-ringed saber was still in mid-air, but its tip already flashed with a white light.

Sensing that something was wrong, Ding Suian forced back the bandits with a horizontal sweep, stomped his foot, locked his waist, and raised his saber to block.

His Protective Aura rapidly surged into the Kunwu.

‘Clang~’

The two blades clashed, metal ringing, and the Protective Aura attached to the weapons burst forth like fireworks, scattering in all directions, instantly illuminating the dark night like broad daylight.

The blue bricks beneath their feet cracked like a spiderweb.

Damn it, there’s a Manifesting Elemental State expert among the bandits too!

Blocking a saber strike, Ding Suian advanced instead of retreating. Taking advantage of the pockmarked-faced man having just landed, his feet not yet rooted, he turned his body and lowered his shoulder, crashing into the pockmarked-faced man’s embrace.

The latter stumbled back three or four steps before regaining his footing.

“Shortened name, act!”

Ding Suian suddenly shouted into the vast, snowy night.

As his voice fell, a black arrow, hidden by the night, silently shot towards the back of the Scholar in Long Robes’ head.