Unorthodox Wuxia: While Others Practice Martial Arts, I Cultivate Immortality - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Nothing Left to Live For

When the news broke, the first reaction of her companions was to assume it was Yuan Zhao’s doing. After all, her family had a grudge against the Wus, and she certainly had the ability.

Instinctively, someone cast a quick glance toward the kitchen.

That was when Ah Qing appeared out of nowhere beside their table.

“What are you staring at?”

Her sudden, ghostlike arrival startled them both.

“Ahaha~~ Miss Ah Qing, it’s just you. How come you walk without making a sound?”

The one who had just sneaked a glance toward the kitchen gave a nervous laugh.

Ah Qing fixed him with an unblinking stare and said in an eerie tone,“Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

He opened his mouth to say something more, but Ah Qing cut him off, “That matter has nothing to do with my sister! Who do the Wus think they are? If my sister wanted to wipe them out, would she need to sneak around?”

He ventured carefully, “So it really wasn’t Miss Yuan?”

“When I say it wasn’t, it wasn’t!” Ah Qing shot him a glare.

Since she didn’t shy away from the subject, the nearby tables all picked up the thread, discussing openly who might have destroyed the Wu family.

Back in the kitchen, Ah Qing leaned in with a conspiratorial air, “Sis, did you hear? The Wu family’s been wiped out.”

Yuan Zhao blinked, not following at first. “The Wus? Which Wus? The ones who caused us trouble before?”

“Mm-hmm, those ones.” Ah Qing nodded rapidly.

“Then good riddance. They weren’t any good anyway.” Yuan Zhao went on with her work, completely unfazed.

“But sis, aren’t you curious who did it?” Ah Qing’s face brimmed with curiosity.

Yuan Zhao paused a moment, then replied, “Probably people from Baiyu City.”

“Eh? Why?” Ah Qing looked baffled.

Why else? To silence them.

It seemed the Wus had had a hand in the attempt on her life. But since they were already annihilated, she decided to treat it as if nothing had ever happened.

“Alright, stop worrying about other people’s business. Go look after the guests.” She shooed Ah Qing back out of the kitchen.

The day passed in a blur, and at last, Yuan Zhao and Ah Qing finished their work.

Seeing off the final customer, Ah Qing stretched her arms wide with a groan. “Sis, I’m exhausted—but I’m so happy!”

Yuan Zhao smiled. “Why so happy?”

Ah Qing grinned, showing a neat row of white teeth. “Our house has never had so many guests before.”

Yuan Zhao fell into thought. “There really were more customers than I expected. Seems like a lot of the neighbors came by.”

Ah Qing nodded. “Uncle Zhou and Aunt Zhou came with Little Bell and Brother Qingsong. The two uncles from the Luo family came too.”

Still, their eyes toward Ah Qing weren’t entirely natural. So after serving them, she hadn’t tried to chat much, especially since she was too busy at the time.

“Never mind. The more guests, the better!” Yuan Zhao shrugged off the deeper reasons.

In truth, the neighbors were showing support because of Yuan Zhao’s ruckus in Baiyu City.

As mentioned before, thanks to that incident, soldiers of both Great Xiao and Great Liang had become much more restrained in the area. No more random killing or plundering.

The common folk felt the change most keenly, their lives had become much easier. Poor they might be, but they weren’t ungrateful. So they came out in force that day to show support.

They couldn’t afford beef noodles or Jinghong Jade noodles, but a bowl of plain noodles was within reach. And besides, it wasn’t like they’d eat it every day.

“Wuu~ wuu~”

At that moment, Xiao Kong Kong, tied up at the door, let out pitiful sobbing sounds.

Yuan Zhao and Ah Qing turned to look.

“Wuu, wuu…” His eyes pleaded desperately, with none of last night’s arrogance left.

“Realized your mistake now?” Yuan Zhao asked.

“Wuu, wuu!” He nodded vigorously.

“Still daring to act tough with me?”

“Wuu, wuu!” He shook his head frantically.

“That’s more like it.” Yuan Zhao smiled in satisfaction. With a glance at Ah Qing, she sent her to untie him.

The rope came off, and he collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, grimacing in pain.

Yuan Zhao stepped forward and tapped a few points lightly on his body. The sealed acupoints released instantly.

After being immobilized for a whole day and night, Xiao Kong Kong felt like his body wasn’t even his own, everything hurt.

But before he could rejoice in his regained freedom, Yuan Zhao flipped him over and jabbed several points again, this time forcefully.

His face changed dramatically. He couldn’t feel his true qi at all.

“You… what did you do to me?” he demanded through clenched teeth.

Yuan Zhao smiled. “Oh, nothing much. Just sealed your dantian and locked away your qi.”

Struggling to his feet, Xiao Kong Kong ground his teeth. “You’ve humiliated me for a whole day. What more do you want?”

Yuan Zhao said seriously, “You’re my captive now. That makes you mine. I can treat you however I like. Shouldn’t you be grateful I didn’t kill you?”

“You…”

“Don’t bother trying to break the seal, or getting someone else to help. This is my own unique acupoint-locking method. If you try to force it, your dantian will explode. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and test it.”

She wasn’t lying.

Xiao Kong Kong paled, suddenly cowed. “Alright, alright, Ancestor, what will it take for you to let me go?”

Yuan Zhao raised one finger. “Just one tiny condition.”

“Name it!”

“Teach me and my sister your unique lightness skill.” Yuan Zhao narrowed her eyes.

She had already realized her own weakness—everyone else could use qinggong, but not her. That would put her at a disadvantage sooner or later.

And here was Xiao Kong Kong, like a pillow delivered right when she wanted a nap.

On hearing her demand, he nearly leapt up.

“Impossible! Never!”

That lightness skill was his sect’s prized art, passed down to a single heir each generation. How could he pass it to outsiders?

“Oh? Impossible?” A dangerous gleam lit Yuan Zhao’s eyes. “Then I’ll have to use other means.”

“I hear you’ve made plenty of enemies in the martial world. If I spread the word that I’ve got you here, then hang you back up at the door and charge people to whip you—say, one lash per coin—don’t you think business would boom?”

Ah Qing chimed in: “Sis, that’s a great idea! Might even make more money than the noodle shop!”

Xiao Kong Kong flushed red with rage. “You… you two… shameless!”

How could anyone be this evil?

In his eyes, the sisters were nothing less than demons from hell.

Yuan Zhao said with relish, “Of course, you could try escaping. But with your qi sealed, if someone recognizes you on the run… whether you survive, well, that’s another story.”

She turned to Ah Qing. “Ah Qing, this Miracle Handed, he’s pretty famous in the martial world, isn’t he?”

Ah Qing nodded. “Super famous! Tons of people know him.”

Yuan Zhao: “So many people, if each one took a swing…”

Ah Qing: “He’d be chopped into mince in no time.”

Yuan Zhao: “Tsk, tsk. Mince meat. How terrifying.”

Ah Qing: “Yeah, really scary. If you saw it, you wouldn’t sleep at night.”

The sisters’ back-and-forth left Xiao Kong Kong’s face a stormy gray.

“Fine! Fine, I’ll do it!” He snapped.

For now, better to appease these two female devils.

“That’s better.” Yuan Zhao’s smile returned. “Tonight, you’ll write down the method of circulating the skill. Tomorrow morning, I expect to see it.”

The execution of martial techniques required the coordination of true qi circulation methods, just knowing the moves alone was useless.

“Don’t even think about playing tricks with the circulation method. If I catch you, just wait for your dantian to explode!” Yuan Zhao said in the sweetest tone, while speaking the most ruthless words.

Hearing this, Xiao Kong Kong’s heart skipped a beat.

Could this woman… read minds?

Yuan Zhao stood up and walked toward the courtyard, tossing back.

“Follow me!”

Ah Qing hurried after her sister, but not before turning around to stick her tongue out at Xiao Kong Kong.

Flushing red with embarrassment, Xiao Kong Kong scrambled up from the ground and trailed after the sisters. Because he wasn’t wearing clothes, he could only cross his arms over his chest, looking completely at a loss.

Once inside, Yuan Zhao said to her sister, “Ah Qing, give him his clothes back already—my eyes are burning!”

Xiao Kong Kong: ‘…’

You get a free show, and you’re still disgusted?

“Okay!” Ah Qing chirped, dashing off. As she ran, she kept muttering, “Burns my eyes, burns my eyes!”

When she was gone, Yuan Zhao turned to him and said: “During the time you’re teaching us qinggong, you’ll work here as a waiter.”

“What?” Xiao Kong Kong looked utterly shocked. “Me? A waiter? Do I look like a waiter to you?”

Yuan Zhao raised a brow, utterly composed. “You don’t have to. In that case, you can sleep on the streets.”

“You—!” He could only sigh in defeat. “Fine, fine! A waiter it is!”

Under someone’s roof, you bow your head.

Soon, Ah Qing returned with his clothes, and Xiao Kong Kong hastily put them on. The moment he patted himself down, he cried out in alarm, “My money! Where’s my money?!”

He had been carrying over a hundred taels!

“It’s been confiscated,” Yuan Zhao replied flatly.

Xiao Kong Kong stiffened his neck and protested,“On what grounds do you take my money?”

Yuan Zhao snorted. “You broke into my home in the middle of the night, frightening me and my sister half to death. Isn’t mental trauma something that needs compensation?”

“Exactly, exactly!” Ah Qing nodded seriously. “I was so scared last night, I couldn’t sleep at all!”

“You two got scared? I was the one who was terrified!” Xiao Kong Kong shouted.

Yuan Zhao shook her head. “Look at you, shouting at the top of your lungs. Full of energy, hardly looks like someone traumatized.”

Xiao Kong Kong was on the verge of tears.

What is this situation? Paid labor? Who’s even heard of such a thing?!

And so, Xiao Kong Kong ended up staying at Yuan Zhao’s house.

His lodging: the woodshed.

That night, Yuan Zhao invited him to dinner.

If you want the donkey to work, you have to feed it; back someone into a corner too much, and it only spells trouble.

Having gone a full day and night without food, Xiao Kong Kong was already starving. The moment the dishes were served, he began devouring everything like a ravenous ghost.

Dinner was beef buns, made from leftover dough and beef from the shop. The filling was nothing special—after all, Yuan Zhao had never trained as a chef—but the skin was soft and fluffy, making them taste pretty good.

To someone starving, the flavor was downright heavenly.

‘This woman’s cooking isn’t bad at all. No wonder she can run a noodle shop’, Xiao Kong Kong thought to himself.

Old Wolf was gnawing on a big meat bun nearby. Watching Xiao Kong Kong eat like a starved beast, he couldn’t help but sneer inwardly: ‘Pathetic human who’s never seen the world.’

After dinner, everyone went back to their own rooms.

Naturally, Xiao Kong Kong returned to the woodshed.

He didn’t even have a bed, only a pile of horse fodder to sleep on.

Still, Yuan Zhao wasn’t entirely inhumane; the nights in Tianmen Town were bitterly cold, so she at least gave him an old quilt. She and her sister had gotten new ones, so the old one suited him fine.

The moment he entered the shed, Xiao Kong Kong sat cross-legged on the hay, shut his eyes, and began circulating his qi in an attempt to break the sealed acupoints.

He refused to believe her words, that her sealing technique was so miraculous.

It was true that advanced acupoint-sealing arts existed, like the legendary Sunflower Acupoint Hand, which shook the martial world.

But that was a secret art, it wasn’t something just anyone could master!

As his cultivation began to circulate, Xiao Kong Kong’s expression twisted in agony, as though enduring unbearable torment.

Pffft—!

A mouthful of blood burst from his lips, splattering across his chest. His body shuddered, then collapsed limply into the hay.

At last, he realized—she hadn’t been lying.

From the moment he began circulating qi, stabbing pain shot through his meridians.

And when it reached his dantian, he felt as though it would burst apart the very next instant.

If he hadn’t stopped in time, he might already be crippled. But even so, his heart meridian had suffered severe damage.

Wracked with pain, Xiao Kong Kong lay sprawled in the hay, utterly hopeless.

‘It’s over. Completely over. Am I doomed to spend my life under that demoness’s control?’

Meanwhile, Yuan Zhao and Ah Qing weren’t bothered with his misery in the slightest. After returning to their room, they didn’t practice as usual, but instead sat cross-legged on the bed, counting copper coins.

Between them sat a wooden chest, stuffed to the brim with coppers.

Ah Qing: “One, two, three…”

Yuan Zhao: “Five, six, seven…”

Each grabbed handfuls from the chest, carefully counting.

Soon, the tally was done.

Ah Qing asked eagerly: “Sis, how much do you have?”

“1554 coins,” Yuan Zhao answered.

“I have 576,” Ah Qing reported.

Yuan Zhao smiled. “Then let’s have Ah Qing calculate the total.”

Eyes sparkling, Ah Qing began counting on her fingers.

After a long moment, she squealed with excitement: “It’s 2130 coins!”

“Correct,” Yuan Zhao said happily. “Looks like the math lessons weren’t in vain.”

“Hehe~ it’s all thanks to you teaching me well,” Ah Qing said shyly.

Then she gazed at the chest of coins. “Sis, that’s so much money! We earned all this in a single day, it’s two whole taels!”

Yuan Zhao shook her head. “That’s only the gross profit. We haven’t deducted the costs yet.”

“True~ but it’s still a lot!”

“Little money-grubber.”

“Hehe~ only by making big money can we live a good life!”