Chapter 2 His Past and the Demons in the World

The man in the green gown walked up the stairs with the young lady and coincidentally they stumbled upon Li Fuyao who had just finished his first story. He was having some wine to quench his thirst when he saw the two strangers—the green-gowned man and the young lady—sitting at a table by the window and for this, he was surprised.

Baiyu Town was such a small place and Li Fuyao had recognised almost every face in this town since a few years ago. Plus, the customers that came to the restaurants were always the usual people and even if there were newcomers once in a while, those were also the town locals. However, he had never seen those two people right in front of him.

The man in the green gown sat by the window and looked to the center of the grand hall. His eyes met with Li Fuyao’s. As they stared at each other, the man in green greeted him with a nod and a smile. Li Fuyao returned the courtesy and nodded back. After that, he did not linger around and continued with his next story.

Li Fuyao had been storytelling in the restaurant for many years and he had told numerous stories. The other storytellers would already have to repeat their old stories by now but in Li Fuyao’s case, the stories he told were different every day and naturally people loved to listen to him.

After drinking some wine, he began with another new story. This story was about those human cultivators but it didn’t involve any fighting or killing; it was a plot involving lots of romances. When he finished the story, the customers in the restaurant were feeling sad and some of the teenage girls had pink teary eyes. Even the young lady who was just climbing up the stairs was getting emotional.

Having told multiple stories without a break, Li Fuyao did not utter a single word anymore and just stood up. It meant that the session had ended for the day, and he took off his oversized green gown and passed it to the servant who was by his side all the while. He turned around and was going to look for the restaurant owner to take his silver taels, but before he could step away, the green-gowned man suddenly shouted at him to stop.

“Hold your horses, young man.”

Li Fuyao was slightly confused but still he maintained his composure and did not leave hurriedly. After that, he went to the table and sat down. The man in the green gown said laughingly, “Young man, the few stories you told just now were quite meaningful and they were different from those marketplace storytellers’ clichéd tales. Your stories were not boring at all. There were quite a few stories which I have not even heard before.”

Li Fuyao was calm as he replied, “I am just working for a living. Please don’t take those stories for real.”

Perhaps the man in the green gown was taken aback by the teenager’s composed manner and he was silent for a brief moment, not knowing what to say. Instead, Li Fuyao quickly asked him, “Mister, you don’t look like you’re from around here, why are you here in Baiyu Town?”

The man calmly asked him in return, “Are you from the District Government Office?”

The sentence was vague but both of them knew the meaning behind those words. The man in the green gown was actually hinting at Li Fuyao, questioning his right to ask about his purpose of visiting this town when Li Fuyao himself was not from the District Government Office.

Li Fuyao was quiet for some time and he just hung his head, staring at the permanent stains that had accumulated on the wooden table after all these years, the stains that couldn't be removed no matter how it was cleaned. He had been staying in this small town for more than ten years but he had never met such an interesting person before.

The young lady did not look at Li Fuyao; she was just observing the view outside of the window.

The man did not plan on probing further about the matter and he swiftly asked, “You are a local, so you should know if there was something unusual happening in Baiyu Town, right?”

Li Fuyao suddenly chuckled and lifted his head to look at the man.

There was a hint of ridicule in his eyes.

The man immediately realized why. He had asked him a rhetorical question just now and this teenager was obviously reminding him how he did not have any rights to ask about the matters of Baiyu Town.

The man was suddenly so amazed because it had been some time since he had met such a fascinating teenager.

A teenager who could give him a tit-for-tat was rare in the Confucian Temple. What sparked his interest more was that he had managed to meet such a teenager in this poor, secluded town.

The man fell into silence for a second then continued, “Since you are a storyteller, have you seen with your own eyes the mountain fairies and beasts as well as the human cultivators which you always marveled about?”

As he mentioned this, the teenager raised his brows slightly but quickly undid his frown. He smiled and said, “Mister, if you have read sage books before, you should know that the theories behind those sage books are not difficult at all but have you actually seen with your own eyes the sages who wrote those books?”

The teenager just refused to back down until now.

The man furrowed his brows. “Young man, you don’t really have a good temper. It is still tolerable when you are at a small place like this but once you get out of this place, you need to work on your temper.”

Li Fuyao just shook his head. “Mister, don’t you worry about that.”

The man just laughed it off and quickly returned to the original topic. “I am here because I need to settle something important. If I fail to resolve it, I’m afraid it will implicate the people of this town, so this is why I am asking you to tell me honestly if there was anything out of the ordinary in the town.”

Li Fuyao was puzzled and he asked, “This matter is so serious that it will implicate the people in this town?”

The man did not reply and just flung his sleeves gently. The bowl of tea that was on the table mysteriously rose up into the air and hovered slightly away from the table, about just a few inches away. The other people did not notice anything peculiar except for Li Fuyao who was observing the whole phenomenon at such a close distance.

However, Li Fuyao was unfazed by this. His eyes just lit up as he asked, “A human cultivator?”

The man in the green gown facing him was absent-minded for a brief moment before he slowly nodded his head.

Li Fuyao swiftly asked again, “Confucianism or Daoism?”

Li Fuyao did not look shocked at all. Instead, it was the man in the green gown who was looking at Li Fuyao with a surprised expression.

Li Fuyao calmly added, “To be frank, I have always wanted to go and see the world. I know that Dazhou is very small, and the world is big, that’s why I have had the wish of traveling the world. I know that human cultivators like you won’t come to Dazhou so I wanted to leave Dazhou to meet you guys instead. Unfortunately, the reason why I have not left Dazhou after all these years is simple. I am still… saving up money.”

It was easy for people to say that they wanted to travel the world but when it came to realizing it, that would require a lot of silver taels.

The man was not in a hurry to give a reply. It was the young lady at the side who had been silent all along who suddenly said, “Even if you have saved up a lot of silver tales, you won’t go very far.”

The young lady did not explain her reasons further and Li Fuyao did not question her.

The man was a straightforward person. He did not hide any details and just explained to Li Fuyao the agenda of this trip.

Li Fuyao’s brows drew together and asked softly, “Do you mean to say there is a snake demon in Baiyu Town?”

The man just slowly smiled. “It is a snake demon at the Fundamental Stage. Although it is not at a very high stage yet, it will not be difficult for it to kill everyone in this town.”

Li Fuyao’s expressions turned grim and he kept quiet for a while. He then said softly, “This autumn rain has been going on for quite some time but there shouldn’t be such a downpour based on the previous years’ climates. I really can’t think of anything that is unusual besides this.”

The man nodded his head and did not question further because it was redundant to explain so much to a teenager that was already this interesting. However, looking at this teenager, he wanted to talk to him about some other stuff.

“What do you know about this world?”

Li Fuyao stared at the man and after thinking for some time, he replied slowly, “There are three religious sects in this world and the cultivators of these three religious sects are the rulers of this world. I also know that Dazhou’s territory lies in the Yanling Region and there is a Confucian Temple in Yanling which follows the path of Confucianism; and Mister… you look like you came from there.”

The man just smiled calmly. “I am really curious as to how you know so much.”

Li Fuyao just chuckled. “Mister, previously you said that I’m a local, but actually you were wrong. I’m technically not one.”

“Mister, you come from the Yanling Confucian Temple so you should know that many people get to enter the Confucian Temple in Yanling every year but that number is considered too small by those descendants of aristocrats in Luoyang City. Thus, when they knew that a kid—especially one without a valued influential background to pose a threat—was going to have a place in the temple, they thought of ways to snatch away his place and they came up with an idea.”

Li Fuyao slowly smiled and asked, “Mister, try to think about it and what would you do if you were in their shoes?”

The man in green just shook his head. The temple actually knew about what those aristocratic descendants in Luoyang City had been doing every year and the temple did not bother investigating it either during all these years. Luoyang City was a complicated matter and those kids who had been sent to the temple, their talents were almost at the same par with each other so it actually didn’t matter which kid ended up entering the temple. The people in the temple just couldn’t care. Hence, it wasn’t much of a shock to meet such a kid here.

“So the reason you were sent to such a secluded place is just because of your place in the temple.”

The man in the green gown regarded Li Fuyao in a calm manner.

“They did not kill me in the end but they were also afraid that I would return to Luoyang City again. Although this is a small matter, it involved their dignity so they sent me away to this secluded place, hoping that I would perish on my own.”

Li Fuyao then looked at the man and continued smilingly, “Too bad I’m still alive.”

Despite his youthfulness, the green-gowned man noticed that he was more mature than most teenagers of his age. He said coldly, “So now that you’ve met me today, you are thinking of begging me to bring you into the Yanling Confucian Temple and lead you to the path of cultivation. After that, you hope you are able to seek revenge.”

Li Fuyao spread his arms and answered, “Mister, it is a coincidence that you and I met but since we have met each other, wouldn’t you consider it?”

What he meant by considering was actually asking the man to observe him and see if he had any qualities for cultivation.

That was why he spread his arms wide open.

The man was frowning and he admitted that the short and simple story the teenager had just told did spark a little interest toward him.

He was silent for a second, and then he put his hands on Li Fuyao’s shoulders. After a moment, it felt like something was flowing in his meridian. There was an obvious bulge in his shoulders and it was flowing in his meridian.

…

There was a long, deafening silence.

The man introduced himself softly, “I am Yan Yu.”

He continued asking, “What’s your name?”

“Li Fuyao.”

“Are you willing to go to the Yanling Confucian Temple with me?”

“No.”