Chapter Forty-Four: The Foreign Girl

  Early in the morning, I bid farewell to Huajiu Gong, Lirixiang Shangren, Wuchen, Yunshui Jian and others. As I walked on the mountain path, I still remembered Yunshui Jian's bitter smile towards me, and silently sighed. Looking at the spectacular scenery of clouds and mist in front of me, feeling refreshed and invigorated. "No wonder both Buddhism and Taoism choose famous mountains and rivers as their own gates, indeed, the cloud energy between the mountains is truly nourishing."

  He held a folding fan in his hand, with a long sword hanging from his waist, and he didn't look any different from ordinary men and women. Only a very small number of people who had watched the commotion here yesterday recognized him as Rong Feng, the young master who had seen Hua Jiu Gong. But Rong Feng didn't think much of it and walked slowly down the mountain.

  Only when you are in the mountains can you feel the greatness and mystery of nature, and only then will you understand what it means to be a ghostly work, not something that human power can achieve. And only in the mountains can you understand that humans are not as small as they seem, able to build plank roads on the majestic and towering mountain waist. Moreover, in the mountains, you will understand why people can survive stubbornly between heaven and earth, and why people can be one of the three talents of heaven, earth and man.

  As I walked, I gazed at the scenery between the mountains, as if my whole being had merged with nature. Before I knew it, I had arrived at the official road at the foot of the mountain. Which way should I go from here? Even the wind seemed to be at a loss.

  Just as he was thinking of asking someone for directions, he heard a voice saying "Excuse me... sir, how do I get to Mount Tai?" The sentence was not only spoken in a stuttering manner, but also with a very non-standard pronunciation. It took Feng quite a while to understand what the person meant, and when he looked up, he saw a young man wearing a Chinese robe. The man wasn't very tall, wore wooden clogs, and his entire attire had a style that was somewhat different from those of the Central Plains, and he didn't appear to be a native of the Central Plains.

  He pointed westward with a smile, looking at the foreigner in front of him, "You're not from Middle-earth?"

  A foreigner, with a standard bow, nodded silently in the wind. This bow was extremely standard. "I am Ikeda Bungo, I have admired the great Tang culture for a long time. Just arrived in China, I come from Fusang country in the East. That's my lady and another companion over there. Excuse me, sir, can we reach Mount Tai by walking in this direction?"

  It's not surprising that Fu Sang is not astonishing, and the land of China and Japan are separated by a strip of water. In the previous dynasty, there were many envoys who came to study in the East. He had also seen them when he was in Yangzhou before. In ancient mythology, at the eastern end of the Eastern Sea, there is a Fu Sang tree, on which three golden crows perch, shining brightly in the sky. Every day, the sun god Xihe rides a chariot pulled by nine dragons to ascend to heaven. Later, when Xihe was gone, ten suns rose together and were shot down by the descendants with a divine sword, leaving only one, which is today's sun. Therefore, when the Chinese people discovered that there was another civilization in the East, they named the island of Japan after the mythical homeland of the ten suns, Fu Sang, taking its original meaning as the origin of the sun, which is Japan.

  "Going in this direction? Walking to Mount Tai? The wind can't help but make me laugh a little, this isn't Japan, within a hundred miles, going to Mount Tai will probably take several days on foot. If you just ask for the general direction, who knows where you'll end up along the way. Still, I patiently say: "Mount Tai is several days' journey from here, you'd better find a guide."

  Suī fēng said it was finished and wanted to leave, but Jing Tian suddenly pulled him back, chattering on and saying a few more things. Suī fēng didn't fully understand, carefully distinguishing that they were new to the Central Plains and unfamiliar with life there, afraid of not being able to find a guide, asking him to help out in their place.

  "Sir, why don't you go see my young mistress?" he said, bowing deeply once again.

  He was bowed to twice and addressed as "Mr.", and it wasn't very polite to refuse, so he had no choice but to agree to meet the so-called "Miss".

  Following Iida Hyōei for a few steps, it was indeed two people waiting on one side. One of them was dressed similarly to Iida, while the other was a girl about the same age as Bikan. She had shoulder-length short hair, her face was pale and delicate, with a slightly upturned nose, wearing a floral-patterned blouse, surprisingly also a rare beauty.

  The girl saw Inada walking over with Sui Feng, looked at Sui Feng for a moment, pretended to be unintentional, and asked Inada: "Mr. Inada, is this the guide you invited?" The words sounded round and smooth, with extremely fluent Chinese.

  "Yes, miss."

  The girl turned to Soyo with a flutter of her eyelashes, looking very charming. "I am Fujiwara Shizuru, a humble maiden," she said, and was about to curtsy.

  Su Feng stopped her with a smile and said: "We people from the Central Plains don't bow every time, just call me Su Feng."

  Jingliu bit her lip, somewhat hesitantly, "We've come to Zhongtu for the first time and wanted to see the famous Taishan. However, although we can speak Chinese... but... could you, Xiangfeng Jun, show us the way?"

  Li previously told himself that he could go to Songshan within a month, and it wouldn't take more than ten days to get there from Taishan. Even if going to Taishan takes half a month, there's still plenty of time. It just so happens that he also wants to travel around and have some fun, so he agreed right away.

  It wasn't until later when Jing Liu introduced them that I learned these two men were her bodyguards, and another bodyguard also surnamed Ikeda, named Ikeda Akira, both of whom belonged to the Ikeda family.

  When I heard the name Shizuru earlier, I had a vague guess. The surname Fujiwara is not ordinary in Japan. Since the Nara period when the Japanese minister Kamatari was granted the surname Fujiwara by the Emperor, there have been people from this family serving as Kampaku (Chief Advisor) for generations, and they are extremely influential in Japan. However, Japan is different from China, with fewer hereditary titles and not many people who can use guards. With this, I roughly guessed her identity.

  "I'm afraid she slipped out secretly." Feng thought to himself.

  "Brother Feng, I heard Father say that you have a vast land with all sorts of talented and extraordinary people. Is that true?" Along the way, Jing Liu kept pulling him to ask this and that, completely like an innocent little girl who didn't know much about the world. Seeing her lovable appearance, Feng didn't mind the bother and patiently answered each question one by one.

  While Jing Liu's title for him changed from the initial "Feng Jun" to "Feng Gege". His two guards also understood the situation and automatically walked behind them, guarding their safety.

  The two of them were quite imposing, each with a long knife at their waist. It seemed that the Japanese rarely used swords, or perhaps they considered the long knife to be a sword. However, in Zhen Feng's eyes, their martial arts skills were actually rather ordinary and lacking, only knowing some thin and weak techniques similar to internal energy skills. They probably wouldn't even be able to defeat those assassins from Pangu Mountain who didn't know internal energy. Looking at their serious faces, Zhen Feng couldn't help but find it amusing, yet he couldn't say anything.

  "By the way, what does Brother Feng's father do?" Jing Liu stood beside Su Feng, asking with a smile.

  "Me?" he paused for a moment, "When I was very young, both of my parents had passed away."

  "Ah?!" Jing Liu didn't expect that her casual question would touch Feng's sore spot. She quickly apologized, "I'm really sorry, I didn't know, Brother Feng, don't be angry."

  She smiled faintly and shook her head, "I'm not angry." As she spoke, for some reason, she involuntarily stretched out her hand to stroke Jing Liu's head, feeling the soft hair slipping through her fingers.

  Jingliu swept past her head, saw that Suifeng was indeed not angry, still with the same gentle face as before, and finally let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly remembering something, she took out something from her bosom and handed it to Suifeng.

  "What is this?" He picked it up and took a look, it was a wooden carved doll. The carving technique used was intricate, and the wood material was extremely rare Huang Yang wood. The entire doll was vastly different from the style of the current Middle Earth, only its body and head were similar. Its two shiny eyes were very vivid. Even so, if placed in the Middle Earth, it would be considered a mediocre treasure at best.

  "Here's a special good luck charm from Fusang, take it with you. From now on, every day will be filled with good fortune."

  He shook his head and said, "This doll is no ordinary one, I'm afraid it's very valuable, I don't want it."

  Jing Liu's face darkened, and he said displeased: "Just take it, this is also Jing Liu's heart, it doesn't count as anything. Moreover, we still need to trouble you to take us to Mount Tai." Looking at Jing Liu's pitiful appearance, Su Feng had no choice but to accept the doll.

  As the wind passed by, the doll was handed over, and Jingliu returned to her previous smiling appearance. Where was there any hint of unhappiness? Zuo Feng also knew that he had been deceived by this little girl, and couldn't help but laugh. Seeing that she had successfully made Zuo Feng laugh, Jingliu laughed even more happily, and suddenly turned around to ask: "Will Brother Wind learn the martial art that Father said is called...?"

  As the wind seemed to have put down its heavy heart at this moment, it returned to being a child and mysteriously said: "I don't know any kung fu, I just roughly understand some punches and kicks."

  Jingliu's expression darkened, and he said in a low voice: "So you don't know martial arts after all. I thought you were a master with exceptional skills. Doesn't everyone in the Tang Dynasty practice martial arts?"

  She didn't expect her to really believe it, and she didn't break the news, following her words: "It's not that exaggerated, but it's true that the martial arts culture is very popular in China. Just like you said, China has a vast territory and abundant resources, with countless talented people. Therefore, there are many young masters on the rivers and lakes who can rival some of their older predecessors at a young age."

  "Really!" Jing Liu's mouth opened wide with yearning and he turned back to ask, "Bing Wei, have you seen any masters from the Central Plains?"

  Iida Hyōei's expression was calm and collected, shaking his head in a stiff Chinese tone: "No, I haven't seen him, only heard the family head mention it. He once met a master from Central Plains who defeated Ping Shi's Thousand Swords Style with just three moves. As our country's exchange with Tang Dynasty has increased in recent years, many martial artists from Central Plains have also come to our country. Miss will surely have the chance to see him in the future."

  "Brother Feng, what are those masters like..."

  All the way, Jingliu had all sorts of questions that seemed to never end, even if it was the same question being asked repeatedly, and Suifeng didn't feel annoyed at all. It's unknown whether he had been closed off for too long or if Jingliu really did have a mysterious charm, but apart from the time with Bihuan walking from Pangu Mountain to Luoyun Pavilion, Suifeng seemed to never have talked so much with anyone else before, nor had he ever chatted so happily.

  Perhaps because she was inexperienced, perhaps because she wasn't a native of Zhongtu, even if she said something inappropriate, there's no need to worry too much. Spending the whole day talking to Jingliu wouldn't get boring at all, so every day passed very comfortably. At night, sometimes she would also chat with Bingwei and Ayuan about matters in Zhongtu. Finally, after they had all fallen asleep, Feng would practice her internal skills again.

  Because every day was spent so simply, each day passed extremely quickly. Before they knew it, five days had already gone by. They finally arrived at the foot of Mount Tai.