Chapter Seventy: Meeting Xu Fu Again

  "Old lady, is this true? Is Xu Fu's tomb really here?" Xun suddenly thought that Xu Fu might be related to the mysterious sword technique he had learned, and his emotions became somewhat urgent.

  The old woman smiled and said, "Child, don't be too impatient when doing things. Just like when I was learning Chinese with others before, being impatient all the time didn't help me learn well at all. You ask if it's true or not, but I'm not even sure myself. However, we do have a Xu Fu Temple here, and nobody knows how many years it's been around. Everyone says that's where a very famous Taoist immortal from Central Plains is, so if you want to know the truth, why don't you just go take a look for yourself?"

  Sui Feng suddenly became aware that he was a bit anxious, and smiled self-deprecatingly. "The old lady is right, I'll go take a look in a few days. Old lady, after knowing you for so long, I still don't know your surname or name." On the surface, he said this, but secretly Sui Feng was muttering to himself, since she made a living by running an inn, why did she need to learn Chinese? Moreover, her deliberate mention of this matter also seemed suspicious.

  The old woman paused for a moment, then continued sweeping the floor. "My name is something I haven't used in a long time. The people around me all call me Obasan, which means 'old lady'. If you don't mind, just like everyone else, please call me Obasan."

  Before waiting for the wind to pick up the conversation, Grandma continued: "Right, go through that door over there, and the first room on the left is yours. You've just arrived today, so go take a good rest first. Tonight, I'll make you dishes that can only be eaten in our Fusang."

  The old woman's kind words made Feng suddenly stunned, and a faint sourness in his heart. He had never seen his grandparents since he was young, only heard from his father that his grandmother died when she was very young. Not long after, his grandfather also disappeared, and so many years have passed, probably already gone.

  He slowly turned around with the wind, called out to Ah Niu, and silently walked towards his own room, perhaps because he was thinking of these past events and felt a pang in his heart.

  He walked halfway with the wind when a sudden commotion behind him brought him to an abrupt halt.

  It turned out that four middle-aged men with fierce faces had appeared in the store from somewhere, all of whom were dressed as warriors and looked like they were hired by some family.

  Four people casually found a stool to sit down, with their legs raised and shouting loudly about something. With the wind wrinkling his brow, what they were shouting was some unfamiliar Japanese that should be a dish name, he couldn't understand it either. However, looking at this situation, it's likely that the newcomers are not friendly, so Feng gave Ah Niu a signal with his eyes to move closer to him.

  "If you make a move later on, be careful yourself and find a place to hide." he said in a low voice.

  As soon as she saw these people, the old woman's face turned pale. She said something carefully, but only this sentence was heard: I'm sorry, we don't have the dish you want here.

  As soon as they heard that the dish was not available, four warriors scolded loudly. One of them suddenly slapped the table and stood up. He rushed forward in a few steps and kicked the old woman with one foot.

  As soon as he saw the situation was not good, Su Feng took a step forward and blocked in front of Ah Po. The warrior who had lifted his foot was shocked to see someone suddenly appear in front of him, but instead of withdrawing his foot, he added more force, wanting to kick both of them down at the same time. Su Feng let out a cold hum, swung his sleeve, and the warrior's foot kicked onto Su Feng's sleeve, which was as hard as an iron plate. With a "crack" sound, the entire left leg was broken.

  The right hand that came out of the sleeve with the wind did not stop, and a palm quietly stuck to the warrior's chest. With just a little force, "Puff——" The warrior was shocked by the palm force, and a big mouthful of blood spurted out, his body flew straight back, flying out of the hotel door before stopping.

  One move to defeat the enemy!

  The room was suddenly quiet, with only the sound of a needle dropping being audible. No one had expected that such a clean and innocent-looking young scholar would have such martial arts skills. Even the other warriors who had flown out of the door with that person were stunned on the spot, taking several breaths to come back to their senses. They drew out the long knives from their waists and surrounded him in a flurry.

  It's unclear whether these Japanese warriors were overly bold or too confident, but despite knowing that Su Feng's martial arts skills were not ordinary, they still dared to make a move. Accompanied by a loud shout, the three of them swung their swords and slashed at Su Feng with all their might.

  "Hmph!" A faint, almost imperceptible cold smile hung at the corner of his mouth.

  "Hum..." A long, drawn-out sword hum filled the air. Everyone in the room only saw a flash of golden light that seemed to pass by in an instant. Then came a series of clashing sounds, and when the three warriors regained their senses, they found that they were each left holding only a small section of broken blade. The rest of the blades had shattered into pieces all over the ground. Each of the three also had a deep gash on their chest, one that cut so deeply it exposed bone.

  The old woman standing behind Su Feng seemed to have been stunned, staring blankly as she savored the sword move from just now, her lips opening and closing repeatedly, muttering something indistinguishable.

  Eight winds blow, pure and strong, unsheathing.

  Suī fēng yì jǐn shǒu zhōng de cháng jiàn, dì èr jiàn jiù yào chū dòng. ā pó yī bǎ lā zhù le tā de shǒu, "hǎo le, tāmen sān rén yě zhǐ shì yán yǔ shàng yǒu xiē hěn lì bà, píng rì lǐ dào yě méi zěn móu qiān fù wǒ. Shǎo xiá zhè bān wǔ gōng hé bì yī gēn tāmen yì bān jiàn shí, hái shì ráo le tāmen ba." ā pó réng huán suī fēng yào xià shā shǒu, yán yǔ lǐ hěn bù rěn.

  Suī fēng běn lái yě méi xiǎng yào shā tāmen, zhǐ shì jué de zhèyàng wèi è xiāng lǐ de è rén bù néng qīng xiū, biàn diǎn le diǎn tóu, chéng le ā pó zhè ge qíng.

  "Grandma, are you okay?" He helped Grandma up from the ground, who was already shaking with fear, and asked softly.

  The old woman's face turned pale, she shook her head and gently released the hand that was blown by the wind, saying in a low voice: "You'd better leave quickly, don't bully people again in the future."

  Three warriors looked at the fragments of steel knives on the ground, then looked at the pale-faced old woman and the cold-looking Sui Feng beside her. Without saying a word, they carried their companion who had fallen to the ground outside the door and left.

  Staring coldly into the distance until the figures of several people completely disappeared, she said: "Auntie, do they often come here to cause trouble?"

  The old woman sighed, smiled helplessly, "They are the warriors of the nearby Seki family. The Seki family is a big and powerful clan, ordinary people can't afford to offend them. However, they don't come often, just occasionally to eat some local dishes. If they're not satisfied with anything, this meal will be on the house."

  Looking around, the furniture in the inn was indeed very exquisite, but the old woman herself wore only a very simple hemp cloth, and the cuffs were sewn up countless times. It's likely that all her savings were spent on this inn. Her own bitter life can be imagined, and such an old man is still suffering so much, looking at it makes one feel unbearable.

  Wanted to give her some money, but grandma wouldn't accept it. In the end, had to pretend to be angry before she reluctantly accepted it.

  After seeing Grandma receive the silver, Huan Feng chatted with her for a few more sentences before finding an excuse to return to his room and rest.

  He turned around, walking while frowning, he had just used the Xunfeng chapter of the Nameless Sword Technique to urge on the Chunjun sword. The speed of the sword was indeed extremely fast, and it only took a moment for one sword to finish. Unexpectedly, the old woman grabbed him in an instant. When he supported her earlier, her body had abundant internal energy and blood, but she didn't seem like an old person at all. Could it really be just a coincidence?

  As she watched him walk away, a faint smile of relief suddenly appeared on Ah Po's face. She put down the broom in her hand and slowly took out three sticks of sandalwood from beside the wooden door, lit them with a fire starter, and inserted them into the incense burner in front of the statue. She murmured: "Great Emperor, I have truly seen it with my own eyes, that young man's single sword move was indeed the Dao Sword Technique created by you. According to your instructions, I have been waiting here for over a thousand years, more than a thousand years! Finally, today I had the good fortune to wait for him here. I have finally fulfilled your entrustment, Great Emperor, and you can rest assured in the immortal realm."

  She became more and more agitated as she spoke, until finally she could no longer bear it, and two lines of clear tears flowed down from her face, which was full of wrinkles.

  Next, Sui Feng and Du E stayed at the Wang Tang Inn for three months. These three months passed quite peacefully, and the Sekka family even came to cause trouble once, with seven or eight warriors coming, but Sui Feng defeated them all in less than three moves, and within a few days, the master of the Sekka family personally came to apologize. From then on, Du E admired Sui Feng's martial arts skills even more.

  Suī fēng yě zēn wèn guò chuán shuō zhòng de xú fú zhī miào dàodǐ zài hé chù, xiǎng yào qù tàn fǎng yī cì. Kěshì tā měi cì wèn ā pó, ā pó dōu ràng tā bùyào tài guò xīn jí, bù fán děng dào huān qìng rì zài qù.

  English Translation:

  Sui Feng had also asked about the legendary Xu Fu Temple and wanted to visit it once. But every time he asked Grandma, she told him not to be too impatient and wait until the celebration day to go.

  It's been three months, and later Xunfeng only knew that the so-called Celebration Day was actually the day Xu Fu arrived in Fusang. Later generations held annual events to commemorate him. On this day, Ah Po said she would take Xunfeng and the others there personally. Even the inn was temporarily closed.

  "Let's go." Xiang Feng looked at the old woman in front of him who had suddenly stopped and felt a bit strange, so he urged her on softly.

  "Oh, okay, let's go." The old woman looked again at the sign creaking in the wind above the inn's entrance, and for some reason, a hint of reluctance seemed to flicker in her eyes.

  It seems to be in sight with the wind, and another thread of doubt is quietly added in heart.

  Fortunately, Xu Fu's temple is not far from Dongmu County, and it's only about 7 or 8 miles away from the town. Although it doesn't take half a time to walk this distance, Ah Po, at her age, seems to be feeling a bit strained. Even Du A Niu is slightly panting.

  The old woman seemed to have noticed the unusual gaze between the two, and smiled: "Although I'm getting older, every time we need to buy some ingredients in the store, I'll go. Running around a lot has made my legs stronger. Today is a celebration day, and later on at the temple gate there will be many celebratory activities. Since you've come, why not play around a bit more."

  Arriving at the Xufu Temple, it was indeed just as Ah Po had said. There were all sorts of people gathered there, apart from the majority being incense guests, there were also others selling various goods, performing arts, and even saw some selling Liangpi blown by the wind. I thought that Liangpi was only popular in the Jiangnan region, but unexpectedly it has also spread to Fusang. If there was a theater stage here as well, it would be exactly like the temple fairs back in Zhongtu.

  Ah Niu had always been lingering at the bottom of the Jianghu, never having a good time playing in the temple fair, and upon seeing the bustling scene in front of the temple, his eyes were slightly dazed.

  The old woman couldn't help but laugh at his silly appearance, "Ah Niu, why don't Ah Po accompany you to take a good stroll around here? How about that? Xiao Feng, Xu Fu's tomb is in the backyard of the temple, if you're interested, you can go take a look yourself."

  Before Su Feng could even speak, Ah Po had already pulled Ah Niu into the crowd, and soon they couldn't even see their backs.

  He let out a bitter laugh, pinched his nose, and went to the temple to pay respects to Xu Fu's ancestors. It was just him going alone, so he didn't think much of it, and walked in by himself.