Chapter Eighteen: Unparalleled Lightness Skill

  He nodded slightly in response and looked up at the city wall, asking somewhat nervously: "It's so high, can you really get up there without relying on any external force?"

  Liáng Tuōér burst out laughing and said: "You all just watch from down there, after all, lightness kung fu is my specialty."

  As he spoke, he walked slowly to the bottom of the city wall and stroked the wall with his hand. His hand was wet with snow water, and he frowned, muttering to himself: "It's more slippery than I imagined..."

  After finishing, his eyebrows spread out again, and he regained his previous confidence. He took a deep breath, and suddenly sprang up. His body soared into the air, stepping obliquely on the city wall, one step after another, neither fast nor slow. The pace was not particularly fast, but somehow it didn't fall down, as if it were unaffected by gravity.

  Every step he took on the wall was like having a foundation stone under his feet, and every step could jump up to several meters. However, after six or seven steps, the city wall had already been climbed by him more than halfway. Su Feng and Bi Yu looked at each other in amazement, gazing at his ethereal figure, and couldn't help but feel envious and amazed. How did he do it?

  For a moment, Liang Ze was less than three feet away from the wall. Suddenly, he changed his pace and took a big step forward, as if his body had been subjected to a great force, and he jumped up high in an instant. In mid-air, he drew a smooth arc, and landed steadily on the city wall.

  "Is this something that can be done by human power?" Bi Huan asked dazedly and in a bewildered tone.

  "With a faint smile, he said: 'I used to think that was just a story told by the storyteller, but I didn't expect someone could really fly over the eaves and walk on walls, and it's right in front of us. I will practice my martial arts well, one day I will become as powerful as him.'"

  "Is mastering martial arts important to you?" Bi Huan Qi asked.

  "Maybe, I think I'm too weak now, can't do anything..." As he spoke, Suifeng thought of his parents buried under Pangu Mountain again and wanted to say something more, but heard a rope swaying sound. When he looked up, Liang Touer had already lowered the rope and stretched it in front of Suifeng.

  Xiao Xin carefully tied the rope around his waist, making a secure knot. He blew on his frozen hands, which had lost some sensation, and rubbed them together before tightly grasping the rope. Using his feet to push against the wall, he lifted himself up, but still felt that his feet were extremely slippery, and it would be easy to slip off if he wasn't careful. It was hard to imagine how Liang Zei had managed to climb up using just his feet earlier.

  The rope in his hand swung back and forth, and with the wind, it looked up at him somewhat strangely. Liang Zei stood on the city wall, poking out half of his head to make a gesture towards him, then he felt that the rope around his waist had an additional upward pulling force, and with this external force, it was much easier, and the speed was also much faster.

  Even so, it took Su Feng a whole incense stick's worth of time to climb up the city wall. By the time he reached the top, he was panting heavily and extremely exhausted.

  Liang Ze's effort was no less than his, but he looked as calm as ever. After glancing at Su Feng, Liang Ze said: "You look quite exhausted, I suppose your internal injury hasn't healed yet. Just take good care of yourself and rest for now."

  Then, with a swing of his waist rope, he threw it down to Bi Hehan. Using the same method, he pulled Bi Hehan up again.

  The city wall's embrasure protruded, a layer of houses stacked in the city. The originally hazy moonlight seemed to clear up, sprinkling a dreamy silver glow. The majestic yet ancient city of Jianye was reflected even more prosperous and smoky.

  "This place is indeed the capital of the Six Dynasties, with three rivers and five lakes surrounding it, gathering all the misty rain and elegant atmosphere of Jiangnan. The ancient books say that Jinling was born with the dragon's energy, which is truly wonderful." Liang Tou'er couldn't help but take a glance, at this moment, the lights on both sides of Qinhuai River were flourishing, flowers were red and willows were green, even though the cold wave lingered, it was still bustling.

  Since ancient times, the scenery on both banks of the Qinhuai River has been enchanting. Many scholars who failed to secure official positions had no choice but to go to places of pleasure in search of talented men and beautiful women to comfort their own frustrations at being talented yet unsuccessful.

  "Would you two like to stay here and enjoy the night view?" Bi Huan asked with a smile, but her tone had a hint of playfulness.

  Liang Ze's expression changed, and he smiled: "Although the scenery here is good, it's not suitable for a long stay. Jinling is an important town in Jiangnan, and I'm sure there are people patrolling the city walls day and night. Let's find a place to rest first, and we can play again tomorrow when it gets light. There's no hurry to rush on this trip today."

  Without saying a word, he glanced around at the scenery again and then joined them in tying the rope to the city wall, carefully making his way down into the city.

  It was during the prosperous era of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty, when the people were open-minded and the court did not implement curfews. Even at night, there were still crowds of people, bustling with activity. However, they chose a secluded corner to release the rope, so no one saw them, nor would anyone notice the three people walking out from an inconspicuous corner of a commoner's house.

  "It's so late, is the inn still open? Haven't they closed up yet?" Feng asked with some concern.

  Liang Ze smiled and said, "If it were an ordinary market inn, I estimate that by evening they would have closed their doors. However, in prosperous places like Jinling and Chang'an, the inns close much later at night. Although the city gate has already closed, there are still many young masters and nobles coming and going inside the city, and some of them may have had too much to drink and can only find a nearby inn to stay for the night. Over time, many inns have tacitly agreed to postpone their closing hours. As long as we take a stroll around, I'm sure we'll be able to find one."

  It's already nighttime, and it's so cold. Many shops in the city have long since closed their doors and stopped receiving guests. I've looked at several inns, but to no avail.

  Originally there was snow on the road, and as night fell, a cold wind blew by, causing me to shiver involuntarily.

  Liang Zei saw it in his eyes, quietly took off his own cloak and gently wrapped it around Su Feng's body. He said: "I'm afraid there won't be any here, we can only go to the Qinhuai River bank to take a look."

  Qinhuai has been a place of romance and beauty since ancient times, and it's said that everyone knows about it. When Liang Ze heard this, Bi He's face turned red, and she looked down, not saying a word. Xiang Feng had long been yearning for Jinling, and he had also heard many stories about Qinhuai. When he heard Liang Ze say this, he secretly wanted to go see it again, but at the same time felt a bit embarrassed.

  Liang Ze'er couldn't help but laugh at their embarrassed appearance, saying: "Since Qinhuai is admired by countless scholars, it's naturally not just about romance and beauty. Moreover, we're going to lodge there, why do you look like you have guilty consciences?"

  Being said that, both Su Feng and Lin Feng couldn't help but smile. In the night, the three of them were having fun, chatting and laughing as they headed in the direction of Qinhuai, and when they stopped again, they had already arrived at the banks of the Qinhuai River.

  There are too many rumors and legends about Qinhuai, but compared to the river itself, people discuss more about the people by the river and the stories of the river. Rang Fenghe and Bi He were like children in a market, looking up eagerly. The river is not wide, compared to the Yangtze River in the north, it can only be considered a small stream, slowly flowing through Jinling. On both sides of the river are tightly packed vermilion windows and carved wooden buildings.

  The air is filled with the faint sound of pipa music and high-sounding discussions, amidst the hustle and bustle. Segment after segment of candlelight sparkles like stars as they fall into the river water from the small boats on either side, creating a vast expanse of starry colors. Not dazzling, yet somehow giving birth to a sense of serenity in the midst of all the commotion.

  For some reason, the wind suddenly produced a kind of illusion, as if this whole world was like the scenery on both banks of the Qinhuai River, sometimes noisy and sometimes quiet. It seemed that I had realized something in my heart, but when I thought carefully, I couldn't think of anything.

  "Come on, let's hurry up and find an inn over there." Liang Ze said softly as he looked at the two people who were immersed in the beautiful scenery.

  Distracted by the scenery, she returned to reality and hurriedly followed Liang Ze's footsteps, but couldn't help glancing back every now and then.

  The blur of the distant view, as I walked closer, was another posture. The whole street was bustling with people coming and going, where was there still a bit of bone-chilling cold? Maybe the cold wind couldn't blow in here. With the wind, I slightly noticed that most of the passersby were dressed as scholars, with a square scarf on their heads, some even holding a folding fan. It's unknown whether they were disappointed literati or vulgar people who followed the fashion.

  Having seen the lively scene here, I felt that the probability of finding an inn had increased by a few points. Just thinking about this, a signboard of a smoke willow inn came into view.

  Su Feng and Bi Han exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with joy. But when they looked at Liang Ze, his face was unusually solemn.

  "What's wrong with you? I didn't expect that there would actually be a guest house here." Bi Huan also noticed Liang Ze's abnormal behavior and asked tentatively.

  "Huh? Oh, nothing. Since we've found the inn, let's hurry in. It looks like it's about to close soon." Liang Zei seemed to have only been stunned for a moment, and was now smiling awkwardly with an embarrassed expression.

  The three of them had just entered the inn when they saw the shopkeeper busy clearing his abacus and settling accounts, while a young boy was sweeping everywhere, giving the impression that they were about to close up.

  The shopkeeper saw Sanfeng and his two companions, first startled, then beaming with joy, saying: "You've arrived just in time. Now there's only our inn left along the entire Qinhuai River. If you had missed it, it would have been troublesome tonight. Jinling is so big, but at this late hour, it's hard to find a place to rest."

  Liang Ze's son smiled ambiguously and said: "Shopkeeper, we need two top-grade rooms."

  The shopkeeper flipped through the account book and said somewhat helplessly, "I'm sorry, sir. We only have one room left. The others are all fully occupied. But you three...this..."

  The shopkeeper glanced at Bihe slightly and then lowered his head to look at the account book.

  "Really no room? We can give more silver." Liang asked with a hint of helplessness.

  The shopkeeper also had a bitter face and said, "This is not a matter of silver, I can't just drive away other guests because you gave more silver. If you want to stay, you can only squeeze in."

  Liang Ze was also somewhat embarrassed, if it were three men, this matter would not be worth mentioning. However, Bi He was at the age where reputation was most important, and having two men and one woman squeezed in a small room was indeed inconvenient. Liang Ze could only turn his gaze to Bi He, who looked at him with eyes full of helplessness and pleading, smiled and said: "It's okay, I'll sleep on the floor."

  "It's just that there's no other choice, but I definitely won't let you sleep on the floor." Liang Zei could only make this decision, and then turned to the shopkeeper and said: "Alright, shopkeeper, it'll be this room then."

  The shopkeeper's eyebrows opened with a smile, and he didn't expect to receive another order near closing time. He said, "Alright, please go upstairs."