Fu Jing was being followed. It started from the malatang food stall and had continued for several blocks. He had expected someone to notice his presence, based off the rumors he’d heard before arriving. Lanhua had some of the strongest cultivators on the mainland. That he’d caught the interest of one of them wasn’t surprising. It was just unfortunate that he was extremely hungry, making him a little distracted.

After leaving the capital city, he wandered around the Tian Empire hoping to find some trace of his wife. When that failed he widened his search to other countries, when that failed he hunted rumors, like the Tree of Knowledge. When all his leads turned up nothing but burned stumps and places that maybe once had held spirits he gave that up. His intention, if he couldn’t find his wife, was to make his way to these mountains. Her “birthplace”. Perhaps he could get some answers there.

Along the way, he met many people and saw a lot of the world through the eyes of a commoner. He witnessed corruption in his own country and in foreign nations. Some countries were worse than others. There were times officials were just negligent, letting bandits and criminals run wild. No longer bound by the rules of the court and able to live by his own moral code, Fu Jing didn’t hold back dealing with these situations. He beat whoever needed a beating and generously helped those who were in need.

It was freeing for a man who spent so much of his life living strictly by the rules. He even fancied that he’d gained a bit of a reputation along the way. At some point, people started calling him the Wandering West Wind. He was embarrassed but also pleased.

Alas, he was too loose with his money!

It turned out that being a ruler for so long has skewed his views on money. He’d become used to dealing with large numbers and valuable items on a national scale. When it came to a budget of one, namely for himself, he was completely out of practice. He’d lost all sense of how much a simple meal should cost or how much to give to someone in need.

Though it took him some time, as he’d hoarded quite a sum before leaving his Palace, he did eventually ran out of money. And without money, he couldn’t get new clothes or repair his old ones. Lately, even regular meals had become a distant memory.

He could last quite a while without eating so he wasn’t in danger of dying. But that didn’t mean he didn’t feel the hunger pangs. All he’d been eating lately was wild vegetables and game. But now it was winter and difficult to find vegetables, and wild game was scraggly from winter eating. The road to Xifang City was particularly terrible since it was a heavily trafficked road, scaring away the wild animals he’d usually eat. It was to the point that the last time he’d eaten was two weeks ago.

Having already subsisted off of so little, the lack of any food at all had made his hunger particularly ferocious. When he’d walked into Xifang City his nose was assaulted by the smell of delicious food he couldn’t afford to buy. Without realizing it, his feet would lead him to this and that food stall, where he’d stare longingly before being chased away. It had completely distracted him from his original purpose.

Xifang City itself was a bit of a surprise. It was much bigger than he’d been expecting. Some years back he’d gotten a report about a little country forming on the mountains called Lanhua. It was a wild and carefree country run by a notorious arrogant feudal lord. When he heard, he felt a mixture of joy and sorrow. For a nation to form there, even a small one, that must mean his precious wife’s brother had properly repented. How happy she would have been to hear her brother had sorted himself out.

But she wasn’t there to hear the good news. There was only him.

“--Uncle, hey Uncle!”

He blinked and realized his “tail” had making noise. Was this directed at him?

As if in response to this question, a man grabbed him from behind, slinging an arm over his neck and shoulder and saying casually, “Uncle, it’s rude to ignore a person!”

Fu Jing frowned. Did this young man have a death wish? Just grabbing a person from behind like that, he’d almost tossed him right over his shoulder and into a wall!

“Aya, even though you look like that, you don’t stink. I’m surprised.”

Really?! Who was being rude now!

Fu Jing threw the stranger’s arm off and scooted away with a speed that didn’t match his ragged appearance.

“We are strangers, please keep an appropriate distance.” Fu Jing said stiffly, sizing up the person who’d been following him.

Just with a glance, Fu Jing knew this person was trouble. Though he had tanned skinned, indicating he worked outdoors, his clothes were high-quality and he was quite a bit taller than the shoppers streaming around them, proving he’d grown up well fed. He definitely had the look of a person from a rich family. If that glitter in his eye was any indication, he was likely the kind of young master who used his parent’s authority to bully people.

“Uncle, don’t be like that!” The young man chuckled. “We’re about to fight so who cares how close we are?”

“...and why do you think I’ll be fighting you?”

The young man crossed his arms over his chest and smirked.

“If you fight me, I’ll give you malatang.”

“I don’t want it.”

Fu Jing’s stomach let out an angry growl, contradicting his words. He kept a stoic expression but inwardly cursed his traitorous stomach.

The youth’s smirk widened. “If you beat me, I’ll give you my share of malatang as well.”

The stomach noises intensified.

“I… I don’t fight random people on the street.”

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“That so?” The young man cupped his hands and bowed slightly, “Greetings Uncle, I go by De Taihua. I was born and raised in Lanhua. I work in the army and just recently got some time off to visit family. You?”

“Huh?”

“Your name?”

“Ah. Fu Jing.” And then he clarified, “Fu as in man and Jing as in spirit.”

He made sure to leave off his surname Shu.

“And where are you from?”

He hesitated, confused by the interrogation, before saying, “The far west.”

“Oh, how mysterious! I like it! What brought you to Xifang City?”

“...I’m looking for a relative.”

“Hoho, here to sponge off someone are you?”

Fu Jing’s face blackened. Forget the malatang, just beating some sense into this kid would be enough to satisfy him!

“Alright, now we can fight.”

“Hah!?”

“We aren’t random strangers. We exchanged names and learned a bit about each other.”

“No, that’s not wh--”

“Hey, Mister!” The young man turned an older gentleman sweeping the snow away from the front of his shop. “We’d like to have little battle in front of your shop, do you mind being our mediator?”

“Eh, in this cold? You sure?”

“Absolutely!”

The older man put his broom aside and pat his hands. “Sure, sure, you know the standard rules right?”

“Of course.” The younger man held up a hand and ticked off the rules, “No fatalities, no permanent damage, and severe injuries are paid by the attacker. Knock out, surrender or mediator’s ruling ends the match. All results are final.”

“What’s the prize?”

“Malatang, from the stall down on Ever Bloom Street. If he fights me, he gets a serving. If he beats me, two servings.”

“Oh, so he gets something either way?” The older fellow looked at Fu Jing, who was listening with his mouth open in shock. Seeing Fu Jing’s appearance, the old man coughed and commented, “That’s very generous.”

“Wait, wait!” Fu Jing stepped forward. “You can’t seriously be willing to go along with this?!”

“Eh? Why wouldn’t I go along? It’s a legitimate challenge with me as the mediator. Or are you not able to fight? I definitely won’t allow bullying, just say the word!”

“No, ah, I can fight but--”

“Then there’s no problem.” The old gave a polite smile. “Not to worry, I definitely won’t be biased. Our Xifang City is not like that Dongbian City, we keep strictly to the rules. The audience will also make sure. With so many witnesses, it will definitely be a fair ruling.”

Fu Jing placed a palm on his forehead, feeling extremely bewildered. Was it just him, or did this old gentlemen just imply fights were not only common, but both cities had rules to keep them “fair”?!

“Alright then!” The old man clapped his hands and shouted, “Everyone, everyone! Come and see, a battle is about to start! We need witnesses! Gather around and help these two brothers out! I’ll give a discount to anyone who helps out at my shop! I’ll also keep track of any bets!”

Shoppers and shop keepers stopped what they were doing and enthusiastically surrounded Fu Jing and De Taihua in a loose circle.

“Oh my, how exciting! I’ll also give a discount at my shop too for anyone helping!”

“I haven’t seen a street fight in years, ah! So nostalgic!”

“Mommy, mommy! Can we watch too?!”

“Three to One odds on the tall fellow!”

“Of course, baby! If only Daddy was here to watch with us!”

“Wow, a genuine Xifang street fight, I didn’t think they did these anymore.”

“Where’s big sister? Big sis, you gotta come over! A fight’s starting!”

Fu Jing watched everyone gather around with smiles on their faces and began to question his three world views.

De Taihua gave a light wave to the audience, chin lifted arrogantly. The crowd cheered and heckled him in return.

“You ready Uncle Fu Jing?”

“Who’s your Uncle!” Fu Jing snapped in annoyance. His stomach grumbled loudly again. He wanted to cry but had no tears to shed.

De Taihua cast him a feigned look of sympathy. “Don’t worry Uncle, I won’t go back on my word. You’ll definitely get that malatang.”

“Ah, we seem to have a big enough crowd.” The mediator said, raising his hands over his head. “Everyone ready? START!”

At that, he dropped his hands.

De Taihua didn’t wait and surged forward. He knew this Uncle’s appearance was hiding a strong cultivator underneath. If he waited for the other to strike him, he might get knocked out before he had the chance to show off.

That definitely wouldn’t do. If he couldn’t show off a bit there was no reason to even fight to begin with!

Fu Jing only frowned slightly, using a soft technique to deflect the incoming attack. This young man was strong, even if he wasn’t as strong as Fu Jing, and that one hit would have severely injured an ordinary person. It seemed this De Taihua wasn’t going to hold back in this fight.

Elbows, fists, kicks and blows rained down and were continually deflected by Fu Jing. When Fu Jing saw an opening, he would immediately take advantage of it. Scoring hits on his shoulder, chest and thigh. Early on many of his strikes hit, but as time passed the young man got better and better at avoiding them. This secretly impressed Fu Jing, as it’s difficult to adapt to an enemy’s moves mid battle. Fu Jing was also careful to hold back, sticking to physical techniques and limiting his strength knowing if he hit Dai Taihua with the equivalent force he was being hit with, he might accidentally kill him.

Just then the smell of fresh cooked malatang wafted over, and Fu Jing’s stomach grumbled again. He suddenly felt a little bit impatient for the battle to end. Without much planning, he began circulating his qi, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

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“Ah! Brother you tricked me!”

While they were fighting, De Weishan had caught up. He was holding stacked containers filled with various kinds of meats and vegetables in hot, spicy flavored broth. Seeing his brother fighting, he could only look on helplessly.

In fact, De Taihua was the weaker of the two in terms of fighting. The only place De Taihua excelled was in speed and “reading” his opponent. Even before fighting a person, De Taihua had a pretty good idea what he was up against and changed how he fought based on that. He was an adaptable fighter.

De Weishan was not anywhere near as good at reading opponents. His modus operandum was to keep hitting until the other person fell over. He was also substantially slower than his twin. As if to make up for his deficiencies, his body was tougher, able to take the blows without suffering much, and his hits were more deadly when they landed.

They were considered mediocre martial artists when taken separately, but together they were near unbeatable. Their teamwork was impeccable. That De Taihua had decided to fight alone meant he wasn’t serious and was just having fun.

De Weishan shook his head. It was unlikely their Father called them over here to play. If their Old Man found out what De Taihua was doing, would he, De Weishan, get in trouble too? No wonder De Taihua distracted him by having him buy the malatang. Border security was a very serious issue, if the Old Man found them goofing off, there would be hell to pay...

At that moment, there was a flash of light and a big gasp from among the surrounding crowds. Amidst the cheers and groans of those who won and lost their bets, the mediator cried out, “We have a winner!”

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On the other end of town, a tall man was walking down the street. If it had just been his height, no one would have paid him any mind. But for some reason he was being swarmed by birds. The birds were singing at him cheerfully and would occasionally land on his shoulders or head, only to fly off again in a fluster. He didn’t seem bothered by their actions at all.

This was quite naturally a sight to behold for an average city person.

The man was immune to the attention he was receiving and instead stared off into the distance. A while later a bird could be seen flying towards him and landed on his outstretched finger. At its appearance the other birds distanced themselves from the man, as if they were slightly scared of the new arrival.

It chirped at him animatedly and then fluffed up it’s entire body to show its annoyance.

“Really, those two lack common sense.” The man said shaking his head, lips curved up slightly. The bird chirped in agreement before flying up and landing exactly on the top center of his head. It settled comfortably there, looking immensely pleased with itself.