M49S Vol 1 Chapter 45. Wind And Thunder

At this moment, Meng Qiqi was sitting cross-legged at the prow of a black-awning boat, holding an oil-paper umbrella, dressed in white robes like a wandering scholar.

The small boat drifted gently, gliding beneath the arches of stone bridges. As it passed, Meng Qiqi’s umbrella brushed against slender willow branches swaying in the wind, and caught fluttering plum blossoms midair. The blossoms along the riverbank had already begun to fall. Who could say whether the one that landed on his umbrella had been the very last bloom on its tree?

Now and then, he would ask the boatman to steer a little closer to shore. He would extend his umbrella outward, tilting it downward to gather falling petals and drifting catkins, as if reluctant to let them sink into the water.

The grey-templed boatman laughed and said, “Young master, you’ve got quite the elegant mood.”

“Not at all,” Meng Qiqi shook his head. “Falling flowers on the water are elegant enough. But once they drift down the Qinhuai and wander through all of Jinling, isn’t that delightful? I’m just amusing myself, that’s all.”

The boatman burst out laughing. Scholars and swordsmen were all romantic at heart, even more so in a city of wine and beauty like Jinling. It was hard to tell whether this city shaped such people, or whether it was they who dyed the city with their flair.

But one as open and forthright as this scholar was rare indeed.

With a few more exchanges, the two became quite familiar. “There’s no rain today. Why the umbrella, young master?”

Meng Qiqi spun the umbrella in his hand. “It’s going to rain soon.”

The boatman looked up at the sky. It did seem like poor weather today, though not a single drop had fallen yet. It was just colder than usual. Seeing that the scholar was so lightly dressed, he was about to ask if he wanted a rain cloak, but before he could speak, a raindrop landed right on his lips.

Huh? It really did start raining?

The boatman looked surprised. “Young master, you really do have a golden tongue.”

Meng Qiqi merely smiled without answering. His calm and leisure made the people scrambling along both banks to take shelter from the rain seem all the more bedraggled by comparison. The boatman quickly pulled on his rain cloak and put on a bamboo hat. When he looked back up at Meng Qiqi, he felt more than ever that this scholar was not an ordinary man.

And Meng Qiqi truly was no ordinary man. He had already known exactly when the rain would fall. Today’s round of the competition focused on spell techniques. He had heard, by chance, that the Wang clan had acquired a scroll of the Wind and Thunder Technique about a year ago. The technique did not depend on any specific weapon, and it happened to complement the sword technique cultivated by Wang Ziqian. That meant there was an eight or nine out of ten chance that the spell used in today’s match would be the Wind and Thunder Technique.

Judging by the timing, there should already be cultivators attempting to cast the spell. The air had felt heavy and still, but once the Wind and Thunder Technique came into play, a downpour was only a matter of moments.

The boatman, idle again, struck up another conversation. “Young master, have you found the boat you were looking for?”

Meng Qiqi shook his head. Last night, he had chased that masked man through half the city of Jinling. They had exchanged blows again along the way, but the other side had too many people. In the end, the man still managed to escape.

After that, Meng Qiqi decided to stay hidden and stopped making moves. He tailed the group all the way onto a pleasure barge.

He had originally planned to sneak aboard and investigate, but from a distance, he spotted a figure in a hooded cloak. At once, he slipped back into the shadows.

A black robe and a hood. He could not help but think of the bell-ringer from the secret realm. He had already begun to suspect that the masked figure from last night was connected to that bell-ringer, which was why he had deliberately tried to draw him out.

All that talk about Zhou Ziheng waiting for him had been utter nonsense.

At this very moment, the decorated barge was right ahead of Meng Qiqi’s boat. He had already been tailing it all morning. The boatman had no idea that Meng Qiqi had found his target early on, nor did he realize that each time he changed course, it was because Meng Qiqi had spoken to him and subtly redirected his choices. When Meng Qiqi asked about the layout of the river channels in this area, the boatman had readily explained everything he knew.

So their little boat no longer followed directly behind the larger one, yet somehow they always happened to cross paths again. There were many boats on the river here, making such encounters appear entirely unremarkable.

Meng Qiqi was waiting for a moment when he could make his move. But the barge simply meandered through the waterway without purpose. It never approached a dock, and no one ever boarded or disembarked.

As for whether the figure in the hood truly was the bell-ringer, Meng Qiqi could not yet be certain. But when that masked man said, “Wuyan is in their hands,” Meng Qiqi had believed it, at least seventy percent.

He could feel that their ambush last night had not been an attempt to kill him. What they wanted was to use Wuyan to negotiate. If their goal had simply been to eliminate him, they could have attacked outright. There had been no need to go to such lengths.

Assuming that the Third Elder was one of their people, then everything made sense.

They had abducted the real Wuyan and replaced him with someone under their control. That meant Wuyan truly was in their hands. Now that the cover had been blown, the real Wuyan had lost all value to them. Throwing him out to strike a deal with Meng Qiqi, while dragging the Wang clan into the mess, was simply too convenient to pass up.

Even so, all of this remained speculation on Meng Qiqi’s part. He still needed proof.

“Boatman, do you recognize that boat up ahead?” Meng Qiqi asked casually.

The boatman squinted through the fine rain and slanting wind. His vision was not as sharp in this weather, but after a lifetime on the water, he was thoroughly familiar with all kinds of boats. He stared for a while, then said, “Looks like a Wang family boat. Young master, look at the hull. Doesn’t it seem to have some spots painted with gold powder?”

Meng Qiqi’s eyesight was far keener than the boatman’s. He had already noticed it at a glance. He nodded, and the boatman laughed. “Then that’s it. In all of Jinling, who could possibly outshine the Wang family in wealth? If someone mentions the Wang residence, they’re not talking about some prince’s mansion. They mean the Wang family. That clan really is something else.”

For ordinary folk, the pursuit of immortality was far too distant a matter. The glory and extravagance of the Wang clan alone were already enough to inspire awe.

Suddenly, a crash of thunder echoed from the distance. A silver bolt of lightning split through the overcast sky and reflected in the boatman’s wide eyes.

“This rain’s been falling steady, so where’s all this thunder coming from?”

The thunder rolled in waves, one after another, until it formed an unbroken roar. Stranger still, the lightning and thunder seemed to be concentrated in one distant area, while above the boatman’s head, there were no storm clouds at all.

“What in the world…” The boatman’s tongue froze in place.

Meng Qiqi, however, was looking past the curtain of rain, his eyes fixed on the thunderclouds in the distance.

---

The first cultivator to successfully summon lightning was a rogue cultivator with an unconventional style. His life-bound weapon was even rarer than Xiao Yu’er’s bow. It was a Thunderhammer, a weapon with an innate advantage in summoning lightning.

Seven strikes. That was the final result he achieved. For a rogue cultivator to comprehend an incomplete spell technique and still manage to draw seven bolts of heavenly thunder in one attempt, his strength was indeed impressive.

Yet some of the cultivators watching still shook their heads. Among them, Master Yinian and Shen Qingya looking the most regretful.

Xiao Yu’er looked up at Chen Boyan. “Was he not good?”

“He wasn’t bad. He was just too hasty,” Chen Boyan said. As soon as the words left his mouth, the rogue cultivator suddenly turned pale and coughed up a mouthful of blood, startling the people around him.

Dai Xiaoshan stroked his chin and thought for a moment. “I tried it just now too. The vital force drawn by the Wind and Thunder Technique is extremely aggressive. And once the lightning is summoned, it doesn’t just cling to the weapon. It probably enters the cultivator’s body and travels along the meridians as well.”

“What? Wouldn’t that hurt like hell?” Tu Youqiong peeked out from behind Xiao Yu’er, his face full of fear. After going back last night, his senior brother and sister had spent a long time treating his injuries. It had already been miserable enough. He had nearly died from the pain.

Chen Boyan glanced over. “The path of cultivation is not smooth. The power of heavenly lightning may be aggressive, but it can temper the body.”

“B-but Senior Brother, I just got injured yesterday. I absolutely cannot get struck by lightning,” Tu Youqiong said, shivering as he wrapped his arms tightly around Xiao Yu’er’s head, as if clinging to a steady anchor.

To his dismay, Chen Boyan asked in return, “Are your limbs broken?”

Tu Youqiong shook his head with a miserable expression.

“Is your dantian destroyed?”

He continued to shake his head.

“Your limbs are intact. Your dantian is unharmed. You are a man. You should stand tall with a righteous heart. Why should you fear a little pain?” Chen Boyan’s tone remained calm, but each sentence made Tu Youqiong’s heart quiver. If he had known it would turn out like this, he would never have come along today. Senior Sister had said he could rest at Chanhua Tower. He regretted it. He truly regretted it.

Xiao Yu’er patted his hand. “Senior Brother, let go, let go. You’re going to strangle me.”

Tu Youqiong quickly let go of Xiao Yu’er, but still refused to come out from behind him. He only peeked out with his round, dark eyes, sneaking glances at Chen Boyan. Behind him, Chen Boxi was giggling, clearly enjoying the show. He had spent the night at Chanhua Tower, and since Meng Qiqi had not been there, he had shamelessly clung to Chen Boyan and insisted on sleeping in the same bed.

Tu Youqiong was sure something had short-circuited in Chen Boxi. He had been laughing non-stop since yesterday, even when nothing was funny, and half the time he was laughing at him.

How could anyone be that easy to amuse? Maybe he was laughing on behalf of Senior Brother too, and that was why Chen Boyan always looked so serious. Tu Youqiong found this highly suspicious.

But Chen Boyan’s next words immediately cast Chen Boxi’s soul into the cold, wind-blown rain.

“Fangxin, you go with Youqiong.”

Chen Boxi said nothing.

Tu Youqiong burst out laughing. “Hahahahaha…”

Dai Xiaoshan shook his head and sighed. “Tell me, isn’t our junior brother a bit of a fool?”

Mu Guinian replied with his usual cold expression, “Mm.”

“And what about our senior brother’s little brother? Doesn’t he seem a little… you know?” Dai Xiaoshan continued.

“Mm.”

“Fourth Junior Brother, can’t you say more than just ‘mm’ when you talk to your seniors?”

Mu Guinian finally turned to glance at him. “What do you want to hear?”

Dai Xiaoshan looked him straight in the eyes. “For example, instead of always saying ‘mm,’ you could say something like ‘alright.’ That would work too.”

But Mu Guinian’s gaze remained completely unreadable. He answered with two words.

“Not happening.”

Dai Xiaoshan fell silent.

After a moment, he turned to the person standing on his other side. “Junior Brother Xiao…”

---

Tu Youqiong, Chen Boxi, and Xiao Yu’er had squeezed their way up to the tower platform. The three boys stood in a neat row, heads tilted upward, studying the incomplete spell technique.

After counting ten breaths, Tu Youqiong asked, “Did you understand any of it?”

Both Chen Boxi and Xiao Yu’er shook their heads. Tu Youqiong propped his chin on his hand, pretending to ponder. Chen Boxi thought he had figured something out and quickly asked, “What did you see?”

“Nothing. I was just wondering if Senior Brother will hit me if I can’t use the technique.”

Xiao Yu’er blinked his big eyes and gently patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Senior Brother. If you can’t summon the lightning, our senior brother can do it for you. He’s amazing. I bet he could call down dozens at once.”

Both Tu Youqiong and Chen Boxi froze in place. Just as Xiao Yu’er began to wonder if someone had struck their acupoints, the two of them suddenly clasped hands with great determination.

“Believe in yourself. We can do this.”

At that moment, on another balcony behind the tower, Qing Gu squatted on the ground, staring curiously at Wang Ziling. “What’s wrong with you? Your hair is standing up.”

“Great grandaunt,” Wang Ziling sat on the floor with a face full of sincerity, “just look at me. This is exactly what someone who’s been struck by lightning looks like. Can’t you see I’m still smoking?”