Chapter 63, Year’s End and Laba Festival

Translator: StarReader

 

Another year flew by unknowingly.

 

The somber atmosphere enveloped the Medicine King Estate, blanketed in pristine snow, trees and eaves adorned with icicles, while a chilling wind swept through.

 

Su Chen, dressed in his usual attire, completed an hour of practice in The Mayfly Chapter’s Dormancy stage. He arrived at the Errand Hall compound to find disciples bustling about, preparing for the annual cleaning, burning incense, and offering sacrifices—preparations for the imminent festival.

 

Newcomers among the junior disciples, guided by young seniors like Kong Xinqiao, were crafting grand red lanterns and creating firecrackers from bamboo tubes filled with saltpeter to ward off evil spirits. Others were busy preparing Laba congee and sacrificial offerings, with laughter echoing through the courtyard, filling it with merriment.

 

“Laba again?”

 

Su Chen gazed at the familiar yearly spectacle, momentarily startled as he remembered tomorrow would be the Laba Festival. His mood dipped, and a faint sigh escaped him.

 

Each year during Laba, memories of his childhood in Zhou Village surfaced. He recalled celebrating with his parents, offering sacrifices to their ancestors, and preparing the salty congee on the old fishing boat’s stove, enhanced with an extra scoop of pork fat, bits of meat, a pinch of salt, and chopped scallions, emitting a rich aroma.

 

His younger brother and sister would hover nearby, eyes wide with anticipation as they peered into the pot, their eagerness to dig in evident on their faces—a time filled with simple joy.

 

[Are my parents well? Have my second brother and third sister gotten new clothes?]

 

In recent years, he often asked Uncle Zhang to bring money back to Zhou Village. Every time Uncle Zhang came to Medicine King Estate to visit Tieniu, he never said anything was amiss with his family. He just brought a few words for his parents, asking him to work hard at Errand Hall and not miss home, in order to repay the kindness of the Medicine King Group for taking him in.

 

He figured everything should be fine at home.

 

However, in the cold twelfth month of that year, he ran away from home in grief and sadness and came to Gusu County City to make a living. He almost starved to death on the street. Fortunately, his good friend Ah Chou helped him through the difficulties. After joining Medicine King Group, he survived those harsh days.

 

Thinking of that winter, he often woke up in his dreams, panicked, and couldn’t sleep all night. [Will this knot in my heart ever get untied?]

 

Snowflakes fell once more from the gray sky.

 

“It’s snowing again… and it’s still as cold as before.”

 

Su Chen looked a little gloomy. He stretched out his fingertips to catch a cold snowflake, staring blankly, as if he was isolated from the world.

 

“Senior Brother Su, what’s wrong?”

 

“Senior Brother Su’s face looks a little gloomy. Feeling unwell? Did you catch a cold? Senior Brother, take a good rest! We will take care of the work in the hall!”

 

Some low-level errand disciples who were in and out of the Errand Hall were surprised to see Su Chen in a daze. They greeted him and showed concern.

 

“No way! Senior Brother Su is looking more and more like an expert every day. He was spellbound by the drifting snow and must’ve come to a profound realization for training a special skill. He’s nothing like disciples like us with weak talent can compare with.”

 

Kong Xinqiao was busy teaching the new girls to tie red lanterns, chuckling and looking envious as she overheard them.

 

Su Chen scratched his nose.

 

Not long ago, he had requested a mid executive token from the hall. A disciple at the second-rate realm could advance to become a mid executive of the Errand Hall.

 

He hadn’t revealed most of his strength, though; otherwise, he could already be a senior executive, just below the Errand Hall’s leaders and vice leaders—part of its high-ranking management team.

 

But Su Chen preferred to keep a low profile rather than take on more responsibilities as a senior executive.

 

In the eyes of others in the Errand Hall, however, his humility was anything but ordinary.

 

At such a young age, breaking through the second-rate realm in just four or five years and advancing to become a mid executive among hundreds of disciples in the hall was extremely rare.

 

In these three years, many new recruits had joined the Errand Hall. The newcomers viewed Su Chen as a young expert of the hall, holding him in high esteem and admiration.

 

Moreover, Su Chen was known for being kind and approachable—he never picked on the younger disciples, earning him an excellent reputation even among the high executives, who were also full of praise for him.

 

Every time Zhou Mieyan saw Su Chen, he was jealous to the point of madness, but he didn’t provoke him. Because he was only at the second-rate realm, and it took him decades to get to his current position.

 

It was very likely that Su Chen, being only seventeen years old and already on par with him, would sooner or later surpass him in the Errand Hall.

 

“It’s nothing; I just stayed in the estate for too long in the past few months and didn’t go out. I feel a little depressed. You guys do your work; I’ll go to the county city!”

 

Su Chen smiled at Kong Xinqiao and the new errand disciples, sighed, and stopped thinking about those troublesome things.

 

Since tomorrow was Laba Festival, the streets of Gusu County City would be lively. Every household was decorated with lights and colors, preparing for tomorrow’s sacrifice, praying for a good harvest next year.

 

Su Chen thought about strolling around and relaxing and getting a taste of the festive atmosphere so as not to feel crushed by the oppressing sadness. Moreover, villagers from all over the county came to the city to sell New Year goods.

 

He might be able to collect a few spiritual materials. Even if he didn’t find any, at least he could relax.

 

In addition, he’d visit the ruined temple of the city god in the eastern suburbs to find Ah Chou. Su Chen has been practicing in seclusion in the estate and hadn’t seen Ah Chou for several months.

 

…

 

At the ruined temple of the city god, a young martial artist with a dark face and a blue scar was practicing martial arts in an open space in front of the temple. His temples on both sides of his forehead were bulging, his muscles were strong, and his back was steaming. It was obvious that his internal energy was vigorous.

 

Ah Chou’s empty hands tore through the chilling air, whistling from the force and speed behind them.

 

A strong and powerful True Qi surged within a few feet around him, stirring the snow around him.

 

Su Chen knew that Ah Chou loved martial arts, and he liked to practice in the City God Temple every day. There were few outsiders here to disturb him.

 

He came to the City God Temple and saw Ah Chou practicing, bearing the style of a true first-rate martial artist.

 

In the past three years, not only had his own cultivation improved, but so had Ah Chou’s own skills and cultivation.

 

Ah Chou would practice till he bled. He maintains a high-intensity practice for four hours almost every day.

 

In just four or five years, he had become a mid first-class expert, and he could be regarded as a leader of the younger generation in the Heaven Falcon Group.

 

Especially in the past six months, many new disciples of the Heaven Falcon Group came to know of this martial arts fanatic named Ah Chou. He became known for working his way from a hard laborer with no status to become a first-rate expert. Even the top leaders of the Heaven Falcon Group admired him and often encouraged new disciples to follow Ah Chou’s example, to endure hardships and the hard training day after day.

 

Unlike Su Chen, Ah Chou chose fierce moves, and the martial arts he learned were still messy, mixing together hundreds of completely different skills of the Heaven Falcon Group.

 

This was not a good way to practice martial arts.

 

However, with the herbal prescription from Su Chen, Ah Chou’s Lower Dantian and Middle Dantian’s True Qi foundation was very solid. As long as the foundation was solid, the power of martial arts would grow ever stronger.

 

In addition, over the past four or five years, Ah Chou had frequently sought out opportunities to spar with Su Chen, another first-rate expert in martial arts, thereby enhancing his combat skills. Surprisingly, Ah Chou carved out a path for himself in martial arts, developing some unconventional techniques.

 

Ah Chou specialized in chaotic techniques. Some young, first-rate experts from the Heaven Falcon Group didn’t take him seriously and challenged him to a fight. However, they were caught off guard by his unexpected, unorthodox moves, often losing with their faces covered in dust.

 

As Ah Chou noticed Su Chen approaching, he paused in surprise and excitement, lowering his fists and saying, “Brother Chen, it’s been a while since you’ve come to the city. What brings you here today?”

 

“Ah Chou, it’s been months since we last met. Your martial arts have improved again! I’ve been staying at the Medicine King Estate for too long, feeling restless today, so I decided to come to the city for a stroll. I thought you might be here cultivating your martial arts, so I came over to take a look.”

 

Su Chen smiled and strolled leisurely to the temple’s front.

 

“Exactly! I’ve been burying myself in training for three months, and my martial arts have made great progress. Let’s spar and test out the new martial arts techniques I’ve learned. Here goes—!”

 

Ah Chou grinned with pride and suddenly pushed off from the ground, his figure darting forward like a shadow, unleashing a fierce gust of wind as he charged at Su Chen, delivering several newly learned tricks.

 

Su Chen’s gaze narrowed; his figure flickered, and with a few quick steps, he casually sidestepped, evading Ah Chou’s dangerous, unconventional moves.

 

Although Su Chen only cultivated three entry-level martial arts techniques—the fundamentals of punching, kicking, and footwork—he had long surpassed the stage of breaking one move with another. Instead, it was ‘no technique outperformed technique.’

 

For him, the opponent’s martial arts were instantly broken down into a series of simple body movements. And these movements, to Su Chen, held no secrets whatsoever. Even if they contained powerful True Qi, their telltale signs were obvious.

 

Su Chen didn’t have any moves himself, and, to him, neither did the enemy.

 

Ah Chou bellowed and unleashed a series of lightning-fast punches, each brimming with fierce and ruthless True Qi. The power radiated from his fists tore through the air, but not a strand touched Su Chen.

 

“Again!” Ah Chou roared, realizing this approach wouldn’t work against Su Chen.

 

He stamped his foot hard on the ground, sending a powerful kick charged with True Qi crashing into the stone pavement in front of the temple. The impact shattered the thick stone pavement into powder and sand, creating a cloud of dust that spread thirty meters in all directions.

 

Ah Chou saw it as his only chance to land a hit on Su Chen. But to his astonishment, even amidst the blinding dust and flying debris, he still couldn’t get anywhere near Su Chen’s shadow.

 

Ah Chou unleashed a devastating flurry of kicks, but as each strike missed its mark, Su Chen vanished into the swirling sandstorm.

 

Ah Chou’s expression turned bewildered as he called out, “Brother Chen, with all this dust, you can’t even see anything. How do you keep dodging me?”

 

Su Chen’s voice carried calm as he replied, stepping on Ah Chou’s leg with a controlled force that instantly threw him off balance. “I can hear you… I told you before, always leave yourself an out when attacking. If not, you’ll pay the price against stronger opponents.”

 

Ah Chou, he fell to the ground with a loud plop.

 

After months of brutal training, he still couldn’t win. He was a mid first-rate expert that beat any of his peers in the Heaven Falcon Group, but only Su Chen was always out of reach. The gap wasn’t just a fraction but much larger.

 

“This isn’t a sparring match; I was holding back. Let’s stop. After another decade of cultivating and reaching late first-rate, I’ll eventually catch up to you.”