Chapter 1107 — A Courteous Exchange

CHAPTER 1107

A Courteous Exchange

“This Mu is Mu Hanzhi, of the Myriad Marrow Sect,” Mu Hanzhi said, bowing with the letter held out in both hands. “This Mu asks the Pavilion’s 6 Mark for an exchange of pointers. Today, if he’s willing.”

He gave the correct bow for a Tianxing addressing a Pavilion guest elder. He was about twenty-five, tall, with a square, serious face and big hands, and the knuckles of both were calloused white. His peak Shattering Void aura was solid and even.

Shi Feng sat on the bench in the herb house with his ribs bound under his robe and took the letter.

It was an introduction on heavy paper, sealed with the Situ house’s mark. Elder Situ Mingyuan of the Situ house commended to the Pavilion’s 6 Mark the bearer, Mu Hanzhi, tenth of the Hundred Famed Tianxing, who had long admired the 6 Mark’s martial skill and wished to learn from it.

Shi Feng read it twice. Then he read it aloud, so that the manager, Lin Langtian and Qin Wuyan heard every word.

“Tenth,” the manager whispered behind the counter, frightened and pale. “The tenth of the Tianxing, in Pinefall.”

Shi Feng folded the letter and looked up at Mu Hanzhi.

“First,” Shi Feng said, “three days ago bandits opened my ribs in the square outside this door, and today you arrive. Second, Pinefall isn’t on any road a Myriad Marrow disciple would travel. Someone told you where I was. Third, this letter is from a Situ elder. A Situ censor is telling the Censorate I’m missing in the wilds, and a Situ elder knew which herb house to send you to.”

The herb house was very quiet.

“Someone knew I was hurt,” Shi Feng said. “And sent you to see how badly.”

Mu Hanzhi was embarrassed. His ears went red, but he didn’t look away.

“This Mu won’t pretend the timing is chance,” Mu Hanzhi said. “This Mu was asked to come, and came. What the asker wants is the asker’s business. This Mu only wants the exchange.” He bowed again. “If the Master refuses, this Mu will leave and say the Master refused because he was hurt. Nothing more.”

Shi Feng believed him, and that worried him. Mu Hanzhi would carry home an honest report saying the Pavilion’s 6 Mark had turned down the tenth of the Tianxing. The next man they sent wouldn’t be honest.

“I accept,” Shi Feng said. “On three terms.”

“Please,” Mu Hanzhi said.

“Tomorrow at noon, not today,” Shi Feng said, holding up one finger. “You asked for now. I’m asking for one night’s sleep. Second, on the threshing floor, in daylight, with the whole town watching, so nobody can write a different story about it afterwards.” He held up a third finger. “And a wager. One hundred thousand spirit stones. Then this is a match with stakes, not an inspection, and everyone watching will know it.”

Mu Hanzhi considered it for one breath. Then he smiled for the first time, pleased.

“This Mu accepts all three,” Mu Hanzhi said. “A match with stakes suits this Mu better.”

“Then tomorrow at noon,” Shi Feng said.

Mu Hanzhi bowed and went out to find an inn.

By nightfall, the whole of Pinefall knew. By midnight, the villages around it knew. The herb boy ran from house to house with a creased Tianji issue from Hanyuan, reading the lines aloud to anyone who would listen.

“Tenth! Mu Hanzhi, Myriad Marrow Sect! It’s right here!”

“And the young one who killed the bandit captain? Is he in there?”

“He’s in there! Sixth! Shi Feng, sixth!”

“Sixth against tenth? In our Pinefall? My ancestors must be smoking in their graves!”

Lin Langtian heard all of it from the window and was delighted. Before the night was over he had borrowed a table, a lamp and a ledger from the manager, and set himself up in the street outside the herb house with a sign that said BETS, BOTH SIDES.

“Sixth on the Tianxing, but carrying five broken ribs!” Lin Langtian shouted to the crowd. “Tenth on the Tianxing, fresh as a spring onion! Who’s going to win? Nobody knows! Yours Truly takes money on both! Step up, step up!”

The money came in fast. Hunters bet on the young man who’d saved the market. Salt traders bet on the tenth, who wasn’t hurt. A few old men bet on both, and Lin Langtian praised their wisdom.

Shi Feng came down late that night, uneasy about what Lin Langtian was doing. The ledger was already three pages long.

“You’re taking bets against me,” Shi Feng said.

“Against you and for you,” Lin Langtian said, without looking up. “Senior Brother is neutral. Senior Brother is a businessman.”

Lin Langtian finished writing a line and blew on it before he looked up. He wasn’t cheerful now. He was worried.

“Junior Brother,” Lin Langtian said quietly. “That boy is honest, and he’s good. But the man who sent him is neither. Somebody wants to know how much is left of you after the basin. Losing to a man sent to measure you would be very stupid.”

“I know,” Shi Feng said. “That’s why I asked for the night.”

“Good,” Lin Langtian said, grinning again. “Also, I’ve got a lot of money on the line.”

The threshing floor at the south edge of town was a circle of beaten earth forty paces across, inside a low stone rim. By noon the next day, people crowded the rim, the granary roof and the pine trees behind it. Half the county had come. The magistrate had sent his empty sedan chair to hold a good place.

Mu Hanzhi stood in the middle in the plain brown robe of the Myriad Marrow Sect, with his sleeves tied back. He bowed, and the crowd quieted.

“Hundred Marrow Fist,” Mu Hanzhi said. “Please instruct this Mu.”

Shi Feng stepped onto the threshing floor with the grey Sword in his right hand and five bound ribs under his robe, and bowed back.