Chapter 21 — An Elder in the Wrong Town

CHAPTER 21

An Elder in the Wrong Town

“Shi Feng! Stop right there!” Shi Hong shouted.

Shi Feng had just bought a whetstone when the voice came from the inn steps. He turned and saw his cousin standing beside a loaded trade carriage.

Shi Hong wore a blue robe with silver cuffs. A new sword hung at his waist. He looked delighted, which immediately made the meeting less promising.

Behind him stood Second Elder Shi Zhen, holding a teacup.

The clan's mark was painted on the carriage. They'd come to Yunze Town on trade business, not to find him. Shi Feng could see bolts of cloth beneath the driver's seat and two servants carrying sample boxes into the inn.

He put the whetstone in his pack.

“Second Elder,” Shi Feng said. “Cousin.”

Shi Zhen looked him over. The last time they met, the youth's robe hung loosely from his shoulders. Now he stood straight, his hands looked steady, and his ordinary sword showed fresh use.

“You've been eating well,” Shi Zhen said.

“Yes,” Shi Feng said.

Shi Hong's smile stiffened. He'd expected embarrassment, not agreement.

“People say you're gathering medicine,” Shi Hong said. “Show us what you've found.”

“Why?” Shi Feng asked.

Shi Zhen set down his cup.

“Don't speak to your cousin that way,” Shi Zhen said. “You've been away long enough. Load your things onto the carriage. We're returning after the market closes.”

Shi Feng didn't move.

“I didn't say I was going back,” Shi Feng said.

Several people slowed near the inn. A family elder claiming a wandering junior was familiar enough. A junior refusing in the middle of the street was worth watching.

Shi Zhen frowned.

“The clan raised you,” Shi Zhen said. “Don't forget your roots just because you've earned a few spirit stones.”

“The clan sent me away,” Shi Feng said. “I've found my own food since then.”

“Watch your mouth!” Shi Hong snapped.

Shi Feng looked at him. He felt no fear and very little anger. His cousin was still the same boy who mistook a louder voice for a better argument.

Shi Zhen was different. The elder looked at the bottles tied inside the open pack and recognized the pale liquid.

“Jade Marrow Dew?” Shi Zhen said.

Shi Hong's head turned at once.

Even in the clan, he couldn't drink that medicine whenever he wanted. Now the cripple carried two bottles through the street as though they were ordinary water!

Shi Hong drew himself taller and looked around for witnesses. Several merchants knew the clan's name. If his useless cousin obeyed in front of them, the story would return to Qingshi Town well before the carriage did.

“I've opened one hundred and eighty-two meridians,” Shi Hong announced. “Do you know what that means?”

“You opened six more,” Shi Feng said.

Shi Hong tugged his sleeve up to show the bead bracelet marking his count. One bead had a fresh scratch where the number was changed.

“I haven’t had the new ones carved yet!” Shi Hong snapped.

“Nobody asked,” Shi Feng replied.

The sleeve came down again. His cousin wanted the street to admire six new meridians, but now everyone was looking at an old bracelet.

Shi Hong froze. He wanted awe, not subtraction.

“It means my future matters to the clan!” Shi Hong snapped. “That medicine should go to somebody who can use it!”

“Then gather some,” Shi Feng said.

The merchant beside the carriage covered his smile with a sample cloth. Shi Zhen saw it and became impatient. The boy was refusing to play his part, and the onlookers were enjoying it too much.

“That belongs in the clan store,” Shi Hong said. “You can't even cultivate. Give it here!”

He reached for the pack.

Shi Feng caught his wrist.

Shi Hong tried to pull away. His arm stayed where it was.

“Let go!” Shi Hong shouted.

“Then keep your hands to yourself,” Shi Feng said.

Shi Hong kicked at his knee.

The kick landed. Shi Feng didn't shift. Pain shot through Shi Hong's ankle, and his expression changed.

He was still in Meridian Opening. He couldn't meaningfully hurt a Bone Refinement body, much less Shi Feng's. No qi showed on the street, so the onlookers saw only a failed kick and a wrist caught in a firm grip.

Shi Hong's face reddened.

“Father!” Shi Hong cried.

Shi Zhen stepped down from the inn.

“Release him,” Shi Zhen said coldly.

Shi Feng let go and moved his pack to the other shoulder. Shi Hong backed away, rubbing his wrist. Then he saw the crowd and became even angrier.

“He attacked me!” Shi Hong shouted.

“You kicked him first!” someone called.

“And grabbed his medicine.”

“Didn't the Shi clan say he was useless?”

“Then why do they want him back?”

Shi Zhen's expression darkened. He didn't care what these townspeople thought, but he cared that they were laughing at his family.

The elder had reached Qi Condensation. He gathered a little qi beneath his sleeve, intending to seize Shi Feng's arm and drag him into the inn before the spectacle grew worse. His hand closed around Shi Feng's upper arm.

It might as well have closed around a stone pillar. Shi Feng turned and pulled the elder's hand free.

Shi Zhen stared at him.

“Second Elder, we're not in your courtyard,” Shi Feng said. “Keep your hands to yourself too.”

He gave the older man one short push.

Shi Zhen stumbled backward onto the inn steps. His heel caught the edge. He sat down hard beside the teacup he'd abandoned.

The driver hurried away from the carriage and helped him stand.

Shi Hong was stunned. His father was an elder! How could a cripple shove him around in public?

“It's medicine!” Shi Hong blurted. “He found something that strengthens the body!”

Shi Zhen seized the explanation at once.

“You waste clan resources on this nonsense?” Shi Zhen demanded.

“My resources,” Shi Feng said.

He hadn't shown a thread of qi. Let them call it medicine. That explanation cost him nothing.

The elder stood, furious but unwilling to risk another public fall. He pointed toward the carriage.

“If you refuse today, don't expect me to speak for you later!” Shi Zhen said.

“You didn't speak for me before,” Shi Feng said.

Then he walked away.

Behind him, two Qingshi Town cloth dealers standing by the inn rail didn’t even wait for the dust to settle before leaning together.

“Did you see that? The Second Elder grabbed him with Qi Condensation force and ended up sitting on the steps!”

“Wait until the east-road carters bring this back to Qingshi Town—the whole market will hear how Second Elder Shi went sprawling before his own carriage gets home!”

Shi Zhen’s face turned the color of iron. Beneath his cuff, his wrist still throbbed where Shi Feng’s arm had felt like tempered stone. “At the year-end test,” Shi Zhen muttered through his teeth as his servants pretended to find their boxes very heavy, “we’ll see what his aunt has left when the elders call his name.”

Shi Feng bought a clean robe at the next street.

The shopkeeper measured his shoulders, named the price, and waited while he paid. There was no need to bargain over a fair charge. He changed behind a hanging cloth and put the old robe in his pack.

Outside, two boys were arguing over which carriage horse was faster. One insisted the white one would win because white horses belonged to heroes. The other pointed out that this one was chewing its tether.

Shi Feng stopped only long enough to move past the loose end of the rope. His relatives hadn't spoiled the day. That surprised him less than it once would have.

He thought: they still believe they can order me around. Let them keep believing it from Qingshi Town.

At the noodle stall, the cook placed a full bowl before him and asked whether he wanted more meat. Shi Feng said yes.

He ate slowly, sharpened his sword afterward, and spent the afternoon refining the medicine from the spring. The changes inside his first few bones remained small, but each day added something useful.

Later, the innkeeper asked whether the elder would pay for his room. Shi Feng said no and paid for it himself. The man took the stones, put down a clean towel, and asked no further questions.

From the open window, Shi Feng could hear Shi Hong shouting at a servant over a missing pair of gloves. The gloves turned up in the carriage a moment later. The servant was scolded for finding them too slowly.

Shi Feng shut the window and returned to his breathing exercise. By dusk, the clan carriage rolled toward the eastern road.

Shi Hong sat inside rather than riding where townspeople could see him. Shi Zhen kept the curtain closed. Shi Feng watched them pass from the noodle stall and returned to his bowl.

He wasn't going after them.

His road lay west.