Top Scholar

Chapter 317 Reunion of Master and Disciple
The cold wind of December was like a knife, howling mournfully through the mountains and forests.

The night was so dark it seemed impenetrable, and the pale moonlight peeked through the gaps in the clouds, casting the swaying shadows of the pine trees along the roadside into the image of a menacing beast, as if it were about to devour the lone traveler on the mountain path.

The man was Wang Shouren. He was wearing a thin cloth robe, gripping the sword at his waist tightly, and cautiously looking around as he walked.

He always felt like countless eyes were watching him from the shadows, and his palms were already sweating with anxiety.

Suddenly, he tripped, and a taut tripwire appeared before him. Fortunately, Wang Shouren was very alert and agile. Using the momentum of his lunge, he leaped forward and narrowly avoided the net that was falling from the sky.

'Whoosh whoosh whoosh...'

One after another, feathered arrows whistled through the air and arrived!

In that life-or-death moment, Wang Shouren, relying on his years of martial arts training, continued to roll sideways. The arrowhead grazed his shoulder, embedding itself deeply in the ground, its fletching still trembling...

Before Wang Shouren could catch his breath, he turned and was about to dash into the dense forest beside him.

However, suddenly, more than a dozen men in tight-fitting clothes rushed out of the woods, brandishing swords and knives, and charged at him, forcing him to retreat again.

"Stop! You can't escape now!" Shouts rang out from all directions, and more men in tight-fitting clothes poured out, surrounding him completely.

"Lord Wang, you're really good at running!" A relieved voice rang out. Qian Ning, a centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, stepped forward from the crowd, his face full of admiration. "You've led us on a near-circle tour of the entire Ming Dynasty..."

"You are all on official travel expenses to tour this beautiful land, isn't that wonderful?" Wang Shouren said jokingly.

"Even at a time like this, you can still laugh. You're truly no ordinary person." Qian Ning sighed, then said solemnly, "What a pity, you've fallen into my inescapable net. You can't escape even if you grow wings today!"

"Hehe..." Wang Shouren looked at the layers of Imperial Guards surrounding him, the torches that were lit one after another making his eyes blurry.

Although he had practiced martial arts since childhood, he knew that resistance was futile in the face of these powerful Imperial Guards. He could only slowly lower his hands and sigh, "So be it, my life is over!"

“Very well.” Qian Ning nodded, feigning generosity, and said, “Then I will grant you some face and you may commit suicide…”

"..." Just as Wang Shouren was about to speak, strange cries suddenly rang out all around, with horns and gongs resounding throughout the mountains and forests.

Amidst the strange howls, countless natives clad in short animal skin armor, with vines tied around their waists and hemp leggings wrapped around their knees rushed out of the mountains and forests.

They wore their hair in topknots, adorned with pheasant tail feathers, and painted their foreheads with ochre and vermilion patterns. Carrying long spears and short-handled daggers, they surged towards the mountain path like a tidal wave!

"Quick! Kill him first!" Qian Ning was alarmed upon seeing this and drew his Embroidered Spring Blade, slashing at Wang Yangming's face!
"You just told me to kill myself!" Wang Shouren reacted quickly, drawing his sword to parry and laughing, "A hero doesn't keep his word."

"I was never a hero, I'm just a lackey of the imperial court!" Qian Ning's blade slashed sharply, the force ruthless.

The Imperial Guards standing nearby also drew their weapons, their cold gleams aimed directly at Wang Shouren!

What a Wang Yangming! He used all his skills, his sword spinning out a dazzling halo, and every parry he made precisely deflected the attacks, making it impossible for the Imperial Guards to harm him in the slightest!
At this moment, the vanguard of the barbarian soldiers had already rushed to the front of the Imperial Guards, and countless torches lit up in the mountains and forests, making it appear that there were two or three thousand barbarian soldiers, who had launched a counter-encirclement against them...

"Commander, we're surrounded! If we don't leave now, it'll be too late!" his men urged anxiously. They were just on a mission; they didn't want to risk their lives in the wilderness and be eaten by these cannibals.

Seeing that he couldn't do anything to Wang Shouren for the time being, and that Du Zhangman had thrown his formation into disarray, Qian Ning could only spit out angrily and say, "Withdraw!"

After saying that, he took off running...

The other Imperial Guards also retreated like the tide. Wang Shouren dared not run with them and was thinking of finding another way to escape when a barbarian who was at the forefront suddenly whispered something to him.

He then gave up resisting and was tackled to the ground by the giant...

Several barbarian men yelled and tied Wang Shouren up tightly, then carried him into the depths of the dense forest, disappearing into the pitch-black night.

The remaining barbarians continued shouting and chasing after Qian Ning and his companions relentlessly.

Qian Ning led his men on a ten-mile escape before finally shaking off their pursuers...

"Boss, what kind of bastards are these?" one of his men asked Qian Ning, a local, panting heavily.

“Du Zhangman,” Qian Ning said, panting, “this is the first time I’ve seen their true faces.”

"Now how to do?"

"How would I know?" Qian Ning said dejectedly. "If he fell into the hands of the chieftain, I could try to negotiate. But Du Zhangman is a rebel, who am I supposed to negotiate with?"

"Then how do we explain this to the commander?" the subordinate asked again.

"Explain yourself however you see fit," Qian Ning said irritably. "Even tens of thousands of troops couldn't defeat Du Zhangman, what can we do with so few men?"

"Withdraw!" he ordered.

He's so young and has a bright future ahead of him; he doesn't want to lose his life in these remote mountains of southwest China...
As for Wang Shouren, he was tied up like a dumpling by a group of barbarians and carried for more than ten miles in one go, finally entering a deep mountain cave.

Inside the cave, a bright campfire burned. Beside the fire sat a handsome and refined young Han Chinese man, intently reading a scripture scroll.

Hearing the sound of hurried footsteps, the young man looked up and saw Wang Shouren being carried in. He quickly stood up and said, "Second Brother, quickly release Master Yangming!"

"Hey." The burly man, surprisingly speaking fluent Mandarin, chuckled and said, "Don't let his thin appearance fool you, sir. His martial arts skills are extremely high; even more than ten Imperial Guards couldn't get close to him!"

He then untied the ropes binding Wang Shouren, helped him to his feet, and said, "If you're going to do a proper charade, I apologize for offending you, Mr. Yangming."

"It's alright." Wang Shouren waved his hand, cupped his hands, and asked the young man, "May I ask your esteemed name, benefactor, and what your relationship is with Brother Dejia?"

"Teacher, please don't be too polite to your disciple. Your humble disciple, Su Lu, has been waiting for you for a long time." The young man was none other than Su Lu. He lifted the hem of his robe and knelt down to pay his respects to Yangming Gong.

"Oh, so you are my disciple Hongzhi!" Wang Yangming suddenly realized, and quickly helped Su Lu up with both hands, saying happily, "My virtuous brother Dejia asked me to take you as my disciple, but I didn't expect that before I could even teach you, you would save my life!"

"Teacher, you flatter me," Su Lu said, glancing at the renowned Yangming Gong.

He was a short, wiry man. Perhaps due to his escape, he was extremely thin, with prominent cheekbones that were somewhat jarring, and a unkempt beard. However, his eyes remained sharp and piercing, making people unconsciously overlook his haggard appearance.

"Haha, I was planning to have you come to the capital to see me this year. I never expected that before you even went to the capital, I'd come to Luzhou to see you." Wang Yangming then asked with a laugh, "My good disciple, is there anything to eat? Your master is starving..."

"..." Su Lu was taken aback when he heard this, thinking to himself that this old Wang was quite the social butterfly.

He quickly ordered someone to bring two meat pies, which he then grilled over a fire for Wang Yangming to eat.

Old Wang, however, couldn't wait any longer. He grabbed a card and started munching away, exclaiming, "So delicious..."

He ate too quickly and choked, quickly reaching out to Su Lu, "Water..."

Su Lu hurriedly handed the water bottle to Teacher Wang, who took it and drank two mouthfuls to wash the food down his throat.

"Phew..." Wang Shouren wiped away his tears and breathed a sigh of relief, "I almost choked to death."

"Meat biscuits, teacher, eat slowly," Su Lu said softly.

"Habits formed during the escape can't be broken overnight," Wang Shouren said helplessly. "I have to sleep with one eye open; it's really a real ordeal..."

"It's already an unimaginable miracle that you were able to escape from Fujian to Sichuan while being pursued by the Imperial Guards," Su Lu sincerely praised.

"I also think I'm quite capable," Wang Shouren said with a smile, rubbing his beard. Then he sighed, "But I still got caught by them. Luckily, my good disciple came to my rescue in time... How did you know the Embroidered Uniform Guards were lying in ambush there?"

"This is our own territory..." Su Lu said with a faint smile, "Those Imperial Guards were targeted as soon as they entered Luzhou."

“No wonder Brother Dejia said we would be safe once we reached Luzhou. He wasn’t exaggerating.” Wang Shouren had already started eating his second pancake, and this time he ate much more politely.

He asked Su Lu in a low voice, "Those who saved me weren't all barbarians, were they?"

“Of course not.” Su Lu nodded and said, “They were the local chieftain’s men…and now they’re one of us.”

"I see..." Wang Shouren didn't ask any further questions. After eating and drinking his fill, he sucked his fingers and said to Su Lu in a serious tone, "Liu Jin is determined to get rid of me. I can't let you get involved. My good disciple, prepare another dozen or twenty pancakes for your master, and it would be best if you could also have a map. Then we'll part ways."

"Don't worry, Master. It's too easy to hide someone in these mountains." Su Lu shook his head and smiled. "In short, once we get to Luzhou, you don't need to worry anymore. Just listen to your disciple's arrangements."

"..." Wang Shouren pondered for a moment before nodding and saying, "Alright, then I'll leave it to you, my student."

"Of course," Su Lu replied seriously.

He then said to the giant, "Second brother, tell your sister-in-law's people to go back."

"Hmm." The giant was naturally Su Tai, and the group of men under him disguised as Chengdu barbarians were all Luo Luo warriors of She Yunluo.

Su Lu led Wang Shouren, accompanied by several clansmen, and carried torches into the depths of the cave.

The group walked for an unknown amount of time in the cave, and before the torches burned out, light finally appeared before them.

After emerging from the cave, it was already broad daylight outside, but they were still deep in the mountains and forests. The group traversed mountains and ridges for a long time, and at noon they appeared on a mountain ridge. Below the ridge was a winding river, and on the riverbank was a village built against the mountainside.

“Teacher, welcome to Erlangtan.” Su Lu turned around and smiled at Wang Shouren, “Everyone here is one of us, there’s not a single unfamiliar face. Teacher, you can spend the New Year here in peace, and we can make further plans later.”

"Alright." Wang Shouren nodded and thanked him again, saying, "Thank you, Hongzhi."

P.S. I'll post the two chapters early so everyone can read them and go to bed early. There's still half of Chapter 3 left, so you can read it tomorrow morning too.

(End of this chapter)