I'm here in the martial arts world just to find love.

On their journey from Qingxi Town to Yunmeng Mountain, with the addition of Su E and Lu Jing, Jiang Chao and Chu Nvxia, who had just bought a yellow horse, could no longer compete in riding skills.

A handsome young man and a beautiful young woman flanked a light carriage, one on each side.

The coachman was also a young man.

It was Lu Jing, the young apprentice at the medical clinic.

Jiang Chao never expected that this rather thin-looking young man, who probably weighed less than 80 pounds and had thin arms and legs, would actually have the skill of driving a horse-drawn carriage.

Seemingly noticing Jiang Chao's scrutiny, Lu Jing, while gripping the reins, turned to him with a shy smile and explained:

"When Mr. Su and I went out of town to collect yams from the villages below, we often had to drive a horse-drawn cart. Mr. Su's eyesight wasn't very good, so it wasn't easy for her to drive the cart. I usually drove it, and over time, I learned how to do it."

Having found the answer, Jiang Chao nodded in understanding and said:

"So that's how it is, no wonder."

The road after leaving Qingxi Town was not smooth, so the carriage traveled slowly. Jiang Chao, who was riding a horse, could not ride at full speed. With nothing else to do, the young man simply chatted with this peer who was skilled at driving the carriage and could also talk to him while driving.

The boy was shy, but not timid, and answered Jiang Chao's questions fluently.

Meanwhile, the female knight-errant Chu, riding her not-so-purebred yellow horse, approached the side of the carriage and whispered to Su E, a young woman whose arm was resting on the window.

Su Lang was a skilled doctor with a kind and gentle nature. Naturally, the female knight-errant Chu, who had been treated by him, had a very good impression of him, and their doctor-patient relationship was extremely harmonious.

Jiang Chao didn't pay attention to what the two women, who were more than ten years apart in age, were talking about. Instead, he started talking about Lu Jing's identity and background.

According to Lu Jing, he was from Qingxi Town. He lost his mother at a young age, and his father ran a tofu shop. The father and son depended on each other for many years. Although they lived a rather poor but stable life, they did not have much to live on.

Two years ago, an incident occurred when Qingxi Town was attacked by bandits, and Lu Jing's family, who lived on the edge of Qingxi Town, was unfortunately the first to be hit.

The tofu shop was brutally destroyed by the bandits. Lu's father, who was grinding tofu at home at the time, was also killed by the bandits and perished in the fire.

The boy happened to be out delivering tofu at the time, which is how he narrowly escaped disaster.

Later, a group of bandits appeared out of nowhere, killed several people, robbed them of their valuables, and left. Young and weak Lu Jing had nowhere to go, so he had to beg for food in Qingxi Town. When he passed by Huichuntang and asked for food, he was taken in by the old doctor there and became his apprentice.

When these past events were mentioned, Jiang Chao was quite surprised to find that the boy's eyes did not show much resentment or pain.

The boy remained calm, with a carefree smile even playing on his lips.

It was as if these things hadn't happened to him, but to someone else.

Leaving aside the fact that killing one's father is an irreconcilable feud, and that it is against human ethics and common sense, it is intolerable to people.

It is only natural that a father and son who had relied on each other for many years were separated by death due to this calamity. Even if the young man did not think about avenging his father, he should at least show some sadness when mentioning this matter.

However, the other party did not.

As the boy recounted these events to Jiang Chao, the expression on his thin face remained calm and serene.

Jiang Chao, being a young man himself, felt he couldn't be so magnanimous, so he couldn't help but ask, "Don't you want to avenge your father?"

"Revenge? Young Master Jiang is joking. Those bandits came and went without a trace. I was young and weak at the time, and it was a miracle that I survived."

  

Lu Jing shook his head, then smiled and said, "Besides, when will this cycle of revenge end? Even if I suddenly have the ability to kill my enemies and those thieves, what difference will it make? My father will still never come back. So I choose to let go and live in the present."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chao was suddenly moved.

It's not that Lu Jing's words were particularly profound, but rather that the character the young man displayed through them was truly rare and precious.

The most valuable quality in a person is self-awareness. To knowingly walk into a tiger's den is the act of a reckless fool, not a hero, much less a good man.

As the boy said, even if he had the chance, what difference would it make if he killed those bandits? Could his dead father come back to life?

When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out; naturally, that's not possible.

What's the point of living with this hatred on one's shoulders?

His life and his future will not be changed by the relief of hatred; on the contrary, he will live in pain and regret forever until he is tormented to death by these emotions.

It turns out that there aren't that many so-called joyful grudges and tribulations in the martial arts world.

More than anything, it's a sense of helplessness, a compromise made after recognizing one's own limitations...

Compared to the exhilaration of revenge, accepting compromise seems to require even more courage.

Jiang Chao was touched, not in the sense that he understood some principle, but in the sense that he had a clearer understanding of the true nature of the world down the mountain.

Chu Ning and Su E in the carriage overheard their conversation.

Su E naturally knew about the boy's background, but this was the first time Chu the Heroine had heard of it.

When the young man recounted his past experiences, the girl's face showed anger, and she cursed the bandits in her heart, thinking they deserved to die. But after hearing what Lu Jing said next, the heroine Chu finally couldn't hold back anymore.

"How can I not avenge the murder of my father?"

"If we don't avenge this blood feud, wouldn't we be unworthy to be called sons?"

The girl's eyes widened, her long, bright eyes almost spitting fire, as if she were the one who had witnessed it. Her chest heaved violently with anger, and the riding whip in her hand creaked loudly.

"Tell me about the origins of those bandits, and I'll kill those scourges for you someday!"

Upon hearing Chu's murderous words, Lu Jing, who had been quite calm just moments before, couldn't help but shrink back.

Su E beckoned to Chu Ning and gently advised him:

"Alright, alright, Ning'er, so much time has passed since then. I suppose those bandits have disappeared somewhere."

"If you're still angry, you can take action when you encounter bandits robbing you on the mountain in the future."

Jiang Chao remained silent, feeling that the woman in front of him, Chu, was truly a person of strong character.

She was quick to defend the weak and hated evil; her chivalrous heart made her a woman whom Jiang Chao admired.

This is how a female knight-errant should be.

A minor disturbance caused by casual conversation during the journey was thus resolved.

About half a day after they left Qingxi Town, they passed by a post station surrounded by a courtyard wall.

Jiang Chao looked at the post station and suggested that everyone stop there for a meal and a short rest.

Since it was still early before dark and they weren't in a hurry to travel, everyone agreed with the suggestion.

The inn looked quite new from the outside, not like it had been neglected for a long time. However, when the group pushed open the gate of the inn, they found that the inn was not as good as it seemed, and the inside was actually dilapidated.

More importantly, the group also discovered several skeletons in the courtyard. The skeletons had been dead for an unknown period of time and had long since decayed, leaving only their clothes scattered on the ground.

Jiang Chao was not surprised by this scene. After all, the official road they were traveling on had been abandoned for many years. Along the way, there were few people, not to mention villages, they had not even encountered a single person from the martial arts world.

Therefore, it's not surprising to see anything here.

The reason for choosing this route is that it is the closest official road to Yunmeng Mountain in a straight line.

On the other hand, this was also Su E's suggestion.