Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 986: Chapter 30: The Expert

Song Da and Song San were idly flipping through some books on the bookshelf of this house hidden in the bamboo forest.

These weren’t martial arts secrets, just some Analects or I Ching kind of stuff — vastly different from what they initially thought.

“Hey Ahda, you think Blind Man just brought us along for the company?” Song San asked, looking at Song Da.

Song Da shook his head, bewildered.

Blind Man initially said: “Are you two interested in accompanying me to Mount Wudang?”

Hearing it was Mount Wudang, a holy place, the two agreed without hesitation… only to come here and meet a white-haired disciple?

“Feels like we’ve been duped by Blind Man…” Song Da said, frowning for a moment before finally managing to squeeze out such a sentence.

“Duped! Blind Man just wanted some luggage carriers!” Song San slapped his forehead.

The two simultaneously showed annoyed expressions.

“Let’s go for a walk outside.” Song Da sighed. “At least we’re here for a little sightseeing.”

Song San had no other choice, as after landing in Xiangjiang, they had both gotten new phones, so Blind Man could still reach them.

…

“Master Ancestor, who are the two you brought along?”

In a quiet room of the house, Master Huang Qifa stood respectfully beside Mr. Blind — but now, Mr. Blind was silently ‘looking’ at an old watercolor painting in the room.

The painting depicted an ancient figure, with an immortal aura, gazing at the stars.

“Just some luggage carriers, you don’t need to mind them,” Mr. Blind said slowly, turning around as he spoke. Then, he sat down on a cushion in the room, waving his hand.

Huang Qifa sensibly sat down opposite Mr. Blind — in his lifetime, he had only met this master ancestor four times, including this one, and each time was short.

Yet these encounters spanned nearly his entire life, from a naïve child to his current elder years, but the appearance of the master ancestor never changed.

Those city people who sought him for readings all called him Master Huang, Immortal Huang, though the real Great Sage was this figure before him — the master ancestor must truly be a god-like immortal.

“Hold out your hand,” Mr. Blind suddenly said. “Let me feel your bones first.”

Upon hearing this, Huang Qifa quickly rolled up his sleeve and extended his hand. He knew some bone-reading himself, but it was all self-taught and often unreliable… more often unreliable.

Mr. Blind then said, “Now tell me in detail about the incident you’ve mentioned, and specifically describe the characteristics of this ‘born with the appearance of all living beings’ person.”

Decades of Huang Qifa’s painstaking practice in physiognomy had been disrupted due to that reading, deeply impressed in his memory, he promptly began: “That day, through an introduction, I took on a job that was just supposed to be an ordinary matchmaking reading. But I never expected the young man’s fate and features to be unprecedentedly peculiar.”

Huang Qifa sighed, “It was part overconfidence and eagerness that led me to break the sect’s rules, using the cultivation technique you passed down, Master, to open my ‘eye’ for a clearer look. Unexpectedly, it caused a severe backlash… Since that day, it has been nearly half a year.”

“Hmm… on what day did you meet this person?” Mr. Blind suddenly asked.

Huang Qifa hurriedly provided the exact date and time, even taking out the birth details given by the client at the time.

Mr. Blind then raised his hand, calculating something with his fingers… As he calculated, his brow furrowed, and his fingers moved faster and faster, to the point where Huang Qifa could only see the afterimages of the fingers, feeling increasingly alarmed.

The so-called finger calculation isn’t as simple as laypeople imagine—it contains a large number of complex formulas, requiring extraordinary memory and mental arithmetic skills, otherwise even a lifetime of practice would yield just a superficial understanding, far from mastery.

Originally, the calculation involved should not be reachable by the human brain at its current stage,

Yet, what tightened Huang Qifa’s heart was that Mr. Blind’s fingers suddenly stopped moving—he thought this god-like master ancestor had found an answer, but the master remained silent.

Huang Qifa secretly glanced at the master ancestor’s expression—he hadn’t opened his eyes. Then he glanced at the master’s hand, noticing Mr. Blind’s fingers twitching slightly.

This… did the master’s finger calculations lead to muscle spasms?!

“Get me some water,” Mr. Blind pinched his brow, saying nonchalantly, “My rheumatism from these many years flared up, let me rest a bit.”

So it was rheumatism, that’s fair enough… even though he maintained his youthful appearance, he was still this old.

Huang Qifa thought about his own aging bones, requiring sticking medicinal patches on his back for at least ten days a month… This master ancestor, despite being a god-like figure, still aged like anyone else.

“Please wait, Qifa will immediately brew a pot of hot water for you!”

With that, Huang Qifa quickly got up, eagerly hurried out of the quiet room. Only then did Mr. Blind slowly grasp his own twitching wrist with his other hand.

“It’s not just ‘appearance of all living beingsʼ” he muttered to himself, then stood up to face the watercolor portrait hanging on the wall again.

“Honorable Founder,” Mr. Blind murmured softly, “you once left a dictum that said ‘when Heaven and Earth change, there must first be different beings and appearances’… the esteemed noble descendant from the Song family I encountered in South America, could they be different beings… this person whom Huang Qifa encountered, could they also be different? Even I can’t figure it out.”

…

When Huang Qifa returned with a pot of hot water, Mr. Blind was meditating with closed eyes. Sneaking a glance, he noticed Mr. Blind’s hand had stopped twitching.

What caught his eye was a slip of paper in front of Mr. Blind—Huang Qifa recognized it.

It was due to this paper that the master ancestor had returned from abroad.

February 2, Dragon Raises its Head.

This is an ancient, commonplace saying, what’s the real mystery in it? Though curious, Huang Qifa didn’t hesitate, quickly approaching Mr. Blind.

Seeing Mr. Blind take out a small porcelain bottle from his clothing and hand it to Huang Qifa, he said, “Dissolve the powder inside into the hot water and then drink it.”

“Me?” Huang Qifa was stunned.

“Of course,” Mr. Blind nodded, “beyond the bamboo forest, I observed your brow darkened, with a deathly aura rising from above to your divine canopy, your countenance already reveals a death sign.”

“Is it a disaster of blood and light?” Though versed in physiognomy, Huang Qifa’s expression turned pale as Mr. Blind interpreted, breaking out in a cold sweat.

“No,” Mr. Blind shook his head, “If it were merely a disaster of blood and light, there would be external forces to resolve it. Unfortunately, a death sign is another matter altogether.”

“Master Ancestor, save me!” Huang Qifa pleaded, terror-stricken, kneeling before Mr. Blind, his voice trembling.

“We calculate destiny, heaven and earth, others, but not ourselves—do you know why?” Mr. Blind asked calmly.

Huang Qifa’s voice was bitter. “Helping others avoid calamities is already against the heavens; if we selfishly sought benefits, violating yin and yang, it would provoke divine retribution… Master Ancestor, after calling you last time, I’ve already given away all my wealth… I know my wrongs!”

“Over these years, you’ve revealed heaven’s secrets excessively, albeit not grave matters,” Mr. Blind sighed, “But having altered so many destinies and fortunes, the accumulated transgressions are plentiful, remedying it is too late. Now, not only has your cultivation shattered, but your health also declines, beyond even immortal aid, fearing you won’t last till Mid-Autumn.”

“Master Ancestor, save me, save me!” Huang Qifa cried.

“Take this medicine monthly, and it should help you get through the year.” Mr. Blind stood up, calmly saying, “Take care of yourself. However, in the coming days, you will face a calamity. It’s best not to wander around, but stay here to rest and nurture your mind; perhaps you can get through it…”

Mr. Blind’s voice had already faded into the distance, leaving Huang Qifa sitting on the ground, utterly lost.

The older one gets, the more they fear death.

…

…

Beyond this bamboo forest, there are large areas of woods, outside of which is a well-known scenic spot on Mount Wudang—in fact, the bamboo forest itself is considered part of the Mount Wudang scenery.

However, within the bamboo forest, there is a specially arranged formation, making it easy for ordinary people to get lost and end up walking out without realizing it—though, if viewed from above, there wouldn’t be an issue.

But who would come out here for aerial shots of this tiny bamboo forest?

At this moment, Song Da and Song San found a power pole and squatted beneath it—not for any particular reason, simply because the signal was better here.

This is how it happened: Song San, out of boredom, opened a domestic mobile video site and happened to come across a video related to Mount Wudang, which piqued his curiosity.

“Today’s number one in lightness skill”

The name of the video naturally made Song San very curious—as a martial artist himself, he understood what lightness skill truly meant. Obviously, the feat of stepping on one’s own toes and soaring to the sky seen in TV dramas was achieved through special effects to fool children, but true lightness skill could indeed accomplish feats like traversing rooftops and vertical walls.

“Damn it, I’ve been tricked!” Song San cursed loudly, “What kind of nonsense number one in lightness skill? Damn it, it’s just ordinary parkour!”

Song Da, who was sending SMS to a lady across the ocean, rolled his eyes, saying, “You think martial arts masters are as common as cabbages, ready to be encountered… Moreover, the state machinery has banned martial arts; if there really was such lightness skill, could it be published and circulated online?”

As Song Da was speaking, Song San suddenly showed a ghost-like expression, staring blankly at the sky with his mouth agape, “Ahda, the cabbage master you mentioned just appeared…”

Song Da, astonished, looked up, only to see a figure in the sky, swaying as it descended toward a small grove not far away.

He wasn’t mistaken; it was indeed a descent, not a fall—because both Song Da and Song San saw that the descending figure was carrying another person.

“Could this be the legendary Qi manipulation skill? My goodness, Mount Wudang is indeed one of the holy places!” Song San’s eyes shone brightly.

Song Da couldn’t even continue sending his SMS and quickly stashed his phone in his pocket. He gave Song San a look before hurriedly making his way to the grove where the figures had landed.

When masters meet other masters, of course, they fight!

…

At this moment, from the sky above the grove came a sudden cry.

Ahhhhh—!!

“Watch out!!! Brother!!!”

“Wow—!!!!”

These were clearly two different voices.

The figures fell onto the tree canopy, snapping branches all the way down, finally becoming snagged but still stopping. However, the branches couldn’t support the weight and ultimately broke.

Bang—!

As the figures fell, they separated; one swiftly leapt to the ground, while the other slammed hard into the earth.

“Zhuifeng, you damn bastard, not lending a helping hand!” The figure slammed into the ground cursed vehemently.

“Don’t blame me… reflex action, reflex action, hehe!”

A young man with a cheeky grin approached, helping the fallen figure up and brushing the dirt off him.

They were… Mo Xiaofei and Zhuifeng.

As for why this man and monster appeared here, it dates back to before winter break began.

The true dragon of China had handed over the first disciple, Mo Xiaofei, to Sun Xiaosheng and then left with Luo Dance. Before departing, the true dragon had mentioned the Clothed Daoist could help Mo Xiaofei learn about his past life.

Thus, Mo Xiaofei conceived a plan to take advantage of winter break by sneaking off to Mount Tai—Zhuifeng had his own reasons.

However, as a student, paying for travel expenses was too challenging (Mo Xiaofei, aspiring to be a hero, firmly refused to use his superpowers to conjure money), so he made a decision: travel frugally.

Airplane?

I can fly.

Train?

I can fly.

Bus?

I can still fly.

Deciding to fly all the way to Mount Tai, Mo Xiaofei became Zhuifeng’s exclusive mount. They set off a week ago and had successfully left their home province to arrive here.

“Water… Give me some water.” Mo Xiaofei sat down, weakly glancing at Zhuifeng.

Flying solo was manageable, but carrying Zhuifeng was truly burdensome, especially traveling almost a full day nonstop.

Despite this, Mo Xiaofei felt his flying time was increasing every day… probably due to well-exercising himself.

“Where are we?” Mo Xiaofei looked at Zhuifeng.

Zhuifeng quickly took out a map—he was responsible for terrain and route throughout the journey.

Just at that moment, there was a soft sound as two figures shot out from the forest, one burly and stout, the other thin.

The burly man loudly said, “Song Qingshu, expelled from Shaolin, seeks instruction from you two young masters!!”

The thin man solemnly declared, “Song Qingshu two, expelled from Shaolin, seeks instruction from you two young masters!!”

What the hell…

Mo Xiaofei and Zhuifeng blinked, utterly confused.