Volume Two: Bloodstained Bodhi Chapter Eight: A Hard Road Ahead

Ten days later, on an evening in White Herb Town, the Mid-Autumn Festival had just passed, and a light breeze carried a faint chill.

Xiao Yan sat on the rooftop with a small jug of wine in his hand, humming a strange tune. His words were so slurred that no one could make out what he was singing.

Li Bai’s injuries had also healed by then. He was drinking alone in a narrow alley, and after setting down his wine jug, he picked up a branch with his left hand.

He tried to practice swordsmanship with only his left hand, but with his right no longer providing balance, it was difficult to keep steady. After a few sword moves, he went crashing to the ground with a thud.

A few passersby dressed like wandering heroes came by, and one female swordswoman stepped forward to help Li Bai to his feet.

“Don’t go over there. No one knows who this man is...” her companion frowned and said.

Li Bai cupped his fist and bowed. “Thank you. I am Li—”

He stopped halfway through the sentence. After a moment’s thought, he gave a bitter shake of his head and smiled.

“What a strong smell of wine. Ignore this drunk and let’s go. Our great hero Li Xiao Yao is still waiting for us. We’re heading out to rob the rich and aid the poor this time!” one of the warriors said disdainfully, glancing at Li Bai’s arm with open contempt.

“Right. Coming.”

The female swordswoman nodded. After telling Li Bai to take care of himself, she followed the others and walked on ahead.

Li Bai took a swallow of wine, lowered his head, and no one knew what he was thinking. Then he raised the branch again and resumed swinging it.

The wind of the blade cut through the air with a whooshing sound, and then Li Bai fell to the ground once more.

At the sound, the female swordswoman among the wandering heroes turned her head slightly, her brows knitting.

Her companion also looked back and frowned. “What exactly is that man doing?”

Li Bai struggled to his feet on his own and continued swinging the branch.

“Who knows? Maybe he’s mad,” someone said.

“But why do I feel like I’ve seen him before? He looks a little like some great hero I once met...” the female swordswoman said with a frown. She just could not remember which hero it was.

“How could that be? You must be mistaken...”

“Let’s go. Don’t bother with him. I think he’s just drunk.”

After speaking, the group turned and left.

……

“Hey, Great Hero Li Bai, stop practicing and come up for a drink!” Xiao Yan called down loudly from the rooftop, shaking his head.

After stumbling and falling several times, Li Bai managed to stand again. Only then did he slowly make his way beneath the eaves and extend a hand.

“Pull me up.”

With only one hand left, Li Bai could no longer climb to the rooftop on his own.

Xiao Yan chuckled, walked over, and in one motion hauled Li Bai up to the roof.

“Haha, going from a great hero to an ordinary man in the blink of an eye must be hard to accept, isn’t it?” Xiao Yan said with a smile.

Li Bai said nothing, simply drinking his wine in silence.

“Actually, you’re still better off than me. At least your inner power is still there. My energy core exploded...” Xiao Yan laughed heartily, then took a sip of wine.

“Can monks drink?” Li Bai asked with a wry smile.

“Of course they can,” Xiao Yan said with complete confidence. Then he turned to look at Li Bai and said, “Actually, where I come from, you’re an idol.”

“An idol?” Li Bai frowned, though he quickly understood Xiao Yan’s words to mean his homeland.

“Yes. There’s even a song that goes like this.” Xiao Yan cleared his throat and sang, “If I could start again... I would choose Li Bai...”

“...”

“Honestly, it might be better not to be a great hero. You should be a poet instead... know what I mean?” Xiao Yan went on, talking to himself.

Those words startled Li Bai so much that his eyes widened; he even forgot to drink, wondering if he himself had gone drunk.

But when Xiao Yan saw Li Bai’s brows furrow ever so slightly and his eyes blink, he seemed to think of something amusing and suddenly smiled.

Li Bai, however, only looked bewildered.

Xiao Yan ignored him and continued, “Let me recite a poem for you.”

……

She Qianqian came out of the house. Seeing the silhouettes of the two men beneath the moonlight, she frowned slightly, sighed, and returned inside to brew medicine.

This time she was making something to treat Xiao Yan’s energy core, though the chances of curing it were not very high.

A breeze passed over the roof, making the tiles rattle softly. Xiao Yan still climbed down, fetched a brush and white paper, and climbed back up again.

“I’d better write it down for you,” he said.

He moistened the brush. His handwriting was still terribly ugly, with not the slightest improvement.

A Hard Road...

On the white paper, Xiao Yan wrote the three large characters, then paused to think.

He seemed to have forgotten some of it. After thinking for quite a while, he finally continued.

Golden goblets of clear wine worth a thousand coins a measure,
jade platters piled high with rare delicacies worth ten thousand cash.
I set down my cup, push away my chopsticks, and cannot eat;
I draw my sword, gaze around, and my heart is lost in confusion...

...

A Hard Road! A Hard Road! So many forks in the path—where is the way now?
One day the wind will carry me to ride the waves;
I shall hoist my cloud-white sail and cross the vast sea.

Xiao Yan wrote it out almost in one breath, because the poem felt unbelievably satisfying to write.

“This...” Li Bai frowned as he looked at the lines of verse, then at Xiao Yan.

His expression was strange, because these lines seemed to have been written straight into his heart.

They fit his current situation perfectly.

“A hard road... a hard road indeed...” Li Bai murmured the words over and over. Then he nodded in admiration. “Young master, you have remarkable literary talent...”

“Heh...” Xiao Yan felt a little embarrassed. After all, he had copied Li Bai’s own poem and then put on a show in front of the original author. That... was simply too satisfying...

“This poem is truly interesting... very interesting...” Li Bai took up the paper and nodded repeatedly in praise, unable to put it down.

Looking at him, Xiao Yan suddenly had a brilliant idea. What if he led this world’s greatest expert back onto the proper path? What if he restored him to the Poet Immortal, Li Bai?

“Great Hero Li Bai, think about it. Being a hero doesn’t necessarily mean being a master of the martial world. Serving as an official in court can also save the common people from suffering, and that too is for the nation and the people,” Xiao Yan said, the corners of his mouth lifting as he began to tempt him further.

Li Bai nodded, as though deep in thought.

It was working!

Xiao Yan pressed on. “Think about it. Take this disaster relief effort, for example. If you want to save the victims, brute force is useless. In the end, you still need brains... Abandon martial arts and pursue scholarship! Give it some thought?”

“Mm.” Li Bai nodded and agreed. “Young master, you should be taking the imperial examinations...”

“...”

Xiao Yan collapsed.