Fishing in the Cold River

Qiu Zhiqing, who had just been thrown through the air, hurriedly gathered his internal energy to steady his posture. Then, he felt a tightness around his neck, followed by a pulling force that dragged him onto a boat in the middle of the river, where he landed heavily.

Ignoring Ouyang Feng, who was still cursing furiously on the riverbank, Qiu Zhiqing glanced at the object wrapped around his neck. Ah! It turned out to be his own horsetail whisk. That was fine, then. He had almost been strangled to death by it, and his head was spinning terribly! He managed to choke out the words, "Let's go!" before losing consciousness completely...

For some reason, he dreamed the same dream he had had before, though this time there were no towering skyscrapers, nor did he see his former self. There was still that fish, that bird, that flock of butterflies, that little Daoist boy, and that copy of the *Tao Te Ching*...

Before him was a vast, blinding whiteness. When he finally opened his eyes, there was no familiar winter sun, only the hazy morning glow and thin mist, along with a familiar back and an unfamiliar quilt!

Had his recent experiences not been so vividly etched in his mind, he would have thought his eyes were merely playing tricks on him again.

"You're awake!" came that same affirmative statement. Could this be some sort of karmic reincarnation?

At a loss for words, Qiu Zhiqing could only say awkwardly, "Thank you, young lady, for saving my life once more." With that, he handed the five taels of silver from his robe to Li Mochou!

Li Mochou's face instantly darkened, and she felt a strong sense of humiliation. Realizing his mistake, Qiu Zhiqing immediately understood that he had caused a massive misunderstanding!

He hurriedly added, "If you have the time, please help me get some medicine. My old injuries have not yet healed, and I've acquired new ones on top of them. My condition is rather grim. I'll write out the prescription for you once we reach the shore..."

Finished speaking, not wanting to say another word, he pulled the quilt right over his head and pretended to be dead. Suddenly, as if recalling something, he asked, "By the way, how long have I been unconscious?"

"An entire afternoon and a whole night!" Li Mochou retrieved the silver and replied with a trace of displeasure.

Her life had undergone drastic changes; her beloved lover was gone, and her master had cast her aside. She found that upon encountering this little Daoist priest once more, he remained entirely unchanged—just as infuriatingly obnoxious as ever...

Qiu Zhiqing lacked the subtlety to tread carefully. Bringing up whatever subject was least appropriate had always been his specialty.

"How on earth did you end up being targeted by the Western Poison, Ouyang Feng? What kind of grudge or grievance do you have with him?"

"Didn't I tell you yesterday? I took something I shouldn't have! Besides, did you say that old madman is the Western Poison, Ouyang Feng?" Li Mochou was deeply startled in turn. She had never imagined that the old madman she had casually tricked was actually Ouyang Feng, one of the Five Greats!

Qiu Zhiqing was even more astonished. "You didn't know? And yet you still dared to steal his belongings?" These days, truly, coincidences made for a strange book. Still, he remained somewhat puzzled. "By the way, how did he manage to track you down?"

Regarding this, Li Mochou appeared quite calm. That old madman had been pursuing her for nearly a month now. Every time she hid in or on the water, he would not dare to give chase!

Yesterday was only because Qiu Zhiqing happened to be on the boat, making it inconvenient for her to sleep aboard, and she had some private matters to attend to. That was why she had planned to go ashore, sleep for a bit, and handle her affairs before leaving immediately. She simply hadn't expected Ouyang Feng to arrive so quickly...

"I took his manual, and he poisoned the pages so that his venomous creatures could track it. That's why he keeps chasing me relentlessly. But it doesn't matter; as long as I'm on the water, he doesn't dare approach. He seems to be afraid of water."

As Li Mochou recounted the tale, it turned out she had first crossed paths with Ouyang Feng in the Dabie Mountains. Thinking the old man was insane and possessed outrageously powerful martial arts, she had played along to fool him!

Taking advantage of one of his madness-induced episodes, she had stolen his manual. Never had she imagined that Ouyang Feng would poison his own manual, ensuring that anyone who touched it would be tracked by his venomous beasts.

Nor had she expected that even in his madness, the old lunatic's obsession with martial arts would run so deep, causing him to pursue her relentlessly. Fortunately, though her master had not taught her the *Jade Maiden Heart Sutra*, she had at least passed down her lightweight martial arts.

Over the past few years, it was precisely by relying on this lightness skill that she had repeatedly escaped perilous situations!

Only she knew how much heartache was contained within those few brief sentences. Her martial arts were not exceptionally high, she was beautiful, and she was utterly destitute and alone, drifting through the rivers and lakes.

Even living in the peaceful eras of later generations, one would inevitably encounter troubles of various kinds, let alone in the midst of this chaotic age.

"I'm sorry!" Qiu Zhiqing thought that had he tried to drag her back to the Ancient Tomb Sect and hand her over to her master back then, perhaps she would not have had to endure all these subsequent hardships...

Li Mochou could not understand why Qiu Zhiqing would suddenly utter an "I'm sorry!" in the middle of their conversation. Yet, hearing those words made her nose sting with a strange, tingling sensation, leaving her momentarily at a loss for how to respond.

Qiu Zhiqing calculated silently in his heart: doesn't that mean she hadn't slept for two whole days?

Seeing Qiu Zhiqing struggle to sit up, Li Mochou wanted to go over and support him, but ultimately she only shifted slightly before remaining still. She felt as though a chasm lay between herself and this Daoist priest, and it was probably best to keep her distance.

"You should get some rest. It's not safe to go ashore right now. When the time comes, we'll find a larger boat, and traveling will be much more convenient!"

Hearing this, Li Mochou shook her head and explained, "It's useless. If it were a large boat, he would have already leaped aboard. Only with a small skiff like this does he have reservations and dare not approach."

This reminded him that this was a world where experts flew about using lightness kung fu. Cursing himself for being foolish, he smiled self-deprecatingly and shook his head. "Never mind, get some sleep first. I'll catch a couple of fish to nourish us!"

By now he realized that he would likely have to wait until his condition improved before he could purchase medicine himself; the moment she went ashore, Ouyang Feng would intercept her. Boiling a few fish to make soup right now was quite a good alternative.

For he had discovered that this small boat contained a pot and various daily necessities, likely because Li Mochou had been hiding from Ouyang Feng on the water this entire time. It was only running into him that made things inconvenient, prompting her to go ashore.

Fortunately, Ouyang Feng was mad and his mind wasn't working properly; otherwise, had he hijacked a much larger vessel to pursue them, the two of them might have ended up as a tragic pair of star-crossed lovers—though that metaphor didn't seem quite right!

He had indeed been severely injured this time. Without medicinal assistance, it would take him at least half a month to recover, and even his beloved horsetail whisk had been taken by Li Mochou...

He sighed softly and unbuckled the long sword from his back. No wonder he had felt such a hard, digging sensation; he had actually been sleeping on his back with a sword pressed against him for an entire afternoon and night.

Glancing back at Li Mochou, who was pretending to sleep beneath the quilt, Qiu Zhiqing sighed inwardly that this young lady truly had no idea how to take care of others!

Passing by a riverbank dense with reeds, Qiu Zhiqing used reeds and branches to craft some bamboo fish traps, then dismantled the cloth bag used to carry his sword to create some fishing lines. Just like that, an angling elder of the canals was born.

Just as Qiu Zhiqing felt something was missing, the first winter snow of the year began to drift down from the sky. Snowflakes fluttered softly, falling into the canal and blanketing the vast, desolate earth on both banks...

Sensing that the breathing of the person lying inside the cabin had grown somewhat erratic, Qiu Zhiqing pondered for a moment. He remembered that while her lightness skills were exceptional, her internal energy was not as deep as his own. With a thought, his internal energy surged forth, enveloping the entire small boat in a protective barrier...

It truly was a superior ink-wash painting of solitary fishing in the cold river!

This maneuver required a considerable amount of mental focus. Although he had already reached the second realm—the realm of emerging spirit, which roughly corresponded to the level of the Five Greats—there was still a certain gap in actual combat effectiveness.

Not to mention that while still carrying injuries, he had traded blows head-on with Ouyang Feng, who was practically the strongest martial artist in the world today. Escaping without severe damage to his internal organs was entirely the result of his *Purple Mist Skill*, which had incorporated the *Guidance Art of the Five Animals*!

While one of them slept and the other fished, not far away on the riverbank, an old madman with unkempt hair was gnawing on a roasted chicken of unknown origin, glaring viciously at the skiff in the middle of the river.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered directly hijacking other passing large boats to catch his target. Though mad, he was not stupid; mental illness and sheer stupidity were two entirely different things!

He had previously been tricked by that pretty little lass, almost drowning in the water! That scene felt somewhat familiar to him; it seemed as though he had once almost drowned because of a pretty little lass before as well.

Whose memory was that, though? How was it that he seemed to have forgotten something? That person had even taught him the *Nine Yin Manual*, hadn't they? No! At the mere thought of the *Nine Yin Manual*, Ouyang Feng glared viciously once more at the boat in the middle of the river.

Anyone who stole his manual deserved to die, whether male or female!

Reeling in a greedy fish, Qiu Zhiqing felt as though someone was watching him. Following the direction of his intuition, he looked over and saw a disheveled figure with a roasted chicken hanging from his mouth. Wasn't that precisely the Western Poison, Ouyang Feng?

Ah, well~~

He hadn't expected Ouyang Feng to remain so obsessed with martial arts. Even in his madness, he could not let go of the manual. With no way to fight him within the next half month, Qiu Zhiqing could only pray that the old man's madness would flare up sooner so he might forget all about this matter.

The two men stared at each other across the water...

Amidst such fishing and staring, the sky gradually darkened. Watching Ouyang Feng lingering stubbornly on the riverbank in the distance, Qiu Zhiqing could only sigh in resignation and pray they would reach Hongze Lake soon to shake off Ouyang Feng's pursuit...