Knowing Without Believing

“Brother Zhuge. Brother Zhuge.” Li Huowang reached out and cut off Zhuge Yuan’s endless stream of words. “I already understand what you’re trying to do. You don’t need to explain anymore.”

Zhuge Yuan looked surprised. “Brother Li, are you certain you understand? When ordinary people hear what I’m saying, they all insist the Great Qi doesn’t exist. They argue with me.”

“If Brother Zhuge says the Great Qi exists, then it must exist.”

Perhaps his own past experiences made Li Huowang exceptionally receptive to the other man’s state of mind. His tone was very calm, accepting the explanation with weary equanimity, with not the slightest inclination to argue.

We’re both in the same leaky boat. Why would one ‘Heart’ make things hard for another ‘Heart’?

Sensing that Li Huowang didn’t seem to truly believe him, Zhuge Yuan’s brow furrowed slightly. A hint of displeasure entered his voice. “Brother Li, we Heart-Pans are not the same as you Heart-Elements. The Great Qi truly exists! It is the Great Liang, that stolen beam replaced with a rotten timber, which is the false one!”

“Yes. I know. The Great Liang is wrong. The Great Qi is right.” Li Huowang had already made up his mind. Whether Zhuge Yuan went to save the already-fallen, toppling dynasty of the Great Qi or not, he himself would stay by the man’s side.

Zhuge Yuan was a good person. If he could help, naturally he would. But a Heart-Pan’s troubles involved the Siming in the White Jade Capital. Whatever ‘Way’ was managed by that so-called ‘Old Self on the Three Bodies,’ his own ability to help was probably limited.

His most important task was to follow Zhuge Yuan, ambush the Zuowandao beside him, and search for this so-called ‘North Wind.’

“Ai, you still don’t believe me. Back then, I found out that Heart-Elements could cultivate True Scripture in the Youdu Academy of the Great Qi. Come, let me tell you from the very beginning, the histories of the Great Qi and the Great Liang.”

Li Huowang quickly raised a hand to stop him. If he started from the very beginning, they’d be talking for three days and nights. “Brother Zhuge, truly, there’s no need. Just tell me where we go next, what we need to do, who needs killing. I’ll follow.”

Seeing the other man’s strong resistance, Zhuge Yuan finally gave up. He spoke with some regret on his face. “Brother Li, this aversion to learning won’t do. As the saying goes, the sea of learning has no shore, and diligence is the boat. Moreover, the philosopher Zhong once said: ‘The ancients spared no effort in their studies…’”

Li Huowang felt a bit helpless. It was true what they said—you could have the wrong name, but not the wrong nickname. He finally understood why Zhuge Yuan was called ‘the Storyteller.’

“Brother Zhuge, those eunuchs are still throwing the Great Qi’s court into chaos. Isn’t it a bit inappropriate for us to keep chatting so leisurely here?”

“Very well, very well. There will be time for that later. On the road, I will properly enlighten you.” Zhuge Yuan stood up from his cushion and turned to take down the paintings and calligraphy scrolls hanging from the wall. “First, come with me to Youdu to meet with the Imperial Preceptor.”

“Alright!” Li Huowang stood up and began helping Zhuge Yuan take down the scrolls.

“Brother Zhuge,” Li Huowang said as he worked, “since my master, Danyangzi, used the obsession with achieving immortality to borrow my power and ascend, couldn’t I also use that inherent-qi inside me in the same way?”

“You can. All Heart-Elements can. Why else do you think people have to use tricks and deception to catch a Heart-Element? Isn’t it because they’re afraid the Heart-Element will use it recklessly?”

“But if you use it without any proper method… whether it would even work is one thing. You might very well kill eight hundred enemies while losing a thousand of your own. Do you want to end up like your master, that half-immortal?”

The image of Danyangzi’s three heads flashed through Li Huowang’s mind, and he immediately fell silent. Regardless of whether that form appeared on himself, his friends, or his enemies, it was not a good outcome.

Before he understood the Heart-Element’s ability thoroughly, he should use other methods in combat. The Thousand Greats Record, at least, was far more stable.

“Brother Li, you’d best find yourself a proper Cultivate-the-True manual. Just think of the Heart-Turbids. We have a choice; they don’t. If you use it recklessly, be careful you don’t end up like them, consumed by your own inner demon.”

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“Goddammit! I’m all in! I bet one head, one tail! There’s no way I can be wrong again!”

“I bet two heads! Ten coppers!”

“I bet two heads too!”

“Get the hell out of here, you bastard! Bet something else! Don’t you dare try to steal my luck!”

In a gambling den thick with smoke, foot odor, and the stench of sweat, a crowd of street toughs and local ruffians were busy betting their money.

Yinling City might be grand, but the grander a place, the more filth it hid. And at least this den, Boss Kui’s establishment, was considered one of the cleaner ones.

“Anyone else? Anyone else want to place bets? No more bets! Last call!”

Lu Xiucai, whom Li Huowang hadn’t seen in a long time, stood like a general before battle at the very center of the gambling ring. The youthful immaturity on his face was gone, replaced by things no boy his age should possess.

He sneered as he looked at the small piles of copper coins and silver碎银子 on the table before him. His right hand, hidden in his long sleeve, formed a hand seal, and with a stomp of his right foot, the covered copper coins gave a slight rattle.

When the dice cup covering the coins was lifted, the table erupted in groans of dismay. Inside the bamboo cup, the two copper coins had landed as the two tails, the very outcome the fewest people had bet on.

Some unwilling gamblers picked up the coins and examined them closely, but they couldn’t find anything strange. They were just two copper coins. Old, rusty ones.

“Fuck this! I refuse to believe my luck can be this bad all night! Come on! Let’s go find Boss Kui and borrow some money!”

Time passed amidst the shouts and curses. When the crowing of roosters drifted in from outside the window, a group of gamblers, looking as if their very souls had been drained, finally yawned and shuffled out.

Meanwhile, Lu Xiucai was splitting the take with a burly, fat man. Even though his share was only forty percent, it was still enough to dazzle his eyes.

“Young Master Lu, this is your cut.”

“My thanks to Boss Kui!” Lu Xiucai laughed gleefully. He spread his arms wide and swept all the money on the table into his embrace, a look of pure greed in his eyes.

“I’d love for that old buzzard to see this! All this money! It’s more than he makes from his damned opera for days on end! The old fart’s lived all those years for nothing. And he said I was useless!”

As he was stuffing the money into two cloth bags, the den owner spoke up. “Young Master Lu, next time, you have to give those pigs a little taste. Let them win three out of ten times, that’ll make them come back for more.”

“Fine! Got it!”

The moment he walked out of the gambling den with his money, a pack of ugly, shifty-eyed thugs immediately surrounded him, all smiles and congratulations.

Lu Xiucai seemed to be especially close to them. He waved his hand grandly. “Come on, brothers! Today, it’s my treat! We’re going to the Drunken Immortal Restaurant for breakfast!” His words instantly drew a chorus of cheers.

“Master Lu, you’re so generous! So magnanimous!”

“Master Lu, you’re a true hero! A real man!”

“Of course! Who in Yinling City would dare disrespect Master Lu?”

Amidst the chorus of ‘Master Lu,’ Lu Xiucai felt like he was floating on air. The smile curling his lips simply wouldn’t stop.

This is what it means to live like a man. What the hell was I back in that opera troupe?