Chapter 138 — Decadence
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 6
Young as she was, her tongue was sharp as a needle, and though Zhou Yixuan was an old hand in the jianghu, he was often left speechless, until at last he had no choice but to accept the situation. Fortunately, as time passed he gradually discovered that the wild dog was not entirely without merit. For instance, the heavy bundles he used to carry himself could now all be thrown to this "coolie"—and the "coolie," under Xiaowan's slightly apologetic gaze, showed not the least resentment, but rather seemed quite pleased.
As for other benefits—encountering wild beasts on the road, meeting ghosts, running into bandits in the mountains, and so on and so forth—naturally this wild-dog "hero" was dispatched to settle them all single-handedly. Along the way, Zhou Yixuan felt utterly at ease. He had roamed the far corners of the world all his life, yet never had he traveled as comfortably as in these past few months. His only regret was that he had not met this fellow Wild Dog sooner.
In this period, the three of them had revisited old haunts—wanderers as they were, they could go anywhere—and as they walked, they found themselves back on this old road. Thanks to Zhou Yixuan's ghostlike memory, he even remembered a certain Boss He who ran a little shop by the roadside, and immediately put on the airs of a master, reducing Boss He to a bundle of nerves.
Seeing how deferential Boss He was toward him, Zhou Yixuan was immensely pleased with himself. With great swagger he ordered a few dishes, and only when Boss He had hurried off to prepare them did he turn back, about to boast to Xiaowan and the Wild Wolf Daoist—when he suddenly saw that their faces had somehow taken on expressions of disbelief, their gazes fixed and staring.
Zhou Yixuan asked in puzzlement, "Hey, what's wrong with you two?"
The Wild Wolf Daoist raised an arm that seemed to have grown strangely heavy, and pointed toward the depths of the little shop. "See for yourself."
Zhou Yixuan glared at him, then turned to look—and suddenly his whole body gave a jolt as well.
There, in the last rays of the setting sun, the final thread of light falling through the window, in that dim corner deep within the shop, lay the figure of a man—and on the table, amid the shadows, a three-eyed monkey was gazing toward them.
Xiaowan was stunned, and gave a low cry:
"Little Gray?"