Ugly Hero - Chapter 3

Night fell. The cold village, now with only five households remaining and rarely visited by outsiders, was swallowed by darkness. It was extremely quiet.

Lu Nanzhu lay on her bed, tightly clutching a piece of cloth in her hand. There was no lamp lit in the room. She had completely merged into the darkness, and even her breathing was almost inaudible.

No one knew how much time had passed before a sigh broke the silence in the room.

Lu Nanzhu let out a heavy sigh, tightened her grip on the cloth in her hand, and turned over. Pillowing her head on one forearm, she gazed through the small latticed window at the night sky outside.

This trip out of the valley had once again yielded nothing. Inevitably, this made Lu Nanzhu begin to doubt herself.

Over the past half year, under the banner of “robbing the rich to help the poor,” Lu Nanzhu had visited almost every wealthy and prestigious martial household in the jianghu. Yet she had not found the slightest clue.

Could it be… that she had been mistaken?

Lu Nanzhu shook open the piece of cloth. In such darkness, it was impossible to see what was written on it.

But the contents of that cloth had long since been imprinted deep in Lu Nanzhu’s heart. She would never forget them in this life.

Drawn on the cloth was a lotus flower. The flower had nine petals, a vermilion-red center, and dark black petals. This was the totem Lu Nanzhu had once accidentally seen on her father’s chest. It was also the key to unraveling every secret.

Ever since Lu Nanzhu had memory, their family of three had almost always been on the road, rarely stopping anywhere. They had never truly chosen one place to settle down.

When Lu Nanzhu was six years old, her family came to Tianshan. She still remembered the day they entered the village. Her father held her and her mother by the hand and, in a proper and respectful manner, kowtowed three times before the giant stone monument at the foot of the mountain. Only after murmuring something under his breath did he lead them into the village and settle in Shiyin Village.

Lu Nanzhu’s father “suffered from a cold illness.” He was extremely afraid of the cold, and his illness often flared up. Each time it did, he was in terrible pain. Cold air rose from all around his body, and frost hung from his beard. Even if the room was filled with fire basins and he was covered with layer upon layer of quilts, it was no use.

Lu Nanzhu had never understood why her father, who feared the cold so much, stubbornly insisted on living in such a freezing village and refused to leave.

Her mother’s medical skills were excellent, but whenever her father’s illness flared up, even her mother was helpless. All she could do was tightly embrace him, using her thin and frail body to warm him until he recovered.

As time passed, Lu Nanzhu’s father’s “illness” flared up more and more often. Finally, when Lu Nanzhu was twelve, her father fell ill again, and the situation became more critical than ever before.

As always, Lu Nanzhu’s mother tightly embraced her husband and tried to use her own body heat to save him. But in the end, Lu Nanzhu’s father was frozen to death alive, while her mother was also “infected” by this cold illness because of it. Her health declined day by day, and she too began to suffer attacks like Lu Nanzhu’s father.

Lu Nanzhu had studied quite a bit of medical theory from her mother. She heard the elders in the village say that the Tianshan snow lotus could resist cold poison.

So Lu Nanzhu entrusted her mother to Grandma Sun and secretly climbed Tianshan alone to search for the legendary Tianshan snow lotus…

Whether it was heaven taking pity on her or Lu Nanzhu’s filial devotion creating a miracle, she truly discovered a blooming white lotus on a sheer cliff.

Lu Nanzhu fixed a rope halfway up the mountain and lowered herself down. Using an ice chisel, she carved a few grooves into the frozen cliff face to support her steps.

But just as she plucked the Tianshan snow lotus, the rope was worn through by protruding sharp ice. Lu Nanzhu fell into the ten-thousand-zhang abyss…

Lu Nanzhu fell into a cold pool at the bottom of the valley that never froze all year round and narrowly escaped death. There, she experienced a strange encounter. But by the time she finally had enough strength to leap out of the valley bottom and return to Shiyin Village, two years had already passed.

The Tianshan snow lotus had long since withered and dried.

And her mother had already passed away.

Lu Nanzhu was overwhelmed with grief. She cried for a very long time before her parents’ graves, touching the cold tombstones. Written on them were: Tomb of the Lu Family’s Third Son and the Lu Family’s Youngest Sister…

Looking at the words on the tombstones, Lu Nanzhu’s heart ached faintly. In the whole of Shiyin Village, including Lu Nanzhu herself, no one knew her parents’ real names. They only knew that her father called her mother “Youngest Sister,” and her mother called her father “Third Brother.” As for their true names, the couple had always avoided speaking of them.

During those two years at the bottom of the valley, although Lu Nanzhu had been trapped by the endless ice, she had already learned quite a few things about the jianghu.

She learned that Shiyin Village had been personally founded a hundred years ago by the Eccentric Hero to shelter those who had done no evil in the jianghu but had no place to stand.

Because the Eccentric Hero had once defeated many renowned elders of the jianghu, Tianshan became forbidden ground for jianghu wanderers. Back then, quite a few desperate people of the jianghu risked death to enter Tianshan and beg the Eccentric Hero for protection. Thus, Shiyin Village came into being.

Lu Nanzhu also understood that her father had not suffered from some strange illness at all. He had been injured by some kind of cold and sinister internal force.

Her childhood memories finally had an explanation.

Lu Nanzhu did not know how terrifying the other party must have been, to force her parents to stay within the bounds of the Tianshan stone monument until death, not daring to take even a single step out, and not even daring to tell her their names.

Fortunately, Lu Nanzhu had once seen this nine-petaled lotus totem on her father’s chest. Perhaps behind this totem lay the secret of her parents.

Lu Nanzhu was not searching with a desire for revenge. Growing up in this peaceful, secluded village had made her gentle and kind by nature.

She only wanted to know what had been buried beneath the years. There were too many questions in her heart. She wanted to know the truth.

At that time, if it turned out that her parents had been in the wrong first, then she would let this grudge drift away with the wind. But if her parents had been harmed by powerful villains, then as their child, she naturally had to seek justice!

Lu Nanzhu had always believed that everything in this world could not escape the word “reason.”

In truth, the most important thing was that she wanted to know who her parents really were.

She could choose not to care about her parents’ past, but she wanted to know their names. At the very least, she wanted to erect new tombstones for them.

Those current tombstones, which seemed to belong to nameless people, made Lu Nanzhu feel unbearably pained every time she saw them.

But after more than half a year, Lu Nanzhu had nearly traveled across the jianghu, yet she had not seen any similar family emblem or banner. Nor had she heard of anyone whose martial arts or internal force resembled the injury inside her father’s body.

Instead, because she had casually stolen things to conceal her true purpose, she had offended the dignity of those “renowned elders and wealthy families.” She had already become the top target of bounty hunters from every side.

In order not to bring disaster upon the only five households left in Shiyin Village, Lu Nanzhu had become increasingly cautious.

Lu Nanzhu carefully folded the piece of cloth and placed it beneath her pillow.

Had she been searching in the wrong direction?

She raised her hand and touched her smooth, delicate face.

The title “Ugly Hero” was not something she had deliberately made up.

Four years ago, after Lu Nanzhu fell into the cold pool and narrowly survived, she nearly froze to death after climbing out. She raised her eyes and looked around. The four walls of the cold pool were all towering walls of ice. She did not know martial arts, and her clothes were soaked through. There was no way she could escape.

Just as Lu Nanzhu was looking around in despair, she saw an ice cave about three zhang high on one of the mountain walls. At that time, Lu Nanzhu was almost frozen stiff. Even sheltering from the cold wind would be good.

So she used the ice chisel to carve small holes upward, one after another, just large enough to climb with. When she entered the ice cave, Lu Nanzhu discovered that someone had actually lived there before!

There was even dry firewood and a flint stored inside. Lu Nanzhu was overjoyed. She lit a campfire in the fire basin and dried her clothes. What surprised her even more was that there was actually a warm jade bed inside the ice cave!

Lu Nanzhu muddled through one night in the cave, but she did not recklessly explore everything inside.

The next day, she climbed back down the sheer cliff along the same route. She tried countless times, but still could not escape. In the end, each attempt ended with her falling back into the cold pool.

Lu Nanzhu was cold and hungry. After drying her clothes, she caught a fat fish from the cold pool, roasted it, and ate it to fill her stomach.

This repeated again and again for several days.

Lu Nanzhu looked at the Tianshan snow lotus, which had already begun to shrivel, and felt both sorrowful and desperate.

She looked around the ice chamber. On a bookshelf carved from ice were many books. Lu Nanzhu had accidentally entered this ice chamber only to escape the cold. At first, she had no intention of disturbing the owner’s old belongings. But because she had been trapped at the bottom of the valley for many days and had nothing to do, she apologized toward the empty air with a bow, then took a book from the shelf and began to read.

Time passed quickly.

Lu Nanzhu discovered that there were an enormous number of books in the ice cave. Most of them dealt with refined subjects such as the qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, humanities, customs, and scenery.

Lu Nanzhu read one book after another and soon finished reading all the books in the cave.

Just as Lu Nanzhu returned the last book to its original place, something unbelievable happened!

A hidden mechanism suddenly sounded inside the ice cave. A secret compartment opened in one of the ice walls, revealing a brocade box.

Lu Nanzhu walked over and opened the brocade box. Inside lay a book made from special oilcloth.

On the cover were three large, flamboyant characters:

Heavenly Demon Art

Lu Nanzhu opened Heavenly Demon Art and saw the title page read:

This art is unparalleled under heaven and can only be practiced by women. Anyone who practices it will have their appearance destroyed.

Lu Nanzhu thought to herself that there was actually such a martial art in the world. All women in the world loved beauty. Who would ruin their own appearance for a martial art whose power was unknown?

Lu Nanzhu turned past the title page. On the second page, it said:

Who said a peerless hero must be handsome, elegant, charming, and dashing? That is nothing more than the wishful thinking of mediocre people like you…

Lu Nanzhu stared at the handwriting and felt as if she had gained some understanding.

She felt that the author of this book must have been a wild, unrestrained, carefree madman. But then Lu Nanzhu thought about it again. Since this book could only be practiced by women, then the author must have been an extraordinary woman as well?

Lu Nanzhu frowned.

But a woman… could she be described with words like “charming and dashing” or “handsome and elegant”?

Lu Nanzhu read it again and again, thinking over it from every angle but still unable to understand. Yet she secretly began to admire the author of this book. She could already imagine the author’s arrogant and unruly manner.

Lu Nanzhu smiled and turned to the next page. On the third page, it said:

Once you master Heavenly Demon Art, you will be able to leap out from the bottom of the valley. Fated one, are your eyes wide open now?

Actually, your thoughts are not hard to guess. After all, this is the forbidden land of Tianshan. Who would come to this godforsaken valley bottom? I guessed correctly, didn’t I? You must have fallen down here and been unable to get out, then been trapped in my ice cave for many days. Otherwise, how could you be bored enough to finish reading all those boring books on the shelf? Hahahaha.

If you are a man, then I am very sorry. Although you survived a great disaster, you are not lucky enough. If a man practices this art, his body will definitely explode and he will die.

If you are a woman, congratulations. You now have a chance to get out. However, you must exchange your appearance for it.

Lu Nanzhu widened her eyes. Although she did not quite understand some of the strange words in the passage, she understood the general meaning.

If she practiced this martial art, she could get out!

For Lu Nanzhu, there was no need to choose.

It was not that she did not care about her appearance. It was that her mother was still waiting for her at home, waiting for the Tianshan snow lotus to save her life.

Lu Nanzhu did not continue carefully pondering the strange wording in that passage. Instead, she directly turned to the next page.

Written there was:

If you can master this Heavenly Demon Art, you may dive to the bottom of this cold pool. Down there is a gift I left for you. From today onward, you can be considered my disciple. I do not know how much time has passed, but at the very least, you should know your master’s name: Jun Moxiao.

When Lu Nanzhu saw that the style of the handwriting had changed greatly, she could not help but touch the piece of oilcloth.

As a result, ink stained her hand.

The signature “Jun Moxiao” in the lower right corner was still flamboyant and free-flowing. It was not hard to see that the person who wrote it had been extremely bold and unrestrained. But the handwriting of the passage above, the signature, and the previous contents were all completely different.

The strength of the brush was restrained, and the strokes were steady. Moreover, the other contents had clearly been written first and then soaked in oil by a special method. But this passage had been written on the outside of the oil. That was why the ink came off as soon as she touched it. Evidently, it had been added later.

Lu Nanzhu could not understand the key point within all this. In the end, she attributed everything to the possibility that this “Jun Moxiao” had wandered through the jianghu, and after retiring into seclusion, had revisited the old place and added some things to it.

Lu Nanzhu sat on the warm jade bed, rubbing the page with her fingers as she murmured to herself, “Jun Moxiao… What a familiar name.”

Suddenly, Lu Nanzhu’s heart skipped. She cried out in surprise, “The Eccentric Hero!”