Chapter 4: Horse Stance
It was the fifth watch, and dawn had yet to break.
In the backyard of the Azure Dragon Escort Agency, frost-white dew still clung to the leaves. Ye Chen was already standing there.
His feet were spread shoulder-width apart, his knees bent, his back straight as a board, and both hands held an invisible ball before his chest. This was the Horse Stance, the first lesson for anyone who practiced martial arts.
Li Qingshan stood beside him, a rattan switch in hand.
“Stance is the foundation of all martial arts. Force rises from the earth. Without a solid stance, no matter how beautiful a technique is, it’s nothing more than embroidered flowers on brocade.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he lightly lashed Ye Chen’s knees with the rattan switch.
“Lower!”
Ye Chen gritted his teeth. Sweat had already soaked through the back of his shirt despite the knife-cutting cold. The wound on his shoulder from yesterday had yet to heal, and every time he tensed, a sharp pain stabbed through him.
He had been standing for half a watch. His legs had begun to tremble like sifting chaff.
In his mind, the image of that bloody, rainy night ten years ago surfaced once more. His mother’s cries, his father’s roar, and the cold sword light of those men in blue embroidered with iron swords.
“I can’t fall! I mustn’t fall!” he roared deep in his throat.
Li Muwan came out from the corridor with a bowl of hot porridge in her hands. Seeing Ye Chen holding his stance, she pouted. “Father, he was just injured. Isn’t it a little cruel to make him stand like this?”
Li Qingshan snorted. “What do you know? If he wants revenge, what can he possibly accomplish if he can’t endure a little hardship?”
Even so, he secretly glanced at the bowl of porridge.
Ye Chen stood until the sun climbed high in the sky. Only when both his legs had lost all feeling and darkness clouded his vision did he collapse heavily to the ground and pass out.
In his daze, he saw the old man in cloth holding the Broken Sword again. This time, the old man didn’t swing the sword. He only stood in the Horse Stance. It was the most ordinary stance there was, yet as he stood amid the raging wind and rain, his body was like a mountain—utterly unmoving.
A warm current once again flowed from the Broken Sword in Ye Chen’s chest, coursing through his limbs and soothing the aches and pains.
When he woke, it was already noon. Li Muwan was sitting beside the bed. The moment she saw him stir, she jumped and hurriedly hid a bottle of medicine.
“You’re awake? You idiot. If you can’t stand, don’t force yourself.”
Ye Chen said nothing. He only looked out toward the yard. Then he struggled to his feet, walked back outside, and resumed his stance.
And so, three days passed.
For three days, Ye Chen did nothing but eat, sleep, and stand in the Horse Stance. From half a watch to one watch, then two. By the third day, he could stand steadily for three watches without his legs trembling.
Li Qingshan looked at him, his eyes filled with both joy and concern.
“Excellent. Your stance has developed a foundation. Now I’ll teach you how to circulate your internal force.”
But before he could begin, the rapid thunder of hooves rang out beyond the escort agency’s gate, accompanied by shouts.
“This is bad, Chief Escort Master! The Iron Sword Sect… the Iron Sword Sect has brought people here!”
Li Qingshan’s expression changed. He drew his saber. “Come on! Let’s see!”
Outside the gate, dust billowed everywhere. The one leading them was no longer Zhao Gang, but three old men in gray robes, each with a black sword strapped to his back. Behind them stood nearly a hundred Iron Sword Sect disciples, their swords and sabers gleaming.
Zhao Gang walked beside them, his hand already bandaged. He pointed into the escort agency and shouted, “Three Elders, they’re in here! That brat and the Broken Sword are both inside!”
One of the three old men stepped forward, his voice ringing like a bronze bell.
“Li Qingshan, hand over that Ye brat and the Broken Sword, and I’ll grant you a complete corpse! Otherwise, today the Azure Dragon Escort Agency will leave no chicken or dog alive!”
Li Qingshan tightened his grip on his saber, knowing that today’s odds of survival were slim. All three old men were peak First-Rate experts, only one step away from Grandmaster.
He turned to look at Ye Chen, who had just run over, and said softly, “Chen’er, when the fighting starts, take Muwan and run. Head south. Don’t look back.”
Ye Chen clenched the Broken Sword beneath his sleeve and shook his head. “I’m not leaving.”
“You…”
At that moment, a clear yet chilling laugh suddenly rang out from atop the roof.
“Oh my, the Iron Sword Sect sure is impressive these days. Three Elders coming out together, just to bully a small escort agency and a stable boy?”
Everyone looked up.
At some point, a girl in black had appeared sitting atop the tiled roof. She wore a silver fox mask that revealed only her large, round eyes. Her legs swung lazily as she held a red oil-paper parasol, though it wasn’t raining.
A tiny character was engraved on the parasol’s handle: Dark River.
The expressions of the three Iron Sword Sect Elders changed drastically. “Someone from Dark River!”