Faraway Wanderers

Chapter 20. Man in Red

The weather had no regards for the heroes gathered at Dong Ting, seeing how gloomy the sky was. It was as if something heavily suspended the rain in midair and it could fall down any time. The damp air was chilly and there were less and less fallen leaves.

There was a man standing in the middle of this with sadness, thinking about his hometown. Thirty years seemed like such a long dream.

Cao Chong stepped down to let Abbot Ci Mu take the reins. Zhou Zishu, while hidden in the crowd, heard the young man next to him sighed, “One day I should become someone like him.”

Xiang Yu the Overlord of Western Chu, upon seeing Emperor Shi Huang’s procession, had said, “I am fit to replace him.”1 Liu Xiu the Emperor Guangwu during his younger years also dazedly lamented, “Palace guard leader is a worthy official title to strive for, just as Yin Lihua is a worthy maiden to wed.”2 In this vast and obscure world, who wouldn’t want to give it their all and become a legendary hero fit for the history books?

The adolescence years were always full of vitality, so it wasn’t uncommon for someone to look up at a figure, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist while exclaiming “One day, I should become someone like him.”

Someone who had the world in his power.

But what came after the glory?

Zhou Zishu’s Master passed away too soon, leaving the Si Ji Holdings in chaos with a lack of a leader. Just like that, the responsibility fell on his shoulders as he is the Big Senior Brother – but how much could a Big Senior Brother really do? He was barely over fifteen that year.

The current Emperor when he was fifteen was still biding his time however he could; Nan Ning Wang3 when he was fifteen was indulging in wine and pleasure and letting them cloud his senses; even the Great Shaman of South Xinjiang back when he was fifteen was a kid stranded in a foreign land as hostage, full of resentfulness but had no way out.

That’s why Liang Jiuxiao in some ways had become his only solace as they depended on each other to live on.

But since when did the cracks in their relationship appear?

Maybe it was when Liang Jiuxiao visited the capital for the first time and saw the corrupted struggles, saw the increasingly horrible conflicts between families, saw brothers murdering each other in cold blood, saw all the crimes, framings, even deaths of loyal officials—behind all of which was the Big Senior Brother whom he always looked up to–

Gao Chong was already standing up, fiercely condemning the Ghost Valley in front of all the heroes.

Zhou Zishu’s eyes were downcast, as if he was sleeping. Not a single syllable of Liang Jiuxiao’s interrogating words had once left his mind all these years.

“What are you all after, really? Power? The throne? Glory and wealth?”

“Your fate will not end well if you continue down this road, please snap out of it!”

“An eye for an eye is how it is, big brother…”

An eye for an eye? Why should blood be paid back with blood while in this world there were other ways to make people suffer without dying—Zhou Zishu smiled mockingly and thought, Ah, Jiuxiao, we’re both wrong after all.