“Seventeenth Uncle truly didn’t know about it,” Henry Smith saw the confusion in Brian Walker’s eyes, but only said in a low voice, “I was just entrusted by someone to keep watch at Yingzi Mouth these days and give Old Master Walker a heads-up. I didn’t expect the assassin to come so quickly…”

Deep down, he felt a faint urge not to stay uninvolved, but reason told him that nothing good would come from getting entangled in such matters. Standing before Brian Walker now, Henry Smith could only be vague.

Brian Walker saw the clarity in Henry Smith’s eyes and was sure that everything that happened today was not an illusion. He said quietly:

“I had originally planned to borrow the route from Cai Ying, pass through Fangcheng Pass, and head to Tangzhou. But it was Luke Lewis who worried something might happen and changed the route to Tongbai Mountain at the last minute. Otherwise, we might not have even made it to Yingzhou before being intercepted by the assassin…”

Brian Walker was saying that he suspected the assassin had set out from Bianjing in pursuit. If they hadn’t taken the wrong direction at first, it wouldn’t have taken until Huaiyuan Town to catch up.

Henry Smith didn’t know what to do next and said, “If there’s any new information, I’ll go to Old Master Walker.”

“Old Master Walker, do you need something from Mr. Smith?”

James Smith had been informed that Brian Walker was looking for him, so he hurried back from the training ground. Seeing Brian Walker and Henry Smith standing in the front yard, he asked Henry Smith,

“Why are you making Sir Walker stand around in the yard?”

“No trouble for Young Mr. Smith—Xuan’er has grown up so fast, I was caught off guard and could only come to ask your wife for help.” Brian Walker cupped his hands in greeting.

“Then congratulations to you, Old Master Walker.” A young girl coming of age is always something to celebrate, so James Smith saluted Brian Walker.

James Smith guessed that the bandit encounter was not simple, but he wouldn’t trouble himself to get to the bottom of it. He just stood in the front yard chatting with Brian Walker. After a while, Lady Di led out Emily Walker, her face blushing with shyness.

Emily Walker was holding a small embroidered bundle, its contents unknown but likely women’s items. She didn’t even have the courage to look up at Henry Smith or James Smith, clutching her grandfather Brian Walker’s sleeve and running off as if escaping.

……

……

As dusk approached, Andrew Smith finally returned from the Hedong market, having learned that several horse caravans would be carrying goods to Miyang County tomorrow. He had already arranged to travel with one of them.

Henry Smith returned home with James Smith and Andrew Smith. Lady Di brought out a clay jar and said to him, “I just made some chicken soup. Take it to Miss Walker!”

“I’ll go deliver it.” Andrew Smith was eager to take on the errand.

James Smith smacked him on the back of the head and scolded, “You lovesick fool, take a look at yourself! Let Henry Smith deliver it. You stay put!” Then he said to Lady Di, “You should be worrying about finding wives for these two. If you wait until they’re like Samuel Smith and the others, with a bit of money and always running off to Yuehong Brothel, should I break their legs, or should I break their legs?”

The clay jar was filled with steaming hot chicken soup, its bottom already blackened from the fire. Tied up with a straw rope, Henry Smith carried it in his hand and headed to the post station.

There were inns on Hedong Street, but the post station was usually deserted unless officials were passing through.

At this moment, it was unclear where the postmaster Ethan Clark and several post attendants had gone; there was no one in sight in the front office. Henry Smith went straight to look for Brian Walker.

The outer wall of the post station was quite tall, but the walls separating the inner courtyards were only chest-high rammed earth. Henry Smith circled around the office and saw from a distance that the “coachman” Luke Lewis was practicing with a long spear.

Back at Yingzi Mouth, Henry Smith had seen Luke Lewis lay a straight-backed saber across his knees, but hadn’t realized he also carried a spear. He guessed that things had been urgent at the time, and Luke Lewis hadn’t had time to retrieve the spear hidden in the carriage.

After watching for a while, Henry Smith recognized that the spear technique Luke Lewis was using was the伏蟒枪, commonly practiced by the Smith family member.

He had heard from James Smith that this伏蟒枪, along with the saber and fist techniques practiced by the clan, had been brought back to Tongbai Mountain by his father William Smith and others from their early years in the army.

Seeing Luke Lewis use this spear technique, Henry Smith wondered if he had also served in the military.

Looking more closely, Henry Smith noticed that Luke Lewis’s伏蟒枪 was still different from that of Seventeenth Uncle and the others.

He saw that when Luke Lewis used the spear, his gaze was set far ahead, but a part of his attention always remained on the moving spear tip. Each move—chopping, thrusting, sweeping—was not as smooth and flowing as Seventeenth Uncle and the others, but rather appeared somewhat sluggish, yet with a distinct rhythm.

Watching Luke Lewis’s cautious, slow, and small steps, as if there were spikes sticking up from the ground and a careless move would stab his foot, Henry Smith was struck by the difference.

Yet as the spear movements changed, Luke Lewis’s slightly hunched figure seemed to swell and contract like the surging tide.

In the past, Henry Smith’s martial training had focused on building strength and tempering his body, not on complex routines with fists, sabers, or spears. His riding and archery skills were average. But after regaining his clarity of mind, his perception had changed greatly.

He could see that Luke Lewis’s mastery of the伏蟒枪 was actually superior to that of Seventeenth Uncle and the others. Luke Lewis’s seemingly sluggish movements concealed unimaginable power, and once unleashed, it would be like a landslide or tidal wave, shattering any defense before him and taking his enemy’s life.

Henry Smith thought back to the feeling he had the first time he saw Luke Lewis at Yingzi Mouth. Now it was even clearer: the spear in Luke Lewis’s hand was like a venomous python hidden deep in the grass, appearing sluggish only because there was no worthy opponent before him.