Chapter 127: Goodwill

"These are thoroughbreds, fine steeds capable of traveling a thousand miles a day," the old man declared, his voice full of vigor. "If you want to ride these treasures, you must at least understand horses."

The old man was a retainer of the Shen family. According to his own accounts, his grandfather had once held the reins for the Emperor, who had praised the old man's skill in caring for horses. Ever since, his family had been obsessed with all things equine. Naturally, any mention of the Emperor’s imperial steed inevitably brought to mind the legends of the Yang family generals.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Yang family generals fought against the Liao forces, sweeping across the battlefield with such momentum that the enemy was forced into a constant retreat. Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao, hoping to boost morale, personally arrived at the front lines in Youzhou to confront the Song army. She devised a "retreat to advance" strategy, using the pretext of peace negotiations to invite the Song emperor and his officials to Jinshatan. It was a trap, a vast web intended to capture the Song emperor and the Yang generals in one fell swoop.

General Yang Ye saw through the ruse. Because his eldest son, Yang Yanping, bore a striking resemblance to the Emperor, Yang Ye suggested that Yanping don the imperial robes and pose as the Emperor for the negotiations. The treacherous minister Pan Renmei vehemently opposed this, claiming it would dishonor the state, but under Yang Ye's insistence, the Song Emperor eventually agreed to let Yang Yanping lead the delegation to Jinshatan. Empress Dowager Xiao similarly ordered Prince Tianqing to impersonate her, leading the elite Liao troops to prepare for battle.

At Jinshatan, the two armies stood in a tense standoff, murder hanging heavy in the air. Seeing Prince Tianqing on the hillside, watching the Yang army’s desperate struggle with an air of casual indifference, the eldest Yang brother, Yanping, was consumed with rage. He drew his bow and felled the Prince with a single arrow. This provocation enraged the Liao forces, and Yang Yanping was soon pierced by a hail of spears.

History records the death of the eldest Yang brother, but it says nothing of the fate of his imperial steed. Given the chaos of the spears, the horse surely did not survive.

Horses are sentient, and people love them. The old man’s grandfather, who had aspired to be a master horseman after the Emperor’s praise, was devastated by the death of that legendary steed. He wept bitterly and established a rule: "Men choose horses, but horses also choose men."

Because the Northern Song suffered constant defeats, good horses were rare, and even when they were found, they never reached the Shen family. The old man never had a chance to prove his worth until Shen Shi defeated a thousand-strong Khitan cavalry unit and brought back these northern horses. That very night, the old man moved into the stables to live among them.

He never tired of living with the horses. In fact, seeing them improve day by day—as if they were growing under his own hand—made him cherish them even more. Wherever the horses went, he followed. When the horses were brought to the Eastern Capital, he came along, too.

For such fine horses, if it weren't for Shen Shi bringing people over, anyone else asking to ride them would likely have been spat upon by the old man.

Cao Jinhua felt a flicker of fear. The old man was a native of Guanxi. Between the brawny men of Shandong and the rugged warriors of Guanxi, both regions were famous for producing formidable characters. When the old man’s thick, authentic Guanxi accent began to roar, it was indeed intimidating.

Cao Jinhua’s face twitched, and she instinctively gripped Li Po’s sleeve. To the old man’s eyes, this gesture was the epitome of effeminacy. A "sissy" wanting to ride such a magnificent beast? The old man was utterly disdainful.

Sighing, Shen Shi felt a moment of hesitation. He wasn't angry; he simply forced a smile and stepped forward, cupping his hands in a gesture of respect. "Old Man Shen, she just wants to take a ride."

Even though the horses belonged to Shen Shi, the old man was so stubborn that he wouldn't even grant his master's request. Of course, had Shen Shi told him the truth—that these horses weren't just raised by him, but were infused with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth—the old man would have worshipped him like a founding ancestor. But that would lead to talk of spiritual energy and cultivation, and that was something the old man could never learn.

The teachings of humanity originated with Laozi, who traveled the prehistoric wilds with his sword in the early days. The cultivation methods of that era did not concern themselves with absorbing spiritual energy; it was merely a matter of speed, purity, and excellence, for in that age, spiritual energy was so abundant one could simply breathe it in. Later, when the Chan Sect began accepting disciples, their emphasis on aptitude and background was a direct influence of that era. Everyone knew Laozi valued perseverance, but he never taught methods for sensing spiritual energy.

Take Iron-Crutch Li, originally named Li Xuan, as an example. Once a handsome man of high cultivation who could separate his soul from his body, he was summoned by the Supreme Venerable Sovereign. He told his disciple, Yang Zi, to guard his body for seven days while his soul departed. If he did not return by then, it would mean he had attained immortality, and his body should be cremated. However, due to a family emergency, the disciple burned the body prematurely. When Li Xuan returned, he could not find his physical form and was forced to inhabit the corpse of a starved beggar.

When Li Xuan, now in the form of a beggar, reunited with his disciple, the boy could not understand the Daoist texts. This is the danger of forced cultivation. Li Xuan assumed that because he could practice breath control, anyone could, failing to realize his disciple had never truly entered the Dao.

Shen Shi had observed the old man. Even when surrounded by the spiritual energy emanating from the horses, the old man’s body did not absorb it. His physical vitality was already fading, and even if he could absorb it, he had no vessel to contain it. To store it, one would need to reshape the body—what the learned would call "aptitude." Without a vessel to hold spiritual energy, everything else is but a reflection of the moon in the water or a flower in the mist.

Given the old man’s stubbornness, if he knew spiritual energy could produce fine horses but found he could not sense it himself, he would not give up—he would only destroy himself in the attempt. It was better to say nothing and let him believe the horses were thriving under his care. For an old man, that was happiness enough. The trouble it caused Shen Shi was a small price to pay to grant an old man the joy he had waited generations for.