Chapter 41: Life Preservation Style is the best!
A Qing was feeling down and accidentally let slip some information about their background. However, after spending time together, she now considered Yuan Ye to be half one of her own, second only to A Man in closeness. Yuan Ye was inherently “kind and benevolent,” willing to sell medicine at a loss to treat impoverished villagers. He hadn’t humiliated her even after winning her head, remembered to ask if she had eaten, and was willing to spend time teaching her to read because he worried she was bored. He was truly a very kind and gentle person.
Since Yuan Ye was perceived as a good and kind person in her eyes, it didn’t matter if they revealed their background. In fact, they would eventually take him begging with them, something he would learn sooner or later. So, telling him now seemed fine.
She hesitated for a moment, then spoke softly and truthfully, “Sun Technique refers to ‘techniques exposed to the sunlight.’ My grandfather said that A Man’s Seven Infiltrations, Gaze and Discern, and Mysterious Language Art only need a little more practice to be mastered, and the Five Vehicles Five Desires Technique is also nearing completion.”
“‘Techniques exposed to the sunlight?'” Yuan Ye didn’t quite understand and asked curiously, “What do these Seven Infiltrations, Gaze and Discern, and so on mean?”
Since she had already started, A Qing didn’t mind explaining in more detail. She said softly, “Seven Infiltrations refers to seven methods of disguise and infiltration. A Man can impersonate a Sarugaku performer, a Field Dancer, a Komusō Monk, a Hōka Shi, a Blind Monk, a Puppeteer, or a common person （）. She can portray any profession or person so vividly that she can move through streets and checkpoints, traveling everywhere without ever being suspected.”
So, they were spy disguise techniques. Why were they given such strange names? Yuan Ye understood and then asked, “What about Gaze and Discern?”
“For most people, A Man can guess their identity and background with about eighty to ninety percent accuracy just by looking at them. Even disguises can’t fool her. She can look at a Samurai or Court Noble from the Tōkaidō region and know where their ancestors lived, who else is in their family, and their strength,” A Qing said softly. “My grandfather said that within the Tōkaidō, in terms of ‘Gaze and Discern’ alone, A Man is already not much worse than him, but in other areas, she’s not as good. A Man was very unconvinced and even had a big argument with grandfather.”
Besides still being spy techniques, they also seemed like counter-espionage techniques, specifically for dealing with rivals. Indeed, no matter the era, rivals were always enemies.
Yuan Ye pondered this and continued to ask, “Then what about Mysterious Language Art…”
“A Man can speak dozens of regional dialects and knows the secret codes used by various mountain bandits, river pirates, monks, and guilds. There are many times when I don’t understand what she’s saying to others. Moreover, A Man can speak from within her belly and communicate with animals. Once, a dog chased us, and she barked at it twice. The dog froze for a moment and then left.”
Yuan Ye nodded gently. A Man’s language talent was indeed good. After only a short time with him, she had picked up most of his accent and learned quite a few new words. She was likely using his accent as a Saikaidō dialect, preparing to fool others with it in the future.
Looking at it this way, A Man was indeed very intelligent; calling her a genius wouldn’t be an exaggeration. After all, if you wanted to impersonate a Sarugaku performer, you’d need to imitate various animals in dance. Without practice or talent, it would look foolish.
To impersonate a Komusō Monk, you’d need to play the Shakuhachi, have some understanding of Buddhist doctrines, and even be able to preach.
To impersonate a Field Dancer, you’d need to know various folk tunes, be able to sing, and have a decent voice, otherwise, it would easily lead to mistakes.
To impersonate a Hōka Shi, you’d need to perform magic tricks and have a few unique skills to prove your identity.
To impersonate a Puppeteer, you’d need to perform puppet shows and be proficient with gunpowder, making it look convincing.
To impersonate a Blind Monk, you’d need to play the Japanese Biwa and pretend to be blind, which would avoid suspicion.
To impersonate a common form, meaning roles in daily life like a prostitute, a village girl, or a little maidservant, it would likely require a lot of life experience to avoid revealing flaws.
At the very least, calling her “talented and versatile” would be no problem. Not to mention, her “Gaze and Discern” likely required memorizing the histories, family crests, and marriage connections of various clans, demanding a considerable amount of brain capacity. One could only say her mind was truly sharp and her talent exceptionally great.
Yuan Ye pondered for a moment and then asked, “What about the Five Vehicles Five Desires Technique? What is that?”
A Qing recalled for a moment and replied softly, “I’m not too clear about the Five Vehicles Five Desires Technique. It probably refers to the Five Vehicles, such as the Technique of Joy, the Technique of Anger, the Technique of Sorrow, and so on, along with the Five Desires like lust, food, and pleasure. It’s about manipulating a target by observing their Five Vehicles and Five Desires to establish a corresponding relationship. This can be used to gather information or obtain something. My grandfather said that A Man has already reached the minor completion stage in this technique, but only to that extent; it’s not perfect.”
This sounds a bit like “spy psychology,” using methods like bribery, feigning pity, provoking the target, or catering to their preferences to unknowingly obtain information or steal items.
Yuan Ye thought to himself and then asked curiously, “Why can she only cultivate this technique to minor completion? Is there any difficulty?”
A Qing hesitated for a moment and didn’t hide it from him too much. She lowered her eyelids and said softly, “My grandfather said that the Technique of Lust requires good temperament and beauty. However, A Man… Grandfather wanted to shave her eyebrows so they would regrow, or have her draw them herself, but she refused. That’s when he got angry and said she’d never achieve perfect completion in her life.”
Yuan Ye suddenly understood and couldn’t help but nod gently, completely agreeing.
A Man was indeed quite funny-looking, and her temperament was… also hard to describe. In any case, she didn’t look like a beauty. It was normal that she couldn’t master these crooked paths, but even so, she was already very strong.
Having understood the origin of the Sun Technique, he said with considerable approval, “Impressive. Not just anyone can practice this ‘Sun Technique’.”
A Qing had always admired A Man greatly and nodded gently, “Yes, among us, only A Man can practice it. When our grandfather passes away, she will be our new leader.”
Their grandfather had traveled the Sixty-Six Provinces of the Realm and painstakingly selected A Man to be his successor, intending to pass down the Life Preservation Style. However, he hadn’t expected A Man to grow increasingly crooked. She had a sharp mind, but her personality flaws were immense, and her martial arts were lacking. Thus, he began to sigh every day, feeling that the Life Preservation Style was doomed. However, these details didn’t need to be explained to Yuan Ye.
Yes, the name “Life Preservation Style” didn’t mean praying for survival. It meant their grandfather felt that if he died in the future and A Man, the second-generation leader, took over, it would be a success if their group could survive under her unreliable leadership. That’s why he had sighed and given it such a disheartening name.
“A new leader!” Yuan Ye hadn’t expected that by casually asking, he would uncover A Man’s little secret. This street urchin, who loved to gamble, was greedy, lazy, loved to play tricks, and started thinking about lunch after breakfast, actually possessed great abilities and was even the future head of the Kōka Life Preservation Style.
It was quite unexpected!
However, there seemed to be no records of her in later generations. Perhaps even the best spy couldn’t make a name for herself? Or perhaps she lived her entire life in the shadows, remaining unknown? Or maybe she died prematurely, and the Life Preservation Style didn’t survive?
Yuan Ye thought for a moment, then turned his gaze to A Qing and asked with concern, “A Man practices the Sun Technique. What technique do you practice? The Yin Technique?”
A Qing was stunned, a hint of sadness appearing on her small face. She lowered her eyelids and shook her head gently, “No, I… my talent isn’t suited for the Yin Technique. A Qian and A Yu practice the Yin Technique. The Yin Technique specializes in various stealth and escape arts, requiring one to be able to reach a place without anyone noticing. It requires a small and agile physique, but my grandfather said… my grandfather said I would grow very tall in the future, making the Yin Technique twice as difficult with half the results. So… he had me switch to practicing the Yamabushi Technique.”
Yamabushi are ascetic monks who practice in the mountains. Due to constantly confronting harsh natural environments and fierce beasts with their individual strength, their bodies are extremely agile, their reactions incredibly sharp, and their ability to endure pain is immense. Over time, they develop a combat technique for killing.
A Qing was a bit slow-witted. Facing strangers, she took a long time to respond. She couldn’t practice the Sun Technique and was growing taller and taller. At the same age as A Man, she was already a head taller than her and would likely grow even taller in the future. Therefore, climbing walls, crawling through holes, hiding, and lurking would be difficult, and she couldn’t practice the Yin Technique either, so she had to specialize in martial arts.
She felt a bit inferior about this, thinking she was useless. Their line of work required avoiding direct confrontation with others as much as possible. Combat was a forced choice when unavoidable, and she didn’t have many opportunities to contribute. Most of the time, she just assisted A Man, essentially eating for free.
Now, she was already the least talented in the Life Preservation Style, and when learning to read, she discovered she was also the worst. Her mood inevitably became more dejected, and she felt increasingly incompetent in everything, excelling only at eating. Thus, she had to work even harder and more desperately, striving to change this situation.
She felt she was useless except for being strong, which was very difficult for her pride to accept. If Yuan Ye weren’t asking now, she would have given him a cold glance and ignored him completely, never speaking of these embarrassing past events. If pressed, she might have even hit him on the head with a club—she wasn’t exactly a kind child; she had even intended to slit Yuan Ye’s throat when they first met!
Yuan Ye, however, felt that their grandfather was capable of teaching according to aptitude, likely a wise old man, a master among the common folk. He was considering befriending him in the future and was about to inquire further about their grandfather’s situation when he suddenly heard a commotion of footsteps.
He stepped out of the shed and saw a large group of people carrying a bloody and mangled figure rushing towards his “black clinic.” They all looked extremely anxious, and it seemed someone was injured, and quite severely!
For a moment, he couldn’t continue chatting with A Qing and quickly went to meet them.
