Great Wood Mountain lay two hundred li east of Luoshan. In truth, it wouldn’t take three full days to get there, but since the date for the Li family’s marriage gathering at Great Wood Mountain hadn’t arrived yet, the White-Robed Swordsman was in no hurry. When he finally reached the mountain, he didn’t go in right away. Instead, he found a secluded spot outside to settle down for the night.

The place he chose was in a mountain stream, on a rock platform five or six feet above the water. Liu Xiaolou shook his head to himself, circled around, and climbed to a slope more than thirty feet higher and diagonally above the spot. From there, he could look straight down at the rock platform, making it easy to keep watch on the White-Robed Swordsman’s movements.

He had shaken his head because it wasn’t a good choice of campsite. True, it was close to water and made fishing easy, and in winter there wasn’t enough water to cause a flash flood. But the rock sat right above the best water source along the entire stream. Barring surprises, the White-Robed Swordsman was going to have a busy night.

Sure enough, once night fell, the rock platform came alive with noise. Liu Xiaolou lounged against a stone with a grass stem between his teeth and watched as the swordsman dealt with a passing parade of mice, goats, leopards, wolves, and all manner of snakes and insects drawn to the spot. His skills were more than enough to handle them, but the constant disturbance kept him from a peaceful night’s rest.

When he finally figured out why and moved to a new campsite, Liu Xiaolou ended up with a little windfall. A stolen goat leg.

The new site the swordsman picked was even closer to Liu Xiaolou, making spying that much easier. With nothing else to do, Liu Xiaolou would watch from the cliff above: the man tossing stones to catch fish, roasting his catch over a fire, finding a spot to relieve himself, sitting cross-legged in meditation, and practicing an impressive set of throwing darts.

A few more days passed. Then one day, Liu Xiaolou finally spotted an opening. While the White-Robed Swordsman was once again bathing in the stream, Liu slipped quietly down to the water’s edge and hid behind a boulder. He channeled his true qi into his left wrist, and the Groundbinding Spirit-Scattering Cord coiled there lifted its head like a living serpent before lashing out in a sudden strike.

In an instant, the pile of white clothes lying on the bank, barely ten feet away, vanished from sight. When it reappeared, it was already in Liu Xiaolou’s hands.

He rifled through them quickly, and sure enough, found a small pouch sewn into the sleeve. Inside was an invitation card, sent from the Li family of Great Wood Mountain to White Cloud Manor, asking the Yun family to send an outstanding disciple to Great Wood Mountain for a gathering.

The wording never came right out and said it was for choosing a son-in-law, but the implication couldn’t have been clearer. Judging from the date, the event was happening tonight.

No wonder the guy was taking a bath.

The invitation was finely made, trimmed with gold thread, and stamped with an elegantly carved seal. A display worthy of a wealthy, powerful clan. Impressive as it was, it gave Liu Xiaolou a headache. There was no way to forge something like that on short notice.

The sound of splashing reached him from the stream. Liu Xiaolou peeked out from behind the rock and saw the man stand up in the water, his pale, smooth back gleaming. The fellow really did have a fine-looking figure.

Liu Xiaolou considered himself no worse looking than the other man, but when it came to maintaining one’s appearance and taking care of himself, he was nowhere near as diligent. The only advantage he had was that he bore no obvious birthmarks. The fellow, on the other hand, had a faint “chrysanthemum” mark on his left hip.

Alright, this wasn’t the time to dwell on such things. Liu Xiaolou put the invitation away and used the spirit cord to send the clothes back to where they had been.

But where were the spirit stones? How could there be none? By all rights, the man should have had some on him. Where had he hidden them?

Liu Xiaolou slipped quietly away and went to check the White-Robed Swordsman’s campsite. He still found no spirit stones. With a sigh of regret, he left.

Once he entered Great Wood Mountain, he saw Li family servants waiting along the road. Arriving ahead of the White-Robed Swordsman, Liu Xiaolou made his way to the Li family’s “Ink-Washing Hall.”

The Li clan occupied all the peaks of Great Wood Mountain, but their residences were not gathered in one place. Each peak had its own. The Ink-Washing Hall was a reception hall built separately on Boiling Spring Peak, meant for refined gatherings with honored guests.

In front of the hall, the Li family’s steward and several servants were already there to welcome visitors. One of them greeted Liu Xiaolou respectfully. “Please present your invitation, honored guest.”

Liu Xiaolou handed over the card. The steward examined it and bowed. “Ah, a distinguished guest from White Cloud Manor. May I have the honor of your name?”

“Liu. Liu Xiaolou,” he replied. The White-Robed Swordsman was bound to arrive before long, and if he made up a name it would be exposed immediately. Better to give his real one.

The steward hesitated. “Liu?”

Liu Xiaolou smiled and explained, “I’m not surnamed Yun. I’m a cousin of the White Cloud Manor family.”

The steward nodded in sudden understanding. “Ah, I see…” Then he asked, “So no members of the Yun family are attending?”

“There are,” replied Liu Xiaolou. “My cousin Yun Ao is also coming. He’s right behind me and will be here shortly. I thought I’d wait for him so we could go in together. Would that be alright?”

The steward blinked. “So your manor sent two representatives?”

“Is that not allowed?” Liu Xiaolou asked.

The steward shook his head. “Of course it’s allowed. You’re welcome to go inside and enjoy some tea first. When your cousin arrives, we’ll bring him in to join you.”

Liu Xiaolou chuckled and waved a hand. “My cousin has a bit of a proud streak. On the way here we had a disagreement; shameful to say, it got rather heated. Since your esteemed family has only one young lady seeking a husband, well… I think I’d better wait for him outside.”

The steward caught on immediately and smiled. “Understood.”

So Liu Xiaolou remained at the front of the Ink-Washing Hall, standing with the steward and looking down the mountain road, waiting expectantly.

In the meantime, three more guests arrived one after another. They were all sons of prominent families from near and far, though Liu Xiaolou, being rather ignorant of such circles, had never heard of any of them.

After more than half an hour, a lone figure finally appeared in the distance, hurrying toward them. Liu Xiaolou sighed to the steward. “My cousin’s here. If anything embarrassing happens, I’ll have to trouble you to be understanding.”

The steward stroked his beard with a smile. “Understood. Just make sure it doesn’t cause too much of a scene. It wouldn’t be proper to disturb the other honored guests.”

“Don’t worry,” Liu Xiaolou said quickly. “The members of my family know how to conduct themselves… I’ll go greet him first.”

With that, he strode out to meet the White-Robed Swordsman. When they drew close, Liu Xiaolou greeted him with a grin. “Brother Yun, we meet again!”

The White-Robed Swordsman froze in disbelief. “How are you here?”

Liu Xiaolou’s smile widened. “See? We must be fated to cross paths.”

The swordsman was still staring at him in shock. “How could you possibly come?”

Liu Xiaolou waved the invitation in front of him. “I got the card, of course I had to come see for myself. Brother Yun, that’s not very kind of you. Since you were coming here, why not say so? We could have traveled together.”

The White-Robed Swordsman instinctively reached into his sleeve for the invitation, only to find nothing. Panic flared, and he began patting himself all over, but of course it was nowhere to be found.

Liu Xiaolou asked with a smile, “Could it be that Brother Yun never received an invitation?”

Sweating with anxiety, the swordsman snapped, “Of course I have one!”

“Then you must have lost it on the way?” Liu Xiaolou suggested.

The swordsman kept searching but came up empty, muttering in frustration, “I had it, I’m sure I had it… I’ll just explain it to the Li family. They delivered it directly to my home. Once I tell them, they’ll know—”

Liu Xiaolou threw an arm around his shoulder. “Explain what? With the friendship we share, what need is there for an invitation? Just come in with me.”

The loss had left the White-Robed Swordsman so flustered that, with Liu’s arm around him, he let himself be led to the entrance without even thinking to resist.

Liu Xiaolou smiled at the steward. “Alright, we’re going in.”

The steward bowed with a smile. “Understood. Please, honored guests, come inside for tea.”