The Saber Technique Shows Its Might!

Outside the courtyard, two enormous fat pigs lay bound tight, their bristles shaved completely clean.

"Boy, don't you dare splash blood into my courtyard. It's bad luck! Leave as soon as you're done!"

Grandpa Zhang stood a good distance away, frowning.

They regarded pig butchers as harbingers of calamity and wouldn't even let them through the gate. The pigs had to be slaughtered outside.

Qin Ming drew his butcher's knife from his waist, ready to bleed the pigs.

"Stop!!"

Wang Butcher came running over with a sudden shout.

"Wang Butcher!"

Qin Ming looked at the several major butchers of the town as they arrived. His movements paused for a moment, and the faintest trace of a sneer touched his lips.

They've finally come! I've been waiting quite a while!

He had called out a low price at the farmers' market precisely to draw all the town's butchers over. Only by thoroughly eclipsing them with his Pig-Slaying Saber Technique before a crowd would he have a chance to monopolize all of Qingshan Town's New Year pig-slaughtering business this year!

"Well, well, Qin Ming. You did odd jobs at my butcher shop for a few months, and now you really think you're a butcher?

"You stinking errand boy, how dare you take jobs slaughtering New Year pigs? Who gave you the guts?"

Wang Butcher pointed at Qin Ming and cursed him.

He deliberately shouted at the top of his voice, drawing over passing pedestrians.

"So Qin Ming was just an errand boy for Wang Butcher. Does that mean we've all been fooled by him?"

"I knew it! How could he charge so little for slaughtering New Year pigs? He really is a fraud! One look at those skinny arms and legs, and you can tell he's not cut out for it!"

"Not a single honest word comes out of these filthy pig butchers' mouths. What contemptible trash. Pah!"

As the crowd chimed in one after another, Grandpa Zhang couldn't help feeling a twinge of regret.

There was a proper way to slaughter a pig. If it was done poorly and the blood wasn't drained in time, the pork's taste would suffer greatly, and the whole pig could only be sold off cheaply.

He had raised these two enormous fat pigs for more than two years. If Qin Ming did a poor job, wouldn't he take a huge loss?

Seeing that he had achieved his goal, Wang Butcher grinned. "You little bastard, you haven't even grown all your hair yet, and you want to fight me!"

"Old Wang, impressive! Just a few words, and you've knocked the fight right out of this brat!"

"It takes Old Wang to do the job!"

The other butchers gave Wang Butcher a thumbs-up, making him feel even more on top of the world.

"In four months at the butcher shop, I slaughtered forty pigs. I cut up the pork, chopped the bones, and did every job by myself. I'd like to ask you: you haven't slaughtered a single pig or cut a single piece of meat in those four months. Do you even know how to slaughter a New Year pig?"

Qin Ming's casually delivered words instantly turned Wang Butcher's old face the color of pig liver.

Seeing the crowd's skeptical looks, he was even more overcome with shame and anger.

"Bullshit! I've slaughtered more pigs than you've seen women. Even if I haven't slaughtered one in four months, I'm still better than a wet-behind-the-ears brat like you!"

Seeing that he had successfully provoked Wang Butcher, Qin Ming lifted the corners of his mouth and pointed at the two tightly bound fat pigs. "Enough talk. If you've got the guts, let's compete and see who's more skilled and faster!"

"You?" Wang Butcher laughed.

His pig-slaughtering skills were unmatched in Qingshan Town. He needed only a single hour to slaughter an enormous fat pig; even Qin Ming's father, Qin Shou, had had to admit defeat when he was alive.

And a mere greenhorn like Qin Ming dared to challenge him?

"You really don't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is. Fine, I accept!"

Wang Butcher threw back his head and laughed.

"Qin Ming, your father's pig-slaughtering skills were first-rate in Qingshan Town back then, but he still ended up losing two taels of silver to him. Do you really want to compete with him?" Grandpa Zhang asked.

When Qin Ming said nothing, Wang Butcher thought he had lost his nerve. He sneered. "Boy, I'll give you a chance today. Just like your father back then, we'll wager two taels of silver. Do you dare?"

"I only have one tael."

"That's simple. If you lose, you can pay the debt with your right thumb!"

Wang Butcher bared his teeth in a grin, a flash of malice in his eyes.

The thumb was vital for wielding a butcher's knife. Wang Butcher wanted to cut off Qin Ming's livelihood as a pig butcher for good. Without his pig-slaughtering skills, he and the embroideress were bound to die before the winter was over!

He could kill without a knife; such was the viciousness of his heart!

Qin Ming smiled.

How could I turn down two taels of silver delivered right to my door?

He took a tael of silver from his robes and tossed it onto the table.

"I accept the wager, and I have one more condition. If I win, all of Qingshan Town's New Year pig-slaughtering business this year goes to me."

The butchers conferred among themselves for a few moments, then nodded. They chose to put their faith in Wang Butcher.

"Deal!" Wang Butcher pulled two taels of silver from his robes and tossed them out.

The two men began sharpening their knives.

"Who do you think will win?"

One butcher spoke in a low voice.

"Do you even need to ask? Old Wang, of course. Even if that brat Qin Ming had his father's skills, he'd be no match for Old Wang!"

"Young people are still too impulsive. They don't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is."

No one thought Qin Ming would win.

But the instant Qin Ming brought his knife down, everyone present froze.

The butcher's knife, flashing with cold light, seemed to come alive in Qin Ming's hand. The blade rose and fell without the slightest wasted motion, every stroke landing precisely between the bones. It flew in a blur, moving so fast it dazzled the onlookers.

Bleeding, gutting, removing the organs, deboning and dividing the carcass—all in one smooth sequence.

Qin Ming hardly looked as though he were slaughtering a pig. Rather, he seemed to be performing a kind of performance art. The ordinarily gruesome scene was now quite pleasing to the eye.

In just a quarter of an hour, he had finished cutting up a New Year pig. On the other side, Wang Butcher's head was drenched in sweat and his face was pale, yet he hadn't even finished processing half the pig before him.

His gaze was vacant, his pupils contracted sharply, and his body trembled as he pointed at Qin Ming, who was wiping his butcher's knife. "Impossible... this is impossible..."

Qin Ming snatched up the three taels of silver on the table and stuffed them into his pocket.

"You lost."

"Pfft!"

Wang Butcher was so enraged that he spat blood and fell flat on his back, actually fainting on the spot from anger.

"Old Wang! Old Wang!"

The butchers hurried to help Wang Butcher up.

"Don't forget what you just agreed to. The town's New Year pig-slaughtering business is mine this year."

Qin Ming's voice was cold.

The butchers' faces darkened, but they didn't dare go back on their word in front of everyone. Otherwise, it would ruin their butcher shops' reputations.

"Boy, if the mountain doesn't turn, the water will. This isn't over!"

They carried Wang Butcher away in a huff.

There was plenty of profit to be skimmed from slaughtering New Year pigs. With Qin Ming taking all the business for himself this year, it was a huge loss for them, but for now, they could only swallow their anger.

"He finished processing an enormous fat New Year pig in a quarter of an hour! That... that's far too fast!"

The crowd came to their senses as if waking from a dream, their faces full of shock.

It was the first time they had ever heard of a pig-slaughtering saber technique that fast.

Qin Ming, on the other hand, wasn't surprised.

Although he had only just begun learning the Pig-Slaying Saber Technique, it still fell within the realm of martial arts. Its power was beyond what ordinary people could match.

"Qin Ming, here's the payment we agreed on: a hundred copper coins for two enormous fat New Year pigs. I don't want those pig innards either. Hurry up and take them away. Don't dirty the ground outside my home."

Grandpa Zhang pinched his nose and waved a hand, inwardly lamenting his bad luck.

Before long, word of Qin Ming's crushing victory over Wang Butcher had spread through much of Qingshan Town.

"Bang!"

When Wang Butcher woke and learned everything, he was so furious that his vision went black.

Because he had lost to Qin Ming, the other butchers had come to resent him as well. The more Wang Butcher thought about it, the angrier he became.

"Damn little bastard, you won't get my three taels of silver so easily!"

Wang Butcher looked at the butcher's knife beside his bed, and a vicious plan quickly took shape in his mind.

He would take revenge!

Ruthless revenge!