Is My Old Blade Still Sharp?

"Old Man Hu, you've got yourself a pretty good little life here. This noodle stall is yours, isn't it?"

Fang Xuan looked down at him, then surveyed the shabby noodle stall with a smile.

Old Man Hu's heart shuddered, and a look of misery spread across his face.

"Master Fang, you don't understand. This old man hasn't had it easy! My body's been getting worse and worse lately. I could only scrape together everything I had to let my old wife open this noodle stall. If the day comes when I can't move anymore, at least we'll still have a bite to eat."

"You haven't had it easy again?"

Fang Xuan glanced down at him and smiled. "But why did I hear from my men that an old fellow went to the Yi Chun Brothel last night, ordered three girls in one night, called himself a handsome old devil, and kept chasing after one of the girls to ask, 'Is my old blade still sharp?'"

Before Fang Xuan could finish, Old Man Hu's face drained of all color. He was so frightened that his soul nearly fled his body.

"Old wife! You blind fool! Master Fang is here, and you still don't know to make him a bowl of noodles?"

Old Man Hu first shouted to send the old woman away, then forced a smile uglier than tears at Fang Xuan.

"Master Fang, please stop tormenting me. If you want me dead, just say so. Why must you be so lacking in martial virtue?"

"What do you mean, dead or not dead? Fang has always been a kind man and has never taken anyone's life! Don't spread rumors!"

Fang Xuan waved a hand in displeasure, cutting Old Man Hu off. Then his gaze fell on the hand Old Man Hu had hidden behind his back.

"I heard that whenever you get drunk, you like boasting that your family has a heirloom: Whale Blood from some great whale of the sea. Drink it, and you become as fierce as a dragon and tiger?"

Old Man Hu's eyelid twitched. This baleful star truly never visited a temple without a reason—he had come for the Whale Blood.

"Slander! Master Fang, someone is slandering this old man! You mustn't believe—"

Before Old Man Hu could finish his sentence.

Slap—!

A huge palm struck him across the face, leaving Old Man Hu seeing stars. For a moment, he felt as though he saw his dead father waving to him from the grave.

"Old Man Hu! Have I shown you too many smiles lately? You dare try to swindle me?"

A fierce light flashed in Fang Xuan's eyes as he barked.

"I don't have time to wrangle with you! Are you giving me that Whale Blood or not? If you refuse, I'll send your whole family into the river to feed the fish!"

The stars before Old Man Hu's eyes gradually faded, and Fang Xuan's vicious face came back into focus.

He could not help shrinking back as he said timidly, "You just said you were a kind man who never took lives."

"Who the hell am I? I'm a thug! You believe what a thug says?"

Fang Xuan shot him a glare, then clenched his fists until they cracked.

He had figured it out: against an old fox like Old Man Hu, simple and brutal worked best!

"I'll give you ten breaths. Bring me all that Whale Blood, or else... Men!"

Rustle—!

In an instant, dozens of thugs dressed in azure filed in, surrounding the entire noodle stall.

"Handsome old devil, huh? Still sharp, huh? Cut off his lustful root and throw him into the river to feed the fish!"

In an instant, Old Man Hu met those grinning, savage faces and turned purple with fright. He hurried into the inner room and came back out hugging a jar.

"Now that's more like it."

Fang Xuan nodded in satisfaction, first waving his hand to signal the thugs to search the room.

A moment later, One Line Sky emerged with the thugs and gently shook his head at Fang Xuan.

Only then did Fang Xuan smile. He took fifteen large silver ingots from his sleeve and patted Old Man Hu on the shoulder.

"Old Man Hu, don't say Fang took your things for nothing. Take these fifteen taels of silver. Send your child to school. If he wants to take the Imperial Examination someday, I can find someone to recommend him."

"M-Master Fang, you mean it?" Old Man Hu froze, looking at Fang Xuan in disbelief.

He had already resigned himself to his bad luck, treating the Whale Blood as if it had been fed to a dog.

But he never imagined that Fang Xuan would actually give him fifteen taels of silver.

A palm-sized white crucian carp was worth, at most, a dozen or so copper coins.

But one tael of silver was a thousand coins!

These fifteen taels could equal the value of thousands of fish he had caught through wind and rain!

And once he counted the various tribute payments he had to make, these fifteen taels were probably more than he could earn and save in an entire lifetime!

"How could that be false? Fang has always kept his word. When have I ever failed to honor one?"

Fang Xuan gave Old Man Hu a displeased glance, then lifted the jar of Whale Blood in one hand and strode out amid a dark, bustling crowd.

Watching Fang Xuan's departing back.

Old Man Hu picked up a tael of silver and bit it, then rushed into the inner room with tears glimmering in his eyes.

"Old wife, our child can go to school and earn scholarly honors now!"

The moon hung over the treetops, and the wind and snow were gradually melting away.

Rumble!

Wave after wave crashed against the shore, exploding between heaven and earth like thunder.

Pingjiang County was full of mountains, which bent the surging Ping River into countless winding bays.

The river surged down from upstream, cleaving through mountains and smashing through cliffs, sending sprays of water flying between sheer precipices.

At one bend of the river.

Fang Xuan gazed at the vast river rushing like a soaring dragon and could not help taking a deep breath.

With water this swift, a single wave could probably overturn even a sturdy official ship.

To remain unmoving as a mountain amid such raging waves truly would not be easy.

"Come on!"

Fang Xuan untied the dozens of bamboo tubes evenly filled with Whale Blood from his body, then removed his Short Azure Clothes.

Under the cold moon, Fang Xuan's body was strong and imposing, tall and powerfully built. His muscles stood out in distinct ridges, while dense, savage scars covered his bronze skin.

Scar upon scar crisscrossed his body, enough to make the heart tremble at the sight.

Fang Xuan picked up a bamboo tube, tore away its seal, and tilted back his head to drink.

The Whale Blood entered his mouth like a burning charcoal ember, as if his entire mouth were about to burst into flame.

At the same time, Fang Xuan felt his spirits rise. A torrent seemed to course through his body before gathering in his dantian, making the dragon below rear its head, eager to charge straight into the deep cavern at once.

"This Whale Blood really is a fine treasure."

Fang Xuan's expression turned slightly strange. He suppressed the heat in his heart, then leaped forward and plunged into the river with a splash.

It was the twelfth lunar month, the coldest time of the year.

The instant Fang Xuan entered the river, it felt as though he had fallen into an ice cave. Frigid water seeped in through his pores, threatening to freeze his bones and blood stiff.

The heat he had just felt immediately faded by quite a bit.

Splash—!

A massive wave struck. Before Fang Xuan could react, it sent him spinning head over heels, unable to tell east from west, north from south.

His entire body felt as if the wave would tear it into severed limbs and broken pieces!

Fortunately, Fang Xuan had grown up by the river and was an excellent swimmer. Once the wave passed, he hurriedly steadied himself and swam slightly toward shore, avoiding the most violent currents.

"Hiss."

Fang Xuan lifted his head from the river, drew a deep breath, then slowly closed his eyes and sat cross-legged, allowing himself to gradually sink into the depths.

"Embrace the Dipper's outline, grasp the essential formula; this is the great key of the Dao, the Yuan Ji of methods. Ride righteous qi to command things; govern the divine mechanism to transform and move."

With Whale Blood in his mouth, Fang Xuan silently recited the cultivation formula recorded in the Dragon Whale Technique.

In that instant, he vaguely sensed the Whale Blood in his mouth gradually dispersing, turning into streams of heat that flowed through his limbs and bones.

The bone-deep cold was gradually forced from his body. His form, which had initially been tossed about by the surging current, slowly became as steady as an iron scale weight.

This can work!

Feeling the changes within his body, Fang Xuan's heart stirred with joy.

You held Whale Blood in your mouth amid the waves, tempering flesh and skin. Dragon Whale Technique progress +1

A line of small words unfurled before Fang Xuan's eyes like ink-wash landscapes spreading across silk.

Fang Xuan kicked off with both feet, burst from the water, drew another deep breath, and sank back into the icy depths.

You held Whale Blood in your mouth amid the waves, tempering flesh and skin. Dragon Whale Technique progress +1

You held Whale Blood in your mouth amid the waves, tempering flesh and skin. Dragon Whale Technique progress +1

You...

Line after line of small words began appearing continuously before his eyes.