Chapter 35

Linglong snorted. "How could you treat such a lovable fat man like this?" In a fit of temper, she blurted out that strange, clever remark. Her gaze turned stubborn and resolute as she looked at Blood Drinking Scholar.

Blood Drinking Scholar's voice remained terribly hoarse and low. Looking at Linglong, he said, "You think he's lovable? That dead fat man is lovable? You should know that from the moment Iron Hand Ya Zi fled wounded, this man was beyond saving. Everyone treats him as dead, yet you insist on saving him. Have you been possessed by demons? When necessary, I won't hesitate to teach you a lesson! Little Princess, stand against the wall. You'd best not interfere in what comes next. You should know that my sword has never had eyes. I enjoy drinking blood. My sword enjoys it even more..."

Linglong's expression turned ugly. Her little hand clenched into a fist, then slowly loosened. She retreated to the wall and stood there, looking sorrowfully at Ning Chang'an.

Blood Drinking Scholar cast Ning Chang'an a sidelong glance and shook the strange longsword in his hand. A spray of blood droplets scattered through the air. Ning Chang'an slowly untied the cloth wrapping around the Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword. The sword was already in his hand.

Blood Drinking Scholar looked at the bloodstains on the ground. Drop by drop, they were inconspicuous against the mottled blackened earth, yet their stench was especially piercing. Blood Drinking Scholar said, "Do you know what this is?"

Ning Chang'an said, "Blood. Human blood."

Blood Drinking Scholar said, "Do you know whose it is?"

Ning Chang'an said, "There's no need for me to know. I only know it definitely isn't mine."

Blood Drinking Scholar said unhurriedly, "This is Iron Hand Ya Zi's blood. Iron Hand Ya Zi was one of my most capable men, but someone crippled one of his arms. With his iron hand ruined, he became useless trash. There was no point keeping him around. You probably don't know the common saying in the streets—serve food according to the guest, beat a dog only after looking at its master. A dog's death is nothing to pity, but not just any riffraff gets to make it die. Breaking a dog's leg and crippling it is even more unacceptable. So, you've probably guessed your fate next. Heh heh, it certainly won't be pleasant. At the very least, you'll die more miserably than that dog. A mud-legged peasant with neither money nor breeding, a calf with breeding but no strength—you should never have come to a place like Blood Stained Alley. You must have gone mad. Now, you can finally rest in peace!"

Blood Drinking Scholar spoke slowly and methodically. Together with that hoarse, low voice, it sounded deeply unpleasant. Yet his manner carried something of a poor scholar by a cold window idly handling his classics, making him seem particularly eccentric.

Ning Chang'an raised the Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword and pointed it straight at Blood Drinking Scholar. "Too much nonsense. Make your move!"

Blood Drinking Scholar said regretfully, "Have a safe journey down the road to the Yellow Springs!" His body suddenly moved. He flew along the wall and struck at Ning Chang'an like a glimmer flashing past a shadow.

Once Blood Drinking Scholar moved, every motion of his hands and feet was clean and efficient. There was not a single unnecessary sound, nor a single superfluous movement. With one point of his sword, he aimed directly for Ning Chang'an's throat.

When an assassin struck, it was fast, precise, sinister, and vicious.

Blood Drinking Scholar's sword was exceptionally resolute, practically carrying the bearing of jade and stone shattering together. Assassins ordinarily should not have fought like this. Assassins valued seizing an opportunity for a single killing blow, then retreating whole, coming without a shadow and leaving without a trace. But Blood Drinking Scholar was different. Relying on his mysterious swordsmanship, blood had to be spilled whenever he exchanged moves with someone. As for whose blood it was, he did not care in the least. In the past, it had always been his blood that spilled before he counterattacked from desperate straits. Yet as he gradually comprehended his swordsmanship and accumulated experience in slaughter, it later became his opponents who bled to death while he emerged unharmed. Imperceptibly, Blood Drinking Scholar had developed a battle style that could be called tragically savage, as well as a brutal, bloodthirsty nature. The moment he attacked, he carried the posture of fish dying and nets tearing. Among assassins, such a method of killing was an oddity. That he had lived well until now was proof enough of how hard his fate was and how tyrannical his martial skill was. He was no ordinary man.

Ning Chang'an stared fixedly at that pinpoint gleam on Blood Drinking Scholar's sword tip. He stood where he was without moving, meeting ten thousand changes with one unchanging response.

In the blink of an eye, Blood Drinking Scholar had reached him. Cold light suddenly flared from the sword edge, and a bitter, chilling aura of carnage pressed directly against Ning Chang'an's face.

Roar!

At the very instant his killing intent surged, Ning Chang'an's longsword suddenly thrust out. The sword's cry rang through Blood Stained Alley like a tiger's roar. Its tip struck Blood Drinking Scholar's sword tip with flawless precision. With weapons, an inch longer meant an inch stronger; an inch shorter meant an inch more dangerous. Ning Chang'an's ghostly, unpredictable sword struck Blood Drinking Scholar's sword tip, and its overbearing force made Blood Drinking Scholar's whole body shudder. He was stopped more than twelve feet from Ning Chang'an, utterly unable to get close, much less wound Ning Chang'an with a single sword stroke.

Blood Drinking Scholar's heart went cold, and a grave look surfaced in his eyes. Though his swordsmanship was incomparably savage, wounding the enemy or himself, its sole flaw lay in that needle-tip, wheat-awl point of the blade. Even if ordinary people noticed it, they could only dream of breaking it, because no one could be sure of striking such a tiny point. Yet Ning Chang'an had broken it with one blow. Blood Drinking Scholar already knew that the fat man before him was no simple opponent. He had run into a hard bone. What Blood Drinking Scholar did not know was that this flaw was extremely similar to the flaw in a sword strike from the Cloud-Emerging Sword Style. Back then, Lu Sheng had been defeated in one move in exactly this manner. Since Chang'an had been able to break the Cloud-Emerging Sword Style then, doing so now was naturally nothing worth mentioning.

Blood Drinking Scholar retreated three steps in succession. Just as he was about to close in again, Ning Chang'an had already attacked before him. He was fast, but this fat man seemed even faster. He was vicious, but this fat man was a hundred times more overbearing. Blood Drinking Scholar only felt as though a fierce tiger was charging head-on at him, its gleaming fangs pouncing to tear him to pieces.

In an instant, Blood Drinking Scholar was suppressed and forced into passive defense.

Having gained the advantage with one move, Ning Chang'an pressed it without mercy. Follow-up attacks came one after another. Fierce Tiger Rending Feast—eighteen fierce sword thrusts flashed out in succession, completed in one unbroken breath.

Since his battle with Fierce Wolf, Ning Chang'an's swordsmanship had improved enormously. His ears were keen, his eyes sharp, his movement agile, and he had gradually grasped the imposing spirit within the Tiger Aspect Nine Moves. Once unleashed, it was no longer what it had once been.

Blood Drinking Scholar did not have Fierce Wolf's inner power protecting his body. Facing Fierce Tiger Rending Feast, after blocking again and again, he slipped up and Ning Chang'an's thrust pierced his chest. A bloody hole immediately appeared in Blood Drinking Scholar's chest, blood gushing from it.

Blood Drinking Scholar lowered his head and glanced at the bloody hole in his chest. With a savage expression, he said coldly, "Good. Very good!"

Ning Chang'an's eighteen sword thrusts had been too fast. Blood Drinking Scholar had been unable to block them, and so he had seen blood and suffered a wound.

"Very good?"

Ning Chang'an sneered. Against cruel people, he could not give them the slightest chance to resist. Violence had to be answered with violence. Before his words had faded, the longsword in his hand thrust out again. With a tiger's leaping strike, his body suddenly sprang upward like a tiger king pouncing upon its prey. The Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword trembled again and again, its sharp cry piercing the ears and shaking the mind. Like lightning striking from the heavens, the sword came tyrannically and fiercely, stabbing straight at Blood Drinking Scholar. Blood Drinking Scholar let out a strange cry and raised his sword to resist, drawing a flower of sword light as he tried with all his strength to dissolve Ning Chang'an's tiger-leaping strike.

Unfortunately, all of Ning Chang'an's strength had gathered into this single sword.

Clang!

Blood Drinking Scholar's sword bent. The web between his thumb and forefinger split open, and his thumb nearly tore off. The searing pain made Blood Drinking Scholar scream miserably as he staggered back again and again. His hand could no longer grip the sword, and with a clang, the longsword slipped free and fell to the ground. He finally understood that nothing was good at all, but it was already too late.

A cold smile covered Ning Chang'an's face. His back bent slightly, his body arched backward, and his arms drew taut like a powerful bow pulled to its limit. With a furious roar, he hurled the Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword from his hand.

The sound of tearing through the air rang out loudly.

Blood Drinking Scholar's body suddenly flew up. The Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword pierced through him, then nailed him brutally to the ground. Blood Drinking Scholar's chest had exploded open, his corpse nearly split into two. Yet his eyes suddenly widened, his pupils filled with terror beyond all measure.

Ning Chang'an slowly stepped forward and pulled out the Gloomy Cold Soul Severing Sword. Then, with a flick of his blade, he tossed Blood Drinking Scholar's corpse toward the wall like a torn burlap sack. Turning toward the stunned Linglong, he asked in a deep voice, "Whose dog was Blood Drinking Scholar?"

Only after a long while did Linglong draw a breath. Staring blankly, she said, "You killed him just like that?" She could hardly believe her eyes. Blood Drinking Scholar had died too quickly, and too shockingly. The image in her mind remained fixed on the instant he had been nailed to the ground by one sword—bloody and brutal.

This fat man had shocked her too deeply.

Ning Chang'an said indifferently, "He was probably dead. If he could still live, he wouldn't be human anymore!"

Linglong stuck out her tongue. A dazzling radiance appeared on her little face, like a miser discovering a treasure vault piled full of jewels and gold. Her expression was fervent and entranced, adorable yet carrying a touch of absurdity.

Ning Chang'an could not help laughing.

Linglong noticed her lapse in composure. Her little face flushed red as she smiled awkwardly. "Blood Drinking Scholar wasn't a dog. He was a servant. Servants and dogs aren't the same!"

Ning Chang'an asked curiously, "Whose servant was he?"

Linglong shook her head. "I don't know whose servant he was. Anyway, he was a servant of Master's Tower. You are qualified to seek a position as a Guest Official in Master's Tower. Mm, perhaps even an elder. Keep going forward. Anyone who attacks you can be wiped out. Kill until no one dares block your path, until everyone fears you, and then you will see Master's Tower's back entrance. Once you have a position in Master's Tower, you'll have money. Once you have money, you can pay me back for my candied hawthorn skewer. A few dozen taels of silver won't even buy one tasty candied hawthorn skewer!"

Ning Chang'an said in surprise, "It can't be bought?"

Linglong said, "You can't imagine how expensive that candied hawthorn skewer is, so you'd better prepare yourself mentally!"

Ning Chang'an was speechless. He wondered what sort of candied hawthorn skewer could cost more than a tael of silver. Even as a child, he had never particularly liked candied hawthorn. He preferred hawthorn in its original flavor. He knew nothing about candied hawthorn, so he could not imagine it at all. He could not figure it out, and Linglong had no intention of explaining, so Ning Chang'an simply stopped thinking about it.

He loved adventure and novelty, and was filled with curiosity toward unknown things, but he could not obtain everything from imagination alone. Ning Chang'an looked at Linglong and smiled. "I'm looking forward to seeing such an expensive candied hawthorn skewer. I hope I can afford it then!"

Some people, regardless of whether they were good or evil, could always leave a favorable impression at first sight. Such people were always different from the rest, born as heaven's darlings.

Linglong was undoubtedly one of them. She was so adorable and exquisite that she resembled a doll carved from pink jade, brimming with spirit. Anyone who saw her would be reluctant to harm her and would feel tenderness toward her. Up to this point, Ning Chang'an had held nothing but goodwill toward her. Even though she had been the first person to obstruct him after he entered Blood Stained Alley, that had been dictated by their positions and could not truly count her as an enemy.