Good Saber, Good Saber!

Good Saber, Good Saber!

"I'll see you off, my lord!"

Ye Youcai escorted Bai Yan and the others to the entrance of Night Manor once more. He watched their figures gradually blend into the night until they vanished from sight, then finally unclenched his tightly gripped fists and let out a long sigh of relief.

This night had truly been heart-stopping.

Though twists and turns had come one after another, everything had ended safely in the end. His daughter was unharmed, and the Flower Thief who had committed countless misdeeds had finally been brought to justice.

"Master."

The old steward looked in the direction the Imperial Guards had left and suddenly spoke:

"This Lord Bai seems rather different from the Imperial Guards we usually hear about."

Ye Youcai nodded, feeling the same way:

"He truly is different."

He had been in business for many years, traveling far and wide and meeting all sorts of people. He was especially skilled at reading people's expressions and moods.

The Imperial Guards' reputation among the common folk had never been good. As the Emperor's personal army, they held high positions and great authority, and they often acted with an air of arrogance. Ordinary people avoided them whenever they saw them.

Ye Youcai had dealt with them several times himself. Those Imperial Guards had either been overbearing or greedy and mean-spirited. Someone like Bai Yan was a first.

Though they had spent only a brief day together, Ye Youcai could sense that Bai Yan possessed none of that obnoxious arrogance.

He treated others with gentleness and courtesy. Even toward a merchant household like theirs, he had never shown the slightest trace of contempt.

When dealing with criminals, he acted decisively and swiftly, yet he still considered other people's feelings in the details. For instance, he had deliberately shielded his daughter just now, preventing her from seeing that bloody scene.

"Neither arrogant nor rash, courteous and measured, and so young yet so accomplished."

Ye Youcai stroked his beard, his eyes filled with admiration. "Lord Bai's future achievements will surely be boundless."

"This mission really was full of twists and turns."

On the way back to the Pacification Bureau, Ren Hong could not help sighing.

"Indeed. Who could say otherwise?"

Li Kaiyao nodded in agreement, with a trace of lingering fear in his voice. "Who would have thought the Flower Thief was actually two people? If my lord hadn't reacted quickly and seen through their plot in time, we would probably have botched the mission. We might even have implicated Miss Night..."

At that point, he changed his tone and cupped his fists toward Bai Yan with a grin.

"My lord is truly brilliant and perceptive, with eyes that see through the tiniest clues! My admiration for you is like the mighty Yangtze, rolling on without end, and like the Yellow River in flood, utterly unstoppable!"

Ren Hong's heart gave a thump when he heard this. Oh no. This fellow has no martial ethics—he actually beat me to the flattery!

He hurriedly cupped his fists toward Bai Yan as well, his tone even more earnest than Li Kaiyao's.

"My lord is wise and mighty, and judges cases like a god! To find a flaw from such minute traces as the frequency of the crimes and see through the plot of these twin brothers—across the entire world, there may be no one else!"

Bai Yan listened to the two of them singing each other's praises and could not help twitching the corner of his mouth.

Was there something seriously wrong with these two subordinates of mine?

They had merely caught a Flower Thief, and now that made him wise and mighty, a divine judge?

If that were the standard, wouldn't all the thousand- and hundred-household commanders in the Pacification Bureau be famous detectives?

Leaving aside the roughly thirty percent who had climbed up through connections and family background, the remaining seventy percent had all risen through genuine merit.

They had solved far more cases than Bai Yan had.

"All right, stop flattering me so shamelessly."

Bai Yan waved his hands repeatedly.

"Though everything you said is true, you can't say it so openly. It wouldn't look good if word got out. Remember to be more discreet next time."

Ren Hong and Li Kaiyao froze, their minds going blank.

They had assumed their lord disliked being flattered.

Never had they expected the turn to come so quickly. Their lord was simply too shameless; they had nearly thrown out their backs.

When they returned to the Pacification Bureau, the night-duty Imperial Guard warrior saw Bai Yan coming back and hurriedly bowed in greeting, calling out respectfully:

"Brigade Leader Bai!"

When he saw the two heads still dripping blood, the warrior froze and remained speechless for a long while.

Originally, one criminal had died and the other had been wounded and left alive. But because the matter involved the Azure Lotus Sect, Bai Yan could no longer spare the Flower Thief the pleasure of being executed by Lingchi.

Once he entered the prison, his identity as an Azure Lotus Sect criminal would certainly be exposed. If that bastard could not withstand the torture and confessed everything, Bai Yan's taking of the jade hairpin might also be revealed, bringing him needless trouble.

Thus, Bai Yan had simply sent him on his way during the return journey and destroyed the evidence. For the report, having the heads was enough.

The warrior then exclaimed:

"Lord Bai, your efficiency is far too high!"

"You left in the morning and brought the Flower Thief back by nightfall?"

"The Ministry of Justice's people are probably so ashamed they'll have nowhere to hide!"

The entire Pacification Bureau had heard that Bai Yan had led a team to capture the Flower Thief.

After all, the matter had already alarmed the Emperor. Whoever captured the Flower Thief would earn great merit.

This was a huge prize, and who knew how many hundred-household commanders wanted a bite of it?

Yet no one had expected that this plump morsel would fall into the mouth of Bai Yan, a mere Brigade Leader.

As a result, countless people had secretly been waiting to see Bai Yan make a fool of himself, hoping that he would fail the mission.

But no one had expected Bai Yan to act with lightning speed, capturing the Flower Thief in just one day—and capturing two at once.

Bai Yan smiled at the warrior.

"The Flower Thief was weak yet arrogant and reckless. If people like that don't die, then who will?"

"Now that they've been caught, all one can say is that Heaven's justice is clear and retribution never misses its mark."

The warrior hurriedly clasped his fists and bowed, his face covered in smiles.

"Brigade Leader Bai is absolutely right! Allow me to congratulate you first on earning yet another merit, my lord. Your future is surely boundless!"

"I'll accept your good wishes."

Bai Yan smiled and waved his hand, saying no more as he led Ren Hong and the others through the Pacification Bureau's gates.

Though it was already close to midnight, the Pacification Bureau remained brightly lit.

Watching Bai Yan and the others' departing backs, the warriors at the entrance all filled with deep envy.

"Brigade Leader Bai is probably about to be promoted."

One warrior could not help speaking in a low voice, his tone full of emotion.

Everyone knew that the Flower Thief case had alarmed the Emperor. Bai Yan had not only solved the case, but also uncovered the truth about the twin brothers and completely settled this long-unsolved case. Once this merit was reported, his promotion to hundred-household commander was a certainty.

"He's been in the Imperial Guards for only a month, and he's already going from Brigade Leader to hundred-household commander..."

Another warrior smacked his lips, his face full of rueful amazement.

"We've been grinding away here for five or six years and are still only warriors. The gap is truly impossible to compare."

His companion sighed, his voice carrying a hint of dejection.

"Stop looking. Some people are destined to be beyond our reach."

"Isn't that the truth?"

Yet another warrior shook his head, his tone helpless but candid.

"Without the ability, even if an opportunity crashes down on your head, you still won't be able to catch it."

Though Bai Yan was young and had little seniority, the merits he had established were genuine.

The warriors at the bottom respected strength above all. Someone like Bai Yan, who had broken through to the Connate realm at such a young age and possessed extraordinary ability, might have advanced at a startling pace, but no one could voice even half a word of objection.

A man like that was destined for glory and prosperity!

After handing over the Flower Thief's heads, Bai Yan went straight home.

As soon as he arrived, Bai Yan eagerly opened the system.

"System, claim the reward!"

Ding! The host has completed the Flower Thief capture mission and obtained the Snow Drinking Saber.

Reward distribution in progress...

Distribution complete.

Light flashed, and a sheathed saber fell into Bai Yan's hand.

Clang—

He drew the saber from its sheath. It was three feet and seven inches long, bleakly cold and razor-sharp, radiating an invisible chill.

The moment the Snow Drinking Saber was unsheathed, the room's temperature plummeted.

The Snow Drinking Saber had been forged from White Dew, one of the four divine stones Nuwa had used to mend the heavens. It was the coldest object in all the world.

The saber also bore a verse:

When the saber leaves its sheath, snow must appear. When it kills, no blood is seen—for before the blood can even spatter, it has already congealed beneath the saber's chill!

"Good saber!"

Bai Yan gripped the saber and leaped into the courtyard, immediately demonstrating a saber art.

The saber art was utterly ordinary, nothing more than the commonplace Eight Gates Golden Lock Saber of the martial world, followed by the Three Gang Saber Art.

Yet in Bai Yan's hands, these two unremarkable saber arts became astonishingly powerful.

Saber light crisscrossed the air, shifting unpredictably.

The blade tore through the sky, howling back and forth with imposing might, like long spears and great halberds sweeping across ten thousand miles of yellow sand.

At that moment, Bai Yan had not yet activated the True Essence in his body, so the saber art possessed force without revealing it, revealed force without releasing it.

Once he activated his True Essence, every swing could unleash several yards of Blade Qi.

Splitting stone monuments and cleaving boulders would be effortless. He could even hack the side room behind him into ruins with a single stroke!

Swish, swish, swish!

Clang—!

After completing the saber art, Bai Yan returned the saber to its sheath.

The instant the Snow Drinking Saber entered its sheath, the chill filling the surroundings dispersed considerably.

"Hahahaha!"

"As expected of one of the Ten Great Divine Weapons of The Storm Riders! It truly is peerless beneath Heaven!"

"Good saber! Good saber!"

Bai Yan held the Snow Drinking Saber, utterly enamored with it.

No martial world master could resist the allure of such a divine weapon, and Bai Yan was no exception.