"Jianghu Anecdote Records"

Fan Jianqiang certainly wouldn't betray Shi Feizhe.

He could tell the difference between a bit of fun once in a while and fun every single day.

He had a feeling that the next time he heard Shi Feizhe's name, things would be even more interesting!

The jianghu was more interesting when you held on to that kind of anticipation.

He was about to part ways with Shi Feizhe.

His original plan had been to keep heading north until he reached the North Sea, but he'd changed his mind.

He was going south, back to his hometown in Yangzhou, to give this copy of the "Sun Moon United Heart Art" a different name and use a special method to make his enemy get their hands on it.

Just imagine what the scene would be like then... Tsk, tsk, tsk!

"Brother Shi, what do you think would be a good new name for the 'Sun Moon United Heart Art'?" After thinking it over, Fan Jianqiang decided he ought to get advice from a specialist.

No one in the world understood this "Sun Moon United Heart Art" better than Shi Feizhe!

"Huh? Why does it need a different name?" Shi Feizhe was packing his things at the inn, too.

He thought Fan Jianqiang had a point!

After what had happened at Three Talents Manor and Qiu Yang City, he'd realized that in this jianghu, even if you didn't go looking for trouble, trouble would come knocking at your door.

If he hadn't met Fan Jianqiang this time, he might well have died in Qiu Yang City.

He really needed to find somewhere to cultivate for a few years. At the very least, he had to master the "True Origin Sword Finger Technique" and "Twelve Story Building," and bring the "True Origin Sword Finger Technique" to minor achievement. Only then could he step onto the jianghu stage!

Manors and Qiu Yang City had both gotten into trouble. He'd decided to pick some remote place, hide away, and lie low for a few years!

Ideally, it would be so remote that he'd be the only person in the mountains. Surely trouble wouldn't find him there!

"This name's already gone sour. Give it a better one!" Fan Jianqiang said.

"Sour? How is it sour? What are you planning?" Shi Feizhe advised him, "This 'Sun Moon United Heart Art' requires exceptional martial talent and wisdom to comprehend and practice. Otherwise, you'll end up like Leng Qianye and go mad."

Exceptional martial talent and wisdom, my foot. You're pretending to be dumb again!

Fan Jianqiang rolled his eyes at Shi Feizhe and continued, "Fine, don't tell me."

"Uh... This manual emphasizes splitting the spirit in two and giving birth to two hearts. We could call it the 'Two Hearts Art' or the 'Other Heart Art'!"

"Not imposing enough!" Fan Jianqiang judged.

"It can give birth not only to two hearts, but to many. One gives birth to two, two to three, and three to all things. We could call it the 'Heart Creates All Things Art' or the 'All Things Heart Creation Art.'"

"...Forget it. You'd better give up on naming things!" Fan Jianqiang declared that the names weren't imposing in the slightest.

"Then what do you think it should be called?" Shi Feizhe asked, unconvinced.

Fan Jianqiang thought for a moment, then spoke in his hometown's Minnan dialect, in the tone of a narrator, with dramatic rises and falls:

"'The Devil Heart Mirror' was said to have been created by the legendary devil Shi Feizhe, who twisted the 'Sun Moon Radiance Heart Art' of the Sun Moon Radiance Sect. Though it might drive its practitioners insane, in their madness, they could glimpse their true selves!"

"It could even help Circulatory Heaven Experts stuck before the True Person Realm break through into the True Person Realm!"

"Break through in madness, or sink into madness!"

"Either become a True Person, or become a madman!"

"Which Circulatory Heaven Expert under heaven could resist such a temptation?"

"Old Devil Shi truly understands human nature. With one move, he seized those Circulatory Heaven Experts by the heart!"

"From this day forth, the jianghu would know no peace!"

"..."

Shi Feizhe's face darkened. Damn it, could you stop making Old Devil Shi jokes already?!

What the hell did any of this have to do with me?!

You lot do the terrible things, and I'm the one who takes the blame!

I don't even dare say out loud that I'm Shi Feizhe anymore!

I'm more wronged than Dou E!

"Just do whatever you want!" Shi Feizhe couldn't be bothered to argue with Fan Jianqiang. He felt exhausted.

There was no point arguing with a guy like this!

"Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous!" Fan Jianqiang suddenly got into it. His words had fired him up, and he carried on, "Thrilling, thrilling, thrilling!"

"The devil stirs, and the world falls into chaos!"

"In the northern reaches of the Nine Provinces, south of the grasslands, the jianghu of Ji Province had three great legends!"

"One man possessed world-shaking wisdom. A soft whisper in someone's ear plunged Qiu Yang City into disaster!"

"One was a blade, a legendary weapon. In his hands, it lightly reaped the heads of the martial world!"

"One was a sword, like an immortal banished from heaven, yet it could not cut through the jianghu's endless strife!"

"One man, one blade, one sword—all would ultimately converge upon the devil! Behind every calamity, the devil's shadow could be found!"

"To learn what happens next, keep reading Fan Jianqiang's 'Jianghu Anecdote Records,' Ji Province jianghu edition!"

"..."

"That's enough!" Shi Feizhe snapped.

One man, one blade, one sword? Wasn't I just practicing sword techniques while carrying a blade?

My reputation was getting dragged through the mud because of you idiots spreading rumors!

"Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!" Fan Jianqiang smacked his lips, thoroughly pleased with his impromptu performance! He hurriedly found paper and a brush and wrote it down as a draft. He could polish it later when he had time.

"Don't worry, don't worry! Brother Shi, once 'Jianghu Anecdote Records' goes to print and hits the shops, you'll get a cut for your appearance!" Fan Jianqiang said to Shi Feizhe as he wrote.

"Won't I get beaten to death by then?" Shi Feizhe said.

"Then wouldn't I be off the hook for paying you?" Fan Jianqiang asked, startled, before quickly adding.

"..."

A bad choice of friends, a bad choice of friends!

Shi Feizhe couldn't be bothered with the guy anymore. He finished packing his things: mostly silver and gold, clothes, provisions, and that Night Blade.

Seeing the Night Blade reminded Shi Feizhe that Jin Yang City lay not far to the west, and the Night family was the dominant force there. To avoid trouble, he'd have to head southwest and find somewhere uninhabited to cultivate in peace!

"Thanks for looking after me along the way, Brother Fan. You can have this blade!" Shi Feizhe said, holding out the Night Blade.

He understood that, though he didn't know what Fan Jianqiang's intentions were, he really had looked after him.

"No need. I don't use a blade." Fan Jianqiang had finished his draft and declined. He began packing his own things, too.

"It's worth several thousand taels of silver! You really don't want it, Brother Fan?" Shi Feizhe tempted him.

"Hmph... But it also means trouble! I like watching other people get into trouble; I don't like inviting it on myself!" Fan Jianqiang said with a smile. "I suggest you bury it somewhere. Otherwise, if the Night family sees it, you'll be in trouble."

"I'll remember that!" Shi Feizhe said, clasping his fists.

Once they'd finished packing, they clasped fists and said their farewells.

"Brother Shi, the jianghu is vast. One day, you'll surely make a name for yourself!"

"Hopefully not thanks to your 'Jianghu Anecdote Records'!"

"May the green mountains remain unchanged!"

"May the green waters flow on!"

They each set off in their own direction, parting ways.

Shi Feizhe headed southeast, sticking to remote mountain paths as he searched for somewhere uninhabited yet convenient for buying medicinal herbs.

In the end, he picked a good spot: a little temple atop a mountain that had been forgotten for years.

Shi Feizhe: If I lie low, trouble won't come looking for me, right?