Bixie Swordplay

"An extraordinary talent, just as the rumors say." Mo Da left that single assessment and departed.

The business in Hengyang City was settled, so Wang Jingyuan was ready to take care of some things of his own. First, he went to a butcher's shop. When the butcher saw him, he went to a room in the back and brought out Tian Boguang's head.

A few days ago, Wang Jingyuan had been unable to find a military household skilled in preserving heads, so he had no choice but to look for a butcher who knew how to cure meat. The butcher wiped Tian Boguang's head clean with a cloth and placed it in front of Wang Jingyuan. Then he said calmly,

"Since it's not meant to be eaten, I cured it with poisonous salt. To make sure his features would still be recognizable, I first brined it a few times to set its shape. Only after that did I apply the poisonous salt and smoke it."

Wang Jingyuan took the head. It did indeed look about eighty percent like Tian Boguang had in life. The butcher had clearly put care into it. Wang Jingyuan put it in a box, then glanced at the butcher. "Before, nobody else was willing to take the job, but you volunteered. At first, I thought you were just short on silver. Now it seems you have a story of your own."

The butcher pulled a cloth bundle from beneath the chopping block, took a silver ingot out of it, and placed it in front of Wang Jingyuan. Wang Jingyuan took a look. It was the very same silver he had given the butcher earlier.

The butcher said with an impassive expression, "That villain came to Hengyang City many years ago... I'll never forget the great kindness you showed me, Hero Wang. It's just that I chopped up his corpse and fed it to the dogs, so I couldn't carry out your instructions. I'm ashamed to accept this silver."

Wang Jingyuan ignored the ingot, picked up the wooden box, and left. "I asked you to dispose of his corpse properly. You did, didn't you?"

After leaving the butcher's shop, Wang Jingyuan went straight to Commander Chen's house. The old servant had presumably been given instructions; as soon as he saw Wang Jingyuan, he led him straight to Commander Chen.

Commander Chen was sitting in his study, drinking tea. Wang Jingyuan didn't stand on ceremony. He walked over and poured himself a cup. "Old Chen, get me some good stuff. Let me see what it can do."

Old Chen had acted quickly. Wang Jingyuan had gone to see him that morning, and by the afternoon Wang Jingyuan had set out. That was even after he'd stopped for a simple lunch at Huiyan Tower.

Wang Jingyuan glanced at the small slip of paper Old Chen had given him, then walked out of Hengyang City.

On the official road not far from Hengyang City stood an inn beside the roadside. Inns in such isolated places, with no village ahead or behind, were usually shady businesses. But this inn's owner was clever. Since everyone assumed an inn in such a place must be a den of thieves, he chose to run an honest establishment.

After years of building a good reputation, many travelers knew there was a respectable inn here. It had become the first choice for travelers passing through who needed a place to rest.

The people of the Qingcheng Sect were dining there at the moment. Everyone was eating quietly, but Yu Canghai still had the Bixie Swordplay in his hands, poring over the manual and studying it intently.

His face was pale, yet his eyes were bloodshot. It was easy to tell that over the past few days, he had likely tried to force his way through the Bixie Swordplay many times.

He wasn't someone like Wang Jingyuan, who had unlocked the necessary condition. Trying to practice the swordplay without meeting its prerequisite could only lead to repeated bouts of qi deviation.

"Honored guests, your dishes are here!" The waiter laid out the dishes the Qingcheng Sect had ordered, one by one. At the center of the table was a pot of chicken soup. Yu Canghai sniffed and caught the aroma of medicine in it.

He stopped the waiter. "What did you put in this chicken soup?"

The waiter answered honestly, "A medicine merchant passed through yesterday. He thought our chicken soup was delicious, so he gave our boss some fine tonics. He said adding them to the soup would make it tastier and more nourishing.

"He gave us some to try first. If the travelers passing through like it, then next time he comes by, we'll buy more from him."

Yu Canghai ladled himself a bowl of chicken soup and smelled it. There was nothing strange about the scent; it was all common medicinal herbs used as tonics. He held a little under his tongue, but didn't feel any discomfort.

Instead, he felt a slight warmth in his body, and his qi and blood seemed a little more abundant. The waiter had been right; these really were fine tonics.

He had already spat up quite a bit of blood while studying the sword manual these past few days. A bowl of chicken soup to replenish himself seemed just the thing. During the meal, Yu Canghai ate little, but drank his fill of the soup.

After several bowls of chicken soup, Yu Canghai's body did indeed grow warm, and the emptiness within him seemed to have eased. By nightfall, he felt ready to try again, so he sat cross-legged on his bed and took out the sword manual to study.

He had barely tried practicing when that familiar feeling welled up again. He spat out a mouthful of blood. Perhaps it was because he had just taken tonics, but the blood sprayed high and far.

But that wasn't the end of it. Usually, once he stopped practicing, his qi deviation eased quickly. Today was different. The qi coursing wildly through his body didn't stop; it grew more intense, completely beyond his control.

Just then, Yu Canghai heard a muffled thud, and a gray shadow shot in through the doorway. On an ordinary day, he would have been able to dodge, but now the qi in his body was completely out of control. He couldn't get out of the way.

The gray shadow pierced straight through his chest. Yu Canghai spat out a large amount of blood and fragments of his innards. He forced himself to stay alert and pressed the acupoints that would stop the bleeding.

He stared fixedly toward the doorway. A figure in night clothes, their face covered with black cloth, pushed the door open and walked in. More importantly, the figure held a crossbow.

The intruder was, of course, Wang Jingyuan. Before he left, the small slip Old Chen had given him had provided the Qingcheng Sect's return itinerary. The Imperial Guard under Commander Chen had some martial arts training, but they were still far behind the people of the jianghu.

Having them lie on the roof of Yu Canghai's bedroom in the middle of the night to eavesdrop would have been asking too much. But the people of the Qingcheng Sect had a habit of discussing things over meals.

And so the Qingcheng Sect's return itinerary ended up in Wang Jingyuan's hands. He didn't care whether Yu Canghai had deliberately put out false information.

If it was false, he could just wait for another chance. Yu Canghai could run, but he couldn't exactly carry Songfeng Monastery away with him, could he? As it happened, Wang Jingyuan was lucky enough to catch the Qingcheng Sect on his first try.

Seeing Yu Canghai sitting on the bed, barely holding himself upright and looking ready to collapse at any moment, Wang Jingyuan didn't dare let his guard down. Even in somewhat hardcore games, there were plenty of cases of bosses playing dead or pretending to surrender.

Back when he'd been gathering materials from a dead Yian Kut-Ku, it had suddenly stood up and nearly made Wang Jingyuan cry out in fright. And there was that bastard Red-Butt Macaque; no need to even mention him. Wang Jingyuan had actually thought there was some special plotline.

The crossbow in Wang Jingyuan's hand suddenly vanished. In the next instant, a crossbow already loaded with a bolt appeared in his hands, and he fired at once.

This shot was aimed at Yu Canghai's lower abdomen. Yu Canghai had no way to resist and was pierced clean through again. From where he stood, Wang Jingyuan could see the intestines writhing inside Yu Canghai's abdomen. Only then did he relax a little.

He shut the door, found a chair, and sat down. In a muffled voice, he asked, "Why didn't you call for help?"

Yu Canghai looked at Wang Jingyuan with a cold gaze. "If I made a sound, the inheritance of Songfeng Monastery would likely end here. Tell me, what will it take for you to spare my disciples?"