Chopsticks Pin a Saber

As his words fell, the tavern sank into dead silence.

Several diners exchanged glances, then lowered their heads one after another, pretending they had heard nothing.

A Zhuqi Realm technique might be tempting, but one had to stay alive to claim it.

The Tyrant Blade Sect had originally been nothing more than a third-rate force in Tiannan Prefecture. Its sect master, Lei Hu, was an expert of the Ninth Stage of Body Tempering, Huajin Realm.

But not long ago, Lei Hu had broken through to the Zhuqi Realm, and the Tyrant Blade Sect had leaped from a third-rate force to a second-rate one.

What ordinary martial artist without any backing would dare offend them?

"You're at death's door and still trying to struggle like a trapped beast. Your Vajra Sect may possess a Zhuqi Realm technique, but in the past hundred years, who among you has ever broken through to the Zhuqi Realm?"

"Die!"

The leading Tyrant Blade Sect disciple raised the Goose Feather Saber in his hand and slashed toward the Vajra Sect disciple's head.

Am I going to die?

The Vajra Sect disciple closed his eyes in despair.

The whistle of the Goose Feather Saber tearing through the air exploded beside his ears. He could even feel the blade's icy chill.

Clang!

A piercing clash of metal rang out, yet the agony he had expected never came.

The Vajra Sect disciple abruptly opened his eyes. The Goose Feather Saber that had been about to cleave off his head had been pinned to the nearby pillar by a single chopstick.

The chopstick pierced straight through the saber and sank deep into the wood. The hilt was still humming and trembling.

That chopstick was made entirely of bamboo, the most ordinary kind found in any tavern. Yet at this moment, it was like an iron nail, firmly pinning the finely forged steel Goose Feather Saber to the wooden pillar.

The tavern was silent as a grave.

Everyone's eyes widened as they stared at that chopstick in disbelief.

A chopstick pinning down a saber?

Was that something a human being could do?

And the speed just now had been far too fast.

No one had seen who had thrown that chopstick.

"Who was it? Who acted just now?" The leading Tyrant Blade Sect disciple looked around. His voice had tightened, though his tone remained forceful. "The Tyrant Blade Sect is conducting business. Uninvolved people should stay away. I can pretend what just happened never happened."

"The Tyrant Blade Sect?" On the second floor, Chen Xuan held a wine cup and took a sip. "Never heard of it. Is it impressive?"

"You—"

The leading Tyrant Blade Sect disciple's face flushed red. He was about to fly into a rage when a junior fellow disciple beside him grabbed him.

"Senior Brother, he's from the Red Sun Gang. We can't afford to provoke him." The fellow disciple lowered his voice. "And he may have been the one who acted just now. To pin a saber with a chopstick, his strength is at least at the eighth stage of Body Tempering."

"The Red Sun Gang!"

The leading Tyrant Blade Sect disciple gritted his teeth. He looked at the chopstick in the pillar, then at Chen Xuan by the second-floor window. In the end, he swallowed his anger.

Having come to Lianshan City, they naturally knew of the Red Sun Gang.

Its gang leader, Sun Tianxing, was an expert at the fourth level of the Zhuqi Realm, while their own sect master had only just broken through to the Zhuqi Realm.

What was more, the Guiyuan Sect stood behind the Red Sun Gang.

Their Tyrant Blade Sect simply could not afford to provoke such a colossal power.

"Fine. Today, we'll give the Red Sun Gang some face." The leading Tyrant Blade Sect disciple shot a vicious glare at the Vajra Sect disciple on the ground, then looked up at Chen Xuan. Feeling that leaving like this would be too humiliating, he threw out a threat. "We'll leave this man in the Red Sun Gang's care for now. But the matter of the Vajra Sect will not end here with the Tyrant Blade Sect."

With that, he waved his hand and led his men away.

"Branch Master, why did you..."

A Red Sun Gang member stepped forward, his face full of confusion.

Chen Xuan raised a hand to cut him off, set down his wine cup, and walked downstairs.

The Vajra Sect disciple was still sprawled on the floor, covered in blood, his breath as faint as a guttering candle in the wind.

Yet upon hearing footsteps, he still struggled to raise his head and look at Chen Xuan.

"Th... thank you..."

The Vajra Sect disciple's voice was so hoarse it was nearly inaudible. His lips were cracked and peeling, his eye sockets sunken, and his face pale as paper.

Chen Xuan crouched down and examined the injuries on his body.

The saber wound running from his left shoulder to his lower back was the deepest. Flesh had curled outward from it, and it had already turned black and begun to stink. The wound had clearly become infected.

There were another seven or eight saber wounds on his arms, shoulders, and thighs. Some had scabbed over, while others were still seeping blood.

For injuries like these, surviving until now was already a miracle.

"The Zhuqi Realm technique..." The Vajra Sect disciple panted, using the last of his strength to clutch Chen Xuan's hem. "It's... in my... clothes..."

Chen Xuan reached out to feel his pulse, his brow furrowing slightly.

His pulse was as weak as a string about to snap, appearing and vanishing by turns. This was no longer merely a matter of wounds; his internal organs had already begun to fail.

The aftereffects of the Blood Burning Secret Technique, combined with days of fleeing, infected wounds, and excessive blood loss—he had endured until now only by clinging to his final breath.

Chen Xuan turned and called to one of his subordinates, "Fetch a doctor!"

"Yes!"

A gang member dashed out at once.

The Vajra Sect disciple shook his head, and the corner of his mouth twisted into a smile uglier than crying. "It's too late... I know... my own condition..."

With difficulty, he raised his other hand and pointed tremblingly at his chest. "The technique... is... here... take it..."

"The Vajra Sect... is gone... but the technique... cannot be lost. I promised Master... I would pass it on..."

"Please... don't let the technique... be lost forever."

The Vajra Sect disciple's voice grew softer and softer, as though he were spending his last strength on each word. The hand clutching Chen Xuan's hem loosened and fell limply to the ground.

"Alright!"

Chen Xuan nodded.

Hearing that single word, the Vajra Sect disciple's lips curved faintly upward, revealing a smile of relief.

His eyes slowly closed, and his breathing grew weaker and weaker.

Chen Xuan reached out to check his breath—there was none left.

He reached into the Vajra Sect disciple's clothes and pulled out an oilcloth bundle. Opening it, he found a yellowed handwritten manual inside, its cover bearing the three words: "Vajra Technique."

The handwriting was vigorous and forceful. Though the paper was old, it had been preserved fairly well.

"Branch Master, the doctor is here!"

The gang member dragged in an elderly doctor, panting heavily.

"There's no need."

Chen Xuan put away the manual and glanced at the Vajra Sect disciple on the ground, shaking his head. Still, he had the old doctor step forward to examine him.

After the examination, the elderly doctor sighed. "This young man's injuries were too severe, and he delayed too long. His five viscera and six bowels have all failed... His heart has already stopped beating. This old man is powerless. I do not possess the ability to bring the dead back to life."

Chen Xuan looked at the young, pale face on the ground.

He did not even know this young man's name.

He only knew that he was a disciple of the Vajra Sect, hunted by the Tyrant Blade Sect for days and nights, before finally dying in a tavern in this unfamiliar little town.

This was the martial world.

Things like this.

Happened every day, and no one could stop them.

Vengeful killings, profit, reputation... all kinds of grudges and entanglements formed a tangled net that swept countless people into its depths.

"Find a place and bury him." Chen Xuan instructed the gang members beside him. "The back mountain will do. Put up a grave marker."

"Yes, Branch Master."

Two gang members stepped forward and gently carried the Vajra Sect disciple's body away.

After leaving the tavern.

Chen Xuan led his men back to the branch headquarters.

It was the two-story bluestone building once occupied by the Blood Wolf Gang. The Red Sun Gang's banner had been raised there again, snapping sharply in the wind.

Behind the bluestone building lay a connected stretch of courtyards.

Chen Xuan's courtyard was at the very back.

He sat beside the stone table in the courtyard, took the "Vajra Technique" from his clothes, and carefully read it from beginning to end.