"Where did that come from, brother... You've wronged me."
The blue-robed scholar's face turned crimson, as though the misunderstanding and humiliation had wounded him deeply.
He raised his right hand to his brow, and a gleaming blue blade light slipped from his sleeve.
Whoosh...
The blade light melted into the wind like a shadow.
It had already reached three inches before Lu Wu-bing's throat.
It was fast as a phantom.
Yet Lu Wu-bing was even faster.
Clang...
Sword light arced like a rainbow.
A snowy white flash flickered from his waist and, soundlessly, passed beneath the table, piercing three inches below the blue-robed scholar's lower abdomen.
"Hiss!"
It seemed to be the sound of a blade.
Or perhaps the cry of a sword...
Lu Wu-bing remained seated without moving.
The blue-robed scholar's blade light froze, unable to descend another inch.
Like a colorful butterfly caught by the wind, his body was swept up and hurled backward seven zhang.
Only after he soared into the air and flew outside the inn did he let out a wretched howl.
Everyone saw it clearly.
Blood was gushing from between his legs.
And a suspicious lump of flesh had fallen to the ground.
"How ruthless."
The diners around them all sucked in a cold breath.
They were not only shocked by the pair's swift blade and sword, but also stunned that just moments ago, they had been chatting and laughing like the best of brothers—only to turn on each other with lethal intent the next instant.
Had it been them, they might not even have had time to react.
They would either have died beneath the blade or been pierced through by the sword.
"Ruthless? I think it's a pity that strike didn't kill Lin Qiu-yan."
Someone nearby even regretted that the sword had failed to achieve its full effect.
"It's Blood Butterfly Lin Qiu-yan—the lecherous bandit!"
After their initial shock, someone knowledgeable immediately recognized the blue-robed scholar's identity.
Perhaps they did not recognize his face.
But anyone in the martial world had heard of this infamous flower-plucking thief's signature arts as though thunder ringing in their ears.
They recognized it the instant they saw it.
"That strike just now cut into the wind, so fast its shadow could not be seen. It must have been the Dongyi Miyamoto line's trademark blade art, Wind-Slicing One-Blade Strike. I heard this lecherous thief was kidnapped and sold to an Eastern Sea fleet in his early years, where he suffered every kind of degradation. Later, he killed his master and escaped, and his nature changed completely..."
"The matter of the Spirit Butterfly Valley disciples being harmed was true as well. I heard from the elders of my clan that this man is extremely twisted and cannot stand the sight of beautiful women.
Once he sets his eyes on someone, he will scheme by every possible means until he gets what he wants. His earlier invitation must have meant he had taken a liking to that female warrior."
"So the pockmarked woman's repeated scolding of him was rather courageous."
Someone nearby sighed.
"What courage? The pockmarked woman was merely protecting herself.
They say this thief's twisted nature lies precisely in this: the more fiercely someone curses him, the more he enjoys it... and the less likely he is to act immediately."
"Yes, yes. Some of the young maidens and married women who fell into his hands begged in terror, only to endure endless humiliation and die in the most miserable fashion. That is where the nickname Blood Butterfly came from..."
Perhaps out of righteous indignation, or perhaps because blood was dripping from the hem of Blood Butterfly Lin Qiu-yan's robe.
The diners, delighted by any spectacle, eagerly exposed all his dirty secrets.
"Then who is that young man? His sword was actually half a beat faster than Wind-Slicing One-Blade Strike."
"It looked like the Violet Sun Sect's First Sun Appears, yet also like the True Martial Sect's Hidden Sword Stance... Of course, judging by how his sword transformed into a rainbow, the Celestial Star Sect's White Rainbow Pierces the Sun is the likeliest possibility.
But there is one thing this old man does not understand: why did that young hero choose to stab Lin Qiu-yan in such an awkward place? Could it be that he recognized him?"
The blue-robed scholar had an exceptionally decent appearance. If one did not know him, one truly could not tell he was a lecherous bandit. Thus, the choice of that sword strike seemed somewhat vicious, damaging the reputation of a great sect's disciple.
"Elder Lin has keen eyes and broad knowledge, but rarely fights others personally, so naturally you did not notice. Lin Qiu-yan's lightness skill is extraordinarily uncanny. Since both men attacked while seated, if that youth had targeted another vital point, Lin Qiu-yan might very well have used the force to leap into the air and seize the initiative instead."
"Indeed."
Thinking back to that earlier scene, Lin Qiu-yan had seemed to be lifted into the air by the sword wind.
The speed of his reaction and the strength of his movement technique still left people amazed afterward.
And that had been while he was sitting still.
If the two had been standing face-to-face, free to move, it was hard to say who would have been injured.
"I thought I had revealed not the slightest flaw. Why were you prepared in advance and able to strike first?"
Blood Butterfly stared fixedly into Lu Wu-bing's eyes.
A faintly savage, vicious expression surfaced on his face.
Balanced on one foot atop the branches and leaves of the jujube tree before the inn, he rose and sank gently.
It seemed that the injury from being castrated by that sword had not affected him at all.
But Lu Wu-bing knew otherwise.
He was in pain.
He was simply very good at enduring it.
Above the word endure hung a blade; he surely wanted to blade Lu Wu-bing himself.
Lu Wu-bing could even feel the towering hatred in his heart.
But so what?
In a contest decided by a hair's breadth, whoever was faster laughed last.
"You use the Butterfly Valley lightness skill, Thousand Mile Butterfly Dance, don't you? A fine movement technique, and your blade work is not bad either..." Lu Wu-bing said with a faint smile.
"Compared to your lightness skill and blade arts, that little bit of acting was hardly worth mentioning."
He pointed at the pockmarked girl, mockery appearing on his face as he said coldly, "You called her your wife again and again, but I have never seen a respectable family's wife with both arms broken."
A wave of startled cries of realization rose around them.
"So that was it."
Blood Butterfly Lin Qiu-yan's savage, irritable gaze faltered slightly. "Could she not have been injured in a fall and become unable to walk properly?"
"Of course, that alone could not prove that there was anything wrong with you.
But earlier, this young lady cursed my senior sister and me with such vicious words for no reason, yet her eyes were exceptionally clear, without even the slightest trace of malice.
As the ancients said: when the eyes are upright, the heart is upright; when the heart is upright, the vital energy is upright... She cursed people with a body full of righteous energy. Naturally, she was not trying to harm anyone, but to save them."
Sometimes, what one saw on the surface was not necessarily the truth.
The person who cursed you most fiercely might truly be doing you good.
In his previous life, Lu Wu-bing had drifted from place to place and struggled to survive... He had seen too much scheming and deception, too much of life's warmth and coldness.
He treated the pockmarked girl's insults, which did not so much as scratch his skin, as wind passing by his ears.
Not only was he not angry, he admired her instead.
What kind of character was that?
Even while kidnapped and controlled by a lecherous bandit, she still had the presence of mind to save others.
She could even exploit the thief's past and psychological sickness to attack his heart, making him refrain from acting immediately in hopes of a future opportunity.
Why had she not simply told everyone the truth?
On one hand, even if she had spoken, others might not have believed her.
On the other, she had likely suffered bitter lessons before...
Once the matter was laid bare, Blood Butterfly would strike with savage cruelty.
When that fellow had earlier spoken of "killing two little chicks," he probably had not meant killing chickens, but people.
He had been issuing a veiled threat.
"Very well. I will never forget today's gift, even when my teeth are gone. Next time, I hope you can remain this vigilant—hiding in the Celestial Star Sect and never coming down the mountain."
Not good.
He had actually recognized White Rainbow Pierces the Sun as well, and even guessed their identities.
Lu Wu-bing and Ouyang Lan both sensed that something was wrong.
Inch Step circulated at full force.
The moment he took his first step, he closed the distance by three zhang.
Blood Butterfly had already soared into the sky.
He took the second step...
The blue figure had already become a fleeting shadow, gliding through the air. He lightly touched down atop another poplar tree, then fluttered away like a dancing butterfly.
Lu Wu-bing stopped his pursuit and shook his head.
He had to admit that the other man's internal cultivation far surpassed his own.
When applied to lightness skills, even if their movement techniques were of the same rank, he could not possibly catch up.
Not to mention that Thousand Mile Butterfly Dance was light and swift, dancing through the sky in rapid flight and turning as freely as one wished.
In terms of convenient, rapid travel, it even surpassed Inch Step...
As long as the other man did not wish to fight, Lu Wu-bing had no way to stop him.
The reason he had said so much earlier was to provoke the man's anger and lure him into attacking, so that he could rely on his swift sword to wound or even kill him.
Unfortunately, Blood Butterfly was excessively cautious.
He felt no attachment whatsoever to the pockmarked girl, abandoning her without hesitation.
Nor did he insist on taking revenge on the spot.
He was extremely troublesome.
"Meow..."
At some point, Mao Mao had already crawled out of the pockmarked girl's arms, with something very familiar clamped in its mouth.
It was half a Jade Pendant, two fingers wide, smooth and translucent.
"What?"
Lu Wu-bing touched his chest and took out another half of a Jade Pendant, utterly astonished.
"Senior Sister Xuan Yi."
When she saw the half-pendant in Lu Wu-bing's hand.
The pockmarked girl's expressionless face suddenly creased with layer upon layer of deep wrinkles, becoming exceedingly ugly.
Her clear eyes, like water cut by scissors, flew wide open, and tears streamed down her face.
"Why do you have Senior Sister's possession?"
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