"Sixty-fourth on the Qilin Rankings, Mad Blade Shen Yi."
"Meeting you truly surpasses hearing of you."
The Blue-Robed Swordsman raised a hand and clasped his fist.
"Sixty-fourth?"
Shen Yi asked instinctively.
"The tenth day of the ninth month."
"On the outskirts of Xiaoqing Town in Jianghuai Commandery, Shen Yi slew the sixty-seventh-ranked expert on the Qilin Rankings, Li Wudang, Trial Commander of the Dong Commandery Pacification Office."
"Promoted to sixty-fourth on the Qilin Rankings."
"Heaven's Secret Pavilion's appraisal: defying one above him, the weak defeating the strong, slaying a formidable foe by force. Mad Blade rose from Dong Commandery, his name shaking the Nine Provinces."
The Blue-Robed Swordsman spoke slowly.
Shen Yi's heart stirred faintly.
It had been no more than a day and a night since he had cut down Li Wudang.
Heaven's Secret Pavilion's response had been astonishingly swift, and their assessment of him seemed quite high as well.
But whether they called him Mad Blade or a killing embryo—
Shen Yi would not concern himself with how wildly the outside world spread such tales. He was merely being himself, nothing more.
"May I ask who you are?"
"I came here intending to return the blade to Hall Master Qin."
With a flick of his hand, the broken blade lay across before him.
The Blue-Robed Swordsman glanced at the perfectly intact broken blade, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his lips.
"I am Ji Congyun."
"I came from the Raging Tide Main Faction and have temporarily taken charge of Broken Blade Hall and all affairs, great and small, in the Clear River area."
Shen Yi narrowed his eyes slightly.
He had carefully studied the Qilin Rankings before, and he remembered seeing this name there.
Raging Tide Gang, Ji Congyun, thirty-sixth on the Qilin Rankings.
The Raging