Who Had Grievances?

"By the way." Before leaving, Zhang Linchuan suddenly looked at Tang Dun. "Your name is Tang Dun, right?"

"That's what I'm called."

Zhang Linchuan smiled. "Dun means honest and sincere. It's a good name."

Tang Dun scratched his head. "Our teacher gave it to me when I was little."

"Oh?" Zhang Linchuan asked.

"Our Tangshe Town is poor, so we couldn't afford tuition. And not many hunter families cared about whether they could read or write. The teacher was traveling for his studies when he came here, and he stayed to teach us for three years. After that, he packed his books and traveled on. He liked me best back then. He said I was some kind of jade."

That explained it.

Traveling with books to study was a custom much admired in those days, and disciples of every school practiced it.

Confucian Sect disciples, for example, believed in reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles. Many journeyed through the various states. Some did so to broaden their horizons, while others went around trying to sell their ideas.

Mo Sect disciples, meanwhile, traveled the world and experienced everything firsthand. But if they had met Tang Dun, they might have taught him martial arts instead, perhaps even some simple mechanical techniques, rather than teaching him to read and write.

Though the Daoist Sect was Zhuang Kingdom's state religion, the kingdom wasn't especially hostile toward disciples of other schools. There was nothing unusual about Tang Dun's experience.

Jiang Wang said, "Since you've studied before, staying here as a minor constable would be a bit of a waste. Once you've taken care of Niu'er's funeral, if you have no other obligations, you could try for an outer-disciple position at the City Daoist Academy."

He found Tang Dun simple and honest, and had developed some desire to nurture his talent. In the end, though, the choice was Tang Dun's.

Leaving Tangshe Town and following the Official Path south would take them back to Maple Forest City.

Thanks to the protective array patterns carved along it, no wild beasts could be found on the Official Path.

The horses trotted unhurriedly, and Zhang Linchuan's voice from atop his horse was just as calm. "Do you know how many resources the imperial court spends each year maintaining all the Official Paths throughout Zhuang Kingdom?"

Jiang Wang shook his head. He truly knew little about such matters.

"It's an astronomical figure," Zhang Linchuan said. "And these array patterns can only drive off low-level Demon Beasts. Powerful Demon Beasts and Ferocious Beasts still have to be cleared out by the strong. Every year, the imperial court invests enormous manpower and resources to keep the roads open throughout the kingdom. It pours resources into the Dao Academies without regard for the cost. The only thing we can do is grow as quickly as possible, so that we can shoulder our share of the responsibility."

"I've learned a lot."

"Then let me ask you this: cities have grand arrays for protection, so why doesn't the imperial court have everyone gather in the cities to live?"

"Presumably for two reasons." Jiang Wang thought for a moment. "First, even a large city has its limits and can't meet everyone's needs. Second, each city can only exert influence within a limited area. The imperial court needs the Official Paths to extend in every direction, with towns as the connecting points, because that marks the kingdom's actual territory. And land is a resource."

"You see things clearly. The arrays in towns and villages can't be as safe as those in large cities, but settlements have their own irreplaceable value. Take Tangshe Town, for example. As long as it exists, Maple Forest City can keep harvesting resources from the Qichang Mountain Range. If Tangshe Town were to disappear one day, the Qichang Mountain Range would no longer have anything to do with our Zhuang Kingdom."

"The people of Tangshe Town dare to hunt in the Qichang Mountain Range because they have experts of their own. That monster hid when the Criminal Investigation Bureau arrived, and made no move before we got there. Yet it attacked just as we showed up..."

At that, Zhang Linchuan turned to look at Jiang Wang, his expression half amused, half knowing. "Junior Brother Jiang, do you have something on you that might attract them?"

Jiang Wang couldn't answer.

Of course he had secrets, but they were limited to the Void Key he had inherited from Zuo Guanglie. All the changes had happened in the Great Void Illusion Realm, so he shouldn't have been discovered in the real world. But if that wasn't involved, the first time he had been attacked by a monster seemed to have been after he entered the Great Void Illusion Realm.

He was weighing how to phrase a lie to get out of it when Zhang Linchuan suddenly raised a hand and pointed at him. His middle and ring fingers curled inward, while the other three extended toward Jiang Wang.

An electric arc leapt from the tips of his three raised fingers, converging into a bolt of lightning that shot straight at Jiang Wang!

Jiang Wang didn't even have time to react. The lightning bolt swept past his ear and struck a poison arrow dyed dark green, smashing it out of the air.

Only then did the arrow's sudden, shrill whistle reach Jiang Wang's ears. Only then did he smell the burnt hair where the lightning had grazed him.

"I've been waiting for you!" Zhang Linchuan sprang from his horse. His free right hand lifted in an oddly formed hand seal, and a whip of lightning condensed out of thin air.

"Come and die!"

He wielded the lightning whip and swooped like a diving eagle toward the assailant hidden in the woods to the left of the Official Path.

So he had been prepared all along. He had even been forming hand seals in secret while using his other hand, preparing two Daoist Arts in advance. That was how he had counterattacked the moment the ambush began.

Jiang Wang was still far behind a senior brother who had been tested in battle time and again.

At that moment, a voice rang out from the woods on the right. "They're tough. Split up and retreat!"

Jiang Wang, who had been about to follow Zhang Linchuan, whipped around!

How could he not recognize that voice? In the little girl's room in Tangshe Town, they had exchanged only a few words, but that was enough to sear the voice into his memory!

A Dao Essence silently exploded inside the Heaven-Connecting Palace. Jiang Wang made his decision at once and, with the utmost resolve, charged toward the direction the voice had come from.

Living in Zhuang Kingdom, nearly every commoner had to remember one thing before leaving home: never stray from the Official Path.

Beyond the areas reached by human settlements, all land off the Official Path was Wilderness. It was the domain of Wild Beasts, Demon Beasts, and even Ferocious Beasts.

Zhang Linchuan was strong, so he didn't care.

Jiang Wang wanted to kill, so he didn't care either.

He had seen bloodshed. He had seen cruelty. But even the most vicious bandits on West Mountain wouldn't raise a butcher's knife against a child. That little girl had only just begun to discover the world. She was innocent, naive, radiant. How could she possibly be guilty of anything?

Jiang Wang's sword trembled in its sheath. It seemed to have grown excited. It seemed to know that it was about to unleash the most brilliant radiance of its life.

Ten years to hone a sword; its frosty edge had never been tested. Today I show it to you—who has a grievance yet to be avenged?

Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!

The moment the long sword leapt out, it struck the scabbard no fewer than five times. Only then did it fly free!

The sword was a shooting star; the man, a Flood Dragon.

A great tree toppled to the ground with a groan, and the Heterodox Path monster hiding in its branches sprang back in haste.

His face was obscured by his disheveled hair, but the pallor beneath it was ghastly white.

Dao Essences exploded one after another inside the Heaven-Connecting Palace.

Jiang Wang had never squandered his power like this before. He felt strength surging through his entire body.

Before forming a Dao Vortex, every Dao Essence he spent set his cultivation back.

But only by doing so could he kill.

He had to cut down this monster. Only then would all that pent-up fury have somewhere to go. Only then could his heart find peace.

Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword, second killing form—a swath of Frost Light swept forth.

The White-Faced Monster was retreating and had no time to form hand seals. His right arm swelled rapidly, muscles bulging and veins standing out, and he drove a fierce straight punch into the Frost Light.

The sword clashed with that demonic right arm more than ten times in an instant.

Only then did Jiang Wang abruptly realize he had misjudged his opponent. This enemy was strong—far stronger than he was! He wasn't merely relying on his preparations, and his cultivation wasn't just a notch above Jiang Wang's.

In other words, if the White-Faced Monster had unleashed his full strength when he attacked Tangshe Town, Jiang Wang couldn't be sure he would have survived.

But retreat never crossed his mind. His long sword shook again, and a piercing whistle rose.

Purple Qi Coming from the East Sword Art, third killing form!

A flash of light swept past, and the entire demonized right arm was severed and sent flying!

"Damn it!"

The White-Faced Monster let out a furious roar. He hadn't expected a moment's carelessness to let this desperate boy drive him to the edge of death.

His back foot slammed into a great tree while he was still being thrown backward. He knew he couldn't retreat any farther. One more step back, and he would die. His chance to survive lay in the fight.

The entire tree withered instantly, starting from the point where his back foot touched it.

Then gray mist poured from his roaring mouth, bringing a sharp, rotting stench that seared the nose.

The power to manipulate life and death—this was a Daoist Art of the Netherworld!

The sword light blazed.

Dao Essence drove the sword light as it cleaved through the gray mist. Jiang Wang leapt out from within it!

Purple Qi Coming from the East Sword Art, fourth killing form!

The monster had escaped him in Tangshe Town. Jiang Wang had been caught off guard, powerless to stop him.

But at least here, at this moment, he had to give the little girl named Niu'er an answer!

This was a cultivator's responsibility to the common people.

This was an adult's responsibility to a child!

Jiang Wang's airborne figure burst through the gray mist and appeared before the White-Faced Monster.

In the monster's eyes, widening ever further and filling with terror, a brilliant sword light descended from above.

It was the last light he saw before eternal darkness.

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