The Sword That Can Kill!

Early the next morning, Su Xin woke up early. Seeing Su Xin'er still fast asleep beside him, he quietly tucked the blanket around her.

Opening the rice jar, he saw only a dozen grains of rice left inside, and Su Xin felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his heart.

He walked out the door, swaying slightly, intending to find something to fashion into a sword.

Since he had obtained Jing Wuming's Fast Sword, he first needed to possess a sword of his own.

Pushing open the door, the muddy streets flowing with sewage, the low and dilapidated houses, and the numb pedestrians all made it clear: this was a slum.

A place so poor that even beggars refused to come, yet it bore a rather pleasant name: Joyful District.

Of course, the Joyful District of the past was not like this.

Changning Prefecture was formerly the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, consisting of forty-nine wards. Even the Joyful District, located near the outskirts, had once been a place of prosperity.

However, ever since the rise of the legendary Emperor Longwu thirty years ago—a man of great literary and martial virtue whose achievements spanned the ages—the Great Zhou Dynasty had transformed from a small Southern Barbarian state into a vast empire spanning thousands of miles, sending the former hegemon, the Jin State, fleeing in terror. Since then, Changning Prefecture had fallen into decline.

After Emperor Longwu moved the capital, perhaps finding the old capital an eyesore, he simply had the imperial city demolished and relocated ninety percent of the city's wealthy merchants and officials to the new capital, Shengjing. Thus, Changning Prefecture gradually withered away.

In a corner of the wall, Su Xin found a piece of iron about the length of an arm and three fingers wide, covered in rust. It had previously been used to block a chicken coop, but unfortunately, Su Xin hadn't kept any chickens since his mother died.

He found two pieces of wood to sandwich the iron strip and bound them with hemp rope; this was his sword hilt.

Then, Su Xin found a whetstone and began to meticulously grind away the rust on the iron strip, sharpening its edge.

Just then, the door was pushed open. Su Xin'er walked out, her eyes bleary with sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she pouted and asked, "Brother, what are you doing?"

A gentle smile appeared at the corner of Su Xin's mouth as he said softly, "Be good, Xin'er. Soon, Brother will take you to eat something delicious."

In this life, Su Xin possessed a decent appearance—a delicate youth of sixteen or seventeen. While not strikingly handsome, he looked quite pleasant when he smiled.

"Mm, Xin'er will be good." Su Xin'er nodded vigorously, quietly swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

In the past, her brother would always take her to eat the offal noodles made by Granny Wang at the end of the street, but for a long time now, her brother hadn't taken her there.

"Huh? Su Xin, you're actually not dead yet? You've got a tough life."

Two men dressed in clean, sharp martial arts tunics, with a flying eagle embroidered on their chests, strolled over, their faces showing expressions of astonishment.

Su Xin looked at them coldly. He was no stranger to these two; in fact, three days ago, they had been brothers-in-arms fighting side by side!

The Flying Eagle Gang was one of the Three Gangs and Four Associations in Changning Prefecture. Besides the gang leader, there were three hall masters.

Beneath the three hall masters were over a dozen senior leaders and more than fifty junior leaders.

During the last battle against the Green Bamboo Gang, the senior leader had issued an order: whoever killed the most enemies would become a junior leader, managing a street of their own.

Although Su Xin was young, he possessed a fair amount of brute strength. Relying on his ruthless, fearless fighting style, he killed three Green Bamboo Gang members right at the start, immediately stunning the opposition.

But he hadn't expected that in the end, Liu Sandao, whom he regarded as a big brother, would suddenly retreat with the men fighting alongside him, leaving Su Xin alone to be surrounded by the Green Bamboo Gang and beaten to death.

"So Liu Sandao has become a junior leader now? Doesn't he feel the seat is too hot, knowing he climbed to that position by betraying his brothers?" If Su Xin hadn't been betrayed, he would have been the one to become the junior leader based on his combat merits.

One of the men shrugged and said, "Su Xin, you were too much in the limelight. You killed the most people in that battle. If you hadn't died, Third Brother wouldn't have been able to become a junior leader."

"Heh." Su Xin let out a soft chuckle. For some reason, the two men felt a chill run through their entire bodies upon hearing his laugh.

"From the moment I joined the Flying Eagle Gang, I followed Liu Sandao. For all these years, I have always treated him like a big brother! Even if I had the most combat merits, I was prepared to yield the position of junior leader to him!"

"Heh, you can know a person's face but not their heart. Only a dead man is the safest."

The other man drew the dagger from his waist and said viciously, "Lao Si, why waste words with him? Since the brat is already severely wounded, let's just slaughter him!

As long as he's alive, it's bad for Third Brother's reputation. And that little sister of his—though she's a bit young, she could still fetch a few taels of silver if sold to Yangzhou Prefecture as a 'slender horse'!"

Seeing him brandish the knife, the pedestrians in the Joyful District showed no surprise; instead, they stopped to watch with great interest.

The pugilistic world was just that cruel, especially for those born in the slums.

Every day, gang members fought or even killed each other. A death or two was nothing; their lives were cheap, and the authorities couldn't be bothered to care.

Su Xin stood up, swaying, his body still somewhat weak.

"Xin'er, close your eyes."

Su Xin'er looked at Su Xin with worry. She knew what her brother did, but she obediently closed her eyes because she trusted him.

The man sneered disdainfully, "What, you still want to fight? In your current state, do you still think you're the Su Xin who could take on three burly men at once without falling behind? You don't even have a weapon; what are you going to fight me with? That piece of scrap iron in your hand?"

"It is not a piece of scrap iron. It is a sword." Su Xin's tone was incredibly indifferent, as if he were stating a fact.

"That counts as a sword? Hahaha! Don't make me laugh!"

"Anything that can kill is a sword!"

Su Xin's left hand suddenly moved. With a single thrust, the ridiculous iron strip pierced the man's throat.

Jing Wuming's sword was a sword for killing! There was no flashy swordsmanship, only the simplest techniques for taking a life.

His sword was not a martial art; it was purely a killing technique!

Su Xin slowly pulled the sword from the man's throat. The rust-covered iron strip was stained with blood, appearing exceptionally bewitching.

Now, everyone believed that what Su Xin held was indeed a sword—a sword that could kill!

A flash of blood-red light crossed Su Xin's eyes. For some reason, despite this being his first time killing, he felt no hesitation. Seeing the spraying blood, he didn't feel the slightest bit of discomfort.

Perhaps it was the fusion of memories from two lives; although Su Xin was a youth in this life, he had already taken a life.

"Killing someone, it seems quite simple." Su Xin flicked the blood droplets off his sword, much like his past life, where he had died just as simply.

Lao Si, standing nearby, was nearly driven mad with terror.

He had known Su Xin for several years and knew he was a capable fighter, but he had never witnessed such terrifying swordsmanship!

Su Xin had merely raised his hand, and the sword had already pierced the man's throat—simple, direct, and incomparably horrifying!

Lao Si did not hesitate and immediately turned to run, but he suddenly felt a chill on the top of his head; he didn't even know when a lock of his hair had been shorn off by Su Xin!

"If you run again, I will kill you."

Lao Si turned around and immediately knelt before Su Xin, kowtowing while saying in terror, "The matter last time really had nothing to do with me; it was all Liu Sandao's decision alone! Considering our friendship over the years, please spare me!"

"Get up!"

Lao Si was so frightened he scrambled to his feet, not daring to even draw a full breath.

"Give me all the silver you have on you."

Lao Si hurriedly fished out all the broken silver he had and handed it into Su Xin's hands.

"Carry him back and give him to Liu Sandao. Tell him that what he owes me, I, Su Xin, will come to collect personally."

There was no expression on Su Xin's face—no malice, no anger—but it was precisely this that made Lao Si feel a chill deep in his heart.

Lao Si dragged and carried the corpse away, disappearing into the alleyway in a flash.

Other passersby in the Joyful District scrambled to get out of the way.

They had seen killings before, but a killing as clean and swift as Su Xin's left them all trembling with fear.

"Xin'er, you can open your eyes now."

Su Xin rubbed Xin'er's head and said, "Let's go, wash your face, and Brother will take you to eat beef brisket noodles."

A happy smile immediately appeared on Su Xin'er's face. For her, as long as her brother was there and there was food to eat, she was content.

Granny Wang had been running her stall at the street corner for decades, and Su Xin had been bringing Su Xin'er here to eat noodles since they were small.

Granny Wang only sold three types of noodles: plain noodles, offal noodles, and beef brisket noodles.

In the past, Su Xin would only occasionally bring Xin'er to eat a bowl of offal noodles to satisfy her cravings, and only on holidays would he order a portion of beef brisket noodles. There was only one portion, which he would leave for Xin'er to eat.

"Granny, two bowls of beef brisket noodles, please."

Granny Wang served them two bowls of beef brisket noodles with bright red, savory broth, taking special care to scoop a few extra large pieces of brisket into Xin'er's bowl.

"Good girl, eat slowly." Granny Wang spoke with a thick Xiang-Chuan accent, her wrinkled face beaming like a flower as she watched Xin'er devour the beef brisket noodles.

"Mm, thank you, Granny Wang." Xin'er couldn't wait to gobble up the noodles, thanking Granny Wang with her mouth full.

Su Xin picked the beef brisket out of his own bowl and placed it into Xin'er's, then ate his noodles in large mouthfuls.

As the food went down, Su Xin felt his stamina recover somewhat; his body, which had been starving for three days, regained more than half of its strength.

Although he possessed a pathetic sliver of internal energy due to practicing the Quanzhen Sect Basic Internal Skill, this sliver of energy was not enough to fully restore his physical strength.

After finishing his noodles, Su Xin saw Xin'er still wolfing hers down. He gently rubbed her head and said to Granny Wang, "Granny, I have some business to attend to. Could you please look after Xin'er for me for a while?"

Granny Wang waved her hand and sighed, "Little one, the pugilistic world is treacherous. Don't forget you still have a little sister like her."

Su Xin smiled at Granny Wang. The pugilistic world was treacherous, but could it be more treacherous than the human heart?

"Be good, Xin'er. Stay here with Granny Wang and finish your noodles. Brother will be back tonight."

Su Xin'er puffed out her cheeks and nodded obediently.