Hongyu

This wasn't over yet.

Right after that handful of white ash came a slash flung out of the darkness. The black clouds had happened to part somewhat, revealing a crescent moon. Moonlight gleamed upon the blade light like the claw of a demon reaching out.

Tang Quan could not open his eyes, but his ears still caught that fierce whistle through the air. He immediately knew the attacker was no ordinary troublesome commoner, but a genuine martial artist. He hastily swung his saber up to block.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

In the briefest instant, the two sabers collided more than a dozen times.

Those dozen-odd clashes made Tang Quan's heart sink further. Though the other man's blade did not seem particularly powerful, as if he had never practiced a Body Tempering Method, his moves were incomparably exquisite. Moreover, they carried a lingering, entwining force that wrapped around Tang Quan's saber and made it difficult for him to break free. This was undoubtedly saber technique at Perfection—the skill only possible after cultivating Saber Force!

Not many people could cultivate their skills to the level of "force." In truth, many who had reached the Flesh Tempering stage in their Body Tempering Methods had yet to attain "force" in their martial skills. After all, Body Tempering Methods could be forcibly piled up with all sorts of tonics and medicinal powders; they were a matter of patient grinding, unrelated to talent. Skill, however, required comprehension.

A Flesh Tempering expert who had cultivated force could match ten people at the same Flesh Tempering level. This step was worlds apart from ordinary realms.

Tang Quan himself had only comprehended Saber Force in a flash of inspiration after escaping death time and again.

How had the person before him cultivated it?

And strangest of all, this person had mastered Saber Force, yet seemed never to have practiced a Body Tempering Method. It was simply bizarre. For someone capable of cultivating Saber Force, advancing a Body Tempering Method to the second step, Flesh Tempering, should have been no difficult task.

After only a dozen or so exchanges, Tang Quan was already groaning inwardly.

Under normal circumstances, someone whose technique had reached Perfection and who had cultivated Saber Force, but clearly had never touched Inner Method cultivation, would not have frightened him even if there were ten of them. But now, he was severely wounded and did not dare exert himself. Seven-tenths of his strength was gone, and to make a bad situation worse, he had fallen for the other party's trick. His eyes burned so fiercely that he could not open them, leaving him completely blind and at an even greater disadvantage.

He had merely wanted to find somewhere to hide and treat his injuries. How had he happened to run into such a person?

"Brother, stop."

Tang Quan struggled to fend off several more moves before calling out in a hoarse, low voice.

"What do you want?"

Chen Mu slowed the Yamen Saber in his hand slightly.

Sensing Chen Mu's attack ease and hearing his response, Tang Quan immediately relaxed. Knowing this was not one of his pursuers, he cursed his own rotten luck inwardly, but still yielded verbally. "I'm injured. I only wanted to find a place to heal and had no other intentions. You and I bear no grudge or enmity. How about we stop here?"

As his words fell—

Tang Quan felt the moves coming from across from him slow even further, as though the other party were considering something.

After several breaths or so, a voice came from the opposite side.

"Fine."

Tang Quan's heart loosened slightly.

But in the very next instant, the saber assault that had already slowed suddenly erupted with even greater force, turning fiercer and more vicious than before!

"You!"

Caught off guard, Tang Quan barely raised his saber to block one strike before taking a slash to his left shoulder.

Chen Mu's gaze was cold, his Saber Force brutal as he drove the Whirlwind Saber Technique to its utmost limit. Swish! Swish! Swish! He hacked out several more slashes.

Tang Quan's left shoulder was wounded, and he had already been holding his saber one-handed with only his left hand. Now his strength weakened again, and he could no longer withstand Chen Mu's Yamen Saber. After several moves, his weapon was completely knocked aside, followed at once by a sharp pain in his neck.

"..."

Tang Quan staggered back several steps and clutched his neck. He desperately forced open his burning, stabbing eyes, wanting to see who exactly stood before him. Yet even when he barely managed to open them, all he saw was a blurred shadow.

At last, an unwilling look crossed his face. His whole body toppled backward, landing in a pool of blood. He twitched a few times, then gradually stopped moving.

"Phew..."

Chen Mu breathed lightly.

The first time made one raw, the second made one practiced. This was his second killing, and there was no longer the slightest hesitation in his heart. Nonsense like "no grudge or enmity" was naturally something he merely listened to. Perhaps they had borne no grudge before, but after this man had tried to break into his house, taken a handful of quicklime to the face, and then been driven back by him again and again, how could they still be said to have no grievance between them?

Besides, this man's ferocity was unlike anything Chen Mu had ever seen. He was clearly covered in wounds, with what seemed to be a terrifying puncture wound through his chest and abdomen, and his eyes had been blinded by Chen Mu—yet even under such circumstances, he had still forcibly withstood dozens of Chen Mu's moves.

A faint ray of moonlight broke through the black mist and fell.

Staring intently at Tang Quan's corpse, Chen Mu barely made out some of his features. Then he caught sight of the highly conspicuous black birthmark on the man's right cheek, and immediately recalled the wanted notice from earlier that day.

"This man... is the Evil Thief Tang Quan?"

Chen Mu stepped closer to the corpse and examined it carefully, a strange look immediately appearing in his eyes.

Earlier, after practicing his saber until exhausted and preparing to sleep, he had heard movement outside. He had immediately taken out the lime and other things he had prepared long ago against bandits. When the other man opened the door, Chen Mu ambushed him. At first, he had thought him some petty thief, but after fighting, he discovered he was a vicious figure. Only now did he finally recognize him as Tang Quan, the Evil Thief named on the wanted notice!

The other man clearly had not come to rob him. Judging by all those injuries, he had most likely been pursued by someone and, in his panic, had tried to sneak into Chen Mu's home to hide. Instead, he had happened upon Chen Mu, who was still awake practicing his saber, then fallen into Chen Mu's trap and died under his blade without rhyme or reason.

In an instant—

Countless thoughts flashed through Chen Mu's mind.

This Evil Thief Tang Quan was unlike the Black Snake Gang incense master from last time. Last time, he had merely picked up a bargain, but Tang Quan was clearly involved in something major. This was not something he could casually muddle through, and afterward there would likely be an investigation that turned everything upside down.

Just as Chen Mu rapidly considered how to deal with the corpse—

Suddenly—

A somewhat cool voice rang out.

"Which office's head runner are you? Why haven't I seen you before?"

Following the source of the voice, Chen Mu saw a figure in a white Flying Fish Uniform standing at the corner of a roof some distance away, appearing there at some unknown time under the dim moonlight.

The moonlight was hazy and dark, making her features impossible to see clearly. But her white Flying Fish Uniform was exceptionally conspicuous. After a brief start, Chen Mu immediately realized her identity, because only one person in the entire South District could wear that uniform.

The Chief Constable of the South District City Guard.

Xu Hongyu.

Although Chen Mu himself was not wearing a City Guard uniform at the moment, the saber in his hand was clearly a standard-issue Yamen Saber. It was hardly strange that Xu Hongyu recognized him as a member of the City Guard.

"Chen Mu of the Nine Stripes Ward Guard Office, at your service, Chief Constable."

Chen Mu immediately bowed respectfully to Xu Hongyu. He was even more surprised inwardly. It seemed that the person pursuing Tang Quan had actually been this Chief Constable herself. He wondered just what kind of hornet's nest Tang Quan had stirred up.

Xu Hongyu's figure flickered, and she descended from the roof corner to stand before Chen Mu. She gave him several appraising looks, somewhat surprised. "A runner from Nine Stripes Ward? No wonder I haven't seen you before. You practice blade arts from the Xun Wind Lineage?"

With her discerning eye, she naturally could not be mistaken. Chen Mu's saber technique from earlier had certainly belonged to the Xun Wind Lineage, and it had reached the stage of saber technique Perfection, with Saber Force running wild. Otherwise, he could not possibly have killed Tang Quan, even though Tang Quan had already been heavily injured.

Now that she looked more closely—

She was even more surprised to find that Chen Mu was quite young, appearing only a little over twenty, not much different from her own age. At that age, it was still quite rare to bring saber technique to Perfection and cultivate Saber Force.

"Yes. Your eyes are as sharp as a torch, my lady."

Chen Mu answered cautiously.

Xu Hongyu stood less than two meters before him now. In the dim moonlight, he could finally make out the appearance of the South District's Chief Constable, who was said to possess beauty capable of sinking fish and felling geese. Hazy as a fairy maiden from the moon palace, she truly lived up to the rumors.

Xu Hongyu looked thoughtfully at Chen Mu. "How old are you this year?"

"Twenty-two."

Chen Mu replied.

Xu Hongyu nodded slightly at his answer.

She had practiced swordsmanship from childhood and cultivated Sword Force at twenty, much earlier than Chen Mu. But Chen Mu had never practiced a Body Tempering Method and was clearly a low-ranking runner who had struggled and scraped through life at the bottom. To rely wholly upon his own talent and reach this level was truly no easy feat. He could be considered a promising talent.

"Chen Mu..."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Xu Hongyu walked over to Tang Quan's corpse, lifted it up by hand, and said, "I'll record the bounty for Tang Quan's capture under your name. Come to the General Office to find me tomorrow afternoon."

"Yes."

Chen Mu answered at once.

At the same time, he secretly let out a small sigh of relief.

Tang Quan's matter was clearly a major problem, and it was not suitable for him to become entangled in it at this point. Now that Xu Hongyu, the Chief Constable, had stepped in to take charge of it, nothing could have been better for him. Moreover, this incident had brought him into her view ahead of time, which was also a good thing.

After all, if he wished to be promoted to head runner, he would need the approval of Xu Hongyu, the Chief Constable, in the first place.

Carrying Tang Quan's corpse, Xu Hongyu leaped into the air. After several rises and falls, she vanished into the night, leaving only Chen Mu to shake his head and turn back toward his door.