Western Pass Limitless Saber

More than three hundred warhorses had vanished without a trace. It was simply not something a petty official like him could have accomplished; any official with a little experience could guess as much. Yet Chongming Emperor still threw him into the imperial prison and sentenced him to death.

Perhaps it had been Chongming Emperor's necessary choice for the sake of stability at court.

But Xu Xing, the expendable material, had no intention of caring about any of that.

A maid who did not pity herself but instead pitied a master clothed in brocade and fed on fine food—there was clearly something wrong with her head.

He was petty-minded.

Once he had the ability, he would definitely drag that dog emperor Chongming Emperor from his throne.

In the blink of an eye.

The world before him changed in an instant.

"This staff came from Treasure South Mountain; once it falls into the Hong family's hands, it strikes down traitors."

"Three feet six, never altered; four jin eight liang, not a fraction astray."

A rough chant rang by his ears. Xu Xing looked ahead and saw an ebony offering table in the middle of a crude room. Upon it was enshrined Lord Guan, his eyes closed.

He was kneeling on the ground at that moment.

Beside the shrine stood a burly, dark-skinned man dressed in a tattered leather-lined jacket. His hands were half-hidden in his sleeves, and a saber hung at his waist—a long blade with a pitch-black scabbard.

"Having recited this Red Pole verse, from this day onward, you are a brother of my Qin Phoenix Mountain, and also a disciple of my Filial Righteousness Hall..."

His brows carried an authority that needed no anger. When he looked at Xu Xing, his eyes seemed to become two keen blades, as though they would flay the flesh from a man's bones the next instant.

Without even fighting, he made one's heart shrink back by three parts.

"Brother?"

"The Elder Brothers Society?"

Xu Xing was startled as memories surged into his mind like a tidal wave. In this life, he had been born a commoner. During the drought in Qin Province in the fifteenth year of Guangxu, he had nearly starved to death. Fortunately, he encountered a band of saber-wielders. By leading their horses, holding their stirrups, and tending to their meals, he had managed to survive through hardship.

Eight long years passed, and he had won the regard of Master Ma, the Red Pole of Filial Righteousness Hall. Today, Master Ma was bringing him into the Elder Brothers Society as a brother.

"Drink this bowl of wine, bow to Lord Guan, and from now on you'll be one of our sworn brothers in arms."

Several robe-brothers stepped forward and arranged large, coarse porcelain tea bowls across the offering table. Master Ma lifted a wine jar and filled each bowl with yellow wine, then handed one to Xu Xing and spoke in a low voice.

The Elder Brothers did not set out teacups, only tea bowls.

That was the rule!

It was called the robe-brothers' tea-bowl formation. The placement and order of every tea bowl held its own mysteries.

"Drink!"

The robe-brothers clinked bowls with one another and drained their wine in a single gulp.

All sorts of thoughts continuously flashed through Xu Xing's mind as he knelt there.

He knew what business the Elder Brothers Society of Qin Province conducted: the great undertaking of anti-Qing rebellion. Following the Elder Brothers Society would sooner or later lead to a violent death. Certainly, some robe-brothers made it to the end, but that had nothing to do with little underlings like him.

Overthrowing the Qing was, of course, a righteous cause.

But to lose his life for it... especially when this was only one instance world in the cycle, it was not worth it.

But no matter how one put it, he had already become a brother. If he truly refused to drink this bowl of wine, Master Ma, the Red Pole of Filial Righteousness Hall before him, would likely draw his saber at once and take his life.

Xu Xing accepted the tea bowl and downed the yellow wine in one go.

The wine was crude, with a raw, fishy stink of alcohol.

After drinking it, he felt slightly dizzy.

But in an instant, the Ancient Bronze Mirror in his mind gave a faint tremble. The drunkenness immediately dispersed completely, and clarity returned to him.

"You can certainly hold your liquor."

Seeing that Xu Xing had not become drunk, Master Ma praised him before asking, "What society have you joined? What sect do you believe in?"

"I joined the Heaven and Earth Society and believe in the Eight Trigrams Sect."

Xu Xing jolted and hurriedly replied.

The Elder Brothers Society was a branch of the Heaven and Earth Society. The source of the Heaven and Earth Society's halls was "Heaven and Earth Society, Eight Trigrams Sect," and its society verse went: "Heaven rises to uphold the red sun; Earth's principles pierce the heavens; Society joins the four yin and yang; eight bows make brothers beneath wood and poplar; Trigrams command within sun and moon; Sect disciples establish the oath." The first character of every line combined into "Heaven and Earth Society, Eight Trigrams Sect."

What Master Ma had asked about was the society verse, basic knowledge that every brother had to memorize. If one recited it incorrectly or misspoke, one would be punished under the hall's rules.

Furthermore, there was another purpose in naming the Eight Trigrams Sect. During the Tongzhi reign, the Heavenly Principle Sect, a branch of the White Lotus Sect, had infiltrated the imperial palace and nearly succeeded in rebellion. The Eight Trigrams Sect was likewise a branch of the White Lotus Sect. For the robe-brothers to call themselves followers of the Eight Trigrams Sect was undoubtedly a declaration of their firm resolve to oppose the Qing.

"One month from now, Qin Province's Governor Fang Yun will meet the great Confucian scholar Zhu Zhaolian at First Normal School..."

"Though Fang Yun is a Mongol Tartar, he has always revered Confucian learning. This time, he certainly will not bring a large number of soldiers into the Normal School. Then will be our chance to assassinate Fang Yun!"

After having Xu Xing rise, Master Ma swept his gaze over the crowd and spoke of the important matter recently being plotted by Qin Phoenix Mountain's Filial Righteousness Hall.

Fang Yun was a key frontier official of the Manchu Qing, responsible for the defenses of the northwest and a bona fide imperial loyalist. A few years from now, when the Empress Dowager fled to Chang'an, Fang Yun would personally escort her there—a true loyal servant of the Manchu Qing.

"Yes, Master Ma."

Several Elder Brothers Society men raised their voices and nodded in reply.

"Xu Xing, come with me."

"Now that you've joined my Elder Brothers Society, from this day on we're brothers as close as family. I'll teach you saber techniques right away..."

After leaving the hall, Master Ma led Xu Xing alone to the rear courtyard. As they walked, he spoke.

From the early Xianfeng era to the end of the Qing dynasty, whenever disasters or calamities struck Guanzhong, the refugees would turn into saber men. West of Tong Pass, saber men could never be stamped out. With a Guanshan saber tucked against their chest, they dared to head out and make their way through the world.

Later, when Two Tigers defended Chang'an, those two tigers were saber men.

Moreover, members of the Elder Brothers Society and saber men were basically overlapping identities.

Most saber men were members of the Elder Brothers Society.

And Master Ma's saber skills were famous throughout the Western Pass region.

This information was recorded with crystal clarity in Xu Xing's memories from this life.

Yet in the courtyard, upon the yellow earth—

A half-grown boy stood there. He was dressed much like Master Ma, in a worn leather-padded jacket.

The boy was practicing with a saber—a Guanshan saber, a weapon resembling a Song-style pu dao, only with a shorter haft.

Suddenly—

A frigid flash of saber light swept past.

The next moment, four or five stalks of green bamboo as thick as wrists, planted in the courtyard, were sliced clean through in an instant.

The bamboo crashed down in a rustle.

Fine dust rose from the ground.

Xu Xing, who had just stepped into the courtyard, could not help but twitch his brow.

Only then did he recall that Master Ma's son was named Kid Brother. If he remembered correctly, this Kid Brother was a character from a film, capable of wielding a saber with qi and killing One-Blade Immortal in a single stroke.

"Not a historical period?"

"But a dungeon mixed with all kinds of film and television worlds?"

Xu Xing thought to himself.

In actual history, even Isao Machii, the kendo master who practiced iaijutsu and split bullets with his blade, setting a Guinness World Records—

No matter how formidable a martial artist was, it was impossible for him to wield a saber with qi and sever so many bamboo stalks with one slash.

One had to know that the older bamboo grew, the greater its toughness became.

"My saber technique is called... the Western Pass Limitless Saber."

Master Ma began his martial arts instruction.