Southbound to Saibei, Poison Dragon Hand Wants to Share a Table

"Young hero, you're heading to Saibei too?"

"That place hasn't been peaceful lately. I heard Heretical Practitioners have been causing trouble, and not long ago, they even colluded with a group of rebels to stage an uprising."

The waiter brought Lu Xingshi his food and wine before speaking.

This Martial Arts World had no terms such as demonic cult or Demonic Path. People like that were called Heretical Practitioners.

Lu Xingshi had asked, so the waiter answered.

"Saibei Rebels? Aren't they afraid the Barbarians of the northern grasslands will head south?" Lu Xingshi asked doubtfully.

"I don't know either, but I heard the one leading the rebellion is a Great General guarding the border." The waiter was confused too. He only knew these things from merchants traveling north and south.

Because jianghu culture was widespread, commerce was fairly prosperous as well.

At this point, the waiter looked around before lowering his voice. "An Yashi who used to drink at the inn said that corrupt Eunuchs and ministers at court forced him to rebel. The man's a scholar, so it must be true."

Lu Xingshi merely smiled at that. Imperial authority did not hold much sway over jianghu folk, but it still carried considerable weight among scholars and ordinary commoners.

In any case, the emperor could never be at fault. He had merely been deceived by treacherous officials.

But Lu Xingshi was different. How could he not understand? Either this emperor was incompetent yet loved to meddle, or he had simply been coerced and stripped of power. Otherwise, who in their right mind would force a general guarding the frontier and holding real military authority into rebellion? "Go buy me a copy of the Rumor Report. Keep the change as a runner's fee." Lu Xingshi had money now. Although Langya Pavilion, this Hidden Sect, consisted of only him and Murong Xuan, its wealth was anything but meager.

How could one practice martial arts without money?

"Right away, young hero. Please wait a moment." With that, the waiter dashed outside.

Before long, he returned with a copy of the Rumor Report for Lu Xingshi. There was indeed news about Saibei in it, but since it was only rumor, its main purpose was to catch the eye. Its authenticity remained questionable.

There were plenty of amusing anecdotes, but not much truly useful information.

The thing could not really be called a newspaper. It was published roughly once every two months, and this copy of the Rumor Report was already two months old.

Given their current location, the newest issue would take at least another month to arrive.

With current productivity, daily updates were naturally impossible. One issue every two months was already quite impressive.

To make it into the Rumor Report, one had to be famous. It was impossible to expect renowned experts to make fools of themselves or create major news so frequently.

Besides, truly major news or secrets were not things one could learn about. Even if one did, one would not dare expose them.

Exposing such things would offend people, so sometimes there was not even enough material to fill a page. Local current affairs would be added instead. For example, the Rumor Report from Youping County back then had later published news about the Bearman, resulting in two versions of that issue.

After reading it, he placed the Rumor Report on the table and began eating.

While he was chewing, he saw three people sit themselves down in the remaining three seats at his table.

"It's full. We're sharing your table." The man seated directly across from Lu Xingshi said fiercely.

Looking to either side, there was a woman—or rather, a girl—seated on his left. She was probably sixteen or seventeen.

On his right sat a young lad. Judging from the calluses on the web of his thumb, he was likely skilled with a sword.

The expressions of the young man and woman were both rather strange.

"Brother, I see you're about done eating. Why not leave first?" The young lad forced a smile while repeatedly signaling Lu Xingshi with his eyes, urging him to leave quickly.

Lu Xingshi looked up. The inn really was full.

"Oh." He answered simply. He was not blind; he could see the situation.

Clearly, these two had been taken hostage by the burly man before him. The young lad was warning him to leave quickly.

After saying that, Lu Xingshi lowered his head and continued eating.

He was not in the habit of wasting food.

"Kid, you seem pretty brave." Seeing Lu Xingshi act this way, the burly man could not help asking.

"Are you kidding? I'm super brave, okay?" Lu Xingshi looked up and tossed out a joke, but quickly caught himself. "If you dare say, 'Let's see your build,' I'll beat you to death."

Hearing that last line, the burly man burst into laughter. "Beat me to death?"

"You want to beat me to death?"

"Do you know who I am?"

His three consecutive questions drew quite a few people's attention.

Some diners seemed to recognize the burly man. They tossed their meal money onto the table and ran straight out.

The innkeeper hurried over as well. "Sir, please don't argue with him. There's an empty seat over here now. Please come sit here."

Yet the burly man acted as though he had not heard him, staring fixedly at Lu Xingshi.

"Then do you know who I am?" Lu Xingshi asked in return.

The burly man sized him up from head to toe, running through the disciples of famous sects in his mind and comparing their characteristics, but found no match.

"Who are you?" the burly man asked cautiously.

"You don't even know who I am, yet you dare offend me? Do you have a death wish?" Lu Xingshi immediately turned it back on him.

He could argue for argument's sake too.

The burly man examined Lu Xingshi closely. There seemed to be few signs of martial training on him, and he immediately realized that Lu Xingshi might be bluffing.

In truth, Lu Xingshi had long since reached Return to Simplicity. Besides, Game Villagers could not possibly have calluses or anything of the sort—they were not human.

"Trying to mystify me!" The Burly Man snorted coldly and said at once, "To die beneath my Poison Dragon Hand today is a blessing earned over three lifetimes."

"Poison Dragon Hand Xiang He!" someone cried out his name. Clearly, he was also a well-known Heretical Practitioner in the martial world.

Judging by his name, he was likely skilled in hand techniques and poison arts.

"You actually want to kill me? Isn't that a bit too arrogant? Can't the Great Song Law deal with you?" Lu Xingshi complained.

His words left everyone stunned. Asking someone from the martial world to obey the law—if they could obey it, they would not have become martial folk in the first place.

Xiang He began to grin viciously, as though he had discovered something amusing.

"But since you want to kill me, I can't just refuse to resist."

"How about this? I'll beat you to death, and you let me go. Sound good?" As Lu Xingshi spoke, he drew an extremely exaggerated Bird Gun from his bundle. No—it should have been called a Hand Cannon.

He pointed it directly at Xiang He, who had risen to his feet and was preparing to attack him with his so-called Poison Dragon Hand.

Faced with that pitch-black muzzle, cold sweat appeared on Xiang He's forehead.

First, the other man had moved too quickly. Second, he had seen firearms before and knew their power.

The vicious grin on his face turned into the same strained smile the Young Lad had worn earlier.