Faceless

"Brother Li Mu, don't scare people." Bu Zheng thought Li Mu was joking.

Li Mu said seriously, "Our convoy only has Senior Brother Ye Puyuan driving up front. The remaining nine inner courtyard senior brothers are ahead, while we twenty servants are at the rear. That should make thirty people in total."

"Why are there thirty-one?"

Before departure, Ye Puyuan had personally checked the roster.

There was no way anyone could sneak in to claim the reward money.

Among the servants, aside from Bu Zheng, whom he had only recently gotten familiar with, and Liu Wuyou, whose identity he had quietly remembered after asking around, Li Mu was unfamiliar with all the rest.

The nine formal disciples ahead all wore black sword robes, making them easy to distinguish.

The extra person was clearly among the servants in white.

"How is that possible? Try counting the horses again." Bu Zheng laughed, but after seriously counting the white-clad servants, he froze.

There really were twenty-one people.

He remembered clearly that there had been twenty servants when they set out.

There really was one extra!!

Bu Zheng hurriedly counted again, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

"I finally managed to secure a spot transporting swords. Could my luck really be this terrible? Did I run into something evil the moment I left home?"

Bu Zheng quickly grabbed another servant beside him and asked in a low voice.

The servant immediately counted them once, froze, then counted several more times. Sweat slowly seeped onto his forehead.

The three exchanged looks, a trace of alarm showing in their eyes.

"Hey, I mean... isn't there one extra person?" This servant was terrified and could no longer hold it in.

His words interrupted the engrossing story up ahead. The others turned around. Though they frowned, they instinctively began counting heads.

"One, two... twenty, twenty-one?!" There really was one extra person. Everyone counted several times, and unease began creeping into their hearts.

Most of them knew each other only in twos and threes. No one could name every other servant or recognize every face, but they all remembered that there should have been twenty servants before departure.

Who exactly was the extra person? A person, or...

The convoy abruptly fell silent, leaving only the sound of carts and horses moving forward and shuffling footsteps.

Clang!

"Turn around." Li Mu suddenly drew his sword and pointed it at the white-clad servant standing to his front right, his face tilted outward.

Li Mu had not checked everyone's vital energy information one by one before. Now, he had finally noticed something wrong.

The servant froze. After hesitating for a moment, he slowly turned his head.

At once, everyone was stunned.

That face had no nose, no eyes, no eyebrows, and no mouth!

It was nothing but a perfectly smooth sheet of skin!!

The more timid among them nearly screamed in terror!!

This was the person who had told the first story earlier, yet he had been facing the forest to the right the whole time, constantly drinking water. No one had paid him any attention.

Who could have imagined that such a "faceless ghost" had silently blended into the convoy, even casually telling strange tales as if he belonged there?

"Faceless Blade, you've got some nerve!"

Suddenly, an angry shout rolled over from the front. A streak of sword light tore through the air, its force crushing everything in its path as it instantly reached the faceless servant.

Ye Puyuan had made his move.

Li Mu breathed a sigh of relief. He had already seen that this "faceless servant" was not a demon, but a living person.

His vital energy was as high as "81.6." He was an expert who had broken through the eighth gate! Yet his sword talent was extremely low!

How could an eighth-gate expert with no sword talent possibly be from Hidden Sword Manor?

The instant Li Mu recognized this, cold sweat broke out on his back.

Such an expert had hidden within the convoy. Who knew what he intended? If he harbored ill will, who here could stop him? Every disciple and servant present might die on the spot!

But since he had not attacked immediately, there should still be room to turn things around.

So Li Mu deliberately drew Ye Puyuan's attention. The latter truly reacted swiftly. Worthy of being a core disciple, he charged out at once.

"Hehehe... Ye Puyuan, I was only having a little fun with you all. Why so serious?"

The faceless servant's skin rippled as he gave a wild, bizarre laugh. He suddenly drew his saber and knocked aside Ye Puyuan's strike. Blade light and sword shadows immediately flashed without end as the two exchanged dozens of moves in the blink of an eye.

[Ye Puyuan, Vital Energy: 81.5, Spirit: 5.0, Sword Talent: 245.7 (Blue)]

"Was his talent always this absurdly high..." Li Mu watched Ye Puyuan.

After last night's recording had improved his talent, Li Mu had thought himself head and shoulders above his peers. Yet Ye Puyuan was still a tier above him.

How high, then, were the Third Manor Lord and the others?

Ye Puyuan wielded his sword in both hands, repeatedly borrowing force to leap through the air and hack downward. He used his sword like a saber, an axe, or a heavy hammer, every strike powerful and weighty.

Each slash he delivered struck sparks from the faceless saberman's broadsword. Even the air rippled outward with every collision, showing that their sword intent and blade intent were clashing without pause.

Li Mu was astonished. Ye Puyuan's weapon was actually a heavy sword two palms wide!

Holding such a massive blade in both hands, he wielded it as lightly as a thin sword. Every swing howled through the air, swift and ruthless, carrying the overwhelming force of mountains collapsing and peaks shaking.

Hidden Sword Manor actually had swordsmanship like this?! If someone called it saber technique or hammer technique, Li Mu might have believed it, but swordsmanship?

It overturned everything he knew.

With one downward strike, this sword technique could probably split mountains and cleave peaks!

Li Mu was deeply tempted, but he also realized that this was surely a third-rank or higher sword technique that only formal disciples could access.

"Hehehe... It's been half a month, yet your swordsmanship hasn't improved in the slightest. How can that do? At next year's Famous Sword Tournament, wait for me to claim a sword!"

A dazzling blade light suddenly flashed out, erupting with the vast might of a river being severed and its current cut off. It violently knocked Ye Puyuan's heavy sword aside.

Then the faceless saberman leaped several yards and vanished into the mountain forest in a flash.

Everyone was still reeling from the shock. A few had nearly been caught in the blade and sword forces, their hearts pounding in fright.

This was a battle between eighth-gate martial masters. A careless moment could mean broken bones and severed tendons...

"Senior Brother Ye, who was that man?" Li Mu asked curiously.

"The young hall master of Broken River Blade Hall, Wu Chen. He contributed greatly when we surrounded and exterminated Mountain-Holding Vulture last month."

Ye Puyuan's expression was ugly. That brute had made a fool of him and slipped away. As the core disciple accompanying this mission and the senior brother in the eyes of the other disciples, he felt deeply embarrassed.

"But he is highly skilled at disguise and has an eccentric temperament. He especially enjoys frightening people with a featureless face, calling himself Faceless Blade."

"He came to deliver intelligence. There is no need to worry."

In Ye Puyuan's hand was the wooden tube Wu Chen had thrown down earlier.

"..." Li Mu had no words.

This Faceless Blade, Wu Chen, had completely overturned his ingrained impression of eighth-gate experts... He certainly had character.

"And you are?" Ye Puyuan had become interested in the young servant before him. Li Mu had been the first to expose Wu Chen. If Wu Chen had remained hidden any longer, Ye Puyuan would truly have lost all face.

"Li Mu, a new recruit of Myriad Swords Tower." Li Mu cupped his fists.

"Cultivate properly under Junior Sister Leng. Enter the inner courtyard soon." Ye Puyuan examined Li Mu, then smiled and tossed him a silver ingot.

"You have rendered merit. You deserve a reward."

Ten taels of patterned silver!

Bu Zheng and the other servant watched with envy. They had not even traveled halfway, and Li Mu had already earned ten taels? That was more than they would receive for completing the entire journey!

But Li Mu had indeed been extremely sharp just now. If Faceless Blade Wu Chen had remained for even a little longer, who knew what trouble he might have caused? Li Mu deserved it.

"Senior Brother Ye, I do not need the reward money. May I borrow a copy of the sword technique you used earlier instead?"

The moment he said this, everyone was mildly surprised.

Liu Wuyou, at the front, could not help turning back for a look. Remembering the intelligence his uncle Liu Yi had given him, he recognized Li Mu. He had heard that Li Mu's talent was not even as good as Cao A-Man's, and he could not help shaking his head.

This Li Mu probably had not even mastered the Water-Questioning Sword Manual, yet he was already eager to learn a superior sword technique that only formal disciples could begin cultivating.

"You may."

Before Ye Puyuan could speak, a calm voice of permission came from the carriage ahead.

The Third Manor Lord, Ye Wei, had actually agreed! So he had been paying attention to the surroundings all along.

Everyone's gazes toward Li Mu immediately changed. They did not know when he had gained the Third Manor Lord's favor...

Li Mu was also slightly stunned. He had only wanted to try, yet the Third Manor Lord had actually spoken up for him.

Still, he absolutely could not miss such a wonderful opportunity to peruse a sword manual.

"Thank you, Third Manor Lord. Thank you, Senior Brother Ye!"

"Take it. But since you are not a formal disciple, you must return it once we reach Celestial River Inn, lest the sword manual be lost." Ye Puyuan had originally hesitated, since the manor's rules could not be broken. But the Third Manor Lord's word changed things.

Smiling, he handed over the sword manual. With a flash, he returned to the front carriage, moving so quickly that no trace of him could be seen.

He gave over the sword manual and did not take back the reward money.

Suppressing his joy, Li Mu put away the silver and looked at the copied sword manual in his hand. A faint blue glow was emerging from it!

[Spirit Peak Sword Manual, Entry Talent Requirement: 200.0 (Blue)]

"I can finally learn a third-rank sword technique! I searched everywhere without finding one, only for it to fall right into my lap."

Ignoring the strange looks around him, Li Mu silently read through it. Specks of blue light that only he could see continuously flew into his forehead.

Soon, he had finished the entire manual. A wave of fatigue struck his mind... So many principles had entered his head at once, exhausting his spirit.

Still, the cost was clearly more than worth it.

New words appeared on the Sword Register panel.

[Spirit Peak Sword Manual: 0/100, Not Yet Initiated]

[Note: Minimum cultivation requirements: Vital Energy above 20.0, Spirit above 5.0]

"It actually has vital energy and spirit requirements... It seems the cultivation requirements for superior sword techniques will only grow harsher."

He still could not cultivate it for now, but at least he no longer had to worry about where to obtain sword techniques. Waiting until he became a formal disciple would take far too long.

"If I can find some decent great medicines or sword manuals during this trip into the city, breaking through the second vital energy gate will not be a problem. Then I can cultivate it smoothly."

With a large sum of silver in hand, Li Mu felt full of confidence.