The Unluckiness of the Unlucky Curved Blade

In Du Chengfeng's eyes, Yang Sanlang was probably no more than someone like Qin Wuyang.

The Qin Wuyang from the tale of Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin—the one who followed at Jing Ke's side. They said he had killed someone when he was barely in his teens and had become fairly well-known in the area. In that regard, he was quite similar to Yang Sanlang. Yang Sanlang, too, had earned himself no small reputation around Yang Family Fort by daring to kill, relishing courage and violence.

Once upon a time, when he had first arrived at Yang Family Fort, Du Chengfeng, a mere refugee, had needed to look up at people like this. Most of the time, he would never even have had the chance to meet a "local hero" like Yang Sanlang. Only when the barbarians came attacking and he was dragged out to serve as a conscript could he spot Yang Sanlang amid the crowd, see that man's bold bearing as he commanded the entire troop.

Yet in the span of a single night, Du Chengfeng had come to understand that so-called "local heroes" were, in the end, only human.

Compared to his grand reputation, the real Yang Sanlang was nowhere near so bold and heroic. He could lose his reason in anger, panic wildly in fear, and when faced with death, this ruthless man who had never thought much of taking lives would likewise collapse onto the ground and piss and shit himself.

So-called heroes were no more than this, in the end.

If it had been before, Du Chengfeng might still have taken Yang Sanlang seriously. But now, his opponent was Hexi Qing of the Northern Desert—a humanoid monster who could slaughter a giant bear at barely ten years old.

"Don't block the way."

Grabbing Yang Sanlang by the shoulder, Du Chengfeng casually tossed him to the roadside. He then parked the cart at the entrance and began unloading it.

As for Yang Sanlang's demands, he ignored them. Once the blade was in his hands, it was his. This blade was currently his greatest fighting strength, his most vital trump card in facing Hexi Qing, and part of the compensation the Yang family had paid him to settle their previous enmity.

Besides, even the Yang family had no objections to the matter. What did Yang Sanlang count for?

But just as Du Chengfeng had unloaded some bedding and begun carrying it inside, something by his feet made him frown.

It was that heavy broadsword.

"Hoh?"

Only then did Du Chengfeng realize what had happened. Yang Sanlang had not come to kowtow from the start—he had clearly come to steal the blade. But this broadsword had just killed over two hundred barbarians, and its fierce Sha Qi had long surpassed what it once was. Yang Sanlang could not even lift it; he had probably collapsed the instant he touched it.

Thus, when the theft failed, Yang Sanlang had simply dropped to his knees and changed tactics to begging.

"This..."

Du Chengfeng was speechless for a long while.

He had seen shameless people before, but never anyone this shameless. To sink to this level as a person—having lived two lives, Du Chengfeng could only say he had never seen anything so outrageous.

"You really are asking to die..."

Gripping the broadsword, Du Chengfeng charged outside.

"Since you want to die so badly, I'll grant your wish!"

"Come! Kill me!"

Seeing Du Chengfeng draw closer and closer, Yang Sanlang did not panic. Instead, he was delighted.

"Kill me! If I can't reclaim the ancestral treasured blade, then I'll accept dying by your hand!"

"Fine! You brought this on yourself!"

As he spoke, Du Chengfeng raised the broadsword high.

But at that moment, Du Chengfeng suddenly caught a smell.

Looking down, Du Chengfeng's face immediately darkened. Though Yang Sanlang talked tough, he had curled up into a ball on the ground. The hem of his clothes had long been soaked by a pale yellow stain, and the stench of a latrine was unmistakable.

At that point, not only did Du Chengfeng not want to strike him—even the blade in his hand seemed reluctant to chop down.

Mostly because it was filthy.

Grabbing Yang Sanlang by the shoulder, Du Chengfeng flung him deep into the distant darkness. Then he found an iron shovel on the cart and even dug up the patch of ground where Yang Sanlang had been sitting. After that, he rummaged through the cart for a while and found several bottles of cheap liquor, pouring them over the ground. Only after confirming that the entrance to the small courtyard smelled entirely of liquor did he finally let out a breath.

But he was not done yet. Returning to the courtyard, Du Chengfeng dug the Unlucky Curved Blade out from the pile of weapons and hurled it far over the wall.

Feeling the long-lost peace within his heart, Du Chengfeng finally confirmed that there were no more problems.

No wonder nothing had gone right for him today, and he had not run into a single good thing. It seemed some fierce, Baleful Intent-laden weapons truly could not be kept around. Theoretically, he still believed in science, but with all this Sha Qi from weapons laid out right before his eyes, these facts before him were clearly the more scientific ones.

So the blood pouring out all over his body right now had to be part of science too.

"You're starting too, are you?"

Remembering the story Carpenter Li had told about the kitchen knife, Du Chengfeng pulled open his clothes.

Sure enough, amid that whole cluster of short blades and daggers, a bloodstained kitchen knife was steadily gushing blood like a fountain.

"Behave yourself."

Glancing up at the moonlight, Du Chengfeng took the kitchen knife from his chest, intending to sharpen it while he was not yet sleepy.

Yet to Du Chengfeng's surprise, even though the knife had already fallen into his hands, the illusion of blood continued without stopping.

In only moments, his entire right side had been soaked in blood, sticky and clammy. It ran all the way down, staining his clothes crimson.

"Hm? You're pushing your luck?"

Seeing that the bloody illusion still had not vanished, Du Chengfeng simply snatched up the heavy broadsword at hand.

In an instant, every trace of blood disappeared.

Only the old kitchen knife remained in Du Chengfeng's hand, seemingly still trembling a little.

"Wouldn't it have been better if you'd behaved from the start?"

With the illusion gone, Du Chengfeng no longer intended to give the kitchen knife a chop.

Since he had already taken out the whetstone, Du Chengfeng sat down on the stool Carpenter Li had made. After soaking the stone in well water chilled to the bone, he picked up the kitchen knife and began sharpening it by moonlight.

Every inch of rust was a mark left by time; every stain of blood was an experience from this blade's former days.

And as he carefully ground the kitchen knife, Du Chengfeng gradually began to sense the experiences it had once undergone.

He saw blood. So much blood.

Though, by his senses, the Sha Qi clinging to this kitchen knife was not particularly strong, once he ground deeper, the pungent scent of blood was astonishingly dense. It was enough to make even Du Chengfeng, who had personally killed more than two hundred people, frown.

Fortunately, as Du Chengfeng continued grinding, he finally sensed the memory concealed beneath those thick blood scabs.

To Du Chengfeng's surprise, the knife's former owner had actually been a woman.

And a beautiful woman, at that.

Thanks to Tofu Pudding Almost Got Married, Sorrowless, Xu Peng 9, Snow of the Thirteenth Month, Young Man 007, mpklyq, Autumn Eyes Like Sheared Water, Hurricane in a Dream, Dawn Only Wants to Loot Bags, Don't Delete Me, I Gift You Every Tomorrow Too, Deep-Sea Crispy Crab, and xiaoxyy for their recommendation votes. Thank you all for your encouragement and support.