Jizhou Arsenal

The next morning, Du Chengfeng was awakened by a burst of commotion.

Stopping Carpenter Li as he ran past the small courtyard's gate, Du Chengfeng learned that Yang Family Fort had caught fire in the middle of the night. Some unlucky fool had apparently knocked over a lantern. There had been no real casualties, but the ancestral hall where they worshipped their forebears had been burned clean away.

"But wasn't it pouring rain last night?"

Du Chengfeng was deeply puzzled. When he had gotten up to relieve himself in the night, he had seen the rain pouring down outside.

To set an ancestral hall ablaze beneath a sky full of torrential rain—heaven knew how the Yang family had managed it.

Still, it had nothing to do with him. How they would make amends was the Yang family's business. As for today, he first had to go to the Ji Town Governor's Office and begin his first day of work.

In other words, he would be going over there as an outsourced service provider to sharpen all those stockpiled weapons.

The thought of those weapons set Du Chengfeng's heart surging. This was the entire stockpile of Jizhou, a land fought over on all sides. Who knew what astounding techniques and experience had been preserved within? If he could gather all of it, every last bit, into himself...

"Calm down. Calm down."

After taking several deep breaths, Du Chengfeng steadied himself.

His method of sharpening blades was rather special, after all. He had to remain sufficiently calm. The stores of the Jizhou Arsenal were all well and good, but if his willpower proved lacking and he was instead tainted by Sha Qi, then there would be no need to wait for Hexi Qing to attack. He would probably grab a weapon and slaughter his way through all of Jizhou first.

"As for you, keep drinking for now."

Glancing at the heavy greatsword by his side, Du Chengfeng simply found a large wine jar and put the blade inside.

This was not to guard against theft. Looking across all of Jizhou at present, there were probably not many people who could even lift this blade. The real reason was that the sword had not drunk enough wine yet.

It still needed to soak for another two or three days. The moment Du Chengfeng touched the hilt, he vaguely came to that conclusion. Though he had no idea what good soaking a sword in wine could possibly do, since he had felt it, he was willing to give it a try.

Besides, he could not take this greatsword out with him anyway.

When going out, naturally he needed something lighter. As for self-defense, there were still seventeen knives tucked inside his robe. Together with the wrestling skills that had already seeped into his instincts, and the Tiger-and-Dragon Two Forms he had only recently learned, Du Chengfeng felt that he should not run into any danger outside.

Yet who could have expected that he had barely gone any distance from Yang Family Fort before he encountered highway robbers?

"Get off the horse! Hurry up! Leave everything behind!"

The spears and lances thrust toward him scared the already timid packhorse stiff, stopping it dead in its tracks.

Even Du Chengfeng, sitting atop the horse, was taken aback.

He had only sensed through blade-sharpening that public order in the northern reaches of Ji was poor. By rounding up, that meant he had heard about it but never seen it. Yet who would have thought that on this utterly ordinary-looking morning, he would personally experience a genuine local specialty of Jizhou for the first time?

But after getting a clear look at the men before him, Du Chengfeng laughed.

These bandits were all sallow-faced and emaciated, clearly people who had not eaten a full meal in a long while. The leader was outright bare-assed, not even wearing trousers. And the spears in their hands did not even have iron heads—they were nothing but sharpened wooden poles.

Of course, Du Chengfeng was not laughing because he was mocking their scant clothing.

He was laughing because he recognized the bandit in the lead.

"Weren't you a hunter before?"

Seeing that the packhorse had begun trembling in fright, Du Chengfeng simply swung himself down.

"How did you end up in this line of work?"

"You... it's you!"

The leader froze for a moment, then flew into a towering rage.

"You still dare show your face to me! I haven't settled the score with you for stealing my trousers last time! Brothers, grab your weapons! Kill him!"

"Hm? You're actually serious?"

As the bandits truly raised their spears and charged in to stab him, Du Chengfeng instinctively stepped forward and lifted a hand in a slap.

Several wooden spears struck his chest with a clattering din, only to be blocked by the blades hidden in his robe.

Meanwhile, the bandit charging at the very front took that slap to the head, and his entire skull was smashed down into his torso.

Seeing their leader abruptly become a head shorter, the remaining bandits stood rooted to the spot in shock. Even Du Chengfeng himself, who had delivered the slap, was so stunned that he could not speak for a moment.

He had merely followed the movement habits he had developed over this period and instinctively used the coiling-and-extending body method from the Dragon-Form Great Cleave. Who could have imagined that the coiling and extending of his spine could unleash such tremendous force?

Perhaps Liu Qingyun, who had created the Tiger-and-Dragon Two Forms, had truly missed the most important choice of his life.

"If I keep walking down this path... hm?"

Just as Du Chengfeng sank into thought, a burst of footsteps interrupted his train of thought.

He raised his hand, ready to strike again, only to discover that the bandits were running away—out here in the wild mountains and barren ridges, where could they run to? Besides, even if they ran, they would have nothing to eat. And with an old acquaintance among them, Du Chengfeng was even less likely to let them leave.

At the end of the day, Du Chengfeng, a man of peace, was still kindhearted. He could not bear to see this.

So after several Tiger Leaps, the bandits were all strung together with rope and tied behind the horse's rump.

Fortunately, such a procession was not especially eye-catching in Ji Town. As he led them into Ji Town, Du Chengfeng saw quite a few others walking with a line of people in tow just like his—if there was any issue, it was that people kept coming up to ask whether the two-legged livestock he was leading were for sale, and how much they cost.

Naturally, Du Chengfeng would not engage in human trafficking. Thus, he led the group all the way to the Governor's Office.

"They've all turned over a new leaf and wish to contribute their share to Jizhou."

That was what Du Chengfeng told the Governor's Office soldiers.

"I heard the Governor's Office has been recruiting people lately, right?"

"Yes! That's true! The weapons workshop is short on laborers to mine ore!"

Several soldiers hurriedly took the bandits from him and escorted them away, though he had no idea where they were taken.

Then they counted out five hundred cash coins and handed them to Du Chengfeng.

"You get paid for doing good deeds?"

Weighing the five hundred cash coins in his hand, Du Chengfeng suddenly felt that Jizhou's local customs did not seem quite so bad after all.

After finding the bandits a fine place that provided food and lodging, Du Chengfeng led his horse into the Governor's Office. Commander Liu had already been waiting in the main hall for quite some time, and seemed even more anxious than Du Chengfeng himself.

"What is it? Did something happen?"

Du Chengfeng was quite puzzled. It was only natural for him to be anxious—after all, the sooner he entered the arsenal, the sooner he could improve his strength. But Commander Liu was anxious... it was not as though Du Chengfeng was not coming. Did one day without seeing him really warrant this much panic?

"I haven't even had breakfast yet. How about we first—"

"There's no time. Hurry and come with me to the arsenal."

Before Du Chengfeng stood Commander Liu, who had previously been brimming with high spirits. Now, his face was black as ink.

"It's all because that dog Wang Gaocheng squatted in office and drew his pay without doing a thing. There's a huge problem in the arsenal now."