Did You Catch Up to Her With Speed Like That?

Diyi Era of the Zixuan Dynasty, eighth month, second day.

Now that I'd mastered my cultivation method and finally had some confidence, I was preparing to visit the pavilion's task assignment office and post a request for information on my former junior brothers and sisters. Unexpectedly, I ran into that Miss An's bootlick... ah, admirer again.

Apparently, after hearing that Miss An and I had met alone for half an hour, he couldn't stomach it and came looking for me to compete in swordsmanship.

Was that a private meeting that lasted half an hour? I sat there waiting like an idiot for nearly half an hour.

Still, setting aside where he'd heard that I knew swordsmanship, his swordsmanship was genuinely quite impressive. Especially his flying sword technique—it was practically like an immortal flying in from beyond the heavens.

So, seeing how radiant and full of ambition he looked after displaying his flying sword technique, I couldn't help but ask with a smile—since your flying sword technique is so fast, did you catch up to the person you admire?

Who would've thought that after roaring, "A gentleman may be killed, but never humiliated," he abandoned his sword and ran away!

Though today's encounter had been utterly baffling, picking up an unwanted flying sword was still quite a harvest.

"Fellow Daoist Tan, my young master is still young. Yesterday's foolish actions were merely the result of a momentary impulse. Here are three hundred Upper Profound Seals, along with a pill that can improve one's cultivation. Please accept them, Fellow Daoist Tan. As for that top-grade Flying Spirit Sword, it is a Spirit-Communing Dharma Artifact passed down through generations of my Yu Clan. It cannot be lost, so we can only ask Fellow Daoist Tan to return it to us."

Early the next morning, several cultivators came to visit. The moment they opened their mouths, they asked Tan Shuchang to return the sword.

However, since they were the ones asking for a favor, they kept their posture extremely low. Without even giving Tan Shuchang a chance to speak, they first offered their apology gifts.

A pill that improved cultivation, along with three hundred Upper Profound Seals—there was no doubt this was a generous gift.

Seeing this, Tan Shuchang readily took out the flying sword he had casually picked up yesterday.

But just as he was about to hand the flying sword over, a sudden clamor arose outside the Sword-Overseeing Dao General Hall. Then, a group of people barged in.

The man at the front held his head high and chest out, striding with the bearing of a tiger and dragon. He wore the splendid robes of a pavilion official, his twelfth-rank status especially conspicuous. Several other pavilion officials followed at his sides. Other than one tenth-rank official, none of the rest exceeded the eighth rank.

"Lord Tan, it certainly hasn't been easy finding you!" The leader of the group that had barged in was none other than Zhang Dongzhi.

He had searched for Tan Shuchang for several days, yet hadn't managed to see him even once.

Zhang Dongzhi wasn't the only one. Shi Changkong, the tenth-rank pavilion official using the alias Chu Xiujian, had faced the same problem. In order to deliver that challenge letter into Tan Shuchang's hands, he had been driven nearly out of his mind these past few days.

Zhao Huaiji was pressuring him from one side, yet on the other, he simply couldn't find any trace of Tan Shuchang!

Still, Shi Changkong had long been used to enduring in silence, so he could conceal his emotions. Zhang Dongzhi, however, couldn't endure any longer. Originally, he hadn't cared much about the Artifact Pavilion losing a Dharma artifact.

But who could have expected that when he had previously accepted an invitation to feast at a friend's home, he would casually browse through an old book written by someone of a previous generation in the friend's study—and then discover in horror that one of the useless Dharma artifacts in the Artifact Pavilion was suspected to be part of the Nine-Aperture Martial Demon!

That old book contained a detailed account: one of the Nine-Aperture Martial Demon's eyeballs had been sealed by a cultivator of dream arts using his own Immortal Dream.

This had caused the Eye of the Nine-Aperture Martial Demon, once incomparably vicious and easy to identify, to become like an unyielding stone.

For one had to enter that Immortal Dream to see the Eye of the Nine-Aperture Martial Demon's true appearance.

Thus, as Zhang Dongzhi became increasingly convinced that the black bead was the Eye of the Nine-Aperture Martial Demon, after repeatedly failing to find Tan Shuchang and combing through the pavilion's records of cultivators receiving Dharma artifacts, he recalled that after Tan Shuchang had come to collect a Dharma artifact that day, someone had informed him that one artifact was missing.

That was why Zhang Dongzhi had personally sought out Tan Shuchang again and again.

Yet upon hearing Zhang Dongzhi's words now, Tan Shuchang seemed as though he hadn't heard them at all. He simply returned the Flying Spirit Sword to the Yu Clan cultivators.

"You're too courteous, fellow Daoists. Young Master Yu abandoned his sword and left because I spoke improperly as well." Since Tan Shuchang had accepted their gifts, he naturally had to take some of the blame onto himself.

"Thank you for your magnanimity, Fellow Daoist Tan!" Seeing how easily they had recovered their clan's Spirit-Communing Dharma Artifact, the cultivators all heaved a sigh of relief.

If it hadn't been inappropriate for them to beat up their young master, they would've beaten that brat half to death the moment they learned yesterday that he'd thrown away the sword.

But Tan Shuchang's blatant disregard for Zhang Dongzhi naturally enraged Zhang Dongzhi as well.

Zhang Dongzhi had already been troubled over that bead for days. Seeing this scene now, he could no longer hold back and immediately said, "Lord Tan truly refuses to change his ways! The last time you visited the Artifact Pavilion, the Artifact Pavilion lost a Dharma artifact. Now you've even made someone else lose a Spirit-Communing Dharma Artifact..."

Zhang Dongzhi couldn't finish his words, because Tan Shuchang made his move.

A blood-colored sword shadow appeared.

Its blade was jagged like interlocking canine teeth, grotesquely irregular.

This was the Calamity-Sighting Sword Qi of "One Must Not Be Discourteous," and at this moment, its killing rule was triggered in an instant.

Layer upon layer of blood-colored mist spread out, forming a faintly discernible vortex centered naturally on Zhang Dongzhi. At that very instant, Zhang Dongzhi's head silently shattered, leaving only a headless corpse crashing to the ground.

Ritual propriety contained standards of conduct aligned with the ruling class's interests, and Zhang Dongzhi's words had been an inferior offending a superior—precisely an act of discourtesy.

The blood-colored sword shadow had vanished, and every cultivator within the Sword-Overseeing Dao General Hall was deathly pale.

None of them knew exactly how Zhang Dongzhi had died.

Though they were all certain Tan Shuchang had acted, not one of them had detected how he had done so.

"Why haven't you cleaned this place up?"

Tan Shuchang glanced at those pavilion officials.

"Yes, Lord Dao General!" Those pavilion officials had already been badly frightened. Hearing Tan Shuchang say this, they immediately began cleaning up in a fluster.

The Yu Clan cultivators were also rather frightened, so they hurriedly took their leave.

Thus, before long, the Sword-Overseeing Dao General Hall stood empty, with only Tan Shuchang remaining.

Having failed to deliver the challenge once more, Shi Changkong helplessly went to find Zhao Huaiji and said he wished to carry thorned branches on his back to plead guilty. After all, he had failed in his duty.

"He killed Yun Shoutian's nephew right before your eyes, inside the Dao General Hall?" After hearing Shi Changkong's account, Zhao Huaiji couldn't help revealing a trace of disbelief.

After all, Yun Shoutian was the deputy pavilion master of the Heavenly Wonder Pavilion. Even Zhao Huaiji had to show him some respect.

"Master, that is exactly what happened." Even now, Shi Changkong still felt as though it had been a dream.

"Then take out the challenge letter. I'll have Yun Shoutian deal with this Tan Shuchang..." After thinking for a moment, Zhao Huaiji said this.

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