I Am Jiang Yuechu

In the courtyard, seven or eight burly men surrounded a stone table, shouting and hollering as they gambled with feverish excitement.

A broad, fat monk dressed in a bizarre, mismatched monk's robe hugged a wine gourd, his face flushed crimson with laughter. A small pile of copper coins sat before him.

Across from him, a vicious-looking man with a face full of flesh slammed the table and cursed loudly.

At the other end of the courtyard, a young man in brocade robes held a longsword. He watched the gamblers with open disgust as he polished his sword by himself, as though merely keeping company with them would soil his eyes.

Jiang Yuechu's arrival drew little attention.

Only a man seated in the corner, silently sharpening a short blade, lifted his eyelids to glance at her before lowering his head again.

Jiang Yuechu swept her gaze across the courtyard.

Without needing anyone to introduce them, she could roughly match those troublemakers to Liu Chen's descriptions.

She did not speak at once. She merely held her saber and stood quietly at the entrance.

At last, the brocade-clad young man polishing his sword seemed to notice something and looked over with a frown.

When he saw that the person standing at the door was actually a slender young girl, his eyes filled with confusion.

Pretty as she was, what was she doing here?

At the gambling table, the fleshy-faced man who had lost money was already burning with rage. Seeing Jiang Yuechu staring at them, he immediately vented his anger on her.

"Where'd this little bitch come from? Get lost. Don't stand there blocking your grandpa's view!"

The instant the words fell, the courtyard went silent.

Everyone's eyes turned in unison toward Jiang Yuechu.

"Amitabha..." The fat monk took a swig of wine and let out a drunken belch. "Could it be that this female benefactor has come to the wrong place? This is the Demon Suppression Office, a place of importance—not somewhere a delicate little bodhisattva like you should be."

At those words.

Jiang Yuechu merely sneered and paid no attention to the man's abuse.

She said casually, "Liu Ke, Chen Tong, Bujie. You're all here, aren't you?"

The copper coins still lay scattered across the gambling table, while the smile on the fat monk's face froze.

The fleshy-faced man was also stunned. Then he glared at her viciously. "Who the hell are you? How do you know your grandpas' names?"

In the corner, the brocade-clad young man who had been wiping his sword also stopped.

Monk Bujie set down his wine gourd and said with a genial smile, "This female benefactor, what business do you have with us three brothers? Don't tell me... you've come begging for alms at our Demon Suppression Office?"

At that, the crowd burst into laughter again.

But this time, the laughter was clearly much weaker, carrying a hint of probing.

Just then, a man among the crowd suddenly cried out as though he had remembered something, slapping his thigh.

"Wait... I remember now! Isn't she that girl who pinned Old Zhao against a pillar and beat him up in the courtyard a few days ago?"

The courtyard fell silent once more.

"Which Old Zhao?"

"The one under Liu Chen! They say he was a capable String-Hearing mid-stage fighter, yet he couldn't even last one move against that girl!"

"Hiss..."

A chorus of sharp breaths being sucked in.

Many people present had not seen what happened that day, but they knew the weight carried by a String-Hearing mid-stage cultivator.

Another man who knew the details lowered his voice and added, "That's not all! I heard General Wei personally picked her. Lord Xu said so himself at the time!"

General Wei! Lord Xu!

With those two names brought up, the implications became entirely different.

The gazes that had once held frivolity and disdain instantly changed, now carrying a measure of alarm and suspicion.

There was actually such a woman in the Demon Suppression Office?

But...

Even if she was also from the Demon Suppression Office.

Even if she was a ruthless figure with some backing and ability, so what?

A woman had come to the territory of this group of rough men and called them out by name. What exactly did she want?

Liu Ke slowly rose to his feet, sheathed his freshly polished longsword, and looked at Jiang Yuechu with arrogance.

"So what if you're a colleague from the Demon Suppression Office?"

"You barged into our quarters without cause and called us by name. Aren't you treating the rules with far too little respect?"

Normally, visiting one another was no great matter.

After all, even brothers from different squads often kept in touch in private.

But what sort of people were they?

Men of the martial world!

What did martial folk value most?

Face.

An unknown woman had barged into their territory and called them out by name.

If that was not a provocation, what was?

Before Jiang Yuechu could react.

The fleshy-faced man had already snatched up the saber lying on the ground.

Clang—

The blade flashed.

In a few strides, he crossed the distance to Jiang Yuechu. The gleaming edge nearly pressed against the tip of her nose.

"What the hell are you, to point fingers in front of your grandpas? Believe it or not, I'll split your skull open today?!"

Everyone in the courtyard changed expression.

They knew Chen Tong had a violent temper and would start fighting at the slightest disagreement.

But no one had expected him to dare draw a blade against a colleague inside the Demon Suppression Office barracks.

Those who wanted to intervene looked at the blade, then at Chen Tong's murderous face.

In the end, they did not dare—and lacked the strength to intervene.

As for those with the strength to intervene...

The fat monk merely raised the gourd to his lips and took another swig, his eyes full of amusement at the spectacle.

The brocade-clad young man, meanwhile, folded his arms around his sword and watched coldly, a mocking curl on his lips.

Amid the crowd's gazes—some shocked, some fearful, some entertained.

Jiang Yuechu seemed not to see the blade pointed at her.

She ignored it completely, merely lowering her eyes to look at a speck of dust on the tip of her boot.

Then her thin red lips parted, her voice calm.

"Put down the saber."

Chen Tong froze, then flew into a furious rage.

"You fucking—"

Before he could finish.

He flicked his wrist, and the saber swept through the air with a whistle, slapping toward Jiang Yuechu's face!

Yet, in that instant.

Jiang Yuechu raised an eyebrow and tightened her grip on the saber in her arms.

The next second.

Still in its sheath, it smashed lightly toward his shoulder.

Bang!

A dull thud rang out.

Chen Tong's eyes were full of disbelief.

His entire body lost control as both knees slammed viciously into the ground, cracking the blue stone slabs beneath them in two places!

Clang.

The longsaber slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

He sprawled on the ground. Even with the veins on his neck bulging as he exerted all his strength, he still could not rise.

And all that caused this was the sheathed saber resting lightly upon his shoulder!

"..."

The smile on the fat monk's face froze, the hand holding his wine gourd suspended in midair.

In the corner, the mockery on the brocade-clad young man's face turned into profound shock.

They all knew Chen Tong's strength.

Yet now...

He had been forced to kneel by the sheath of a seemingly frail young girl, utterly unable to fight back!

Chen Tong stared fixedly at the pair of clean black boots before him. His eyes were bloodshot as he struggled to angle his gaze upward.

The girl still wore that unruffled expression.

She lowered her eyes, her voice calm.

"I forgot to introduce myself..."

"My name is Jiang Yuechu. From now on, I am your squad leader."

Bujie, Chen Tong, Liu Ke