Lin Qiniang, Golden Blade Method

Lu Hao climbed over the courtyard wall into Spring Breeze Pavilion. Guided by memory, he felt his way up to the second floor in the dark and crept lightly to Lin Qiniang's door.

He drew the dagger from his waist and slipped it into the crack of the door, pressing the tip against the latch and gently working it backward. In less than half the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the latch came loose.

He gently pushed open the door and entered the room. Turning back, he shut it and fastened the latch again.

Lu Hao felt his way to the bedside and saw Lin Qiniang lying on her side, deeply asleep.

Lu Hao lightly patted Lin Qiniang's shoulder. She groggily opened her eyes and vaguely saw a dark figure standing beside the bed.

Lin Qiniang jolted upright, opening her mouth to scream.

But Lu Hao clamped a hand over her mouth and held the dagger beneath her throat.

Lu Hao bent down and whispered in her ear, "If you don't want to die, don't make a sound!"

Lin Qiniang trembled all over and nodded desperately, her chest heaving violently.

Lu Hao released her mouth and moved the dagger away, lowering his voice. "Light the candle."

Lin Qiniang shakily got out of bed barefoot and felt her way to the dressing table.

Her hands shook badly. She struck the tinder several times before finally getting a flame, then lit the candle with trembling fingers.

A dim layer of candlelight instantly spread through the room.

By the candlelight, Lu Hao saw that Lin Qiniang wore only a red dudou, with her shoulders, arms, and back all bare.

Yet the dudou could not contain the shape of her chest. It sagged noticeably, nearly hanging against her belly, rising and falling faintly with her breaths. Her legs, however, were slender and straight.

After one glance, disgust welled up in Lu Hao's heart. The original owner's taste truly beggared belief. An eighteen-year-old young man, brimming with Qi-Blood, had actually thrown away his life for such a sack of skin.

Lin Qiniang looked at Lu Hao as well. But with his head wrapped, his face covered, and only his eyes exposed, she could not recognize him.

She asked in a trembling voice, "Th-this sir, what do you want?"

"Qiniang, can't you recognize my voice?"

Lin Qiniang froze. She stared at Lu Hao's figure for a moment. "Y-you're Lu Hao?"

"Qiniang, your memory is quite good!"

After recognizing Lu Hao, Lin Qiniang stopped trembling, and her words became much smoother.

"Lu Hao, what are you doing? Do you know what place this is? If I shout once, any one of the guards who comes in could crush you as easily as an ant."

Hearing that, Lu Hao took two steps forward.

"I've already dealt with the guards."

Naturally, Lin Qiniang did not believe him. She knew that even the weakest of those guards was a Martial Apprentice at the First Gate-Breaking Realm.

But when she looked Lu Hao over in the dim candlelight, she finally noticed that he was covered in blood from head to toe.

A moment later, she immediately put on a smiling face and called sweetly, "Brother Lu!"

The moment Lu Hao heard her call him that, he shuddered, goosebumps rising all over his body.

Lin Qiniang reached out to undo Lu Hao's belt, pouting coquettishly. "Come on!"

Lu Hao slapped her hand away and pushed the dagger forward.

"Hand over the ten taels of silver you swindled from me a few days ago."

"Brother Lu! Wasn't that the money you gave me to redeem myself?" Lin Qiniang continued in that saccharine voice. "Didn't you say last time that from now on, you wanted me to say 'I can't take it anymore' only to you?"

Lu Hao remained unmoved, merely waving the dagger.

Seeing that Lu Hao was not falling for it, Lin Qiniang secretly found it strange. How had Lu Hao become like a completely different person after only a few days apart?

After hesitating for a moment, she pulled open the drawer beneath the dressing table, took out several silver ingots, and handed them to Lu Hao.

"I only have eight taels of silver right now."

Lu Hao continued staring at Lin Qiniang. Panic rose in her heart, and she hurriedly said, "Once it's daylight, I'll borrow two taels from the madam and return it all to you."

When Lu Hao still said nothing, Lin Qiniang bit her lips tightly.

"Diao Xiada, the chief escort of the Mighty Escort Bureau, and I had a son years ago. He's already fifteen this year. Diao Xiada comes to see me every month, and every time he gives me ten taels of silver. The next time he comes, I'll give you all ten taels."

Lu Hao reached out and took the silver.

Lin Qiniang let out a breath of relief. Just as she was about to say something else, a flash of cold light flickered before her eyes.

Lu Hao had already lightly drawn the dagger across her throat.

Lin Qiniang raised a hand to cover her neck. Blood gushed through her fingers, while hoarse gurgling sounds came from her throat. Until the moment she died, she could not believe that Lu Hao would actually be willing to kill her.

Her legs gave out, and she crashed heavily to the floor. Her body convulsed a few times, then fell still within a few breaths.

Lu Hao crouched down and looked at Lin Qiniang's corpse, thinking that this counted as avenging the original owner.

After confirming that Lin Qiniang was no longer breathing, Lu Hao stood up.

He searched through the room, but found nothing else of value.

Lu Hao tossed the dagger beside Lin Qiniang's corpse and blew out the candle.

He quietly walked to the door, pulled back the latch, and poked his head out. Only after discovering no movement outside did he open the door and hurry downstairs.

Lu Hao climbed back over the courtyard wall and left Spring Breeze Pavilion.

Standing in the narrow alley, he quickly stripped off his bloodstained short clothes, then took off the cloth covering his face, the head wrap, and his shoes and socks, bundling them all inside the clothes.

Barefoot, he hurried home.

By the time he returned home, a faint fish-belly white had already appeared on the horizon.

Lu Hao first took out the booklet and the silver, placing them on the stove.

He stuffed the short clothes, cloth strips, head wrap, and shoes and socks into the firebox in one heap, then took out a tinder and lit them.

After the clothes had burned to ashes, Lu Hao fetched a basin of water and carefully washed himself several times.

After finishing all that, he absorbed the Qi-Blood from the chicken in his Equipment Slot.

Miraculously, after his Qi-Blood recovered, the wound on his left shoulder from the guard captain's dagger healed as if by magic. Unless he pressed on it hard, he could not even feel any pain.

Only when warmth once more enveloped his dantian and strength filled every limb and bone did he let out a long breath, his heart finally easing.

He counted tonight's gains. He had recovered eight taels of silver from Lin Qiniang, found two taels on the Second Gate-Knocking Stage guard captain, and collected half a tael of loose silver from the other four guards combined.

Ten and a half taels of silver in total—just enough to make up for the protection money the original owner had diverted from the gang, with the remaining half tael to be returned to Shi Kang.

Lu Hao's gaze fell upon the booklet again. Written on its cover were the words "Golden Blade Method."

Lu Hao picked up the booklet and flipped through it roughly.

Like the Black Tiger Method, the booklet was divided into an upper and lower section.

The upper section was the Golden Blade Stance Art. Its cultivation principles were largely the same as those of the Black Tiger Stance Art, consisting of exercises that strengthened Qi-Blood.

The lower section, the Golden Blade Method, introduced techniques for short blades and long sabers, mainly including chops, slashes, thrusts, and upward cuts, all paired with simple illustrations.

But for now, the Black Tiger Method occupied his Equipment Slot, so he could not equip the Golden Blade Method. Besides, he had no blade in hand.

Lu Hao found a piece of oil paper, wrapped the booklet in it, and stuffed it into a crack between the blue bricks in the wall.

He tucked the loose silver beneath his pillow.

By then, it was already fully light outside the window.

Lu Hao collapsed onto the bed, closed his eyes, and drowsily went back to sleep.

He did not know how much time had passed when a hurried knocking came from outside the door.

"Brother Hao! Brother Hao!" Shi Kang's voice came from outside, carrying a trace of panic.