Anning's Top Ten Experts: "Fist, Spear, Saber, Sword; Lion, Leopard, Eagle, Falcon"—This Place Was Too Small!

"Iron token?"

After pondering for a moment, Ji Xiu went back into the room and rummaged around. Before long, he took out an "iron token."

"Senior Sister, is this what you mean?"

When he had first arrived at Lu Manor and reached the threshold of the Ten Steps, One Kill saber art, Lu Chengfeng had seen it. Not only had he granted Ji Xiu the stipend of a Saber-Wearing Retainer, he had also given him this iron token.

At the time, Ji Xiu had not understood its significance and had merely assumed it was the "designation" of a Saber-Wearing Retainer within the manor.

But seeing Lu Hongyu's hurried manner now—

It seemed it had some other use.

"Yes, that's it!"

Seeing Ji Xiu holding up the iron token, Lu Hongyu nodded repeatedly.

"Keep it safe. From today onward, you'll truly, completely turn your life around!"

Turn his life around?

Ji Xiu turned the iron token over and over in his hands, studying every inch of it. After holding it in for a long while, he still could not find anything mysterious about it.

He was now a Saber-Wearing Retainer, a ninth-rank alchemist, and a proper martial man who had completed Nourishing Blood and was preparing to begin Forging Tendons.

One further step, and he would temper his bone marrow. With nothing but a pair of iron fists, he could carve out a reputation for himself as one of the county's skilled fighters.

By then, whether it was the Three Great Gangs, gathered from the vagrants below and incorporated by the county—

Or the disciples of the Four Great Halls, such as Fist, Spear, Saber, Sword, who had fought their way out of martial trades of every size—

All of them would have to look at him with new eyes and treat him with due caution.

It could be said that his future was bright.

All he had to do was keep moving forward steadily, one solid step at a time.

Someday, he would build a courtyard of his own and set up his own pill shop.

Once he had silver and capital, he could guide promising alchemy seedlings like Zheng Jun, have them work for him, fire up the furnace to refine ninth-rank pills, and sell them for profit.

When he went out in the future, he could wear a long robe, be a man of standing whom everyone recognized—just like Lin Zhenhai of the Lin Residence, respectfully addressed as "Master," supporting the livelihoods of a whole group beneath him!

What kind of turning one's life around could surpass that?

It seemed Lu Hongyu had seen the doubt in Ji Xiu's heart.

Her curved brows lifted as she smiled mysteriously.

"Is five-hundred-li Anning County big?"

Ji Xiu answered without hesitation.

"Big!"

Anning County stretched five hundred li. Even Fire Kiln Street, this somewhat remote place, was crisscrossed by roads and sustained over ten thousand households.

Ji Xiu had risen from servant to groom, then attached himself to Lu Manor and become a Saber-Wearing Retainer.

Yet he had only gone from the sewage-ridden poor district to the wealthy, extravagant Lin Residence, and then to Blade Manor at the heart of Fire Kiln.

He had not even left this corner of Fire Kiln Street. The farthest he had ever gone was to the Household Office at the county yamen to change his status from slave.

Within five-hundred-li Anning County, aside from the yamen—

"Four masters of Fist, Spear, Saber, Sword; three great gangs of Lion, Leopard, Eagle, Falcon; Fire Kiln Lu, Firewood Market Xu, Cattle and Sheep Wei!"

This nickname, passed around for the past few years, represented the jurisdictions of Anning County's "top ten under heaven."

And he had only ever mixed with one of them: Fire Kiln Lu.

As for Lu Chengfeng's skill of Flying Flowers, Plucking Leaves—his hand technique that did not even sink past the knee in water—even though he had revealed only the shallowest layer of it—

It still surpassed Ji Xiu by an immeasurable distance!

Fist, Spear, Saber, Sword; Lion, Leopard, Eagle, Falcon!

He had never even met a single one of those figures comparable to Lu Chengfeng, people who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Great Manor Lord Lu and Great Arms Lord Lu.

By that measure—

To him, five-hundred-li Anning County was like a leaf blocking his sight. How could it not be big?

"No. It isn't big."

"On the contrary, it's pitifully small!"

A few strands of hair had been blown loose from Lu Hongyu's ponytail by the wind, but her eyes slowly brightened.

"Ah Xiu, you've never been to Jiangyin Prefecture. You don't know what the true world looks like."

"Sects, powerful clans, secret martial arts, Qi Thresholds, bright clothes and furious steeds!"

"Martial Examinations, Flower Banquets, autumn hunts, grand selections, a hundred boats racing in the current!"

"Five-hundred-li Anning County is like mud by the shore;"

"Jiangyin Prefecture, seated amid seas and mountains, is an endless raging tide."

"Fist, Spear, Saber, Sword; Lion, Leopard, Eagle, Falcon—they spend thirty or fifty years at it, until their qi and blood decline, only to cultivate a Skin Refinement martial art. They need not become Outer Force masters, much less don immortal robes, to dominate one region."

"But—"

"A few years ago, I went with my father to Jiangyin Prefecture and attended a Flower Banquet."

"Is the Fire Kiln business big in your eyes?"

"But after entering the Prefecture, Father and I were merely ordinary wealthy households, keeping a low profile."

"That day, I saw the scion of a great family who won first place."

"Even through the sea of people, I could still see him clearly."

"That person looked barely over twenty, yet he had already reached Skin Refinement. In this five-hundred-li Anning County, it would not be an exaggeration to say he could fight from Firewood Market on the west street all the way to Fire Kiln on the east street."

"Under ordinary circumstances, if an ordinary county resident wishes to enter the Prefecture, even if you're a martial man, you cannot stay there long-term, much less find a path upward."

"But now, things are different."

She pointed at the iron token and said solemnly,

"My father's martial arts teacher from his early years entered the Qi Threshold in Jiangyin Prefecture not long ago and became a Qi Refining Expert."

"That man wishes to leave behind an inheritance and establish a school."

"And this token—"

"Is proof that, after Father's selection, one has stood out from Lu Manor and may join that school."

"As long as you establish yourself there, you can enter the Prefecture in the future under the identity of a school disciple!"

In an old, dilapidated alley flowing with sewage, amid the bitter cold of winter—

Lin Du, with one crippled leg and one severed arm, staggered into a drafty, ruined temple.

Though his qi and blood surged through his body and he possessed the cultivation of completed Sinew Tempering, he had been reduced to a cripple. He could not exert even a fraction of his strength, nor could he move properly.

Great Xuan had been founded for nearly a thousand years.

During its first three centuries—

All rituals and structures such as "Taoist Temples," "temples," "shrines," and "Demon Sacrifices" had been eradicated.

Whenever any were discovered, everyone connected to them, from top to bottom—from princes and nobles above to common folk in the streets below—was executed!

At that time, any power that did not follow the path of martial men, did not reach the heavens through the Great Power of qi and blood, but instead sought external force to bewilder people's perceptions, was uniformly denounced as "heresy."

So long as any state, prefecture, or county under heaven showed signs of "heretical manifestations" linked to reality, it was collectively called a Heretical Mirage.

Troops would be mobilized and generals dispatched. Qi Refining Experts, even Titled Martial Path masters, would be sent to kill and erase it, leaving behind no hidden danger!

But after the first three centuries had passed—

By the middle three centuries, traces of heresy had gradually emerged, silently corroding their way into Great Xuan. At that time, the various states and prefectures still adhered to the policy of "destroying heresy."

Until—

The last three centuries.

Across the Three Mountains and Nine Waters, the opening act of a Yang Nine Great Calamity that swept across all Great Xuan erupted in full.

From then on, the flames of war had engulfed the land for three hundred years. Even to this day, they had never subsided.

Now, Great Xuan's first millennium was nearing its end.

The realm still upheld the policy of "driving out heresy," yet nearly everywhere, one could see remnants of ruined Taoist Temples, temples, and sacrificial shrines.

And the standard for so-called "heretical fiends"—

Had gradually been lowered. It now referred to those who abducted the living, conducted wild sacrifices, wreaked havoc upon prefectures and counties, stirred up trouble, and defied the law—utterly different from before.

Lin Du, bedraggled from head to toe, collapsed beneath beams thick with spiderwebs, clutching a small box tightly in his arms.

"Lin Ruxue..."

In the depths of winter, he bit down until his gums bled.

Using his one remaining arm, he carefully opened the box a crack.

Cautiously, he brought out an ancient, mysterious-looking shrine. Within it sat a lifelike miniature god.

On the left was inscribed: "Divine Decree of Equality."

On the right was inscribed: "Peace Under Heaven."

Across the top was written: "Central Yellow Summoning Spirit Manifesting Saint General!"

Looking at the shrine, remembering the rumors about "heresy" that had occasionally spread through five-hundred-li Anning County over the past few years, Lin Du stared at the divine statue in hesitation.

But then his thoughts shifted, and his expression hardened.

"I've fallen to this state. What choice do I have left!"

"If this god does not favor me, that would be a calamity that topples heaven!"

With that thought, he began chanting sacrificial words. As he spat out Essence Blood and used his thoughts as the guide, only moments passed.

Wisps of clear smoke curled upward. The tiny divine statue gradually opened its eyes, shooting out Mysterious Light that condensed in midair into lines of small characters!

"Worship with sincerity, and you may enter this gate."

"Walk eight hundred paces from here and find Tiger Leopard Hall."

"Someone will receive you there."

The tiny characters solidified, then in an instant scattered like windblown sand, slowly pouring into Lin Du's organs and qi and blood—

His severed tendons and bones, his skin and flesh, actually began to gradually recover!

And then—

They transformed into an invisible "shackle" that locked down the great dragon of his spine.

Yet Lin Du noticed none of it.

"Tiger Leopard Hall—one of Fist, Spear, Saber, Sword; Lion, Tiger, Eagle, Falcon—the gang of Tomb Tiger Yang Daohan!?"

"Hiss... So even a county expert of such resounding fame is connected to heretical fiends?"

"No, that's not right."

"What heretical fiends? They are clearly one of us!"

"If he had no connection, then I'd truly be finished—"

"Lin Ruxue, you bitch. You stole my foundation, and still put on that lofty, untouchable air every day. If I don't kill you—"

Lin Du muttered to himself, feeling the Steel Tendons Iron Bone body that now surpassed even his former self.

For a time, his heart filled with even greater awe toward that incense-receiving honored general of the Zhong Huang Taiyi Sect. Then he vanished into the cold wind, heading eight hundred paces west until he gradually disappeared.