The ox cart raced down a narrow road, raising a cloud of dust.
"Mother, why do we have to leave?" Liu Xiaoshuan asked in confusion.
The woman was usually eloquent, her mouth never stopping.
Now, however, she had fallen uncharacteristically silent.
Li Ping'an leisurely played his erhu.
As they rounded a bend, a man of twenty-seven or twenty-eight appeared before the ox cart, dressed in a close-fitting blue outfit.
He held a bronze-colored sword in his left hand, his gaze sharp.
He stood alone in the middle of the road.
If others were mantises raising their arms to stop a cart, then he was a mountain.
At least, that was what he thought.
A mere little horse cart-no! An ox cart.
Watch me cleave it apart with one stroke!
The next instant, the ox cart thundered over him.
Old Ox: "Moo!"
Show-off, my ass!!
"Hold on tight," Li Ping'an reminded them.
He stood at the front of the cart, his hand gripping the hilt of the Staff-Sword.
The surrounding bamboo swayed. Wind Rises.
Several figures emerged in succession.
"Mother!" Liu Xiaoshuan's little face turned deathly pale.
Only now did he finally understand why his father had sent them to the provincial capital.
These were... enemies coming to their door!!
Li Ping'an slowly drew his blade from its sheath.
A chilling streak of silver light shot out, the mirrorlike blade reflecting the bamboo grove with an icy gleam.
Amid the high temper line along its edge, a pinpoint of cold light gathered, seeming to flow without pause.
Like a silver stream of light, it grew clearer the farther away one looked, adding to its sharp chill.
Ever since he had obtained the Sword-Grinding Stone from Zhang Song, both the Staff-Sword and the flying sword Fine Rain had grown considerably sharper, carrying