The Boatman's Past

Old Zhou's cry of alarm had barely faded when Lu Shaoyou's Qi Mei Cudgel moved.

With a flick of his wrist, the cudgel traced a mysterious arc through the air. With a crisp crack, it struck Hong Sanniang's saber-wielding wrist with flawless precision.

"Ah—!" Hong Sanniang let out a shrill scream. A piercing agony shot through her wrist, as though her bones had been shattered. She could no longer hold the Nine-Ring Saber, and it fell onto the deck with a clang.

Lu Shaoyou's assault did not pause. Seizing the advantage, he pressed relentlessly.

As Hong Sanniang's body stiffened from the searing pain, he stepped forward. The Qi Mei Cudgel in his hand shot out like a venomous dragon leaving its lair, carrying the force of ten thousand jun, and struck lightning-fast into her broad chest.

Squelch!

The Qi Mei Cudgel pierced straight through Hong Sanniang's heart. The tremendous force hurled her backward, smashing apart a section of the railing. Her eyes widened round, her face filled with disbelief as blood gushed wildly from her mouth and the light of life swiftly faded.

Killed a First-class Warrior, Slaughter Value +500.

"The chief is dead!"

"The chief was killed!"

The surrounding Water Snake Gang bandits saw their leader slain by this young man in a single exchange. Their souls nearly fled their bodies, and not a shred of fighting spirit remained.

A few quick-witted ones leapt straight into the river in an attempt to escape. More of them threw down their weapons, knelt on the deck, and kowtowed like pounding garlic, crying for their fathers and mothers as they begged for mercy.

"Spare us, hero! Spare us!"

"We failed to recognize Mount Tai before our eyes and offended you, hero! Please spare our miserable lives!"

Lu Shaoyou remained expressionless. He felt not the slightest pity for these river bandits, who had spent years robbing homes and plundering households, harming countless innocent commoners.

He swept the Qi Mei Cudgel through the air. Inner Force burst forth, and shadows of the cudgel danced wildly.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Screams rang out one after another, then swiftly vanished. In mere moments, every Water Snake Gang member on the boat and in the water had been slain on the spot.

Slaughter Value +50.

Slaughter Value +10.

A string of system notifications sounded in Lu Shaoyou's mind. He made a rough calculation: exterminating the Water Snake Gang this time had earned him around a thousand points of Slaughter Value.

After finishing all this, Lu Shaoyou carried the still-dripping Qi Mei Cudgel and flashed back onto Old Zhou's sailboat.

Old Zhou stood at the stern, staring at Lu Shaoyou's methods, as fearsome as a god of slaughter. He was completely stunned, his body trembling faintly beyond his control.

His gaze toward Lu Shaoyou was filled with indescribable awe, along with an obscure and complicated emotion.

"Boatman, it's settled. Set sail."

Lu Shaoyou scraped the blood from the Qi Mei Cudgel against the railing. His tone was calm, as though he had merely crushed a few ants.

Old Zhou jolted back to his senses and hurriedly bowed. "Yes, yes, yes... We should leave at once..."

Suddenly, as though recalling something, Lu Shaoyou smiled and asked, "By the way, you said Azure Province was far from peaceful. Could you tell me about it in detail? Especially those martial sects, and a force called the Blood Saber Sect."

At his words, deep worry and bitterness appeared on Old Zhou's face. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end it became a long sigh.

"Alas... young sir, you ask about Azure Province, about the Blood Saber Sect... Could it be that you have some entanglement with the Blood Saber Sect?" Old Zhou asked cautiously.

Lu Shaoyou neither confirmed nor denied it. "There are some old grudges that need settling."

Old Zhou's body shook. Looking at Lu Shaoyou's youthful face and recalling his thunderous methods just now, turmoil surged through his heart like overturning rivers and seas.

He fell silent for a moment, found a plank to sit on, and began in a hoarse voice. "Very well. Since you've asked, this old man will tell you. In truth, my surname was not originally Zhou. My name was Wang Tong, and I was once a man of Azure Province's martial world."

"Oh?" Lu Shaoyou's eyes lit up with interest.

Wang Tong gave a bitter laugh. "Not to make you laugh, young sir, but when I was young, I was an outer disciple of Azure Province's Iron Palm Sect."

He paused, and deep-seated hatred and profound terror showed in his eyes. "The Iron Palm Sect... I fear you have never heard of it, young sir. That was all more than twenty years ago."

"Back then, our Iron Palm Sect was considered no small force in Azure Province. Our sect master, Liu Tiexin, was a renowned Super First-rate Master in the martial world."

"Unfortunately... unfortunately, we offended someone we never should have offended."

"The Blood Saber Sect?" Lu Shaoyou interjected.

"Exactly, the Blood Saber Sect!" Wang Tong gritted his teeth, his voice trembling. "The Blood Saber Sect had always acted tyrannically and viciously. Back then, they set their sights on an iron mine controlled by our Iron Palm Sect. Time and again, they tried to seize it by force, but the sect master sternly refused them. Who would have thought... who would have thought they could be so malicious!"

Wang Tong's eyes reddened, and his voice choked. "They first bribed a traitor within the sect and learned the movements and defenses of our experts."

"Then, on a night when the moon was dark and the wind was high, they gathered a great number of experts and suddenly attacked. With traitors within and enemies without, they slaughtered all three hundred members of the Iron Palm Sect!"

His hands clenched tightly into fists, his knuckles turning white from the force. "I remember it with absolute clarity. Every one of those Blood Saber Sect fiends held a blood-red curved saber. They killed anyone they saw, sparing neither old nor young, women nor children—not even infants still in swaddling clothes! Flames soared into the sky, and screams echoed through the entire night.

"My master, my fellow disciples, and even the sect master's wife and children—all of them died! They died so miserably!"

"At the time, I was merely an insignificant outer disciple with meager martial skills. I had been sent down the mountain to purchase supplies, and that was how I narrowly escaped disaster."

"When I returned, all I saw were corpses covering the ground and the sect burned into ruins..." Wang Tong's voice carried a sob. "From then on, I concealed my name and identity, drifting through the martial world. In the end, I became a boatman, clinging to this wretched life until today."

"For more than twenty years, not a single day passed without nightmares, not a single day passed without me yearning to avenge this blood-deep hatred! But... the Blood Saber Sect's power towers over all. What could a man of my trifling ability possibly do?"

Lu Shaoyou listened quietly. Wang Tong's account gave him a more direct understanding of the Blood Saber Sect's brutality.

Wang Tong wiped his face and continued, "Now, at the end of the dynasty, the Imperial Court's control over the regions grows weaker by the day. The local authorities are no more than empty shells."

"Azure Province, in particular, has become an outlaw land beyond the reach of law, a place governed by neither heaven nor earth. Martial sects large and small carve up territories, burning, killing, looting, and plundering. They treat the authorities as nothing, and the common people's lives are more bitter than bitter herbs!"

"In Azure Province, the Blood Saber Sect is the unquestioned local emperor!" Wang Tong's tone was full of despair.

"It is said that their sect master, that fiend known as the Blood Saber Ancestor, possesses martial arts too unfathomable to measure. Rumor has it that he broke through into the Innate realm long ago!"

"They have thousands upon thousands of disciples, all extraordinarily fierce. They run rampant throughout Azure Province, treating the people like fish and meat on the chopping block.

"Young sir, heed this old man's advice. The Blood Saber Sect is immensely powerful—you must not clash with them head-on!" Wang Tong looked at Lu Shaoyou with deep concern.

After catching his breath, he added, "Of course, Azure Province is not home to the Blood Saber Sect alone. The Giant Whale Gang dominates the waterways. They control nearly every dock and water route, and all passing ships must pay them heavy taxes."

"In the mountains and forests is the Qingcheng Sword Sect. In name, it is a righteous and prestigious sect, but behind the scenes, it too exploits the people and forcibly seizes farmland."

"Besides them, there are smaller gangs attached to these major sects, such as the Black Wolf Gang and the Three Rivers Society. They often crush and scheme against one another over territory and profit. Fighting and killing are as commonplace as daily meals."

After hearing Wang Tong's account, Lu Shaoyou finally gained a general outline of Azure Province's chaotic situation.

The fishing boat continued onward across the river, but the atmosphere had grown far heavier than before.