Look, a flying saber

Huang Huaji stared at his daughter-in-law, the wrinkles on his face growing clearer in the night breeze.

Madam Huang née Yao glared at him, her face full of resentment.

Standing in the courtyard, Huang Liufeng wrung his hands hard over his lower abdomen, his brows knitted and his lips trembling. He looked torn.

Xu Da patted his shoulder with concern. "Brother, need to piss?"

Huang Liufeng shook his head and bit his red lip, then finally worked up the courage to step forward. "Second Mother, so you've resented the gu in that nourishing soup that caused your miscarriage all this time. When you said you'd put it behind you, was that a lie?"

Madam Huang née Yao gave a bitter, piercing laugh. "Put it behind me? When someone makes a mother lose her child, how is she supposed to put it behind her? This time, when I lured that lecher Little Su into the estate, I originally only meant to..."

"You lured that scoundrel here?!" Huang Huaji roared. "So his meeting Yun'er wasn't a coincidence, but your scheme?"

Madam Huang née Yao froze, then realized she had let it slip.

But at this point, she was a feather duster stripped bare, with nothing left to lose. She had accepted it.

She made no attempt to deny it. "Yes, I brought him here. I meant to ruin that little slut's chastity. Who knew you would abandon your usual carelessness and become so attentive, Father-in-law? The moment that scoundrel gave himself away, you caught him..."

"Second Mother, I was the one who put the gu worm in the soup that year."

Huang Liufeng spoke those words sorrowfully.

Madam Huang née Yao could not go on. She whipped her head toward him.

Huang Liufeng timidly stepped back. "Back then, it wasn't just my elder sister learning gu from that lady from Miao Territory. I learned too. But I did it in secret. Father hadn't given me a gu vessel, so I had nowhere to raise them. When I saw a pot of warm chicken soup that could nourish gu worms, I used it."

"I meant to take it back to my bedroom to raise them. I never meant to hurt you. I didn't even know the chicken soup was meant to nourish you. But-but I went out for a little while, and when I returned to the kitchen, your maid had already taken it."

"I didn't know that would happen. I... I was scared then. When I saw how much pain you were in, I was afraid Father would beat me, so I went crying to my sister, and she took the blame for me..."

Madam Huang née Yao swayed, then slid down against the door as though her legs had given out.

Huang Liufeng tried to help her up, but Madam Huang née Yao pointed at him and screamed, "Stay away from me! Don't come near me! You're lying to me! Lying!"

"Second Mother, I'm sorry," Huang Liufeng said tearfully.

Madam Huang née Yao let out a laugh, then burst into loud laughter. "You're lying! It was that girl Qingyun! Qingyun did it! Ever since I entered this household, ever since I came here, that girl has been picking on me. It was her! Hahaha!"

Wang Qilin shook his head. If he had to choose between the thatched cottage and the general's estate again, he would rather live in the cottage.

Xie Hama sighed. "Such is life."

Huang Huaji gave the steward a look. The steward approached and saluted the three with clasped hands. "My lords, our household has family matters to attend to. What do you say?"

"We'll watch, and you attend to them. We won't interfere," Xu Da said.

"That isn't what the steward meant." Xie Hama glared at him.

The steward nodded.

"He's asking how we intend to watch," Xie Hama continued. "We'll stand here and watch."

Wang Qilin punched each of them. "Let's go see Miss Huang!"

He thought the Huang girl had it pretty rough.

Her younger brother dug pits for her, and her stepmother dug pits for her. Other people had one radish to a pit; she was one girl with a whole pile of pits.

Even a bout of diarrhea couldn't use up that many!

Xu Da dawdled. "Seventh, the three of us are like two chopsticks holding a bone-three bare sticks, all bachelors. Isn't it a bit improper to visit a young lady in the middle of the night?"

"Quit talking nonsense and follow me," Wang Qilin snapped.

They left the inner courtyard and headed outward. The mistress and the young lady did not get along, so their courtyards lay far apart, with even the servants' outer courtyard between them.

When they reached the outer courtyard, Xu Da suddenly exclaimed, "Huh?" Then he headed down a small path.

Wang Qilin was annoyed. "Why do you love gawking so much?"

Xu Da sounded aggrieved. "No, Seventh, why is there yin energy over here? The Ice Plant Bead has turned cold."

Xie Hama hurriedly flicked out a talisman. "The nine luminaries move in their courses; the Primordial One circles. Radiant essence shines upon the graves; primal spirits disperse!"

The talisman turned into dozens of tiny lights and swiftly flew toward a side courtyard.

The three hurried after the lights.

Two men lay collapsed at the entrance to the side courtyard. One was Chen Jiu, whom they had met the night before.

Both men's chests had been torn open, and their hearts were missing.

Wang Qilin looked into the courtyard. A large red-lacquered coffin stood inside, its lid now knocked open. Xie Hama strode over, peered inside, and cried, "Boundless Daoist Lord! The Six-Step Qi Jade is gone! Huh? Wait, something's wrong. There's something strange about his death!"

Xu Da broke into a sprint.

Wang Qilin followed close behind.

"Lord Wang... damn it, you didn't wait for this old Daoist again!"

The two were fast. As they rushed to the northwest corner of the wall, they saw a dark figure climbing it.

The old general had spent his life at war and was accustomed to living in military strongholds. The estate's walls were built like city walls, tall and thick, with iron caltrops, triangular spikes, and the like set along them. The dark figure was having a hard time climbing.

Seeing pursuers approaching, the dark figure sped up, forced its way across the caltrop-covered wall, and jumped down.

Xu Da started climbing the wall too.

Wang Qilin pulled open a gate and was first out in pursuit.

There was a side gate here.

The dark figure sprinted away. Wang Qilin charged out, spun all the way around, and hurled the demonic saber Horse Slayer.

The long saber became a javelin.

A meteor chasing the moon!

The dark figure ran swiftly on all fours, but the flying saber was faster. It had no choice but to roll aside to dodge.

Pumping his arms, Wang Qilin charged at full speed. As he approached the demonic saber, he reached forward, caught its hilt, and swept it upward in one motion-

A great spray of sand and soil flew up, enveloping the dark figure.

The dark figure let out a strange cry, turned, and struck with a ghostly claw!

"Demon!"

Wang Qilin drove his qi through his dantian and thundered the word, gripping the saber in both hands and bringing it down!

Internal energy surged along his arms into the blade like a mighty river, and a bleak, cold saber radiance howled forth!

The dark figure blanched in terror and hastily rolled away again.

Wang Qilin strode like a giant beast, his footfalls shaking the soil loose. He swiftly caught up to the dark figure and swung his long saber like a windmill. The blade whirled round and round, its radiance sweeping over the ground like an iron plow, carving a furrow wherever it struck!

There was no cover out in the open, and moonlight spilled freely over the blade.

The Lunar Soul-Severing Saber was unleashed at full power, its glint chilling and bleak, its light surging in waves. The dark figure yielded once, then kept yielding, forced to dodge backward and sideways without pause or be cleaved in two!

But this was a divine saber art for night battles, swift as the wind and aggressive as fire!

Retreating before Wang Qilin was drinking poison to quench thirst. Two cups of poisoned wine stood before the ghostly figure: stop and be cut in two, or retreat a few more steps, endure torment, and then be cut in two. It had to choose!

Desperate to escape, the ghostly figure actually found a third cup: it turned, exposed its back, and took a slash head-on!

Then it used the force of that blow for one desperate burst of speed...

Dozens of streaks of saber light became a single cold gleam!

Wang Qilin swung his arm and hurled the saber like a javelin!

I know flying saber techniques!

Surprised? Didn't see that coming, did you?

The four-foot blade pierced the ghostly figure like a bamboo skewer through a hawthorn berry, pinning it to the ground in one strike. It turned into a stone figure.

The Furnace of Creation flew out and absorbed a column of red smoke.

Wang Qilin pulled open its clothes, revealing a round jade disc that shone with a gentle luster in the moonlight.

The Six-Step Qi Jade!

The Innate Jade!

He picked up the jade, intending to return it to Huang Huaji later.

Instead, the jade vanished from his hand!

He hurriedly looked into his sea of consciousness.

Five flames coiled around the Furnace of Creation, but it had not refined the Six-Step Qi Jade. The jade had been placed inside the furnace alongside the bronze bell he had obtained from the Zhong Clan.

How strange!

Xu Da ran over and searched the stone figure from head to toe, then looked up in astonishment. "Seventh, where's the Innate Jade?"

Wang Qilin did not know how to retrieve anything from the Furnace of Creation, and he could not expose its existence. He could only smile bitterly. "I don't know."

Xu Da eyed him suspiciously.

"I really didn't take it." Wang Qilin immediately stripped off his outer robe and shook it out, then removed his boots and tipped them out. Finally, he took off his underclothes.

Xie Hama, running up behind them, was stunned at the sight. He swallowed, silently turned around, and walked back. A battle in the wild after a battle at night. Young people these days really know how to have fun.