Fire!

Night in Tianfu City.

For some time now, it had been so quiet that it made people tremble with fear.

More and more martial experts were gathering there.

But...

Tianfu City had grown even more peaceful instead.

Even the hooligans who usually came out to stir up trouble had suddenly vanished.

As soon as the sun went down, the common people shut their doors tight.

The wastrel scions of the great clans had all been confined to their homes.

Everyone could feel it: throughout Tianfu City, the wind filled the tower, heralding a mountain storm!

Yet at the same time, everyone had overlooked one thing.

Despite the tense atmosphere, there were even more beggars on the streets than usual, begging in every corner of Tianfu City.

Perhaps it was because they weren't considered people, so everyone simply ignored them.

But there were always exceptions.

In the west of the city.

An old man dressed in rags squatted quietly on a street corner, a battered bowl in his hand. Suddenly, two young men in long black robes and carrying swords approached him.

"Could you spare me something to eat?"

The beggar pleaded.

"Hahaha... Look, doesn't he look funny?"

One of the young men laughed loudly.

He walked over to a nearby rubbish heap, casually scooped up a pile of garbage with his sword and flung it onto the old man. With a cold sneer, he said, "Eat. I've given you food, so hurry up and eat it. If you don't finish it, I won't let you off today."

"Haha, he's glaring at you!"

The other young man egged him on.

At those words, the sword-wielding youth's face instantly darkened.

He felt that his dignity had been insulted.

A mere beggar, a thing worse than a dog, dared glare at him? Who had given them the nerve?

His face turned cold.

Then the young man sneered, drew his sword, and thrust it straight at the old man.

A scream rang out.

The smell of blood spread through the area.

The young man gouged out both of the old man's eyes, leaving only two ghastly pupils.

They watched the old man fall to the ground, howling in pain and struggling miserably.

The two exchanged a glance and laughed.

Then they kicked the old man into a nearby corner, smashed his battered bowl underfoot, and walked on, chatting and laughing.

Many of the martial artists nearby frowned slightly, but when they saw the two men's clothes, they fell silent.

The Upright Heart School, one of the seven great factions of the martial world.

They couldn't afford to offend it.

The Jun Residence.

Sikong Ye ate osmanthus cakes as he recounted the news he had received.

"In the east of the city, a slovenly old fellow with a wine gourd hanging from his waist has arrived. He looks like the Old Drunkard of the martial world."

"In the north, reinforcements from the Snow Mountain Sect have arrived. There seem to be many experts among them."

"In the south, a middle-aged man entered the city leading a little girl. He looked ordinary, but he crippled a first-rate expert with a single strike!"

"In the west..."

Suddenly, Sikong Ye fell silent as he looked at the report in his hand.

"What is it?"

Jun Jingyi was a little puzzled.

"See for yourself!"

Sikong Ye handed him the paper.

"Hmm..."

Jun Jingyi read it calmly, then fell silent as well.

After a long while, he slowly asked, "One of ours?"

"Of course. Are there any beggars in Tianfu City who aren't one of ours?"

Sikong Ye nodded, speaking as though it went without saying.

"Oh..."

Jun Jingyi fell silent again for a moment, then asked, "Where are those two staying?"

"In the west of the city, at the Four Seas Inn!"

"Hmm..."

Jun Jingyi nodded, then said, "Two hundred taels should be enough for an inn, shouldn't it?"

"What are you planning?"

Sikong Ye was stunned.

"Nothing. I just suddenly feel like buying an inn for fun. I have money, don't I? And nowhere to spend it."

Jun Jingyi smiled calmly. "Go on, then. I'll give you three hundred taels. Buy the inn and say you admire the experts of the Upright Heart School and have set it aside especially for them. No one else is qualified to stay there."

"Hmm... What else?"

Sikong Ye frowned. He couldn't help feeling that Jun Jingyi's purpose wasn't so simple.

"Nothing. I just feel that such a shabby inn could easily catch fire, especially at night."

Jun Jingyi shook his head, sounding somewhat regretful.

"You should take care to prevent fires. Otherwise, if a couple of people happen to burn to death, it'll be hard to make amends, even though the authorities probably don't have time to deal with such trivial matters lately."

"But fire safety is everyone's responsibility, isn't it?"

Sikong Ye blinked.

Those words were so strange...

After a long while, he nodded and walked out without a word.

He didn't know much about preventing fires, but he was quite familiar with starting them.

That night.

An inn in the west of the city accidentally caught fire.

Two disciples of the Upright Heart School accidentally burned to death inside.

Afterward, the authorities investigated.

"Hmm? They tortured a beggar to death?"

The constable asked in surprise.

"Yes!"

A martial artist answered, feeling a chill down his back as he spoke.

He could hardly believe it himself.

During the day, he had seen those two torture a beggar to death in the street, and it had upset him a little.

He might have been a beggar, but his life was still a life.

Besides, it had been so horrific that he couldn't sleep.

But the two men's status as disciples of the Upright Heart School had kept him from going over.

He had truly thought that would be the end of it. After all, things like that happened every moment in every corner of the world; it was perfectly normal. But... the inn had caught fire that very night?

And by sheer coincidence, the two of them had been the only people in the inn, and they had burned to death just like that?

Not a single innocent person had been caught up in it?

"This... was a coincidence?"

He wouldn't believe it even if someone beat him to death.

He was afraid.

He couldn't understand what had really happened.

But he was certain of one thing: something was wrong with Tianfu City. For the sake of his life, he had better not provoke the beggars by the road-no, he had better not provoke anything at all.

Heaven knew whether he might die an unexplained death tomorrow for offending a restaurant waiter.

Tianfu City wasn't as simple as it looked!

Afterward, the major factions also investigated this bizarre incident.

Then a piece of news surfaced, leaving the major factions even less able to sleep.

"The Beggar Sect!"

A martial-world organization made up of beggars?

What an absurd joke.

Beggars?

Things worse than dogs had actually formed a sect?

If they had heard this before, they would have smiled in disdain and treated it as a joke.

But now...

Everyone felt only fear.

Just look at how those two disciples of the Upright Heart Sect had died: without gods or ghosts knowing!

Without a sound.

Their investigation afterward revealed that the inn had changed hands within a single day, without anyone being any the wiser. Could you believe it?

All to kill two people?

That alone was enough to show the strength of this sect.

Most importantly, they had known absolutely nothing about the existence of such a force in the martial world before this.

The various factions, even those at court, became cautious, and were even less willing to stir up trouble in Tianfu City.

There was something wrong with this place!

In these troubled times, it was better to behave...

As a result, Tianfu City fully entered an era in which ordinary people were extraordinarily safe.