Chapter 1 Midday

Noon, the sky was a sheet of gloom.

Dark clouds obscured the sun, and even the heavens seemed to be conspiring to create a sense of impending storm.

At that very moment, three figures appeared on the deserted street.

The one in the middle, the leader, was a middle-aged man.

He was dressed in rags and carried a stick-like weapon wrapped in tattered cloth, walking slowly and steadily.

The two behind him on either side were much more conspicuous. Oda Ai and Sasaki Mei were players after all, their appearances and auras quite different from ordinary characters in the script. Even though the system had “harmonized” their appearances to some extent, they were still eye-catching.

The three of them walked down the widest main street in Linlu Town, in the silent cold wind, amidst countless gazes hidden in the shadows…

*Whoosh—*

Suddenly, a sharp whistling sound tore through the air, breaking the suffocating tension.

*Clang!*

With quick eyes and hands, Oda Ai raised one arm and easily deflected the incoming hidden weapon with her vambrace.

But this was just the beginning…

Before the first hidden weapon had even hit the ground, the next wave of attacks arrived.

In the blink of an eye, black dots rained down from all directions.

These hidden weapons included darts, knives, needles, and pellets… each with its own unique speed, force, and method of inflicting damage.

Needless to say, some were coated with poison. Others were loaded with gunpowder and would explode upon impact. Still others would split into two or more projectiles in mid-air. There were even some that could suddenly change their trajectory.

Faced with such an assault in an open area with no cover, the only option would normally be to leap into the air.

However, the three of them… stood motionless.

“Sick Sword…” At that moment, Sasaki Mei made his move, announcing the name of his technique in his usual sickly manner, “…Circular Severance.”

As the words fell, the sword technique materialized.

In the next second, a transparent circular force field spread out from Sasaki Mei, encompassing Oda Ai and the middle-aged man as well.

It was unclear what principle underlay his move, Sick Sword: Circular Severance. His sword remained sheathed, yet he was able to create a saturated sword qi force field that blocked all the hidden weapons outside the “circle.”

After this initial barrage, the three of them remained unscathed.

“Ah—!”

Unexpectedly, a strange turn of events occurred just seconds later.

A scream rang out, followed by a figure flying out of a second-story window of a building by the roadside.

As this person hit the ground, more screams and the clash of weapons erupted in succession.

“Hmph… so the dogs have started fighting among themselves…” Oda Ai, watching the figures flying out of the buildings and dark alleys, knew what was happening beyond her line of sight.

Her assessment was correct. It was a case of “dog eat dog.”

The group that had attacked them first was from the Xie Feng Hui (Wind-Snatching Society).

To put it bluntly, this sect was an armed robbery gang. Its members excelled in hidden weapons and qinggong (light body technique). They weren't particularly strong in a fair fight in broad daylight, but when it came to assassination, ambush, and theft, their skills were considerable.

The Xie Feng Hui had killed far more martial artists than the Kuang Hu Bang (Mad Tiger Gang) last night. Of course… they had mostly killed lackeys; they hadn't managed to take down many true experts.

Compared to the cunning Tu Ji, the leader of the Xie Feng Hui had a relatively simple mind, which resulted in heavy losses for them during the night’s assassinations. By noon today, they had only thirty or so members left.

Clearly, that was not enough strength to deal with *Jian Wu Cao Ji* (Sword Dance Manuscript).

Therefore, the Xie Feng Hui had come up with a simple, direct, and potentially effective strategy… strike first.

They had deliberately ambushed the targets in an area not far from the town entrance. Their plan was to strike quickly, seize the person carrying the manuscript in one fell swoop, and then use their sect’s advantage in light body techniques to make a quick escape.

But they never expected that their long-prepared, decisive attack would be so easily neutralized. Not only that, but the three sects they had ambushed most severely last night—the Beggars' Sect, the Sea Dragon Gate, and the White Plum Sect—had already laid an ambush in the outer perimeter. As soon as the Xie Feng Hui made their move, the three sects came in like a mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, and surrounded them.

The battle… ended quickly.

It was more like a massacre than a battle.

Over a hundred and forty people against thirty, and with the element of surprise on their side, it was remarkable the latter lasted a minute or two.

After all the members of the Xie Feng Hui lay motionless on the ground, a dense crowd emerged from the streets and alleys, blocking the three travelers' path.

The leaders of this new group were also three in number.

The first was a man with gray hair draped over his shoulders, dressed in a light-colored fitted suit. Judging by his appearance, he was at least sixty years old, but his movements showed no signs of age.

This man was Luo Can, the current leader of the Beggars' Sect.

As a sect with a long history, the Beggars' Sect had produced many outstanding heroes. Unfortunately, Luo Can was not among the top ranks in terms of talent, martial arts, or wisdom.

If there was one thing he could be praised for, it was that he had successfully reconstructed the legendary "Jianglong Shiba Zhang" (Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms), a technique that had been lost within the sect for decades, using incomplete fragments he had gathered from various sources.

If this had been a hundred years ago, it wouldn't have been a big deal. There were many external martial arts techniques of a higher level than the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms back then. But in this “post-martial world era,” possessing such a set of palm techniques was enough for Luo Can to enter the ranks of first-rate experts and dominate the world.

The second person…

This man was named Gu Jiaolong. His attire was also ordinary, the fitted suit commonly worn by martial artists. But his appearance was quite distinctive—a burly frame combined with delicate features.

Yes, you read that right. And I didn't miswrite it. That's what he looked like. Thus, the young leader of the Sea Dragon Gate had the nickname “Jade-Faced Jiaolong."

The Sea Dragon Gate, as the name implied, made its living from the sea, making it half martial arts sect and half merchant. Unlike other sects, the Sea Dragon Gate had always enjoyed a “good relationship” with the government, because they regularly provided the court officials and local officials with rare and exotic treasures from the sea, thereby gaining many conveniences.

In the coastal regions of Jiangnan, the Sea Dragon Gate could be said to dominate the area. To give a perhaps not-so-exaggerated example, the private salt trade could be conducted openly within their territory.

As for the sect’s martial arts… they were mediocre. There were no outstanding high-level martial arts techniques, but the sect had several powerful external martial arts techniques that were passable in combat.

Finally, the third person.

This was a woman, a woman so fat that it was hard to tell her gender.

Perhaps it wasn't surprising now, but in a society based on agriculture and relative material scarcity, seeing a fat person weighing over a hundred kilograms was quite rare.

This female leader… or rather… female cult leader, was named Feng Meiyu. She had chosen this name for herself when she grew up. As a child, she had no name, or rather, she had many names…

It might seem unbelievable, but this Leader Feng had been the most popular courtesan in a particularly famous brothel in the capital when she was fifteen years old. At that time, her name was “Fenger.”

Back then, Fenger was a beauty in the making. Even though she was just a girl, her precocious body had conquered countless young masters and princes in the capital.

Because she was a child picked up by the brothel madam and had grown up in such an environment, she didn't seem to object to living a privileged life by selling her body.

But one day, she changed.

A woman’s transformation is usually related to a man, and Fenger was no exception.

At the age of nineteen, she fell in love with a young man from a poor family. She loved his appearance, his talent, and every moment she spent with him. Even many years later, she still remembered that tenderness.

However, this relationship ended abruptly with the young man's untimely death.

His death was no accident, but because he had gotten too close to Fenger and had made her consider redeeming herself and leaving the brothel. This was something certain people didn't want to see, and those “certain people” were all figures in the capital who could manipulate the weather. To them, killing a poor scholar was as easy as crushing an ant.

From that moment on, Fenger showed no outward signs of change, but in reality, her heart was completely consumed by the flames of revenge.

She used her own methods to obtain some martial arts manuals and secretly practiced them diligently.

Hatred is a terrible driving force, and it doesn't weaken with time, but grows stronger…

Under such a driving force, people are extremely efficient at whatever they do.

Three years later, Fenger completed her revenge.

She spent only one night killing all her enemies and setting fire to the largest brothel in the capital. She also peeled off the madam's skin and hung her corpse on the archway of that red-light district.

After that night, Fenger disappeared.

It wasn't until more than ten years later that a sect called the White Plum Sect appeared in the martial world. Their leader was an extremely fat woman who called herself Feng Meiyu.

Her obesity wasn't due to laziness or overeating… but because she had desperately practiced various different internal energy techniques on her own, without the most basic knowledge or methods, which eventually caused abnormalities in her meridians and breath. Over the years, these abnormalities gradually manifested in her body.

Obesity was only the most obvious manifestation. She had many other problems that tormented her. However, for more than a decade, even though she had sought out famous doctors and consulted many martial arts masters, no one could cure her extreme state of “qi deviation.”

Finally, the physical pain caused problems with her mind… She gave up on treatment, turned pain into a new source of motivation, killing into a way to release pressure, and power into her painkiller… That's how the White Plum Sect was born.

“The Beggars' Sect… the Sea Dragon Gate… the White Plum Sect…” After the three leaders and their gangs stopped, the middle-aged man slowly opened his mouth, “Judging from this lineup… have you joined forces?”

He guessed correctly. Due to the various events that had occurred last night, the balance of power among the sects had changed. After negotiations, these three sects decided to join forces to ensure their victory today.

“Enough nonsense!” Gu Jiaolong was thirty-two years old, the prime of his youth. He had grown accustomed to having the final say in his own sect, so his words couldn't be described as just “impetuous,” but rather “arrogant.” “Hand over the *Jian Wu Cao Ji* (Sword Dance Manuscript), and I'll spare your life!”

“Oh?” The middle-aged man responded calmly, “How do you know… the *Jian Wu Cao Ji* (Sword Dance Manuscript) is on me?”

Before Gu Jiaolong could answer, Luo Can interjected, “‘The murderer who slaughtered the sixty-three members of the Jiang family will appear in Linlu Town on New Year's Eve with the Sword Dance Manuscript; he is around fifty years old, wears a bamboo hat to cover his face, and carries a weapon wrapped in a piece of tattered cloth’…” He recited this information, which had already spread throughout the martial world, word for word, and then continued, “Right now, you fit the description perfectly, except that it isn't ‘night’ yet.” He paused, shifting his gaze to Sasaki Mei, “Furthermore… we saw the skill of your subordinate just now… that must be a technique from the *Jian Wu Cao Ji* (Sword Dance Manuscript), right?”

Their reasoning was quite reasonable. Sasaki Mei’s “skill” seemed miraculous to orthodox martial artists, which could be explained by “he learned it from the Sword Dance Manuscript.”

“Hmm… what you say makes some sense, but there's something I don't know if you've considered…” the middle-aged man replied calmly, “That ‘information’ you mentioned seems a bit too precise… doesn't it?”

When he said this, the two players behind him didn't react, because they had already learned the truth from the middle-aged man. However, Yu Huai Shang, Kuang Zong Jian Ying, and Cai Bu Pa Ne, who were hiding in the shadows and also heard this, all had a change of expression.

“So what?” Feng Meiyu stood there, looking like a big meatball. Even speaking seemed to be difficult for her. “What's the point of saying all this now… Are you trying to deny that the item is on you?”

“I'm not trying to deny anything…” the middle-aged man replied, “On the contrary, I want to admit something…”

“Aren't you just trying to say… that you leaked the information?” Suddenly, another voice joined the conversation.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and quickly spotted a figure on the roof of a residential building on the side of the street.

“Feng Bujue!”

The moment Brother Jue appeared, these three words raced through the minds of the other players like a herd of galloping horses.

“Hmm?” The middle-aged man’s attention was also drawn to Brother Jue. He raised his head, gently pushing up the brim of his bamboo hat with his finger, and glanced at Brother Jue, “You are…”

“Be careful…” Oda Ai’s whisper immediately reached the middle-aged man’s ears, “This kid is hard to deal with…”

“Hey! Who are you, anyway?” Two seconds later, Gu Jiaolong shouted at Brother Jue, “Do you have the right to speak here?”

“Heh…” Feng Bujue chuckled and replied, “Young Leader Gu, please calm down. I'm just here to mention a few things that you might find interesting. I don’t intend to interfere with the plans of the leaders.”

“We don't have time to listen to your stories,” Luo Can said, “I advise you to leave quickly…”

“Hold on,” the middle-aged man interrupted, “I'd like to hear what he has to say.”

As soon as he said this, the three leaders were stunned. The way they looked at Brother Jue also changed subtly.

Of course, they still didn't take this young stranger seriously. They were just wondering what the middle-aged man was up to.

“Hehe… Actually, I don't have much to say. It can be finished in a short while,” Feng Bujue continued, seeing that no one was interrupting him, “Simply put… you orchestrated this entire situation today.” He looked at the middle-aged man and smiled, “If I'm not mistaken, you must be the “Eastern Sea Ronin who didn't know the true value of the sword manual and pawned it at a low price’ back then."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone present, except for the middle-aged man, Oda Ai, and Sasaki Mei, had a change of expression.

Feng Bujue, however, didn't mind and calmly explained, "In fact, you know the value of the *Jian Wu Cao Ji* (Sword Dance Manuscript) very well… That's why you used it as ‘bait’ to set up this situation…” He paused for a second and continued, “First, you deliberately let Jiang San obtain the *Jian Wu Cao Ji* (Sword Dance Manuscript). Then, you created the massacre of the Jiang Family Fort, taking back the sword manual. You knew that Duan Keyi would definitely come to avenge his disciple and investigate the matter thoroughly… Therefore, you used the name of the Dian Cang Sect to spread the news about the appearance of the *Jian Wu Cao Ji* (Sword Dance Manuscript).

“When people hear the relevant news, they will naturally assume… ‘the Dian Cang Sect found it’, as if everything is logical.

“But when I heard about this, I felt that something was strange…

“Let's not talk about how Leader Duan and his disciples were able to conclude from a crime scene with no living people that ‘the murderer destroyed the family to steal a sword manual’… Even if they determined that the killer's motive was ‘to steal something important’ and pursued the clue… it would be very unlikely that they could find the so-called ‘Eastern Sea Ronin’ and ‘pawnshop’.

“And the news that was spread afterward that ‘the *Jian Wu Cao Ji* (Sword Dance Manuscript) will appear on New Year's Eve’ made me completely sure… that the perpetrator himself was the one who spread the news.

“As you said… the news was described in too much detail and too accurately. Not only the time and place, but even your clothes were described in detail.”

Speaking of this, Brother Jue couldn't help but laugh, “Hehe… the most ridiculous thing is that since this news has spread throughout the martial world and attracted so many sects and people, then ‘that person’ in the news probably already knows about it… Under such circumstances, how could he still appear at the time and place mentioned in the news? Knowing that the entire martial world is ambushing him, would he still come to die?”

He was clearly posing this question to the leaders and the other martial artists lurking around.

“So, there is only one truth.” Feng Bujue raised one hand and pointed at the middle-aged man, “The one who has the *Jian Wu Cao Ji* (Sword Dance Manuscript)… the one who spread the news… the one who created this situation today through careful planning… doesn’t think he will die.”

As he said this, he turned around and looked at the three leaders, “The ones who will die… are you.”