San Tian Liang Jiao
Chapter 1343 The Sword God Smiles (4)
Constable Fang was forty-three years old this year, of medium build.
He had a very upright, square face, but between his eyebrows, there was a faint air of coldness and killing intent.
The moment he walked into the inn, every seasoned jianghu (martial world) veteran who saw him shared a common understanding—this was not a man to be trifled with.
They were right...
The Fang Jin before them was at the peak of his career in terms of physical strength, martial arts, and experience.
Within the Liushanmen (Six Doors), he could be considered one of the top figures.
If not for this, he would not have been dispatched to such a small border town at this stage.
"Innkeeper," Fang Jin said loudly, his eyes fixed ahead as he stepped into the inn.
"This humble one greets you, sir!" The innkeeper of Kelai Inn hurriedly responded, welcoming him from behind the counter. "May I ask what you require, sir?"
Fang Jin didn't even glance at him. "I ask you... is the one lying outside a guest of your establishment?"
"Uh..." The innkeeper had nothing to hide, because similar events had occurred several times in the past month, and this wasn't the first time he and Fang Jin had engaged in such a conversation. "Yes... someone staying at my inn."
"Good." Fang Jin immediately continued, "The body, I'll take it away..." As he spoke, he took out some loose silver from his pocket, clenched it in his fist, and held it out to the innkeeper. "This money... was found on the corpse. Take a look, see how much is needed to cover his room and the damage he caused."
"Aiyo~" The innkeeper quickly raised his voice. "Sir, what are you saying... this small shop of mine, smashing a few odds and ends, how much could that be worth... As for the room fee... he... he already paid it."
Although this innkeeper was greedy, he wasn't stupid. He knew very well—some money could be taken, but other money... he wouldn't touch even if he were beaten to death.
"Oh... is that so..." Fang Jin muttered, putting the money back into his pocket. Throughout the entire process, his hand holding the silver never loosened. "Then... this money, I'll... hand it over to the authorities."
"Of course, sir." The innkeeper quickly nodded and bowed. "Everyone in our town knows that you are honest and upright, a reincarnation of a wise official... You can handle this money, it won't be misappropriated in the slightest."
"Hmph..." Hearing this, Fang Jin glanced around the inn lobby and chuckled softly before turning and walking out.
"Alright, alright, everyone disperse! Nothing to see!" He shouted a few times as soon as he went out, dispersing the surrounding crowd, then beckoned a few constables he had brought to roll up the body, load it onto a cart, and then leave.
This wasn't the first time Fang Jin had done this, and it likely wouldn't be the last.
In this era, the imperial court and the martial world had returned to a "live and let live" relationship. As long as jianghu feuds didn't involve ordinary people, the officials usually wouldn't interfere. Anyway, interfering was superfluous; letting them seek revenge was easier for the government.
So, in the current situation in Linlu Town, when a death occurred, Fang Jin only needed to show his face, confirm that the deceased was a member of the martial world, and then take the body away. If the deceased had family or fellow disciples who could handle the body themselves, Fang Jin could even save himself the trouble of collecting the body.
However, Fang Jin didn't mind doing this kind of body-collecting work a few more times. The reason... everyone had already seen it.
These jianghu figures always had some money on them, just enough that if you embezzled it, no one would say anything.
Of course, Fang Jin was a thorough and meticulous person... Even if no one would say anything, he still had to have that conversation with the innkeeper, and do it in front of many people.
No matter how fake their act was, at least the plot of the play was flawless. If anyone wanted to make trouble about it in the future, they wouldn't be able to find any fault.
From this small matter, it could also be seen that Fang Jin was clearly a veteran with a wealth of experience in political maneuvering...
***
After finishing his official duties, Fang Jin instructed his constables and yamen runners to transport the body back to the nearby county yamen as soon as possible. He himself went to a teahouse at the entrance of the town and ordered a bowl of hot tea and a few steamed buns.
Fang Jin was a constable who was quite capable of "making money," but he rarely spent it on eating, drinking, or having fun.
He wasn't picky about what he ate, never drank alcohol, and could wear the same blue uniform from the beginning to the end of the year. Even in matters of women, he was extremely restrained.
This kind of self-discipline, this "restraint," was an extremely valuable quality.
Many people couldn't even live like this for a day, but Fang Jin could live like this for a year, ten years, twenty years...
Therefore, he could remain clear-headed most of the time.
Therefore, he rarely revealed any flaws or weaknesses.
Therefore, his martial arts and physical fitness were outstanding among his peers.
More importantly, he could use the money that others spent on eating, drinking, and having fun to do more meaningful things.
In the officialdom, it was important to have some "savings." They could be used for promotion, and even more so for surviving desperate situations... No one knew when the boat you were on would capsize. At that time, "money" was the life-saving driftwood. Those who hadn't saved anything could only sink into the abyss with the boat.
*Ka-*
"Hmm?" Just as Fang Jin was about to put the second steamed bun in his mouth, suddenly, the saber at his waist... trembled slightly in its scabbard.
Anyone else might not have noticed this tiny movement, and even if they did, they wouldn't have cared.
Perhaps the tip of the scabbard touched the chair, perhaps the scabbard was moved by the wind and bumped into something, or perhaps someone brushed against it as they passed by...
No one would have given it a second thought.
However, Fang Jin, at the moment the saber trembled... tensed up all over.
"Who is it?" He immediately asked himself this question, and began to observe the surrounding passersby without making a sound.
It was afternoon, and there weren't many people entering or leaving the town, but this was, after all, the only main road in town, and there were quite a few pedestrians, carriages, and horses.
Fortunately, Fang Jin quickly found the person he was looking for in the ordinary crowd...
It was a woman, a woman with a saber.
She was wearing a white dress, with a graceful figure and agile movements.
She covered most of her face with a cloth, revealing only the part above her nose; however, just by looking at those eyes and forehead, it was enough to determine that she was a beauty.
"Such a thing..." At this moment, Fang Jin had no mind to consider whether the woman's covered face was truly beautiful. What he cared about was the pair of double sabers she wore at her waist.
Fang Jin knew very well that the "trembling" of his saber just now was a kind of "resonance."
Few people knew that Fang Jin's saber was no ordinary weapon.
Although this saber was sheathed in a very ordinary scabbard, it looked no different from the waist sabers used by ordinary yamen runners.
But... Fang Jin himself knew that the saber hanging at his waist was one of the four great divine weapons of the world—Qingniao (Azure Bird).
*Shou juan zhenzhu shang yu gou, yi qian chun hen suo chonglou.*
*Qingniao bu chuan yun wai xin, dingxiang kong jie yu zhong chou.*
These were four lines of verse known to everyone in today's jianghu. Yu Gou (Jade Hook), Chonglou (Lofty Tower), Qingniao, and Dingxiang (Lilac) corresponded to four divine weapons.
Yu Gou was a curved saber, shaped like a "Wu Hook," cast from a strange black jade. The last time it was seen was in a vault belonging to the Wang family.
Chonglou was a long halberd, a "hollow" long halberd; because it was hollow, it was as light as a bamboo pole. However, after coming into contact with blood, it would absorb the blood into the halberd's body. The more it absorbed, the redder Chonglou's color would become, the heavier its weight, and the greater its ferocity... Legend has it that after continuously killing a thousand people, the power of Chonglou could split mountains and seas.
However, Chonglou was the only one of these four divine weapons whose whereabouts were unknown, and no one had ever dared to say with certainty that they had seen the real Chonglou. Everyone had only heard rumors. Therefore, there were also rumors that Chonglou was simply a fabricated weapon, and was only made up to match the other three in the poem.
Qingniao was a short saber, slightly smaller than the waist sabers used by ordinary yamen runners. It was currently undoubtedly in Fang Jin's hands; and Fang Jin had inherited it from his master, Dao Huang (Saber Phoenix) Meng Qing.
As for the last one, Dingxiang, it was a sword, and the current owner of this sword was named Xie Wuhua.
This Xie Wuhua was the young master of the famous martial family, the Xie family. Everyone should be familiar with his ancestors, namely the legendary swordsman Xie San.
In the years after the Cangling Sword Debate, the Xie family had also experienced ups and downs, and had only prospered again in the previous generation with the "Confucian Swordsman Xie Xiuwen". Xie Wuhua was the eldest grandson of Xie Xiuwen.
Earlier, the young man in the inn lobby referred to as "Young Master" was Xie Wuhua. The "Uncle Liu" beside him was once a famous figure in the jianghu when he was young, known as "Omniscient Liu Xilai". However, Liu Xilai suffered a crushing defeat when he was forty years old, not only sustaining serious injuries but also becoming disabled. He had intended to retire from the jianghu, but fortunately Xie Xiuwen took him in, and he later became a steward of the Xie family.
Getting back to the point, let's first talk about Fang Jin's side.
As the saying goes, "When the Qingniao cries, a divine weapon appears." Fang Jin's master, Meng Qing, had said when passing the treasure saber to him that the Qingniao was a saber with spirituality, and it would react if there were other divine weapons nearby.
Therefore, after sensing the trembling of the treasure saber, Fang Jin naturally thought that one of the other three divine weapons had appeared nearby. But to his surprise... after searching around, he found that the only master with an extremely strong aura nearby was a person who used double sabers.
"Could it be... that there is a fifth peerless divine weapon in this world?" Fang Jin was muttering to himself when suddenly, his Qingniao trembled again...