In the darkness of night, Chen Ping’an fled towards the deep mountains, sprinting wildly. Before long, he entered a bamboo forest where the soil was particularly loose. The straw-sandaled boy began to deliberately make his footsteps heavy.

After about half an incense stick’s time, as he was about to run out of the bamboo forest’s edge, the boy suddenly clambered onto a bamboo stalk on his left. He swung towards another bamboo tree not far away, resembling a mountain ape from Positive Sun Mountain even more than the ape itself. After repeating this several times, he finally landed lightly, squatted down, and used his hand to erase his footprints. Turning his head, he saw that he was five or six lengths away from the first bamboo tree. Only then did the boy continue running.

In less than an incense stick’s time, he could faintly hear the sound of a stream. The sprinting boy not only did not stop but instead leaped high, plunging into the stream. He quickly stood up, revealing that he had landed on a huge rock. Being extremely familiar with this land, the boy strained his eyes and, relying on his exceptional eyesight and remarkable memory, leaped across the stones in the stream, fleeing downstream all the way. If he continued like this, he would reach the Green Ox Back by the stream south of the town, then the Covered Bridge, and finally, Master Ruan’s blacksmith shop.

However, the boy did not get too close to Green Ox Back. Instead, where the stream narrowed like a woman’s waist after leaving the mountains, he went ashore on the upper right.

Soon, he heard a girl’s soft voice calling, “Chen Ping’an, over here.”

Chen Ping’an quickly crouched down, panting heavily, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The black-clad girl whispered, “Can you really lure the old ape up the mountain?”

The boy said bitterly, “I did my best.”

It was Ning Yao, who had also taken a detour from Fortune Street in town to meet him. She asked, “Are you injured?”

The straw-sandaled boy shook his head. “Just a small injury.”

The girl felt conflicted and said indignantly, “To dare play like that, it’s lucky the old ape didn’t beat you to death!”

Chen Ping’an grinned. “The old beast broke the rules once. But if you had acted a little later, I think I would have been done for.”

The girl was stunned, then laughed heartily. “It actually worked? Not bad, Chen Ping’an!”

Chen Ping’an chuckled.

Ning Yao rolled her eyes and asked, “What’s next?”

The straw-sandaled boy thought for a moment. “Our overall plan remains the same, but some of the details need to be changed. The old ape is too powerful.”

Ning Yao slapped the straw-sandaled boy on the head, and laughed in exasperation. “You’re only realizing that now?”

Chen Ping’an suddenly said, “Ning-guniang, please turn around. I need to apply some herbal medicine to my back. Also, please watch the stream over there.”

The girl turned around generously, facing upstream.

Chen Ping’an took off the outer shirt that originally belonged to Liu Xianyang and removed the wooden-porcelain armor. He took out a porcelain bottle from Yang’s shop from a cloth pouch on his waist, poured out some thick ointment onto his right palm, lifted his shirt with his left hand, and applied the ointment to his back.

The boy, who was very tolerant of pain, couldn’t help but sweat profusely.

Although the girl didn’t turn around, she still asked, “Does it hurt a lot?”

The boy laughed. “This is nothing.”

The girl pursed her lips, wondering why he was trying to act tough.

—

In the westernmost house in town, a woman sat on the ground, wailing loudly, vigorously beating her chest and swaying. Her thin clothing seemed ready to burst open. Her two young children, covered in dirt, stood helplessly by their mother’s side. A simple, honest man squatted outside the house, sighing and looking helpless. A hole had inexplicably appeared in the roof. The chill of spring had not yet faded. He could endure it himself, but what would his wife and children do next?

The neighbors gathered nearby, pointing and whispering. Some said they had also heard noises on their roofs earlier, but initially thought it was just stray cats and didn’t pay attention. Others said the west side of town had been uneasy that day, and some children had seen an old immortal in white robes floating around, covering dozens of steps with each stride and scaling walls. They didn’t know if it was the Land God escaping the temple or the Mountain God coming down from the mountain.

A young sword cultivator from the Wind and Thunder Garden squatted alone nearby, his expression grave.

Liu Baqiao had been chatting idly with Mr. Cui at the Magistrate’s Office. Upon hearing about the commotion at the Li family’s mansion, he smelled a rat. However, this Wind and Thunder Garden’s talented and outstanding cultivator, no matter how arrogant he was, didn’t dare to provoke a mountain ape. He was just thinking about whether he could watch the fire from across the river and, if there was a chance to ambush the old ape, he would be greatly pleased. So, Liu Baqiao snuck onto the upturned eaves of a mansion’s library, overlooking the town, searching for the old ape’s movements. Soon, he discovered the unusual commotion near Mud Bottle Alley in the west of the town, so the naturally bold Liu Baqiao began to tail them quietly.

At the moment the Positive Sun Mountain’s Guardian Ape was willing to circulate his qi, after Liu Baqiao was injured, his Natal Flying Sword, which had to be moved to his Mingtang acupoint for warming, was about to “unsheathe” itself. Because in this strange world, the level of cultivation was directly proportional to the pressure of Heaven’s Path. According to Liu Baqiao’s estimation, the Guardian Ape was not relaxed. Even if it could forcibly circulate and replenish its qi, and afterward use its powerful physique or supreme divine powers to suppress the boiling Qi Sea caused by the Heavenly Daos, the number of times it could “cheat” was definitely limited. Otherwise, it would bear the great risk of a flood breaking the dam, and it was not impossible that years of cultivation would be ruined in an instant. Taking a step back, each time it acted as a “god” from outside this world, it was a kind of loss, which was actually equivalent to shortening the life of an ordinary person.

However, when Liu Baqiao saw the two large pits where the old ape had landed after collapsing the roof, this sword genius from Wind and Thunder Garden began to rejoice that he had not acted rashly. Otherwise, he would have brought trouble upon himself. With the thickness of the old ape’s fresh qi at that time, if it hadn’t discovered the commotion at the Li family’s mansion in Fortune Street and had to confirm the safety of the Positive Sun Mountain girl, or to hunt down the cunning straw-sandal boy, it might not have been 100% sure, but it was definitely certain to kill Liu Baqiao.

Of course, the old ape wasn’t blind or stupid. When his Natal Flying Sword was about to be unsheathed, the Guardian Ape must have sensed his existence.

It was just that Liu Baqiao had taken a trip around the gates of hell. After the fear subsided, he didn’t feel any fear of the old ape’s existence itself. Wind and Thunder Garden and Positive Sun Mountain, regardless of how disparate their strengths were, it would be fine if neither side acted, but once one side chose to act, it would be an endless cycle of death. Furthermore, those with lower cultivation levels would never kneel and beg for mercy from their opponents. This was a fact that had been proven with countless lives by the two holy lands of swordsmanship in East Precious Vase Continent for the past five hundred years.

Moreover, Liu Baqiao was not without backup in the town.

Liu Baqiao slowly stood up, not returning directly to the Magistrate’s Office, but walking towards the dilapidated house on the westernmost side. He stood outside the low yellow mud wall and gave a loud “Hey!” After the man and his wife both turned to look at him, he casually tossed a golden essence coin to the tearful woman and laughed, “Big sister, please stop wailing, it’s scaring me even from that far away!”

The woman caught the golden coin, glanced at its design, which was similar to a copper coin but of a different color. She was a little dazed and asked softly, “Gold?”

Liu Baqiao laughed heartily, “No. But it’s worth much more than gold…”

The woman was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage, fiercely throwing the golden coin at the young outsider. She stood up, her hands on her hips, and cursed, “Get lost! I might have believed you if you said it was gold, but more valuable than gold? Do you think I’m ignorant?! I’ve touched silver with my own hands. You little bastard with no hair grown yet, don’t even bother to look at the little mud loach in your pants before daring to act like a master in front of me. My man isn’t dead yet!”

Saying this, the woman became even more furious. She walked quickly, her stout waist, not much slimmer than a barrel, actually twisting with a certain style, and kicked the man who was squatting on the ground without saying a word, knocking him sideways onto the ground. The man didn’t even dare to retaliate, let alone argue. He scrambled away and continued to squat, his eyes filled with resentment.

The woman pointed at her husband and cursed, “Useless coward, it’s as if you’re dead. You only know how to play dead when something happens. You only know how to wander around, catching fish and snakes, like a child still wearing open-crotch pants, even worse than your son! At least Xiao Huai knows how to steal… pick up things to bring home. You, as a father, why didn’t you want to be a shop assistant at Yang’s shop? Are you swimming in wealth or what? You have to compete with silver? You don’t even know how to do anything proper all year round…”

When she said this, the woman, whose breasts were worthy of the word “spectacular,” suddenly smiled. “If you weren’t able to toss me around at night, would I be willing to live with you?!”

The surrounding onlookers burst into laughter, and some young men whistled and made crude jokes.

The woman finally refocused her anger on the culprit, shouting, “Still not leaving? Are you still nursing?!”

Liu Baqiao had never seen such rural vigor before. Not only did he not find it crude, but he found it quite interesting. He watched the excitement with relish. Even though he was scolded quite badly by the woman, he didn’t get angry but laughed. He felt a sense of loneliness after every argument at his sect, Wind and Thunder Garden. He felt that he had a good martial arts skill, but no evenly matched opponent. He never thought that he would finally find a place to use it today, so he got excited and said with a cheeky smile, “What if I’m still nursing? Can you help me, big sister?”

The woman raised her eyebrows and sneered, “I’m afraid I’ll accidentally suffocate you to death. You can go to Granny Ma in Apricot Blossom Lane! Guaranteed to fill you up!”

The laughter was deafening.

Although Liu Baqiao didn’t know who Granny Ma was, from the reactions of the surrounding listeners, he could tell that he had been badly defeated in this battle.

The young sword cultivator gave a thumbs up and said with a bright smile, “Big sister, you’re ruthless.”

Then he pinched the golden essence coin between his fingers, shook it, and asked, “Really don’t want it?”

The woman was clearly a little hesitant and suspicious.

Just then, someone shouted helplessly in the distance, “Baqiao, Mr. Cui told you to go back quickly.”

Liu Baqiao turned to look at the sound. It was Chen Songfeng, a disciple of the Chen family of Dragon Tail County. Standing beside him was a tall, cool woman, empty-handed and not carrying any weapons. She wasn’t particularly beautiful, but her figure was good, with long legs that appealed to Liu Baqiao. She was a distant relative of Chen Songfeng. As for how distant, Chen Songfeng hadn’t mentioned it. The woman had always addressed Chen Songfeng by his name directly. They had been traveling together, and Liu Baqiao hadn’t felt that the woman was particularly arrogant. She was just naturally cold.

Since Cui Minghuang had spoken, Liu Baqiao didn’t dare to stay any longer, so he followed the two to Fortune Street. However, when he left, he subconsciously glanced at the frowning middle-aged man.

A slovenly man mixed in with the crowd hesitated for a moment. After the neighbors gradually dispersed, he walked towards the courtyard alone.

The woman was about to take her children to her mother’s house to live. She was truly unwilling because her family members were all snobbish and looked down on the man she had chosen. So, she had little contact with them except during festivals. But with this unexpected disaster, the woman really had no choice. She wanted to be tough and take her son and daughter to a hotel for a few days, acting like a wealthy man’s wife, but she was too poor to make ends meet. She had no choice but to swallow her pride and return to her mother’s house to be scorned. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Before leaving, she fiercely pinched the flesh on her man’s waist until his entire face was distorted before she stopped. The two children were used to this scene and not only didn’t worry about their parents arguing but also secretly rejoiced.

The woman saw the slovenly man hiding sneakily at the door and immediately cursed, “Zheng, are you here to steal my clothes again? Are you a dog? Even rabbits don’t eat grass near their burrows. No matter how unwilling I am to admit it, I’m still unlucky and related to you, so how can you bear to steal?”

The slovenly man wanted to cry but had no tears. He wanted to die. “Sister-in-law, I swear to heaven, I just forgot to buy candy for your Xiao Huai, so he deliberately said that. Why did you really believe it?”

The little boy looked innocent.

The woman naturally believed her child more and raised her hand to slap the man.

The latter quickly shrank his neck and ran to the side, shouting to the man squatting on the ground, “Senior brother, why don’t you persuade your sister-in-law!”

The man said muffledly, “I don’t dare to persuade.”

The slovenly man lamented endlessly, “This world is no place for honest people.”

The woman grabbed a child in each hand and walked towards the courtyard door. She suddenly turned her head and gave a flirtatious wink, smiling sweetly, “Zheng, bring more money next time. Sister-in-law will sell them to you. I’ll only charge you fifty coins per piece, how’s that?”

The slovenly man’s eyes lit up and he said timidly, “Isn’t that a little too expensive? The new clothes from the shop in Apricot Blossom Lane, with the best fabric, are only this price…”

The woman’s face changed faster than flipping a book, scolding and cursing, “You really dare to have such bad intentions?! Go die, you deserve to be single for life! Your life is worthless, no one will collect your corpse if you die outside the east gate one day…”

After the woman and the children left, the slovenly man lightly jumped back and sat on the courtyard wall, angrily saying, “Senior brother, not to criticize you, but you’re really blind to have chosen such a shrew as your wife.”

It turned out that this slovenly guy was the gatekeeper of the east gate of the town, surnamed Zheng, and he was a bachelor.

The simple and honest man squatting in the courtyard blurted out, “I’m happy with her.”

The town gatekeeper, who was responsible for collecting money from outsiders, was silent for a moment before saying, “Our master told you to be patient recently and not to fight with anyone.”

The gatekeeper looked up at the pitiful roof and suddenly smiled, “Master also said that if you really can’t bear it, find your wife to vent your anger. Anyway, your sister-in-law isn’t afraid of you tossing her around. She likes it that way.”

The man, who couldn’t even squeeze out a fart with ten sticks, looked up at the slovenly man on the low wall. The latter quickly changed his words, “Okay, okay, I, Zheng Dafeng, said that. Master didn’t say those words.”

The simple and honest man stood up, with a short stature and bronze skin. The muscles in his arms were bulging, tightly stretching his sleeves.

He was also a little hunchbacked, and said unpleasantly to the town gatekeeper, “I’ll change my surname to yours if master is willing to say more than ten words to you.”

The gatekeeper silently recited his master’s instructions, and then counted with his fingers. It really wasn’t ten words! This slovenly man first cursed, then became very discouraged and a little sad, actually showing his true feelings for once, so he seemed particularly pitiful.

The hunchbacked man asked, “Anything else?”

The gatekeeper nodded. “Master said to let you deal with that person.”

The hunchbacked man frowned, then habitually squatted down again, facing the damaged house, and said gloomily, “Why?”

The gatekeeper Zheng Dafeng rolled his eyes. “Anyway, it’s what master instructed. Do it if you want, don’t if you don’t.”

The man thought for a moment. “You go. Next time if I see you stealing my sister-in-law’s things, I’ll break your three legs.”

The slovenly man Zheng Dafeng roared, “Li Er! You explain it clearly to me! Who stole your wife’s clothes?! You believe that kind of nonsense? Did water get into your brain?”

The man turned his head, looking at his irritable and angry fellow disciple, his face dark and silent.

Zheng Dafeng acted like a wronged and resentful young woman, feeling grief-stricken, and said desperately, “I’ll never dare to do it again. Is that okay?!”

The gatekeeper stood up, his toes pointed, and floated into the street like a locust leaf. Once he was far away, he dared to burst into cursing, “Li Er, I’m going to buy her underwear from your sister-in-law now!”

The slovenly man ran faster than a dog while shouting threats.

It was just that the simple and honest man had no intention of getting up at all, and uttered one word, “Good-for-nothing.”

—

The three returned to the Magistrate’s Office. Cui Minghuang, the Confucian gentleman from Guanhai Academy, had been waiting in the main hall for a long time. After seeing the strange woman, Cui Minghuang stood up and nodded in greeting. The woman also nodded, her face still cold. In Liu Baqiao’s private words, she had an expression like “the whole world owes her a lot of money.”

After the three sat down, Cui Minghuang smiled at Liu Baqiao. “Thankfully you held back and didn’t act. Otherwise, you would have caused a big problem. You didn’t see it, but earlier, our Magistrate, Lord Song, and the Positive Sun Mountain Guardian Ape exchanged three punches in Fortune Street. The commotion wasn’t small. To be honest, no matter what once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you encounter next, I advise you not to act. Don’t think there’s an opportunity to take advantage of.”

Liu Baqiao asked curiously, “Could it be that the old beast was knocked over by Song Changjing with three punches? Is Song Changjing so useless, just a pretty face? Didn’t they say he touched the threshold of the tenth realm, just half a step away from crossing into that realm?”

Cui Minghuang said helplessly, “We’re at least staying at Lord Song’s place. Can you be a little more polite in your speech?”

Chen Songfeng sighed, “Lord Song had some advantages.”

Even if he had nothing to do with that prince of the Dali Kingdom, as long as he was a cultivator, he couldn’t help but yearn for it after hearing about such a feat!

A pure martial artist, enduring a mountain ape with only his fleshly body!

The key was that this person could still gain the upper hand!

The woman sat on the side, closing her eyes to rest, her hands naturally spread out on her lap.

After hearing this, her fingers twitched slightly.

She had also been found by Chen Songfeng in a hurry, as she had originally planned to wander around the town.

The reason she didn’t insist and instead followed Chen Songfeng to find Liu Baqiao and return to the Magistrate’s Office was simply because she was doing as the Romans do.

As for whether Chen Songfeng could get any benefits from that old locust tree and how many ancestral shade leaves he could get, the woman with the same surname of Chen didn’t care.

However, when Chen Songfeng found her, she could still clearly feel the young man’s deliberately suppressed excitement, indicating that he had gained a lot, and the number of locust leaves he had obtained had exceeded the expectations of the Chen family’s ancestor in Dragon Tail County.

Liu Baqiao suddenly burst into laughter, “The old beast took a big tumble this time. Serves him right. He was led around like a dog by an ordinary teenager and walked around half the town. Haha, this is a big joke that I can tell in the Wind and Thunder Garden for ten years! At that time, the bastards from Positive Sun Mountain will definitely be eager to jump out and say that we Wind and Thunder Garden are slandering them. ‘Show us the evidence!’ ‘I’ll show you your grandpa’s evidence!’ If it weren’t for the town banning spells and the cost of breaking the rules being too high, I would die to ‘imprint’ this scene in the audio-visual mirror exactly as it is.”

Cui Minghuang’s face suddenly changed slightly, and he shouted in a deep voice to Liu Baqiao, “Baqiao!”

The woman opened her eyes almost at the same time.

Liu Baqiao was about to ask what was wrong, but suddenly shut his mouth.

Soon, a man in white robes slowly arrived. After crossing the threshold, he asked Liu Baqiao with a smile, “What’s so funny? Sharing joy is better than keeping it to yourself. Why not let this prince have some fun too?”

Cui Minghuang had already stood up, intending to offer the main seat to this prince of the Dali Kingdom.

Song Changjing smiled and shook his head at the scholar from Guanhai Academy, indicating that he didn’t need such formalities. He casually pulled up a chair and sat next to Liu Baqiao, sitting opposite Chen Songfeng and the woman.

Although Liu Baqiao gave the impression of being a lazy and mischievous character, at such close range, facing a martial artist who was very likely to enter the legendary tenth realm, especially since this guy was notoriously infamous, the matter of building Jingguan aside, the hobby of beheading geniuses was truly terrifying. So, even though Liu Baqiao was calling Song Changjing by his name when the prince of the Dali Kingdom wasn’t there, Liu Baqiao felt very guilty at the moment.

Fortunately, the young sword cultivator didn’t care much about his face. He smiled apologetically, “Great Grandmaster Song, I was just talking about your battle with the old beast from Positive Sun Mountain. It was truly earth-shattering and god-weeping. Your Royal Highness, your fist was like a dragon. If it weren’t for your mercy, the Guardian Ape would have died on the spot in Fortune Street. Lord Song’s martial arts are so high, and his martial ethics are so good, that this junior cannot reach it even if I ride a horse!”

Song Changjing smiled without saying a word.

Sweat dripped from Liu Baqiao’s forehead, and his back was soaked with sweat. Finally, he couldn’t say a word and completely shut his mouth.

Song Changjing suddenly turned to look at the woman opposite him, his eyes playful and interested, and asked, “Are you also a disciple of the Chen family of Dragon Tail County?”

The woman shook her head and said slowly, “No.”

Song Changjing said “Oh” and looked thoughtful.

The atmosphere was awkward.

Until Song Jixin appeared at the door. The boy saw that there were no chairs in the room, so he sat casually on the threshold, looking at everyone in the room.

Song Changjing didn’t mind and smiled at Liu Baqiao. “Actually, you are one of the benefactors who allowed the boy to survive.”

If the mountain ape hadn’t initially determined that the boy was causing trouble under someone’s instructions, and that the guy who dared to set a trap for Positive Sun Mountain in this town was not a fool but someone who was good at planning before acting, the old ape would have thought that the oriole behind the mantis and cicada must have a high status and be not weak, so the old ape, who was unwilling to reveal any flaws, seemed quite embarrassed in the Mud Bottle Alley area.

So, all the way to the house on the westernmost side of the town, after the old ape determined that there were no assassins lurking nearby, he finally let go a little and gave the straw-sandaled boy a punch in the back of his heart.

Liu Baqiao said with a dry laugh, “Although that’s the fact, I don’t want to be this kind of benefactor.”

Song Changjing dismissed it with a smile.

The woman turned to glance at the handsome boy sitting on the threshold.

The boy smiled slightly at her.

The woman turned her head, expressionless.

The boy pursed his lips and began to openly admire her long legs. She was about twenty-five or six years old, with passable looks, but the boy thought she had a certain charm.

The woman turned her head, her eyes cold, and said hoarsely, “Are you looking for death?”

Song Jixin pointed at himself, with an expression of extreme innocence, and a face that seemed to be asking for a beating, “Me?”

Then the boy pointed at the Prince of Dali, Song Changjing. “Then you have to ask him first.”

The woman was about to get up.

Song Changjing instantly narrowed his eyes.

Within the hall, a majestic pressure was like a torrential rain hitting everyone’s heads. There was nowhere to hide, and everyone’s skin actually produced a substantial tingling pain.

Only Song Jixin near the door was unaware.

Chen Songfeng opened his mouth with difficulty, but his tone was not weak, “Your Highness, this girl is not from our East Precious Vase Continent, so I hope Your Highness will act with caution!”

The woman laughed and stood up. “Do you dare to kill me? Aren’t you afraid that your Dali will be destroyed?”

Cui Minghuang was about to stop her.

He saw the woman fly out, not only turning the chair behind her into powder in the air, but also embedding her tall body completely into the wall, almost like an object embedded in the wall.

Song Changjing stood mysteriously under the wall, with his hands behind his back, looking up slightly at the woman bleeding from all seven orifices and laughed, “Little girl, do you think your father or ancestor is very powerful, so you have the qualifications to speak wildly in front of this prince… What’s that word again?”

The prince turned to smile at his nephew. The boy smiled and said, “Arrogant, to speak arrogantly.”

Song Changjing smiled, turned his head to look at the woman again. Although the latter’s face was full of pain, her eyes were firm, without any sign of begging or weakness. Song Changjing said, “Next life, don’t meet this prince again.”

Chen Songfeng’s heart was splitting, his eyes full of blood, and he was in an extremely complex emotion, with great anger and great fear combined. He was about to speak.

Cui Minghuang had already taken a step forward, cupping his hands in apology, and bowed his head sincerely. “Your Highness, can you give me some face and not be so harsh with her?”

Song Changjing’s mouth twitched, full of sarcasm.

The woman, facing the Prince of Dali, suddenly closed her eyes as if resigned to her fate.

Just then, the boy on the threshold laughed and said, “Uncle! Forget it. Bullying a woman will damage your reputation.”

Song Changjing’s figure paused slightly, so subtle that even Cui Minghuang and Liu Baqiao only felt that the killer was motionless.

Song Changjing tilted his head and stretched out two fingers, flicking them casually, as if dusting off the dust on his shoulders.

Liu Baqiao, the number one young generation of Wind and Thunder Garden, was dumbfounded.

Cui Minghuang was relieved.

Chen Songfeng was as if he had fallen into a fog.

Song Changjing smiled at Liu Baqiao. “Boy, not bad. This prince thinks highly of you.”

The woman opened her eyes and “pulled herself out” of the wall. After landing, her body swayed, and she said to the back, “I will remember today’s lesson, Chen Dui will remember it in my heart.”

Song Changjing ignored her and said to Liu Baqiao, “After leaving the town, go to the Dali Capital to find this prince. I have something to give you. It depends on whether you can lift it and move it away.”

Liu Baqiao blurted out, “Talisman Sword!”

Cultivators all knew that the Talisman Sword was one of the main instruments of Taoism, but if a sword could be directly named “Talisman Sword” and everyone knew it, one could imagine how amazing this sword would be.

Song Changjing and Song Jixin walked out of the mansion. The man smiled and asked, “Have you vented all the bad breath in your heart?”

Song Jixin nodded. “Almost.”

Song Jixin had been offended with Chen Ping’an’s matter, and Song Jixin was of course full of anger.

Song Jixin suddenly frowned and asked, “That woman seems to have a great background, aren’t you afraid of hitting the small one and attracting the big one, and hitting the big one and attracting the old immortals? If the local county records aren’t lying, then I know how powerful those old turtles are. Will there really be no problems for our Dali then?”

The man settled the boy with one sentence.

“You underestimate the three words Song Changjing.”

—

Inside the hall, Cui Minghuang sat back in his seat, without revealing his feelings.

Liu Baqiao slumped back in his chair, lingering with fear. “My goodness, is there such a big difference between the seventh and eighth realms and this ninth realm?”

There were one seventh-realm and one eighth-realm martial artist in Wind and Thunder Garden, and both had good relationships with Liu Baqiao.

Cui Minghuang shook his head and said, “In Go, even if they are both nine-dan players, there are strong and weak players, and the difference is very big. What’s more, Song Changjing is already the strongest player in the ninth realm.”

Then Cui Minghuang looked at the woman named Chen Dui and asked with concern, “Miss Chen, are you alright?”

The woman was also a ruthless person. Although her face was pale, she still smiled calmly. “It’s fine.”

Chen Songfeng seemed more panicked and uneasy than his distant relative, the person involved.

Cui Minghuang sighed in his heart. The Chen family of Dragon Tail County was probably unlikely to stand out in the upcoming chaos.

Liu Baqiao said with a click of his tongue, “With a flick of his finger, he can bounce my flying sword back into its acupoint without hurting my soul at all. It’s really unbelievable.”

Cui Minghuang joked, “Now you know there are mountains beyond mountains and people above people, right?”

Liu Baqiao didn’t mind and smiled mischievously, “People above people? Grandmaster Cui, you’re not a gentleman at all!”

Cui Minghuang was speechless and ignored the hooligan.

Liu Baqiao thought for a while and spoke out to comfort the woman with a strange name, lest she suddenly have a fit of anger and go looking for trouble with Song Changjing. If that happened, everyone in this room would be in trouble. “Big Sister Chen, although it sounds like I’m belittling myself and inflating others’ ambition, but if you encounter Song Changjing, lower your head, take a step back, it’s not shameful.”

Chen Songfeng wanted to say something but stopped.

But the woman said, “En,” indifferently. “Song Changjing does have this qualification. I’m not unconvinced, but I’m just unwilling.”

Liu Baqiao said heartlessly, “Actually, you don’t even need to be unwilling. Look at me, I’m very happy now. When I go back to the Wind and Thunder Garden in the future, I’ll have another ten years of bragging rights. I actually fought with Dali’s Song Changjing. Even if it was only one move, I, Liu Baqiao, was unharmed in the end! Of course, if I can really get that Talisman Sword from Dali’s Capital, I can brag for a hundred years!”

The woman’s thoughts turned elsewhere.

She inexplicably thought of the boy sitting on the threshold, the boy who could stop Song Changjing from killing with one sentence.

—

After returning to town, the old shopkeeper of Yang’s Shop went straight to the courtyard behind his shop, which was just big enough for the three long-term workers in the shop to live in.

The shopkeeper opened the back room and saw an old man sitting in a chair, tinkering with his old dry tobacco pipe. After closing the door, the shopkeeper called out “Old Yang Tou”. The old man quickly put down his old bamboo pipe, poured a bowl of tea, and asked with a smile, “Shopkeeper, is someone in a hurry for medicine? Do you need me to go up the mountain in the dark?”

The elderly shopkeeper looked at the old man, who seemed about the same age, shook his head, picked up the teacup, and sighed, “Today, I saw a patient for Master Ruan, a young man surnamed Liu. He was beaten half to death by an outsider. I feel uncomfortable in my heart, so I thought I’d come to your place to sit and relax.”

The old Yang Tou, whose face was wrinkled like old locust bark, smiled. “Shopkeeper, just sit down, we’re not strangers.”

The shopkeeper suddenly remembered something. “By the way, Old Yang Tou, a child you helped many years ago, the one in Mud Bottle Alley, the poor little one who got medicine for his mother at a young age, is his name Chen Ping’an?”

Old Yang Tou was a little surprised and nodded. “Yes, that’s right. His mother finally passed away, and if I remember correctly, she didn’t make it through that winter. After that, I saw the child a few more times, but not many. I couldn’t bear to see it back then, so I gave the child a cheap folk remedy. What’s wrong? Was this child beaten?”

The shopkeeper took a sip of tea and said with a wry smile, “I just said that the young man’s surname is Liu. Old Yang Tou, you really are, what a memory!”

Old Yang Tou laughed and didn’t take it to heart.

The old shopkeeper carefully and tentatively asked, “Old Yang Tou, should we do something in our shop?”

Old Yang Tou picked up the old pipe made of small camphor bamboo and shook it. “Shopkeeper, we don’t need to do anything.”

The old shopkeeper seemed to have eaten a reassurance pill and nodded. “That’s good, that’s good. Old Yang Tou, then you’re busy, I’ll go first.”

Old Yang Tou was about to stand up to see him off, but the old shopkeeper quickly dissuaded him. “No need to see me off, no need to see me off.”

After walking down the steps, the old shopkeeper turned back and looked. Old Yang Tou was about to close the door. After they made eye contact, he grinned. The old shopkeeper quickly turned his head and left.

When the middle-aged shopkeeper took over the shop, his father, who was on his deathbed, left a strange last word, “‘If the shop encounters something big, find Old Yang Tou and do what he says.’ This sentence seems to have been passed down since your grandfather’s grandfather. When you pass the shop on to the next generation, be sure not to forget to say these things, be sure not to forget!”

The old shopkeeper nodded vigorously in agreement, and his old father