Chapter 51: Saber Emerging From Beimang

Chapter 51: The Blade from Beimang

The spring rain fell in a continuous, pattering drizzle.

A traveler, clad in a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, with a long blade slung across his back, stepped into the deserted streets of the small town through the misty rain.

Deserted was not quite accurate... The long street lay in cold silence, and at the corner, an old beggar huddled under the eaves, seeking shelter from the rain.

The eaves could not fully block the drifting spring rain; the thin quilt covering the beggar was already visibly soaked, and he curled up tighter and tighter, looking utterly pitiful.

The visitor approached him, sighed, and bent down to drop a few copper coins.

"Thank you, thank you..." The old beggar stretched out his withered, bony hand, trembling as he reached for them.

The moment his fingers touched the coins, a blade suddenly sprang from his sleeve, aimed straight at the visitor's lower abdomen!

In the misty rain of the martial world, danger lurked everywhere.

Yet, just as the blade emerged, the visitor flicked the copper coin in his hand. With a sharp "twang," it embedded itself into the old beggar's forehead.

The blade lost its strength, and the visitor deftly caught the beggar's wrist. When he looked again at the old beggar, a bloody hole gaped in the center of his brow—he was dead beyond any doubt.

"You were too hasty... The mud on your face was freshly applied, not the result of long neglect. A careful eye could still tell..." The visitor sighed and turned away.

The spring rain continued to fall, washing away the trickling blood. The long street remained cold and silent; no one knew what had just happened here.

At the end of the street, a tavern flag seemed to flutter in the wind. Rain beat against the lantern, making it creak and sway. The visitor stood outside the door, hearing the clinking of cups and the clamor of voices—many drinkers had taken shelter from the rain inside, drinking and making merry.

"Have you heard? There's a ruthless man making waves in the martial world lately."

"There are plenty of ruthless men in the martial world. Which one do you mean?"

"Pfft, no need to say—it's that Hidden Dragon rank ninety-one, Zhao Changhe! Who else has been more talked about these days?"

The visitor twitched the corner of his mouth.

This time, it's a sentence...

No, wait, there's a verdict.

But why does this ranking always mess with me? Either two hundred and fifty or ninety-one, Mr. Zhao—who wrote this crappy book! How many years do they want me to serve?

Still, hearing people talk about oneself felt pretty good. Zhao Changhe pushed the door open: "Boss, got a seat? Give me a hero's special... oh, two measures of wine, a plate of cooked beef. And pack two catties of wine in a gourd to go."

"Coming right up, sir, please have a seat."

The drinkers who had been chatting glanced over. A young man, clean-shaven, quite imposing. His face bore a sunny, carefree smile, and a scar across it, rather than marring his image, added a touch of coolness. He looked a bit disheveled from the rain, hopping and shaking off his raincoat—a lively young fellow. The crowd glanced at him briefly and then continued their talk.

"Speaking of this Zhao Changhe, he's truly ruthless. He killed the young master of the Luo family when he infiltrated Luo Manor, and then the branch leader of the Blood God Sect when he joined them. Born with a rebellious bone, a seed of a demon."

Zhao Changhe: "..."

You think you're talking about my heroic feat of killing a fourth-rank while being third-rank? The Book of Chaos rarely gives face, and it used 'forcefully slew'—can't you see that? It even gave a verdict, 'Long River Falls from the Ninth Heaven'—can't you see that?

What are you all talking about!

"Yeah, if he's not ruthless, who is? Now with a bounty on his head, rejected by the righteous path, and having betrayed the demon sect, the demon sect's kill order is spread across the land. How many days can this guy last?"

"The demon sect is more generous—a reward of a thousand taels of gold! The court's offer is a paltry hundred silver taels, unchanged for months, they don't care at all. I went to the city yesterday, and the wanted poster at the city gate was washed away by the rain, no one even replaced it. I wanted to see what Zhao Changhe looked like, but I couldn't find it."

"So it's not that hard for him to move around, right? Just the demon sect's pursuit is tough; the officials and the righteous path don't seem to take him seriously?"

"It's not that simple! With such a high bounty from the demon sect, countless people are after the money—assassins, bounty hunters, the martial world never lacks them. I've heard even people from the Listening Snow Tower are thinking of making a move."

"The number one assassin tower?"

"Yeah..."

"Then he'd better pray he doesn't slip up on his whereabouts."

"Why do you sound like you care about him?"

"Pfft, haven't you heard? This fool has a crush on Yue Hongling. When he was a bandit chief, he even found a woman who looked like her to be his bride, but then even that fake ran off and left him. Doesn't that make him seem down-to-earth and relatable?"

"Are you sick? Relatable? He's competing with me for my wife! Even without the bounty, if he dares to show up in front of me, I'll chop off his little head with one slash!"

"Get real, you're even more of a dreamer than he is." The crowd burst into laughter: "Seriously, on the Hidden Dragon List, he's probably the only one so embarrassing. The others are all lofty and unattainable, right?"

"Exactly. If he were in front of me, I'd probably buy him a drink and ask what it felt like to be dumped by his bride, hahaha..."

"I hope he doesn't die too soon—I want to see the fun. When will Yue Hongling meet him, hahaha..."

The tavern was filled with cheerful air. Zhao Changhe's temples throbbed with bulging veins.

Thanks for your concern, really.

What about my heroic feat? My 'forcefully slew'? My verdict? The one time I managed to show off?

Can't you focus on the important stuff and talk about something real!

And who was it that called me a fool just now? I didn't catch it...

The waiter brought over the wine and food, smiling: "Sir, your wine gourd looks a bit old. We also sell leather wine skins here—cowhide! Want to swap?"

Zhao Changhe glanced at the old gourd, gave a faint smile, and ignored the remark, instead asking casually, "Hey, isn't killing cattle illegal?"

The waiter shushed him: "This cow died of old age, we reported it to the authorities. Don't talk nonsense."

"Died of old age?" Zhao Changhe picked up a slice of beef, his smile growing more amused: "But I think... it was poisoned?"

The waiter's expression changed abruptly, and a dagger suddenly appeared in his hand.

Before he could strike, Zhao Changhe's chopstick shot out and pinned his hand to the table.

The waiter's earth-shattering scream silenced the entire tavern. Everyone stared in shock, at a loss.

"As expected of someone from the underworld, you know all the tricks." The boss slowly walked out from behind the counter, shaking his head with a sigh: "And as expected of Hidden Dragon rank ninety-one, such fast hands."

The crowd held their breath, not daring to make a sound.

Hidden Dragon rank ninety-one? Wasn't that the guy they were just talking about? He'd been sitting right there listening the whole time!

The one who called him a fool had already slipped away. The one who said he'd chop off Zhao Changhe's little head had vanished in a flash, clutching his crotch.

Earlier, they thought he was a lively young fellow, but now, with the chopstick pinning the waiter's hand to the table and the waiter's screams, he was the very image of a terrifying demon.

Zhao Changhe kept one hand on the chopstick, speaking calmly: "Actually, I don't know a thing about these underworld tricks. I just ran into an assassination outside earlier, got a bit cautious, and bluffed this little brother here. Who'd have thought it would actually work..."

The waiter was drenched in sweat from pain: "Help... help me..."

"Shing!" A blade flashed, and the boss chopped off the waiter's hand: "Useless!"

The waiter rolled aside, clutching his severed arm and howling, his gaze at the boss a mix of gratitude and hatred.

"Listening Snow Tower?" Zhao Changhe said flatly: "Quite ruthless."

"Not as ruthless as Mr. Zhao, who turned on his superior." The boss smoothed his clothes and said solemnly: "Yu Zhui Feng of Listening Snow Tower, I request Mr. Zhao's instru—"

Before he could finish his grand pose, a steel blade was already swinging at his face: "An assassin who goes in for sneak attacks, and you're playing at chivalrous etiquette? Do you take me for a fool? Die!"

The boss never expected that this man, who had been sitting and chatting so calmly, would suddenly launch a surprise attack without any martial honor, nor did he expect his blade to be so fast—without even seeing his hand move, the blade was already upon him!

He dodged frantically, and the poison needles hidden under his clothes clattered to the ground.

Indeed, that pose of smoothing one's clothes never bodes well. Zhao Changhe was still sharp.

Chivalrous etiquette?

That was never meant for such men.

The innkeeper, having lost the initiative, harried and hard-pressed, dodged wave after wave of Zhao Changhe's blade light, shouting in exasperation, "Zhao Changhe, you're wanted by both righteous and demonic sects, with no place left under heaven—do you mean to offend the Snow-Listening Tower to death as well? Better to forge a good connection, leave a path for later—"

Zhao Changhe, without a word, pursued with a slash and severed the innkeeper's neck: "Too much blather!"

"..." The innkeeper hadn't even finished speaking, collapsing to the ground in disbelief.

The waiter, clutching his severed arm, shrank back in terror. Zhao Changhe pointed his long blade from afar and sneered, "Zhao Changhe's blade hails from Beimang, seeking to test the world. If all the heroes under heaven are craven wretches like you, then truly I am disappointed!"