With the Blade

Since ancient times, the legend of immortals flying with swords has been very popular.

Of course, in terms of actual combat, this idea is quite unreliable. If one wants to attack from a distance, rather than throwing the sword in hand, it’s better to shoot a few arrows with a bow — however, clearly, combat is combat, stories are stories, and compared to the boring style of shooting people with arrows, folks just love the concept of the Hundred-Step Flying Sword, which sounds incredibly cool.

"So... we’re looking for Master Du, who uses a halberd, right?"

Looking at the increasingly closer small black dot, Shan Bing’s expression became subtle.

Though still far away, as an expert in emitting Evil Qi, Shan Bing’s eyesight was quite good. With just a moment of focused attention, he could already roughly discern the shape of that black dot.

Does Master Du use a halberd? Or a saber? Shan Bing couldn’t quite remember, but judging by the outline of that black dot, it didn’t look like a halberd or a large saber at all.

It should be a sword.

"It’s true that Master Du doesn’t use a sword... but someone around him does."

Jiang Wenyuan also saw the outline of that black dot clearly, but his face displayed more of a sense of excitement, or perhaps, the joy of reuniting after a long absence.

"That’s also an expert, a swordsman expert. When I was in Yizhou, I even asked him for guidance on some martial arts issues... I could even say that I managed to appear on the Hundred Weapons Chart because I was guided by that swordsmanship master. Otherwise, do you think an ordinary Chief Constable could truly reach this level?"

"Indeed..."

Shan Bing thought for a moment and nodded.

He attained his current skills simply because he was once a War Soldier, spending his days sharpening his killing techniques, and occasionally verifying his martial insights through battle on the front lines, so having such skills isn’t surprising. But Jiang Wenyuan, being a Chief Constable, is different. While a Chief Constable does need combat skills, more importantly, he needs to learn to solve cases and track criminals, investigate scenes, and even socialize among various circles and with higher-level colleagues. That’s the main development path of a Chief Constable.

In other words, a person’s energy is limited, and there’s only so much that can be done each day. To still find time to hone high-level martial arts amidst a demanding job requires a genius born with great talent.

Previously, he thought Jiang Wenyuan was indeed that sort of genius, otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for him to develop such impressive martial skills under work pressure. But now he knows that, in some ways, Jiang Wenyuan, like him, was guided by a master.

This is also a good thing. At least he and his partner have more common ground.

"Looking at it, the master who guided you is very impressive, even the sword has flown."

While bearing the attacks of the monsters, Shan Bing praised him.

"With such skills, he’d be almost as powerful as Eunuch Cao."

"Hmm... almost."

Jiang Wenyuan thought for a moment but chose not to say anything that might deflate Shan Bing.

However, in fact, the swordsmanship master who guided him, surnamed Cui, might be far stronger than Eunuch Cao — Jiang Wenyuan had seen Eunuch Cao’s skills, using silk threads as a peculiar weapon, focusing on surprise and diverse changes. But in terms of direct combat, the net Eunuch Cao weaves might merely be pierced through by a single thrust from Swordsman Cui.

Whenever he recalls that near-symbiotic terrifying Sword Qi, Jiang Wenyuan feels as if he is looking up at an unreachable mountain. Just a broken sword alone could achieve such might, while his own skills probably will...

"Hmm?"

After parrying two sharp bird claws, Jiang Wenyuan suddenly felt something was amiss.

Indeed, he shouldn’t be mistaken as this particular impression was too profound.

The swordsman Cui, who had guided him, clearly used a half-broken sword.

But the outline of the sword far off in the sky...

"Whose sword is this?"

Jiang Wenyuan’s eyes widened.

This wasn’t the sword he recognized!

Yet, even though Jiang Wenyuan realized something was wrong, it was already late. Before he could utter a word of retreat, the longsword hovering high above had already turned its blade, charging straight toward their direction.

Its momentum was as brilliant as the sun.

This moment, Shan Bing and Jiang Wenyuan realized for the first time, that when speed reaches a certain level, even just a sword could transform into a meteor from beyond the skies.

The crimson star fell.

It fell silently.

There was neither the anticipated enormous impact nor the imagined dramatic explosion; when the longsword descended, that immense force quietly dissipated.

Or rather, it had already acted upon its intended target.

The longsword gently fell to the ground, accompanied by the scattered monsters.

"This..."

Staring at the monster remnants all over the ground, Shan Bing and Jiang Wenyuan were dumbfounded.

Throughout the process, they hadn’t even seen when the sword sliced through the monsters.

As if the monsters were naturally meant to disassemble into myriad fragments.

"...Is this the high master who guided you?"

Shan Bing swallowed hard.

"I take back what I said earlier, this person is far more impressive than Eunuch Cao."

"..."

Jiang Wenyuan on the other side didn’t respond, as he was already too speechless to say anything.

What do you mean by far more impressive than Eunuch Cao? This obviously surpasses the swordsman Cui who guided him, by a huge margin!