With the Blade

Of course, he himself picked up a bowl, but the freshly cooked lamb needed to cool down first. During this brief moment of idleness, his gaze shifted to Jiang Wenyuan lying on the sickbed at the side.

He recognized this constable, not that they were very familiar, but they had met a few times. What he hadn’t expected was that meeting an old acquaintance would be in such an environment. While he had already secluded himself from the world, the other had become an assassin directly under the Jian Kang court.

Although he couldn’t really understand what this so-called Commander position actually was, since they had been dispatched to do the killing work, it probably didn’t differ much from being an assassin.

"So, should we take him back?"

Du Chengfeng thought briefly and then began shaking his head.

No need to take him back, Forget Sorrow Village doesn’t need a constable, and their relationship wasn’t close enough to warrant that—what’s more, everyone has their own ambitions, and since the other had decided to plunge into the affairs of the court, entangled in the turmoil beyond, what could he possibly say?

Retreating ten thousand steps further, what if the other asked him for help? What could he do then?

"Better to pretend we haven’t met."

After a moment’s contemplation, Du Chengfeng made his decision. He truly couldn’t be bothered with the outside matters.

After all, he had far more dangerous enemies to confront.

"After I leave, don’t harm him, since he is someone I knew back in the day."

After eating a few bites of meat, Du Chengfeng still cautioned with a few words, as he just remembered that Bai Wujiu had been intending to kill Jiang Wenyuan previously.

As for Bai Wujiu, how would he dare not agree? He was even secretly glad — fortunately, he hadn’t hurried to make a move to kill Jiang Wenyuan earlier, or else what would happen if this expert saw his old acquaintance slaughtered?

"But...will he stay behind?"

His throat being scalded made Bai Wujiu’s voice somewhat distorted.

"Leave just him alone?"

"The other one, I want to take away."

Saying this, Du Chengfeng heaved the unconscious Shan Bing over his shoulder.

He still wasn’t quite sure why this person, when attacking him, had to sneak a bird first, but as a martial artist, his keen judgment was reminding him that it might be a technique with noteworthy potential — since it was a valuable thing, there was naturally no reason to let it slip by. Of course, he intended to take this man named Shan Bing back and ask him more carefully.

After all, with his current strength, making further progress was already very difficult, and this wasn’t just about martial arts; even with weapons, it was the same. It had been a long time since he last sharpened a blade because those mundane weapons could no longer provide him with any advancement.

Now, however, he saw another direction.

It may not be very strong, but it’s certainly interesting. Of course, what’s interesting is not about sneaking a bird, but the thorough unity of essence, energy, and spirit in that moment.

"It’s like forming a loose thing into a ball."

That was roughly how Du Chengfeng interpreted it.

Or to put it more vividly, it’s like a two-hundred-pound fat man, if this fat man simply waves and strikes or kicks out, such attacks, though fierce, aren’t unpreventable — but if this fat man turns into a two-hundred-pound solid steel ball, likely no one wants to be hit by such a thing.

And just now, this man named Shan Bing accomplished this.

He forged himself into steel.

"This is a bit interesting."

With this thought, Du Chengfeng carried Shan Bing into the air, flying all the way back to Forget Sorrow Village.

Seeing Du Chengfeng return completely unscathed, the villagers in Forget Sorrow Village sighed in relief. Having not heard from him for so long, they originally thought something had happened to Du Chengfeng, but since he was fine, that was the best result — so after confirming Du Chengfeng’s safety, everyone started observing the outsider Du Chengfeng brought back, or rather, watching the new arrival.

After all, aside from Tao Wuliu, an acquaintance of everyone, Du Chengfeng had almost never brought other outsiders here; suddenly encountering a new face like this was bound to arouse their curiosity.

"This is the troublemaker."

Roughly summarizing the information he obtained outside, Du Chengfeng casually criticized the unruly behavior of Dengzhou City.

Knowing all this was merely because the rebels of Dengzhou wanted to drag them into the mess, the people of Forget Sorrow Village were somewhat angry. After a brief discussion, everyone decided to further reduce engagements with Dengzhou City, living in mutual isolation, not getting involved with each other.

"Not even leaving people in peace while in seclusion, these people really deserve it, maybe we should just kill them all, chop off their heads, and burn their corpses to enrich the fields."

These were the sighs from the two gatekeepers of the village entrance, fortunately, they weren’t the most capable fighters in Forget Sorrow Village, so after some persuasion, they managed to give up on those thoughts.

Even Du Chengfeng himself didn’t expect that the most extreme in Forget Sorrow Village turned out to be the academy’s teaching master.

"Once more, we have come here to seclude ourselves, to live peacefully, not to kill people or stack heads for monuments."

Ultimately, the kind-hearted Du Chengfeng decided to end the discussion regarding the outside world, as he emphasized, they were here to live, not to have fun killing people.

"Besides, do you know how tiring it is to burn corpses? Each time it’s me doing the burning, don’t I have anything else to do?"

"Well...indeed."

Seeing that Du Chengfeng began to get a bit angry, everyone pulled back their necks and dispersed to their homes.

Leaving behind only Cui Yuan, the swordsman, standing beside Du Chengfeng, curiously observing Shan Bing on the ground.

Apparently, he also wanted to learn some new things from outside.

The learning process wasn’t complicated; if Du Chengfeng could knock Shan Bing unconscious with a punch, he naturally could slap him awake — thus, after giving Shan Bing two slaps on the face, the awakened Shan Bing quickly comprehended his current predicament.

Following that, a secretive short sword shot out ruthlessly.

"Eat my Sun-piercing Strike!"

It was then that Du Chengfeng truly realized what this move was like, it wasn’t anything absurd like sneaking a bird but rather the bright rising sun that emerged before his eyes — since he had just slapped Shan Bing’s face twice, the proximity between them was extremely close, and this bright sun erupted directly in front of him.

"Be careful!"

Seeing this sudden phenomenon, Cui Yuan hurriedly drew the short sword from his waist, thirty-six strands of invisible sword Qi instantly woven into a seamless net, dropping down on that blazing sun.

Yet Cui Yuan’s action was a half-beat slow.

In the ultimate reaction, the net of sword Qi indeed covered that blazing sun, but that blazing sun was merely a phantom — the real killing thrust emerged from within that blazing sun, a fierce stab.

Sun-piercing Strike, an attack penetrating through the sun.

Natural too, penetrate flesh and blood.

"Pfft—"

The sharp blade easily pierced through the palm as large as a cattail fan.

But immediately, the pierced hand continued straight down, grasping Shan Bing’s fist holding the sword.

"Quite interesting, huh!"

Du Chengfeng’s eyes lit up.

Holding Shan Bing’s fist with one hand, Du Chengfeng directly lifted the man — but at this moment, his attention was no longer on Shan Bing, instead turning his head with delight towards Cui Yuan behind him.

"Did you see that! He actually managed to hurt me!"

"You..."

Dangling in midair, Shan Bing was dumbfounded. He couldn’t have imagined that his sure-kill strike would end up as just...

"Who are you, really?"

"Me?"

Du Chengfeng thought for a moment, then raised his hand and made a shushing gesture towards Cui Yuan behind him.

"My name is Cui Yuan."