With the Blade

Clear stewed lion’s head, boiled dry threads, white fish in chicken broth, Wen Si tofu, and a pot of clear soup with baby cabbage. Were it not for Jiang Wenyuan knowing he was still at Shan Bing’s house, he might have thought he was invited to some restaurant—especially since these dishes looked like something only a master chef could make, particularly the finely sliced Wen Si tofu, with delicate tofu threads practically flaunting the chef’s superb knife skills.

Jiang Wenyuan looked at the tofu, then at Shan Bing, feeling as if his brain wasn’t working properly.

The rough and burly Shan Bing might be good at chopping people, but slicing tofu... When did he even learn to do this?

Before Jiang Wenyuan left the city, Shan Bing was someone who couldn’t even cook basic congee properly, and usually had to eat with him at the canteen. But now...

"What, surprised?"

Facing Jiang Wenyuan’s increasingly puzzled expression, Shan Bing chuckled.

"Have I become more skilled?"

"... Yes."

Jiang Wenyuan nodded with difficulty.

Though he still couldn’t understand rationally how Shan Bing achieved this, the reality before him clearly showed that Shan Bing had indeed become much more skilled at cooking.

No, it wasn’t just about cooking.

Jiang Wenyuan, having a background as a constable, always had a knack for discerning people. It was a kind of sensation hard to describe with language, more like a comprehensive judgment—and Shan Bing exceeded that judgment.

Before Jiang Wenyuan left, Shan Bing was like him, looking like a soulless corpse that had lost hope. But now, Shan Bing’s spirit was entirely different.

It wasn’t simply returning to his previous state, knowing that the original Shan Bing wasn’t much better off anyway, or that both of them weren’t in good shape, merely working for a living and passing each day without much purpose. They had thought about doing something more, but the world was what it was, and what could they have done?

Calling it decadent might be too harsh, but their state back then wasn’t great—whatever strength they squeezed out burned away quickly.

But now, Shan Bing was in a completely different state.

Jiang Wenyuan almost dared not look Shan Bing in the eyes.

Only because in Shan Bing’s eyes, there seemed to be a fire burning.

It was an inner and outer, powerful presence.

"Can’t fight him."

Jiang Wenyuan instinctively reached this conclusion.

Not because of emotional ties, but objectively, he would lose.

"If they clashed, I’d be killed instantly."

Considering his own abilities, Jiang Wenyuan’s intuition made this judgment.

And just then, Shan Bing, who was serving soup, lifted his head and looked at Jiang Wenyuan.

"What, haven’t sparred for a while, want to practice after eating?"

"Maybe... let’s forget it."

Jiang Wenyuan forced a smile.

The fact has once again been confirmed, there’s no need to spar; just having the thought was noticed, proving the gap.

Is there any point in a match?

If Shan Bing doesn’t hold back, he might not even have a chance to make a move.

How long has he been away? It seems it hasn’t even been half a month with the round-trip?

How did Shan Bing become...

"What, you’re asking how I became strong?"

Shan Bing pondered for a moment, even scratching his head.

This made Jiang Wenyuan once again feel dazed.

Yes, it’s this movement, exactly the same; too familiar. If it were an ordinary person doing this, it might seem silly, but not at all with the gesture before him—or rather, not that you can’t see it, but better not to acknowledge it, even having the thought isn’t advisable.

Because that hand scratching the head, is so strong, like it could crush someone’s skull in an instant.

Right, it’s this feeling, the familiar feeling is back.

"Getting stronger, it’s not really complicated."

Just as Jiang Wenyuan hadn’t recovered from his daze, Shan Bing continued speaking.

After the familiar gesture, came the even more familiar tone.

"Before, I thought getting strong was difficult, but after receiving guidance these days, I realize it’s not that hard... Doing every task at hand seriously is the first step to getting strong. Like now, I may not have improved in martial arts, but at least I can focus and make these dishes well. So how’s the taste?"

"Indeed... good."

Jiang Wenyuan nodded with difficulty.

It was too similar.

If it wasn’t Shan Bing’s familiar big face before him, and confirming Shan Bing still wasn’t tall enough, he almost thought he was chatting with that Du Grandmaster.

Yes, chatting, not being lectured like with an old eunuch, nor an audience like with the Emperor; that Little Giant seemed to prefer communicating in this casual chatting manner, also in Jiang Wenyuan’s understanding the only expert without any expert airs.

Yet this kind of casual talk often creates an illusion that the words of this giant aren’t really important, because the information is overly simple, holding nothing profound to seriously comprehend, like Shan Bing’s previous evaluation, resembling encouragement from neighborhood folks, like common words, bringing a few down-and-out literati to the street, ten coins could have them write a basketful.

But if one truly comprehends something from this casual talk...

"Boom—"

A huge sound rang out from afar, the sound of a building collapsing.

The sound was familiar to Jiang Wenyuan; it was always like this when monsters caused trouble, showing Jiankang City hadn’t changed completely yet, as terrifying Evil Qi monsters still occasionally appeared—thus Jiang Wenyuan stood up first as the Commander closest to the scene.

And Shan Bing also stood up.

The apron was somehow torn off, Shan Bing had changed into solid combat attire, carrying his large shield, just like when they first met.

But Jiang Wenyuan clearly felt a certain change.

"Let’s go, work first."

Shan Bing headed out the door, as usual.

Raging in the streets was a large creature with a dog’s head and a human body, wielding two hooked weapons—having worked in monster-clearing operations long enough, Jiang Wenyuan’s eye for discernment was honed just by this setup; he already guessed it might be some dog-fighting pit owner.

He could even guess why this person let Evil Qi invade their body: simply because everyone’s recently focused on bloody contests, no one watches dog fights anymore, ruining his business, and with the Emperor killed, it’s unlikely there will be contests anymore, destroying this person’s last shot at opportunity.

Thus, this destitute person, with Evil Qi invading his body, went insane on the spot.

But saying that doesn’t mean this monster’s strength would be any weaker; in fact, just because this monster was often fierce and ready to fight before going mad, it became even more savage after turning into a monster—this could be seen from the distant battle situation where the Commanders used all their might merely to keep the monster contained.

Whether they can win or not was evidently not possible, this monster was on the verge of growing its eighth head.

"This..."

Bam—

Before Jiang Wenyuan thought of any countermeasures, a muffled sound echoed from afar.

Immediately, a red sun rose from the monster’s body.

"Sun-Piercing Strike!"

With a loud shout, the monster stunned by the large shield was instantly torn in two.

"Alright, let’s go back to eating."

Shan Bing carrying the large shield walked back from afar, wrapping his arm around Jiang Wenyuan’s shoulder.

At such close range, Jiang Wenyuan didn’t even smell the slightest, scent of blood.