Chapter 144
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
It took me only three days to enter Sichuan, the heart of the province and the stronghold of the Sichuan Tang Clan. Once I arrived, I booked a room at an inn and collapsed onto the bed.
‘Now, I need to go find the Sichuan Tang Clan and inquire about Eastern Unmatched.’
From my experience, barging into a martial arts family to demand information is not only foolish, it’s a surefire way to box myself into a corner. To extract information, one needs legitimacy, influence, justification, and power—all of which I’d have to build up over the course of several years while here in Sichuan.
Instead, I decided to take a more indirect route. I’d start by gathering information about the Sichuan Tang Clan at the Open Sect’s Sichuan branch.
Finding the Sichuan branch of the Open Sect was relatively straightforward. Open Sect practitioners typically congregated beneath bridges or in secluded areas, similar to what I’d seen back in Luoyang. In Sichuan, there was even a shanty town under the bridge where beggars gathered. I glanced over there, sizing up the beggars’ skills, and felt confident they possessed significant martial prowess; that’s when I concluded that this must be the Open Sect’s Sichuan branch.
I approached the flock of beggars beneath the bridge and proclaimed,
“It is an honor to meet the heroes of the Open Sect as a humble disciple of martial arts.”
Suddenly, the eyes of all the nearby beggars turned toward me, momentarily stunned by my unexpected flattery. However, most merely dismissed me, intent on their own business, embodying the typical cautious demeanor of a martial artist. As I stepped further inside, a few sticks obstructed my way.