Chapter 278: Jianghu

Some people’s affairs could only circulate as rumors of the jianghu.

After all, the jianghu was called the jianghu precisely because, at its core, it could not be brought onto the formal stage.

Imagine a minister standing in the imperial court and constantly saying, “Rumor has it in the jianghu...”

Would that not be a colossal joke?

But in any circle, once someone reached the very top, their influence inevitably spilled beyond it.

Among the Four Great Swordsmen, even the least famous—the Swordsmith of Chu—was still publicly rallying for the prince he supported and had become a banner for that faction.

There was no need to discuss Li Liangshen. He was himself a commander of the Zhenbei Army.

The Hundred-Li Sword had once escorted Master Zang across a thousand li into Yanjing to sever Great Yan’s dragon vein, and later appeared beneath the walls of Shangjing.

As for the Sword Saint of Jin, because his surname was Yu, no matter how meager the cards in his hand might actually be, he still possessed the qualifications to sit at the table.

Taking another step back, even if one ignored everything else, his battle against the Marquis of Jingnan outside Jin’s former capital was enough by itself to prove his influence.

It was unrealistic to expect one such supreme Martial Artist to decide the fate of an entire state.

But if he wanted to decide the fate of a single relay station, no one would consider that difficult.

The Iron Chain Elder had also been famous in the jianghu for many years and was particularly skilled with concealed weapons.

Yet after a single exchange with the Sword Saint left him completely outmatched, every ounce of confidence had already been stripped away.

The Sword Saint had not even drawn a sword, yet had nearly killed him.

If the Sword Saint truly drew one, how could he possibly survive?

And whether the Sword Saint had “drawn his sword” certainly did not depend on whether the Longyuan Sword was actually hanging at his waist.

“Lord Sword Saint, are you also interested in an imperial descendant of Chu?

“If Your Excellency is willing to enter Chu, this old man would naturally kneel to welcome you!”

The State of Jin was gone.

The Helian Clan and Wenren Clan had been destroyed first.

The Situ Clan was now tottering beneath the savages’ offensive.

The former imperial heartland had already been trampled beneath Yan cavalry, while the Emperor of Jin and the Empress Dowager had been escorted into Yanjing.

Under such circumstances, if the Sword Saint no longer intended to remain in the lands of Jin and instead went to Chu, that would naturally be an enormous boon for the State of Chu.

After all, even the people of Chu themselves privately felt that their own member of the Four Great Swordsmen—the Swordsmith of Chu—was somewhat... questionable.

“An imperial descendant of Chu?”

When the Sword Saint heard that, he suddenly felt like laughing.

In truth, he did not manage to suppress it.

A smile really did appear on his face.

The Iron Chain Elder assumed the Sword Saint had been tempted.

Perhaps the reason the Sword Saint had taken this imperial child in the first place was precisely because he intended to enter Chu.

In reality, the Sword Saint merely murmured softly to himself, “So was he cuckolded... or did he cuckold someone else?”

Then, the Sword Saint frowned slightly.

“No.

“The timing doesn’t match.”

Nearby, Ding Heng was still holding the child.

He had already been stunned when he saw the swordsman force back the Iron Chain Elder with nothing but a few chopsticks.

Then, after learning the man’s identity from the Iron Chain Elder himself, Ding Heng nearly felt his soul leave his body.

Ding Heng was a man of Jin.

To the jianghu of Jin, the Sword Saint was a true mountain peak.

To some extent, he represented the face of the entire martial world of the Three Jin lands.

Yes, there were rumors that Yan’s southern Marquis had defeated the Sword Saint.

But first, that Marquis was hardly some ordinary man himself. His martial cultivation was terrifyingly high.

Second, Jin’s mountains and rivers had already shattered. The Sword Saint was a man of the jianghu, while his opponent was a supreme commander with a great army in hand.

Even if the Sword Saint had lost, what of it?

The Yan people claimed their Marquis had defeated the Sword Saint in a pure contest between Martial Artists.

But how many outsiders truly believed that?

Ding Heng silently extended the infant in his arms toward the Sword Saint.

Thinking back on how he had actually snatched the child from the Sword Saint earlier in such a suicidal fashion—and even mocked him while doing it—Ding Heng felt the blood in his body beginning to freeze.

Unexpectedly, the Sword Saint did not reach out to take the child.

Instead, he said, “Keep holding him.”

“Huh?”

Ding Heng stared blankly.

“This bastard only stops crying when you hold him.”

“...”

Ding Heng.

Ding Heng was, after all, a named figure in the jianghu of the Three Jin lands.

Yet somehow he had been reduced to a nursemaid carrying a baby.

The worst part was that Ding Heng did not dare say no.

Deep inside, he even felt a shameful flicker of emotion at having been “recognized” by the Sword Saint.

At that moment, several black-clad men on the perimeter attacked again.

They seemed to have realized the situation had turned against them.

Originally, they had probably believed their group was strong enough to erase everyone inside the relay station.

Now that they had discovered how naive that assumption had been, they lowered their objective.

They would seize only the child.

The Sword Saint thrust a finger forward.

Sword qi swept outward.

The two black-clad men who had just lunged in were hurled backward.

Then came a horizontal slash.

A fierce arc of sword qi sliced directly through another black-clad man’s neck.

Not even a drop of blood splashed out.

Then the Sword Saint began moving.

He went straight to Cui Linfeng, the woman who had earlier offered to nurse the child.

He opened his palm.

A long sword flew from the hand of a nearby corpse and landed in his grasp.

Sword light flashed.

The two black-clad men entangled with Cui Linfeng were killed instantly.

There was no earth-shaking momentum.

No grand display that swallowed mountains and rivers.

Only sharpness, and decisiveness.

Cui Linfeng stared at the Sword Saint in a daze.

The Sword Saint looked at her calmly.

Then he said, “Come with me.”

Cui Linfeng was, after all, a woman who held a seat of authority within a stronghold. She had seen her share of storms.

Yet for some reason, under this man’s gaze, she could not summon the slightest thought of resistance.

Almost as though possessed, she simply nodded.

After that, the Sword Saint took one sword and opened the way.

Black-clad men rushed him.

Each one who came forward died beneath a single stroke.

The jianghu people were not nearly stubborn enough to throw themselves into that kind of death.

Especially after seeing both Ding Heng and Cui Linfeng obediently following behind the swordsman, anyone with a clear head could tell that a true dragon had surfaced in this shallow pool.

Then they looked at the way the man wielded a sword.

There were no spectacular scenes of mountains trembling or the heavens changing color.

But every plain, simple stroke took a life.

That terrifying efficiency was enough for the better-informed among them to faintly guess his identity.

Naturally, no one dared step forward and act recklessly.

And so, the chaotic melee actually ended in this fashion.

The remaining twenty-odd black-clad men began concentrating entirely on the Sword Saint.

The Iron Chain Elder reached up and pulled the chopstick from his neck.

The sensation was like eating mint in the middle of summer.

Every breath he drew felt icy cold.

Watching the sword blossoms surrounding that man, the Iron Chain Elder extinguished any thought of fighting for the child again.

That man already stood on a level he could not shake.

Perhaps things would be different if a Third Grade Grandmaster appeared.

And even then, in a situation like this, expecting one Third Grade Grandmaster to stop one of the Four Great Swordsmen alone was hardly realistic.

At the railing on the second floor, the Blind Man and the young girl were now standing together.

The girl smacked her lips, then shouted down toward the Sword Saint, “Uncle! Want me to help you look after the baby?”

The Blind Man beside her mocked, “Do you have milk?”

The remark struck directly at the girl’s sore spot.

She puffed up in fury and whipped her head around to glare at the Blind Man.

Then she cursed, “You can’t even see! How do you know this young lady doesn’t have any?”

Down below, the black-clad men began to break.

They were not afraid of dying.

They could endure brutal fighting and bloody slaughter.

But even soldiers could not stomach this kind of death, where charging forward meant nothing more than offering up their heads.

Especially after the man who appeared to be their leader was cut down with a single stroke.

The remaining black-clad men exchanged glances.

Then all of them withdrew from the relay station.

The jianghu figures left behind looked at one another.

Some wanted to approach and build a connection but did not dare.

Others wanted to hurry forward and flatter the Sword Saint, but feared their flattery might land on the horse’s leg instead.

Only Ding Heng, carrying the child, and Cui Linfeng beside him followed the Sword Saint out of the relay station like two servants.

When the young girl saw the Sword Saint leaving, she became anxious.

She immediately pulled a thin chain from her sleeve, looped it around a roof beam, and prepared to swing down.

The Iron Chain Elder slapped out with his palm.

A hidden force swept through the air, pulling his granddaughter back into his arms.

“Grandpa! I don’t want to learn chains anymore!

“I want to learn the sword!

“I want to learn the sword!”

SMACK!

The Iron Chain Elder slapped his disobedient granddaughter across the backside and cursed, “You infatuated little fool! Your elbow’s already turning outward!”

...

Outside the relay station, they helped themselves to a carriage without asking.

The Sword Saint drove.

Inside the carriage, Ding Heng held the baby while the child nursed from Cui Linfeng.

They were all people of the jianghu.

And none of them were young enough to blush over such things.

So there was nothing particularly awkward about the scene inside the carriage.

One had become the nursemaid.

The other had become the wet nurse.

Neither had any grounds to laugh at the other.

Cui Linfeng was still a woman, and her thoughts were more delicate.

She glanced from the corner of her eye toward the scenery outside the carriage.

Then, without making a sound, she mouthed two words at Ding Heng:

“Northeast.”

The carriage was traveling northeast.

If they had simply been heading east, that would have been understandable enough.

After all, Nanmen Pass was heavily garrisoned by Yan troops, with numerous military forts scattered along the route.

Trying to pass through the small states in that direction and enter Chu would hardly be convenient.

It would make more sense to travel east first, reach the Situ Clan’s territory, and then turn south into Chu.

But the carriage was moving northeast.

That was much harder to understand.

Just then, a horse came galloping out from the direction of the relay station.

The black-clad men had not pursued them again.

None of the jianghu figures inside the relay station dared follow either.

But one person had.

The Sword Saint did not stop the carriage.

He simply allowed the rider to catch up and ride alongside.

Who else could it be but the Blind Man?

Breathing hard, the Blind Man cupped his hands respectfully toward the Sword Saint.

The Sword Saint paid him little mind.

The Blind Man, however, gave him a warm smile and said, “My lord, this humble one would be willing to accompany you and wait upon you.”

The Blind Man had already understood what had happened.

When the Sword Saint first entered the relay station carrying the child, he had probably simply been hungry.

Then he discovered that although Ding Heng had a filthy mouth, the child stopped crying whenever the man held him.

So the Sword Saint took Ding Heng along.

As for Cui Linfeng, she was there to provide milk.

The Blind Man could not be certain whether this “bastard” truly belonged to the person he was thinking of.

But for some inexplicable reason, he had a premonition.

There could not possibly be so many perfect coincidences in the world for no reason.

And in this entire world, how many infants were important enough for the Sword Saint himself to personally “look after”?

The jianghu people might believe the story about an imperial descendant of Chu.

But in the Blind Man’s mind, that explanation did not hold up at all.

The reason was simple.

Before that man truly sat on the imperial throne of Chu, he was not qualified.

The Sword Saint glanced at the Blind Man.

Then he said, “I already have a wet nurse.

“I have a nursemaid too.

“What do you think I still lack?”

The Blind Man immediately became solemn.

“An early-childhood tutor!”

————

[End of Chapter 278]