Chapter 65: Sharp Blade, Bold Heart

The knife shadows, like black mist, whistled through the air.

Li Rui moved like an old monkey at play, his waist swaying with the blade, light and nimble, yet his steps rooted like ancient trees, utterly steady.

“Truly a treasure of a blade!”

A fine horse deserves a fine saddle.

A warrior is the same—only with a good weapon can one fully unleash their martial skill.

Only a seventy-jin blade suits Li Rui’s full strength.

The heavy blade, paired with the modified White Ape’s Slash, made each attack seem casual, yet it was brutally dominant—lulling foes into complacency before snatching their lives.

Things that kill often don’t seem dangerous at all.

“Strike when unprepared—that is the way to victory.”

He looked up at the sky.

A faint line of dawn had just appeared on the horizon.

As he grew older, sleep became scarce, so Li Rui simply rose early every day to practice his blade, giving him far more time in each day.

The sleep problem that plagued others simply didn’t exist for him.

He fetched a basin of clear water, wiped the sweat from his body, then stepped out of Tianyi Hall.

He arrived at the Black Market.

As Li Rui stepped onto the stairs, Mao Kai rushed up to him, face filled with panic.

“Master.”

Li Rui turned his head and saw Mao Kai’s face, pale and grim.

Mao Kai held something in both hands, lifting it slightly.

Li Rui’s brows instantly knotted into a deep “ Chuan .”

It was weapons!

“What exactly happened?”

Mao Kai snarled: “Those bastards—I caught a thief during my patrol last night. When I searched him, I found five or six weapons on him.

After thinking it over, I realized—he wasn’t stealing. He was planting them!”

Li Rui drew a deep breath, his gaze turning grave.

Mao Kai gritted his teeth: “Master Li, someone wants us dead.”

Smelting weapons privately is a capital offense.

Someone is clearly framing us—planting these untraceable weapons in Black Market shops. If nothing goes wrong, tomorrow the authorities will show up and “coincidentally” find them.

Smuggling weapons is far worse than smuggling salt—the authorities crack down hard.

Then we’ll be covered in mud up to our pants.

There’s no way to explain it away.

Li Rui’s eyes turned icy.

“Zhao Wei.”

He knew exactly what Zhao Wei was trying to do.

It was identical to the method he used against Sun Ming.

The only difference was that it was even cruder.

Zhao Wei has people in the authorities too. When they catch us red-handed, I, as the Black Market supervisor, will be ruined—and if he plays it right, I might end up just like Sun Ming.

Even if I don’t die, I’ll spend the rest of my life in prison.

Mao Kai’s murderous intent could no longer be hidden: “Master Li, that Zhao Wei has a heart colder than ice.”

If I hadn’t happened to be on patrol today, we’d have been finished.

The thought of being implicated in a nine-clan extermination sent chills down Mao Kai’s spine.

False struggles: duels, life-or-death battles.

Real struggles: smearing mud, framing.

The Black Market is too vast to guard completely.

A flash of cold light gleamed in Li Rui’s eyes.

Tian Di Alliance.

In a five-court, five-hall mansion, lanterns glowed, casting two male silhouettes.

“Fool! Useless!”

Zhao Wei glared at the man, slightly hunched, face filled with guilt.

“Master Zhao, I never expected it to be so coincidental—he was caught by Mao Kai of the Black Market.”

“You, you!”

Zhao Wei’s eyes blazed with fury.

It’s not the godlike opponent you fear—it’s the piglike teammate.

His subordinate Sun Ming was killed by Li Rui in the Black Market. This man, eager to gain favor, came up with this despicable scheme of planting forged weapons.

Zhao Wei never cared about the methods.

If it had succeeded, fine. But he was caught red-handed.

He’s scared the snake.

Now, dealing with Li Rui will be far more difficult.

“Worthless dog!”

Zhao Wei grew angrier by the moment and kicked the man hard in the stomach.

Soon, he calmed down.

Anger was anger, but the matter still needed resolving.

Though this man was mediocre—a mere gatekeeper—he was loyal. If I let him go unpunished, others’ hearts will turn cold.

“Go yourself. Kill the man I sent.”

“Wait until Li Rui is away. I’ll handle the rest.”

The man immediately clutched his stomach and bowed deeply:

“I—I’ll go right away, Master Zhao.”

Zhao Wei rubbed his temples, exasperated: “Fine. Get out.”

Ever since he defeated Zhang Yang in the Grand Competition and secured his spot in the Huaqing Sect trial, the number of people flocking to him had multiplied many times over.

But expanding too fast brings too many problems.

For instance, the quality of these new followers is wildly uneven.

They’ve caused him no end of trouble lately.

He knew about the Black Market incident, but he also knew his enemies were too numerous—pull one thread and the whole fabric unravels—so he’d been quietly reining in his men.

Waiting until he was fully prepared.

Then he’d reclaim every slight.

“Li Rui!”

Five days later.

Chen Shi.

The sky remained dark, not a glimmer of light.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A frantic knocking echoed at the door.

Li Rui opened the door to find Liang He, face pale with panic: “Master, something’s happened—the thief who brought weapons to the Black Market is dead.”

“Let’s go see!”

Li Rui threw on an outer robe and followed Liang He to the Black Market.

When he saw the thief, throat slit, lying in a pool of blood:

Li Rui’s face showed no expression.

He’d expected this. That’s why he’d left Liang He behind in the Black Market to take turns guarding the thief with Mao Kai.

He’d already informed Zhang Yang.

If handled properly, he could turn the tables on Zhao Wei.

But he was still a step too slow—Zhao Wei had gone mad enough to silence the witness.

Mao Kai had suffered minor injuries in the fight.

He clutched his chest, face filled with shame: “Master, the man was a ranked warrior. We couldn’t match him.”

“This is not your fault.”

The old saying goes: fear not the thief who steals, but the one who watches.

Constantly guarding against a ranked warrior’s lurking gaze is simply too hard.

Li Rui ordered: “Clean this up. Tell everyone to act as if nothing happened.”

Mao Kai was unwilling: “Master Li, are we just letting this go?”

Li Rui stared coldly at Mao Kai: “What would you do?”

Mao Kai fell silent.

Indeed—what could he do?

The opponent was a ranked martial artist, and his patron was the number-one vice captain; not wanting to bow, he still had no choice but to bow.

“Yes!”

He lowered his head in fury and began cleaning up the blood on the ground with the few men beside him.

Li Rui walked back to Tianyi Hall.

Liang He followed silently behind and spoke: “Master, what should we do next?”

“Little He, suppose you’re walking down the road and encounter a thug with a knife—what would you do?”

Liang He fell into thought.

In his former self, he might have chosen to fight to the death.

But now…

“I’d run.”

Li Rui looked pleased: “Exactly.”

He added: “Unless you have a bigger knife.”

(End of Chapter)