Chapter 18

"What do you mean!"

Li Yan rarely mentioned his father Li Hu's death, only because it was a bit disgraceful.

His nickname, "Sick Tiger of Guanzhong," was even more of a romantic wanderer.

His mother in this life was an ordinary farm woman; under his grandfather's discipline before, his father was relatively stable, and besides practicing martial arts, he lived a life of "men plowing and women weaving."

Until the year after he was born.

Guanzhong suffered a great drought, locusts were a disaster, and plagues arose everywhere.

In that year, the Maitreya Sect also followed suit and stirred up trouble.

His mother died of illness, and the family couldn't even open the pot, so his father picked up his saber and went out, eating Jianghu food and earning Jianghu money, gradually making a name for himself.

But this was like a fierce tiger coming out of a cage, and he could no longer be controlled.

Not only did he kill people like hemp, but he also owed a buttload of romantic debts.

When Li Yan was young, he had seen several beautiful aunts come to the door to find people, crying and shedding tears, and even fighting at the door, making his grandfather unable to eat for several days.

The winter he died was also in a brothel in Changancheng.

According to the constable and the brothel's "big teapot" (pimp), it was "death during intercourse," and the coroner and his grandfather personally examined the corpse, which was also the case.

Since then, his grandfather rarely mentioned his father and became increasingly old.

If it were before, Li Yan would just think Sha Lifei was lying.

But ever since he knew about the curse, he felt that this matter wasn't that simple.

Seeing the murderous intent rise in Li Yan's eyes and his dragon pupils shooting cold light, Sha Lifei felt panicked and hurriedly accompanied him with a smile: "I heard... sigh, I just heard, okay... a few months after the incident, that brothel had an accident."

"What accident?"

"People died, several prostitutes died!"

"And what does that have to do with my father?"

"I also happened to like asking around; I happened to know the ones who died—they were all old lovers of your father..."

"Continue!"

"Originally, no one cared about the death of a few prostitutes on the official side, but it seemed very tense at the time, and Zhou Pan himself took the initiative to cooperate, taking a group of disciples to Changancheng, searching everywhere."

"You also know what kind of person that old monkey Zhou Pan is—he takes advantage when there's a bargain and hides when there's trouble; being so active, there must be a ghost!"

"Besides, your father's accident was most beneficial to him."

Sha Lifei observed Li Yan's expression while speaking.

Suddenly feeling a lightness in his heart, he looked down and discovered that the short saber in Li Yan's hand had already silently retracted into his sleeve, and he hadn't noticed at all.

Sleeve Saber!

Sha Lifei immediately remembered what this thing was.

When Li Hu was alive, there was a martial arts world legend that he not only knew the Guanzhong fast saber but also created a "Sleeve Saber" technique based on the Kasaya technique and the "Sleeve Hand."

Hiding a saber in the sleeve originally described being kind to people while being insidious inside.

This Sleeve Saber was also like this; it could take a person's life silently.

Li Hu relied on these two sabers to make a considerable name for himself, and he didn't expect he would pass them on to his son.

This kid was simply more suitable for the Sleeve Saber than his father.

Although Li Yan retracted the saber, his eyes remained cold. "Uncle Sha, let's not speak in riddles; if there's really a problem with my father's death, I'll owe you a favor."

"But one thing is one thing; what was your intention in calculating me?"

"If you don't explain it clearly, this matter won't be over today!"

Li Yan was called the "difficult ghost" in the village, and it wasn't without reason.

He had lived two lives and had long seen through many things; he didn't care about rituals, rules, or systems, and was too lazy to play any hide-and-seek.

What was Sha Lifei's plan?

Even if he pulled out his teeth today, he had to pry it out!

Looking at Li Yan's eyes, Sha Lifei only felt his scalp go numb, awkwardly rubbed his bald head, and said: "Little Brother Yan, don't be angry; you know me—I'm famous for being righteous..."

He swallowed the bragging half of his sentence and said helplessly: "Actually, it's nothing; a while ago, I accidentally offended a disciple of Zhou Pan and had to come to Xianyang City."

"Thinking that your family also had a grudge with him, I just happened to pull in a helper..."

"Oh, so that's it."

Li Yan suddenly realized and nodded slightly. "Uncle Sha, actually, you could have just said it directly. Look at this—it almost caused an accident. Don't blame me."

Sha Lifei nodded hurriedly. "Not at all, not at all; we're on the same side. Also, about that Daoist Wang, we'll handle it tomorrow, but you need to accompany me on a trip; it just so happens you can follow the team tomorrow."

"That's natural."

Li Yan smiled and agreed, as if the matter of almost drawing a saber earlier hadn't happened at all, and walked away swaying.

Only then did Sha Lifei breathe a sigh of relief, feeling his back was covered in cold sweat, and couldn't help but curse in his heart: "Damn it, this kid has a dog's face; he flips whenever he wants."

After this matter is over, it's better to stay away from him in the future...

…………

Returning to the vicinity of the shed, Li Yan found a place with few people, leaned against a large tree, held his saber in his arms, and prepared to sleep.

It was summer, and it wasn't cold at night, so he didn't bring bedding when he went out; he would just make do here for one night and leave after finding Wang Daoxuan.

He naturally took Sha Lifei's words to heart.

It seemed that his father's death wasn't just caused by the bad luck brought by the "Yansheng" technique, but there was another hidden story.

Whether it was related to Zhou Pan couldn't be determined yet.

But some intuition told him that this matter was related to Jianghu sorcerers!

No matter what to do in the future, he first needed to step into this path.

Just then, footsteps sounded from behind.

Li Yan opened his eyes and found it was Hei Dan.

This kid was holding a water bag, timid, and didn't dare to come forward.

Li Yan laughed freely: "What's wrong? Did I grow horns?"

This kid could be considered the only one in the village who had a good relationship with him, and he was also righteous, so when he opened his mouth to help, he didn't hesitate to take action.

Hei Dan scratched his head, smiled honestly, and handed over the water bag. "Brother Yan, drink some water; you were truly amazing today!"

"It's not that I'm amazing; it's that he underestimated the enemy." Li Yan's expression became serious, and he earnestly recounted the previous duel.

The duel with Meng Haicheng seemed to be a victory in one move, but it wasn't that simple.

First, he knew the other party was proficient in Monkey Fist, and because of his age, he made the other party underestimate him, using words to provoke him, thus creating the most favorable conditions.

The other party was older after all and had rich Jianghu experience; if he had fought carefully, he probably would have had to spend some effort to knock him down.

The two were close after all, so Li Yan passed on the key points without reservation so that Hei Dan would have some defense if he encountered it in the future.

Hei Dan was stunned. "So complicated?"

Li Yan smiled. "The Jianghu human heart is complicated; martial force is only used when the face is torn, and the saber in the dark is more fatal. If you don't keep a few more wits about you, how can you survive?"

Of course, there were some things he didn't say.

Defeating Meng Haicheng in one move wasn't just to show off.

From the moment he heard Sha Lifei's provocation, he knew this guy had no good intentions; only by using the prestige of defeating the enemy could he force this old fox to tell the truth.

！.

And this exclamation also came from the heart.

Fighting with sabers was just on the surface; if you didn't understand and guard against the strange things of the Mystic Sect, you wouldn't even know how you died.

Hei Dan was stunned for a long time, then said with a dim look: "No wonder my father also had skills but let me dig for food in the fields; this Jianghu is indeed not a place I can stay."

Saying this, his emotions became clearly agitated. "Brother Yan, but I'm not reconciled, and I don't want to be holed up in the village; teach me what I should do."

Li Yan pondered for a moment. "Learn a craft first; if you want to go out and roam, you must have the ability to eat, otherwise you can only fight with sabers like me."

"Learn a craft..."

Hei Dan thought for a moment, nodded earnestly, and said: "Brother Yan, I'll listen to you. I have an uncle who is a leatherworker in Changancheng; if I say I want to learn a craft, my father probably won't stop me."

Saying this, a glimmer of hope rose in his eyes, and he left happily.

Li Yan laughed dumbly, then held his saber and closed his eyes.

In his past life, he only had a meal because he learned a car repair craft.

In this life, he only felt that the saber in his hand was more useful...

…………

Unknowingly, the night was deep and quiet.

It was the waning moon, and everything was dim and lightless.

In the shed by the wheat field, snoring accompanied the sound of insects.

The wheat harvesters had been on the road for many days, and they had to work before dawn tomorrow, so they all went to sleep early to get enough energy.

The distant Lu family mansion was also quiet.

But in several important areas, there were bodyguards patrolling.

Zhao Jiu yawned and rubbed his face, feeling a bit bored.

Just as Li Yan expected, they were all disciples of Zhao Family Fist.

Originally in Jinzhou, they followed big ticket merchants to escort goods; although there were risks, they didn't worry about food and clothing, and it was a trade passed down for generations.

However, they encountered a hard nut on the road once, not only losing the goods but also losing several pillars in the sect; their strength declined, and even their business was snatched away.

Originally, they would have ended up with the tree falling and the monkeys scattering, but who knew they met someone to pull strings and became bodyguards, following this Squire Lu to Guanzhong.

Compared to those days of traveling north and south, it was much more stable now.

But it was so stable that it made people itch; they hadn't even seen a petty thief.

Just then, Zhao Jiu glanced casually and suddenly widened his eyes.

He could feel that in the distance, vaguely, there seemed to be a human figure.

"Who?!"

Zhao Jiu wasn't afraid and lunged out with a cold laugh.

Their bodyguards had their own secret signals; no matter how dark the light was, they could distinguish whether it was their own people.

In addition, if it were a flying thief from the Rong family gate in the Jianghu, they would all know the Jianghu rules, throw stones to ask the way first, and then have a round of "panning the road"; they rarely fought to the death.

That person didn't dare to respond, so it was mostly a layman petty thief.

He didn't draw the saber at his waist but carried a rattan stick.

This rattan stick had excellent toughness and hurt when it hit people; if it were really some starving petty thief who went over walls and through houses, a beating would be enough, and there was no need to take a life.

However, after he reached the corner, he found nothing.

Could it be that his eyes were blurred?

Zhao Jiu was wondering when he suddenly felt a chill behind his back.

Turning around suddenly, his face turned pale, and his hair stood on end.

He saw a vague figure there, with a hunched and small stature, full of chicken-skin wrinkles, clearly an old woman.

But this old woman had a blue face, her feet off the ground, floating in the air...

"Ah—!"

The terrified scream broke the silence of the Lu family mansion...

…………

Under the large tree by the wheat field, Li Yan suddenly opened his eyes.

He sniffed and looked into the distance with some doubt.

He smelled a strange, special scent.

It wasn't like the cold and bloody scent of the Chang soldiers, nor the peaceful incense of the Earth Temple, but carried warmth and sweetness, like delicious snacks.

Snacks?

Li Yan didn't know why such a thought popped into his head.

But soon, he knew the reason.

The substitute deity statue in his dantian was eager to move, like a greedy cat encountering a fish...

(End of chapter)