[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-cursed-blade-s-walk":3,"chapter-the-cursed-blade-s-walk-the-cursed-blade-s-walk-chapter-3":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Cursed Blade's Walk",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2262308,4415,"Chapter 3: The Troublesome Ghost of Li Family Village","the-cursed-blade-s-walk-chapter-3",3,"\u003Cp>Bang! Bang! Bang!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Blind Old Three is dead!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The clanging of a bronze gong, mixed with shouts, shattered the quiet of Li Family Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not everyone had suffered wolf attacks, but everyone loved a good spectacle—especially in the village, where neighbors brawling or throwing tantrums could draw a crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, many had already picked up their hoes, ready to head to the fields; upon hearing “Blind Old Three” was dead, they all rushed over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tsk tsk, this is ‘Blind Old Three’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s the beast—I’ve seen it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I thought it was something terrifying, but it’s got no three heads or six arms—why were you all so scared?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fu Gui, what nonsense are you spouting? If you’ve got the guts, why didn’t you catch ‘Blind Old Three’ alive? Now you’re standing around making sarcastic remarks after it’s dead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I just didn’t have the time…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My pig! It died of fright—wahhh…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hei Dan’s mother arrived, stared at the corpse of “Blind Old Three,” and the grief she’d suppressed surged back—she sat on the ground and wailed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hei Dan’s father, Li Baoquan, also arrived; after learning what had happened, his face flushed crimson, and he swung his hand—whack!—delivered a hard slap to Hei Dan’s face, roaring: “You little brat, who gave you the right to act on your own?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He seemed furious, glaring at the villagers and gritting his teeth: “Brother Hu Zi helped me countless times when he was alive. If anything happened to Yan Waizi, how could I ever face anyone?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Forget it, forget it—the matter’s already over.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those nearby quickly tried to calm him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Li Baoquan still wore a furious expression, ready to beat Hei Dan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan raised his hand to stop him, glancing coolly: “The money’s been paid—one chicken.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A chicken?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Baoquan froze, lowered his hand, then rubbed his palms awkwardly: “This… this whole mess…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t surprising Li Baoquan acted this way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though swordsmen uphold the principle of keeping promises and honoring their word, who among those who risk their lives on the blade is truly gentle?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are righteous heroes, but far more who take money to kill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And their fees? Never cheap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Li Yan’s father, Li Hu, was a generous man; when villagers came asking for help, he’d usually slap his chest and agree—so he’d often been tricked into doing favors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Li Yan’s reputation? Far worse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason was simple: his views differed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d been a man of the modern world, and he’d died once already—why should he care about clan rituals, emperor-subject hierarchies, or others’ opinions? He acted only to satisfy his own conscience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When action was needed, he never sheathed his blade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What he was owed? Not a single copper coin less.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one would ever take advantage of him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To him, it was normal. To others, he was a stubborn, hard-to-deal-with ghost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who’d have thought he’d actually done something noble this time?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I told you—only Yan Waizi could handle it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just like his father—he’ll be a true hero someday!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around him, villagers raised thumbs, praising him in overlapping voices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan chuckled, saying nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The clan head’s coming!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, someone shouted loudly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A group of men approached along the village dirt path—all elderly; their leader was a thin old man with a goatee and a pair of reading glasses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Li Family Village had many non-Li families, the only major clan was Li—and so the Li clan head had always served as village chief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This generation’s clan head was Li Huairen, the village’s sole landowner, from a long line of scholar-farmers who’d passed the provincial exam as a scholar-candidate; he cared deeply about face and had a decent reputation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He came close, circled the corpse of “Blind Old Three” several times, listened to the villagers’ accounts, then stroked his beard and nodded: “Good. With the busy farming season upon us, eliminating this menace lets the villagers focus on their fields—this is a good thing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Merit deserves reward. Zhou Juezi, since your pig died, I’ll personally buy it and give it to Li Yan’s family—this is the village’s token of gratitude.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan grinned: “That’s perfect—thank you, clan head.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cultivation consumed a lot of energy—he ate like a bottomless pit. These past days, his belly had been sorely lacking fat. A big, fat pig? It’d last him a good while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the benefit of a fearsome reputation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The village chief knew Li Yan was hard to deal with—daily labor and hard chores were never assigned to his family, and benefits were never withheld.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even happier was Zhou Juezi: his fat pig was meant for selling at New Year’s—he’d never dreamed of eating it himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The clan head’s decision was an unexpected windfall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To avoid trouble, he immediately wanted to drag Li Yan away, kill the pig right away—first, because fresh meat kept better, second, to make the matter official.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re in such a hurry!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan teased, but still called Hei Dan to help drag the pig.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After they left, Clan Head Li Huairen exhaled slightly in relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A lazy villager, envious, grinned through his teeth: “Clan head, Yan Xiao-ge’s feat deserves reward, of course—but why waste the corpse of ‘Blind Old Three’? Skin it, eat the meat—it’ll satisfy hunger and vent anger…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You beggar!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he finished, someone scowled and snapped: “How many people did ‘Blind Old Three’ eat? Can you even stomach its flesh? I say—burn it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hei Dan’s mother heard this and burst into fresh sobs; others sighed in sympathy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clan Head Li Huairen stroked his beard, thoughtful: “In olden days, there were many wolves in Guanzhong. Back then, many veteran soldiers were still alive—after killing them, they’d hang the corpses from crooked trees at the village entrance as a warning—and peace would last a while.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zhu Zi, take a few men and hang ‘Blind Old Three’ at the village entrance!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, clan head!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately, several men stepped forward to drag the wolf corpse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No! Don’t you dare!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, a weak female voice rose from the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone turned—there stood a middle-aged woman at the back, her face sallow, hair matted, body reeking so badly people stepped back three paces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Wang the Widow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be fair, Wang the Widow was a pitiful soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her husband was an outsider, and since childhood he’d stolen chickens and dogs, never learned anything, and was despised by the village—even she’d been bought from a human trafficker. But even after marriage, he never settled down, constantly going to Chang’an to hang out with his shady friends, returning drunk and beating her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, he got into a drunken brawl and died last year on the road outside Chang’an, leaving Wang the Widow and a four-year-old daughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In such a situation, if Wang the Widow remarried, the villagers wouldn’t object—in fact, they’d welcome it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, a widow with a young child struggled, and the village had several unmarried men still unpaired.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after her husband’s death, Wang the Widow fell seriously ill; when she woke, she was dazed, never cleaned her home, which smelled like a pigsty, and she herself stank to high heaven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Poor her daughter suffered too, locked indoors all day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Better to marry an ugly woman than a lazy corpse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now even the village bachelors lost interest—and secretly mocked her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one in the village wanted to deal with Wang the Widow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing everyone’s stares, Wang the Widow shrank back but whispered: “The corpse of ‘Blind Old Three’ is unclean—it carries ill fortune. It must be burned, and a ritual performed…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Silence!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before she finished, Clan Head Li Huairen’s face darkened; he barked: “Don’t spread heresy here! You burn incense in your house all day—that’s your business. But if you dare believe in the White Lotus Mother and drag the village into trouble, don’t blame me for being merciless!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At these words, everyone’s faces turned grim.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were plenty of folk witches and shamans, and temple incense burned brightly in every city’s City God shrine; the court even held grand ceremonies on major holidays, led by Daoists of the True Orthodoxy Sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for illicit cults and secret sects, they showed no mercy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The most infamous was the Maitreya Sect, with countless branches.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two years ago, villagers secretly spread its teachings; when the court found out, they sent troops to massacre them, burning the entire village to the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over a thousand souls perished—now it’s a ghost village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang the Widow was always messy and odd, burning incense daily—she looked exactly like those foolish cult followers. Even without proof, Li Huairen kept a wary eye on her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, everyone’s gazes grew dark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang the Widow, seeing this, dared not speak again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clan Head Li Huairen snorted, ordered the wolf corpse dragged away, and hurried off with his men.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As both clan head and village chief, he had no leisure—after Xiaoman came Mangzhong; the summer harvest was imminent. He had endless chores for the village and his own estate, plus officials from Chang’an coming to inspect grain taxes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Blind Old Three” was just a minor distraction to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the spectacle over, the crowd dispersed, returning to their fields.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only Wang the Widow stood frozen, staring blankly at the dragged-away corpse, a flicker of fear in her eyes—then she hurried home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back in her courtyard, she slammed the wooden door shut with a bang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The room was dim and murky; Wang the Widow’s expression changed—no trace of her earlier weakness. She lit three incense sticks, pressed them to her forehead, knelt before the ancestral altar, and whispered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Third Aunt—the disaster has come…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Juezi moved swiftly; within an hour, the fat pig was slaughtered and cleaned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan shoved several catties into Hei Dan’s hands and told him to run errands, delivering portions to neighbors and familiar villagers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing these tasks, Li Yan shouldered half a pig and headed home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His home was at the eastern end of Li Family Fort Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a typical Guanzhong peasant courtyard, large and with its packed-earth ground unoccupied by vegetables, instead littered with stone weights and stone balls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Family Fort had originally been a military fortress, and a few families still preserved the old tradition of farming and training martial arts—Li Yan’s family was one of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The difference was, above his front door hung a wooden plaque inscribed with four bold characters: “One Hundred Battles, Mighty and Fierce,” their strokes powerful and vigorous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside the threshold sat an old man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man’s hair was white as snow, his back hunched, his face creased like orange peel, his eyes dull and lifeless, as he puffed on a long tobacco pipe, sending clouds of smoke into the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His right pant leg hung empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was Li Yan’s grandfather in this life, Li Gui.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan grinned and said, “Grandpa, the clan chief gave us a pig. For lunch, want pork sauce noodles or oil-poured noodles?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Li Gui didn’t even look at him, his face dark as he smoked, one puff after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan chuckled, said nothing, and carried the pig straight into the courtyard, setting it down in the kitchen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The half-pig would take the two of them more than a day to finish—some had to be cured, some rendered into lard, and the process took time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yan wasn’t in a hurry; after setting down the pig, he walked out into the courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sun had risen high; he shed his outer clothes, wearing only a shirt, revealing his sleek, corded muscles. He warmed up, regulated his breath, then clenched both fists tightly at his waist, his body straight as a spear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, he raised one palm upward as if lifting a bronze cauldron, then slowly lowered it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red Fist’s Ten Disciplines: The Tyrant Lifts the Cauldron\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guanzhong Red Fist had an extremely ancient lineage, with countless branches; every village, every martial school had its own traditions and secret techniques.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He trained the family’s old Red Fist style, passed down from an ancestor of the Li family during the previous dynasty, taught by a military general—rich in subtleties and insights.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That general was a figure often mentioned in teahouse storytelling tales, known as a warrior capable of holding off ten thousand men; his teachings were naturally extraordinary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His grandfather, Li Gui, had been a fierce soldier of the army, seasoned by countless battles for survival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His father, Li Hu, was a Guanzhong blade-wielder, surviving on the roads, traveling north and south, absorbing many underworld tricks that added an extra edge of ferocity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But no matter what, the Ten Disciplines of Red Fist remained the foundation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Red Fist emphasizes: “Support and replenish as mother, hook and sweep as skill, transformation as wonder, deceptive strikes as method.” Its variations are endless, but without solid fundamentals, all is wasted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ten Disciplines are divided into soft and hard forms; Li Yan never missed a day of practice, regardless of wind, rain, scorching heat, or freezing cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet his training method differed from ordinary people’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All martial artists know: “A boxer’s body is as precious as gold,” so progress must be gradual; rushing leads to injury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Li Yan seemed to have broken through this limit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he raised his palm upward, his body stretched to its extreme, as if truly lifting a massive bronze cauldron, like a taut bowstring—inside his body came a creaking sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, Li Yan calmed his mind and focused his spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his dantian, a stone statue floated slowly…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>New book update schedule: Daily at 10 a.m., two chapters released together\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",2273,"2026-06-19T18:28:32.159Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e19cd418bb7c7d554d68bf3b0acf3e1614307bb5e94550742455cb0173463df9","the-cursed-blade-s-walk-chapter-4","the-cursed-blade-s-walk-chapter-2",801,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-cursed-blade-s-walk-cover.jpg"]