Chapter 454: Teaching Huang Longshi a Lesson, Sui Xiagu Appears, and the Girl Hehe

Xiangguo Lane is a place of wind and moon where gold flows and silver pours.

During the day, the halls are desolate and pedestrians are few; occasionally, two cat calls of spring flow out from some room, inviting endless reverie. At this moment, it is only early morning, and the entire Xiangguo Lane appears very quiet, yet it also reveals a lazy scent of rouge and powder.

Boom—!

Just at this moment, a "boom" sound rang out, like rolls of thunder from thin air.

Sharp-eyed girls or guests staying overnight saw a large hole broken in the wall of the boudoir of the double-Jia Li Baishi, and a figure flew out horizontally. It flew straight into a brothel across the street, crashing through another wall before stopping; for a time, mud and sand fell together, and in an instant, the person's body was buried inside.

For a time, screams followed one after another.

Xiangguo Lane charges high prices, and those who can stay overnight are either rich or noble, among whom there is no lack of martial arts practitioners. At this moment, they all changed color, shocked and uncertain.

That strike just now, was it not at least the means of a Second-Rank Small Grandmaster?

Li Baishi stared with beautiful eyes in surprise, her slender hands covering her cherry mouth so as not to be too shocked; her mind was a blank, with only one thought echoing repeatedly.

The Old Ancestor... was actually beaten flying by someone.

In Li Baishi's eyes, the Old Ancestor was a God-like figure; even those guys who ride swords to ascend or drive cranes to verify the Dao could not compare.

This is a peerless figure who treats the mountains, rivers, and the world as chess pieces, almost like a Demon God, watching the joys and sorrows of the human world with a smile; because of his single thought, the Spring and Autumn wars broke out, blood flowed and drifted, and the world wore mourning clothes.

But now, the Old Ancestor was easily smashed away by the person in front of her, like a dream.

At the same time, Li Baishi shivered; fortunately, Murong Tonghuang let her get the Go set, and after he slapped her once, she obediently went to get it, otherwise, with her physique, she would be crippled if not dead.

This person looks like someone who cherishes the fragrance and pities the jade, but Li Baishi truly does not believe the other party would show mercy; that violent murderous intent was enough to make anyone's liver and gallbladder shatter.

Just at this moment, there was a sound of bricks and rubble shifting under the collapsed wall, and with a "bang," an aged hand covered in wrinkles reached out from the pile of rubble, and then slowly pushed away the rubble and broken stones covering his body.

The crowd was shocked to discover that the person who had been knocked flying earlier was actually an old man with graying temples.

However, it must be said that this old man's body is truly sturdy; having suffered such a strike, he could stand up slowly without anyone's support.

In the quiet Xiangguo Lane, there was only the sound of rubble shifting, occasionally mixed with hurried coughing.

Huang Longshi was coughing, and with every cough, a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

His expression was without sorrow or joy, and ripples appeared in his deep, aged eyes as he looked up in the direction of Yu Liancheng: "Little one, you..."

Before he could finish speaking, a black figure crossed the air from afar. Then, a shoe stepped heavily on Huang Longshi's face, stepping him back into the ruins.

It must be said that Yu Liancheng now quite likes the feeling of stepping on people's faces.

At the same time, his violent aura poured out without any concealment, and the nearby girls and guests, even separated by several zhang, felt a chill all over their bodies.

He looked down from above, coldly watching this Huang Sanjia, one of the three Great Demons of the Spring and Autumn, and spoke slowly.

"You are the Calculation Jia among the Spring and Autumn Thirteen Jia, good at calculating your whole life; have you ever calculated this one's fist?"

"You, Huang Longshi, want to open peace for all ages; it is the spirit of a scholar, and your wish is very good. But to say something unpleasant, you are everywhere; do you think you are a stirrer of shit or a fly?"

"This world is the world of the people of the world, not yours, Huang Sanjia; as for which way it should go, it should be for the people of the world to make the choice."

"If you are old, you should accept being old; stop making trouble. Have you heard that 'to be old and not die is to be a thief'? Isn't it good to enjoy your old age properly?"

"Also, stop trying to calculate me; you know how I deal with buzzing flies, don't you?"

"Catch this fly, squeeze its belly, pull out its intestines, and then use its intestines to strangle its neck and pull hard—ha! The whole tongue comes out! Then I raise my hand and the knife falls, swish—! The whole world is clean; you don't want it to be like this, do you?"

Yu Liancheng delivered a good round of verbal bombardment, his tongue blooming with lotus flowers, leaving this "Three-Inch Tongue Killed Three Million" poison-strategist speechless, unable to refute even half a sentence.

Of course, it might also be because his face was being stepped on.

Bang!!

Another light kick was delivered.

And Huang Longshi was like being struck by a thousand, ten thousand bolts of thunder; his body expanded extremely, as if it could not bear it and was about to explode.

But his person flew out first, crashing through wall after wall, mud and gravel pouring down, once again burying Huang Longshi inside, silent and soundless.

Yu Liancheng turned around and drifted into the Baiyu Shizi Lou, his expression still calm.

He pulled three thousand taels of silver notes from his bosom, waved them in front of the stunned Li Baishi, and pointed to the collapsed and damaged wall. Edo morality still had to be maintained; as for whether these three thousand taels were too much or too little, he was too lazy to consider it.

Regardless of Li Baishi's expression, he stuffed the silver notes onto the table messily.

"Let's go."

Finally, Yu Liancheng smiled slightly at Yu Xuanji, who was also dumbfounded, and left hand in hand.

Xiangguo Lane was desolate and silent.

Yet there were countless gazes looking at the gravel and rubble, and one could vaguely hear hurried and terrified breathing.

They all heard the words of the young man in black, and in their hearts, they also had vague guesses.

If the old man buried under the ruins was the "Three-Inch Tongue Killed Three Million" Huang Sanjia, then the young man in black was likely the currently prominent Murong Tonghuang.

Although after Murong Tonghuang became famous, there was no lack of young juniors in the world imitating him in black, such appearance and demeanor could only be possessed by the Master of Huishan.

"Today was truly a good show; Huang Longshi, oh Huang Longshi, there are also people you cannot calculate and things you cannot predict in this world." A hoarse voice, grinding like a night owl, rang out, making people's scalps tingle.

I do not know when, but an old man with empty sleeves appeared in Xiangguo Lane; although he lacked an arm, because his figure was burly, he did not appear very old or decrepit, especially with his thick, long eyebrows and a snow-white long whip tied, looking quite extraordinary, with the demeanor of an ancient hero.

Coughing sounds came from the ruins.

A figure struggled to rise from the gravel and rubble, his expression still without joy or sorrow, his movements very slow, as if he were a twilight old man.

Or rather, he was already a twilight old man.

Huang Longshi slowly crawled up, chose a clean spot, and sat down.

He was covered in dust, blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, in a wretched state. No one could tell that this was the Spring and Autumn Demon, Huang Sanjia.

Many people in Xiangguo Lane nodded; not to mention how this Huang Longshi stirred up disputes, laid traps for thousands of miles, and killed three million with his tongue. Just based on this physique, he was sturdier than ordinary martial artists; no wonder he could stir up so many things.

"It is hard for anyone in the world to have perfect calculations; world affairs are hard to predict. Just like planting crops, the seeds are sown, but how they grow depends on both human effort and the timing of heaven; I, Huang Longshi, am not so arrogant as to compare myself to heaven."

"You use people as chess pieces and calculate everywhere, yet you do not know that the human heart is the hardest to calculate."

The old man of unknown identity was very happy to sprinkle salt on Huang Longshi's wound and chuckled: "You thought that guy would consider the overall situation and cooperate with you. At the very least, he shouldn't have made a move against you and provoked an enemy for nothing. But that guy is like me, a person who only follows his own heart. He enjoys himself first, so how could he care about the rest."

Huang Sanjia sat on the ground, shook the dust off his body, and spoke to himself.

"Among the world's romantic figures, most are inevitably bound by their own cocoons for the sake of love, righteousness, or benevolence. Wang Xianzhi traps himself in one city, Xuanyuan Jingcheng traps himself on one mountain, Cao Zhangqing traps himself in one kingdom... The only ones truly transcendent of the world are you, this old man who eats swords, Yuan Benxi who searches everywhere to seek revenge on me, Li Chungang who walked out of Tingchao Pavilion, and this Murong Tonghuang. I admit my defeat willingly; it is precisely because the world has such experts that it appears vivid."

"No need to say more, I understand, I understand. After being beaten up, you raise the opponent's status to make yourself look less shameful. I learned this kind of backbone back when I first entered the Edo."

The one-armed old man still wore a smile, continuing to rub salt into the wound: "By the way, Huang Sanjia, how does it feel to have your face stepped on? Tell me quickly. I, Sui Xiegu, have lived for most of my life and have never had my face stepped on or been sent flying by a chessboard."

With his scar exposed and salt rubbed into it, even with Huang Sanjia's temperament, the corners of his mouth twitched, and a fire of rage seemed to rise in his eyes.

"That's right." The one-armed old man slapped his thigh and chuckled: "I knew it, you Huang Sanjia are human after all. To be beaten into such a sorry state and still act so calm and detached—what are you pretending for in front of me? By the way, do you have any swords? I'm craving some."

"None."

Huang Sanjia replied with annoyance.

He was able to toy with the people of the world only because those people had desires and wishes in their hearts.

Yet this fellow before him was indeed someone transcendent of the world.

He was obsessed with eating swords and also liked the old women of the Guanyin Sect, but he was not trapped within those things; he possessed a sense of 'standing like a thousand-fathom cliff, desireless and therefore strong,' yet his martial arts were extremely high.

Back then, the Old Sword God Li Chungang descended from Longhu Mountain and exchanged an arm with this person, and from then on, the Old Sword God's cultivation plummeted by a thousand miles.

This man surnamed Sui's Sword Dao cultivation might not be the best in the world, but he had his own pride and arrogance, just like his boast: "Three million Sword Immortals in the heavens, all must lower their brows before me."

"Stingy. No choice then, I'll have to rely on myself."

The one-armed old man who called himself Sui Xiegu raised a finger and chanted something, and an intangible Sword Intent permeated outward, covering most of Xiangfan.

In Xiangfan City, there was no shortage of martial artists, among whom swordsmen were the most numerous.

Clang! Clang!

Amidst the stunned crowd, long swords flew out of their sheaths one after another, filling the sky and covering the earth, flying toward Xiangguo Lane, and finally lining up in front of the one-armed old man.

The one-armed old man scanned the long swords suspended in the air, then flicked his sleeve, and the long swords returned to their owners' sheaths.

Of course, he didn't care if any got mixed up.

Returning the swords at all was only because he had watched a good show today and was in a good mood.

Finally, the group of swords dispersed, leaving only one long sword with a classical design; the sword glowed with luster, and one could tell at a glance it was no ordinary object.

"The quality is decent, but the Sword Qi is a bit lacking, and it's not sharp or hard enough... Forget it, I'll just have to make do."

Sui Xiegu, with his empty sleeve, flicked his finger, and the long sword hummed and vibrated, then crackled as cracks appeared along it.

The long sword broke into pieces, one into two, two into four, four into eight... and finally, all of it fell into the large sleeve of his severed arm.

"What did you come here for? Surely not just to watch me suffer." Huang Longshi did not mind his strange behavior.

"To return a sword." After saying these words, the old man picked up a piece of the sword body and threw it into his mouth, chewing it loudly as if it were soybeans.

"Whose sword are you returning?" Huang Longshi asked.

Sui Xiegu focused on the "appetizer" before him and flicked his hand, sending a sword flying out of his sleeve to stick into the wall.

It was a seemingly unremarkable sword with a slender body, and the hilt was still swaying and humming. Perhaps it had been stained with the blood of many experts, thus carrying a bloody, malevolent aura.

"Murong Tonghuang's sword?" Huang Longshi stared for a long time.

Sui Xiegu ate the sword like soybeans and said casually: "Correct. He traveled a thousand miles with one sword to save my second disciple. You know, I've had two disciples in my life. The first was unremarkable, and I thought the second would also fade into the crowd, but his Sword Nine 'Six Thousand Li' truly amazed me. The later Sword Ten and Sword Eleven were even more transcendent of the mundane. Since this man surnamed Murong could train my disciple to such a level, I was naturally very curious, so I found an excuse to come here."

Huang Longshi naturally knew that although this old man before him was unknown, he occasionally entered the world over the years to make deals with him: he would kill or injure people, and Huang would be responsible for providing him with a good sword to consume.

This person was extremely obsessed with swords and did not seek fame or fortune, so there was almost no mention of him in the Edo. However, he had taken two disciples: one was the Sword Emperor of Western Shu, who had a great reputation but was trampled into meat paste by the Beiliang Iron Cavalry; the other, whose reputation was equally significant, was Jian Jiu Huang, who had challenged Wang Xianzhi not long ago.

"Heh, so you are also looking to spar with Murong Tonghuang?" Huang Longshi sneered: "You are at such an age, don't do something that brings humiliation upon yourself."

Sui Xiegu finished eating the sword body and tossed the hilt away: "I know you are provoking me. That you, Huang Longshi, would use such a crude and simple provocation really damages your reputation as Huang Sanjia."

"Simple and crude is one thing, whether it works is what matters most." Huang Longshi muttered in his heart, then chuckled again: "Although I am not a martial artist, my methods are profound, and in the eyes of mortals, I am no different from a God or Buddha. But in that boy's hands, I have absolutely no power to fight back. Not to mention other methods, his physique alone is already chasing Wang Xianzhi's. If you go up, you will only end up being beaten, even more miserably than me. If you don't dare, then don't dare; why be so hesitant? You are the Eating Sword Ancestor after all, to lack even this bit of courage is truly shameful."

"Hmph, whether I am a match for him is one thing, but to not even dare to fight—do you think I am a coward like you? I want to see just how much water there is in his 'One Sword Brightens the Heavens'." Sui Xiegu snorted coldly, took the "Duoqing Sword," and flew away.

"Heh, a brute."

Huang Longshi chuckled, but he also knew that his provocation was merely an opening. Sui Xiegu was only truly willing to act because he felt an itch to fight after seeing an expert.

As for the result, no matter which of these two fellows suffered, Huang Longshi would be very happy.

Just as he was preparing to leave, another person arrived at Xiangguo Lane—a little girl, holding a verdant bamboo branch between two fingers and spinning it slowly. Her expression was cold, yet she was quite cute.

What was even more surprising was that behind the little girl was a "big cat" half a head taller than her, black and white all over, looking honest and cute.

"Daughter, you've come." Huang Longshi rarely showed a gentle smile.

The little girl looked at the disheveled Huang Longshi, scanned him up and down, and a hint of a smile appeared on her expressionless face as she finally spoke.

"Heh."