Chapter 14: Iron Sand

Mei Qinghe was silent for a long time before saying: "The Five Mountains Sword Sect is connected by the same breath, and it won't be as dirty as the senior said."

She was just being stubborn, she knew this point herself, and Li Miao also knew it very well.

Otherwise, how else could she answer?

Should she say "Senior, you are right, our Huashan Sect is indeed about to be exterminated"?

Mei Qinghe had been broken since she was a child and was taken in by the Huashan Sword Sect, and had long regarded the honor and disgrace of the sect as her own pursuit.

In order not to lose the face of the Huashan Sword Sect, she could wait for Li Miao to kill her.

Of course, she couldn't nod and agree with what Li Miao said.

But the decline of the Huashan Sword Sect could no longer be covered up, and she couldn't argue with confidence, so she could only distinguish with a "won't be like what you said" that had no confidence.

Li Miao smiled: "It seems you also know this very well."

"I am indeed unfavorable to the Five Mountains Sword Sect, this is not false."

"But being unfavorable to the Five Mountains Sword Sect is not the same as being unfavorable to the Huashan Sword Sect. Don't you think?"

Mei Qinghe didn't answer.

She understood Li Miao's meaning, but she was a young person in her twenties, practicing martial arts in the sect since she was a child, and rarely went out. 【14

Unlike the old hands of the Jianghu who had long since seen through the essence of this so-called "Jianghu," she knew what profit and hierarchy were, yet she refused to accept them.

Just like some young people in Li Miao's past life, she knew what was considered "correct," but she was simply too stubborn to acknowledge it.

Li Miao smiled.

He had no original plan; coming out tonight was purely to finish watching the play he hadn't finished the night before.

It was only after seeing Mei Qinghe about to strike that he couldn't help but offer a reminder, which led to everything that followed.

Recognizing Mei Qinghe's martial arts as those of the Huashan Sect, he thought it would serve both public and private interests to capture a mole early on to use as a pawn.

But his thoughts had changed now.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was an intelligence agency, coming into contact with the filthiest deals, the most naked interests, and the most sinister hearts in the Jianghu.

Having served in the Embroidered Uniform Guard for twenty years, his expectations of the so-called Jianghu had declined day by day.

The real Jianghu was not that romantic; upholding justice would leave one without a whole corpse, and seeking revenge would lead to the ruin of one's family.

A reputation for chivalry that spread across the world often relied not on martial arts, but on power. Drawing a blade to see blood was often not for the sake of loyalty, but for money.

Double-dealing and mutual deception were the true essence of the living world.

That was why, seeing Mei Qinghe holding a broken sword and waiting for death, Li Miao couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Because what this young woman displayed was somewhat in line with his expectations of the Jianghu.

This gave him other plans for Mei Qinghe.

Seeing Mei Qinghe remain silent, Li Miao was not annoyed.

Temptation with profit was often useless on the young, but coercion worked well on everyone.

He changed the subject and said, "What do you think of my martial arts?"

Mei Qinghe breathed a sigh of relief as Li Miao stopped talking about the Huashan Sect's predicament.

She shook her head: "I can't see through it."

She truly could not see through it.

She hadn't even noticed Li Miao make a move; it was only when she saw her short sword was missing a piece that she understood what had happened.

As for the maneuver of snapping her long sword with a flick of his hand, she couldn't even find a suitable target to compare it to.

If one were to call it a hidden weapon technique, it didn't fit.

Hidden weapon techniques emphasized deception and lethality, and she had never heard of any expert who sought to pierce through a person with a single throw.

But to say it was done purely by throwing it with raw strength was also inconceivable.

Li Miao reached out, pinched the blade of the sword in Mei Qinghe's hand, and gave it a light snap.

*Snap—*

A piece broke right off.

Mei Qinghe was stunned; Li Miao had snapped it from her hand, yet she hadn't felt any strain on the hilt.

Looking again at the piece of blade in Li Miao's hand, there was a clear fingerprint on it!

Li Miao hadn't "snapped" the blade; he had "pinched" a piece off it as if he were picking a flower!

"Reach out," Li Miao said.

Mei Qinghe numbly extended her hand.

Li Miao gripped the piece of blade in his hand and held it above Mei Qinghe's palm.

Without even seeing his fingers move, a stream of iron sand fell "rustling" from beneath his palm.

Not until the iron sand filled half of Mei Qinghe's palm did Li Miao stop and brush the powder from his hands.

"See clearly now?"

Mei Qinghe stared blankly at the iron sand in her palm.

As for whether she saw clearly, in truth, she still didn't.

This feat of iron sand almost overturned her understanding of martial arts.

There was a common, low-level external hard skill in the Jianghu called the Iron Sand Palm. The training method involved thrusting both palms repeatedly into boiling iron sand to toughen the skin and flesh. Those who reached a high level could grab weapons with their bare hands without being cut.

There were also experts in the Jianghu famous for this who could disarm opponents barehanded.

But that was using iron sand to toughen the palms; who had ever heard of using palms to grind out iron sand?

No matter how well one practiced martial arts, the human body was still flesh and blood. If one could train the body to be harder than iron, why bother practicing swordsmanship?

But regarding Li Miao's martial arts, Mei Qinghe also understood.

He was invincible.

At the very least, almost all sword and blade techniques were useless against him.

Sword and blade techniques were extensions of the hands and feet, but they were destined to be less flexible than the hands and feet themselves. It was because a sharp sword was sharper and harder than a human palm, and because flesh and blood could not block steel, that sword techniques had emerged.

Yet in front of this man, blades and swords themselves were weaknesses.

If you presented your long sword to someone and they crushed it like tofu, then threw the fragments back to pierce right through you, what was there to talk about regarding superior swordsmanship?

"Senior, who exactly are you?"

Mei Qinghe asked hoarsely.

"My name is Li Miao, I am no one, at least no one in the Jianghu knows me."

Li Miao said with a smile: "Now, I'll make a deal with you."

"From today on, you follow me. Whatever I ask, you answer; whatever I tell you to do, you go and do."

"When my business is finished, perhaps there will even be a tremendous benefit for your Huashan Sect."

"If you don't agree, I'll go pay a visit to the Huashan Sect, and then I'll poke a finger through every single sword in Huashan."

"Did you hear that clearly?"

Mei Qinghe nodded.

She had no choice but to agree. She had no qualifications to refuse.

"Very good, wait here."

"To be my subordinate, there is one more matter that needs to be settled."

Having said that, Li Miao flashed away and disappeared without a trace.

Mei Qinghe stood silently, not daring to move, her heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.

She had considered herself accomplished in martial arts and had even inquired about her enemy's skills in advance, believing she had a sure victory before sneaking down the mountain to seek revenge.

Who would have thought she would be inexplicably threatened by a bizarre expert and become his subordinate?

Her sect didn't know her whereabouts, and they would certainly send people to look for her later.

When they met, how would she explain it to the sect? Tell the truth?

If what happened tonight hadn't happened to her, she would have dismissed it as a joke!

Not to mention that this man named Li Miao had openly declared he was against the Five Mountain Sword Sects. They were currently in the Qi and Lu region, clearly heading toward this year's Five Mountain Sword Sects alliance meeting at Mount Tai.

When this man attacked them, and she was following by his side, could the Huashan Sect really stay out of it?

If this man really wiped out the Five Mountain Sword Sects, could the declining Huashan Sect manage to survive without the reputation of the Five Mountain Sword Sects?

Her thoughts raced, and the more Mei Qinghe thought, the more desperate she became.

Just as her mind was in a thousand tangles, a figure suddenly appeared before her.

She looked up and saw it was Li Miao.

Li Miao raised his hand and tossed a person in front of her.

That person had been struck at his pressure points and was dumped onto the ground with a thud; he struggled to get up, saying:

"My lord, I do not know how I have offended you. If it is money you want, I have a chest of escort silver in my room, and I am willing to offer it with both hands."

"If there is a past misunderstanding, or if my subordinates have offended you, you may kill them as you please; I will never shield them."

"If I have offended you in any way, please tell me; I will offer both my hands and legs to you, I only ask that you spare my life."

The man struggled for a long time, finally managing to sit up, and looked toward Mei Qinghe.

Seeing her face clearly, the man pondered for a moment, suddenly remembered something, and stammered: "It's you... you're still alive?"

Mei Qinghe looked at Zhao Dehua, who was slumped on the ground, and said:

"That's right, you old bastard."

"I'm still alive."

(End of chapter)