Chapter 13: A Bloodbath Triggered by a Broken Shoe

Gao Liu County is divided into inner and outer sections, each containing eight city districts.

Separated by a city wall, the layouts of the inner and outer cities are nearly identical; shops that can open in the inner city can also open in the outer city, including the Yiqi Inn, the Weapon Forge, the Four Seasons Medicine Hall, and so on.

But martial arts halls are the exception.

"The poor study literature, the rich study martial arts"; martial arts halls only cater to the wealthy, so they are not open in the outer city, yet there is never a lack of people from the outer city who bring years of accumulated silver to seek a master.

Although most return in gloom after exhausting their money, later arrivals still come in an unbroken stream.

"Qiu Da is gone."

Inside one of the three major martial arts halls of the inner city, the Lihe Martial Arts Hall, in a small courtyard, Liang Liang Ashui bowed to the burly man who had just entered and said gratefully:

"Thank you, Fourth Senior Brother."

"We are family, why talk of thanks? But this matter, I fear, is not yet over. I heard even Qiu Long was summoned by the County Magistrate..."

The rough, burly man Miao Feng frowned tightly, paced back and forth a few steps, then turned to look at Liang Liang Ashui:

"Liang Ashui, speak the truth: did you really kill the man?"

"..."

Liang Liang Ashui's face turned black, utterly helpless:

"Fourth Senior Brother, how could I possibly do something like killing an entire family over a boat?"

Miao Feng's expression eased slightly, yet still carried anger:

"It must be those families framing you to steal the entry quota for the Divine Weapon Valley! I will report this to the Master; if we do not find this person, I will not rest!"

Having spoken, Miao Feng hurriedly departed.

"Hateful!"

Liang Liang Ashui slapped the stone table, shattering it, and ground his teeth.

On the Bishui Lake in winter, even veteran fishermen of many years cannot catch fish, but he was not afraid; he had originally planned to reap a good harvest.

But now, he is directly being watched down!

"Who exactly killed Liu Liu Laizi?"

Clang!

Late at night, the night watchman struck the bronze gong.

Cold wind blew the accumulated snow from the eaves, causing it to fall in flakes.

Not far outside the weapon forge, in a dilapidated house, a disheveled beggar shrank into the shadows; outside the door, a patrolling Constable was passing by.

"A tiger fallen on level ground is bullied by dogs!"

Beneath the disheveled hair, only one eye remained; this was a middle-aged man with a waxen-yellow face and black hair, who glared viciously at the scabby-headed person trembling in the corner:

"You dog thing, stripping Laozi's clothes wasn't enough, you even took the shoes..."

Nian Jiu grew angrier the more he thought, raising his hand to slap several times, yet he held back his strength, afraid of killing the only dry ration he had left.

"Qiu Long, Wang Wang Luan, Cao Yan, Yu Zhen, Lin Jing... wait until I recover from my injuries, I will make life and death equally difficult for you all!"

The wind blew the broken wooden door; Nian Jiu's single eye glowed with a dim red light, staring fixedly at the weapon forge not far away, which looked like a crouching fierce beast under the night.

"Daring to take Laozi's things..."

In the following days, Gao Liu County remained in a state of alarm.

The maniacal murderer combined with the gradually cooling weather forced most of the common people to stay indoors and not go out.

Li Yuan naturally did not go out either; several shopping trips were done by Fat Sun himself, while Li Yuan, in his spare time from practicing, asked the apprentices and helpers in the shop about events happening outside.

Most of the entertainment in Gao Liu County had nothing to do with them; such a big matter was not discussed by everyone, so he did not spend much effort gathering a pile of news, true or false.

Such as Liu Liu Laizi's body still not being found, how terribly the stall owner died, Liang Liang Ashui almost going to jail, the City Guard patrolling the streets, Liu Liu Laizi killing and robbing then fleeing... and so on.

At night, Li Yuan tossed and turned, unable to sleep, constantly analyzing the news he had gathered.

"I'm not suffering from persecution paranoia, am I?"

Li Yuan smiled bitterly.

After lying down for another quarter of an hour, unable to sleep at all, he simply got up, wrapped himself in a cotton coat, and went out.

The winter night was very cold; he practiced several sets of hammer techniques to stir up that wisp of blood qi, only then barely managing to stand in stance, yet his breathing method still failed to enter the proper state.

Having suddenly arrived in this strange world, all familiar friends and family and the familiar environment had vanished; that huge emptiness and tension took him over two months to gradually adapt to and suppress.

At this moment, that sense of unease bubbled up all at once again.

He was not overly suspicious; truly, the strange environment made his heart uneasy, and even the slightest rustle of wind or movement of grass would make his nerves tense.

"Which sane brain would kill someone over a broken shoe?"

Li Yuan felt somewhat annoyed.

If he really got dragged into trouble just because he bought this shoe, he would truly vomit blood.

But thinking of the murdered Liu Liu Laizi and that small vendor, he felt it was not impossible; the connection between these two people could only be this Six-Heaven Boot...

Tonight was too cold; after standing in stance for a quarter of an hour, Li Yuan could hardly bear it, turned around and went back inside, and even after lying down, he was still thinking about this matter.

"Killing over a boot is unlikely; could there be something hidden inside this shoe?"

A flash of inspiration struck, and Li Yuan rolled over and sat up again.

His peripheral vision swept the room; aside from snoring, there was nothing else, yet he still put on his shoes, went out, and only after crouching in the outhouse did he open his tightly clenched palm.

The weapon on the Dingxin Dingxin Shitai, as long as it was not under palm control, he could still retrieve it.

"This broken shoe..."

Gazing at this Six-Heaven Boot, Li Yuan hesitated once more; this was the first tiered item he had ever obtained. Was it too rash to destroy it merely for a guess?

Rrrrip!

Though his heart wavered, Li Yuan's hand did not falter; with a sudden force, he tore the shoe upper, already bearing two large holes, completely off.

"Nothing inside?"

Li Yuan flipped through the shoe upper, even pulling apart the several layers folded together, yet found nothing.

However, when he tore off the thick leather layer of the sole, his body trembled involuntarily.

There really was something!

With little light in the outhouse, Li Yuan nearly pressed the sole against his face before discovering the dense rows of tiny characters on the boot's inner sole.

"Soldier Dao Dueling Hammer?!"

A Wu Gong secret manual!

Li Yuan sucked in a sharp breath, nearly tripping from the stench, and hurriedly stuffed the tattered boot into his robes before exiting the outhouse and finding another corner to squat in.

"Does anyone really carve Wu Gong secret manuals into shoe soles?"

Squatting in the corner and holding the broken shoe, Li Yuan wore an expression of toothache.

"Soldier Dao Dueling Hammer Method, a secret martial art of the Divine Weapon Valley, ranked eighteenth on the Superior Martial Arts List of the Dormant Dragon Mansion?!"

A superior martial art secretly transmitted by the Divine Weapon Valley!

Li Yuan nearly sucked in another sharp breath; his face had actually gone numb.

"Superior martial arts! The White Ape Cloak Hammer, was that middle-tier or lower-tier again?"

Li Yuan's expression was incredibly vivid; for a moment, he did not know what to say.

Was it good luck, or bad?

But regardless of whether it was good or bad, he could now confirm that the person who killed Liu Liu Laizi and Liu San must have done so because of this Six-Heaven Boot!

He also confirmed that the person must already know the shoe had fallen into his hands, and might even be targeting him...

"Trouble!"

Li Yuan roughly pieced together the boot inscribed with half of the Soldier Dao Dueling Hammer and stuffed it back onto the gray Dingxin Dingxin Shitai; discovering the broken shoe could still be controlled, he showed no joy.

However, now that he had confirmed where the trouble originated, he inexplicably felt a sense of relief.

The unknown is more terrifying than a maniacal killer!

"How to solve it?"

Rubbing his freezing hands, Li Yuan returned to the room and found Niu Gui had actually climbed up, staring at him with a look of shock and disbelief.

"So you practice until so late every day?!"

Ignoring the shocked simpleton, Li Yuan flopped down to sleep.

This time, he slept very soundly; when he woke, the sky was already bright, and he was the only one left on the large communal bed, while outside in the courtyard, the sound of hammers breaking the wind could be heard.

Tsk, he's gotten involved again.

Daoist Li, who had risen early for a month, did not want to get up; he leaned against the bed, half-closing his eyes, appearing dazed while actually examining the broken shoe on the gray Dingxin Dingxin Shitai.

To be precise, the Wu Gong upon it: the Soldier Dao Dueling Hammer.

(End of this chapter)