Chapter 427: You Sisi (8/5, Autumn Subscription)

At the time, Fang Yue only wanted to kill—to put these beasts to death.

After all, Gu Yue Cun had been attacked by the eerie, with foreign clans fighting each other in a brutal struggle—that was understandable.

But the Night Thief wiping out a village was truly devoid of conscience, doing something even more cruel than the eerie!

Returning to Dao Laoda's corpses, Fang Yue was about to lower his head to cut off the head when he suddenly thought of something—he hadn't looted the bodies yet!

After fumbling around, Fang Yue unexpectedly fished out a secret manual from Dao Laoda's body!

Shocked! Such a windfall!

He looked closely at the secret manual.

《Nine-Turn Linked Blades》 【Incomplete】.

Nine-Turn Linked Blades?

Wasn't that the Blade Technique Dao Laoda used?!

Fang Yue's heart leaped with joy; he quickly flipped through the whole thing, waiting to learn the skill.

Then…he realized he'd stalled.

The secret manual didn't dissolve into a white light, and he hadn't learned this Blade Technique either.

What was going on?

Fang Yue felt depressed. He read it through from beginning to end again, only to find he still hadn't learned the Blade Technique.

He had no choice but to pocket the Blade Technique manual, wrap up Dao Laoda's head, and return to Lord Han.

"Lord Han, take a look at this Blade Technique manual."

Fang Yue handed over the Nine-Turn Linked Blades manual: "Why can't I learn it?"

"…Because this isn't the inheritance-type of secret manual; it's purely an observational one. You can only look at it, then practice on your own."

Ah, this…

Fang Yue was depressed.

He seemed to have never learned a Martial Art from scratch. Now they wanted him to, like everyone else, slowly cultivate the Blade Technique and eventually master it—Fang Yue felt it was such a waste of time.

Moreover, judging from the effect when Dao Laoda used it, it didn't seem all that powerful either. Although it was certainly stronger than his own Spark Blade Technique.

"This is an Innate Martial Technique, though it's incomplete—only the first three moves are here, learnable by anyone in the Postnatal realm. If you want to learn it, wait until I've studied it a bit, then I'll teach you."

What?! Such a windfall!

"Lord Han is number one under heaven!!"

Fang Yue shouted excitedly, and Lord Han rarely showed a smile.

"Alright, leave the manual with Wu Wu. I'll have her show it to me when she's free, and once I've figured it out, I'll call for you."

"Mm, mm!"

Fang Yue called over 【Head-Raiser】 Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu and placed the manual in her hands.

"So I'm just a tool to you?!"

"If you don't want to, I'll find someone else. Jing Yan, got any time…"

"I'm willing!! Being a tool is great, I think!"

Should've said so from the start.

Fang Yue rolled his eyes, about to go busy himself with other things, when Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu hurriedly asked: "Um, Ye Ge, this Blade Technique looks really powerful—can I learn it?"

"You?"

Fang Yue sized up Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu: "Didn't Lin Ling already pass down a spear technique to you?"

"Spearmen have always been cursed with E-rank luck, Ye Ge. Actually, my dream is to become a female blade-artist! Sword in hand, roaming the world!"

"Anything's possible in dreams."

"Ye Ge, give me a chance."

"…Not to nag you, Wu Wu, but weapons require specialization too. I don't have the energy to teach you a Blade Technique, and I don't even know how. Lin Ling has devoted ten thousand years to the spear—deep yet accessible. If you study hard, you'll definitely achieve something. Don't bite off more than you can chew."

"Yes…"

Seeing Fang Yue start to lecture her, Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu immediately drooped her head in dejected admission of fault.

"Alright, stay with Lord Han properly. I'm off."

The fight with the Night Thief took place in the dead of night.

By the time Fang Yue had finished everything, the morning sun had already risen.

Counting the surviving dancers from Deyun Cun, the group had grown sizable again. With carriages, no one had to tire themselves out on foot.

On top of that, with everyone mounted, the pace of advance suddenly picked up.

Their party rode off and quickly left Deyun Cun behind.

Three days after Fang Yue and the others departed Deyun Cun—

A group of people in official robes on horseback stopped at the entrance of Deyun Cun.

"【Severed Dragon Head】 is in here?"

The woman at the head, dressed in formal attire, radiated a heroic air.

At first glance, she looked like an androgynously handsome youth.

At second glance, there was also a feminine softness to her.

This woman's temperament shifted freely between the two with every change of expression, yet without the slightest discord.

Women liked her toughness; men liked her softness.

The people behind her quickly dismounted and stepped forward respectfully: "Reporting to Lord You, according to the message left by the scout, 【Severed Dragon Head】's last known whereabouts ended at Deyun Cun. Updated intel can only be obtained back at Qingsi County."

"Seal off the exits. Wait outside. Don't let a single fly escape."

Accompanying the cool, clear voice, You Sisi had already dismounted and, carrying the Thousand Silk Sword in its snow-white scabbard, entered Deyun Cun.

An ordinary person might find it hard to see anything amiss at the entrance of Deyun Cun.

But You Sisi needed only a single glance to understand that Deyun Cun had already been raided by the Night Thief.

Those clumsy attempts to cover the traces could not fool her eyes.

Or rather... the eyes of the Green Bureau!

Sure enough, before long, those surface coverings peeled away entirely — those Night Thieves had only been willing to do their disguise work to such a shallow extent.

Following the traces, You Sisi soon arrived before the Guard Station, where the footprints were relatively dense.

Then, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Because, she saw corpses.

The villagers' corpses, the Night Thieves' corpses, and... the headless corpse of Broken Dragon Head!

Observing the surrounding clues, feeling over the shattered Nine-ring Blade on the ground, You Sisi slowly closed her eyes, lost in thought.

At that moment, a scene seemed to surface in her mind.

A master, seizing the upper hand, took 【Broken Dragon Head】's life within three moves!

The wound on Broken Dragon Head's neck was somewhat rough, not clean enough.

So the head must have been dealt with after the fact.

The body had no fatal wound; the killing blow should have been on the neck or the head.

Opening her eyes, she observed the fingerprint marks left on 【Broken Dragon Head】's neck.

"Male, early twenties, very strong grip, skilled in bare-handed combat."

Rising, You Sisi walked outward.

Before long, she had left the village.

The surrounding subordinates were stunned for a moment, then crowded around.

"My lord? Broken Dragon Head isn't in Deyun Cun?"

"He is."

"Then he... escaped?"

"He didn't escape."

You Sisi glanced at her subordinates, then lightly leapt onto the horse's back.

Gripping the reins and turning the horse around, she said: "Someone got to 【Broken Dragon Head】 and killed him a step ahead of us. The head has already been severed, so that person will trade the head for the bounty. We just need to return to the Green Bureau and wait."

What?!

The 【Broken Dragon Head】 they had been tracking for so many days had been plucked first by someone else?

Could it be the rivals next door who did it?

The moment this thought arose, it quickly faded.

Because if the neighbors had killed 【Broken Dragon Head】, there would be no need to trade 【the head for the bounty】 — having the corpse as proof would suffice.

"No need to overthink it. Follow me back to Qingsi County. 【Broken Dragon Head】 is dead, and this case ends here."

"Yes!"

You Sisi rode off, and the others hurried to follow.

Though no one said anything, they were still muttering in their hearts: just who could have killed Broken Dragon Head, who was at the Second-rate Realm of the Postnatal stage?

……

(End of this chapter)