Chapter 1 The Lay of the Land

Although Cang Ling Town is surrounded by mountains on three sides, there are two roads leading into the town.

One is a major road that stretches from Tong Qiu, the nearest county town.

The other is a minor path, the one that Feng Bujue and the others appeared on when they entered the scenario.

Let's talk about the major road first; the situation at the other end is rather tense.

Tong Qiu is currently overflowing with people from various sects, martial artists from all walks of life, and even troops dispatched by the imperial court, numbering several thousand in total. Naturally, it's impossible for all these people to go to Cang Ling; if they did, the small town would be flattened.

Therefore, entering Cang Ling via the major road requires certain conditions.

After much discussion, the leaders of the various sects have established two rules. First, since each sect has many disciples, it's impossible to bring them all. Therefore, each sect leader may select a maximum of twenty disciples to accompany them into the town; the rest must remain in Tong Qiu and refrain from causing trouble. Second, those of the "demonic path" are forbidden from entering. Of course, what constitutes the demonic path is determined by those so-called "righteous people."

Aside from a few notorious murderers and flower thieves wanted by both the martial world and the government, some of the more marginalized martial artists have undoubtedly been classified as being on the demonic path and are barred from Tong Qiu. Although these people lack a reputation for chivalry, they aren't necessarily evil. Most of them simply prefer to be alone or have eccentric personalities, so they rarely associate with the righteous sects. Now they're experiencing what it means to be discriminated against for being different.

It's worth mentioning that, according to the setting of this scenario, the imperial court generally doesn't interfere with martial arts feuds, unless they affect ordinary citizens. Similarly, martial artists don't interfere with the affairs of the imperial court; who becomes the emperor and whether they do a good job is irrelevant to these martial men. This is an invisible boundary between the two, and it's absolutely forbidden to cross it.

Therefore, at least on the surface, the imperial troops are in Tong Qiu solely to maintain order. If any martial artists cause trouble for the people, they'll be arrested and dealt with; otherwise, they won't interfere.

Now, let's talk about the minor path. Those who take this path are naturally the ones who have been stopped on the major road, or those who can't even show their faces in Tong Qiu.

The disciples of the major sects are guarding Tong Qiu day and night, so trying to sneak through or force one's way through the major road is tantamount to suicide. Those with weaker martial arts skills would be shot into beehives by a barrage of arrows, while those with superior skills… would eventually exhaust their inner energy after being surrounded and attacked by hundreds of people.

Therefore… the only way for these people to enter Cang Ling Town is through the minor path. As long as their numbers are small and their movements are well-concealed, they can leave Tong Qiu and reach this minor path after a day's journey.

But there's also a killing star guarding this place.

The blue-robed old man is Ye Hai, the steward of "Sword God" Ye Cheng's mansion. He has no tales in the martial world, and few people have even heard his name, because he has never roamed the jianghu.

Ye Hai entered the Ye mansion as a servant at the age of twelve and has been there for over sixty years. Since he became the steward of the Ye mansion at the age of thirty-two, the Ye family has changed three masters, but he, the steward, has remained steadfast.

Ye Hai's martial arts skills were all bestowed upon him by Ye Cheng's grandfather. Ye Hai's aptitude isn't high, and he's well aware of this. Moreover, as a servant, he isn't qualified to join the Ye family, even if he had the talent. But the old master of the Ye family secretly guided the young man. When the young master practiced swordsmanship, he had Ye Hai sweep the floor nearby and deliberately read out some of the key techniques aloud. When Ye Hai secretly practiced martial arts at night, everyone in the mansion pretended not to see it.

The Ye family's martial arts are all top-notch skills. Moreover, diligence can make up for shortcomings. Even though Ye Hai's aptitude is ordinary, he had achieved some success by the age of thirty, and could be considered a quasi-first-rate expert in the jianghu. Two years later, he became the steward of the Ye mansion, married, and had children. For Ye Hai, this was the happiest period of his life.

Years later, the old master passed away, and Ye Cheng's father inherited the family business. He allowed Ye Hai's son to join the Ye family and become a formal disciple. Unfortunately, the boy was competitive and, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, before he had mastered his skills, he fought with others and died tragically. Ye Hai's wife also passed away from illness not long after.

After losing his family, the sense of mission to serve the Ye family became Ye Hai's sole spiritual sustenance and life pursuit. It can be said that Ye Hai has always been grateful and loyal to the Ye family throughout his life.

As for Ye Hai's martial arts skills today, even if the leaders of those major sects were to come, they would not be his match. There are only two types of people who can defeat Ye Hai. The first type is the peerless expert, one in a million, like Xie San or Ye Cheng, who are unparalleled figures. The second type is the innate level expert who has trained hard for many years, and that person must also have… an aptitude superior to Ye Hai's, skills that are not inferior, and inner energy that is at least sixty percent of his. Only those who possess these three qualities have the potential to defeat him.

With such a person guarding the minor path, the result is self-evident.

In the past half month alone, many villains who were either well-known or unknown in the martial world have been directly eliminated by Ye Hai, which can be regarded as a convenient way to rid the people of evil.

Martial artists from the jianghu who are neither completely righteous nor completely evil, but whose martial arts skills are not up to par, have also been "invited" back by him. Only true "experts," those who are worthy of watching the duels, have entered Cang Ling Town through the minor path.

As for those like Jade Faced Explorer Bai Dian, who appear to be martial artists but actually have imperial court backgrounds, many have also died. The imperial court is, after all, the imperial court. Since ancient times, the government has always said one thing and done another. On the surface, they don't interfere with martial arts affairs, but in reality, they meddle behind the scenes in many places. However, they never admit it. Therefore, when faced with similar situations, martial artists will also kill people from the imperial court without hesitation. Anyway, you won't admit that this person was sent by you, so you have to swallow the loss in silence.

…………

Also on this night, in the mountains north of Cang Ling Town, not far from the legendary haunted abandoned temple.

Here, the vines and grasses reach the knees, and there is silence. Looking into the forest, it is gloomy and shaded, with branches crisscrossing overhead and thorns growing everywhere on the ground.

Suddenly, a figure flits by, stepping on the grass without a sound.

The person is a woman, dressed in a plain green robe, with a slender and graceful figure, and a fairly pretty appearance.

However, at this moment, her expression is solemn and stern, with a hint of panic in her eyes.

"Not bad qinggong." A cold voice rang out.

As he spoke, another dark figure appeared in an instant. Judging by his posture, not only is he not holding a weapon, but his hands are also behind his back, as if he can win without even using his hands.

Without saying a word, the woman wielded her sword with a powerful gust of wind, using all her cultivation to sweep it out.

The dark figure dodged this sword with an incredible movement, and stepped his right foot on the sword, using a powerful inner force to suppress the blade. The woman's face turned red, and she used all her strength, but could not pull the sword out at all.

"Unfortunately, your best qinggong is nothing more than acrobatics to me," the dark figure said in a deep voice. "Miss Lu, it's just your bad luck that you discovered my secret… so you must die."

Before Lu Qingning could reply, a strange change suddenly occurred in the surroundings.

At this moment, an eerie sound of bells suddenly rang out in the darkness, and at the same time, both of them were enveloped by an indescribable chill…