Chapter 1 The Sound

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Dong, dong, dong—

Cheng Wei gently knocked on Wang Qiong's bedroom door.

Years of experience had taught him that a knock of this level would be enough to wake his master.

"Who is it?" Sure enough, before long, Wang Qiong's half-asleep voice came from the room.

"Master, it's me..." Cheng Wei replied, paused for half a second, and then said, "There are... guests requesting an audience in the courtyard."

"Huh?" Wang Qiong turned over, glanced out the window, and saw that the sky was still pitch black. "What time is it?"

"Reporting to Master... Yin hour," Cheng Wei replied. (寅时, approximately 3-5 AM)

A normal person hearing this might immediately shout something like, "Are you sick? Who sees guests at four in the morning?"

But Wang Qiong's reaction was different—he instantly became alert.

Wang Qiong knew Cheng Wei very well, and he also knew how tight his own security measures were. So, when he heard the answer "Yin hour," Cheng Wei's deliberate emphasis on "in the courtyard" in his previous sentence seemed rather serious.

Looking at the entire martial world, the number of people who could come to Wang Qiong's courtyard at this hour was very small. Even stranger was the fact that Cheng Wei, as one of the guards, actually helped the visitor to announce their arrival? What was going on?

"Hmm..." Wang Qiong pondered. In that instant, he thought about many things. Then, he spoke, "Let them in."

"This..." Cheng Wei hesitated. "Directly into your room?"

As he asked this question, Wang Qiong in the room had already moved the kang table (炕桌, a low table used on a heated brick bed) to the bed and lit the oil lamp on it with a fire starter.

"Ah, right, you come in too," Wang Qiong replied, extinguishing the fire starter.

Seeing the light in the room, Cheng Wei didn't say anything more. After replying with "Yes," he turned and led the two "guests" to the front of the room.

Soon, Cheng Wei pushed open the door and entered. Behind him followed a man and a woman.

"Master," Cheng Wei said respectfully to Wang Qiong after entering the room, "The guests have arrived."

"These two are..." Wang Qiong asked, sizing up Jue Ge and Ruo Yu.

"Easy to say." Feng Bujue seized the opportunity to take the lead, giving Wang Qiong a very insincere cupped fist salute and said, "This one is Feng Bujue, Head of the Broken Sword Teahouse." He gestured toward Ruo Yu, "This is my Junior Sister, Li Ruo Yu."

He didn't give Ruo Yu the title of "madam" this time, not because he didn't want to, but because Ruo Yu had warned him in advance not to take advantage of this "slightly childish" thing.

"Broken Sword Teahouse?" Wang Qiong's reaction to hearing these four words was beyond Jue Ge and Ruo Yu's expectations. "Broken Sword Teahouse... Broken Sword Teahouse..." He muttered these four words in a low voice, revealing a thoughtful expression. After a full minute, he looked at Jue Ge and asked, "Are you really Feng Bujue of the Broken Sword Teahouse?"

At this moment, Jue Ge keenly sensed something. He smiled and said, "Oh? I didn't expect that Mr. Wang has heard of my name."

Wang Qiong ignored the other party's probing and continued, "Can you prove it?"

"What kind of proof do you want?" Feng Bujue spread his hands.

"Whatever, do it yourself," Wang Qiong replied inscrutably.

"Heh... good... you're not bad." Feng Bujue laughed, and the way he looked at Wang Qiong became meaningful.

After speaking, Jue Ge raised his leg in place and took a step "up."

His movement was very ordinary, like walking up a step; except... there was no step in front of him at all.

But he still went "up"—using [Treading Void]'s ability to stand in mid-air, Jue Ge was standing in the air one step off the ground.

Naturally, Ruo Yu was not surprised by this, but Cheng Wei's expression was wonderful.

Steward Cheng's martial arts were not low, and he had seen many amazing qinggong (light body skill) techniques, but he couldn't understand this kind of ability to "stand on air" without any preparation.

"Well... it seems you may indeed be Feng Bujue." Wang Qiong appeared quite calm when he saw this scene, as if he was watching a magic trick.

"Just 'may,' not 'definitely'?" Feng Bujue continued.

"I have to ask you a few more questions to be sure," Wang Qiong said.

"Ask," Jue Ge replied simply.

"May I ask Head Feng... how old are you this year?" Wang Qiong said.

"Don't know," Feng Bujue blurted out almost immediately, and justifiedly.

"Don't know?" Wang Qiong repeated the three words again with a questioning tone.

"I looked like this during the Cang Ling Sword Debate; I looked like this during the duel at the top of the Forbidden City; later, when I was sightseeing in Burial Heart Valley, I still looked like this..." Feng Bujue was so clever that he already understood that age was not the focus of the other party's test, but rather these pieces of information. "If you want to ask me how old I am, I can only tell you... I've lived too long, I can't remember."

"Hmm..." Wang Qiong nodded. "That makes sense." He paused. "But it still can't completely prove your identity."

"Oh?" Feng Bujue asked curiously. "Isn't that enough?"

"Not enough," Wang Qiong replied. "You may be Feng Bujue himself, but it is also possible that you are just someone with very good qinggong, and like me... have read the *Forbidden Martial Arts Record*."

The *Forbidden Martial Arts Record* he mentioned was a top-secret book, one of the "Three Forbidden Scrolls."

It was said that these three scrolls were hidden deep within the Imperial Palace, and only the current Emperor had the right to read them. Anyone else... as long as they dared to break the seal, it was a crime punishable by the execution of the entire family.

Since the secrets recorded in the other two "Forbidden Scrolls" were irrelevant to this text, they will not be mentioned here. Here, only the *Forbidden Martial Arts Record* will be discussed—this book was written in the "late Mingsheng Era" of this universe. In that year, Yuan Qi, the martial arts alliance leader who was revered as a myth, died of illness. In order to compete for the martial arts secrets he left behind and the position of alliance leader, a battle that could be called a catastrophe broke out in the martial world. And the result of this battle was... the various powers in the martial world suffered heavy losses, and the imperial court seized the opportunity to intervene, reaping the benefits and wiping out all the forces (traditional powerful sects like Shaolin and Wudang had already been destroyed at that time, and only the Beggars' Sect still had a bit of incense left among the old gangs). The few surviving gangs could only survive by accepting "incorporation and amnesty."

It was in that year that the "martial world" of this world became a dead letter.

And the nature of the *Forbidden Martial Arts Record* was like an epitaph written for that "martial world." The information in this book was mostly provided by spies from the imperial court's intelligence agencies who had infiltrated various sects, and it recorded many unknown strange and secret tales.

The affairs of "Broken Sword Teahouse" and "Feng Bujue" were naturally mentioned in the book. Of course... as a book written from the standpoint of the imperial court, they were not so interested in the Cang Ling Sword Debate and the Burial Heart Valley; their focus was instead on the incident of Jue Ge fighting a beautiful woman on top of the Forbidden City...

Back to the main topic.

Wang Qiong had obviously read that book, as for why he had read it, how he had seen it... these were not important.

Because he was Wang Qiong, he naturally had his ways.

In a sense, this also explained why the emperor insisted on killing this merchant.

"I've never heard of the book you mentioned," Feng Bujue spoke again after a few seconds. "But I can roughly guess what's written on it..." He shrugged. "Anyway... that's not important. I have many other ways to prove my identity."

As he spoke, Jue Ge lightly raised a hand and conjured a black light card out of thin air between his fingers.

"This... shouldn't be considered qinggong, right?" Feng Bujue then asked.

Wang Qiong stared at the card for a few seconds. "This... what's the use of this?"

"Many uses," Jue Ge replied indifferently. "The simplest and most direct use... is to throw it out."

"What happens when you throw it out?" Wang Qiong asked.

"It can hurt people," Feng Bujue said.

"To what extent can it hurt people?" Wang Qiong asked again.

"At least it can cripple that friend on your beam," Feng Bujue replied with a smile still on his face.

But Wang Qiong's expression changed slightly. "Hmm..." He pondered for a few more seconds and finally made his final judgment. "It seems you really are Feng Bujue."

Mr. Wang no longer needed Jue Ge to provide further proof. The fact that he had detected the existence of the "person on the beam" explained everything.

The person hiding on the beam was named Cheng Yong, and he was Cheng Wei's younger brother.

As mentioned earlier, Wang Qiong had two personal guards, one was Cheng Wei, who also served as steward, and the other... was Cheng Yong.

Compared to his older brother, Cheng Yong was far inferior in terms of cunning, sophistication, and etiquette; but in one aspect, Cheng Yong was stronger than Cheng Wei—martial arts talent.

Cheng Yong's martial arts were very high, so high that Wang Qiong felt "safe."

No one knew what kind of kung fu he practiced, and no one knew how strong he was, people only knew that once Cheng Yong took action... the opponent would die.

In fact, he didn't have many opportunities to take action. The few times he did, he faced top-tier experts from the martial world or the imperial court. Only those top-tier experts had the ability and opportunity to come before Wang Qiong.

However, none of these people had lasted five moves in Cheng Yong's hands.

If Cheng Wei was Wang Qiong's arm, then Cheng Yong was Wang Qiong's shadow; nothing was more reliable than a shadow, because he was always by his master's side.

There were even a few times when Wang Qiong was assassinated in bed, and Cheng Yong saved him...

Having read this far, you probably understand why Wang Qiong dared to talk to so many martial arts masters face-to-face at close range without fear of the other party launching a sneak attack or suddenly attacking.

"Then..." Wang Qiong paused for half a second and asked, "The legendary Head Feng... what is the purpose of your visit to Wang at this late hour?"

"Mr. Wang is a businessman," Feng Bujue said. "I'm looking for you, naturally to talk about business." As he spoke, he walked forward and casually sat down on the edge of the kang. "As for why I chose this time to come, I am helpless..." He explained unhurriedly, "During the day, there were some 'situations' in the town that made it inconvenient for me to enter. Fortunately... more than an hour ago, that 'inconvenience' no longer existed."

"Then from more than an hour ago, until now..." Wang Qiong wasn't very concerned about Jue Ge getting on the kang, and calmly took over the conversation, "...what did you and your Junior Sister go and do?"

"Heh..." Feng Bujue smiled. "We went to find someone, asked him a few questions, and then cut off his head and brought it here." After he finished speaking, he seemed to remember something and added, "Oh, of course, before entering your courtyard, we also knocked out the guards around your house, and after coming in, we chatted with Steward Cheng for a few words."

"Oh..." Wang Qiong nodded. "By the way, I haven't asked yet..." He suddenly looked at Cheng Wei. "Old Cheng, what kind of wind is blowing today? How could you obediently help them pass the message?"

Cheng Wei did not answer the question. It was Ruo Yu who answered Wang Qiong.

"Because he lost," she said in a cold tone.

"He fought with you?" Wang Qiong asked.

"No," Ruo Yu replied.

"Then how did he lose?" Wang Qiong asked again.

Before he finished speaking, Ruo Yu had slightly raised her right hand and gripped the hilt of her sword.

In that instant, her eyes moved, and a fierce killing intent instantly filled the entire room.

The killing intent was like a pair of invisible hands, tightly grasping the throats of everyone in the room. Even Jue Ge felt the oppressive feeling that made it hard to breathe.

Chi—

It was too late, but just as Ruo Yu's killing intent arose, a black shadow quickly darted down from the beam.

The shadow was as fast as a startled swan, as powerful as a thunderbolt, and in the blink of an eye, it had already reached Ruo Yu, and its hands had already gripped its weapon.

Then, its movement stopped.

It wasn't just a slight pause, but a complete freeze.

A bead of cold sweat, as big as a bean, trickled down from Cheng Yong's forehead, slid to the bridge of his nose, and split in two.

He stood there, his eyes wide open, looking at the female swordswoman in front of him.

Her appearance looked no more than twenty years old, and her ethereal temperament and beauty were unforgettable at first glance.

But at this moment, these visible appearances had been covered by the dignified sword intent, and had become negligible things.

Ruo Yu's hand did not move, and the sword was still in its scabbard.

But from Cheng Yong's perspective, the other party's sword point was already against his throat.

He didn't move, because he couldn't move.

His hands, his feet, his torso, and even his fingers and eyelids... could not move.

As long as he moved, he would be killed.

This was what Cheng Yong felt at this moment...

Silence, lasted for about ten seconds.

Ten seconds later, Cheng Yong's body relaxed, and he collapsed to the ground like a pile of blocks, gasping for breath.

Cold sweat had covered his horrified face.

At this time, Ruo Yu, who had restrained her killing intent and sword intent, walked steadily to the edge of the kang.

As if nothing had happened, she took out a cloth-wrapped human head that was still oozing blood from her bag and casually placed it on the kang table.

As she put down the head, Ruo Yu continued her unfinished words, "That's how he lost."