Chapter Eighty-Four: Lin Zhen-nan Frightens Yu Canghai Away

After arriving at Fortune Escort Agency, Yang Xin became even more deranged, producing fourteen small monochrome ink printing presses. He ordered everyone at the agency to get to work, working overtime to print the true Bixie Sword Manual. Once they were nearly finished, Yang Xin pulled out a map and had Lin Zhennan and Yue Buqun mark every martial sect in the land, regardless of size.

Yang Xin then packed all these genuine Bixie Sword Manuals into his four-dimensional pocket, donned his nano iron suit, and, to the astonishment of all present, soared into the sky, heading straight for every sect in the martial world.

The heavens do not rain pies, but they can rain martial arts manuals. In just one night, from the south to the north of the Ming realm, genuine Bixie Sword Manuals fell from the sky like rain.

At dawn the next day, Yang Xin returned, once again flying back before everyone’s amazed eyes.

The entire martial world was shaken as if struck by a massive earthquake.

“Lin Zhennan, that bastard, is playing completely out of line!” In a corner of Fuzhou City, Yu Canghai clutched a genuine Bixie Sword Manual, roaring in fury.

Not only did he have one in hand, but all his disciples had a copy as well. According to the usual script, I ought to have wiped out your whole family to steal your manual—since when is there a tearful clearance sale of genuine Bixie Sword Manuals?

Actually, calling it a sale is wrong—it was given away for free. And as if that wasn’t enough, you claim you were forced by my Qingcheng Sect! Aren’t you putting my sect right into the fire?

“Master, something terrible has happened! I’ve received a message by carrier pigeon from our disciple guarding Songfeng Monastery in Sichuan. He reports that last night, a divine being descended from the skies amidst heavenly fire and scattered countless Bixie Sword Manuals before leaving,” reported Hou Renying, one of the Four Elites of Qingcheng.

“Lin Zhennan! Curse you!” Yu Canghai was both shocked and enraged. As a sect leader, he could naturally tell the manual was genuine. If it were fake, it wouldn’t matter, but this one was real.

That made it even more terrifying. With such an insidious, shortcut martial art, as long as someone was ruthless enough to cut themselves, their martial skills would improve by leaps and bounds. If everyone learned this evil art, no one would submit to anyone else. Such martial arts would only breed greater perversion, magnifying minor conflicts infinitely and fueling the ambitions within men’s hearts.

“My martial arts are superior—why should you be the sect leader?” Yu Canghai could already imagine his disciples thinking this. By now, someone among them had probably already steeled themselves and taken the knife.

“Lin Zhennan! Damn! Damn! Damn!” But Yu Canghai, lacking the words, could only repeat his curses.

“Master, something else! Another message from Songfeng Monastery! It’s not just our Qingcheng Sect—every sect in Sichuan, indeed the whole martial world, had Bixie Sword Manuals fall from the sky. There’s a rumor attached, saying Lin Zhennan did all this because our Qingcheng Sect forced him!” Hong Renxiong, another of the Four Elites, burst in shouting.

“Lin! Zhen! Nan!” Yu Canghai wished he could cut him down right now. What was meant to be done in secret was now exposed for all to see, the whole table overturned. “Why can’t you follow the rules of the martial world?”

“Master, let’s go destroy the Fortune Escort Agency now,” suggested Yu Renhao, another of the Four Elites.

“Senior brother is right. Master, let’s wipe out the Fortune Escort Agency,” echoed Luo Renjie.

“It’s too late!” Yu Canghai closed his eyes in pain. “The whole world is in uproar. Lin Zhennan has brought everything into the open, and our Qingcheng Sect has become a laughing stock. If we destroy the Fortune Escort Agency now, we’ll be the target of everyone’s anger. This is an open scheme…”

Suddenly, as if struck by a thought, Yu Canghai sucked in a sharp breath. “Could it be Lin Zhennan anticipated I’d do this?”

The more he thought, the more it made sense. Given the state of transport in the Ming realm, not even a martial master could scatter Bixie Sword Manuals across the entire world in one night. Even if it’s just paper, the sheer quantity—no one would believe it wasn’t prepared in advance…

Of course, Yu Canghai had no idea that a cheat-level existence had entered this world, so he was still thinking in his usual ways.

“Could Lin Zhennan be setting me up? Trying to wipe out my Qingcheng Sect? For him to so ruthlessly give away such a vital martial art, perhaps he’s already taken the knife to himself, or has many such people under his command. If I go up against him without thinking, it would be suicide. Now, here in Fuzhou, who’s to say he isn’t watching my every move…”

“Not good! We must go!” Alarmed, Yu Canghai abandoned all thought of gathering supplies, grabbed his treasured sword, and called his disciples to flee at once.

When he finally reached the outskirts of Fuzhou and was about to celebrate his escape, a voice dragged him back down to hell.

“Where is Headmaster Yu coming from, and where do you intend to go?”

Startled, Yu Canghai looked up to see Lin Zhennan standing atop a white cloud, hovering in midair, his expression unreadable as he gazed down.

“Lin Zhennan, are you man or ghost?!” Yu Canghai’s face turned deathly pale, veins bulging from terror.

Yu Canghai was frightened out of his wits, but Lin Zhennan was no less terrified—if only Yang Xin hadn’t forced him into this!

The white cloud was actually a mass of sand shaped by Yang Xin’s imitation of Gaara’s sand manipulation, transformed into a cloud by a transformation technique. He’d then forced Lin Zhennan to stand on it and wait outside Fuzhou for Yu Canghai.

Yu Canghai’s guess was right: his group had been under Lin Zhennan’s gaze the whole time. Not to mention Yang Xin’s clairvoyant eyes, but just Lin Zhennan himself—as the local power of Fuzhou, he’d been caught off guard in the original story and seemed passive, but now, knowing everything in advance, Yu Canghai’s group had nowhere to hide.

Did you really think Lin Zhennan, who could open escort agencies throughout the Ming realm, was a pushover? Did you really think he was as useless as in the original story? Unfortunately, no matter how shrewd or experienced Lin Zhennan was, when confronted with Yang Xin’s overwhelming, otherworldly power, there was nothing for him to do but obey.

Divine favor as vast as the sea, divine might as a prison!

If Yang Xin wished, destroying Fortune Escort Agency would be as simple as uttering a word. So Lin Zhennan resigned himself—whatever Yang Xin said, he did. Thus, trembling, Lin Zhennan stood atop the white cloud, willingly playing the puppet, speaking whatever lines Yang Xin whispered into his ear.

As for why he had to do this, Lin Zhennan remembered perfectly well how Yang Xin, with a wicked sense of humor, had said, “Scare him a little…”

“You’re the boss, you call the shots. If you say scare, then scare.” But this was flying! To say he wasn’t nervous would be a lie—Lin Zhennan’s heart raced as he desperately tried to steady himself. Decades of stance training were supposed to root him to the ground, but that was on solid earth. Up here in the sky, a wrong step and he’d be smashed to pieces, and he’d have only himself to blame!

The more he thought, the more terrified Lin Zhennan became, his face shifting rapidly from pale to green and back. But this shifting expression only made Yu Canghai’s heart sink further—he was certain Lin Zhennan was about to kill him.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have come.” Yu Canghai sighed deeply, surging his inner energy—not to fight, but to run.

“But you’re already here,” Lin Zhennan replied, suddenly picking up a strange, dramatic tone.

“Can I leave my sword behind?” Yu Canghai raised his treasured blade.

“Along with the Qingcheng Sect’s inner cultivation manual and the Songfeng Sword Manual. Hand these over and our feud is settled,” said Lin Zhennan.

“Lin! Zhennan! Just you wait!” Yu Canghai was furious, wanting nothing more than to devour his flesh, chew his bones, skin him alive, and tear out his tendons. These were the sect’s treasured martial arts—handing them over meant total surrender, the utter humiliation of the Qingcheng Sect, perhaps even its destruction.

Yu Canghai bit his lip until it bled, then angrily fetched paper and brush to write out the inner cultivation manual and the Songfeng Sword Manual from memory.

Once Yu Canghai finished, Lin Zhennan beckoned; the manuscripts floated to him of their own accord, settling gently in his hand. He waved once, saying, “Go. Our feud is settled…”