Volume One: The Youngest Among Three Hundred Chapter Eighty-Six: Where Is the Sword?

As they spoke, the two of them entered the depths of the forest. There, in the place where bats and crows gathered thickest, mighty trunks twisted together like a roof that could shield one from wind and rain, forming a vast natural tree hall.

At its very center, two jet-black silk-cotton trees were entwined and braced against one another, creating a seat.

Upon that seat sat a hooded figure, upright and motionless, his face hidden from view. The shape beneath the hood seemed deep, hollow, as though there were nothing there at all.

Like a garment inflated by air.

Yet he spoke: “You have returned?”

“Yes, Blood Ancestor!” Ying Si and A Man answered together, while Hua Zixin, following behind them, still remained in a dazed state.

From within the Blood Ancestor’s fathomless hood came the same deep voice again: “And how about it? Did you obtain the Water-Reflected Sword?”

“This...” A Man and Ying Si fell silent at the same time. After a bout of exchanged glances and silent evasion, the latter, as the man among them, said helplessly, “Blood... Blood Ancestor, we did originally obtain it, but something went wrong afterward.”

“What?”

The hood lifted by the slightest degree. In the dark depths within it, two eyes like blood-red grapes suddenly fixed upon them, and his tone turned cold. “Ying Si, do you know how much trust I placed in you when I gave you the task of retrieving the Water-Reflected Sword?”

“You have truly disappointed me!”

In an instant, his pitch-black sleeves rose. They, too, were empty inside, but with a slight tremor, two black iron chains lashed out and shot straight at Ying Si’s face, binding him tightly.

They coiled and tightened without end, choking him until his face went deathly pale and his eyes bulged. Standing close, one could even hear the harsh crackling of bones breaking.

“Blood... Blood Ancestor...”

He tried to explain, but the crushing suffocation made it impossible to force out a single word. A Man hastily said, “Please calm your anger, Blood Ancestor. We had already taken the Water-Reflected Sword, only to encounter the Bone of the Punishing Wolf along the way, and had no choice but to—”

“What did you say?”

The Blood Ancestor, though cloaked in nothing tangible, was clearly startled. In those grape-like eyes, two red lines shot forth, boring across more than ten meters and straight into A Man’s gaze.

He was reading her subconscious.

In only a moment, he knew the entire course of events. He withdrew the iron chains binding Ying Si. “So it was the Bone of the Punishing Wolf. Very well. Given your cultivation, you would only suffer loss in facing it. I will not pursue the matter for now.”

“Many thanks, Blood Ancestor!”

“Thank you, Blood Ancestor!” A Man and Ying Si both cupped their hands, still uneasy in their hearts.

After some hesitation, A Man gathered her courage and asked, “Blood Ancestor, weren’t the four demon relics always on your person? Why would they... why would they suddenly appear in the hands of that black-robed guard?”

The Blood Ancestor sat down again and said in recollection, “The Bone of the Punishing Wolf, the Heart of Night Luring, the Bewitching Pearl, and the Underworld-Spilling Tendons were indeed all once in my possession. However, more than twenty years ago, one of my disciples betrayed me, stole one of them, and fled the demon realm.”

“The stolen one was the Bone of the Punishing Wolf?” A Man asked carefully.

The hood gave a slight nod. “That is correct. From that day on, I killed all of my disciples and never accepted another.”

Ying Si analyzed, “But that young man from the black-robed guard clearly is not. Could he be connected to your disciple in some way, or have somehow stumbled upon the Bone of the Punishing Wolf by accident...”

The Blood Ancestor lifted an empty sleeve, signaling them to focus on what mattered most. “What is important now is to gather the eight divine swords that set the trigrams of Fu Xi. Teng Qi has always been in the demon realm, so he need not concern us.”

“Since Water-Reflected has been brought back to Chang'an by the black-robed guard, it will surely fall into the hands of the imperial family. In that case, the Great Min dynasty already possesses three, including the state-protecting Vermilion Bronze and Azure Steel.”

“Chang'an is under the dual restrictions of the Heavenly Investigation Office and the Celestial Master’s Office. We cannot enter for the moment, so... first find the remaining Rock Radiance, Crimson Fang, Falling Flow, and Still Arrival!”

“Yes!”

...

In Chang'an City!

Within Black Robe Alley!

On the training grounds!

Chen Chang'an and Song Jiu stood face to face, drawing the attention of every newcomer in the black-robed guard.

With one leg crossed over the other, Song Jiu wore a look of certainty and said coldly, “Chen Chang'an, I saw it with my own eyes. What is the point of keeping up the act now? It is not too late to change your mind.”

“Heh!”

Chen Chang'an gave him a brief look in reply. He had never been one to chase victory at all costs, but Song Jiu’s buzzing in his ear was truly infuriating. Giving him a lesson to make him behave was no bad thing.

“What is going on with those two?”

“They say they made a wager. Chen Chang'an just took several tasks from the Star Ranking to have his star points recorded, and Song Jiu accused him of not finishing them, trying to take advantage without doing the work.”

“So the two of them are betting.”

“Well, Chen Chang'an was first in both of the earlier assessments. Since he went to have his points recorded, he must have already completed the tasks. Surely he would not be talking nonsense.”

“That is not necessarily so.”

“We all saw that his first trial task took him three days to complete. He only just returned today to take down new task plaques. How would he have had the time to finish anything? He is surely just abusing his earlier results and acting recklessly.”

“I think so too.”

Once the onlookers understood what had happened, they began discussing it in all directions, each with a different view.

Song Jiu, hearing it all, only grew more smug.

Not long after, one of the black-robed guard members Liu Zhan had sent to verify the truth of the tasks Chen Chang'an had claimed returned, carrying several stacks of documents in both hands. He reported, “Lord Liu, after verification with the local authorities, these matters were indeed completed by Chen Chang'an.”

“Including the elimination of foreign spies gathering military intelligence at the border between the Anyi and Yanzuo wards of Chang'an City.”

“Haha, I knew Chen Chang'an had not completed them...”

“What... what did you say?” The first half of his words cut off abruptly. Song Jiu stared at the veteran black-robed guard member who had handled the verification, his eyes bulging in disbelief.

He waved both hands repeatedly. “Impossible, absolutely impossible!”

The black-robed guard member spread out the documents in his hands. “What now? You do not believe it? The seals of the various local offices are right here as proof. Are you, a mere youth, questioning my ability?”

“I...” Song Jiu was momentarily speechless.

Liu Zhan took the documents and glanced between Chen Chang'an and Song Jiu. Stroking his beard, he said, “I will go record the star points. As for the wager, that is your own affair. Resolve it yourselves.”

With that, he turned and left.

Song Jiu froze in place and began to twitch uncontrollably. He had clearly seen Chen Chang'an return to the training grounds and take down the iron task plaques himself. How could he possibly have completed them? Unless he had known the specifics in advance?

Impossible. The Star Ranking updates every day.

Could he be the black-robed guard’s own son?

Barely enduring the torment in his heart, Song Jiu clenched his fists until they crackled. His eyes bloodshot, he said through gritted teeth, “Chen Chang'an, if you think I will kneel and apologize to you, that is impossible.”

“I know that.”

To his surprise, Chen Chang'an did not care in the least. Instead, he shrugged and walked toward the direction where Liu Zhan stood.

“You...”

Song Jiu felt a naked humiliation and provocation washing over him. He trembled all over, nearly bursting from rage, but he knew this was the black-robed guard and he could not make a move. Otherwise, it would affect his future prospects. He could only suppress his fury for the moment and say through clenched teeth, “Surname Chen, just wait. Sooner or later, I will make your life worse than death.”

By then, Chen Chang'an had already reached the tent and was waiting for Liu Zhan to calculate his final total star points. When the tally was finished, it stood at 930, fully 398 points ahead of Song Jiu in second place. He still remembered that when he had first entered the training grounds, his score had been only 280, ranking him far outside the top hundred.

Life’s rises and falls came so fast it made him want to... pee.

“Chen Chang'an, come with me. Sister Wu wants to see you.”

Just as he was delighted beyond measure, Cai'er, Cao Wu’s personal maidservant, approached from afar. She folded her hands before her right waist in a respectful bow and spoke.

“To... to see me?” Chen Chang'an was somewhat surprised.

Cai'er nodded. “Yes.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

Soon, under Cai'er’s guidance, Chen Chang'an arrived at an open area somewhat behind the main buildings of the black-robed guard. There, he saw both deputy commanders, Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong, each of them warriors at the seventh rank, the Life and Death Realm.

Chen Chang'an seemed to have guessed... why he had been summoned.

Sure enough, Cao Wu turned back, her cool and frosty beauty deliberately angled toward the position where Cheng was standing beside her, but she spoke to Chen instead. “I just saw your trial results. Your star points reached over 900, far surpassing everyone else. As expected, you truly are one I had my eye on.”

Every word was clearly meant to slap her colleague Cheng Mulong in the face. Had he not once questioned her judgment, saying the one she had chosen was blind and could not pass the trials?

“Hah!”

Cheng Mulong awkwardly waved a hand. “I knew long ago that Chen Chang'an was the most outstanding of this batch of newcomers. To reach 900 star points in three days—such a thing was unheard of even in the past.”

“Whistle. Whistle. Whistle.”

Cao Wu gave a light whistle. “Someone did say they would run naked around the training grounds.”

“Uh...”

Recalling the flag he had once planted, Cheng Mulong’s broad, rough face instantly reddened. “Wh-who said that? Who would dare spout nonsense in the black-robed guard? Really now, let us begin restoring Chen Chang'an’s body.”

Indeed, that was why Cao Wu had called him over. After all, they had agreed from the start that once he joined the black-robed guard, the two of them would join forces with the power of the seventh-rank Life and Death Realm to help mend the tattered organs ravaged by the slaughter-born injury.

“Mm, good.”

Cao Wu began by raising both hands and gathering her qi, preparing herself.

Cheng Mulong likewise compressed all of his inner force into his dantian, ready for the coming burst of output, and suddenly said, “When Chen Chang'an’s injuries are healed, he must join my command.”

“No way!”

The gentle force coiling around Cao Wu’s body instantly turned fierce and overwhelming, surging with mighty force. A silver spear flew in from afar through a broken window in the armory tower, bearing a piercing cry that rose to the heavens, and landed in her hand.

On the opposite side, Cheng Mulong extended both hands behind his back and drew out two wolf-tooth clubs. Their auras both surged higher and higher.

Baring his teeth at the crushing pressure, which felt much like being trapped in a whirlpool, Chen Chang'an stood between them and said rather helplessly, “You... you two, actually the injuries I suffered from the slaughter-born assault have already healed, so you...”

“What? Healed?”

Cao and Cheng both widened their eyes and looked over in unison.

Chen Chang'an shrugged. “Yes, already healed.”

As he spoke, he spun in place and clenched his fists, thumping his chest with force. “See? I am fine.”

“Whether you are fine or not is not something decided by your mouth.”

Cao Wu put away the silver spear and came over. Without warning, she pressed her palm against his forehead. Immediately, a faint stream of clear energy began to pour recklessly into his limbs and bones, circulating through him before returning along the same path.

Then... her cold and lovely face revealed a trace of utter disbelief. “How... how is it really healed?”

“I told you...” Chen Chang'an spread his hands, just about to explain.

“Smack!”

His words were cut short midway as Cheng Mulong’s huge palm descended from above and slapped the same spot, beginning to probe with a unique internal force. At first he frowned, then narrowed his eyes, and finally said, “Well be damned, it really is healed? How did you mend injuries of that severity?”

Chen Chang'an wove his lie with great care. “When I went to Stone Bridge Town, I happened to meet an expert living in seclusion. Seeing the injuries on my body, he graciously intervened and saved me.”

He could only say such made-up things. He certainly could not bring up Peach Blossom or Fragrance Pavilion.

“An expert? Not bad luck on your part, kid.”

Both Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong chose to believe him, because they knew better than anyone how severe Chen Chang'an’s prior bodily wounds had been. There was no more reasonable explanation.

As for Chen Chang'an, he had no intention of dwelling on the subject. He smoothly changed the topic himself. “Oh, right. The two commanders—sister and brother, I suppose—when I was on my way to Stone Bridge Town, I also came across a sword by chance and brought it back as well. Let me show you!”

“Brother and sister?”

The pairing of two perfectly ordinary terms produced a linguistic effect that left Cao and Cheng stunned on the spot. Only after a few seconds did Cao Wu react first. “Oh? What sword?”

“Just a moment!”

Chen Chang'an immediately returned to where he had left the horse and went to retrieve it. Initially, he had planned to ask Peach Blossom, but from the last time he shot the fireworks, it seemed items not carried on his person could not enter Fragrance Pavilion. It was better to hand it over to the authorities and even earn some goodwill.

But...

When he reached the pillar, the little colt stolen from beneath Peng Wanli’s trousers now only carried a few everyday odds and ends. The Water-Reflected Sword was nowhere to be seen.

“Damn... who, who took it?”