Chapter 11. Chapter 11. You're here for that broken Jufeng Blade...

Seeing Ah Cai's lovesick look, the young master felt a headache coming on and said in a hoarse voice, "She's not your cousin. I had your father make up an excuse to call you back. You...you don't even know what your cousin looks like?"

Upon hearing this, Ah Cai's heart, which had just been pounding like a deer, suddenly sank into a wall.

He drooped his eyebrows and looked aggrieved: "I only saw my cousin once when I was little. I remember she was a chubby little girl. I don't remember what she looked like. Besides, girls change a lot as they grow up, I..." He couldn't continue, so he just lowered his head and stood there, exuding a desolate feeling.

Even Yokoba, the person who was offended, couldn't bear to blame him anymore.

The young master was speechless and simply waved him away, wanting to avoid seeing him and getting annoyed.

Ah Cai then left, turning back every few steps, but as he closed the door, he glanced at Heng Bo with lingering reluctance.

Hengbo:……

The young master was probably already adept at handling such awkward situations, and quite naturally changed the subject: "I will be returning to the manor soon. After I get back, please do me a favor."

Hengbo instinctively wanted to refuse; her destination was also Hidden Sword Manor, and it would be best if she could go in with him. However, after the young master said something, she relented.

The next day, at daybreak, Ah Cai, who had just gotten up to serve the young master breakfast, looked at Heng Bo with an innocent expression and exclaimed in despair, "What? The young master went back to the manor alone?"

Hengbo didn't know why he was reacting so strongly, and nodded indifferently.

He paced anxiously in the courtyard: "With the young master's meager skills, wouldn't going there be like walking into a trap?"

Hengbo:……

Fortunately, the young master wasn't here right now, otherwise he would probably be so angry that he would hit someone. Although Aunt Jiao and Uncle Zhang have temporarily gone out to avoid the trouble, he can't beat any of the remaining people.

Hengbo got dizzy from being spun around, and finally couldn't stand it anymore. She took out paper and pen from her bundle, wrote a few big characters, slapped them on his forehead, and went to practice her sword in the mountains behind the village.

Ah Cai was left staring blankly at the illegible "luring the snake out of its hole" on the paper. After trying to figure it out for a while, he finally gave up. Before leaving, he sighed, "This girl's handwriting is so similar to mine. Sigh, why isn't she my cousin?"

Hengbo calmly practiced his sword for two days under Acai's gaze, which was a mixture of anxiety, doubt, and resentment. Finally, on the third day, when Acai could no longer bear it, Hengbo invited him to a tavern in the nearest town.

In the restaurant, Hengbo, who had booked a room but only ordered a plate of peanuts, stood by the window with his eyes half-closed, holding his sword.

Ah Cai chewed on a peanut and asked again, "Are you really not lying to me? They really will bring the young master here?"

Hengbo nodded and held up three fingers to show him, indicating that this was the third time he had asked.

Amidst Ah-Cai's resentful grumbling, Hengbo recalled the night three days prior.

The young master placed the Xuan Tie Heavy Sword "Fen Ye," which Heng Bo had temporarily lent him a few days ago but which actually belonged to him, on the table and told her about the Hidden Sword Manor for the first time.

“The Hidden Sword Manor wasn’t originally called this,” he said with a wistful expression, as if reminiscing about something from long ago. “Back then, I had just been born. My father was the head of the Qingyang Sect, and my mother was the daughter of the Master of Hanlu. I also had an older sister.”

“All disciples of the Qingyang Sect practice the Qingyang Sword Technique, and you should also know that what every swordsman dreams of is a peerless divine weapon that suits him,” he said, looking at Hengbo, who was now unable to resist stroking the heavy sword on the table. His eyes were filled with a teasing smile, but as he continued to speak, the smile in his eyes gradually disappeared, turning into a desolation and bleakness that he should not have experienced at his age.

"And Hanlu is such a place that can satisfy almost all martial arts learners in the world. Most of the people in Hanlu do not know martial arts, but they all have excellent skills in forging weapons. Swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks and forks, there is nothing they cannot make."

"My maternal grandfather was the master of the Cold House, and half of the ten most powerful weapons in the martial arts world were made by him."

He pointed to the "Yokobo" sword that Yokobo carried on her back, gesturing for her to place it on the table.

His gaze fell on the sword, tracing its every inch, revealing an emotion that Yokobo could not comprehend: "This sword is named Yokobo, the same name as you."

Ignoring Hengbo's surprise, he continued, "This is the first divine weapon my maternal grandfather forged. It and the Jufeng Blade are known as the Mountain and Water Twin Blades, ranking ninth on the Divine Weapon Ranking. These twin blades were given to Jiang Chaosheng, the 'Outer Guest' who has long since disappeared from the martial world."

Upon hearing the name "Gathering Peak Blade," Hengbo's nerves involuntarily tensed, and his eyes unconsciously revealed a hint of vigilance and wariness.

The young master ignored her aggressive posture and instead looked directly into her eyes, finally giving the answer that Hengbo had been searching for for so long: "So I guess you came for that broken Jufeng Blade."

As soon as he finished speaking, a strand of hair fell onto the table in front of him. The longsword he had just introduced was now pressed against his throat. The young master knew that if Hengbo was not satisfied with the answer he gave today, he would probably not be able to leave with a whole corpse.

However, he did not seem frightened or anxious. Instead, he stared at Yokobo with an appreciative look. This was the first time he had seen Yokobo truly in a state of perfect harmony with her sword, and she was clearly intent on killing him.

At this moment, her slender back was the spine of a sword that could withstand a thousand armies, her sword-wielding arm was the blade that could kill gods, and her originally clear and cold eyes revealed an inorganic sharpness.

She transformed herself into a divine weapon.

This is the innate sword physique. Unlike ordinary swordsmen who achieve the unity of man and sword by connecting their mind and weapon, the innate sword physique requires refining themselves into a sword. All swords in their hands are simply a matter of whether they are comfortable to wield.

The young master's admiration for Hengbo wasn't the respect of a fellow martial artist for a senior with superior skills, but rather the inspiration that the swordsmith had seen that made his soul tremble.

He suddenly had an idea, but he would talk to Hengbo after he had finished dealing with this matter.

I'm sure Hengbo already guessed it, so the young master didn't keep me in suspense any longer: "That's right, I'm the one who delivered that broken sword to Biyun Town."

He lowered his head, his eyes filled with memories and a hint of confusion: "A month ago, the master of Hidden Sword Manor was suddenly assassinated. After careful investigation, it was discovered that a woman from out of town had entered the manor and visited the master before his death. Therefore, the elders all believe that the master's death is inextricably linked to this female assassin."

"However, what none of them knew was that after meeting the female assassin, the manor lord met with me privately and gave me two things."

Even after more than a month, he still vividly remembers the scene from that day:

An imposing old man, who was not angry, suddenly summoned him. The master of Hidden Sword Manor was not actually that old, and martial artists often looked much younger than their peers, but he already had graying temples and his face was full of the frost of time.

The father and son actually had a very distant relationship and rarely saw each other, but when the young master saw his father this time, he felt that he seemed to have aged a lot all of a sudden.

"Qingchen," his already somewhat cloudy eyes looked at his son who had just come of age, but his gaze was empty, "what do you want to do in the future?"

To be honest, when the manor lord asked this question, Chu Qingchen's first thought was whether her father suspected her of having disloyal intentions.

However, the pressure from his elders made it difficult for him to say anything against his conscience. So, he simply stopped hiding his ambition and bowed deeply to the ground: "Father, your son wants to inherit your mantle."

He expected to be met with either fury or relief, but neither came; instead, he was met with a long silence.

Just as he was about to ask, a sigh finally came from the head of the table.

"Come with me."

After saying this, the elder did not wait for him to get up, but turned and walked into the inner room.

He pressed down one by one the corresponding wooden map pieces on the wall, following the order of the Big Dipper, and a secret room slowly appeared before the two of them as the floor was moved aside.

He followed closely behind the old manor lord, afraid that a wrong step would trigger some deadly trap. However, to his surprise, the secret room was so simple that it could even be described as shabby, and it would not be an exaggeration to call it a cellar.

Inside, there were only rows of bookshelves and a simple desk.

After lighting the candles, the old manor lord took a sword case from a bookshelf and pushed it in front of him: "This is Fenye, and from now on it belongs to you."

He then turned to the other side and handed him the seal representing the master of Cangjian Manor. “Before I leave, I will publicly hand over the position of master to you, so that you will be the rightful new master of Cangjian Manor.”

After doing all this, the old manor lord's aged figure became even more hunched. He raised his bony fingers and gently stroked the remaining rows of bamboo slips on the bookshelf, his eyes filled with nostalgia and expectation: "These are the essentials of casting artifacts that your mother personally compiled before she passed away. Burn them all for me when the time comes."

Upon hearing this, he could no longer suppress the resentment that had been building up in his heart for years. His eyes darkened instantly, and he sneered, "I'm afraid my mother wouldn't agree."

The weapons forged in my humble abode are either given to those with whom I have a connection or exchanged for mutual benefit, but they never fall into the hands of evil people.

Eighteen years ago, the master of Hanlu forged a divine sword once more. This sword was made from extraterrestrial cold iron as its base, supplemented with Hanlu's secret alloy, and forged for eighty-one days on a starless, dark night. When the sword was first sharpened, its cold light pierced the night sky, as if the dawn was breaking, hence the name "Dividing the Night".

"Fenye" ​​immediately became the number one weapon on the list of divine weapons. The leader of the Five Evils of the Jianghu repeatedly sought the sword but failed, and harboring resentment, he gathered the other four evils to launch a surprise attack on Hanlu and wreak havoc.

His maternal grandfather, mother, and older sister who was only six or seven years old at the time... Except for his maternal uncle who happened to be away at the time, his maternal family, the Ruan clan, was completely wiped out in this calamity. From then on, their humble dwelling was gone, and the Ruan clan ceased to exist.

People in the martial arts world sighed. A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime. The humble dwelling was destroyed because of this crime. Fortunately, Qingyang remembered their friendship and was willing to take in and shelter the survivors, and even personally killed their enemies and offered a blood sacrifice to their relatives and friends.

Therefore, the story of Chu Zhuangzhu, Qingyang, and Hanlu forming the Hidden Sword Manor has gradually become a well-known tale.

But if the so-called crime of possessing a treasure is nothing more than being vulnerable to hidden arrows, the so-called acceptance and protection is actually a covetous eye, and the so-called killing of enemies is nothing more than silencing witnesses?

A note from the author:

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That's all for today's update. See you on Thursday!