Chapter 238 Seeking the Sword, Obtaining the Sword!
Inside the Guyue Sword Shop, on a street near the Dragon-Slaying Platform, Yan Liulang led his troops to drive the black-clad private soldiers back step by step.
The two sides were engaged in fierce street fighting.
"Something terrible has happened, Brother Yan!"
Suddenly, a subordinate's panicked shout came from behind.
Yan Liulang used his dry knife to cut down one of the men, and then, under the cover of his brothers, temporarily retreated.
Reaching a safe spot at the rear, he grabbed the shoulder of the subordinate who had come to report, his brow furrowed with blood, and asked urgently:
"What's wrong? Didn't I tell you to take some men and secretly follow Mingfu and the others to stop Mingfu from doing anything foolish? Why did you come back on your own! Where is Mingfu?"
The subordinate cried out with a mournful face, "Your Excellency, Your Excellency, they've all disappeared!"
"What do you mean?!" Yan Liulang's eyes widened, and his dry knife clattered to the ground.
"Mingfu led his men to sneak up the mountain, carrying shark oil to blast the sword furnace halfway up the mountain, but I lost them halfway through. It was as if they had vanished into thin air..."
Yan Liulang thought he had misheard: "What do you mean by 'vanished into thin air'?! More than a hundred people vanished into thin air? Explain yourself clearly!"
The subordinate smacked his lips, seemingly trying to figure out how to describe his recent experience. Suddenly, he remembered something, lowered his head in shame, and said:
"Miss Aqing went along too."
"What's Ah Qing doing there? Didn't I tell you to take good care of her?"
With fierce fighting raging at the front, and one piece of bad news after another being thrown at him, Yan Liulang felt as if his head was being split open by a knife. He asked in shock:
"She didn't go with the main force to the Dragon-Slaying Platform to rescue her brother?"
The subordinate shrank back:
"I don't know... Miss Aqing originally followed us secretly, but she rushed up to find Magistrate Ming, which exposed us."
"Mr. Ming was initially adamant that he would not allow Miss Aqing to go with him, but Miss Aqing, holding a bag of oil paper, cried and said that she wanted to go with Mr. Ming to take revenge. Mr. Ming was silent for a moment, and then tacitly agreed that she should go with him."
"Then the magistrate turned around and told us who were following him to go back and support you, Brother Yan."
"Since Miss Aqing is here, I thought that the magistrate wouldn't risk a mutual destruction, so I led my men back a bit. But halfway there, I remembered Brother Yan's instructions and felt uneasy, so I secretly sent someone to follow them again, and then..."
"They disappeared without a trace. Mingfu and the others carried more than a dozen barrels of Burning Sky Shark Oil and vanished as if they had disappeared into thin air."
The subordinate whispered in a panic.
Yan Liulang fiercely wiped the blood from his face, looking north towards the calm yet eerily mysterious extinguished sword furnace halfway up Xiaogushan Mountain.
"Magistrate... Miss Aqing..."
The blue-clad constable stared blankly, then suddenly covered his ears with both hands and bent over, as if fearing the sudden appearance of a deafening explosion in the next second.
...
Liu Zian and his men cautiously stopped in front of the sword furnace halfway up the mountain.
The black-clad private soldiers borrowed from Boss Li were all left at the foot of the mountain by Liu Zian to defend against the constables and troublemakers who were attacking the sword shop.
Liu Zian was accompanied only by Liu Zilin, Liu Fu, and a group of Liu family's direct descendants in blue robes.
Liu Zilin and Liu Fu accepted the order and led several servants in blue robes to act as the vanguard and search the house.
Liu Zian waited for a while on the lawn outside the door.
No unexpected sounds came from inside the house, but one could hear Liu Zilin and the old man exchanging brief questions behind the door:
Where is Liu Zian?
"My second brother is outside the door and asked me to announce your arrival..."
"Notify him my ass! Tell him to get the hell out of here. The sword is sheathed, everything is ready, we're just waiting for him."
"yes."
A short while later.
The door was pushed open.
After Liu Zilin and Liu Fu finished their inspection, they walked out with serious expressions, nodded tacitly to Liu Zian, and stepped aside to make way.
Liu Zian breathed a slight sigh of relief.
He waved to signal his servants and attendants to stand guard outside the door.
He couldn't wait to go inside the house.
Liu Zilin and Liu Fu followed them into the house.
It's a bit dark inside compared to outside, so you'll need to squint to adjust.
As soon as Liu Zian stepped through the door with his right foot, his eyes were completely drawn to a wooden sword box lying quietly on the table in front of him, and he couldn't help but open his eyes wider.
Beside the table, in front of an open sword-forging furnace, the old swordsmith sat in a rocking chair, tilted his head back and took a sip of yellow wine, his little finger pointing casually at the Mo family sword box on the table.
Without saying a word, Liu Zian rushed to the table and stroked the box from top to bottom with both hands. The touch was cool and smooth.
His breathing became heavy.
Liu Zian couldn't wait to open the sword box and inspect the cauldron sword.
Upon seeing this, the old swordsmith chuckled and shook his head.
With a "click," as if a trigger had been pulled, the sword case opened, revealing a hidden compartment.
Liu Zian looked on expectantly, but then his expression froze for a moment.
The sword case was empty.
He suddenly heard a soft door closing behind him.
Liu Zian's expression changed, and he quickly turned around to run away, whispering, "Go quickly..." He had only uttered two words when Liu Zilin pulled him into his arms.
"Second Brother," Liu Zilin said warmly and affectionately.
“Uh…” Liu Zian slowly lowered his head, staring at the short sword that was already embedded in the hilt of his chest ribs.
Liu Zilin leaned close to Liu Zian's ear and whispered, "This sword was given to you by my elder brother."
Liu Zian clutched his chest, his face filled with disbelief.
He exerted force with his right hand, trying to pull out the short sword that was piercing his body and chilling him to the bone.
But Liu Zilin firmly held the sword hilt down.
For a moment, he couldn't pull it out no matter what he did.
As Liu Zian's eyes widened, he saw Liu Zilin casually pull a memorial tablet from his sleeve.
At this moment, the third young master of the Liu family and Liu Zi'an were still embracing face to face. He placed his eldest brother's memorial tablet on the table and straightened it, then nodded and said:
"Second brother, since eldest brother is not here, you are the eldest in the family. I will listen to you and cooperate with you to avenge eldest brother."
“You… beast… Liu Zilin… you’ve been hiding this so well… beast…” Liu Zian raised his right hand, veins bulging, and poked Liu Zilin’s nose with his finger.
Liu Zilin didn't flinch at all, lowering his eyes to stare at the trembling fingers in front of his nose, and shook his head:
"No one can hide it as well as my second brother. It's my second brother who taught me by example and taught me well."
Liu Zian closed his eyes as if in despair, but in the next instant, his left hand, which had been hanging by his side, suddenly shot up and drew his sword.
But the next second, he found that on the back of his left hand, which was gripping the knife handle, there was a wrinkled, rough old hand.
Hold it down firmly.
Liu Zian couldn't draw even an inch of the blade.
He suddenly looked up.
The first thing that caught my eye was a familiar, lame manager.
At this moment, Liu Fu and Liu Zilin stood together in front of Liu Zian.
Liu Zian stood there dumbfounded.
What left him utterly bewildered was not Liu Fu's sudden betrayal, but rather... that Liu Zian was completely unable to move his body, as Liu Fu gently pressed down on his hand holding the sword hilt.
An influx of external spiritual energy completely locked down his fragile meridians and dantian.
"Liu...Liu Fu, you...you're a Qi cultivator!?"
Liu Fu looked at him coldly, without saying a word.
Liu Zilin gently patted Liu Zian's shoulder:
"Second brother, don't move around and waste time. Everyone is in line. I finally managed to get the first spot from Young Master Wei. Second brother, please help me out."
Liu Zian suddenly turned his head, his wide, dead fish eyes staring straight at Liu Zilin: "No, you also practice..."
A muffled "plop" sound.
Liu Zian choked on his words, because Liu Zilin had taken another short sword from Liu Fu and slashed it into his chest like a silver spoon sinking into hot cheese.
"This second sword is a gift for my second brother on behalf of my father and his soup kitchen."
Liu Zilin asked with a friendly smile, "Second Brother, do you remember Father's soup kitchen now?"
"Uh...you..."
Liu Zilin chuckled and beckoned to the side, whereupon the lame steward handed him another short sword.
Another sword hilt was added to Liu Zian's chest.
"This third sword was given to my second brother on behalf of the ancestors of the Liu family of Longcheng."
Liu Zilin firmly put his arm around Liu Zian's shoulder, indirectly supporting the latter's bleeding, heavily injured, and nearly collapsing body. He faced him and sighed as he asked:
"Third brother, I'm so afraid that second brother will run away too fast and forget our ancestors. Second brother, do you remember now?"
On a rocking chair nearby, an old swordsmith was enjoying a glass of yellow wine, watching the scene unfolding inside the room with great interest.
"Liu Zilin, Liu Fu...you...you deserve to die..." Liu Zian cursed with a ferocious expression.
But in the next instant, something even more astonishing and chilling happened.
Liu Zilin, who was face-to-face with Liu Zian, suddenly stepped aside after stabbing three swords, revealing the scene of a sword furnace room behind him filled with people.
Inside the sword furnace room, apart from the lame steward...
Beside the gate, Wei Shaoxuan stood quietly with a smile, leisurely fanning himself.
Qiu Shenji stood indifferently to the side, constantly turning his head to scrutinize the old swordsmith on the rocking chair.
Not far from the two men from Luoyang, a young county magistrate, whose figure was very familiar to Liu Zian, sat on a dilapidated bamboo chair.
Ouyang Rong sat on the stool with one buttock on each side, his arms bent and supporting his knees. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand while looking up at Liu Zian with a complicated expression.
Between his two drooping fingers, he held a cold, sharp short sword.
The sword tip pointed downwards, swaying slowly, and drops of blood fell.
Beside Ouyang Rong's chair stood a beautiful young girl with the character "Yue" embroidered on her forehead.
Her hands trembled as she gripped a short sword, as if it had been forced into her hands. The girl would occasionally turn her head to look at Qiu Shenji, who stood like a small mountain in front of the door, her eyelashes trembling.
At that moment, Ouyang Rong suddenly reached out from his sleeve and silently grasped A Qing's small fist that was gripping the knife.
The girl's small body pressed closer to him, slightly easing the trembling of fear throughout her body.
Besides the four people mentioned above, there was also a female figure that made Liu Zian's eyes widen.
Sister-in-law Xu.
The middle-aged woman had disheveled hair, a blank expression, and a pale hand gripping a sword beneath her sleeve. Her eyes were fixed on Liu Zian.
This room, which had just been searched, was suddenly filled with people.
It's unclear whether Liu Zi'an entered later or, in his haste to enter the room, was so focused on the sword case containing the cauldron sword that he failed to notice the blind spots behind the door...
At this moment, everyone in the room, in different states of mind, was staring at him with the same gaze.
Liu Zian slowly and stiffly turned his head, looking at the scene in the room filled with enemies. He weakly smacked his lips, his face full of pleading.
But Liu Zilin had already coldly stepped aside.
Liu Fu was the second to step forward, pulled out Liu Zi'an's waist knife and threw it away, then took out a short sword and casually plunged it into Liu Zi'an's ribs:
"The Third Young Master has already delivered the sword on behalf of the Eldest Young Master. Since the Second Young Master desires a sword so much, then I will deliver one on behalf of His Highness the Prince of Wei, who is far away in Luoyang. Ah, I have been in Longcheng for many years, and I still miss His Highness the Prince of Wei very much."
Liu Fu left behind the fourth sword hilt and turned to walk away.
Wei Shaoxuan turned his head and looked at the young county magistrate who had been captured alive by his adoptive father.
Ouyang Rong slowly rose from the bamboo chair, his steps unsteady as if he had not yet fully recovered from his previous serious injuries, and walked to Liu Zian.
He lowered his eyes and carefully inserted a short sword precisely into the latter's abdomen, near the liver area, then considerately rotated the hilt and stirred it.
"A book says that if a person is stabbed in this organ, they will experience extreme pain and die from the excruciating pain. I've always wondered if it's true or not..."
"You owe Ah Shan a life... that's not enough to repay."
He spoke in a hoarse, low voice.
Ouyang Rong stepped aside, and A Qing staggered over, the innocent girl wielding a blade to injure someone for the first time.
She lowered her head, her shoulders trembling, and wept as she awkwardly and clumsily shoved a sword into Liu Zi'an's chest.
"You bad guy, give me back my brother! Give me back my brother! Waaaaah..."
"Heh heh..." Liu Zian coughed up bright red lung foam, looking at them with a pained expression.
The eldest sister-in-law, Xu, walked over in a daze. The woman's eyes were filled with hatred, and she plunged the short sword into his stomach.
"Give me back my husband, give me back my child Chuanzhi! Waaaaah, they died so tragically, Chuanzhi died so tragically too... May you die a horrible death, Liu Zian!"
Xu stabbed her twice to slightly appease her anger. She pulled the knife out once, causing blood to splatter on her face. With her hands covered in blood, she retreated, fell to the ground, and ran away in a mad rage.
Finally, Wei Shaoxuan strolled over leisurely, carefully selected a sharp sword, and slowly pierced Liu Zian's beating heart inch by inch.
This sword is indeed a fine sword; before the blood could even gush out, it had already pierced through the hilt.
These short swords today were actually the messenger swords that Liu Ziwen routinely sent to the Prince of Wei's residence in Luoyang.
Except for the last sword that was sharpened, which Wei Shaoxuan gave to a young lady in plum blossom makeup, all the other swords were brought with him. In fact, in recent days, the sixth young master of the Wei family had all of them sharpened in his spare time.
Therefore, it can be said that all the swords that Liu Ziwen gave away back then have been returned to Liu Zian.
Wei Shaoxuan sneered:
"I hate it when people try to outsmart you but end up being stupid. Well, looking at you now, you do seem to have quite a lot of 'smartness'."
"You've got what you wanted, Liu Zian. You like swords so much? Here you go, plenty of swords."
Liu Zian turned his head blankly and stared at the old swordsmith watching the show by the sword-making furnace.
"I wasn't lying to you just now. The Ding Sword is indeed in the sword box, and all the swords in the room are ready, but... there are a little too many."
The old swordsmith glanced at Liu Zian's chest, which was riddled with holes like honeycomb briquettes, nodded, then shook his head, politely declining Wei Shaoxuan's smiling invitation.
"I won't be coming."
The old man took a sip of wine and said calmly:
"Liu Zian, you asked me before what else I like to watch, but I forgot to mention that ever since I brought back the sword embryo and my junior brother's head, I've really enjoyed watching brothers turn against each other, especially your Liu family."
After he finished speaking, the room fell silent, except for someone's groans of unbearable pain and despair.
"Ah...ah...sword...sword...ah..."
The painful groan grew fainter and fainter.
Liu Zilin stood with his head down next to Liu Zian, not looking at him, but intimately wrapped his right arm around his second brother's shoulder, supporting his soft, muddy body to show off to the whole audience.
Amidst gazes of hatred, loathing, ridicule, and cold indifference.
A man with eight sword hilts crammed into his chest and abdomen, bearing nine wounds, his clothes soaked in blood, stiffly turned his head to look back at the Mo family sword box on the table, and slowly reached out his hand...
Liu Zian's eyes were not yet closed; his head and arms hung limply.
In the end, they never managed to find that cauldron and sword.
(End of this chapter)
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