On my way to the Qinglong Martial Hall, I decided to refrain from unnecessary robbery and murder. Of course, it wasn't because my dormant conscience had suddenly awakened, but because I needed to clean up my past as much as possible, considering I would be staying at the Qinglong Martial Hall for a long time to practice.
My current goal is not to make a lot of money or gain fame. I just needed enough time to improve my martial arts, so creating an environment where I could focus on one thing was important.
I sighed briefly.
"Why are you trying to dull my resolve?"
"......"
The five bandits, who had heard my muttering, trembled and knelt, bowing their heads.
Just half an hour ago.
The bandits, upon spotting me, immediately tried to kill me with their swords. They were typical robbers and murderers, and there were twelve of them. An ordinary civilian would have been unable to resist and would have died. At the very least, it would have taken four or five bodyguards to deal with them stably.
However, I used the Leiyun Palm to render four of them unconscious in an instant, and slashed three of their arms off with a short sword. I only had my bare hands and a small defensive dagger, but dealing with bandits like these was as easy as eating cold rice.
"Ah, aaaaah!"
"Please, spare me!"
Suddenly, four heads flew into the air. I had killed the bandits without a single drop of blood on me and landed back on the ground. The heads fell to the ground a moment later. I then took the money from their possessions, which amounted to over twenty taels of silver.
"Who said you have a master?"
Although I had said I would spare them, I just changed my mind during the conversation and killed them all. Standing in a sea of blood, I felt no guilt.
After all, who would complain about a few bandits who committed countless murders and robberies? Because of me, civilians could now survive. To be more precise, I killed them because I wanted to, but I moved on without any remorse, putting the silver into my bag.
'Let's go to Jiangyue Village and see what Changtian Jianlong is up to.'
I wanted to gather information about the future one of the Ten Great Martial Artists.
I quickly ran towards Jiangyue Village. It took two hours to get there, and by the time I arrived, it was already dusk. With enough travel funds, I looked for an inn to stay at and saw the lights of a tavern in the western part of Jiangyue Village.
The bustling Jiangyue Village, located along the main road, was a place with active logistics. Unlike a small village, the inn was quite crowded and lively. Seeing the prostitutes enticing travelers, I thought that such things were inevitable in places with a lot of foot traffic.
The innkeeper looked surprised when I said I wanted to stay. After all, it was unusual for a young child to suddenly offer silver and ask to stay. But money talks, and he handed me the key to a room without much fuss.
I asked the innkeeper, "Is there any famous martial artist staying in this village?"
"Ah, are you looking for Changtian Jianlong? You must be a martial family's child traveling alone."
The innkeeper, perhaps misunderstanding, smiled and said, "He left this village with his fiancée at noon. He stayed at our inn."
"Really? Do you know where they're going?"
"An innkeeper wouldn't pry into a traveler's destination."
"......"
He had a point, so I had nothing to say. The innkeeper, perhaps feeling sorry for me being a young child traveling alone, looked at me with pity for a moment and then said, "Well, I have a rough idea. He left the village heading north, which leads to Guanzhong. He might be entering the city of Guanzhong."
"That makes sense."
I thought the innkeeper's guess was reasonable. A renowned martial artist like Changtian Jianlong wouldn't detour through remote villages, especially with his fiancée. It was normal for him to travel along the main road and visit larger towns. It seemed almost certain that Nan Gong Huan was heading to Guanzhong.
'Let's rest a bit and then follow him.'
My destination was also Guanzhong. If I set out in the morning and found Nan Gong Huan's trail, I could probably see him by the end of the day. If I couldn't, I would just enter the Qinglong Martial Hall as planned.
Creak
"Try this."
"Sure?"
The innkeeper came to my room a while later and brought me a free chicken dish. When I looked at him with wide eyes, he chuckled, "It's on the house. Eat and regain your strength."
"Thank you."
I felt grateful for the kindness I received during my travels. After the innkeeper left, I ate the warm chicken dish, feeling a bit uneasy. I remembered that during my previous life, I had received help from many people while traveling for years.
Song from the cloth shop was one thing, but I also owed a debt to Zhang Tie from the Plum Blossom Escort Agency, which I hadn't been able to repay due to my busy schedule. The sense of owing people kept piling up, but I couldn't repay everyone.
'But I can't go around repaying debts every time I reincarnate. Hmm... a difficult problem.'
After finishing the chicken dish, I washed up and fell asleep happily.
The next morning, I thanked the innkeeper and helped tidy up the tables and chairs. The innkeeper said that was enough, so I felt lighter.
I left Jiangyue Village and arrived in Guanzhong. I remembered digging the ground and shivering from the cold while sleeping outdoors in this area during my previous journey to Guanzhong. I hadn't been sure how many years had passed, but the hardships of that time were still vivid.
"Well, I won't have to sleep outdoors anymore."
I started looking around the city of Guanzhong to find Nan Gong Huan. I hadn't realized how large and bustling Guanzhong was when I was buried in training at the Qinglong Martial Hall. While it couldn't compare to the capital city of Luoyang, there were many people and wide roads.
I thought about using my qi sense to find Nan Gong Huan. My internal energy had greatly increased after consuming the third spirit medicine, and I could now sense qi from a distance, not just its magnitude. This meant I could identify outstanding martial artists within a wide range.
'Nan Gong Huan, a late-stage expert, should be easy to find.'
I wasn't looking for Nan Gong Huan to do anything specific. It was just personal curiosity about what a future famous person looked like in the past. I wandered the bustling streets, sensing qi, and unexpectedly detected five powerful auras within two hundred feet.
All five auras were at least first-class expert level. Even in a large city, it was rare to find so many experts gathered, so I found it strange.
A first-class expert is an incredibly strong presence, far beyond a mere bodyguard. There's a significant difference in skill even among first-class experts, so it's not right to belittle them as being below peak level. Frankly, I wasn't even sure if I possessed first-class martial arts, despite my abundant internal energy. A first-class expert is a highly skilled martial artist.
'Hmm... one of these must be Nan Gong Huan.'
I decided to check each of the five first-class experts.
The first one I encountered was a man sitting in a back alley with a wooden sword slung over his shoulder. He looked desolate and seemed to be in his early twenties. When he saw me, he said irritably, "What do you want? I want to be alone, so leave this alley."
"You seem to be a first-class expert. What are you doing here?"
The man with the wooden sword raised an eyebrow and said, "You're not an ordinary kid. Are you a disciple of the Beggar Sect?"
I looked down at my clothes. They were indeed tattered and dirty from my long journey, giving him a reasonable basis for the misunderstanding. I shook my head.
"No, I'm not. Anyway, I'll take my leave."
"Wait a moment."
I stopped, and the man with the wooden sword said, "Are you also looking for Nan Gong Huan?"
What was he talking about?
I stared at him, and he chuckled, introducing himself, "I am Zhandao Gui Wei Zhong. If you're from the Beggar Sect, you should tell me about your sect's fiancée, Murong Yan."
Hiss
Wei Zhong, the Zhandao Gui, rose from his seat, emitting a killing aura.
I instinctively knew I was about to fight a first-class expert and frowned.
'What is this guy thinking?'
But it was a good opportunity.
He seemed like the perfect opponent to test my strength. I slowly gathered my internal energy.