Riding Swords to Anning Village

Tang Xuejian asked Dragongallbladder why she had suddenly become Jing Tian’s younger sister. Dragongallbladder slowly explained, and one was willing to talk while the other was willing to listen. Somehow, they grew closer and closer.

After Jing Tian finished packing, everyone left Yong’an Pawnshop.

Once everyone had left Yu Zhou City, they prepared to depart on their swords.

Xu Changqing then rode his sword with Mao Mao, Jing Tian rode his sword with Dragongallbladder, and Su Yu rode his guqin with Xue Jian as they left.

Of the six in the air, Xu Changqing and the others were all standing. Only Su Yu and Tang Xuejian were sitting atop the guqin. Seeing how leisurely they looked, Jing Tian said, "Yu Ge, can you teach me how to make my sword bigger? And how to sit while riding it?"

Su Yu rolled his eyes at Jing Tian. "Even Changqing doesn’t dare sit while flying on a sword. You dare? Aren’t you afraid of tumbling off?"

"Tumbling off? What’s that supposed to mean?" Jing Tian asked doubtfully.

Su Yu waved his hand. "If you’re not afraid of dying, then go ahead and sit on your sword."

"Then forget it. I think standing is pretty good." Jing Tian smiled.

Anning Village

The six soon arrived outside Anning Village and entered it. However, the moment the villagers saw them, they all fled in panic.

"What’s wrong with them? Did they see a ghost?" Mao Mao asked with a bewildered look.

"Could our swords have scared them?" Jing Tian asked.

Xu Changqing frowned. "No. Anning Village is where the Earth Spirit Pearl is located. Something unusual must have happened."

Suddenly, a fragrance drifted past them. Tang Xuejian said, "That smells so good."

"There’s something wrong with this scent. Let’s split up and search," Xu Changqing immediately said.

Su Yu headed in one direction. "Follow me. It’s this way."

The other five immediately followed. Before long, they saw a woman in pink setting up a stall.

Jing Tian walked up to the woman. "Why are you the only one with a stall on this whole street?"

The woman gave a faint smile. "Everyone has to make a living."

As she spoke, the woman suddenly spotted Xu Changqing. She immediately packed up her stall and left. "I’m closing for the day. This humble woman will take her leave first."

Jing Tian asked in confusion, "Why did she run off so quickly?"

Xu Changqing said, "Brother Jing, there’s a fox’s musky smell here!"

"Huh? A demon? Where?" Jing Tian drew the Demon Sword in fright.

"Xiao Tian, stop making a fuss. Let’s find somewhere to stay first," Su Yu said.

Everyone nodded and went looking for an inn.

But they passed several inns, and every one of them claimed to be full. When the six arrived at another inn, its owner again said there were no rooms. Jing Tian immediately got angry. "Full again! Every place we’ve come to has been full. Does this shabby little village really have that many guests?"

"There really have been more guests these past few days," the innkeeper said with a bitter smile.

Jing Tian thought for a moment. "Fine, then can we borrow the latrine?"

The innkeeper nodded. Jing Tian immediately dragged Mao Mao outside, then ran through the entire inn. There was not a single guest anywhere. Furious, Jing Tian stormed back inside and dragged the innkeeper out.

Su Yu smiled, then followed along with the others.

Inside a guest room, the six surrounded the innkeeper. Jing Tian said, "There isn’t a single person here, yet you told me the place was full?"

"Honored guests, it’s not that I won’t let you stay. But some time ago, on the fifteenth of last month, an outsider suddenly died in our inn. Today is the fifteenth again, and I’m afraid something will happen again," the innkeeper said miserably.

The six exchanged looks. Xu Changqing said, "It’s fine. Just give us rooms. Whatever happens to us will have nothing to do with you."

After thinking it over, the innkeeper nodded. "All right, but you must sign a life-and-death waiver. If you die, it has nothing to do with me."

Jing Tian curled his lip. "What is this, an arena match? We even have to sign a life-and-death waiver…"

The innkeeper said, "If you don’t sign it, I can’t let you stay here."

"Fine, fine, we’ll sign it," Jing Tian said helplessly.

The innkeeper immediately brought over a life-and-death waiver. Only after Su Yu and the others signed it did he give the six of them three rooms.

This place was so eerie, so they did not take six rooms, only three. Dragongallbladder and Tang Xuejian shared one, Su Yu and Jing Tian shared one, and Xu Changqing and Mao Mao shared one.

Night

Just as everyone was about to sleep, they discovered Xu Changqing hiding outside the door and eavesdropping on the innkeeper. Curious, they all came over to listen as well.

Jing Tian and the others saw a plump man carrying a bundle and preparing to return to his room when the woman from earlier appeared. "Brother Liu."

The wealthy man gave a perfunctory smile. "Madam Gao, I hope you’ve been well."

The woman smiled. "Brother Liu, I imagine you’ve heard that my husband has fallen gravely ill?"

"Is that so?" the wealthy man said with a surprised expression.

"Brother Liu, you and my husband were close friends who called each other brothers. My husband even helped you before," the woman continued.

"Yes, Brother Gao was truly loyal! I have always remembered Brother Gao’s kindness," the wealthy man said, patting his chest.

The woman happily continued, "Because of my husband’s treatment, our family has already been reduced to poverty…"

But before the woman could finish, the wealthy man immediately grew anxious. "You’re not planning to borrow money from me, are you? I have no money! Madam Gao, I only run a small business. There isn’t much profit."

"Brother Liu, please help us. If I don’t buy medicine for my husband soon, he truly won’t make it."

"I really am poor. How about this? When he passes, as his brother, I’ll definitely go pay my respects. It’s late, so I won’t disturb you any longer." With that, the wealthy man turned and ran.

The woman soon left as well. The six then went into a room, and Jing Tian curled his lip. "There must be a lot of treasure in that guy’s bundle!"

Xu Changqing nodded slightly. "That bundle is full of silver."

"Should we rob the rich and help the poor? Then give half to that woman?" Jing Tian immediately said with a grin.

Tang Xuejian rolled her eyes at Jing Tian. "You big idiot, how can you do that?"

"Fine, then we’ll give her sixty percent. Is that enough?" Jing Tian said, curling his lip.

Su Yu said, "All right, all right, stop fooling around. Let’s all go to sleep."

Everyone nodded. Jing Tian suddenly remembered something and looked at Xu Changqing. "White Tofu, teach me swordsmanship?"

"Sure. Tomorrow morning, we’ll practice swordsmanship in the woods behind the inn." Xu Changqing nodded. It would be a good thing if Jing Tian gained at least some ability to protect himself.

"It’s settled, then. I’ll definitely be there." With that, Jing Tian returned to his room with Su Yu.