Chapter 324

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Surrounded by four men—two in front and two behind—Zhang Xiaohua appeared completely unperturbed. He remained seated cross-legged on the back of the strange beast.

The four exchanged glances, then each drew a crude saber from their waist. The one called Old Xu sneered and said: “Young master, judging by that tender skin of yours, this old man won’t bother torturing you. Hand over all your banknotes obediently, and I’ll give you a swift end. Otherwise, don’t blame me for slicing the flesh off your bones one cut at a time.”

Zhang Xiaohua smiled and said: “Hero, I’ve heard that men of the Jianghu rob wealth but not lives. If I hand over all my money, might you spare my life?”

Before Old Xu could reply, the thug beside him burst into laughter and said: “This brat’s probably read too many books—his brain’s gone soft! We’ve ruled these parts for years, and we never leave anyone alive. If we let you go and the authorities come knocking tomorrow, who’re we supposed to explain things to?”

The two men behind added: “Just a few days ago, there was another scholar, spouting off about righteousness and virtue, even trying to persuade us to mend our ways. But once we chopped off his fingers, he started calling us ‘grandfather’ and begged for mercy. Kid, are you going to be just as clueless?”

“Hurry it up. It’s not completely dark yet. Let me give you a clean death with one strike. We’ll even bury you somewhere decent, so you’ve got a place to rest.”

But seeing Zhang Xiaohua still calm and silent, the thug said: “Xiao Jing, go help this young master on his way. We’re on a tight schedule. The banknotes are probably on him anyway—we’ll just search the body later.”

The man behind Zhang Xiaohua raised his saber and slashed down without hesitation.

Yet Zhang Xiaohua didn’t seem to move. He merely reached into his robe and pulled out something. In the darkness, it was impossible to see clearly. What’s more, as soon as the object was drawn, it vanished.

In the next instant, the man called Xiao Jing, who had been swinging his saber, let out a dull thud as he fell from his horse, his crude blade clattering to the ground. The thugs and Old Xu, standing on the opposite side, couldn’t see clearly what had happened, but the man beside Xiao Jing had a clear view. A streak of black light had flown from Zhang Xiaohua’s side and struck Xiao Jing directly in the throat. The man fell dead at once, and that black light, like lightning, then darted toward him.

The man was horrified and cried out: “What sort of sorcery is this?!”

Before the words had even left his mouth, that black streak of light was already before his eyes. There was no time to dodge—it struck true, and the man fell to the ground.

Seeing both their companions fall from their horses, the thug and Old Xu instantly realized they’d run into a tough opponent. Without a word to each other, they yanked their reins and turned their horses, galloping off at full speed.

From behind, Zhang Xiaohua called out with a smile: “Since you’ve already come, why bother leaving?”

With a flick of his finger, the black light curved in midair and shot toward the thug’s throat—it was his trusted flying sword.

To use a flying sword of the Immortal Dao to kill mere bandits—truly a waste of great talent on petty matters. The thug had no time to resist; he was thrown from his horse in an instant. But this delay gave Old Xu enough of a head start, and he had already galloped far ahead.

Without needing any signal from Zhang Xiaohua, the strange beast beneath him had already kicked up its hooves and given chase. Surprisingly, it wasn’t any slower than that spirited steed.

Zhang Xiaohua smiled and said: “Now that’s eager. Against this sort of person, are you really afraid he might get away? Still, since we’re already on the move, we might as well catch him.”

Upon hearing this, Huanhuan ran even faster. Before long, they had closed the distance. Zhang Xiaohua sat steadily atop the beast’s back, and said unhurriedly: “Old Xu, after taking so many lives, do you really not fear retribution?”

Old Xu didn’t dare slow down. As he fled, he pleaded: “Young master, I didn’t recognize a true expert when I saw one. Please spare my life just this once. I’ll lay down my butcher knife and become a Buddha. Starting tomorrow, I’ll do good deeds and help the poor—what do you say?”

Zhang Xiaohua said: “When you killed others, did you ever consider this day? When you tried to kill me just now, did you think of today? Heaven is watching. Just because retribution hasn’t come doesn’t mean it won’t—it’s only a matter of time. When the time comes, it will come without fail!”

With that, Zhang Xiaohua gave the strange beast a pat on the head. Huanhuan sped up again, easily overtaking Old Xu and galloping ahead.

Old Xu was overjoyed and immediately pulled on the reins, slowing his horse to a trot and widening the distance between them. He cupped his fists and said: “Many thanks to the hero for sparing my life. I’ll return home and open the granaries tomorrow to distribute food to the poor.”

Inwardly, he thought, This guy’s truly strange. Does he think this is a horse race? Now that he’s passed me, I just have to stop and let him get ahead.

But just then, Zhang Xiaohua’s calm voice drifted from ahead: “You cur, when did I ever say I was sparing you? If I let you go, what of that scholar you tortured to death a few days ago? And what of the many you’ve killed over the years—what should they think? I already told you, it’s not that retribution does not come, only that its time has not yet arrived. And today is the day your heads are taken!”

Hearing this, Old Xu no longer cared about anything else. He yanked his reins and turned to flee back the way he came. Seeing he was about to round the mountain’s base, joy began to rise in his heart. But suddenly, a streak of black light shot straight for his throat. Before he could react, he felt a chill in his neck, and the world went black. Just like the three before him, he toppled from his horse. Only his death was more miserable than the others. His body collapsed, but his feet were still stuck in the stirrups. The horse continued galloping, and didn’t slow down until it neared the city gates. By then, the wretched Old Xu—whose hands were stained with countless sins—was no longer even recognizable as human.

At that moment, Zhang Xiaohua naturally knew none of this. He sat calmly atop Huanhuan’s back, muttering to himself: “These people are truly detestable. No manners at all. Say just a few words, and they want to start killing. This young master was going to wait for them to hand over their silver notes first!”

Yes, Zhang Xiaohua—this scoundrel—had actually gotten a taste for playing the young master, even going so far as to change his way of referring to himself to “this young master”!

The four corpses weren’t discovered until the following day. When the officials saw that all four had been slain with a single sword strike, they immediately recognized it as a martial world vendetta. A brief investigation revealed a shocking truth: these seemingly ordinary folk who kept a low profile in Songning Town were, in fact, murderers responsible for numerous cases. The discovery sent shockwaves through Songning, and the authorities, bolstered in their resolve to “sweep out the darkness”, launched a full crackdown on several local underworld factions. In a way, this too could be counted as a karmic merit for Zhang Xiaohua.

And as for Ji Xiaohua, who knew the truth of the matter—his heart was filled with awe, worshipping this young man who shared his name as though he were a divine being.

Zhang Xiaohua continued down the road. He had only just left Songning Town behind, and there wasn’t a single inn to be seen nearby. After traveling for some time, he could feel that Huanhuan was growing weary, and so the thought of resting crossed his mind. He knew himself well—by midnight, he’d surely fall into another deep slumber. As for Huanhuan, having just escaped a life that did not belong to it, its body had yet to fully recover. Forcing it to continue the journey would be like draining the lake to catch the fish—ruinous.

Up ahead, he saw a patch of forested hills. The mountain wasn’t tall, but the trees were particularly lush. Sweeping the area with his divine sense, he quickly selected a tree with a thick and sturdy canopy. He patted Huanhuan’s head, then leapt high into the air, landing among the highest branches. There, he sat cross-legged, drew out a yuan stone, and began quietly circulating his cultivation method to absorb its essence. Huanhuan let out a low growl, full of displeasure. “You’re going to rest? Fine. But how about taking that longsword off my back too? Leaving it there like this—aren’t you worried you’ll wear me out?” Then, with a toss of its back, the sword gave a clang as it fell to the ground.

Afterward, Huanhuan strolled slowly through the mountain forest in search of food. Not until deep into the night did it return, only to find Zhang Xiaohua cultivating silently atop the treetop canopy. It sniffed the air, then lay down beneath the tree to rest.

In the days that followed, Zhang Xiaohua and Huanhuan traveled by day and rested by night, eating when hungry, drinking when thirsty—ah, correction: only Huanhuan ate and drank. Whenever they passed an inn or a roadside tea stall, Zhang Xiaohua would only instruct the staff to take good care of Huanhuan, while he himself was content with nothing more than a cup of plain water. Huanhuan didn’t seem too fond of the fodder provided, but had no choice but to force it down. Zhang Xiaohua took note of this, storing the matter in his heart, intending to search for a more suitable feed for Huanhuan in the future.

Riding atop Huanhuan was remarkably steady—not the least bit jarring. Compared to riding a horse, it was like heaven and earth. Huanhuan would even adjust its pace on its own depending on the road conditions, so Zhang Xiaohua hardly needed to worry. Before long, he stopped paying it any mind altogether, only giving directions when they came to a fork in the road. The rest of the time, he simply retrieved two yuan stones from his robe and focused fully on cultivating.

Zhang Xiaohua was acutely aware—this world was full of the unknown. Whether it was that mysterious thing beneath the magma of the deserted island, or the Foundation Establishment path he now tread upon, all were immense challenges to him. If he kept his sights fixed solely on the world of the Jianghu, his cultivation would never progress. So, he had long since set his sights high and seized every moment to cultivate his arts diligently.

Ever since the events at the teahouse, the bottleneck at the sixth level of Qi Refining had already begun to loosen. Though he hadn’t made any clear breakthroughs in these past few days of earnest cultivation, Zhang Xiaohua knew well that his foundation was slowly being built, layer by layer. Once it reached a certain threshold, he was confident that his accumulated progress would erupt in a single leap, propelling him to the peak of the early Qi Refining stage.

As for arrays and restrictive seals, Zhang Xiaohua had made even more noticeable strides. To be honest, back on the Xinrong Sect’s seafaring vessel, he had already surprised himself by managing to set up a defensive restriction. At the time, he thought that was already reaching his current limit, and any further advancement would require deep, prolonged insight. Yet, while staying at Ji Xiaohua’s home in Songning Town, a sudden idea came to him. Inspired by something recorded in the jade slip, he acted on impulse and embedded a micro-array into a jade pendant. Such a technique was far beyond what a newly initiated Qi Refining cultivator should be capable of. But with the subtle assistance of the Heart Pill slowly rotating in his upper dantian, he somehow succeeded in refining a jade pendant capable of calming the spirit and focusing the breath.

Both his divine sense and his Heart Pill seemed to have improved slightly as a result. With this, he felt as though he had discovered yet another path through which to break through.

Though using one’s own blood to temper the Heart Pill could indeed refine it and strengthen divine sense, it still carried a certain degree of risk. Such a technique could only be practiced in exceptionally safe environments. While traveling, Zhang Xiaohua instead focused on comprehending miniature arrays. He used worn-out pieces of jade to practice embedding formations. Though it had only been a few days on the road, his progress was considerable.

That day, as night began to fall, they once again found themselves in a remote stretch of wilderness—no village ahead, no inn behind. Zhang Xiaohua was already used to such circumstances and began preparing to find a suitable place to rest.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out from a hollow slope up ahead: “Escaped thief of the Piaomiao Sect, where do you think you’re going!”