Tome of Troubled Times

After Zhao Changhe left the crowd, he ran to one corner of the stronghold and leaned against the wall panting. It looked like he was about to collapse.

This Vicious Blood Art is truly violent. It wasn’t just the speed, but also the fact that not even a bunch of people were able to pull me away. This strength is a little ridiculous. I’ve only practiced it last night and this morning...

With that said, there was a glaring problem at hand. After just that little confrontation, Zhao Changhe felt simply exhausted. He did not know if it was a result of overworking his qi and blood or if it was because he felt guilty about what he had done.

He had shown off and he had vented his anger. I don’t know if Zhang Quan is alive... My first day here and already I’ve been involved in infighting. What kind of punishment will I receive?

When I felt my blood boil and surge through my body, I couldn’t give a flying fuck anymore... Perhaps this is one of the symptoms of using the Vicious Blood Art? Or was I just born like this?

“Do you regret what you did?”

From the other side of the corner, Zhao Changhe heard Instructor Sun’s voice.

Zhao Changhe turned to look at him. Instructor Sun was standing nearby with his arms crossed, looking at the young man in front of him with a neutral expression.

Zhao Changhe showed respect to Instructor Sun, lowering his head as he said, “No. I don’t have any regrets. I will accept any punishment given to me. If I don’t stand up for myself, am I supposed to just hand over my food to others like a spineless idiot in the future? I can’t accept living like that.”

“Ha...” Instructor Sun interrupted him. “Zhao Changhe the Manslayer! I knew you had this kind of spirit in you, not that I needed to point it out. Do you regret learning the Vicious Blood Art and having to deal with its ability to influence your rational mind? That’s what I’m asking.”

“Eh...” Zhao Changhe felt some reassurance that what happened just now was the work of Vicious Blood Art rather than him being a cruel person. “For now, I have no regrets. It’s a bloody awesome martial art. Nothing can compare to it. Come to think of it, Instructor Sun, is Zhang Quan...”

“He’s dead,” Instructor Sun answered indifferently. “He dares to steal the piece of meat I gave to you? He challenged you first, then got killed later. What a stupid weakling. His death doesn’t matter at all.”

Zhao Changhe knew that Instructor Sun had helped him handle most of the aftermath. He looked at the instructor deferentially and said, “Many thanks, instructor...”

“Here come the manners of a man of culture again,” Instructor Sun scolded him. “Are you here to pass the imperial examinations or something?”

Zhao Changhe: “...?”

I’m in the wrong for thanking you?

“Just now you tried talking it over with Zhang Quan. Did it have any fucking use? What about now? No one’s the least bit afraid of you! But that’s how peace is enforced!“ Instructor Sun laughed coldly. “I was there when you killed Luo Zhenwu. I saw what kind of courage you had; you’re a natural-born bandit! That’s why I decided to spare you a few words. When you travel through the jianghu, you must never sully the powerful name of our holy faith! Otherwise, why do you think I’m showing you favor? Do you think it’s because you have a nice ass!?”

Natural-born bandit... Zhao Changhe was speechless.

Indeed, love and hate did not arise for no reason. Everything had two sides to it. Slaying Luo Zhenwu made Branch Master Fang displeased but impressed Instructor Sun.

This type of world, especially with its bandits, was wholly incompatible with the modern man and his civilization. Fortunately, Zhao Changhe was tougher than most to begin with, and he had already killed many people in his prior dreams. He had long since gotten used to the feeling of taking a life. If it was an ordinary student in his position, Zhao Changhe did not know how they would fare.

Zhao Changhe thought for a while and said, “This isn’t my home. Some things will require me to act with propriety... If I continue handling every single dispute like this...”

Instructor Sun glared coldly at him for a while. “You’re already in the jianghu, and you should know what that means. Find me for training in two hours. Starting now, you will cultivate in the morning and train the saber in the afternoon. Do whatever you want at night.”

Zhao Changhe pursed his lips in silence as he watched Instructor Sun walk away.

This isn’t the jianghu I desire.

*

Two hours later, Zhao Changhe showed up at the training grounds on time.

Instructor Sun smiled as he looked at him. This fella looked weak and exhausted a while ago and he didn’t even eat anything. He looked like a frozen eggplant, listless and wilted. But he’s full of spirit now.

After Zhao Changhe beat up Zhang Quan’s lackeys, he took their food and ate three full bowls. The portions he had were much larger than what he had. After that, without a sliver of regret, he went to take an afternoon nap to rest for a bit.

From a person that was willing to talk things over peacefully and politely, Zhao Changhe was beginning to rapidly turn into a fierce bandit.

People in the jianghu tended to change like this. When one was thrown into a vat of ink, it was hard not to be stained black.

Instructor Sun could not help but sigh. “Come here. Let’s practice your fundamentals with the rest.”

Out of habit, Zhao Changhe went to line up, walking to the back of the crowd to listen to Instructor Sun. However, the moment the other disciples saw him come over, they all started trembling and cleared a path for him, as if respectfully showing him to the front of the line. Zhao Changhe snorted and walked up. As he stood in front of Instructor Sun, the rest of the disciples reformed the line.

There was a pleased look in Instructor Sun’s eyes. He made no comments and began instructing.

“Among all bladed weapons, the saber has the fewest fundamental movements. There is only hacking and slashing and nothing more. The highest-level saber arts are no exception. How well you pick up these fundamentals will determine how far you can go with the saber, how fast you are, how accurate, how steady—all this depends on how well you lay your foundation. No saber art, no matter how good, can be a substitute for poor fundamentals.

“Just like the Returning Slash from this morning. Every saber art that deals with enemies coming from behind consists of this move as a foundation together with some changes: a different way of directing your strength, a different angle, or a different ending stance. All moves of this category have their different uses, but how accurate and steady you are when you execute them will depend on how well you can learn the fundamentals today. To put it another way, as long as you can get familiar with the basics, it doesn’t matter what saber art you pick up in the future, you’ll be able to quickly get the hang of it and put it to your own use.

“Many people say that demonic arts give quick results... However, there is no quick result here. There are no shortcuts to learning the fundamentals!”

Instructor Sun looked around the training grounds. Everyone had a look of disappointment in their eyes. Who doesn’t pick up demonic arts for its quick results? If we have to practice our fundamentals everyday, how is this any different from the other sects?

There were only a few people whose eyes were still glistening. They took the instructor’s words to heart.

One of these people was Zhao Changhe.

Instructor Sun laughed. “I will now teach the Chop and Vertical Slash again. Don’t think that these moves can be learned by any child that picks up a saber... It’s no different from the Returning Slash. This is the proper technique. Observe well!”

Zhao Changhe watched with rapt attention as Instructor Sun demonstrated the movements slowly and found himself following along with his hands. Zhao Changhe had never been this focused when he was studying... If I was this focused back then, I might have entered Tsinghua or Peking University[1].

Natural-born bandit?

Maybe.

The scar on Zhao Changhe’s face told him that this world suited him far better than Tsinghua and Peking University.

The afternoon passed by quickly and soon it was evening. Zhao Changhe rested on a rock by the training grounds. He was massaging his incredibly sore hands. Once he activated the Vicious Blood Art, the soreness would fade away by itself. It was extremely strange.

Instructor Sun sauntered to Zhao Changhe’s side. “You’ve indeed got a good understanding of things. To be able to learn so much in an afternoon... Go back and rest. You’ll have an additional piece of meat for dinner tonight. According to the rules, those who train the best are given a piece of meat. Let’s see how many days you can keep this up.”

Zhao Changhe was perplexed. “Can we really just train and eat meat? Don’t we need to do any odd jobs?”

Instructor Sun looked like he wanted to laugh but kept a straight face. “Teaching you and giving you meat to eat is definitely so that you will be of use to the cult in the future. What? Do you think we’re training you for fun?”

Zhao Changhe attempted to ask, “Then...”

Before he could say anything, he was interrupted by Instructor Sun. “That’s why you should take this opportunity to train as much as you can. Otherwise, if you die on the job, we can only send someone to bring back your corpse and feed it to the dogs.”

Zhao Changhe shut his mouth.

Instructor Sun left leisurely. “You are an accomplished person. You can expect some preferential treatment for now. That friend of yours is already out doing missions. Who knows? Your room may only be occupied by a single person in the future. Extra space is always nice.”

Unease clutched at Zhao Changhe’s heart.

No wonder Luo Qi wasn’t around at noon. He was out on a mission.

Joining a demonic cult was essentially different from becoming a guard servant for the Luo family. If Luo Qi was dead...I guess he would’ve been returned by now.

Zhao Changhe felt the irony of the path he now walked.

Why did he kill Luo Zhenwu? It was true he did it so that he could protect himself, but his main reason for doing so was definitely that he wanted to take revenge for the innocent villagers slaughtered at the Zhao House.

However, the very organization he was a part of now was committing the exact same atrocities as Luo Zhenwu. For all he knew, he would have to personally slaughter an innocent village in the future.

It was natural to think that the way the Luo family conducted itself was despicable and not much different from a demonic cult, but there were still some differences. The biggest distinction was that the Luo family did not rely on committing such heinous acts to put food on their plates. But for demonic cults, this was a part of their bread and butter.

With that said...did Zhao Changhe have a choice? He had been forced to do what he had to do back then. Could he turn back now?

Zhao Changhe lowered his head and looked at the food in his bowl. His eyes were gloomy; he felt them throb.

Am I a natural-born bandit...

‘I hope that, in the future, you shall be just as pure-hearted as you are today. And when we next meet in the jianghu, I hope to hear you call me big sister again.’

Zhao Changhe looked to the sky, lost in thought. Those golden words from yesterday had disappeared. It was as if they had never existed.

1. Tsinghua University and Peking University are the top two universities in China. ☜

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