Urban Martial Saint

”Who exactly am I?” The old man looked at Ye Qing and nodded with a serious expression, saying, ”That’s a good question, a very good question.”

Ye Qing looked speechlessly at the old man, thinking, you don’t need to repeat my words, just tell me who you are and why you’re here, that’s enough.

”Who exactly am I, where do I come from, and where am I going? These questions are truly worth pondering!”

The old man’s next few words nearly made Ye Qing cough up blood. I’m asking you questions, and you’re discussing philosophy with me?

”Sir, let’s not talk about these first, why don’t you tell me your name?” Ye Qing quickly interrupted the old man’s words. The more he looked at this old man, the more he resembled Old Wang Ba. Plus, judging from the way he’s talking, he’s probably another one who’s full of nonsense. If he keeps talking like this, who knows when he’ll stop.

The old man immediately said, ”Oh dear, how can you be so rude? You ask for my name, why don’t you tell me your name first? As the saying goes, it’s rude not to reciprocate. You didn’t say your name first, so what right do you have to ask for mine? You should say your name first, then I will...”

”Sir, my name is Ye Qing!” Ye Qing interrupted the old man’s words, speechless. This old man, how does he seem even more annoying than Old Wang Ba? Although Old Wang Ba is full of nonsense, lacks propriety, behaves shamelessly, and acts sleazy, at least he’s not verbose. This old man is like Tang Seng, letting him continue would probably put Ye Qing to sleep.

”Oh, Ye Qing, right.” The old man nodded and said, ”That’s more like it, you should say your name first, then I will tell you mine. Just now you didn’t say your name, and directly asked for mine, that’s very impolite. Understand respect for elders and care for the young? Although I’m not old, I am older by a year or two than you, naturally you should respect me. If you don’t tell your name and still ask for mine, that’s not respecting me. If you don’t respect me...”

Ye Qing decisively turned around and walked towards the sculpture behind him, thinking this old man is impossible to chat with. Judging by his momentum, there’s no problem with him rambling for hours on a single question. Ye Qing wanted to clarify his origins, but that seemed impossible without spending a year or two. Therefore, Ye Qing thought it’s better to deal with this sculpture first, it must be related to the Church and can’t be left alone.

The old man stood next to the sculpture, with one elbow pressed against it. Seeing Ye Qing walk over, he took out a longsword glowing red from the box he carried, waving it at Ye Qing and asked in surprise, ”Hey, kid, what are you doing?”

Ye Qing didn’t respond, gestured for a moment, suddenly gripped the Tianzhu Sword, and slashed straight at one of the sculpture’s arms, exactly where the old man’s elbow was.

”Mama!” The old man shouted miserably, quickly jumped away to avoid Ye Qing’s Tianzhu Sword. In fact, Ye Qing hadn’t actually aimed at him; the sword struck the sculpture’s arm.

Just like before, this slash encountered some resistance, but soon Ye Qing’s three internal forces simultaneously enhanced the Tianzhu Sword. Thus, Ye Qing easily chopped off the sculpture’s arm.

The old man stood at a distance, watching Ye Qing chop off the sculpture’s arm with a flash of brilliance in his eyes, as if witnessing something incredible. However, this brilliance was fleeting, his gaze quickly fixed on Ye Qing’s face, his expression changing rapidly, unclear what he was truly thinking.

At that moment, Ye Qing didn’t want to listen to the old man’s babbling, so he simply ignored him, not noticing his expression change. After slashing one arm off the sculpture, Ye Qing raised the Tianzhu Sword again, chopping off the sculpture’s other arm.

”Hey, hey, hey, kid, what are you doing?” The old man shouted from afar, ”That’s just a sculpture, what grudges do you have against it?”

Ye Qing didn’t reply, continued slashing until the sculpture was almost chopped down, then climbed up and tore down the spherical object from the top of the sculpture.

Holding the sphere, Ye Qing followed the previous pattern, turning around and smashing the sculpture into fragments before breaking the sphere to retrieve the Buddha’s Relic inside. Of course, just as before, the Buddha’s Relic disappeared soon after being held, but this time it didn’t show up in Ye Qing’s hands and feet. As for where exactly on Ye Qing’s body it’s hidden, that will be discovered later.

The old man watched Ye Qing completely dismantle the sculpture and take away the Buddha’s Relic, his eyes widening further. Seeing Ye Qing put away the Tianzhu Sword and prepare to leave, he hurriedly stepped in front of Ye Qing, saying, ”Young man, young man, don’t rush, let’s talk.”

”I don’t chat with people who are verbose,” Ye Qing straightforwardly replied.

”I won’t be verbose, definitely not verbose!” The old man hastily reassured Ye Qing, immediately adding, ”My surname is Chen, you can call me Old Chen!”

Ye Qing looked at the old man, no matter how he looked, he felt like this old man was trying to fool him. However, since this old man was willing to cooperate without causing trouble, Ye Qing was quite pleased, as he really wanted to ask about this old man’s situation. After all, he had seen that not many people had entered this Tomb of Ghost Valley Master, so how did this old man get in? That was indeed a question!

”How did you get into this cave?” Ye Qing asked.

”Uh, this...” Old Chen scratched his head and whispered, ”If I say I came for sightseeing, would you believe me?”

”What do you think?” Ye Qing retorted.

”Of course not!” Old Chen replied with a sad face, looking depressed, ”Oh, I didn’t want to enter this cave either. But I... I really accidentally came in.”

Ye Qing glared, ”Nonsense, there are no exits around this cave, how did you accidentally come in?”

”Here’s how it happened...” Old Chen whispered, ”A few days ago, some friends and I came to this area to conduct some business...”

”What business?” Ye Qing asked bluntly, not believing Old Chen at all. After all, the area around Chatiang Peak is wilderness, what kind of business could bring someone into the mountains?

”It’s just... just some small business...” Old Chen’s expression looked awkward, as if there was something he couldn’t say.

”If you don’t say, I’ll leave first!” Ye Qing turned to leave, but Old Chen quickly stopped him, saying, ”No, no, no, I’ll tell you, actually... actually, it’s... it’s tomb-robbing...”

”Damn!” Ye Qing cursed in his heart; this old guy was actually in cahoots with Handsome Fatty Wang, a tomb robber. However, this does explain it; tomb robbers do tend to operate in deep mountains and forests. Perhaps this old guy accidentally entered the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master while looting it? Seriously, Ye Qing didn’t know whether to consider him lucky or unlucky. Many people have risked their lives for the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master, failing to enter, yet here he is, having unwittingly dug into it!

Seeing Ye Qing remain silent, Old Chen whispered, ”Originally, we uncovered an ancient tomb near Chatiang Peak, which had quite a number of burial items. But while searching for these items, we discovered a dark path. An ancient tomb with a dark path usually contains valuable things, so we followed it. We walked half a day without reaching the end and decided to turn back. But after walking all night and day, we still couldn’t find a way out!”

At this point, Ye Qing understood that this group had stumbled onto Beidou Fumo Path by chance. What incredible luck, indeed!

Old Chen continued, ”The dark path was pitch black, with not a ray of light. The farther we went, the more frightened we became, and eventually, everyone got separated. As I walked alone, suddenly there appeared an exit ahead, leading me into a cave!”

Ye Qing marveled at the luck; could it be they had broken through Beidou Fumo Path by chance and entered the cave within the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master?

”After entering that cave, I encountered some people who resembled wolves and almost got scared silly. In panic, I ran straight into this cave, fortunately, those wolf-like creatures didn’t follow me in, so I narrowly escaped harm!” Old Chen said, then suddenly looked at Ye Qing, ”Hero, you are so capable, surely you can handle those creatures outside? Could you take me out?”

Ye Qing looked at the old guy, shocked by his luck, while silently pondering the credibility of Old Chen’s words.

”You mentioned you walked a long time before entering this cave. So, how long have you been in this cave?” Ye Qing asked.

”This, I don’t know either, you can’t see sunrise or sunset here, making it hard to tell time.” Old Chen thought for a while, ”It’s been a long while anyway.”

”A long while...” Ye Qing looked at Old Chen, frowning slightly, ”Then how have you survived in this cave? There’s no food or water here, you...”

”Young brother, you’d be mistaken to say that, who said there’s no food or water in this cave?” Old Chen interrupted Ye Qing, pointing at a stone wall behind him, ”Take a closer look there.”