Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

’Who exactly destroyed the Qinghe Gang?’

The Government Office was indifferent to the matter, while all sorts of rumors circulated among the common folk.

Jiang Ran had always suspected the Tang family was involved, but he had no concrete evidence.

’To think that Li Tianxin was actually at the Qinghe Gang that night!’

’After all this time, a clue to the case had been delivered right to his doorstep.’

”That night, what did you see at the Qinghe Gang?”

Jiang Ran looked at Li Tianxin.

”I... I saw a woman.”

Li Tianxin slowly began to recall, a look of terror creeping onto his face.

”She was... a woman in a white mask.”

”Dressed all in white, she looked like a celestial being who had descended to the mortal realm.”

”She walked slowly through the Qinghe Gang’s headquarters. Wherever she passed, the Qinghe Gang disciples would bleed from all seven orifices and drop dead.”

Jiang Ran was taken aback.

”She didn’t attack? She just walked past them?”

”Yes...”

A trace of fear still lingered on Li Tianxin’s face.

He took a deep breath.

”I don’t know what kind of martial art that was. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like it.”

”If I didn’t refuse to believe in demons, ghosts, and evil gods, I would have thought... she wasn’t even human.”

”She didn’t even have the slightest killing intent about her.”

”She strolled casually, killing without a trace, not even getting a speck of dust on herself.”

Li Tianxin’s words sounded like something out of a myth.

Jiang Ran’s brow furrowed.

The day after the Qinghe Gang incident, rumors had already begun to spread through the city.

They said the Qinghe Gang disciples bled from their seven orifices, yet had no wounds on their bodies.

Although the Government Office didn’t pay much attention to such martial world squabbles...

...they hadn’t completely ignored it. When Jiang Ran went to the Government Office to look at the case files today, Steward Liu had even mentioned it.

He said that the coroner’s examination revealed that the men had been killed by an extremely powerful Inner Energy that had literally shaken them to death.

But now, hearing Li Tianxin’s account... Jiang Ran found it even more incredible.

’No physical contact at all. Just by walking past, the overflow of her Inner Strength was enough to kill everyone in the Qinghe Gang!’

’What kind of martial art is that?’

”...Did she ever take off her mask?”

Jiang Ran asked again.

Li Tianxin shook his head.

”No... but, I saw her eyes...”

He looked up at Jiang Ran.

”Her eyes seemed to reflect the stars, viewing the entire mortal world with indifference.”

’Reflecting the stars...’

As Jiang Ran heard these words, a pair of eyes suddenly appeared in his mind.

A name also instantly surfaced in his thoughts.

Tang Shiqing!

The woman with stars in her eyes, her soft, sweet utterance of ”my husband”—those two words seemed to still be echoing in his ears.

For some reason, a faint smile touched the corners of Jiang Ran’s mouth.

But this smile held not a hint of warmth.

’A high-born young lady who, according to an old drunkard’s letter, suffered from a strange illness and could only rely on getting married and bearing a child to secure the rest of her life...’

’...had slaughtered everyone in the Qinghe Gang without getting a speck of dust or a drop of blood on herself!?’

’That old drunkard... he really found me a fine wife, didn’t he.’

”You know her?”

Li Tianxin noticed Jiang Ran’s strange expression and couldn’t help but feel a little surprised.

But Jiang Ran shook his head.

”I don’t... Besides her, did you see anyone else?”

”No.”

Li Tianxin said,

”Inside the Qinghe Gang headquarters, besides the Qinghe Gang disciples, she was the only one.”

”Then didn’t the Qinghe Gang members know to run?”

Jiang Ran’s brows furrowed slightly.

But Li Tianxin gave a bitter laugh.

”You don’t know the methods of the Demon Sect.”

”This woman is a true remnant of the Demon Sect... If they are determined to kill, not a single one of these people from the Qinghe Gang could have escaped.”

”The Demon Sect has a Secret Technique that can bewitch people’s minds and destroy their sanity.”

”They can make people dazed and confused, unaware of their surroundings, and offer their necks for the slaughter.”

”They can also, with just a few words, make a world-renowned hero personally slay his own friends and family, wiping out his entire clan.”

”And the reason for doing so is simply because... they find it interesting and fun.”

Jiang Ran’s brow twitched. ’Psychological suggestion?’

Although he’d had similar suspicions when he was cultivating the Creation and Rectification Scripture...

...he never expected that such a skill actually existed.

This way, he finally understood what he had truly encountered that day.

He also understood why the Demon Sect was called the Demon Sect, and why it had been annihilated a hundred years ago by the number one master of that time, Chu Nanfeng, leading a group of martial world heroes.

It would have been truly bizarre to let such an existence, one that acted so wantonly and killed for sport without reason, continue to run rampant in the martial world.

And if the Tang family were truly remnants of this Demon Sect...

’...then what they did to me, did they do it because they felt... it was also interesting and fun?’

Jiang Ran suddenly felt the fire that had been smoldering in his heart begin to burn hotter and hotter.

’How utterly outrageous!’

However, after glancing at Gu Mosheng, he still had a question.

”Since she’s a remnant of the Demon Sect, shouldn’t Fan Yumou, who cultivated the Blood Cauldron Scripture, have some sort of connection with her?”

”Why would she be so ruthless?”

”Who knows...”

Li Tianxin shook his head.

”To begin with, the Demon Sect fell apart after that great battle back then; it’s long since been a shadow of its former self.”

”Even if the Demon Sect were exactly as it was back then...”

”...how could you judge their actions by common sense?”

”They do as they please, without restraint. Whether they’re killing people or saving them from disaster, it all depends on their mood.”

”You know, many evildoers wouldn’t label themselves with the word ’demon’.”

”Instead, they call themselves things like the ’Sacred Sect’.”

”But the Demon Sect is different. From beginning to end, they believe that all actions should originate from one’s own will.”

”To be born from the heart, to be without restraint—that is what it means to be a demon.”

”Their lifelong pursuit can be summarized in four words... Celestial Demon’s Great Freedom!”

”Therefore, they never deny the word ’demon’; on the contrary, they take pride in it and live by it.”

”I see...”

’Those two words, ”Demon Sect,” had once seemed so distant to him.’

However, Li Tianxin’s words had made the Demon Sect feel much more real.

’To live in this world and completely indulge one’s every whim is to be a mad demon.’

’As for this so-called ”born from the heart, without restraint,” it’s nothing more than abandoning all moral boundaries.’

’If one acts solely on their heart’s desires, once the darkness within gains the upper hand, you get exactly what Li Tianxin described: making people wipe out their own families just for a laugh.’

Seeing Jiang Ran lost in thought, Li Tianxin continued.

”That night, I thought I was going to die too...”

”Because when I saw the woman’s eyes, she also saw me.”

”But for some reason, she didn’t kill me.”

”Instead, she asked me... if I had come for the Blood Cauldron Scripture.”

”I didn’t deny it... She then told me that she was taking the copy from the Qinghe Gang, so she couldn’t give it to me.”

”But, she said there was another copy in Feiyun Stronghold. She was about to leave Cangzhou Prefecture and didn’t have time to get it... She said that if I was capable enough, I could go get that Blood Cauldron Scripture myself.”

”And then you tore down a pile of wanted posters and barged right into the Feiyun Gang?”

Jiang Ran’s expression was a little odd. ”Your investigation method... is certainly unique.”