Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

’Chang Nian!?’

Jiang Ran looked at the man before him, a little surprised.

”Lord Chang, you’re the County Magistrate?”

”That is correct.”

Chang Nian smiled and nodded.

”Please.”

He gestured for Jiang Ran to sit.

Jiang Ran nodded.

”Thank you, my lord.”

The two sat down, host and guest, and Chang Nian had someone serve tea.

Jiang Ran smiled and said,

”There’s no need for such formalities, Lord Chang. I came here today for this.”

He lifted the bundle in his hand.

Chang Nian glanced at it.

”And this is?”

”A man named Xu Hongyi.”

Jiang Ran said, ”As far as I know, the Court once placed a bounty on this man for five hundred taels of silver.”

”I see.”

Chang Nian nodded. ”Since you have the Assassin’s Order, I’m sure this is no fabrication. Guards!”

At his call, two government constables answered from outside the door and walked in a moment later.

Chang Nian said softly,

”Go and fetch five hundred taels in silver notes.”

”Yes, sir.”

The two government constables acknowledged the order and left.

Seeing this, Jiang Ran finally felt at ease. But looking at Chang Nian again, he smiled.

”My lord, you met with me so readily without knowing my purpose. Could it be that you already know of me?”

”There is currently only one Assassin’s Order in the entire prefecture. Yours bears the seal of Cangzhou Prefecture, so you must have come from there and surely have the trust of the Prefect.”

”That being the case, I could not refuse to see you.”

Chang Nian said with a smile, ”I had thought the Prefect had some business with me. I never expected it would be for this.”

”I’ve disappointed you, my lord.”

”Not at all.”

Chang Nian quickly shook his head. ”You have eliminated a menace for the people and eased the Court’s worries. Your visit is perfectly reasonable. How could I possibly be disappointed?”

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then the two government constables returned.

They handed the five hundred taels in silver notes to Jiang Ran. After confirming the amount, Jiang Ran announced his departure.

Chang Nian did not press him to stay, and rose to see him out.

They didn’t say much on the way out. Chang Nian had personally received Jiang Ran thinking he had come on Guo Chong’s orders. Now that he knew it was a misunderstanding, and since they were strangers, there was naturally little to talk about.

He could only make small talk about various curiosities and anecdotes to ease the awkwardness.

Jiang Ran, however, was mostly thinking about Dao Wuming’s identity.

’I knew before that the person he asked me to protect must have a special identity.’

’The people from Heterodox Manor wanted to investigate that ”old monster” they spoke of in Benma County, but this was someone they couldn’t bypass. He must be an extraordinary figure.’

’But I never imagined it would be the County Magistrate of Benma County.’

’And what is Dao Wuming’s relationship with him?’

’Or rather, who exactly is this Dao Wuming?’

He briefly considered the two times he had seen Dao Wuming.

One was at the Heroic Assembly, and the other was at a gathering of unorthodox practitioners organized by the Heterodox Manor.

’It seems that every time, a major event could have been triggered.’

’And every time, Dao Wuming was there...’

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Jiang Ran’s brow furrowed. His gaze shifted to a distant roof eave, where a person was crouched, arm raised. Strapped to that arm was a strange-looking device.

As the person clenched their fist, the sound of projectiles cutting through the air, SWISH SWISH SWISH, reached them in the blink of an eye.

Chang Nian was completely oblivious, still chatting and laughing with Jiang Ran about some anecdote.

But Jiang Ran had already shot out a hand and grabbed Chang Nian’s shoulder.

With a tap of his foot, he instantly activated Celestial Nine Steps. Trailing a blur of afterimages, he shot up into the air.

He flew through the air and landed on a building behind them.

A series of BANGS rang out as the things the person had fired landed right where the two of them had just been standing.

As the explosions occurred, smoke instantly billowed out in all directions.

Chang Nian was completely stunned. ’Just a moment ago, we were laughing and talking. How did I suddenly get so high up in the blink of an eye?’

’And what was that stuff that exploded on the ground? It’s pink and green... kinda pretty...’

The two thoughts flashed through his mind before he realized something was wrong.

He hurriedly looked at Jiang Ran, but before he could ask, he caught a flash of light out of the corner of his eye.

Following the light, he saw two people standing on a distant roof eave. He didn’t know when they had gotten there.

One was a woman in white robes as pure as snow, her face as cold as frost.

She held a longsword, its tip already plunged into the chest of a man in black.

Blood trickled from the black-clad man’s mouth and nose. He seemed to want to say something, but with a flash of the sword, the upper half of his body was torn apart. His corpse went limp and tumbled off the roof eave.

The woman in white casually flicked the blood from her sword and glanced back at Chang Nian and Jiang Ran.

After a moment’s thought, she turned, leaped from the eave, and vanished without a trace.

Chang Nian stared, his eyes glazed with confusion. ’What in the world is going on?’

”Lord Chang, stay calm. The smoke below us is some kind of knockout gas. It will disperse with the wind in a moment, and then you can get down.”

Jiang Ran’s voice reached his ears at that moment.

”I have urgent business and must take my leave.”

”Huh?”

Chang Nian was stunned. With a flash, Jiang Ran’s figure soared away as if walking on air.

Leaving Chang Nian alone on the roof, utterly bewildered in the wind.

”How... How am I supposed to get down?”

Just then, the sound of footsteps approached. The government constables from the yamen, attracted by the commotion, had rushed over to investigate.

However, the first two to arrive charged headfirst into the smoke before they could figure out what was happening, and promptly collapsed.

Seeing this, the ones behind them didn’t dare to rush forward.

Chang Nian quickly shouted,

”It’s knockout smoke! Wait for it to clear before you come in!”

Hearing that their lord was unharmed, the rest of them finally breathed a sigh of relief, held their positions, and waited for the smoke to dissipate.