Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

Jiang Ran had departed in a hurry because of Shi Miao.

He wasn’t worried that some accident might befall Shi Miao. Even if something did happen, wouldn’t that just be the consequence of her own choice?

In that respect, Jiang Ran never felt he had any obligation to pay the price for someone else’s decisions.

But... he had to be concerned about the Heterodox Manor.

Shi Miao had an incredibly strong killing intent.

She practiced the Murder Sword, and wherever she went, she showed no mercy.

Now that she had left, she must have found a trail leading to the Heterodox Manor.

If he let her go on another killing spree, who would be left to investigate the ’old monster’s’ whereabouts? And if he couldn’t find the old monster, how could Jiang Ran determine if this whole affair had anything to do with the ’old drunkard’?

To him, that was the top priority.

Compared to that, the business with the Heartless Ghost Mansion and the Red Maple Ye family had to take a backseat.

As a disciple of the Danyang Sword Sect, Shi Miao’s martial skill was naturally impressive. Based on what he had seen that one night, she was far superior to Li Tianxin.

However, she left a heavy trail, so tracking her wasn’t difficult.

Jiang Ran followed the trail, and within moments, he was already outside of Benma County.

Further on, the path led into a forest.

Jiang Ran immediately became cautious.

There was an old saying: Never enter a forest you come upon unexpectedly.

It was a lesson paid for in blood.

The forest terrain was narrow and unpredictable, with trees obstructing one’s line of sight. It was easy for assassins to hide in the blind spots.

The undergrowth was thick, and traps could be hidden beneath the ground.

If someone intentionally set a trap in the forest to lure an unsuspecting person in, it was likely a one-way trip.

Many in the martial world had fallen for such tricks, costing them their lives.

But Shi Miao paid no heed to any of that.

She had charged straight into the forest without a care, leaving a trail of Sword Qi that surged to the heavens.

Jiang Ran followed this trail a short distance before he heard the sound of clashing weapons.

He leaped closer and, just as he expected, saw Shi Miao fighting a group of people.

Jiang Ran studied the group but couldn’t identify their origins. They could be the heretics from the Heterodox Manor’s gathering that night, or perhaps they were recent arrivals...

Regardless of who they were, the group was currently being beaten into a steady retreat by Shi Miao.

In terms of pure martial skill, Shi Miao was simply far stronger than they were.

But Jiang Ran soon realized something was wrong.

Although Shi Miao had the upper hand, she hadn’t managed to kill a single person yet.

Slowly, Jiang Ran began to discern what was strange about the situation.

There were six opponents in total, each employing different methods.

Two used fist and palm techniques, two used swords and sabers, and one was beating a drum while another struck a gong.

The ones with swords and sabers were closest to Shi Miao. Their blades crossed with a CLANGING sound—that was the noise Jiang Ran had heard earlier.

Behind them, the fist and palm fighters exploited any openings, covering for their comrades or launching opportune attacks.

This was clearly the workings of an Array.

The two beating the gong and drum were on the very outside. Even at the most critical moments, the others never swapped places with them. Instead, they protected them at every turn, as if terrified of losing them.

And every time the sound of the gong and drum rang out, Shi Miao’s sword would slow by a fraction.

She would be just a fraction of a second from piercing her opponent with her sword, only for them to narrowly escape with their life.

Shi Miao was expressionless, a grim chill emanating from her. She focused only on swinging the longsword in her hand, never once sparing a glance for the two on the periphery.

’An Array combined with a sound-based technique?’

Jiang Ran’s brow furrowed slightly. He wasn’t entirely certain.

Because when he heard it, he didn’t notice anything strange about the sounds at all.

But Shi Miao’s reaction clearly indicated it wasn’t that simple.

And just in the short time Jiang Ran had been watching, Shi Miao had gone from having the upper hand to facing danger at every turn.

She was now becoming weary, struggling to cope. Her Swordsmanship was somewhat similar to Jiang Ran’s Kun-Character Thirteen Mad Demon Claws.

Both followed a relentless, forward-pressing path. When they had the advantage, they were unstoppable, and their opponents could barely fend them off.

But once they lost the advantage and were forced on the defensive, they were stretched thin.

Moreover, at every critical moment, the sound of the gong and drum would rise to meet it.

It slowed Shi Miao’s movements by just a fraction, enough that in this short time, she had already faced several perilous moments.

Jiang Ran pondered for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

’I can give it a try...’

He watched coolly from the sidelines. Seeing Shi Miao fall into a dangerous position again, just as the gong and drum were about to sound, he put his fingers to his lips and let out a sharp, piercing whistle. The sound was short and abrupt.

It rang out at the exact same instant as the gong and drum.

The two sounds converged abruptly. Shi Miao’s longsword trembled. With a HUM, a flash of blood-red light, one of the swordsmen before her suddenly had a gash on his arm.

The man’s face was filled with astonishment as he performed a series of quick footwork to evade Shi Miao’s pursuit.

A figure flashed at her side, a fist heading right for her.

Shi Miao had no choice but to deal with the immediate threat, unable to press her attack.

The swordsman, having narrowly escaped disaster, glanced back at the two with the gong and drum.

All three of their eyes held a look of confusion.

But seeing Shi Miao, they couldn’t bear to let the opportunity slip. They immediately regrouped and tried the same trick again.

Once again, the gong and drum sounded at the critical moment.

But every time they did, that short, abrupt whistle would sound again.

This sound was also imbued with Inner Strength, and it completely shattered their gong and drum attack.

After just two or three exchanges, the four main attackers among the six were already covered in wounds.