Chapter 16: Every Instant of Time

The instant Jiang Wang saw that small skeleton and his emotions surged—

Whoosh!

A sharp sound of something cutting through the air suddenly came.

Jiang Wang’s wrist turned, and in that impossible moment, he had already raised his sword together with its sheath behind him, just in time to block the sharp object shooting toward him. The sound of metal clashing rang out.

Jiang Wang used the momentum to turn back and draw his sword in one seamless motion. He had already glimpsed that the thing attacking him was a pale finger bone. There was no time to think. His body had already instinctively turned again.

The little girl’s skeleton on the bed had risen into the air. The skull split its mouth open and lunged at Jiang Wang to bite him!

Jiang Wang did not hesitate in the slightest. He kicked it head-on, sending the skeleton back to where it had been. Then his long sword turned several times. In that instant, it was like a streak of purple lightning swimming through the dark room. That small skeleton had already been severed at every joint and fell back onto the bed in its original position, as if it had never moved at all.

“Heh heh heh heh, little Daoist, I killed this little girl, and you seem very angry. But the last thing she left behind was destroyed by your own hands.”

The voice was sharp and piercing, drifting and indistinct. It was impossible to tell where it came from.

This kind of illusion technique that could conceal traces was not simple, which meant the enemy hiding in the dark had prepared in advance.

Jiang Wang’s foundation was not yet complete, and his five senses had not opened. For the moment, he had no way to break through this illusion. But he did not panic. According to what he had learned in the Dao Academy, he now had two judgments.

First, the enemy’s level would not be too high. The reason was simple. If this were truly a high-level expert, the other party would not need to rely on illusion techniques at all and could even kill him immediately.

The second judgment, inferred from this, was that limited by the opponent’s strength, the level of this illusion technique would not be too high either. Once the opponent launched an attack or was attacked, or even merely moved, it would break automatically. The clue supporting this was that the enemy’s first attack had only manipulated the skeleton instead of striking personally.

“You are the one who killed her, and you are also the one who destroyed her bones. Heretical side-path tricks cannot shake my heart!”

Jiang Wang moved with his sword. In an instant, he had already swept through the entire small room, sword light nearly illuminating it completely!

Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword, first killing form!

The moment the room filled with light, all the sword light gathered together again. Jiang Wang seemed to seize that mass of sword light in his hand and slashed straight down!

The door, which had closed at some unknown point, burst open with a crash.

Zhang Linchuan stood outside the door, faint lightning flickering in his hand.

“The two skeletons outside were manipulated and rose as corpses just now. I destroyed them. What happened on your side?” he asked.

“I was attacked too. I couldn’t break through his illusion technique. But my sword still wounded him!”

Jiang Wang flicked the long sword in his hand, and a drop of fresh red blood fell from the tip.

Zhang Linchuan reached out and caught the drop of blood, which hovered above his palm.

“With this, it won’t be difficult to track the evil cultivator’s traces.”

A trace of approval appeared on his face.

“Junior Brother Jiang, you’ve made a great contribution on this trip.”

Jiang Wang searched around with his eyes, but could no longer see any other bloodstains.

“Senior Brother Zhang, the evil cultivator may not have escaped yet.”

Zhang Linchuan flipped his palm and stored away the blood drop. He closed his eyes and sensed for a moment, then shook his head.

“There are no traces left.”

Almost the moment his voice fell, the corpse qi filling the entire courtyard dispersed.

“Let’s go.”

Zhang Linchuan put away the blood drop.

“There are no useful clues left here. Once we give this drop of blood to the vice academy master, he is proficient in the Six Lines divination method and will definitely be able to uncover that evil cultivator.”

This trip had given Jiang Wang an unprecedented psychological shock. Those mountain bandits and robbers could also be considered full of evil deeds, but compared to these evil cultivators who casually slaughtered entire households and even desecrated and manipulated bones after death, they were nothing more than minor witches before a great sorcerer.

He had seen the cruel and cold side of the cultivation world.

Extraordinary power could also bring extraordinary cruelty.

Jiang Wang wanted to turn back and look at the little girl’s bones, but he actually did not dare.

At this moment, Zhang Linchuan said again, “The Criminal Investigation Office already checked this place once and made no progress at all. Yet the moment we came, we encountered an evil cultivator’s attack. There’s something very strange about this.”

“What does Senior Brother mean…”

“Hmph.”

Zhang Linchuan sneered twice.

After entering the inner academy, Jiang Wang only wanted to cultivate and had no desire whatsoever to be drawn into the struggle between Dong A and Wei Quji. But Zhang Linchuan had pointed out that possibility.

Unfortunately, he still had no right to refuse.

“Junior Brother Jiang’s swordsmanship is extraordinary. It is definitely not one of those crude tricks collected by the Dao Academy.”

Zhang Linchuan sighed casually, as if unintentionally.

Jiang Wang replied, “For us Daoist cultivators, swordsmanship is still a minor path after all. Senior Brother’s lightning art is what is truly astonishing.”

At this moment, the two skeletons in the hall and courtyard from earlier were gone. Only a layer of charred ash remained in place. Jiang Wang could almost imagine the scene. Those two skeletons had just been manipulated and had not even had time to move before they were destroyed by lightning arts.

“Junior Brother Jiang is too modest. In truth, our Daoist sword methods are not inferior to anyone’s. Unfortunately, Maple Forest City Dao Academy does not possess such methods. In all of Zhuang Country, probably only the national Dao Academy has them.”

Zhang Linchuan sounded somewhat emotional.

The Daoist schools also had methods that entered the sword through the Dao. They were extremely sharp and not inferior to ordinary sword cultivators. But they were not the mainstream after all, and Maple Forest City Dao Academy did not have experts sufficient to guide cultivation in that direction.

At this moment, Jiang Wang had no mood to speak at all. But he could not ignore Zhang Linchuan either, so he casually complimented him.

“With Senior Brother’s talent, entering the national Dao Academy is only a matter of time.”

“Yes, a matter of time.”

Zhang Linchuan suddenly sighed. Standing in the courtyard, he gazed into the distance, toward the direction of the Qichang Mountains.

“But sooner and later are still different things. I often feel as though there is a knife stabbing me from behind. Every instant of time feels urgent.”

Such a noble young master, strong in both talent and ability, fond of cleanliness and refinement, actually carried real anxiety and sorrow in his voice.

Jiang Wang fell silent.

Did he not also want to become stronger faster, to go sooner to the place he should have gone long ago?

Every instant of time felt urgent.

“Beyond that mountain range is Yong Country,” Zhang Linchuan said. “If the evil cultivator escapes into Yong territory, we will no longer be able to catch him.”

Of course Jiang Wang knew why he said this.

Zhuang Country had been founded over three hundred years ago. Its founding ancestor, Zhuang Chengqian, had originally been a great general of Yong Country. He had led troops to conquer a thousand li of territory and, taking advantage of the chaos when three princes of Yong fought for the throne, split off the land and established his own country.

Afterward, through alliances and maneuvering, he established Daoism as the state religion and took advantage of the situation to attach himself to the powerful Jing Country, which also belonged to the Daoist lineage. Only then did Zhuang Country stabilize and survive until the present.

But because of this history, Zhuang and Yong had never been on good terms.

Zhuang Country’s hated enemies might well be welcomed with open arms in Yong Country.

Jiang Wang said nothing more about it and silently followed Zhang Linchuan out of the courtyard.

Tang Dun, who had been waiting outside the gate, immediately came up to them, eyes filled with expectation.

“How is it? Has the evil cultivator been eliminated?”

He had heard the commotion from outside earlier and knew a battle had happened inside.

“We have already found a clue,” Jiang Wang said.

He turned to look at Zhang Linchuan.

“Senior Brother, could you lend me some money?”

Zhang Linchuan did not ask the reason and casually tossed him a money pouch.

Jiang Wang weighed it briefly and took out the smallest piece of silver. He had originally wanted to take some knife coins, but Zhang Linchuan’s pouch actually only contained gold and silver.

Jiang Wang handed the broken silver to the small-town constable Tang Dun.

“There is a little girl’s skeleton inside. Please use this silver to buy a coffin and bury her. There are two piles of ashes in the courtyard. Those are her parents. Bury them together.”

Tang Dun’s rough face darkened with sadness, but he firmly pushed Jiang Wang’s hand away.

“I’ll handle their funeral matters. I can’t take your money.”

“Take it.”

Jiang Wang forcibly placed the broken silver in his hand.

“Consider it something I’m doing for peace of mind.”

The constable uniform on Tang Dun’s body had patches, showing that his family circumstances were not very good. The fact that he had been assigned to receive Jiang Wang and Zhang Linchuan, an unwelcome group, also showed that he was a marginalized figure in the local government.

Unable to break free, he could only grip Jiang Wang’s hand tightly.

“I thank you on behalf of Niuer!”

So her name was Niuer.

The small canvas hanging on the wall seemed to appear before his eyes again.

She had once tried, in her childish way, to keep an entire spring.

But her life would never bloom again.

Niuer, Niuer.

Jiang Wang silently repeated the name several times in his heart, as though tying some kind of responsibility to his Dao heart.

[End of Chapter]