Roaring Dragon-Chapter 17: Striking a Stone With an Egg

No one saw how he moved. One moment, Xie Jinhuan stood by the carriage. The next, he’d burst forward from the same spot, shooting across three zhang in a blink.

Lin Wanyi was still frantically thinking of what to do when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a black blur flash by—carrying a trail of cold light—sweeping past Fu Dongping's side.

By the time she could focus, the blur had already stopped beside the stable. In his left hand, Xie Jinhuan held the Zhenglun Sword in a reverse grip. The dark-blue blade dripped with blood.

Fu Dongping was no amateur. Yet, though his saber had only come two inches out of its sheath and he had taken a forward stance to draw, his entire body was frozen in place.

Drip. Drip. Drip...

Blood spattered to the ground, slowly forming a dark puddle.

The courtyard fell silent. The steward from the market who had run over to investigate, as well as Lin Wanyi and Jia Zheng, were all rooted to the spot in stunned confusion.

Xie Jinhuan paused for only a moment. Then his left hand spun in a flourish, scattering droplets.

Swish swish swish—

Clang—

The three-foot blade slid back into its sheath in a flash.

“You couldn’t even draw your blade, and you dare show your face in the martial world?”

Thud—

Fu Dongping, still gripping his saber in both hands, stumbled forward a step, then dropped to both knees. He looked down and saw blood gushing from his left side—his waist and abdomen had been severed cleanly in one strike. His expression was one of utter disbelief.

He tried to stand and fight back, but with his gut sliced open, there was no strength to muster. He leaned heavily on the saber for balance, but his body convulsed and collapsed to the ground.

Jia Zheng, who had braced for a life-or-death struggle, had assumed this soft-skinned pretty boy was just some noble's kept man. But when the killer fell in an instant, he could only stare in shock.

What the hell just happened?

He’s dead already?

Only now did Lin Wanyi realize the supposedly dangerous assassin had been dealt with that quickly. When she saw that fluid, graceful sword flourish, her heart gave a little thump.

Handsome.

No wonder among the Five Great Martial Streams, brute-force warriors were considered the most useless—and among those, swordsmen the least effective. Yet girls and young wives still loved swordsmen. When they struck a pose, they could outshine the entire world.

Judging by that terrifying sword speed and the effortless poise, he had to be at least fourth-grade.

And this was without having fortified his body using Dragon Blood Pills. If he had strengthened his foundation, wouldn't he be charging straight into third-grade?

My god. A twenty-year-old third-grade martial artist? If the Dan Prince finds out, wouldn’t he beg Xie Jinhuan on his knees to marry his daughter?

...Wait, if he’s this strong, why did I give him three years? Three months would’ve been enough...

Lin Wanyi suddenly realized she had grossly underestimated the Twin-Headed Dragon’s capabilities. She’d set the deadline far too long and now regretted it bitterly.

Xie Jinhuan didn’t waste time. After sheathing his sword, he crouched beside Fu Dongping and began rummaging through his clothes. freēnovelkiss.com

“Talk. Who sent you?!”

Fu Dongping lay twitching on the ground. He tried to get up but couldn’t. Even facing death, he clung to his pride and growled:

“Martial code—no... com—ARGHHH—!”

A shriek pierced the courtyard.

Xie Jinhuan had pulled out his Tiangang Mace and shoved it into the wound in Fu Dongping’s side, yanking out a handful of intestines and dangling them in front of him.

“People in the martial world should at least die with some dignity. I’m no righteous hero. Say one more word of bullshit, and I’ll chop off your junk and shove it down your throat. How’s that for making a name for yourself?”

?

Jia Zheng had been about to step forward to help, but that vicious, devilish scene made him back away in terror. His eyes filled with horror.

Even Lin Wanyi snapped out of her daze. Despite being a Witch Sect enchantress, she quickly turned her head away and muttered—This is supposed to be the most refined warrior type?!

Fu Dongping had killed many in his life, but he never expected the seemingly upright county constable’s son to be so cold-blooded. And to do it all with such a calm face—like he was eating breakfast.

Maybe this lunatic really would do something that demonic.

His bravado crumbled instantly. Through blood-filled teeth, he gasped:

“I-It was some... masked man. Said you wrecked his warehouse yesterday... made him lose a fortune...”

“Me?”

Xie Jinhuan’s fierce expression faltered. He’d assumed this was some mundane business revenge. Only now did he realize—the assassin was after him.

Are these demonic bastards insane?

He blinked and recalled killing Chen Yuan and two other thugs just the other day. And today they sent a scrub like this for revenge?

Wait—did they not actually know what went down at the warehouse?

If they didn’t know, how’d they find him?

He’d only been released from prison last night...

His head filled with question marks. He wanted to keep pressing—but he’d assumed this was just a small-time hit on Lin Wanyi and had gone in too hard. There wasn’t much time left for questioning.

Fu Dongping, with his guts spilled and his waist carved open, was beyond saving. After a few more spasms, he went still.

Xie Jinhuan sighed and resumed searching the body.

Aside from three hundred taels of silver, Fu Dongping only had a used-up black vial.

Xie {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Jinhuan inspected the bottle—it had held poison. He turned back and asked:

“No antidote. What now?”

Lin Wanyi was a Witch Sect descendant. She could purge poisons on her own. Poisoning her was like tossing meat buns at a dog.

But under broad daylight, she couldn’t show her hand too obviously. She gripped the carriage for support, face flushed and sweat running down her forehead.

“It’s fine. I can handle it. Jia Zheng—go report this. Xie Jinhuan, take me back to the clinic.”

Jia Zheng didn’t dare delay and dashed off to summon the authorities.

Xie Jinhuan tossed the empty bottle aside, pocketed his unexpected windfall, and returned to Lin Wanyi’s side.

The carriage was filled with poisonous dust—no way to ride in it. So he scooped her up and hijacked another carriage, heading straight for the Lin family clinic.

“Will you make it? Or should I stop at the nearest one?”

Being held in a bridal carry, Lin Wanyi blushed furiously. But now wasn’t the time for modesty.

“I’m from the Witch Sect—I can purge it myself. Just find a quiet place to rest.”

Xie Jinhuan nodded and didn’t ask more. He cracked the reins and sped off. Before long, he realized they were near the academy, and his own house was just around the corner. So he turned into Wencheng Street without hesitation.

Gurgle gurgle...

Lin Wanyi’s qi flow was blocked. Her arms showed patches of bruising that quickly faded. She was circulating her energy to suppress the poison when the cart suddenly stopped. Xie Jinhuan carried her into Qingquan Alley, leaped over the wall, and entered a residence.

She blinked. “Why here? The clinic’s ahead...”

“This is my house.”

“What?”

Xie Jinhuan vaulted over the alley and landed in the main courtyard of a two-building compound, carrying Lin Wanyi into the rear building’s main room.

Lin Wanyi looked around in surprise. She hadn’t expected a bachelor like Xie Jinhuan to be living in such a prime luxury residence in this city of sky-high land prices.

But now wasn’t the time to ask. He set her down on the bed, and she immediately sat cross-legged and closed her eyes to begin purging the poison.

The toxin was too strong—Lin Wanyi was already drenched in sweat. Her black hair clung to her cheeks, her face red as an apple, her soaked dress hugging her curvaceous form.

Xie Jinhuan had meant to leave, but he worried she might die, so he sat on a stool by the bed and monitored her complexion.

Whoosh...

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

As Lin Wanyi meditated, wisps of white mist rose from her hair bun. Though bruises occasionally formed on her dewy skin, they quickly faded.

Between her overlapping palms, faint green flames flickered, drawing out tendrils of black vapor that flowed into the fire and vanished.

Coagulated Blood Powder was a deadly toxin. It could clot a person’s entire bloodstream, causing fatal thrombosis. A normal person would’ve died instantly.

But judging by her state, she seemed to be handling it just fine.

After watching for a while, Xie Jinhuan relaxed and used Meiqiu as a pillow to pass the time.

—

Meanwhile, at the County Constable’s Office.

Due to the recent possible appearance of a high-grade demon, all officers had been dispatched to patrol the city. The office itself was relatively quiet.

Linghu Qingmo stood outside the morgue in a snow-white robe. A gauze veil covered her cold, stunning face as she frowned at the coroner examining the corpse. With no results all night, her mind wandered—thinking back to her fight with Xie Jinhuan.

He had groped her chest, which had left her dazed. She couldn’t even describe the feeling—just weird.

Now that she thought about it, she kind of regretted grabbing his chest in retaliation.

After all, he had groped her—so she lost. And when she grabbed him—she still lost?

Whatever. A grope for a grope. Call it even...

...

The body on the table had been pulled from the river. No one knew how long it had been soaked, and after five or six days in the morgue, it had bloated and rotted to monstrous proportions. Not only was the face unrecognizable, but they couldn’t even tell the gender.

Even Liu Qingzhi, who had examined corpses for years, was sickened. He’d stuffed cotton in his nose and advised:

“Lord Linghu, you’re injured. Maybe go rest? Even if this body’s tied to the demon gang, we won’t get anything from it. Experts from the Dan Prince’s Pavilion already checked it.”

Linghu Qingmo knew the royal experts had found nothing, but this corpse was clearly related to the demon gang. Even if there were no leads, they had to determine the cause of death. They had nothing else to go on—what if this corpse cracked the case?

She didn’t know how to examine corpses, though. After a few fruitless minutes, she asked:

“You’re sure Xie Jinhuan’s father is dead?”

Liu Qingzhi sighed. “The Chilin Guard personally confirmed it. There shouldn’t be any mistakes. The poor boy... lost his mother early, now his father too. He’s the only one left. Still, he’s alive. His father died for the country—he’ll get some preferential treatment when he joins the government later.”

Linghu Qingmo hadn’t realized how tragic Xie Jinhuan’s background was. But that kind of hardship explained his martial skill.

Any young man whose kin had been slaughtered by demons would probably go all out in training—swearing to destroy every last monster.

Just then, footsteps echoed outside the constable’s office.

Step step step...

Linghu Qingmo turned and saw Yang Dabiao running in, looking thrilled.

“Lord Linghu! There’s been another killing on Jinmen Street!”

??

His tone was way too cheerful. Everyone in the room—including the coroner and Linghu Qingmo—turned to him with the same look:

Have you lost your damn mind?

All this chaos, and you’re happy someone’s dead?

Linghu Qingmo scowled. “Yang Dabiao, are you still half-asleep?”

“No no—” Yang Dabiao waved his hands and rushed forward to explain.

“We’ve been chasing that scumbag Fu Dongping for half a month. He got sliced open in the street! The one who did it was my bro Xie Jinhuan. He didn’t hold back at all—pulled his guts out. That bastard deserved to die like a dog in public!”

Linghu Qingmo breathed a sigh of relief at the death of the infamous bandit. Then she asked:

“Wasn’t Xie Jinhuan under house arrest? How’d he run into Fu Dongping on Jinmen Street?”

“Uh...”

Yang Dabiao scratched his head and muttered, “He had a headache this morning, went to the Lin family clinic. Guess he’s too good-looking—ended up shopping with Doctor Lin. Then some demon gang tried to kill him...”

Hearing it was demon-related, Linghu Qingmo’s face turned serious. She walked out of the room:

“Why didn’t you say so earlier? Is Xie Jinhuan hurt?”

Yang Dabiao spread his hands. “Lord Linghu, you’re giving Fu Dongping too much credit. He couldn’t even touch his clothes, and you barely managed one hit. You think that guy stood a chance?”

“...”

Linghu Qingmo thought for a moment—he had a point. Then she frowned again.

“Are the demons brain-dead? Why send a scrub to kill Xie Jinhuan?”

“My guess is they tried poison first. When that didn’t work, they drew blades. Xie Jinhuan’s fine, but Doctor Lin took a bit of poison...”

“Where are they now?”

“Went back to Qingquan Alley. I was just heading over to check...”

“Liu Qingzhi, bring the antidote.”

“Yes, ma’am.”