Chapter 40: Unconventional Gift

The fleeing party consisted of seven individuals, all dressed in night clothes. The tallest among them, wielding a goose-feather saber, frequently engaged in combat with the faster pursuers behind them, covering his companions’ escape.

“Clang, clang, clang…”

The tall man spun in mid-air, deflecting three flying darts. His saber struck the metal darts, sending sparks flying in the night. Using the momentum from the deflected darts, he launched himself towards a tree, kicked off its trunk, and accelerated his escape forward.

There were over a dozen pursuers, all possessing excellent lightness skills. They relentlessly dogged the black-clad figures ahead, occasionally throwing darts or even small stones picked up from the mountain. However, most of these projectiles were blocked by the last black-clad man.

“Xiang Feng, hand over the Sword Intent Scroll, and we’ll leave your bodies intact!”

As a man in white shouted this, he propelled himself forward by pushing off a tree with all his might, unleashing a nine-section steel whip that lashed out like a venomous snake.

“Bullshit! I’ll make sure to have my way with your wife and daughters before I kill them all!”

“Clang!”

The black-clad man blocked the strike, using a nearby tree for leverage. However, the man in white, with a flick of his left hand on his nine-section whip, made the deflected steel whip coil back like a snake, pursuing the black-clad man.

“You’re asking for death!”

“Bang!”

The steel whip directly tore a chunk from the tree trunk, sending wood splinters flying and obscuring visibility. Simultaneously, two people behind him, their right hands drawn back, launched forward like released bows.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

“Clang!” “Thud!”

One dart was hastily blocked, while another burst into a spray of blood. The strong black-clad man was finally wounded, struck by a dart in his left shoulder.

Meanwhile, the steel whip continued to lash about in front of him, at times like a staff, at others like a nimble snake, making the black-clad man break out in a cold sweat.

“Hup!”

He channeled all his inner energy and furiously swung his saber.

“Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!”

Xiang Feng, the black-clad man, hacked down numerous tree branches, then kicked them back towards his pursuers. He no longer dared to delay alone and fled forward with all his might.

The black-clad group had initially thought that stealing the Sword Intent Scroll would be an easy task. However, the old man from the Fan family, despite his advanced age, proved surprisingly formidable. To deal with the old man, the Thirteen Thieves of Yan lost two of their members.

The remaining eleven thieves fled with the Sword Intent Scroll. Seeing their patriarch killed by bandits, the Fan family seemed to go mad. They issued a call to the entire martial arts world of Dingyuan: anyone who personally killed the Thirteen Thieves would not only be given the Sword Intent Scroll but also all the insights the Fan family had painstakingly gained over the years from studying it.

Overnight, the martial arts world of Dingyuan became turbulent, with masters from all walks of life gathering solely to hunt down the Thirteen Thieves of Yan.

The Sword Intent Scroll was left by Zuo Kuangtu, a peerless master known as the "Sword Immortal" in his later years. The text within it subtly contained some of Zuo Kuangtu's sword moves and intent, and it directly pointed to the burial place of his sword where he intended to be interred upon his death. A rumor circulated in the martial arts world: comprehending the Sword Intent Scroll would lead one to Zuo Kuangtu's tomb, where they could obtain his unparalleled martial arts manuals and the divine sword, Qingying.

No one had expected that the Sword Intent Scroll, which once stirred up a bloody storm in the martial arts world, had been hidden all this time in the Fan family of Dingyuan. Even more surprisingly, the Fan family had publicized the news for the sake of revenge.

At this moment, the pursuing martial arts experts were all vying for the lead. This particular group, after encountering the remaining eleven thieves, had already engaged them multiple times, reducing their number to seven. A tacit understanding had formed among them: they needed to secure the Sword Intent Scroll together before other martial artists, or even masters from other prefectures and states, arrived to join the fray.

And for the Fan family’s promise, the Thirteen Thieves of Yan had to be utterly annihilated!

...

The black-clad figures grew increasingly anxious as they fled. They had originally planned to use the dense mountain forest to shake off their pursuers, but the more than a dozen people behind them were all highly skilled and clung so tightly that they had no chance to escape.

Many of the black-clad figures in front were already wounded, and now their leader, Xiang Feng, had been hit by a dart, making their situation even more critical.

“Big Brother, this won’t do! We can’t outlast them!”

“Damn it, that accursed Fan Tong! Even in death, he causes us trouble! If we can’t escape, we’ll make our stand up ahead!”

The black-clad leader, with a determined look, snatched the scroll from his chest. With a few powerful leaps, he landed on a relatively open rocky outcrop ahead and held the scroll high.

The other black-clad figures landed behind him, panting.

“You bunch of mad dogs! All you want is the Sword Intent Scroll, right? If you push us too far, I’ll tear this wretched script to pieces!”

As he spoke, Xiang Feng unrolled the previously coiled scroll.

Behind them, the pursuing masters landed nearby, maintaining a distance of several meters from the black-clad group.

The man in white sneered.

“You’re at death’s door and still struggling. What does it matter if you destroy the calligraphy left by Sword Immortal Zuo? As long as the Fan family shares their years of insights, it’s all the same!”

“Heh heh heh, Jiang Chongli, you might think that way, but will the people around you? If the Fan family’s paltry insights were truly useful, wouldn’t they have already found Zuo Kuangtu’s peerless sword techniques and divine weapon themselves?”

After the black-clad man’s sneering taunt, a brief silence fell between the two sides.

Xiang Feng no longer expected to genuinely get away with the Sword Intent Scroll this time; his only goal was to escape. Just as he was about to say something more, a strong mountain wind suddenly picked up.

“Wooosh... wooosh...”

The fierce wind whipped up leaves and dust, making the night even darker. Suddenly, the scroll slipped from Xiang Feng’s grasp, carried by the wind into the air.

“Oh no!”

“The Sword Intent Scroll!”

“Grab it!”

Several of the pursuers immediately leaped into the air, using their lightness skills to snatch the Sword Intent Scroll.

Just as a surge of bitter resentment rose within Xiang Feng, he suddenly realized this was an opportunity. He quietly leaped backward with the other black-clad bandits, using the strong wind and the pursuers’ scramble for the scroll as cover to escape.

In the clearing amidst the trees, multiple experts leaped up to seize the scroll. Some even attacked others mid-air, desperate to get their hands on it first.

Unfortunately, the wind was strangely capricious; just as a white-clad figure was about to reach the Sword Intent Scroll, it suddenly surged higher, whisked away directly towards the sky.

“Wooosh... wooosh...”

More fallen leaves, dry branches, and dust swirled about. The group of martial artists had reached the limit of their qinggong leaps and began to descend. When they looked up again, the scroll had vanished into the night, and on the ground, all traces of the remaining bandits were gone.

“Damn it! Utterly infuriating!”

“Alas, we failed at the last hurdle!”

“This wind is too unnatural!”

“Are we still pursuing them?”

“Hmph, first we find the Sword Intent Scroll, then we talk!”

To be safe, the martial artists split into two groups, searching in two likely directions.

...

On an unnamed peak in Mount Niu Kui, Lu Shanjun lay sprawled lazily at the mouth of a cave. In his tiger paw was a seemingly miniature scroll, which was precisely the Sword Intent Scroll he had casually picked up earlier while passing through a certain part of the mountains.

With sharp claws, he gently unfurled the scroll. On the slightly yellowed paper, hundreds of characters were rendered with bold, vigorous strokes, as if carved from iron and silver.

“Fine calligraphy! A pity there’s nothing remarkable about it.”

Although the characters possessed a fierce quality, they completely lacked spiritual energy. It was indeed a relic left by a mere mortal martial artist, what they called a "Sword Immortal." However, just as the fierce tiger was about to swallow the scroll, it suddenly paused.

‘But the calligraphy itself is excellent!’

With this thought, the massive tiger slowly rose, then, accompanied by a faint breeze, darted into the forest.

Over an hour later, in a mountain hollow near Ning’an County.

A red fox found its tail pinned under a gigantic tiger paw, nearly as large as its entire body.

“Whimpering... whimpering...”

The red fox’s body stiffened and trembled. It dared not struggle too much; instead, it cautiously turned around in a remarkably human-like manner, pressing its two front paws together as if begging the tiger.

Lu Shanjun’s tiger mouth curved slightly, revealing terrifying fangs.

“Heh heh, I’ve long known that you, fox, have gained spiritual intelligence, and I’m also aware that you often go down to Ning’an County to steal chickens and ducks from farmhouses. Have you ever seen the blind elder who once resided in the Mountain God Temple on the outer peak?”

“Whimper, whimper, whimper!”

The fox nodded, not daring to show any resistance.

“Good that you know him. Do something for me.”

With that, a scroll floated out from the tiger’s mouth. A thin cord woven from tiger fur was wrapped around it, and it was gently placed onto the red fox’s back, hidden beneath its crimson fur.

“Go to Shuixian Town and Ning’an County to seek out Mister Ji for me. If you find his residence, deliver this scroll to him on my behalf. Though Mister Ji is blind, he is a transcendent master; his foresight means he won’t fail to recognize it. Since you bear my fur, Mister Ji should not harm you, but remember not to be reckless or disturb his peace. Have you understood?”

“Whimper, whimper, whimper!”

The red fox responded with only faint whimpers.

Lu Shanjun’s fierce tiger eyes softened, revealing a look of satisfaction, and he released his paw.

“Very good. This is also a stroke of fortune for you. Whether you find Mister Ji or not, do not try to be clever. Now, go!”

The red fox took a few trembling steps, glanced back at the powerful mountain tiger, then accelerated its pace and darted away into the forest.

Lu Shanjun watched the red fox disappear, pondering to himself, ‘Surely, giving a piece of calligraphy is not considered conventional, right?’