Chapter 3: Black Tiger Blade Technique
1921 Words
"Is this an illusion? Or is it real?"
Lusheng narrowed his eyes and suppressed the thoughts in his mind.
"It's nothing." He straightened his back and calmly responded.
Little Qiao's eyes were filled with tears again, "Young Master... Magistrate Xu was such a good person, such a good official, how could he...?"
Lusheng silently looked at the corpses scattered across the Xu residence.
The corpses were all a grayish-blue color with marks around their necks.
The prefect took a few glances and hurriedly left, handing full authority over the case to the chief bailiff from the prefectural prison.
Several other yamen officials responsible for investigating the case were also discussing the details with the chief bailiff.
"Young Master, the Master summons you." A servant ran over and whispered to Lusheng. As he spoke, he cast a pitying look at the Xu family corpses on the ground.
"I'll go right away." Lusheng looked at the servant. "Aren't you afraid?"
"I am afraid. But I'm a refugee who fled famine in the east in Juran Country. There are corpses everywhere and some families have even resorted to cannibalism. I've seen much worse scenes..." He sighed, suddenly realizing he was chatting with someone above his station and quickly lowered his head.
"You've seen a lot? There's been many similar bizarre happenings in Juran Country to the east?" Lusheng casually asked.
The servant fell silent. "Many."
Lusheng felt his heart tighten. But his feet did not stop as he quickly walked over to his father in this life, Lu Fang.
Lu Fang, whose courtesy name is Quanan and art name Jin Yuanweng. The Lus' money is well known throughout Jiu Lian city. The impending marriage alliance between the Lu and Xu clans was also already well known throughout the city and even as far as Zihua city to the west. For things to become like this now, Lu Quanan's expression was extremely ugly, with exhaustion and worry evident in his eyes.
"Clearly recount yesterday's events to Bailiff Zhao."
He moved aside to make space for a bearded man walking over. Lusheng's mind kept echoing Xu Daoran's words from yesterday. He felt the water ghost cases must be connected somehow to the Xus' deaths.
Thus, he clearly recounted his conversation with Xu Daoran from yesterday, holding nothing back.
Bailiff Zhao's brows were furrowed, showing no indication he had grasped any leads.
Seeing there was nothing left to ask, Lusheng took his leave.
As he was departing, the yamen's men started collecting the corpses. Lusheng stood at the side watching for a while. As Xu Daoran's body was hoisted onto a stretcher, he let out a sigh and walked closer, asking a bailiff, "Brother, does the Xu family have any surviving members left?"
He was thinking that if the Xus still had surviving family members, he would take care of them on their behalf. Perhaps he could also obtain some useful information from them.
"None left...all gone. Even their in-laws and children were implicated. Perhaps there might be some distant relatives in Zihua City."
The bailiff shook his head and softly replied.
Lusheng secretly slipped him a broken silver coin and left with Little Qiao to catch up with his clan's carriages.
The carriages slowly made their way back home one by one. But the horrific fate of the Xus was still on everyone's minds. As the clan elder, Lu Quanan called everyone together for a family meeting as soon as they returned home, announcing the dissolution of the engagement with the Xus. He told the women to provide some comfort to Lady Yi and returned to his room in solitary dejection. The men either went out to drink at the city's taverns, visit the pleasure houses or music halls to numb themselves after the shock they experienced that morning.
The women mostly went out to the nearby Red Lotus Temple to pray, burn incense and seek peace of mind and blessings. It would be best if they could obtain a protective charm from the eminent Red Lotus Daoist to ward off evil spirits and protect the family.
The entire Lu clan was filled with trepidation.
Lusheng did not go out carousing. He brought Little Qiao straight to the family's library.
The library was extremely quiet. Pushing open the doors, there was a plump woman inside dusting the bookshelves.
The crimson bookshelves, furniture and the dark lighting coming in from outside windows made the room seem somewhat dreary.
Lusheng walked in, circled around a round landscape folding screen blocking the entrance, and smelled the faint wooden aroma unique to libraries.
"You may leave first. I'll read some books here to rest and calm down." He ordered.
"Yes, Young Master." Little Qiao obediently responded and left with the other maid.
Lusheng stood alone in the library looking at shelves upon shelves of books. He let out a soft sigh.
He started searching shelf by shelf. Very quickly, he found some local county records.
Carrying all these books out, he started reading them one by one under the dim light coming in from the window .
He quickly finished reading one volume.
'In the 72nd year of Great Song Dynasty, a crazed man wielding a sabre appeared in Jiu Lian city's outskirts, killing 12 people in succession before being surrounded and struck down by yamen officers.'
'In the 85th year of Great Song, a man's head suddenly detached from his body in broad daylight in Jiu Lian city downtown. The cause of death is unknown.'
'In the 91st year of Great Song, 15 travellers went missing at an abandoned temple outside of town. The case remains unsolved.'
'In the 95th year of Great Song, a music house owner disappeared from Jiu Lian city. His limbs were found separately across four locations outside of the city. Just four days after his death, his corpse had already rotten into bare white bones.'
'In the 116th year of Great Song, crying could be heard from a child nightly outside of town. All those sent to investigate disappeared. The crying persisted for 3 days before vanishing on its own.'
As Lusheng read more and more records of major events and bizarre cases, he felt increasingly uneasy.
This world, filled with dangers and crises at every turn, for people here to still be living ordinary lives without going mad or breaking down was truly not easy.
He shifted his chair and picked up a firesteel to light the candles on the table, illuminating his face in constantly shifting brightness and shadow.
"If this world is truly as dangerous as I suspect, what would I need to protect myself? What could I use to stay safe?" He asked himself.
After thinking at his desk for a while, Lusheng slowly got up, blew out the candles and returned all the books he took out back in their original places. Then he pushed the doors open and exited the library.
"Young Master, you're done reading?" Little Qiao who had been dozing off leaning against the doorway was startled awake by Lusheng's sudden emergence. But she quickly reacted and responded.
"Yes. Where is Elder Zhao now? Do you know?" Lusheng casually asked.
There were many people surnamed Zhao who were seniors in the Lu Estate. But there was only one who everyone respectfully addressed as Elder Zhao. And that was none other than Uncle Zhao, Lu Quanan's sworn brother and the Lu family's top martial arts master, the most formidable warrior, Zhao the Black Tiger.
"Uh... At this time, Elder Zhao is usually at the martial arena tempering his muscles and bones, training the household guards." As Little Qiao was on good terms with the other servants, her information was quite up to date.
"Let's go find him."
After giving it much thought, Lusheng knew Elder Zhao was the person he could most easily approach and obtain the capability to protect himself from.
Following the small paths in the estate, Lusheng quickly passed through two residential areas to arrive at the rear training field. A white-haired old man was in the midst of guiding around a dozen guards in practicing punches and kicks.
The morning sunlight shone down, gradually dissolving the lingering horror from the events heard earlier in the day.
Warrior Zhao Dahu was dressed in a short black top and grey pants, with his beloved heavy saber perpetually strapped to his back.
Lusheng waited at the side watching. After training the guards for a while, Elder Zhao let them pair up to spar with each other. He then walked over to where Lusheng was standing. He had long noticed Lusheng arrive.
"Eldest Young Master, it's rare to see you make time to visit the training grounds today. What matter do you need this old man's assistance with?"
In the estate, Elder Zhao's status was on the same level as the Master. The other martial arts teachers also held high positions, interacting with the young masters and misses on equal footing.
Lusheng looked towards where the guards were still diligently practicing their punches and kicks not too far away. "Elder Zhao, I wish to learn martial arts." His words caused the smile on Elder Zhao's face to freeze.
"Little Victor, you're not joking with this old man, are you?"
"I'm serious." Lusheng shook his head. After much deliberation, the only place he could most easily gain the capability to protect himself right now was to learn martial arts from his family's teachers.
Elder Zhao looked seriously at Lusheng and shook his head. "If Little Victor truly wishes to learn martial arts, this bit of skill I possess can still be imparted to you. But...at your current age, your bones have already set. Many moves would be simply impossible for you to practice to proficiency. Without practicing the moves to perfection, their might would greatly suffer..."
"It's fine. Please just teach me, Elder Zhao." Lusheng sincerely responded. His goal wasn't just to gain some self-defense skills. He also wanted to test out a certain conjecture.
Elder Zhao stroked his beard in contemplation for a while before heartily agreeing. "Very well. I have no heirs, and have benefited greatly spending so many years in the Lu family. The old master has treated me very generously too. Proper etiquette dictates you should kneel and take me as your master when learning my teachings. But given my relationship with the Lus, we can dispense with the formalities. Just don't transmit the skills to outsiders." Elder Zhao waved his hand.
As the eldest young master, Lusheng was destined to inherit stewardship over the family's businesses and assets in the future. Elder Zhao also harbored thoughts of using this chance to improve relations.
"However, there is one thing I must make clear with you first, Little Victor."
"Please speak freely." Lusheng solemnly replied.
Elder Zhao stroked his beard and slowly explained, "I know you were stimulated by the horrific fate of the Xus this morning and now seek to learn martial arts to protect yourself. But let me tell you clearly. Even the mightiest masters of Jianghu are powerless before those bizarre and eerie happenings."
"I understand..." Lusheng nodded. "I just wish to do what little I can to feel more at ease."
"As long as Little Victor understands." Elder Zhao pondered briefly before taking out a small booklet from his clothes wrapped carefully in layers of yellow cloth. He gingerly removed the outer layers to reveal the booklet within.
A few large words were written on its cover. 'Black Tiger Saber Method'.
- Writer
