Volume One: Longwater County Menial Worker, Chapter Ninety-Six: Parting Sword Manor

The big black dog looked heartbroken. “This girl was quite a pretty thing, and you were awfully ruthless with her.”

“Just now I sensed some movement, so I was being cautious,” Zhong Zhengming said, his mindset already corrected as he made a point of explaining, “I did go too hard. Otherwise, we might have been able to ask what exactly is going on in this place.”

“I’ve got elixirs bestowed by the Demon-Slaying Office and the Zhong clan elders that can treat external wounds. But she’s hurt too badly; I don’t know whether I can save her.”

A single strike from a seventh-rank martial artist—when this woman was only ninth rank, surviving at all was already an act of defying the heavens.

For now, the priority was to save her, then ask what this place was all about.

Lu Jiuzhang and the others were utterly baffled by this place. If they could find someone who knew something, that would be best of all.

“Treat her first. We’ll leave it to fate,” Lu Jiuzhang said with a nod.

“And if she still won’t talk afterward? Do we bring out the little leather whip? Ninth Master, it’s your turn to shine.” The big black dog glanced around. “We probably can’t find a whip here. Or should I go gather some weeds and braid a grass whip?”

“Get the hell over there and stay out of the way!”

Lu Jiuzhang cursed.

It was clearly a big black dog, yet all day long it never learned anything proper.

What little leather whip? What nonsense was that?

Was this the kind of thing one got to hear for free?

“Sigh. These days, even telling the truth gets you scolded. There’s no justice left in this world.” Grumbling, the big black dog lay down beside the woman in black.

Zhong Zhengming took a black pill from his robes and fed it into the woman’s mouth.

Her face was already deathly pale. Her features were delicate, with arched brows and her eyes closed; her hair was tied up, and her cherry-colored lips had lost all trace of blood.

“We should find a way to stop the bleeding first. Pills alone won’t do much,” Zhong Zhengming said, turning to Division Chief Xue beside him. “Go find some herbs for treating wounds and see whether you can bring any back.”

“You have one stick of incense’s time. If you can’t find any, return as quickly as possible. If you encounter danger, sound the alarm at once, and I’ll come to your aid.”

He added, “If you come across any water on the way, bring back some fresh water too.”

“Understood!”

Division Chief Xue nodded, then headed off into the distance.

...

Zhong Zhengming stood up, then sat cross-legged on the ground and began channeling his inner force to heal her.

After a short while, the woman in black’s fingers twitched, and she had begun to recover some awareness.

It was probably the pill taking effect.

Her tightly closed eyes slowly opened a sliver, and she caught sight of Lu Jiuzhang before her.

Then the woman in black began to struggle.

The knife wounds on her body tore open again, blood seeping out anew.

The next instant, the pain made her pass out again.

“Don’t let her wake again. It’ll interfere with the treatment,” Zhong Zhengming warned.

Faced with a group of strangers, this woman in black was surely on edge.

In such a state, her wounds would only bleed again.

She already had little chance of surviving; if they kept agitating her like this, the odds would only grow slimmer.

“Forget it. Looks like it’s this divine beast’s turn,” the big black dog said helplessly.

It rose and walked to the woman in black, opened its mouth, and started licking the wound with its tongue.

“What the hell, Old Black, what are you doing?” Lu Jiuzhang exclaimed in shock.

“What else would I be doing? Treating her wounds. I’m a divine beast, after all—my saliva has healing properties.”

The big black dog said disdainfully, “Human brats were never worthy of my saliva, but for the sake of getting out of here sooner, I’ll endure it.”

It tore the cloth at her waist with its teeth and licked around the wound.

Lu Jiuzhang could see it clearly: the blood flowing from the places the big black dog had licked was slowing down, little by little, and the wounds were gradually beginning to knit together.

After one stick of incense had burned down, Division Chief Xue returned.

He had only brought back a little water and found no medicinal herbs.

Seeing the big black dog sprawled before the woman in black, Division Chief Xue was astonished. “What the hell is this doing?”

“It’s treating her! That big black dog’s saliva really does have some remarkable effect.”

Zhong Zhengming was afraid Division Chief Xue would overthink it, so he explained, “Since you brought water back, give her a little. With the pill’s help as well, she should wake before long.”

Division Chief Xue nodded and slowly fed the water he had fetched into the woman’s mouth.

“Cough, cough...”

After a fit of coughing, the woman in black finally came to.

Fearing she might struggle again, Zhong Zhengming quickly restrained her. Lu Jiuzhang then explained, “Miss, we bear you no ill will. We strayed in here by accident and wanted to ask about this place.”

The woman in black stared blankly for a long while before slowly saying, “Has another sect been established outside again?”

“Not at all. We are people of the Demon-Slaying Office. We came here to slay demons and inadvertently ended up here,” Lu Jiuzhang said briefly. “Now we’re trying to find a way out.”

“Out...” The woman in black was slightly dazed. “That’s difficult. For so many years, I’ve never heard of anyone getting out.”

“What?”

The big black dog was stunned. “Damn, are we really going to be trapped here?”

Zhong Zhengming was also taken aback. Even if this place were a relic from thousands or even tens of thousands of years ago, so what?

It was far too small.

Compared with the vast world outside, it was nothing more than a tiny pond.

If they could not leave and were trapped here forever, that would be truly stifling.

Zhong Zhengming even thought it might be better to die outside, where at least one could be free.

“Is there really no way out?” Lu Jiuzhang asked again.

“I’ll take you to see the manor lord. He knows more than I do,” the woman in black said. “Our Severed Sword Manor has been here for decades and has long made its home in this place.”

“Besides us, there are also the Blazing Flame Sect and the Northern Blade Sect. The Northern Blade Sect has been here the longest, and they are the strongest of the three.”

“The Blazing Flame Sect arrived six or seven hundred years ago. Their sect master stepped into the sixth rank of martial cultivation. When we first came here, they kept provoking us, hoping to swallow us whole. Later, the people of the Northern Blade Sect stepped in, and only then did the situation ease.”

“As for the Northern Blade Sect’s sect master’s exact cultivation, I don’t know. But he should be somewhat stronger than the Blazing Flame Sect’s master; otherwise, he could never have kept them in check.”

Zhong Zhengming nodded. “Then what cultivation level does your manor lord have?”

“Seventh rank of martial cultivation, and on the verge of breaking into the sixth rank,” the woman in black replied.

“That’s good.”

Zhong Zhengming breathed a sigh of relief.

The gap was not too great; there was still room to fight.

If the manor lord of Severed Sword Manor had already entered the sixth rank of martial cultivation, then Zhong Zhengming would have to be far more cautious.

“Please, all of you, follow me.”

The woman in black rose and led them onward. “Aside from the central region, this relic has been divided into four parts. The beasts control about half the territory; the Northern Blade Sect only occupies one-tenth, and their disciples usually keep to themselves.”

“The Blazing Flame Sect occupies three and a half tenths, while the remaining five percent belongs to our Severed Sword Manor.”

“The manor lord is the offspring of the previous manor lord. He is already fifty-six this year, and he is still quite easy to talk to. If you explain your intentions, I imagine the manor lord will bear no hostility toward you.”