Chapter 54: Famous in the Jianghu

“Brother Shi must have been living in seclusion in the mountains for a long time and is unaware of the rumors circulating in the Jianghu!” Li Yiyan said.

“Please tell me!”

“That Old Demon Shi did disappear after appearing in Qiuyang City three years ago. But a year ago, the Nuhai Gang in Yangzhou had a bloody internal strife! According to those present, the entire gang was littered with severed limbs, blood flowing everywhere.”

“At the same time, several other gangs and martial arts families in Yangzhou were also destroyed. And there were faint traces of the terrifying Old Demon Shi Feizhe in all these incidents!”

Shi Feizhe knew that the Nine Provinces under heaven were named: Ji, Yong, Yan, Qing, Xu, Liang, Yu, Yang, and Jing.

The Yangzhou that Li Yiyan was talking about had nothing to do with the Yangzhou of his previous life. Moreover, it was a vast area, equivalent to the size of several provinces.

However, he didn’t know who was spreading his fame!

Damn it, he really wanted to catch this bastard who did good deeds without leaving his name and beat him to death!

Thousands of miles away from this small mountain, in Yangzhou, Fan Jianqiang, dressed in black, stood on a rooftop, looking down at the raging fire in the large courtyard below and listening to the shouts of fighting coming from all directions.

Those fighting shouts were filled with madness, sounding like demons, not humans.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

“Kill everything!”

“I want to be invincible! I want to destroy the world!”

“…”

The Long Family of the Yangzhou Great Marsh was a wealthy and influential clan that had occupied the marsh for thousands of years. The Long Family’s ancestor was a True Realm expert, whose presence made the Long Family like the local emperor of the Great Marsh!

But the more powerful and wealthy a family is, the more filthy and corrupt it becomes.

A single copy of the 《Demon Heart Manual》, a chance to become a True Realm expert, was enough to plunge this wealthy and influential family into endless infighting and madness.

What if you have a family you hate, but you can’t defeat them?

Just give them a copy of the 《Demon Heart Manual》, and then secretly fan the flames and provoke them. They will destroy themselves!

Fan Jianqiang watched as the Long Family burned to ashes in the raging fire. He would wait, wait for the final moment to deliver the finishing blow, ensuring that the roots were completely eradicated!

However, the fire at the Long Family attracted many people lurking in the shadows, those who wanted to pick up scraps or take advantage of the chaos.

Fan Jianqiang saw them but remained silent.

Only when the fire was at its peak, the shouts of fighting gradually subsided, and those people could no longer hold back, did he release the aura of a True Realm expert.

“Shi Feizhe, the World-Astonishing Wisdom, is handling matters here. Unrelated personnel, withdraw!”

“Don’t make me come looking for you! At that time, hehe…” He let out a strange, cold laugh that sent chills down the spines of those lurking in the shadows.

“World-Astonishing Wisdom Shi Feizhe? Isn’t that the World-Astonishing Old Demon?”

“Run! Run! It’s Old Demon Shi!”

“If we’re slow, Old Demon Shi will target us!”

“Old Demon Shi is terrifying!”

Fan Jianqiang sneered as he listened to the whispers of those people and watched their panicked retreat.

The name of Old Demon Shi was really useful!

It felt good to have someone take the blame!

“Achoo!” Just then, he suddenly sneezed.

Damn it, who was thinking about him!

Then, he sneezed again!

One thought, two curses, who was cursing him! It couldn’t be that fool Shi Feizhe, could it?

It had been years since they last met. He wondered if that fool was still alive?

“Achoo!” Shi Feizhe, who had just cursed the person spreading his fame, also sneezed.

“This bald donkey is heavy! Old Li, lend a hand. Let’s carry him to the back mountain.” Shi Feizhe looked at Wujing’s corpse, then at the broken gate of his courtyard, and said, “Sigh! I have to replace the gate again!”

Li Yiyan, carrying the corpse with Shi Feizhe, glanced at the gate and said, “If Brother Shi doesn’t mind, I can fix it!”

“You know how to do that?”

“It’s a hobby! Carpentry is quite interesting!”

Who said a hero couldn’t have a carpentry hobby?

“Good! Why don’t you make a few more gates?”

“Why?”

“Keep them as spares.”

✿✿✿

“…”

Shi Feizhe casually buried Wujing’s corpse in a pit. This monk had chased them all the way here, but apart from some dry rations, he didn’t have much silver, let alone any martial arts manuals.

This was the reality of the Jianghu. Who would carry a lot of silver and martial arts manuals with them?

Back in the courtyard, Shi Feizhe started sweeping the snow, while Li Yiyan, as he had promised, began repairing the gate.

He was indeed skilled in carpentry, quickly assembling the wooden gate. Although it looked rather ugly, it could be used for the time being.

“Brother Shi, you don’t have any materials for making a wooden gate here! This is all I can do.” Li Yiyan looked at the ugly wooden gate and said apologetically.

This work was truly ugly.

“Good, good! You’re much more useful than that Shi brat!” The old man, however, was quite satisfied with the wooden gate.

“Yes! Senior Brother, there’s nothing here. It’s already very good that you could make it like this.” Su Yeye also said.

“It’s really good! At least we can close the door!” Shi Feizhe closed the gate, blocking the cold wind from entering the small courtyard.

“Brother Shi, now that the evil monk has been eliminated, we need to continue on our journey and return to our hometown in Jinyang City! Please sell us some dry rations! This silver is to thank you for saving our lives! After the snow melts next year, we will come here again to express our gratitude!” Li Yiyan bowed to Shi Feizhe and took out a bag of silver.

“Why do you need money for some dry rations! As for saving your lives, helping those in need is the righteous way of the Jianghu. That bald donkey dared to come to our door and rob us. He deserved to die!” Shi Feizhe refused Li Yiyan’s silver.

He believed that although silver was necessary in the Jianghu, not everything could be measured by money.

For example, his understanding of the righteous way of the Jianghu.

He felt that Li Yiyan was a good person. He saved him because of who he was, not for their silver.

With this money, he, Shi Feizhe, wouldn’t become rich, and without this money, he wouldn’t starve to death.

If the righteous way of the Jianghu in his heart was tainted by money, its essence would change.

Li Yiyan repeatedly insisted, but Shi Feizhe refused. He had no choice but to take the dry rations Shi Feizhe had prepared for them, along with Su Yeye, and descend the mountain to Zhao Family Market, from where they would head to Jinyang City.

“Ah! Finally, some peace and quiet!” After seeing them off, Shi Feizhe clapped the dust off his hands and said.

He didn’t know why, but even though they were in the mountains, it always felt lively.

“Shi brat.” The old man, sitting in the rocking chair, straightened up and said seriously, “Your sword Qi, is it really cultivated from standing post practice?”

“Of course! I told you before!” Shi Feizhe looked at the old man and said.

He had been practicing sword stance every morning, and when the old man saw it, he asked what he was doing. When he said standing post practice, the old man mocked him, saying there was no such standing post practice in the world.

He tried to argue back a couple of times but was always silenced by the old man’s retorts.

“Young man, I’ve crossed more bridges than you’ve walked roads!”

“What’s my cultivation level, and what’s yours? You dare question me?”

Shi Feizhe was so angry at the time that he wanted to shoot a burst of sword Qi at him, but it wasn’t worth wasting the sword Qi he had accumulated through daily standing post practice just to spite the old man.

Before his “True Origin Sword Qi” reached small success, his task was to accumulate the True Qi from daily standing post practice!

“Impossible! There’s absolutely no cultivation technique that can generate True Qi just from standing post practice!” The old man said sternly.

Old man: You’re kidding me!