Chapter 12: Sour Fruit, Blood on the Lips

Sword Dynasty

Volume 1: Great Rebel

Chapter 12: Sour Fruit, Blood on the Lips

Ding Ning looked at song shenshu's wide-open eyes in his death and said softly, “One must repay one's debts. This is natural, there's nothing to regret.”

Since he knew he had enough time, he was in no hurry to leave this boat. He began searching every pocket in Song Shenshu's robes.

In a hidden pocket in his sleeve, he found several items. A notebook filled with writing, a money purse, a pill bottle, and two copper seals.

Ding Ning opened the notebook. He saw that it contained Song Shenshu's understanding of the Crimson Sun Divine Spell and his speculations about more advanced cultivation. He could only shake his head and shoved the notebook into his own sleeve.

The money purse was very light, but upon opening it, Ding Ning saw countless shining Qin mica knife coins. This type of coin was made from rare mica shells from the deep sea. It was a unique currency of the Qin Dynasty. One coin was worth five hundred gold.

Ding Ning did not think much of it and put it away.

The moment he opened the rough copper colored pill bottle, he was shocked.

Nestled at the bottom of the pill bottle was a bone-white pill that looked like the eye of a dead fish.

“Are you preparing this for your breakthrough? I didn't expect you to prepare an Energy-Gathering Pill. Thank you for your vital energy and your Energy-Gathering Pill," Ding Ning said, looking at Song Shenshu sincerely. He thought for a moment. After confirming he did not need the two copper seals to pass through the library, he once again used his finger as a sword and stabbed the bottom of the boat.

A hole appeared in the wooden plank. Muddy water quickly flowed through the hole and into the boat.

Ding Ning retreated out of the cabin. He pushed off with his feet and landed on a wooden pier that was half submerged in the water.

This was the path he had chosen after years of observation. At this moment, no one detected anything. The corpse of a Qin Dynasty cultivator sank into the water along with the black-canopied boat.

After Ding Ning passed countless piers on the shore, he finally heard the voices of others around him.

Ding Ning walked through the dark alleys as he usually did when wanderings. However, his breathing became slightly labored. A red tint appeared between his tightly pursed lips. Ding Ning's expression was extremely calm as he tasted the strong taste of blood in his mouth. He took out a copper coin and approached a street vendor to buy some candied hawthorn fruit skewers.

He lowered his head slightly. As he carefully chewed the sweet and sour fruit, bits of red sugar mixed with the blood between his lips ant teeth, no one could see it anymore.

Thinking of Song Shenshu, who had sunk into the muddy waters with the boat, and the rough porcelain pill bottle lying in his sleeve, he felt that his years of effort had not been in vain. He had received an above-average result, which made him happy. However, when he thought about other matters, about the people who had ended up with worse deaths than Song Shenshu, he could not help but feel a lump in his throat. He wanted to return to the old woman's tower and eat warm oil pancakes. But he knew he still had much to do.

 

The boat in the shadow had completely disappeared underwater. Only a string of bubbles and some disturbed mud floated to the surface.

A wooden basin floated above the bubbles.

A man in his forties with shoulder-length hair sat cross-legged inside the wooden basin. He was dressed like a fisherman. When he saw these unusual bubbles, his expression turned cold. He looked around. After ensuring no one was around, he paddled with his hands, causing the wooden basin to float next to an abandoned wooden pole. Then, he easily pulled this wooden pole out, which was stuck in the riverbed.

The wooden pole was very heavy. Although most of the pole was submerged, the wooden basin beneath him could not support the additional weight and was almost parallel to the water surface.

He did not care about it. He pulled the wooden pole back to where the bubbles were appearing and then poked it hard with the wooden pole.

Hearing an strange sound coming from the bottom, he was sure something was wrong. He let go of the wooden pole. In the next moment, the wooden basin shot up rapidly, creating a stunning wave in the dark water.

 

After Ding Ning ate all the hawthorn fruit, he swallowed the

last remaining taste of blood.

He continued to walk forward without stopping and did not walk to the same place again. However, if one had a complete map of the Fish Market, they would find that after he passed through an area directly, in enough time for the next incense stick to burn, he would circle back around the area of the place.

That place was a pier.

Bang. A light sound was heard.

The sound of a wooden basin scraping against the rotting wood of the pier.

Ding Ning heard the sound coming from this street. He quietly walked faster, passing by the noisy blacksmith shop, and then saw the man with loose hair walking from a hidden pier.

He stealthily followed that man with the loose hair. This was his plan to gain two benefits at once.

Everyone knew that this underground kingdom in the darkness definitely had a powerful ruler. But after so many years, rarely did anyone know who that ruler was or what kind of person stood behind him.

Shenshu Song would come here once every month. He could hide from outside eyes and ears, but the people here would know his true identity.

An official of the dynasty, a cultivator, was assassinated here. This would cause great waves. Anyone who learned that Shenshu Song had not arrived in time to retrieve the Fire Turtle Gallbladder would immediately realize something had happened to him. He would know that this accident would attract widespread investigation and cause a catastrophe. Therefore, he would use his fastest speed to inform the ruler of this place.

 

The man with loose hair, dressed like a fisherman, was in a grave mood. He walked hurriedly with his head down, completely unaware that someone was following him from a distance. Ding Ning seemed to possess a special ability that prevented him from being seen from an angle that would alert the man with loose hair.

The man with loose hair hurriedly walked into a pawn shop.

Ding Ning did not even go near this pawn shop.

Over the years, he had become familiar with every corner of the Fish Market, except for a few secret passages within the residences.

He knew that this pawn shop had many courtyards behind it and three entrances. So, he walked uphill to a place where he could see two of the entrances.

Suddenly, his brow furrowed imperceptibly.

Three figures appeared out of the corner of his eye.

The path the three figures were walking on was very muddy. He could even hear the sound of shoes treading through the mud.

That muddy path was one of the entrances for the pawn shop.

There were not many people around Ding Ning at this moment, so he turned his head and glanced over. With that one glance, his eyes involuntarily narrowed.

There was a hunchbacked old man holding a black bamboo staff, a very short handsome young man, and a thick-browed young man dressed like a foreigner.

The hunchbacked old man walked at the front with his black bamboo staff. He turned at the intersection and walked back.

That handsome young man and the thick-browed young man continued walking forward and passed through the alley below Ding Ning. Their figures flashed through the gaps in the roof.

Ding Ning did not look at that old man or the two young men. He took a deep breath. A bitter smile appeared on the corners of his lips.

The old man, who looked like he could not straighten his back and was about to fall dead at any moment, and the two young men did not have the presence of cultivators.

Even cultivators above realm five would not be able to detect they were cultivators if they brushed shoulders with them. But Ding Ning was certain these three man were extremely powerful cultivators.

Because he recognized the hunchbacked old man with the black bamboo staff.

He had never seen the other two men before. He could not determine which sect these two cultivators belonged to. However, he could sense the respect that hunchbacked old man held towards the pair.

That hunchbacked old man would only show this kind of respect to powerful cultivators.

These two young men were terrifying, able to control their energy to the point that other cultivators could not detect them.

At that moment, Ding Ning paused slightly. He sensed another domineering and ferocious presence. Following the presence, he saw a yellow canvas umbrella. A tall, thin man held the yellow umbrella open as if he did not want even a drop of water to touch his body.

The umbrella covered his face. Ding Ning could only see that his arm joints were thick and strong.

This was clearly a cultivator.

Ding Ning knew more than most cultivators. Through that domineering and ferocious presence, he could easily determine this person's sect and history.

Looking at the path this person took, Ding Ning knew another cultivator's corpse would appear in the wilderness outside Changling today.

Notes:

This novel is not my work... I just translated it from a Chinese web novel written by Wu Zui

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