I am a swordsman in a strange city

Chapter 57 The Truth Unveiled
On his way to the wealthy man's house, Pei Ju encountered a man who was wandering along the road, muttering something to himself.

He lingered at the intersection, neither moving nor looking back frequently in the direction of the wealthy family's house.

Pei Ju thought for a moment, then stepped out from the shadows and walked towards the person. As he got closer, he could see that the person was covered in mud, wearing a scholar's cap and the kind of scholar's clothes that only scholars would wear.

The hem of his clothes was filthy from the mud and rain, and his hands were covered in mud, clearly indicating that he had slipped and fallen.

When he saw Pei Ju, he grasped at a straw and said, "You are Young Hero Pei! You've come at the right time! Quickly, please help me save my family!"

"Who are you?" Pei Ju asked, puzzled.

“I am Huang Xianze, the eldest son of Huang Family Village. I was the one who helped you with your household registration. I even saw you when your third uncle and you came to the village before.”

Pei Ju was certain he had never seen him before; perhaps there were too many people around, and he hadn't noticed him.

"Young Master Huang, what's wrong with you?"

"Young Master Pei, something terrible has happened to our family. My father, they've all gone mad," Huang Xianze, the eldest son of the Huang family, said in a panic.

"How did he go mad?" Pei Ju asked.

“I don’t know. My father said it was the mountain king’s punishment that drove them all crazy.”

"The mountain lord has punished us?" Pei Ju asked repeatedly.

"He must have discovered what we've been doing," Huang Xianze, the eldest son of the Huang family, said fearfully.

“If it is the mountain king who is punishing me, how can I save him?” Pei Ju asked.

“Yes, the mountain king has punished us, how can we save him?” Huang Xianze, the eldest son of the Huang family, murmured.

"What exactly did you do to the Mountain Lord?" Pei Ju asked.

“The Mountain King has been enslaving us. We don’t want to be enslaved, so we wanted to hire someone to kill Him. But we were afraid that others would find out, so we killed the Mountain King instead of the Mountain King. That’s why we say it’s a mountain demon. But we have been failing.” Huang Xianze said.

"Then why was nothing wrong for so long, but now something's wrong?" Pei Ju countered. "Is there something you don't know?"

What Pei Ju knew, the people here did not.

The people here only know that there is a powerful and terrifying mountain king in the mountains.

Pei Ju knew that the mountain lord in the mountain was just a remnant soul. He learned from Teacher Han Yitong that the mountain lord had actually been killed, leaving only a wisp of remnant soul, or rather, a wisp of divinity.

Therefore, the spiritual realm of "spending the night at the Sanjun Temple" came into being.

This spiritual realm is the obsession left in the heart of the mountain king. At that time, a swordsman, a scholar, and some other people must have entered the temple. These people eventually lured the mountain king out and then killed him.

According to Pei Ju's analysis, the world outside the temple may indeed have existed for a long time, with the mountain lord controlling everyone's thoughts. Or perhaps, the people outside are actually cougars, but they just don't know it.

He thought of this and then suddenly realized: "That mountain king might know that the Huang family has been looking for someone to kill him, but they have let it go, and those who went to kill him have all been eaten by the mountain king."

Or perhaps the Huang family is actually controlled by the Mountain King, but they don't believe they are. They keep saying they are looking for someone to kill the Mountain King, but in reality they are helping the Mountain King find high-quality food.

Until one day, a swordsman and a scholar, or perhaps some other person, came and severely injured Him, and the town went out of control, becoming what it is now.

Pei Ju then recalled what Teacher Han had said: some spirits with subjective will and wisdom, such as deities, would use various methods to heal and recover after being seriously injured.

He thought of his Pei family members, generation after generation, who died here, all eaten by Him.

By this point, he felt he might have figured things out.

This town is now a town that has gone out of control after the mountain king was seriously injured, yet it is also a real town. Perhaps it is not that the people in the town have lost control of the mountain king, but that they can exist in the way that the mountain king needs.

For example, he had seen people dig out their children's internal organs to use as sacrifices, bury their entire families underground, and have an old man recite unknown scriptures in front of a wall.

He suddenly realized that perhaps this mountain lord was trying to heal itself through these methods after being seriously injured.

A severely wounded, mythical spirit is struggling to survive.

Pei Ju gradually came to this conclusion.

So why is everything suddenly being displayed in front of me today? The only variable is the presence of other people who came in.

Is that person traveling alone?
Did he bring it in?
Was the mountain tiger careless? Or perhaps it couldn't wait during its long recovery process?
He even thought of making his grandfather the maternal grandfather of the temple keeper.

My grandfather's temple keeper was the one who guarded the mountain god.

However, he still decided to go and see the wealthy family's house. After parting ways with Huang Xianze,

He arrived at the outside of a three-section courtyard.

He had been here once before; he and his third uncle had entered that place.

There was a pair of stone beasts at the entrance, which looked like two dogs, but were more ferocious than dogs.

The gate was tightly shut. He approached it, and there was a beast-shaped door knocker on it. He looked through the crack in the door but couldn't see anything.

It was already dark, and then a layer of mist shrouded the area. He reached the wall, took a few steps back, then leaped forward, jumped up, stepped on the wall, and his body flew up like a goose, landing on the wall. He squatted there and looked inside.

You can vaguely hear all sorts of strange noises inside—some people crying, some laughing, and some cursing.

He jumped down, and sure enough, just as Huang Xianze had said, everyone inside had gone mad.

But to his surprise, these people stayed in their own rooms and didn't come out to bother each other.

When he arrived at the back of the house, he saw a well, and a man was sitting there fishing, muttering some strange words that he couldn't understand.

He then saw a peach tree, which was actually in bloom, and blood was being poured over its trunk.

He didn't look again and decided to leave, but just as he was about to leave, he felt a chill down his spine and realized that someone was standing there staring at him.

This person was none other than Huang Xianze, the eldest son of the Huang family, whom he had just met.

"Why didn't you come in to find me?" Huang Xianzhe suddenly asked, his voice gloomy.

Pei Ju was taken aback, wondering why he asked that, but he quickly realized that this might not be him anymore.

"Who are you?" Pei Ju asked solemnly.

Huang Xianze just smiled sinisterly and stared at him, saying, "You people from the Pei family have received my favor, yet instead of repaying it, you actually want to harm me."

Pei Ju immediately recognized who the other person was. This was Shan Jun.

The mountain lord actually came to find me in person.

"Are you the Mountain Lord?" Pei Ju asked.

"It is indeed I, the sovereign. Why do you not kneel before me?" Huang Xianze said in a sinister tone.

Pei Ju was still a boy, and when he was suddenly reprimanded, he felt an immense pressure pressing down on him, making his legs tremble slightly.

He took a deep breath, circulating his inner energy, and reached out to grasp the sword hilt. As soon as he gripped the sword, it seemed to give him a sense of power, making his heart more resolute and unaffected by any intimidation.

"The Mountain Lord is a dying man who harmed my ancestors in order to revive himself. How can this be considered a favor to us?" Pei Ju asked coldly.

"Without me, how could your ancestors have established themselves in that mirage?" Mountain Lord Huang Xianze questioned.

Pei Ju wanted to draw his sword at this moment to test the other party's strength. Since the mountain lord had shown himself, was he here to engage in a war of words with him?

Just as he was about to draw his sword, Huang Xianze suddenly said, "The grudges between me and your Pei family can be settled another day. Today, outsiders are about to enter. Go and disrupt their ceremony, otherwise your grandfather will surely die in the temple first."

Pei Ju frowned. He couldn't tell how much of what the other party said was true and how much was false. It was true that an outsider had come in, but was it true that he had to disrupt the other party's ceremony or his grandfather would die in the temple?

Pei Ju couldn't quite tell the difference.

However, he didn't want to split it.

A swordsman should not be reckless, but he must never let his suspicions bind his hands and feet.

So he drew his sword directly.

The sword light became the only glimmer of light in this gloomy sky.

He rushed out, moving as fast as a golden goose soaring through the air. As he ran towards Huang Xianzhe, his figure moved like a bird in the wind, with an elusive and light grace. In the blink of an eye, he was already close by.

The sword in his hand thrust out swiftly.

He immediately used the Xi Yi sword technique.

The name of the Xi Yi Sword Technique comes from the phrase: "It cannot be seen when viewed, nor can it be named Yi; it cannot be heard when listened to."

This sword technique can be interpreted in different ways by different people.

Some people use it for sneak attacks, believing that this sword technique is best suited for ambushes and is an assassin's sword technique.

Some people believe that this sword technique is best used to target the opponent's eyes. In addition, during a fight, if you occupy a position with favorable lighting, when you draw your sword, the opponent will be looking against the light and will not be able to see your sword, so they will have no chance to fight back.

Another interpretation is that the Xi Yi sword technique should aim at a place where the opponent cannot see it. It should be combined with agile movements, circling around the opponent, and striking with secrecy so that the opponent cannot grasp its position, cannot see it, and cannot hear it.

Pei Ju felt that both sides made sense.

He approached and, raising his hand, thrust his sword towards the other's eyes.

The white blade, infused with internal energy, actually emitted a white light.

However, Huang Xianze opened his mouth, and Pei Ju heard a tiger's roar that seemed to penetrate his very soul.

He froze for a moment, and in his eyes, the man transformed into a ferocious tiger, a tiger that was fierce and terrifying, with cold and cruel eyes.

The tiger's roar and its divine might made Pei Ju feel like a leaf in the wind or a small boat in a raging storm.

However, when he drew his sword, he also focused his mind and concentrated his will to kill the demon. So when the tiger's roar sounded, although he was like a giant wave crashing down on him, his will was not taken away.

But as soon as he stopped, the sword in his hand also stopped, and he lowered his body, raising the sword to defend himself, as if he wanted to break through all the storms.

In his eyes, he saw that Huang Xianze had somehow produced a rope and was throwing it toward him. There was a loop in front of the rope, and his intuition told him that if he got caught, he would be imprisoned and controlled, like a cow with its nose pierced.

Even though the echoes of the tiger's roar had not yet faded, at that instant, he still drew his sword instead of trying to dodge. This was almost instinctive, because in his heart, from the first time he saw magic, he had made a vow that he should not dodge any magic he saw.

The physical body cannot evade magic, so the only option is to meet it head-on with the sword in hand. If the sword cannot block or break through the magic, then there is no point in trying to dodge it.

Moreover, there's a saying in the realm of the extraordinary: only magic can withstand magic.

He focused his will, struggled to his feet, and thrust forward to meet the rope loop.

He struck at nothing with his sword, yet he felt as if he hadn't missed, because he had a vague feeling that the rope loop had already disintegrated under his sword.

With this sword strike, Pei Ju seemed to have pierced through the domain of fear brought by the tiger's roar. In an instant, his hearing and vision became clear, his inner energy flowed through his body, and his will felt both exhausted and unusually excited, as if after a great battle.

He was certain that it was Huang Xianze's magic just now, because there was no rope circle on the ground at all.

Huang Xianze stood there, a hint of surprise in his eyes. He said, "You are so young, yet you already have the will to use your sword. You have great talent. It's a pity. If you had more time to grow, eating it would definitely be of great benefit to you."

Without saying a word, Pei Ju thrust out his sword once again, the sword's momentum sharp yet light.

The Huashan sword technique is both precipitous and agile, and its fluidity is also shrouded in mystery.

The moment the sword was thrust out, as he swung it, the thrust was not a straight line, but a winding path, making it impossible for Huang Xianze to see where the sword was coming from.

Just then, the light in Huang Xianze's eyes suddenly dimmed, and Pei Ju's sword had already landed on his brow.

"Bang!" Huang Xianze fell to the ground, splashing mud and water everywhere.

Pei Ju sheathed his sword, but his gaze wandered elsewhere, and he realized that he was already surrounded.

The Huang family members have all come out, which is bad news, but the Mountain Lord has left for some unknown reason.

He didn't want to get entangled with these inhuman creatures here, so he ran towards the outside. In just over ten steps, he reached the wall, took a step and climbed it, then leaped down, gliding through the air like a wild goose.

He wanted to go check that room. Shan Jun had just told him to stop other people from coming in, and he thought he should go and take a look himself.

The heavy rain continued to fall, and he sprinted across the muddy ground, his movements as swift as a galloping horse.

On the other side, in that dimly lit room, with the dressing mirror as the focal point, numerous small mirrors reflected the dressing mirror as if they were connected to a light source, forming a spiral passage.

At this moment, all the mirrors seemed to emit a hazy glow.

(End of this chapter)