Chương 87: The Haiyan Tang Martial Artist Who Had Eight Lifetimes of Rotten Luck

Dong, dong, dong! Clang, clang, clang! Dee, dee, dee! Nine strokes of the bronze gong. Nine deep beats of the drum. Nine piercing blasts of the suona shook the heavens! The River God Sacrifice had officially begun. Splash! Su Zhe tossed the giant softshell turtle's head into the river. Waves shot sky-high! The current churned and rolled!

"Offer incense!"

"Pour the sacrificial wine!"

"Present the offerings!" The sea stretched vast and deep, sudden waves rising. The universe felt boundless, echoes rolling endlessly. The distance spanned a thousand li, storms stirring now and then. The ancient wilds were endless, the lingering sound heavy and low. … Once the River God Sacrifice ended, Su Zhe had the disciples of Tiejiang Bang (Blacksmith Gang) carry the giant turtle's body back to the gang.

At the same time, he avoided the commoners and secretly slipped into the Su River to retrieve the turtle's head.

"It was just a show of divine majesty in front of the people. How could I, Su, actually let myself take a loss?"

"Every part of a Seventh-Rank great demon's body is treasure!" Su Zhe thought to himself. Ah! Gran-et from another world. Zhou Bapi of martial arts. Truly living up to his reputation! … Following the memories, Su Zhe activated the giant turtle artifact spirit, letting it drift through the river. In the water, the giant turtle artifact spirit's five senses were extremely sharp. Catching faint traces of blood qi, it swam forward.

What Su Zhe was searching for was none other than that heavily injured Fifth-Rank martial artist. In the giant turtle's memories, this Fifth-Rank martial artist had been quite formidable. Man and turtle had fought each other head-on. The giant turtle had fled in defeat. That Fifth-Rank martial artist had also been badly injured. Presumably, he could not have escaped too far. And that Fifth-Rank martial artist seemed to be extremely skilled in aquatic combat techniques.

Unfortunately, the giant turtle was no martial artist. Its spiritual intelligence was incomplete, so it could not recognize the man's martial arts. Led by the giant turtle artifact spirit, Su Zhe dove beneath the water. He passed through the undercurrents of the river and found a patch of reeds. There was still blood on the ground amid the reeds. Su Zhe touched it. The qi and blood were dense, and it was still slightly warm. He was likely nearby. Su Zhe followed the trail all the way.

At last, he found the Fifth-Rank martial artist. The man was on his last breath. His abdomen had been torn open in a deep wound, and his insides had spilled out. With each breath he took, Su Zhe could even see his organs shifting.

"This man's clothes… don't seem to be from Tang Fu…" Su Zhe's heart sank. The people of Tang Fu dressed in more varied and refined styles. They cared a great deal about details. For example, whether man or woman, women wore their robes with the left lapel over, while men wore theirs with the right lapel over. The ren referred to the front lapel of a garment. When the left front lapel was pulled toward the right armpit and tied, covering the right lapel inside, it was called right-over-left.

The reverse was called left-over-right. In addition, adult men wore futou headwraps, while adult women wore hairpins, and so on. There were many such tedious customs. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. But this Fifth-Rank martial artist's clothing was much simpler, leaning toward clean and practical. At the same time, his clothes were embroidered with "vast sea" patterns, and he wore ornaments made of pearls, seashells, and the like.

"Yangzhou, Zhelong Fu!" A flash of inspiration struck Su Zhe. He immediately thought of one of the other four great prefectures of Yangzhou. Su Zhe stepped forward, crouched down, and hurriedly said, "Brother, you… how did you suffer such severe injuries?" The Fifth-Rank martial artist had already been close to death. Upon hearing Su Zhe's voice, his eyes suddenly snapped open. A trace of color flashed across his deathly pale face. Su Zhe knew this was obviously the final radiance before death.

"You… you… help me with something! Help me…" The Fifth-Rank martial artist gasped harshly, gripping Su Zhe's hand tightly as he spoke. Su Zhe glanced down. This guy had moved too violently. His wound had worsened. Part of him was already hanging onto the ground.

"Brother, please speak! So long as I can do it, I absolutely won't refuse!" Su Zhe's face was full of righteousness as he said loudly.

"Good… good… I am from Haiyan Tang (Sea-Calming Hall) of Zhelong Fu…"

"This time, at Zhujian Shanzhuang (Sword-Forge Manor) of Tang Fu, in Sword-Forge City, the Qin Clan has already succeeded and killed the second true disciple, Mo Ye."

"Haiyan Tang's counter-espionage plan and rotten-core plan… have succeeded!" The Haiyan Tang martial artist spoke in broken fragments, but his grip on Su Zhe's hand grew stronger and stronger. Light returned to his eyes.

"Tell Haiyan Tang that in this contest of the artisan path, in the struggle for the Xuan Yun Immortal Weapon… Haiyan Tang will surely win!" Su Zhe fell silent when he heard this. A counter-espionage plan meant that Zhujian Shanzhuang had Haiyan Tang's people inside. The rotten-core plan came from the saying, "gold and jade on the outside, rotten cotton within." It meant Zhujian Shanzhuang had already begun rotting from the inside.

"If I go to Haiyan Tang like this without even a token, and they ask me questions, I still need to know how to answer, right?" Su Zhe asked. The Fifth-Rank martial artist thought for a moment, then nodded. After that, he pulled a silk handkerchief from his robe and stuffed it into Su Zhe's hand.

"This letter… take it. Once Haiyan Tang sees this letter, they will believe you." Su Zhe shook his head, then said, "I, Su, am from Tang Fu. Though I am cold by nature and value profit above all else…"

"With things like this, with no benefits at all, you want me to betray Tang Fu? I, Su, don't do losing deals!" As Su Zhe spoke, greed appeared in his eyes. That Fifth-Rank martial artist from Haiyan Tang had not expected Su Zhe to speak so bluntly. He froze for a while. But when he thought about it, what Su Zhe said did make sense. He tore open his outer robe and continued, "This is a Fifth-Rank treasured weapon, the Stone Scab Inner Armor. It was forged from the shells of countless hundred-year stone scabs.

Its defensive power is astonishing, and in water, its effect is even better!"

"Unfortunately, that giant turtle beast tore a gap in it. You'll need to find a martial weapon artisan to repair it." When the Haiyan Tang martial artist reached this point, he paused. As he mentioned that giant turtle, hatred filled his eyes beyond measure. Su Zhe knew what these so-called "stone scabs" were. They were barnacles from his previous life. Those things were known as the tyrants of the sea, shameless to the extreme. But one had to admit, the defensive power of these stone scabs was terrifying.

And according to the Haiyan Tang martial artist, stone scabs normally only lived a few years. If one could live for a hundred years, it had already become a demon beast with real climate.

"There's also this. An upper-grade treasured art called Spirit Ao Fist. It uses fist techniques to temper the flesh. When inner strength condenses on the surface of the body, it can increase defense."

"This is my token as a key disciple of Haiyan Tang… You can take it as well…"

"I… I also have ten taels of refined gold…" The Haiyan Tang disciple explained every worldly possession he had to Su Zhe, one item after another.

"These gloves seem pretty good too." Su Zhe looked once more at the Haiyan Tang disciple's hands. Su Zhe was a master of the artisan path. With a single glance, he could tell this item was extraordinary. The gloves were pitch-black, forged from treasured iron and nearly indestructible. They were inlaid with Xuan Water Stones, faint light glimmering from them. The gloves were mysterious and extraordinary, with treasured runes gathered across them, as though they held precious qi. Haiyan Tang disciple: …

He was instantly speechless. How could the martial artist before him be so greedy? These gloves were something he had obtained after surviving countless dangers and schemes. Even now, on the edge of life and death, giving them to someone else still made him reluctant.

"Fine, fine. They're yours, they're yours!"

"A man brings nothing into life and takes nothing with him in death anyway." The Haiyan Tang disciple gave a bitter laugh and muttered to himself, as if mocking his own attachment. After saying this, his life force leaked away even faster. His voice grew faint, almost like a mosquito's buzz.

"I have… explained everything for after my death. Please… brother, send me on my way."

"Hanging on like this, I feel like I can already see my great-grandmother. It's honestly unbearable…" Su Zhe sighed softly, then stretched out a hand and pressed it against the Haiyan Tang disciple's heart. The Haiyan Tang disciple was just about to welcome death.

"Right, earlier I said that whatever I can help with, I, Su, will definitely help."

"I, Su, have not gone back on my word. But as for delivering the letter to Haiyan Tang, I really cannot help with that." Su Zhe suddenly spoke. The Haiyan Tang disciple had originally looked peaceful. When he heard these words, it was as though he had been struck by lightning. He coughed up blood and roared, "Wh-why?" Su Zhe shrugged.

"Do you think… asking a disciple of Zhujian Shanzhuang to deliver a letter to an enemy faction so they can harm Zhujian Shanzhuang is reasonable?" Zhujian Shanzhuang! Boom! The Haiyan Tang disciple felt his mind go completely blank. Only thunder seemed to crash through it. He was stunned stupid.

"But… but you… your clothing isn't from Zhujian Shanzhuang… Why…"

"I haven't formally joined Zhujian Shanzhuang yet, but I've already taken Shura Tonglao as my shizun. You're asking me to deceive my shifu and betray my ancestors. That really puts me in a difficult position!" Hearing Su Zhe's answer, the Haiyan Tang disciple began to tremble. His nose twitched, and his eyes visibly reddened.

"I… I'm going to… kill you… kill…" The Haiyan Tang disciple had never imagined that after suffering a life-and-death calamity, on the verge of death, he would actually entrust his final wish to a Zhujian Shanzhuang disciple and ask him to betray his shifu and ancestors! A joke! The greatest joke under heaven! Humiliation. Naked humiliation! His hatred nearly drove him mad. He wished he could cut Su Zhe into a thousand pieces.

He stretched out his hand toward Su Zhe's neck, trembling, wanting to strangle Su Zhe alive.

"However, sending you on your way and sparing you from pain…"

"Since I, Su, promised it, I won't break my word." Su Zhe pressed down hard. A force of nearly one hundred million jin erupted. The Haiyan Tang martial artist's chest collapsed, his bones shattered into powder, and even his heart came to an abrupt stop.

"I… curse… your mother…" The Haiyan Tang martial artist's neck tilted to the side. All life left him. Before he died, he suddenly felt relieved. He was tired. Destroy it all! I often feel out of place in this world simply because I'm not twisted enough!

"Sigh. I, Su, really am a good person!" Su Zhe nodded, then reached out and brushed the Haiyan Tang martial artist's eyes shut. Rest in peace. The dead deserve respect!