Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather
Chapter 138 - 134: As an official, I conduct myself with integrity and sit with propriety. How could I be a flower thief!

Chapter 138: Chapter 134: As an official, I conduct myself with integrity and sit with propriety. How could I be a flower thief!

The area was pitch-black, and even with Yang Zhenshan’s vision surpassing that of an ordinary person, he could only see clearly for a few meters around him. Beyond ten meters, everything was but vague shadows, completely indiscernible.

However, the sounds of combat directed him toward the action, and he soon arrived at the location of the fight.

"Sir!"

Before he could get any closer, Wei Cen had already pulled him into a secluded alley.

"Over there!"

Yang Zhenshan hid in the alley and looked up toward the rooftops not far away.

He saw two shadows entangled with each other, with sparks flying every now and then from the clash of weapons. It was really too dark, and he couldn’t make out the movements of their exchange at all.

"Is that a swordsman?" Yang Zhenshan could vaguely make out that one of the figures was wielding a long sword.

"Mm, the one with the short blade should be Hou Jun, but I don’t know who that swordsman is," Wei Cen whispered in an almost inaudible voice.

"Where are your men?" Yang Zhenshan frowned.

"They are all in hiding!"

Yang Zhenshan nodded slightly, making no other move, just quietly observing.

Originally, they had wanted to follow the trail and see if they could catch a big fish, but they had not expected someone unexpected like Cheng Yaojin to appear on the scene.

And it seemed that this Cheng Yaojin was far more powerful than Hou Jun, suppressing Hou Jun firmly. Hou Jun had attempted to escape several times but had been unsuccessful.

But if Hou Jun were to be taken down by this Cheng Yaojin, wouldn’t that mean they had wasted their opportunity for nothing?

Yang Zhenshan knitted his brows, pondering whether or not to lend Hou Jun a hand.

At the same time, he was curious about the identity of this swordsman.

By looking at the moves and style, it was clear that he was a Jianghu Martial Artist.

Would his intervention make Hou Jun more vigilant?

Just as Yang Zhenshan was hesitating, another whooshing sound pierced the air, and in an instant, another figure joined the battle.

Yang Zhenshan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Was there truly a big fish?

The new arrival was helping Hou Jun, and with his intervention, he stood in front of Hou Jun, forcing the swordsman to retreat.

This person wielded twin sabers and, like a ghostly apparition, continuously dodged about. His strength and speed were so formidable that he forced the swordsman to retreat repeatedly.

"Who is this person?"

It is uncommon for someone to wield twin sabers.

Such a complicated weapon would not be chosen by military generals on the battlefield. While Jianghu Martial Artists could use all eighteen types of traditional weapons, twin sabers were a rarer choice.

Using twin sabers meant that the Martial Artist needed to practice a matching Saber Skill.

Common Cultivation Techniques indicate popularity, making it easier to find suitable methods to learn.

A niche weapon means there are fewer practitioners, making it harder to find a matching Cultivation Technique to reference or practice.

Weapons like the twin sabers are certainly rarer than common ones such as swords, spears, and halberds.

And a master of twin sabers should be easier to recognize because there are fewer practitioners, and even fewer who are well-known by name.

However, Wei Cen simply shook his head, saying, "I don’t know!"

Yang Zhenshan was not disappointed that Wei Cen didn’t know; on the contrary, his eyes lit up with excitement.

Wei Cen’s ignorance meant that the twin-saber wielding Martial Artist was an existence that the Secret Martial Guards had not yet identified.

This meant that they had found a new lead.

"Keep an eye on him, I’ll rescue that swordsman and see who it is!"

While they were talking, the swordsman could no longer hold on, pressed into retreat by the twin-saber Martial Artist, on the brink of being killed on the spot.

After a brief statement, Yang Zhenshan leaped into the fray.

His Light Body Skill might not be the best, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t fast.

The full-speed dashing Yang Zhenshan was definitely not slower than Red Cloud.

In the blink of an eye, Yang Zhenshan had reached the combatants, followed by a swift motion of his sweeping sleeve.

A rustling sound hurled toward the twin-saber Martial Artist as Yang Zhenshan’s form spun around, snatching the swordsman by the shoulder and darting away in the direction opposite of the garrison office.

The twin-saber Martial Artist, upon hearing the rustling noise, staggered back repeatedly, unable to intercept Yang Zhenshan in time.

This rustling wasn’t just some trivial matter, but a flurry of coins, also known as throwing coins.

The so-called throwing coins are simply coins with polished edges that can be used as projectile weapons.

These coins are easy to make, can be carried in large quantities, and are concealed when used, making them one of the most common projectile weapons in the worldly society.

Yang Zhenshan often practiced with coins when training his Thousand Mechanism Hand, so he stored plenty of coins in his Spiritual Spring Space. However, he used these coins solely to practice the Thousand Mechanism Hand techniques and didn’t sharpen them into throwing coins.

But even without sharpening, a coin thrown with Yang Zhenshan’s strength would hurt a lot upon impact.

A shower of hundreds of coins, rattling down, may not hit someone but will surely give them a scare.

Yang Zhenshan dubbed this tactic "Money-Throwing."

Yes, this was a literal money-throwing attack.

The twin-saber Martial Artist dodged quickly, but the sheer quantity of coins made it difficult to avoid them all. He took several hits, and though they didn’t cause him grave injury, they made him extremely irate.

"Damn it!"

He cursed under his breath, but it was too late. The darkness had swallowed up any trace of Yang Zhenshan and the swordsman. Frustrated, he said "Let’s go" to Hou Jun and then departed.

After they left, several silent shadows quietly tailed them from every street corner and alleyway.

Wei Cen’s men were all elite members of the Secret Martial Guards. Although they were not very strong, they specialized in tracking.

Even in the pitch-dark night where one couldn’t see their own hand in front of their face, they could still follow the tracks in the snow behind Hou Jun and the twin-saber Martial Artist.

And on the other side, Yang Zhenshan was gripping the Swordsman and sprinting quickly through the alleys.

"You’re injured!"

After rushing through four or five alleys, Yang Zhenshan suddenly stopped and asked.

He felt his hand was sticky and gooey, obviously stained with blood.

The Swordsman let out a muffled groan, "You’ve grabbed my wound!"

Yang Zhenshan was startled, then sheepishly withdrew his hand.

My apologies, my apologies.

He had been gripping quite hard just now, but the Swordsman had endured it without a word until now.

No, that’s not right!

Suddenly, Yang Zhenshan asked in astonishment, "You’re a woman!"

The person before him was dressed in a dark, tight-fitting outfit, with her face thoroughly wrapped in black cloth, only a pair of eyes exposed.

If she hadn’t spoken, Yang Zhenshan wouldn’t have been able to tell that she was a woman at all.

However, the Swordsman didn’t respond to his question but instead slumped to the ground, seemingly passing out.

Yang Zhenshan was lost for words.

He did not expect that this woman, who came out of nowhere, would turn out to be just that - a woman.

A woman it is then, he only hoped she wouldn’t look like Cheng Yaojin.

"Hey, wake up!" Yang Zhenshan poked the woman on the ground, but she was unresponsive.

"She’s not dead, is she?"

He grabbed the woman’s wrist; her pulse was still there, she wasn’t dead, but had indeed passed out.

Yang Zhenshan looked around; it was freezing cold, and he certainly couldn’t just leave her here.

After hesitating, Yang Zhenshan had no choice but to pick up the woman and sneak towards the direction of the garrison office.

But as he walked, he started to feel something was off.

"This doesn’t feel quite right."

"It makes me look like a bad guy."

"Carrying a woman in the middle of the night, isn’t this something a flower-picking thief would do?"

"Pah, I act honorably and sit uprightly; how could I be a flower-picking thief!"

He looked down at the woman in his arms; judging by her eyebrows and eyes, she seemed quite attractive, and probably not too old.

"At most, I’m a corpse picker!"

Lost in his messy thoughts, he arrived at the back courtyard of the garrison office.

Yang Zhenshan hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he did not take the woman to the guestroom but brought her back to the main residence.

It’s not that he wanted to do anything indescribable; the situation was special, and it was better not to expose this woman.

Moreover, he needed to figure out her identity, to prevent her from unexpectedly interfering with their plans again.

He placed the woman on the heated brick bed and hesitated before pulling off the black cloth from her face.

"It’s her!"

Recognizing the woman’s true face, Yang Zhenshan was slightly surprised.

He had seen this woman before; she was the lady that bumped into Yang Chengye when he was descending the stairs at the Fuyun Building.

However, he was taken aback only for a moment and did not dwell on the matter.

It was just a brief encounter, and without any communication, she could not be considered an acquaintance.

What he cared about was the woman’s identity, wanting to ascertain why she attempted to ambush Hou Jun.

Before that, however, he needed to treat the woman’s injuries and, at the very least, wake her up.

With that thought, Yang Zhenshan began to assess her injuries.

The injuries weren’t serious, she had two light wounds; one on her shoulder and one on her thigh.

Such injuries definitely shouldn’t have caused her to faint; the blood at the wounds was black, indicating poisoning.

Jianghu Martial Artists just don’t play fair, often poisoning their weapons with no notion of chivalry.

But now there was a problem, Yang Zhenshan didn’t know how to counteract the poison.

With no other option, Yang Zhenshan could only give the woman a bowl of Spiritual Spring Water and then wait for Wei Cen to return.

He didn’t have to wait long before Wei Cen came back.

"How is it?" Yang Zhenshan first inquired about Hou Jun and the Dual Sabers Martial Artist.

"They are hiding in a small courtyard in the western district of the city. To avoid startling them, I did not continue to investigate further, but I’ve arranged for people to watch over the area!" Wei Cen said.

Yang Zhenshan nodded, then took out a handkerchief and handed it to Wei Cen, "Look at this, what kind of poison is it and can it be cured?"

The handkerchief was stained with the woman’s blood, which was black in color.

Wei Cen held the handkerchief to his nose and sniffed, "Love potion, curable!"

As he said this, he took out a porcelain bottle from his waist and handed it to Yang Zhenshan.

"Is this the antidote?" Yang Zhenshan asked in utter surprise.

"Love potion, a very common poison in the worldly society - once contaminated, it only takes a moment to render a person unconscious. This poison will not take a life, but as long as the antidote is not administered, one will remain unconscious."

"We often use this kind of poison on people who still have value to us!" explained Wei Cen.

Great!

Jianghu Martial Artists lack chivalry, but you Secret Martial Guards are even less chivalrous than Jianghu Martial Artists.

What else could Yang Zhenshan say? He took the antidote and went back inside.

After administering the antidote to the woman and bandaging her wounds, he sat down beside her and pretended to doze off.