Chapter 92: World Three【6】

Jing Ke wasn’t exactly boasting. The World Consciousness was incredibly generous this time. As long as Jing Ke didn’t pull off something only immortals could do, like bringing the dead back to life, the World Consciousness wouldn’t interfere with her actions.

The World Consciousness’s bottom line remained the same as before: as long as Jing Ke didn’t unleash martial power exceeding the upper limit, everything was fine.

Simply put, the maximum martial cultivation Jing Ke could display equaled the strongest individual ever to exist in this world.

Whether that strongest person was alive or dead, as long as such a person had existed, Jing Ke’s strength could match theirs. If someone broke through that ceiling, then Jing Ke’s upper limit would follow suit.

And from what Jing Ke knew, the universally acknowledged strongest in the Jianghu was the founder of her own sect. She had established the Heavenly Derivation Sect during the founding of the Former Dynasty and had some agreements with its first emperor. Rumor had it she lived for nearly two hundred years before passing.

But with the fall of the Former Dynasty, the sect Jing Ke hailed from had retreated from the world, rarely recruiting new disciples. By the time of the fifth emperor of this dynasty, the Heavenly Stem Emperor, the Heavenly Derivation Sect was left with only Jing Ke herself.

–

After reassuring Luo Yuezhu with a few simple words, Jing Ke sat in the courtyard for a while. Seeing that holding the horse stance posed no real challenge for the girl, she decided to increase the difficulty.

“Starting tomorrow, carry a wooden bucket in each hand while holding the horse stance.” Jing Ke said, her gaze settling on Luo Yuezhu’s face. “Miss Luo, can you do that?”

Luo Yuezhu was momentarily stunned before quickly grasping Jing Ke’s meaning. “I can, Heroine Jing. I can add the buckets right now.”

“Mm, then add them. Empty buckets first. Once you’re used to it, slowly add water.” Jing Ke said.

It seemed she needed to accelerate her selection of a cultivation method, and also pick out a weapon. Luo Yuezhu was only ten years old. Using Jing Ke’s own sword directly would likely be too much for her. She needed to hurry the blacksmith along.

With that thought, Jing Ke’s gaze fell on Luo Yuezhu’s body as she began visually measuring the girl’s height to determine the appropriate weapon length.

Luo Yuezhu was about one meter forty, not even reaching Jing Ke’s shoulder. A suitable blade length was around sixty-seven centimeters, so the overall length would be set at eighty-four or eighty-five.

However, children grew quickly, especially after starting martial arts training. She would just get Luo Yuezhu a new sword each year, adjusting the material and weight as needed.

No sooner planned than done. After determining the right weapon for Luo Yuezhu, Jing Ke immediately announced she was heading out.

“I trust you can persist for two shichen. Don’t wait for me for lunch, but I’ll be back before dinner.” Jing Ke gave simple instructions, then squeezed Luo Yuezhu’s arm, which was already showing a hint of muscle. A trace of satisfaction flashed in her eyes.

“Alright. Does Heroine Jing need a servant to help carry things?” Luo Yuezhu asked.

“No need. I’ll ride a horse. I won’t be leaving the city.” Jing Ke replied.

–

Ancient streets held very limited appeal for Jing Ke. After riding out of the Luo Residence, she headed straight for the blacksmith shop.

In a world where martial arts flourished, blacksmith shops capable of forging weapons lined the streets in abundance.

The authorities knew they couldn’t control it, so as long as no one ordered more than ten weapons in a short period, they turned a blind eye.

The blacksmith shop wasn’t just a place for forging masters to work; many finished and semi-finished products were displayed outside. Among them, sabers and swords were the most numerous, being the mainstream weapons in the current Jianghu.

After she briefly explained her requirements to the blacksmith, he quickly selected a sword blank of suitable length from the preliminary forged ones.

“Young Hero, what do you think of this sword blank? It uses top-notch materials. Though it won’t slice through metal like mud, after proper forging, it’ll sever a floating hair with no problem at all.” The blacksmith said.

Jing Ke took it and weighed the blank in her hand. It was somewhat heavy, but Luo Yuezhu’s physique had already improved considerably. A light, flimsy soft sword wouldn’t suit her.

“Acceptable. Make the scabbard attractive. It’s a gift for my disciple.” Jing Ke said.

“No problem. I’ll use fine ebony for you, and wrap the hilt with the best leather.” The blacksmith said, his gaze involuntarily falling on the sword hanging at Jing Ke’s waist.

The blacksmith, who had seen a bit of the world, recognized at a glance that Jing Ke’s sword was extraordinary. Putting everything else aside, the jade sword guard alone was enough to buy his entire shop.

“Fine, use the very best materials. How much deposit? What’s the fastest you can finish?” Jing Ke asked.

“Normally it takes half a month. If the Young Hero is in a hurry, we’ll strive to finish within seven days. You, Young Hero, are a connoisseur of swords. Pay whatever deposit you see fit. The total will be twenty-five taels of silver.”

The blacksmith quoted a price tentatively. Someone whose sword guard alone could buy his entire shop shouldn’t be short on money, right?

“Fine. But I strongly dislike being deceived. So please, be absolutely sure to use the best materials. Don’t substitute inferior goods for superior ones.” Jing Ke said, directly placing five taels of silver on the table.

“This is the deposit. I’ll come for the sword in seven days.” Jing Ke said.

“Young Hero, please rest assured. We will certainly forge the sword you require with utmost care.” The blacksmith’s face broke into a genuine, heartfelt smile. He even very enthusiastically gave Jing Ke a peach wood sword of roughly similar length, suggesting she could use the wooden sword to practice in the meantime.

Since it was freely offered, Jing Ke didn’t refuse, hanging the wooden sword on her belt as well.

By the time Jing Ke emerged from the blacksmith shop, it was nearly lunchtime.

Remembering her statement that she wouldn’t be dining at the Luo Residence, she followed her instincts to a nearby restaurant and told the waiter to bring two of the house specialties.

The restaurant was bustling around mealtime. Within a quarter hour of Jing Ke sitting down, there were no empty seats left in the main hall.

Jianghu folk had no rules about not speaking while eating or not talking at bedtime. Once the good wine and dishes arrived, conversations flowed freely.

“Did you hear? Not long ago, the Yamen runners carried two bleeding men back from the street. One of them looked somewhat familiar, possibly someone from the Martial Arts Alliance’s Azure Dragon Hall.”

“How could Martial Arts Alliance members be taken away by the Yamen? Did they try to assassinate the county magistrate?”

“No, nothing like that. Neighbors overheard some of it. Seems one of them stole something, was discovered, and refused to return it. Then he tried to kill the victim but was easily defeated instead.”

“The Martial Arts Alliance would do something like that? No way!”

“Why wouldn’t they? You’re just too inexperienced. Rumor has it that among the current twelve Elders of the Martial Arts Alliance, three rose to power through murder and treasure theft. It’s just that they ended up doing well for themselves and their martial arts are high, so everyone turns a blind eye.”

“How do you know all this? You’re not just spouting nonsense, are you? I’ve never heard such things!”

“How do I know? Because I used to be in the Martial Arts Alliance, of course. But they didn’t treat me like a person. Found my martial arts weak and me not obedient enough, so they kicked me out.”

Indeed, restaurants proved to be excellent places for Jing Ke to gather information. Especially when certain people got drunk, certain tightly suppressed secrets would be spoken aloud.

Of course, this opportunity only applied to experts with sufficient Inner Strength and keen senses. Ordinary people couldn’t hear voices deliberately lowered from a distance.

Hearing that Lin Yuxiu and Yu Buduo were already being branded as thieves through word of mouth, a pleased Jing Ke asked the waiter to bring a small jar of good wine. After a simple taste, she took the rest with her, planning to savor it slowly back at the Luo Residence.

Jing Ke’s alcohol tolerance was currently quite good. If she used her Inner Strength to cheat, she could literally drink wine like water.

–

After a leisurely ride through the streets on horseback, Jing Ke arrived back at the Luo Residence just before the end of the Wei hour.

By this time, Luo Yuezhu had finished her daily two-shichen horse stance practice and was organizing accounts in the study, eager to take over the family business left by her father.

Squire Luo owned quite a few shops: medicinal herb stores, tailor shops, and grain shops, several of each. The shopkeeper of every store had been personally promoted by Squire Luo.

Thus, these shopkeepers hadn’t yet made things difficult for Luo Yuezhu. They continued operating as before, delivering account books and silver every half month.

Luo Yuezhu hadn’t rashly changed anything either. She simply took the time to meet with the dozen-plus shopkeepers and told them everything would remain as it was for now.

There were fifteen shops in total, ten of which were located in Peace Offering City. The ten shopkeepers here would appear at the Luo Residence during festivals and holidays, so they had good relationships with Luo Yuezhu. She even addressed them as ‘Uncle’.

As for the shopkeepers in other towns, Luo Yuezhu wasn’t familiar with them. So after a few days of consideration, she expressed willingness to sell those shops. If the current shopkeeper wanted to buy the business, she would only charge ninety percent of the market price.

A ten percent discount seemed huge to ordinary folk. More importantly, these shops weren’t being sold because of poor business; it was purely because the young head of the family, Luo Yuezhu, couldn’t spare the time to manage them at the moment.

So, the more insightful shopkeepers basically scraped together funds to buy out their shops. The five shops brought Luo Yuezhu roughly five thousand taels of silver in proceeds. With ample silver in her pocket, Luo Yuezhu felt slightly less panicked.

Seeing Luo Yuezhu busy reviewing account books in the study, Jing Ke didn’t disturb her. Instead, she strolled casually around the residence.

As a wealthy household with property, the Luo Residence’s courtyard was built quite large. Though it only had two courtyards, upon closer inspection, it was in no way smaller than an ordinary three-courtyard dwelling.

As she wandered, Jing Ke noticed a new face in the courtyard. She couldn’t help but ask Little Mu, who also served as the butler, about it.

“Heroine Jing, this is the new handyman. Does a bit of everything, a long-term worker without a signed indenture contract.” Little Mu said.

After driving out the interlopers like Third Master Luo, Little Mu had also settled the wages and dismissed the workers they had hired.

Initially, Little Mu only added three people to the household: a gatekeeper who also served as groom and guard, an older woman to help in the kitchen, and a servant girl for miscellaneous chores.

However, some heavy tasks weren’t suitable for the servant girl, so Little Mu selected a servant boy who looked about sixteen or seventeen to help out, sharing the workload of the servant girl and the gatekeeper.

Jing Ke nodded. Such a large courtyard, and now including herself, only had seven people. It felt rather quiet and deserted.

Once she confirmed the new servant boy only knew basic fist and footwork, Jing Ke didn’t pay him much mind. When Luo Yuezhu emerged from the study, Jing Ke handed her the basic sword techniques she had memorized and the small wooden sword.

“Besides the horse stance, when you have free time, you can practice the sword forms to get a feel for it.” Jing Ke said. “Although I can use any weapon to a certain degree, my greatest skill remains swordsmanship. If you learn from me, you will definitely start by learning the sword.”

Luo Yuezhu accepted the items Jing Ke handed her in a slight daze. The words she had held in her heart slipped out involuntarily.

“Heroine Jing, are you going to take me as your disciple? You…” Realizing she had spoken aloud, Luo Yuezhu quickly clamped her mouth shut.

After a moment, she blushed and quietly explained, “Heroine Jing, I didn’t mean it like that, I just…”

Jing Ke smiled and very naturally ruffled Luo Yuezhu’s hair. “I made you practice the horse stance for a month. My original intention was to test the firmness of your will and whether you’re physically suited for martial arts training.”

“Now I have my answer in my heart. Your will and talent are both good. If you are already prepared, it wouldn’t be inappropriate for you to change your form of address and call me Master right now.” Jing Ke said, looking down at Luo Yuezhu and moving the hand from the girl’s head to her shoulder.

Luo Yuezhu seemed not to have anticipated the surprise coming so suddenly. She blinked forcefully twice before tentatively uttering, “M-Master?”

“Mm.” Jing Ke acknowledged, gently patting Luo Yuezhu’s shoulder.

“My attitude toward Miss Luo and my attitude toward my disciple are different. If you regret it now, I can pretend you never said anything, and our previous agreement still stands.” Jing Ke added a caveat for herself.

Luo Yuezhu’s bones and meridians were indeed more suited for martial arts than an ordinary person’s. But to become an expert in a short time, even a martial arts genius would have to endure considerable hardship.

“Master, this disciple is not afraid of hardship.” Luo Yuezhu’s response this time was much crisper and more decisive. Her eyes brightened, and she even took a step back voluntarily, preparing to kneel and formally perform the apprenticeship ceremony, to fully acknowledge this hard-won Master.

Luckily, Jing Ke was fast enough. Just as Luo Yuezhu bent her knees, Jing Ke grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her up.

“Our sect’s apprenticeship ceremony isn’t like that. In a moment, personally brew a cup of tea and offer it to me. As for kneeling and bowing, once you’ve achieved some small success, I’ll take you back to the sect grounds. Then you can offer incense to the Ancestral Master, letting them know you are the twenty-third generation disciple of our sect.”

As Jing Ke spoke, she looked at Luo Yuezhu. Only after confirming her conveniently acquired disciple had no intention of kowtowing on the ground did she release her grip on Miss Luo’s collar.

“Alright, Master. I’ll go brew tea for you right away.” Luo Yuezhu’s large eyes sparkled. Though she was trying very hard to control herself, the curve of her lifted lips was utterly impossible to suppress.

Hehe, she had a Master! She could become strong!