The Smiling, Proud Wanderer: From the Moment He Picked Up Qu Feiyan

Chapter 116 Lin Zhennan's Three Swords Defeat Canghai

Shen An felt a chill run down his spine.

Could it be that Master has become suspicious of me and no longer trusts me?

He calmly placed a piece of blanched mutton into his bowl, seemingly focused on savoring the food, but casually asked, "I remember my senior brother saying last night that Master had commented on me in front of Second Uncle?"

"good."

By this time, Shi Dengda had already drunk a few cups of wine and eaten some hot pot meat, and his complexion had improved considerably. He did not notice Shen An's unusual behavior and nodded, saying, "It was around the time I returned to Mount Song last month. It was also around the time the results of your 'Sword Testing Tournament' were reported back to the mountain."

"In front of my second uncle, Master praised you for your deep thinking and many tricks up your sleeve."

No, senior brother, do you really think this is some kind of good word?

These eight words, spoken by our master, are by no means words of praise!

Shen An gave a bitter smile to himself.

After the sword-testing tournament ended————

He instantly realized that this was the moment when he fabricated information and pointed the finger at Tian Boguang as the person Liu Zhengfeng was meeting in secret.

broken!

Given Zuo Lengchan's suspicious nature and shrewdness, he probably already noticed some clues in that seemingly flawless intelligence report.

He may not have known that he had already come into contact with Qu Yang, but he must have realized that his disciple had secrets and actions in Hengyang City that he could not fully control.

That's why I wasn't notified at all about this investigation into the evil cult in the two lakes region!

Upon realizing this, Shen An felt a chill run down his spine. His hand, which was holding the wine glass, paused almost imperceptibly.

Just then, a hurried shout came from outside the door, breaking the atmosphere in the hall and perfectly concealing Shen An's momentary unease.

"Young master, news from Fuzhou: Lin Zhennan defeated Canghai with three sword strikes!"

A crew member from the Songyang rushed in excitedly, reporting loudly, clearly feeling honored.

"Lin Zhennan?!"

It wasn't Shen An who exclaimed in surprise, but Stefan.

Shen An had anticipated this; this strength was something Chief Escort Lin had gained by sacrificing the "Demon Pill," something he could only envy. He was just a little puzzled as to why Yu Canghai had made his move against the Fuwei Escort Agency so quickly. It seemed to have happened much earlier than in the original story.

Stendhal looked on in disbelief. He muttered to himself, "Lin Zhennan—how could it be him? As far as I know, since he took over the Fuwei Escort Agency decades ago, he has never fought with anyone."

"Oh? Is that really true?"

Shen An was genuinely unaware of this matter, and couldn't help but feel a bit curious.

Stendar nodded: "That's right. I only heard that when he was sixteen years old, he performed a martial arts demonstration at his grandfather Lin Yuantu's seventieth birthday banquet. He extinguished a candle with one palm and shot acupoints with a silver arrow, which drew praise from all the guests."

"A silver sword shooting acupoints? How does a sword shoot?" Qu Feiyan asked curiously from the side.

"Alas, Ruoyun, you are unaware of this. This arrow is not that sword," Shi Dengda explained patiently, a rare occurrence for him. "The Lin family is renowned for its mastery of swordsmanship, palm techniques, and arrows. Lin Yuantu was famous throughout the Central Plains for his Seventy-Two Styles of the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique, One Hundred and Eight Forms of the Heaven-Turning Palm, and Eighteen Silver Feather Arrows."

Shen An's mind raced, and he immediately understood the key to it.

Why didn't Lin Zhennan perform the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique at the birthday banquet?

It is likely that Lin Yuantu knew perfectly well that the so-called palm techniques and archery skills were just fancy tricks to fool laymen, and that only the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique was the true foundation.

However, Lin Zhennan had not grasped the essence of this sword technique. If he were to demonstrate it, he would likely immediately reveal his weakness and tarnish the reputation of the Fuwei Escort Agency.

Shi Dengda, of course, was unaware of Shen An's thoughts at that moment, and continued to sigh, "I've always been skeptical of this. What could a sixteen-year-old boy possibly understand? It's just the usual banter of martial arts practitioners. But who would have thought—after decades of silence, the Evil-Slaying Sword Technique has reappeared in the martial world, and its power is still as formidable as ever!"

"Yu Canghai's master, Changqingzi, was once defeated by his grandfather, Lin Yuantu's sword. Now, Yu Canghai has lost to his grandson."

The Qingcheng Sect has suffered such humiliation—it seems the Fuwei Escort Agency will fight to the death.

Fuzhou, Ximen Street.

At this moment, inside the Fuwei Escort Agency headquarters, where a flagpole stands tall in front of the gate, adorned with a lion and bat dart banner, the owner, Lin Zhennan, was not as spirited as outsiders had imagined.

This magnificent mansion has been dressed in pure white.

Yes, it is a funeral.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Even Lin Pingzhi, the usually energetic young镖头 (bodyguard/escort), was dressed in mourning clothes and kept his head down, not saying a word.

Chief镖师 Zheng is dead.

Lin Zhennan stood in front of the mourning hall, looking at the cold coffin, his heart filled with regret.

If he had made up his mind sooner to take action against those lurking wolves, perhaps the tragedy would not have happened. The story begins when he returned to Fuzhou.

He returned to Fuzhou, his mind still on Shen An's words. Without a moment's hesitation, he followed his ancestral instructions and retrieved the "Evil-Repelling Sword Manual" from the old house in Xiangyang Lane. He was stunned by the very first line of text.

"To practice this skill, one must first castrate oneself."

At that moment, he finally understood why his grandfather had left behind the strict ancestral instruction that "the descendants of the Lin family must never look at this."

He was initially hesitant, but Shen An's warning and the image of the two bears in the northern desert devouring a human hand remained vivid in his mind.

If one day the Fuwei Escort Agency were to collapse and I were to be controlled by others, would my beloved wife and children also fall into such a state and become food for others?

Compared to such a horrific end, self-castration doesn't seem so unacceptable.

So, one late night, he gritted his teeth and swung his knife—

After practicing the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique, in just a few days, he felt that the internal energy in his body had changed to a completely different attribute, flowing endlessly, and its power far surpassed that of his previous decades of hard training.

However, before he could recover from the joy of his great improvement in martial arts, he realized something was wrong.

In the escort agency, which he had always regarded as the safest haven, he vaguely sensed several sinister eyes watching him from the shadows!

However, his businessman nature prevailed, leading him to choose "harmony is paramount" as his first priority.

He didn't take them down; he just deliberately stirred up trouble, hoping to scare them away and make them back down.

Unexpectedly, a few days later, Zheng, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), died.

He died on the way back from hunting with his son, Lin Pingzhi. His death was inexplicable; there were no wounds on his body, but blood was flowing from his seven orifices, as if he had been poisoned by some invisible poison.

The moment Lin Zhennan saw Zheng Biaotou's corpse, he was filled with extreme rage!

In his view, this was no longer a simple spying or probing; it was a blatant threat! The other party was using his only son to blackmail him!

He only has this one son, and it's impossible for him to have another one!