Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 225: Han Wubing Missing

After a moment.

The robbers who had come to mess with them were scattered on the ground, groaning in pain. Zhao Changhe sat on one of them, raised his fist that was the size of a large bowl, and said, “Tell me, what happened to Han Wubing? How could losers like you possibly scare him into fleeing for his life?”

The man he was sitting on sounded as if he was about to cry. “I just mentioned Han Wubing’s name to intimidate you. We didn’t actually drive him away...”

“Oh? Then what exactly happened?”

“All I know is that Han Wubing killed Gang Leader Ji of the Xingyi Gang and was surrounded by them soon after. Later, Boss Yan of the Pinghu Association intervened, and then Han Wubing left...”

“What the hell? What does this have to do with your Seventh Lord Sha?”

“I told you, I was just trying to scare you away. I never claimed that there was a connection between them.”

“Fuck!” With that, Zhao Changhe’s massive fist came crashing down, knocking the man unconscious.

Zhao Changhe squatted down and searched every single one of them, finding very little money. They seemed to be low-ranking members of a gang who had acted out of greed when they saw him pay for pancakes with silver.

Grumbling to himself, Zhao Changhe stood and stuffed the few pieces of silver into his pocket. He glanced at the Fire Serpent of Yi, who was watching him with her head tilted, and her adorable pig mask instantly lifted his spirits. “What are you looking at?”

Vermillion Bird smiled and said, “Why did you block me from them? Are you really afraid that I’d kill them?”

“Aren’t you able to?”

“I am.”

“Then I didn’t stop you for no reason.” Zhao Changhe began walking toward the city gates. “There’s no reason to always resort to killing when it comes to such trivial matters.”

Vermillion Bird did not argue with him, simply responding with an “Mm” as she followed him out of the city.

She seemed to be in a much better mood than him.

Zhao Changhe was a little puzzled. “Why are you being so obedient?”

“It’s nothing,” Vermillion Bird said leisurely. “Seeing as you are not a pedantic and overly righteous hero, I find you to be quite satisfactory.”

“Hmph, flattery.”

Vermillion Bird truly meant it.

Initially, when she was blocked by him, she felt a bit annoyed. But after seeing his actions, she found it all quite amusing. She was quite entertained watching him rob the robbers. After all, whether or not people could get along was not just dependent on their abilities, but also whether their personalities and styles of doing things were compatible.

So far, Zhao Changhe’s personality and actions have been entirely in line with those of the Four Idols Cult.

As for Han Wubing, he had nothing to do with her... She was actually annoyed a little because of this incident, as she was probably no longer going to get to enjoy shopping after this.

Anyone who had studied Zhao Changhe would know that, although his time with Han Wubing was short, Han Wubing held a high position in his heart. Not counting the women he had gotten close to, Han Wubing was his first friend, and they had hit it off right away. Before Tang Buqi, Situ Xiao, and the rest appeared, Han Wubing could even be said to have been his only friend.

Sure enough, Zhao Changhe had lost all interest in shopping, and he increased his pace in leaving the city.

Vermillion Bird angrily threw away the last bits of pancake she had.

*

The banks of the Ancient Sword Lake were still similar to before, with people wandering around in groups of two or three, hoping to stumble upon some legendary ancient sword. Unbeknownst to them, the ancient sword had already been taken. The most that these kinds of people knew was that the Maitreya Cult and the Four Idols Cult had once fought here, and the battle had ended strangely quickly.

Thus, the number of those seeking the ancient sword never really dwindled, though there had not been any incidents of people mysteriously getting killed by sword qi in the past few months.

If things continued this way, people would likely realize that the ancient sword was probably gone.

But now, it seemed like there had been an unexpected development.

Zhao Changhe did not believe that a swordsman like Han Wubing could be forced to flee for his life by a local gang, or even several of them. Even if he was outnumbered temporarily, he could simply retreat to the bottom of the lake and plan his next move.

Upon reaching the lakeside, Zhao Changhe did not hesitate to dive straight into the water. It was not uncommon for people searching for the sword to take a swim here from time to time, so nobody found his actions strange.

Vermillion Bird followed suit but suddenly thought of a problem.

Previously, when their Four Idols Cult opened this alternate space, there were many prerequisites and rituals involved, and they had needed to summon Iceheart to actively break open the space. But what about now? Could anyone just enter and exit freely? If so, then could someone else have found it?

On the other hand, if Han Wubing truly had fled for his life in a panic, there was a high likelihood that he would not come back here. This was because if he had not shaken off his pursuers before reaching the lake, and he was seen entering the dimensional fragment at the bottom of the lake, it would be no different from locking himself in a cage.

Apparently, Zhao Changhe was also worried about this. Upon reaching the spatial node, he swiftly went in, only to furrow his brow soon after.

There were no signs of intrusion by others, indicating that no one had found this place for the time being. And Han Wubing was indeed not here.

A bed, table, chair, along with bowls, chopsticks, and food residue, which had become a bit moldy, could all be seen inside the dimensional fragment. It was evident that it was not left tidy and had likely been abandoned by the occupant after something unexpected happened and they could not return.

Was it truly so dire that he could not even flee back here?

Vermillion Bird followed in, surveying the surroundings. Besides the traces of life left behind by Han Wubing, the sword chamber mostly remained as it originally was. There were a number of swords adorning the surrounding walls, but nothing else present. There was not even a storage cabinet, just smooth stone walls.

There could not be any secret passages, because this was an independent space, and the walls here could not be dug through. The only entrance was that singular spatial node. Vermillion Bird quickly understood why Chichi was so certain that there was nothing of interest left in the place after entering, as there simply could not be anything here.

As for the lingering sword intent, it had not been dissipated by Han Wubing’s prolonged stay. On the contrary, because Han Wubing’s primary purpose for secluding himself here was to comprehend the sword, it was possible that he spent every day simply eating, sleeping, and meditating on the sword. This concentration infused the air with some of Han Wubing’s own sword intent, which mingled with the ancient sword intent and made it even more formidable.

In a sense, Han Wubing was also accompanying the ancient senior that had once resided here, allowing her soul to not be lonely and have someone to impart her ultimate techniques to.

At that moment, Zhao Changhe closed his eyes to feel the sword intent in the room.

Vermillion Bird checked around for a while and agreed with Xia Chichi’s judgment. Although the woman here did have some connection with the Night Emperor, this small, cramped sword chamber yielded no valuable information. It truly did appear to be of no worth.

Seeing Zhao Changhe immersed in sensing the sword intent with closed eyes, Vermillion Bird finally broke the silence, “Are you starting to take an interest in these things because you’ve been learning about the sword?”

Zhao Changhe responded with a simple “Mm.” Vermillion Bird did not disturb him further, choosing instead to admire the swords hanging on the walls.

In reality, Zhao Changhe was mainly thinking that if he allowed the Heavenly Tome to interact more with the sword intent here, there might be something to be had. This was why he wanted to come back here, but it was not convenient to say so.

Previously, he stayed at an inn opposite the Wang Clan for two nights to verify if there would be any changes the day after applying that substance. And as expected, the next morning, the golden foil had evolved once more, proving that applying the substance was indeed effective.

The result of the further evolution, or more specifically the partial unsealing of its functions, was that he no longer needed to take the golden foil out to examine it. With just a thought, the information would be transmitted to his mind, forming an illusory virtual reality within which he could immerse himself.

He had made use of this function with the Wind and Lightning Palm manual that Situ Xiao had given him. Although he had not even flipped through it after obtaining it, he had actually already learned it over the past two days while traveling. The only thing was that he had not put it into practice yet, so whether he could perform it with his hands remained to be seen.

The threat that the spirit of the tome would kill him after being unsealed was also further proven to be an empty threat. I wonder if it just hasn’t been unsealed enough... I’ll try again next time.

At this moment, the phantom of a woman had appeared in his mind. Due to her ancient origin and elusive sword intent, the image that he could see of her was very hazy, and her face indistinct.

Then, a phantom of Han Wubing appeared, and the two of them proceeded to demonstrate a set of sword arts.

Zhao Changhe shook his head and temporarily exited the illusion.

This was not the time to be observing sword arts. It was enough as long as he could confirm that the golden foil could receive the information, which could be further studied later on. Anyway, he was not really intent on studying sword arts. The only thing he was interested in seeing was whether there were any techniques that were related between the Night Emperor and the ancient woman. This was probably not something that could be figured out in a short time, similar to when he deciphered the Sword Emperor’s inheritance. With it looking like it would require a lot of work, it could wait for later.

His immediate priority was to figure out what happened to Han Wubing.

Feeling that Zhao Changhe had withdrawn from a certain special state, Vermillion Bird looked back and smiled, “So, did you learn any sword arts?”

“No... By the way, does your Four Idols Cult still have anyone stationed nearby?”

“We withdrew from this place long ago. Did you want to make use of our resources to help you with your investigation?”

“Mm-hm...”

“Why go to us? You can just go to Myriad Flowers Tower. I’m fairly certain that you were given something by Tang Wanzhuang to help you with such matters.”

Zhao Changhe suddenly remembered that he was still a secret agent of the Demon Suppression Bureau. This damn jade token always ended up leading me to cases that I had to solve. Now, it’s finally coming in handy, eh?