Chapter 54 – Armouring Up (2/2)

The punishment for an unredeemable mistake, a life for a life. This was the explanation that a man of jianghu could give.

A hand grabbed Huang Binghu’s wrist firmly. The blade could no longer be thrust down.

Li Qingshan was stunned at first before feeling relieved. “Did the hunting chief plan on shouldering the matter all alone and then end it all with death? That’ll be useless. Even if they’re uncertain, they’ll still come to find me.”

Huang Binghu sighed heavily. Having roamed through the jianghu himself, he knew just how terrifying this matter was. A single martial arts manual or a single treasured sword could kick up a sea of blood in the jianghu. The lives of first-rate masters or even those beyond the first-rate would be taken away like they were worthless.

The red light in Li Qingshan’s eyes vanished. He actually smiled. It was not a crazy smile or a wide smile, but a candid one like that of an ordinary youth’s. “But I’m not afraid of them!” He said these words straightforwardly and with confidence. Before Huang Binghu could warn him, he continued, “Have you prepared my tiger bone wine?”

“I’ll have someone deliver it tomorrow!”

Li Qingshan said nothing more. He still took the stairs down and arrived outside the establishment. Suddenly, he felt a cold sensation from his face. Looking up, the pitch-black sky was filled with snowflakes.

A transparent figure emerged from the scholar wood tablet, flying beside him.

Li Qingshan muttered to himself, “I’m not afraid of enemies. I’m afraid of betrayal.” All he saw was Xiao An staring at him blankly. He could not help but smile. “You won’t understand even if I explain it. It’s not like you’ll betray me anyway, right?”

Perhaps Xiao An did not understand what the ‘betrayal’ Li Qingshan spoke of meant, but he understood what he was expecting. Xiao An nodded in a great hurry.

“Let’s go. Tonight is still not done!” Flames lit up in Li Qingshan’s eyes as if they could even melt this world of ice and snow.

Old Knickers sipped on some alcohol and tended to a charcoal fire in the stove, staving off the piercing coldness of winter.

He never had a woman in his life, having spent several decades of his life guarding the armoury. Even his neighbours had forgotten his name, only remembering his surname Zhang. They all called him old Zhang or the old armoury guard. Afterwards, the children living close to him somehow came up with old Knickers1 and that name stuck, adding a sense of degeneracy to the old man who had been alone his entire life for no reason.

It was already very deep in the night, but he had yet to sleep. Just like usual, he would recall his life, extracting the most glorious parts of his memory as if he were ruminating the past. He would mull over it while he felt tipsy. As for the truth to these memories, they were just like his name. Not only was it the case for other people, but even he himself could not discern them.

Thump! Thump! Thump! The sound interrupted his recollection. He opened the door slowly. “Who is it? It’s so late!” Afterwards, he saw a teenager standing at the door, smiling apologetically at him.

“District magistrate Ye has allowed me to take some items from the armoury. Here is the paperwork!”

Old Knickers shivered. Although many parts of his memories were exaggerated or made up all together, there was at least one part that was true. He had truly been a soldier in the past and had fought in wars. He had witnessed the real thing, actual scenes of slaughter. The youth before him was very young and very polite, but he gave off an aura that he found to be familiar—murderousness.

The murderousness lingered without dispersing. This was a feeling that only brave and valiant soldiers who had claimed several dozen lives with their hands would possess. If he came across an enemy like this on the battlefield, he would definitely avoid him and get as far away as possible.

He did not even check the official paperwork properly when he retrieved the keys while trembling. Holding a lantern, he opened the gate to the armoury.

The gate of the armoury stood several meters tall and was forged out of pure metal. A total of thirty-six door nails were arranged neatly, and they had a pair of tiger heads carrying metal rings in their mouths.

Old Knickers pushed hard a few times, but the gate did not budge at all. He said awkwardly, “It seems to be frozen.” All he saw was the youth placing his hands on the ice-cold metal gate and pushing gently, and the metal door swung open. He stepped into the armoury alone.

Old Knickers pulled in his body as he waited outside. This was the first time someone had come to the armoury to take something out in the past few years. What is he taking? And what does he want to do with it?

As he wondered, a clinking sound drew closer and closer. A figure emerged from the armoury. The dark armour wrapped around his robust body, giving off an icy-cold, austere presence. The thigh guards swung around with his movements.

Old Knickers’ breathing halted, and he fell back on his bottom. He recalled the terrors of the battlefield and those callous, fierce figures once more. It felt like in just the next moment, the person before him would swing his blade and kill him.