Yeon Ryang, impressed by my magnificent swordsmanship, quickly gave up on teaching me the sword.

“If you use a sword, Sister, I’m going to die. Let’s find another way.”

Instead, he taught me how to hold a throwing knife in a reverse grip and use it in close combat.

It involved wrapping internal energy around the throwing knife and the hand gripping it, then stabbing as if throwing the blade. In some ways, it resembled claw technique.

“How much internal energy should I wrap around it? I can’t really gauge it.”

“Try wrapping it around first. Covering the throwing knife with internal energy itself isn’t easy...”

“Is this enough?”

When I drew my internal energy out as thin as thread and wound it around the throwing knife and my hand as if tying them together, Yeon Ryang’s eyes went round.

“Huh? This isn’t supposed to work on the first try. Sister, you’re pretty good.”

Fascinated, he poked at my hand.

“How strange. Why does this work? Is it because you’ve built up so much internal energy?”

“It just works, though?”

“It wouldn’t be bad for you to use palm techniques either, Sister. With that face of yours, no one would expect you to launch internal energy compressed this stupidly hard.”

Was that so? Then again, it might be good to practice palm techniques in case I ran out of hidden weapons...

I had been nodding and chewing over his words when my expression twisted sharply.

“You just insulted me, didn’t you? You just said I look like I wouldn’t be this stupidly brute-force, didn’t you?”

“It was a compliment, Sister. Do you think there are many martial artists your age who carry enough internal energy to overwhelm an opponent like this? You just need to make good use of it.”

Chuckling, Yeon Ryang taught me a few tricks for applying internal energy.

They were simple methods, but the effect was tremendous.

“Brother, aren’t you a genius? This makes it really easy.”

“Haha, this brother of yours is pretty impressive, isn’t he?”

I could now operate it the same way with a far smaller amount of internal energy. Moved, I clapped my hands.

It felt like I had been scraping potato skins off barehanded, only to be gifted a sharp potato peeler.

...Ah. So that was why he called me brute-force. People really did need to use their heads.

I was crouched down, practicing wrapping hidden weapons in internal energy, when I looked up at Yeon Ryang and asked, “Then what should I do with this sword? Should I just carry it around?”

“Since we bought it, let’s carry it for a while. And if you can’t swing a sword, you should at least practice drawing and sheathing it, Sister. Even if you only look convincing on the surface, it’ll filter out the riffraff.”

“I think I can do that.”

I answered confidently and gripped the sword hilt.

“Good. Bend your arm like that and...”

GRIP!

“...You mustn’t throw it, Sister.”

“Ahaha.”

Yeon Ryang hurriedly grabbed my arm. I laughed awkwardly and waved my hand.

“I’ll try again. Again. I think I can really do it this time.”

“Good. Not giving up is a fine attitude.”

Yeon Ryang answered with a face utterly devoid of expectation and moved away from me. It seemed he was trying to dodge in advance before the sword came flying at him.

I glared at him and gripped the sword again.

Yeon Ryang had let his elbow hang loose and placed his hand like this. Right. Like this.

I thought I had drawn the sword rather impressively, but before I knew it, the sword had left my hand and was embedded in a tree trunk far away.

CRAAAACK! THUD!

Unable to withstand the force in the sword, the tree split in half and toppled sideways.

This was driving me insane. Why did it keep flying away?

As I stood there hollowly, staring at the fallen tree, Yeon Ryang, who had been watching, pressed a hand to his forehead as if he could take no more.

“...Let’s give up on the sword, Sister. Just wear it at your waist.”

I nodded and put the sword back.

*****

Wuhan was crawling with martial artists everywhere.

Whether we went to an inn, to the market, or simply walked down the street, more than half the people passing by had swords at their waists.

In a way, it was a sight that made me worry about public order, but the people of Wuhan did not seem to care.

That was because if anyone caused trouble, the Alliance’s patrol force would come running at once and drag them away.

“Ugh! Let me go! I did nothing wrong. That man started...”

“Say it at the Alliance.”

It was a fascinating scene.

Were they martial-world police? What was the government doing while the Martial Alliance managed public order? Was this that so-called noninterference between government and martial world?

The people here had always seen what happened when someone caused a disturbance in the Martial Alliance’s front yard, so they were not especially wary of martial artists.

Perhaps because of that, there were few people who were surprised by Yeon Ryang’s size or avoided him.

Yeon Ryang seemed to like that quite a bit.

Once the gazes that had followed him everywhere disappeared, he looked very relaxed. I was not sure, but it might also have been because he had taken the Blood Yin Parasite’s antidote.

“Sister. How much money do you have left?”

“Not much. Around three silver taels.”

Yeon Ryang rummaged through his own money pouch, picked through the remaining silver, and scratched his head.

“We’ll be short on travel expenses. I’ll have to visit a bank.”

“A bank?”

“I have a promissory note from Central Plains Bank. It’s worth fifty silver taels, so this should keep us from worrying for a while.”

Yeon Ryang answered and showed me a small piece of paper. The paper, which said fifty silver taels, had a red seal stamped onto it.

When I looked at the promissory note with curious eyes, Yeon Ryang gave a small laugh and waved the paper.

“Want to hold it, Sister?”

“Oh my? What if I run off with it?”

“Fifty silver taels is only one silver ingot, isn’t it? Why would a rich young lady covet pocket change?”

It is not pocket change. Back when I was a maid, my monthly wage was two silver taels. And right now, my entire fortune is only three silver taels.

Yeon Ryang seemed to be firmly mistaken, thinking I was a young lady who had only ever been raised in comfort.

It was bothersome to explain, so I merely shrugged and accepted the promissory note.

The thin paper had been treated with oil for waterproofing so it would not tear easily.

When I lifted the note and held it against the sunlight, a pattern stamped over the seal appeared. It looked like bamboo.

“What’s this? There’s something drawn here.”

“It’s a security mark. Central Plains Bank uses a bamboo design. Every promissory note has its bank’s own unique pattern stamped into it.”

An anti-forgery device, huh. I guess places where people live are all similar. It’s exactly like a bank check.

I handed the promissory note back to Yeon Ryang and asked, “How do you tell whether a promissory note is real or fake? If someone tried to trick you with a fake note, I feel like you’d fall for it.”

“If you’re not sure, tell them to come with you to the nearest bank. Every bank has an appraiser who can verify whether a promissory note is genuine. If the note was issued by a bank accepted in that region, they’ll check it.”

“Oho.”

“Let’s go exchange the note. How does meat sound for dinner, Sister?”

“Sounds good. The lamb ribs the people at the table next to us were eating yesterday looked good.”

“Lamb ribs it is.”

“Ask them to sprinkle on lots of Sichuan pepper. And lots of peanuts too.”

“You really know how to eat, Sister.”

We headed to the bank while making idle conversation.

Central Plains Bank was a single-story building on a main street. Its entrance was wide open, but it did not seem to have much traffic and looked quiet.

When we stepped inside, an older man approached and spoke to us.

“Welcome. Will you be making a deposit or an exchange?”

“An exchange. Here.”

The man accepted the promissory note Yeon Ryang held out, narrowed his eyes, and turned the note over this way and that.

“Please wait in this room for a moment. We must perform the customary verification.”

“That’s fine.”

After asking for our understanding, he guided us to a small room.

The man lit the candle placed on the table, then held the promissory note up to the flame.

It seemed he was checking whether the security mark had been drawn properly.

“It is one of our notes. If you wait a moment, I will bring the silver out shortly.”

“Understood.”

The man bowed politely and left. I slowly looked around the room.

The interior, packed full of piles of documents, smelled of old paper and ink.

So they write all their promissory notes by hand. Does one person write them? Fascinating.

“Gyeonga. Don’t go too far.”

“Yes.”

Curious about what the other parts of the bank looked like, I was creeping around inside when I saw customers in the next room leaving signatures on promissory notes.

Five Taoists wearing Wudang Sect robes were exchanging silver.

Oops.

Thinking I should not draw attention for no reason, I was backing away when a young Taoist who met my eyes tapped the Taoist beside him, who was in the middle of signing.

“Grand-uncle master. Over there...”

“She looks exactly like the portrait sketch the Alliance gave us.”

At the Taoists’ whispers, a man with glossy black hair neatly tied up under a Taoist cap turned to look at me.

It was Jinseong.

After confirming my face, he arched one eyebrow.

He said he was being dispatched to the Martial Alliance. Had he already arrived? I didn’t think I’d see him again.

As I blinked, wondering whether I should greet him or not, Jinseong greeted me first with a formal martial salute.

“I am Jinseong, eighteenth-generation disciple of Wudang.”

“Uh... yes, Taoist Jinseong. We meet again.”

When I awkwardly dipped my head, he met my eyes. His gaze was not friendly.

At the same time, an ominous sensation ran down my spine. He was hostile toward me.

I hurriedly stepped back and waved my hands.

“Haha, I hope your promissory note exchange goes well. Then I’ll just...”

“Stop.”

At Jinseong’s cold voice, I understood clearly.

I was ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) doomed. I did not know what it was, but I was doomed.

I rolled my eyes around and studied Jinseong’s expression.

As Jinseong slowly approached me, the Wudang Sect Taoists standing behind him also formed a ring as if surrounding me.

“I believe you will understand without my explaining. I do not wish to cause a disturbance. Please come with us to the Alliance of your own accord.”

“Ahaha, what in the world are you talking about...”

Am I wanted by the Martial Alliance? Am I a public enemy of the martial world or something? Isn’t that kind of thing only for great villains?

I tried to hide my panic, but the corners of my mouth trembled.

“We came knowing everything, Young Lady.”

“What do you mean, you know? I haven’t done anything wrong. I think you must be mistaken, Taoist...”

“If you have done nothing wrong, then you should be able to submit openly to the Alliance’s investigation.”

Jinseong calmly cut me off and strode forward, stopping in front of me.

The sight of him looking down at me felt oppressive.

“Young Lady. It would be best for you to follow me quietly.”

Clear, pale-gray eyes stared at me. He said expressionlessly,

“If you refuse, I may have to cut you down.”