Tazi Mountain Park.
Located slightly east of downtown Jincheng City, it’s a fairly large park covering 410 acres. The park features gently rolling hills, expansive terrain, lush greenery, and a tranquil environment. It also houses one of Jincheng’s landmark structures, the Jiutian Tower.
On normal days, many people come here for leisure and entertainment.
However, today, a peculiar group gathered at the park. They didn’t enter but instead huddled in a secluded spot outside the southwestern corner wall. Each wore expressions of astonishment and curiosity as they looked at the ground and the walls, whispering among themselves about strange topics. In the end, someone cautiously called the police to come and investigate.
Because overnight, the public facilities here had suffered very bizarre damage.
Several originally neatly laid bluestone slabs were now eerily shattered into pieces, covered with a web of cracks. Most crucially, the source of these cracks seemed to resemble… footprints!
In other words, these bluestone slabs likely were crushed by someone stepping on them, one by one.
Besides the footprints on the stones, within a radius of over ten meters near the wall corner, there were also many thin, deep grooves. These weren’t cracks from being stepped on; they looked more like they were forcibly split open by weapons like swords or sabers!
This was equally baffling and hard to believe. No matter how sharp a sword is, it can chop down trees, but who could slash once and leave deep grooves in hard bluestone? Unless it was a legendary divine weapon like the Heaven-Reliant Sword or the Dragon-Slaying Saber, reputed to cut through iron like mud!
If such divine weapons truly existed, it would undoubtedly be sensational news.
Beyond these two things, the strangest of all were the withered, yellow leaves deeply embedded, as if nailed in, on the walls and certain parts of the ground!
Leaves, thin as paper, defying the laws of physics by piercing into brick walls and bluestone slabs—it seemed like something out of a myth.
At first, some thought these might not be leaves, perhaps just iron pieces shaped like leaves. But when curious onlookers touched them, they found these were genuine leaves, tearing easily when pulled slightly.
“My God, what on earth happened here? Is it a prank?”
“How could it be a prank? Look at these marks, they’re definitely real!”
“Right, they’re real! Look at these leaves; a prank couldn’t possibly create this. We broke off the outer parts of the leaves, but the inner parts are deeply embedded in the wall. This proves the leaves were genuinely shot into it by force!”
“Holy crap! Does this mean aliens invaded our Jincheng last night?”
“Aliens, my foot! This is clearly the work of martial arts masters sparring here. If I’m not mistaken, these leaves should be from the legendary ‘Flower-Picking Finger’ technique!”
“The ‘Flower-Picking Finger’ from Shaolin’s 72 Unique Skills?”
“Exactly! You’ve heard of it too?”
“Heard of it, my ass! You little punk, you’ve read too many novels! Next you’ll say it’s the ‘Yang Finger’! Officer, what’s really going on here? I remember there are surveillance cameras on this stretch of road, right? Pull up the footage from last night, and we’ll see exactly what happened.”
This suggestion was immediately met with agreement from the crowd.
Although this spot was somewhat secluded, with hardly anyone passing by at night, there was an intersection not far away with a surveillance camera installed. It should have recorded what happened here last night.
Faced with such a bizarre scene, whether it was the work of aliens or legendary martial arts masters, ordinary people were intensely curious, eager to get to the bottom of it.
The police officers who had arrived on the scene also prepared to investigate the surveillance footage but suddenly received a call from their superior. They were informed that the camera had been broken for a while and there was no footage from last night. The officers didn’t think too much of it and could only shrug helplessly at the crowd.
“Damn it! Basic public infrastructure isn’t even maintained, and you didn’t record this? Your eyes seem plenty sharp when fining traffic violations!”
“How convenient that the surveillance camera just happened to be broken. Could it be something major happened that you police don’t want us ordinary folks to know about?”
“…”
The noisy chatter continued. It took a full ten minutes before the onlookers gradually dispersed, persuaded by the police. Later, even if someone remembered the incident and felt something was off, they could only treat it as an amusing anecdote to share after meals.
After all, the world isn’t short of strange tales; one more wouldn’t make a difference.
Only after the crowd left did a few more people arrive at the park corner. One wore coarse linen clothes and carried a gourd of wine; the other had a rugged appearance with a braid on his head.
These two were naturally Little Wino and Bai Kedi.
Both wore serious expressions as they examined the indelible marks on the ground and walls, a hint of gravity in their eyes.
Little Wino said, “Yagyu Munenori only arrived in Jincheng a couple of days ago. I was wondering when he would seek out Jiang Fei. I didn’t expect it to be so soon. It seems last night’s fight wasn’t a simple meeting; it appears to have been quite intense.”
Bai Kedi, who usually thirsted for battle, no longer dared to underestimate Jiang Fei as he had when they first met. He said gravely, “Last night’s exchange was no joke. Yagyu Munenori even used the technique of plucking and throwing leaves, showing he was somewhat serious. But there’s not a trace of blood at the scene; it seems no one was injured. Could Jiang Fei really be that powerful, able to fight Yagyu Munenori to a draw? That’s impossible, isn’t it?!”
“Judging by these marks, last night’s fight probably ended without a clear winner, but it must have been just a brief skirmish. Otherwise, people of their level wouldn’t have caused only this much damage. Perhaps they agreed on another time for a real decisive battle?” The wino took a swig of strong liquor, then frowned in speculation.
“Enough. Just looking at these battle traces won’t tell us much. If you want to know the truth, we just need to check the surveillance footage, and everything will be clear.” The two members of the Seven Killers Group, who had previously delivered the Seven Kill Order to Jiang Fei, walked over and said with a smile.
Of course, the intersection’s surveillance footage wasn’t broken. However, this matter was too important. Footage of Jiang Fei and Yagyu Munenori’s fight couldn’t be allowed to fall into ordinary hands. Therefore, these two Seven Killers Group members immediately used their connections to secure the video resources, publicly claiming the camera was broken and recorded nothing.
So, the four hurried to the police station. After sending outsiders away, they began watching the footage captured by the camera.
It was late at night. Even with moonlight, the lighting wasn’t great. Also, the camera’s range was limited, only capturing part of the fight on the ground. Scenes of Jiang Fei and Yagyu Munenori leaping into the air or moving rapidly were blurry and unclear. However, with Little Wino and Bai Kedi’s experience, they could roughly reconstruct the specifics of that night’s battle from these clues.
After watching the fight, the shock in their eyes grew even more profound.
They had only been guessing earlier, but now it seemed Jiang Fei had indeed fought Yagyu Munenori to a standstill last night!
Although they could tell it was just a brief skirmish, and Yagyu Munenori hadn’t shown his full capabilities—his realm of “having no sword surpasses having a sword” hadn’t revealed many true killing moves—who’s to say Jiang Fei didn’t have tricks up his sleeve as well?
Thinking of this, their moods grew somewhat heavy. Judging by what was shown in the video, Jiang Fei’s displayed strength was much greater than they had imagined. Neither of them would be a match for Jiang Fei.
And yet, they had previously been eager to challenge Jiang Fei…
In contrast to Little Wino and Bai Kedi’s somber mood, the two Seven Killers Group members were more pleased. The fact that Jiang Fei could hold his own against Yagyu Munenori was good news for them.
They had been worried that if Jiang Fei was no match for Yagyu Munenori and died by his sword, they would lose their future supply of “Grief-Free Wind” potion. Of course, if Jiang Fei truly died in battle, they would reclaim the Seven Kill Order, so they wouldn’t suffer a loss.
But if Jiang Fei survived and could provide more potions in the future, that was undoubtedly better.
Most importantly, by accepting the Seven Kill Order and gaining many privileges, Jiang Fei could almost be considered half a member of the Seven Killers Group. Having such a master within their organization was a matter of pride.
“So, is that it for them?” Bai Kedi asked, wide-eyed, after a long pause.
“From the looks of it, they probably agreed on a time. The next meeting will be the real decisive battle!” Little Wino shook his head, took a deep breath, and said, “But seeing this, we were wrong before. Even facing Yagyu Munenori, whose cultivation has reached the level where even a plucked flower or leaf can injure, Jiang Fei is not without the power to fight. Perhaps, in this upcoming battle, he might surprise everyone…”
“He is indeed formidable. His swordsmanship is truly as the legends say—like an antelope hanging its horns, leaving no trace. Every move isn’t about being flashy; they are genuine killing techniques, targeting the enemy’s weakest points! However, saying this alone can defeat Yagyu Munenori is almost impossible. Last night, Yagyu Munenori was merely testing Jiang Fei’s weight. When he truly goes all out, his lethality won’t be limited to this…” Bai Kedi said coldly.
Little Wino wanted to say something but held back.
Although Bai Kedi’s words somewhat bolstered the Japanese side’s prestige and diminished China’s, the fact remained.
If Jiang Fei’s strength was only what was shown in the video, then in the next decisive battle, the odds would be heavily against him…
