Early the next morning, Su Xin woke up early and when he saw Xin'er, who was still sound asleep by his side, he quietly tucked her under the blanket.
When he opened the rice jar and saw only a dozen or so grains of rice remaining, a sharp pang of pain tugged at his heart.
With shaky steps, he left the house, intending to find something to make a sword.
In order to wield the Quick Sword passed down by Jing Wuming, he first needed a sword of his own.
Pushing the door open, he was greeted by the dirty muddy streets, dilapidated houses, and the apathetic pedestrians. All these laid bare the reality that this was a slum.
A place so poor that even beggars refused to visit, yet ironically it carried quite a pleasing name — Changle square.
Of course, Changle square was not always like this.
The predecessor of Changning Prefecture was the capital city of the Great Zhou, consisting of 49 markets. Even if Changle square was on the edge, it was once a bustling area.
However, it had been in decline since thirty years ago when Emperor Longwu, known for his literary and martial virtues, transformed Zhou from a minor southern barbarian state into the now expansive Great Zhou dynasty, sending the former hegemon Jin State scurrying away. As a result, Changning Prefecture fell into decline.
After Emperor Longwu moved the capital city, perhaps because this old minor capital city was too unseemly, he ordered the dismantling of the Imperial City, and had 90% of the wealthy merchants and officials moved to the new capital city, Shengjing. Consequently, Changning Prefecture gradually began to decay.
In a corner, Su Xin found a rusty piece of iron, as long as his arm and three fingers wide. It was previously used to fence up a chicken coop. Unfortunately, his family hadn't raised chickens since his mother passed away.
He found two pieces of wood to clamp the iron piece in between. Wrapping a hemp rope around it, he fashioned a sword hilt.
Following that, he found a whetstone, and began meticulously grinding off the rust from the iron piece, sharpening it into a blade.
Just then, Xin'er, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, emerged from the room. With a pout, she asked, "Brother, what are you doing?"
A tender smile spread across Su Xin's face. "Be good, Xin'er. In a little while, I'll take you to eat something delicious," he softly replied.
Despite the hardships of the world, Su Xin was a handsome young man of sixteen, seventeen. Although not extraordinarily attractive, his smile was indeed quite pleasant.
"Mhm, Xin'er will be good!" Su Xing'er nodded assertively, secretly swallowing her saliva.
In the past, her brother would always take her to Grandma Wang's shop at the street corner for a bowl of mixed offal noodles. However, it had been a long time since he had done that.
"Eh? Su Xin, you're still alive? That's some luck you have there."
Two men dressed in immaculate bunt warrior robes, a flying eagle embroidered across their chests, sauntered over. On their faces was an expression of surprise.
Su Xin watched the two with a cold eye. These were not strangers to him. Only three days ago, they were brothers who fought side by side with him!
The Flying Eagle Gang was one of the three gangs and four guilds in Changning Prefecture. In addition to the Gang Leader, there were three Hall Masters.
Beneath the three Hall Masters were more than a dozen main leaders and over fifty sub-leaders. The order from the main leader during the last battle against the Green Bamboo Gang was that whoever killed the most people could become a sub-leader, whose scope of management would extend to an entire street.
While young, Su Xin was nonetheless quite strong. His ruthless and fearless actions led to the death of three Green Bamboo Gang members, which effectively stunned the other side.
Little did he expect that in the end, Liu Sandao, the guy he looked up to as a big brother, would suddenly retreat with a few other brothers who fought beside him. This left Su Xin alone, pitted against the Green Bamboo Gang. He was killed in action.
"So Liu Sandao has become a sub-leader now? Isn't he ashamed of being in a position obtained by betraying his own brothers?" had Su Xin not been betrayed, this sub-leader position would have been his, given his battle achievements.
One of them shrugged. "Su Xin, you were just too impressive. You killed the most in that battle. If you didn't die, Brother Three wouldn't have been able to become the sub-leader."
"Heh heh." Su Xin chuckled lightly. For some reason, they both felt a chill run down their spine at the sound of his laugh.
"Ever since I joined the Flying Eagle Gang, I've been following Liu Sandao. All these years, I've always treated him as my big brother! Even if I had the most battle achievements in the end, I was planning to let him have the position of the sub-leader!"
"Heh heh, one can never truly know the heart of a person. Only dead people are the safest."
The other one drew his dagger and said grimly, "Why are you, Fourth Brother, even bother talking to him? Now that he's seriously injured, we should just get it over with. His being alive isn't good for Brother Three's reputation. Also, his sister, although a little young, could fetch a few coins if sold to Yangzhou Prefecture as a skimp."
When the people of Changle Square saw him draw his weapon, they showed no surprise. Instead, they stopped and watched with interest.
This was the cruel reality of Jianghu. It holds especially true for those born and raised in slums.
Every day, there would be gang members brawling and even killing each other. The death of one or two individuals was but a trivial matter—just a case of one less worthless life. The official residence often didn't bother about such matters.
Su Xin staggered to his feet, his body still feeling a bit weak.
"Xin'er, close your eyes."
Worried, Su Xing'er watched Su Xin. She knew what her brother was about to do, but she obediently closed her eyes, believing in him.
The man scoffed disdainfully, "What, you want to fight? You think you're still the same Su Xin who could take on three strong men alone without falling behind? You don't even have a weapon. What are you going to fight me with? That piece of iron you're holding in your hand?"
"This is not an iron piece. It's a sword," replied Su Xin indifferently, as though he was stating a fact.
"What, this is also a sword? Ha ha ha! Stop joking!"
"The only true sword, is the one that can kill!"
Su Xin's left hand suddenly moved, thrusting forward one sword, and the ridiculous iron sliver plunged into the man's throat.
Jing's death sword is a killing sword! There's no fancy swordsmanship, just the simplest killing skill.
His sword isn't martial arts, it's just a pure killing technique!
Su Xin slowly pulled the sword out of the man's throat, the rusty iron sliver was stained with blood, becoming oddly alluring.
Now everyone believes that the sword in Su Xin's hand is indeed a sword, a sword that can kill!
A glint of blood-red flickered in Su Xin's eyes. Strangely, he, killing for the first time, didn't have the slightest hesitation. The sight of this spattering fresh blood didn't disturb him a bit.
Perhaps it was the fusion of two lifetimes of memories. In this life, even though Su Xin is still a youngster, he already has a life on his hands.
"Killing, it seems pretty simple." Su Xin shook the droplets of blood from the sword, just like his previous life where his death was also rather simple.
The older sibling next to him was almost scared out of his wits.
He had known Su Xin for several years and knew that he could fight, but he had never seen such a terrifying swordsmanship before!
Su Xin merely lifted his hand, and the sword was already embedded in a man's throat, simple and direct, terrifying beyond belief!
The older sibling didn't hesitate and immediately turned to run, but suddenly felt a chill on his head, his hair had been chopped off a lock by Su Xin without him knowing when!
"If you run again, I'll kill you."
The older sibling immediately knelt down in front of Su Xin, knocking his head on the ground while shouting in terror, "Last time, it really wasn't my fault, it was all Liu Sandao's decision! Given our years of friendship, please spare me!"
"Get up!"
The older sibling hastily scrambled up, not daring to even breathe heavily.
"Hand over all the silver on you."
The older sibling quickly took out all the broken silver pieces from his body and handed them to Su Xin.
"Take him back to Liu Sandao and tell him that I, Su Xin, will personally come to recover what he owes me."
There was no expression on Su Xin's face, no fierceness, no anger, but even then, it made the older sibling feel a chill from within.
The older sibling carried the corpse back racingly, and swiftly disappeared within the alley.
The other pedestrians in Changle Square hurriedly made way.
They've seen murders, but Su Xin's swift execution was chilling to even the bravest of them.
"Xin'er, open your eyes."
Su Xin gently rubbed Xin'er's head, "Let's wash our faces and I'll take you out for Beef Brisket Noodles."
Su Xing'er's face broke into a happy smile. To her, as long as she had her brother and food, she was satisfied.
Auntie Wang had been running her stall at the corner of the street for decades. Su Xin had been bringing Su Xing'er to eat noodles here since they were little.
Auntie Wang only sold three types of noodles: vegetarian, tripe, and beef brisket.
In the past, Su Xin would occasionally bring Xin'er to indulge in a bowl of tripe noodles, and during festivals, they would order a portion of Beef Brisket Noodles. Only one portion, reserved for Xin'er.
"Auntie, two bowls of Beef Brisket Noodles please."
Auntie Wang served up two bowls of shiny and red beef brisket noodles, generously loading the bowl for Xin'er with extra chunks of brisket.
"Sweet girl, eat slowly." Auntie Wang's face, lined with age, nearly bloomed into a flower from smiling as she watched Xin'er devour the noodles.
"Mm, thank you, Auntie Wang." Xin'er, in her eagerness to eat the noodles, mumbled her thanks to Auntie Wang.
Su Xin had placed the brisket from his plate into Xin'er's dish and was eating his noodles with big mouthfuls.
As food entered his stomach, Su Xin felt his strength returning a bit. After three days of starvation, his physical strength largely recovered.
Though he cultivated Quanzhen Sect's Primary Inner Power and had a pitiful amount of Inner Strength, it was not enough for his strength to fully recover.
After a bowl of noodles, Su Xin looked at Xin'er, who was still eating ravenously, gently rubbing her head, and said to Auntie Wang, "Auntie, I have something to take care of, could you please look after Xin'er for me first?"
Auntie Wang waved her hand, sighing, "Dear boy, remember the world can be a treacherous place and you still have a younger sister."
Su Xin gave a smile back to Auntie Wang, the world was treacherous, could it possibly be more treacherous than human hearts?
"Be good Xin'er, stay with Auntie Wang and eat your noodles. Big brother will be back tonight."
With her cheeks puffed, Su Xing'er obediently nodded her head.