"Is it really an illusion, or not?"
Le Xaan narrowed his eyes and composed himself.
"Nothing." He straightened his back and replied with a calm voice.
"Young Master... Mr. Xavir is such a good person, such a righteous official, why would he...?"
Streams of tears flowed down her cheeks, and she was about to cry once more.
Le Xaan stared at the rows of corpses on the ground silently.
Their bodies were all a greenish-gray color, with purple bruises around their neck.
The County Chief cast a few glances at the scene before taking his leave hurriedly. He had arranged for the General Sheriff to handle the following affairs.
Several other officials were also talking with the General Sheriff about the case's details.
"Young Master, your father asks you to go over." A servant ran up to Le Xaan and whispered in his ears.
While delivering the words of Le Finn, the servant glanced at those bodies in sorrow.
"Okay. I will go immediately." Le Xaan looked at him and asked, "Aren't you afraid?"
"Yes, I'm afraid." This servant was about eighteen years old, but he had the presence of someone much older than he was.
"But your servant had fled here from the Gevyon Country to the east. That country is now famine-stricken. Anywhere and everywhere you go, piles of corpses are scattered. Some people are even exchaging their offsprings to eat. I have seen a lot of scenes even more miserable than what we are seeing... Sigh..."
As he sighed, the servant immediately realized who Le Xaan was and lowered his head right away.
"A lot? Do you mean that Gevyon had many similar incidents like this?"
Le Xaan probed.
The servant fell silent for a moment before answering,
"Yes."
Le Xaan was a bit on edge.
And he soon walked up to his father, Le Finn.
Le Finn had a pet name called 'Golden Coin Gentleman'.
The huge amount of wealth that he possessed had been famous throughout Gourain City. The word about the oncoming marriage between Xavir Taron and Le Yeeli had spread through the whole city and even some other neighboring cities.
However, such a significant event had to be dropped after the sorrowful incident took place.
Le Finn's face darkened to reveal his exhaustion and worries.
"Tell Sheriff Cawa what happened yesterday."
Le Finn stepped aside, allowing Le Xaan to be faced with a man with a full beard.
What Xavir Taron said to him yesterday was resounding in Le Xaan's mind, and he believed that the case about the 'river spirit' must have something to do with the massacre.
Thus, he recounted what Xavir Taron said yesterday, not missing even a single detail.
Sheriff Cawa furrowed his brows. It looked like he was also puzzled.
Since Sheriff Cawa didn't inquire about him anymore, Le Xaan bid his farewell.
Before he took his leave, those sheriffs began to collect those corpses.
Le Xaan watched as Xavir Taron's body was lifted onto a stretcher. He sighed and walked up to a sheriff near him.
"Sir, are there any surviving members of the Xavir family?"
Le Xaan figured that if there were any remaining members of the family, he would help take care of them. And he could possibly gain valuable information from him.
"No... They all died. Probably in Zewa City some of their relatives get away with this slaughter." The sheriff replied in a low voice.
Le Xaan secretly placed a silver coin in the sheriff's palm and then left with Qiki and his family in the carriage.
When they went back home, the horrifying scene haunted them.
As the head of the Le family, Le Finn set up a meeting and told everyone that the marriage had been dropped. He asked other female members of the family to take care of and comfort Le Yeeli carefully. Eventually, he left for his bedroom alone with a melancholy backview.
The young male members of the family were so frightened that they chose to numb themselves by heading for the wineries, brothels, or theaters.
In contrast, the female members went to the Redlotus Temple to seek blessings for peace and security.
The whole Le family was on tenterhooks.
Yet Le Xaan was not about to fool around like the others.
He went along with Qiki to the family's library, a deserted place now.
He pushed open the door, seeing that a fat woman was now wiping the shelves with a rag.
With dark red shelves and furniture and dim lighting, the place appeared gloomy.
Le Xaan walked in, went around a circular wooden screen engraved with a picture of birds and flowers, and caught a whiff of a faint woody aroma.
"You can take your leave now. I want to take a rest and read some books alone." he ordered.
"Understood." Qiki obediently nodded and left along with that fat maid.
Le Xaan stood there, looked at the rows of bookshelves, and then let out a breath.
He rummaged through the shelves one after another.
Soon, he found around a dozen county-record-like books.
He took out all of these books and flipped through them.
Using the dim illumination, he swiftly finished reading a book.
'The Seventy-Second Year of the Great Song Dynasty, in the outskirts of Gourian City, a madman killed twelve people with a blade in a row and was then executed by the government's sheriffs.'
'The Eighty-Fifth Year of the Great Song Dynasty, in the downtown area of Gourain City, for a unknown reason, a man's head was cut off his neck. '
'The Ninety-First Year of the Great Song Dynasty, fifteen travelers went missing in an abandoned monastery in the outskirts.'
'The Ninety-Fifth Year of the Great Song Dynasty, the owner of a brothel went missing. His limbs were found in four different locations outside the city.'
'The One Hundred and Sixteenth Year of the Great Song Dynasty, a baby's crying was heard in the outskirts and all the investigators went missing. Three days later, the crying sounds vanished without any intervention.'
As he read the records of these cases, Le Xaan was startled and felt greatly worried and restless.
This world seemed to be full of dangerous, eerie things. The residents' lives here were indeed of considerable hardships. But they didn't break down or go mad.
He then opened another book, in which the recorded incidents were even more awesome.
"The One Hundred and Nineteenth Year of the Great Song Dynasty, Gourain City was stricken by a severe blizzard before the Dragon God manifested the divine presence. Three days later, the snow that lasted for a dozen days came to a halt."
"The One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Year of the Great Song Dynasty, a heavy fog appeared on the path leading to the Zewa CIty, and anyone entered it would lost their orientation and reappeared on the seashore miles away. Ten days later, the fog dissipated."
Till that point, the case was made clear to Le Xaan that demons, ghosts, and other supernatural existences could probably indeed be found in this world.
As far as he was concerned, he had no idea how an average person could change the weather.
He moved the chair, took up a flint, and lit the candle on the table.
The bright yellow candlelight illuminated his face, which showed a mixed expression.
"If this world is truly as dangerous as I guess, how can I protect myself?"
He asked himself.
After considering the question for a moment, he rose up, extinguished the candlelight and put away the books. Then he pushed open the door and walked out.
"Young Master, Do you finish reading?"
Qiki was startled by Le Xaan's sudden appearance but quickly caught herself.
"Yes. Do you know where is Elder Zanr now?"
Le Xaan asked casually.
The Elder Zaner mentioned was the first-ranking martial arts expert in the entire Le family, acknowledged by Le Finn. His full name was Zaner Hueo.
"Well... Elder Zaner usually work out and train the other guards at this time. " Qiki was well-informed because of her friendship with the other servants.
"Let's go and look for him."
After quite a while of consideration, Le Xaan decided that he should learn some martial arts, and this would allow him some self-defensive power. Elder Zaner was the most accessible martial arts master for him.
Walking down the path, Le Xaan found his way to the rear part of the mansion.
Across a large open space, an elder with grayish-white hair was leading over ten family guards in training their martial arts.
The morning sunlight shone down and the atmosphere here was tense yet peaceful.
Zaner Hueo, the martial arts master, wore a set of tight-fitting combat clothes with a thick-backed broadsword on his back.
Le Xaan stood by and watched.
Zaner Hueo went on coaching the family guards for a while before letting them continue independently.
He walked over toward Le Xaan.
"Young Master Xaan, what brings you here? May I help you?"
Zaner Hueo, along with several other martial arts experts, was of high status in the Le family and no less respected than the young masters and young ladies like Le Xaan.
Le Xaan looked over at those family guards who were still exercising.
"Elder Zaner, I want to learn martial arts."
Upon hearing this, the smile on Zner Hueo's face froze.
"Young Master Xaan, are you kidding me?"
"No, not at all." Le Xaan shook his head.
After a thorough consideration, he thought that it was sensible to gain self-preservation power by learning martial arts.
Zaner Hueo was among the top few experts in all of Gourian CIty, renowned for his exceptional blade skills.
Zaner Hueo gazed at the serious-looking Le Xaan and shook his head.
"Young Master Xaan, if you really want to learn martial arts. It's okay. I can teach you all of mine. But you are already an adult that your bone structure solidification was completed. Thus, some martial skills would be hard for you to grasp. If one couldn't completely grasp them, their power would be discounted. "
"It's nothing, as long as you're willing teach me, Elder Zaner."
By then, Le Xaan was of a mind to not only learn some martial skills but also verify some of his guesses.
Zaner pondered for a while before nodding in agreement to his request.
"Alright. I have no offspring myself. And I enjoyed a pleasant life in the Le family over the years thanks to Lord Le Finn's kindness. Thus, you don't need to go on an apprenticeship ceremony, even though, traditionally, you would. Just remember, don't pass on these teachings to anyone else."
Zaner Hueo waved his hand as he said.
As the Le family's eldest son, Le Xaan would take over the family's businesses sooner or later.
As such, Zaner Hueo was of a mind to be friendly with Le Xaan.
"But, Young Master Xaan, I think you need to know one thing."
"What?" Le Xaan wondered.
Zaner Hueo smoothed his beard and said seriously,
"Young Master Xaan, I know you were exposed to a strong stimulus after witnessing the massacre on the morning that you wish to protect yourself by practicing martial arts. However, I can reassure you that even the the strongest martial art master was unable to deal with those eerie things."
"...Well, I got it..."
Le Xaan nodded.
"But I just feel uneasy, so I was of a mind to do my best."
"I'm glad you understand this, Young Master Xaan." Then Zaner Hueo took a brochure out of his bosom. It was wrapped with layers of yellow satin.
On the cover, it read, "Black Tiger Blade Style".