Immortal Travel of Longevity

Scholar-Swordsman smiled. "Spare me the provocations, you old fossil. I have never been bound by convention. Furthermore, despite whatever I might have said in the past, I came here today to repay a life-saving debt. I am not in the wrong."

"So you owe a favor."

Scholar-Swordsman's expression abruptly darkened. He raised his sword and snapped, "Enough nonsense. Hand over the ledger, and I'll spare your lives!"

The jianghu never bothered distinguishing right from wrong; it was merely a matter of opposing stances.

Scholar-Swordsman was here to repay a debt.

The retainers in the hall were no different. Mere wealth could never compel figures of their caliber.

They were crass men who nonetheless refused to succumb to the mundane.

"Then come and try!"

With a sharp shout, the man who had been wiping his saber fixed him with a piercing glare.

Murderous intent flared.

Someone stepped up to Tang Yuerong and hurried her away. A brutal fight was inevitable here; letting her stay would only invite unnecessary complications.

Moments later, the ringing clash of saber and sword echoed through the hall.

The saber wielder and Scholar-Swordsman clashed head-on, trading blows without either side giving an inch.

The longer they fought, the more alarmed Scholar-Swordsman became. No matter how he looked at it, this saber technique was incredibly familiar.

"You're the apprentice of that saber grinder!"

During the battle at Nanbeilou years ago, that old saber grinder had left a profound impression on Scholar-Swordsman. Seeing this familiar technique again, he made the connection in an instant.

The saber wielder cleaved downward, his vitality surging, and shouted, "You dare get distracted in a fight to the death?"

Scholar-Swordsman hurriedly backed away, dodging the strike.

The saber smashed into the floor, instantly splintering the wooden planks with a deafening crack and sending sawdust flying.

Scholar-Swordsman raised his sleeve to shield himself, taking another half-step back.

The two clashed like a dragon fighting a tiger, both dancing along the razor's edge of life and death.

In the side hall, Tang Yuerong gripped her chair's armrest, her palms slick with sweat. The anxiety gnawing at her heart refused to fade.

Listening to the clash of saber and sword outside, a sliver of fear gripped her.

She might possess a sharp strategic mind, but brutal fights to the death still terrified her. After all, she was only an ordinary mortal; there was no shame in feeling fear.

Instead, her pressing concern was for Tang Shijing and Tang Zheng.

If the Tang Manor was in such dire straits, they must be in even greater peril.

Their attackers clearly intended to swallow the family whole. Yet, their rushed assault confirmed one thing for Tang Yuerong: either Tang Shijing or Tang Zheng had successfully slipped away. Otherwise, the enemy wouldn't have grown desperate enough to force an attack now.

Three men and one woman.

Aside from Scholar-Swordsman, the other two jianghu experts who had accompanied him were now locked in combat with the remaining retainers.

Only the woman remained still. She calmly watched the brawl with a spear cradled in her arms, looking somewhat amused and in no hurry to strike.

Scholar-Swordsman and his two allies were locked in a grueling melee. Fighting outnumbered was no easy feat, and seeing the woman idly standing by infuriated him. "Are you going to just stand there?!" he yelled.

The woman with the spear shot him a sideways glance. "I'm only here to find someone."

Scholar-Swordsman scowled, cursed under his breath, and refocused on his duel with the saber wielder.

This trip to the Tang Manor today had truly opened his eyes.

Every single one of these retainers could easily rank in the top twenty of the Sword and Saber Leaderboards out in the jianghu. This saber wielder, in particular, could easily claim a spot in the top five of the Saber Leaderboard.

To have gathered such a formidable group under one roof, the Tang Manor's influence was truly terrifying.

However, after such a prolonged struggle, first blood was finally drawn.

One of Scholar-Swordsman's allies broke through the combined assault of two retainers. He drove his sword into one man's shoulder, then instantly spun around, his blade flicking up to knock away another's hat and leaving a bleeding gash across his forehead.

The two retainers stumbled back, their expressions growing grim.

Seizing the opening, the three invaders grouped up and launched a blistering offensive.

Although these retainers had once wielded fearsome reputations in the jianghu, they were no longer in their prime. Fighting against three younger experts, they inevitably began to lose ground and suffer wounds.

The momentum shifted entirely in Scholar-Swordsman's favor.

Three men alone were dismantling eight elite retainers of the Tang Manor!

And that wasn't even factoring in the woman who had spent the entire battle watching idly from the rear.

Seeing this, Scholar-Swordsman laughed. "I respect you all as seniors of the jianghu, and I have no desire to slaughter you. Won't you all just back down?"

The saber wielder spoke up, his voice hard. "I've survived to this day only by the grace of the old master of the Tang Manor. I may not be a famous name, and I may have left the jianghu, but I still know the meaning of loyalty. If you want to pass, you'll have to step over my corpse!"

"Good!"

Scholar-Swordsman admired his righteous courage.

But he had no intention of holding back.

The two clashed for several more exchanges.

Trading blows and parries, they constantly tested each other's defenses.

As the duel dragged on, the saber wielder surnamed Wu grew visibly unsteady. A few staggering steps left a sudden, glaring opening in his guard.

Scholar-Swordsman seized the opportunity and thrust his sword forward.

Even as the long saber cleaved toward his shoulder, Scholar-Swordsman's blade pierced straight through the older man's chest.

"Shhk!"

"Shhk!"

The sickening sounds of metal tearing through flesh rang out in unison.

The long saber bit deep into Scholar-Swordsman's shoulder, sending blood streaming down his arm. But his longsword had already shattered the heart meridian of the saber wielder surnamed Wu.

The older man's body immediately went limp.

Scholar-Swordsman withdrew his sword. "You were already old, Senior," he murmured. "Why did you have to meddle in the affairs of the jianghu?"

With those words, the saber wielder collapsed to the floor.

A sudden silence fell over the hall.

Scholar-Swordsman flicked the blood from his blade and turned his gaze to the remaining seven retainers.

With a single gesture, the slaughter resumed.

Fighting as a trio, suffering multiple wounds in the process, they systematically struck down the remaining seven men. Naturally, not all were killed. There were those among the retainers who valued their lives; by collapsing at the critical moment, they could surrender the fight and survive. Such were the unwritten rules of the jianghu, where knowing when to stop was enough to spare a life—but it also meant they could never show their faces in the martial world again.

Fighting outnumbered, the trio hadn't emerged unscathed.

Scholar-Swordsman and his two companions were covered in bleeding gashes.

Taking a deep breath, Scholar-Swordsman barked, "Fan out and search!"

The three men immediately scrambled into action.

Scholar-Swordsman paused and shot a venomous glare at the woman still standing idly in the hall. "What use are you?" he spat. "You came all this way just to stand there scowling and refuse to lift a finger? Why are you even here?"

The spear-wielding woman said nothing, merely raising an eyebrow.

Scholar-Swordsman scoffed coldly before turning away to hunt for Tang Yuerong through the sprawling manor.

His first target was the ledger, and his second was the woman herself!

The Chancellor needed the Tang Manor brought to heel. The easiest path was to capture a member of the Tang family to serve as a puppet. Tang Yuerong might be a woman, but she held enough authority to be useful.

But at that exact moment...

A heavy cadence of thudding hooves suddenly echoed from outside the gates.

"Clop, clop..."

"Crash!"

The manor's heavy gates splintered apart as a black horse kicked its way through the entrance.

"Neigh!"

The horse let out a piercing whinny and came to a halt right in the middle of the courtyard!

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!