The First Sword of the Universe

Chapter 420 Fortune Comes! Fortune Comes!
After leaving Tianlong Temple, Xu Xingchen had another encounter with Kumārajīva.

Without lingering, they headed straight for where the jade statue was hidden.

The place was located halfway up a cliff, a place that monkeys could hardly cross and birds could hardly find. He blocked the entrance to the cave with stones, so that it would not be discovered by people or destroyed by animals.

An hour later, he returned to Dali City with the jade statue wrapped in black cloth on his shoulder.

By this time, it had gotten dark, the moon was high in the sky, and the stars were everywhere.

Xu Xingchen returned to the inn where she had left her carriage.

"Oh, sir, you're finally back!"

"It's been so many days since we last met. I thought you were too forgetful and had forgotten that there was a carriage here with us."

The innkeeper hurriedly came forward, bowing and smiling broadly, showering him with compliments.

"Haha, I was delayed for a few days. I'll make up for the shortfall in feeding the horses!" Xu Xingchen chuckled and went to the counter. He said to the manager who was doing the accounting, "Manager, please book a room and send some food to my room."

The shopkeeper looked up and smiled, "Sir, you're back! Okay, I'll have a waiter take you upstairs right away."

A person like Xu Xingchen, carrying a statue wrapped in black cloth on his shoulder, is unforgettable to anyone who sees him.

After registering her name and paying the deposit, Xu Xingchen went upstairs led by the waiter.

A moment later, the waiter brought over a tray with one hand, some food and a pot of tea, said, "Enjoy your meal!" and turned to leave.

After the door closed, Xu Xingchen went to the table, poured herself a cup of tea to moisten her throat, and then picked up her chopsticks to eat and drink.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, he began to analyze the cultivation methods of the Six Meridians Divine Sword in order to fill his own martial arts knowledge base.

A short while later, the waiter, anticipating that the guests had finished eating, came up and cleared away the dishes.

Then, clean towels for washing up and half a basin of hot water were brought over.

After washing up, Xu Xingchen returned to bed, sat cross-legged, and entered a meditative state.

A night of silence.
The next morning, bright sunlight shone through the window paper, disturbing Xu Xingchen who was cultivating.

He slowly opened his eyes, withdrew the wisp of divine light, sat quietly for a moment, then loosened his legs, got out of bed and put on his shoes.

After having breakfast, Xu Xingchen carried the jade statue on his shoulder and went to the backyard of the inn.

The waiter had already led the horse out of the stable and harnessed it to the carriage, waiting for the arrival of Xu Xingchen, this distinguished guest.

There was nothing they could do; Xu Xingchen was incredibly generous, and the money he used for tips was enough to cover the waiter's monthly salary.

After placing the statue on the carriage frame, Xu Xingchen also boarded the carriage shaft, cracked his long whip to fire a loud blast, and drove the carriage out of the inn.

Xu Xingchen did not go to the Zhennan Prince's Mansion to say goodbye, but went straight out of the city and headed south.

They traveled south for more than half a month, then turned north. Gradually, the mountains became fewer and fewer, the plains became more and more numerous, and the rivers gradually became denser.

Xu Xingchen not only drove the carriage on land, but sometimes also crossed rivers by boat.

As they walked, a light drizzle would occasionally fall from the sky, soaking Xu Xingchen completely and also wetting the jade statue on the car behind them.

Xu Xingchen's jade statue is not afraid of wind and rain, but the black cloth that wraps it is not good. Wrapping the jade statue with a wet black cloth will probably damage it very quickly.

Left with no other choice, he found a skilled carpenter in a town along the way and had him add a spacious roof to the carriage. After thinking it over, he also had the carpenter make several wooden boxes of different sizes for future use.

Then, we continued on our journey.

Despite the prosperity of the Northern Song Dynasty, merchants and caravans traveling on the road still frequently encountered bandits and river pirates who would rob them.

At such times, the escorted merchant caravans would exchange glances with the menacing bandits and river pirates, exchange a few coded words, and unless there was a deep-seated grudge, they would usually just pay some tea money and let it go.

Merchants traveling without guards must assess their own martial arts skills, and how skilled they are. Can they defeat their opponent? And if they can't win, can they outrun them?
If you have no guards and don't know martial arts, then it's up to fate whether you'll live.

If God saves your life, you won't encounter bandits or robbers, and your journey will be smooth.

If Heaven doesn't let you live, you'll be beheaded by bandits and your body dumped in the wilderness.

If you are a beautiful woman, your fate will be even more tragic!
Now, these bandits and river pirates who robbed people along the way have become Xu Xingchen's gold mine.

He still adhered to the general principles of conduct in the world of Swordsman: when encountering bandits and river pirates, he would kill them all, then raid their strongholds, set them on fire, and leave.

They traveled, killed, and collected gold and silver treasures along the way.
Before he even reached Suzhou, the several large and small wooden crates prepared in the carriage were already packed full.

Having no other choice, he bought another horse-drawn carriage and made several wooden crates.

Continue on the road, continue to fight evil, and continue to "make" money.

When he arrived in Suzhou in two horse-drawn carriages, it was the third month of spring.

A spring breeze swept across the lake embankment, the peach blossoms were in full bloom, and young ladies and scholars were enjoying the spring outing everywhere.

Other pedestrians and merchants also crowded into Suzhou city, making it extremely lively.

Xu Xingchen connected the two carriages together with ropes, one in front of the other, and then sat in the front carriage and drove forward.

One of the ruffians, seeing that the carriage behind was unattended, reached out and lifted the curtain. He found it empty as well, but filled with several large and small boxes. His eyes lit up. They exchanged glances, and one of them leaped up and quickly climbed into the carriage to see what was inside the boxes.
Passersby, seeing their actions, dared not disturb them and turned their heads away as if they hadn't seen anything.

He sighed inwardly, thinking, "That driver was incredibly unlucky to have encountered these scoundrels."

The hooligans were quite pleased with themselves when they saw that their "tiger's might" had intimidated the passersby and made them afraid to meddle.

Then, the focus shifted back to the car.

In their minds, no matter what was inside those wooden boxes, even if they were empty, they would secretly empty them and sell them to make money for food, drink, and entertainment.

The man who climbed into the carriage opened the unlocked wooden crate, and his eyes widened immediately upon seeing a pile of gold and silver jewelry. His breathing became heavy and labored.

He didn't come to his senses until someone pulled at his clothes from behind.

He quickly turned around, gestured with his hands to his accomplices outside, and grinned from ear to ear.

His companions understood the gestures of the people in the car, their eyes widened, and then their faces revealed greedy and fierce expressions.

They exchanged a glance and prepared to move the wooden crates out of the carriage.

Before they could even move, tiny pebbles flew through the air and sealed their acupoints.

At the same time, the carriage that had been moving forward came to a stop.

Xu Xingchen walked to the back of the carriage and looked at the hooligans who were panicked and unable to move. He then raised his riding whip high.

*Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!*
The crisp crack of whips echoed through the wide street, and pedestrians on both sides turned to look at the sound.

Those scoundrels who usually roamed the streets stood there motionless, letting the whip lash them repeatedly, tearing their clothes, leaving bloodstains and welts.
However, those few scoundrels were able to withstand such pain without uttering a sound.

The crowd initially thought these men were tough, but upon closer inspection, they immediately noticed that their faces were twitching violently, their eyes and eyebrows were trembling, and their eyes were filled with intense emotions of unbearable pain.

Immediately afterwards, tears streamed from their eyes and slid down their cheeks.

The people around were thoroughly enjoying themselves, feeling incredibly satisfied!

Wielding his whip, Xu Xingchen lashed each person more than a dozen times, then flicked out small pebbles to release the pressure points on their bodies.

"Ah~~~!"

"Ouch, that hurts!"

"It hurts so much!!!"

The few ruffians who regained their mobility let out a bloodcurdling scream, and hurriedly rubbed their wounds with their hands. But when their palms touched the wounds, they couldn't help but howl in pain again.

His body was trembling like a leaf!
The way they looked at Xu Xingchen was like looking at a hungry tiger in the mountains; they were terrified and filled with fear.

At this moment, they understood perfectly well that they had encountered a legendary martial arts master.
"Run away!"

One of them shouted, and the others immediately turned around and tried to run away.

Before he could even take a step, his body stiffened again, and he couldn't move!
This time, however, they were only unable to move their bodies, but they could still speak.

After a few panicked shouts, someone burst into tears and pleaded with Xu Xingchen, "Great hero, we were blind and foolish to covet your valuables. Please have mercy and spare our lives!"

Xu Xingchen glanced at the group and said calmly, "I can release your pressure points, but you must follow the carriage and come with me."

The scoundrels, thinking Xu Xingchen was unwilling to let them go, were terrified and cried out to the sky, "Murder! Someone is trying to kill someone!"

"Help! Save us!"

However, no matter how loudly they shouted, the pedestrians on both sides of the street just watched and whispered among themselves.

Many locals know these scoundrels and have been bullied by them in the past, but they have no choice but to swallow their anger.

Today, they finally saw an even more powerful villain punish them, and they all felt extremely pleased, with no one willing to lend them a hand.

Besides, anyone who could subdue them must be a legendary martial arts master. Why would these passersby and merchants on the street be out of their minds to help these scoundrels?!

Xu Xingchen didn't want to hear these guys' arguing either, so he first sealed their speech acupoints with pebbles, and then warned, "If you dare to shout again, I'll cut out your tongues so you can never speak again!"

Then, he released their pressure points again and commanded, "Come with me!"

Having said that, he turned around and returned to the carriage shaft in front, driving the carriage forward again.

The group of scoundrels looked at each other, speechless with despair.

No one dared to sneak away; they could only follow the carriage step by step out of the city gate.

Xu Xingchen drove the carriage and stopped it on the lake embankment in the suburbs.

He beckoned them over and asked, "I'm looking for a place outside Suzhou to build a villa. Where do you think would be suitable?"

The group of hooligans stared wide-eyed, utterly bewildered, thinking to themselves, "Great hero, have you mistaken us for someone else?! We're just street thugs, how would we know anything about these things?"

(End of this chapter)