Jianghu Qimen Lu

Upon hearing this, Huang Miwu suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Ah! This is a precious relic presented to a shrine by a wandering Taoist priest during the Heian period of Japan. It's known as a 'national treasure among national treasures'! It's called a gold-plated mother-of-pearl hair-pulling tachi! This tachi, because of its extreme value, caused a bloodbath among many shrines in Japan. A shrine, as the name suggests, is the dwelling place of gods, a place for worshipping and enshrining deities in Shintoism. It has various names such as taisha, jingu, and jinsha. It is the center of Shinto faith, and even more..." It is a spiritual totem for the Japanese. This tachi was originally housed at Izumo Taisha, one of Japan's oldest shrines. Later, for various reasons, it circulated among Kyoto's Yasaka Shrine, Heian Shrine, and Itsukushima Shrine. After several changes of ownership, it finally found its home at Meiji Shrine, which enshrines Emperor Meiji. The blade is 74.3 cm long and 6 mm thick, with a slight curve. The edge gleams with a beautiful, electric white light! And the 3 fish roe engraved on the high-purity gold hilt further exemplify the sword's luxury and nobility!

The red moon instantly remembered someone! This person was Fujibayashi Toshikaku, the head of the Koga Fujibayashi Clan, one of the largest ninja families in Japan! As one of the Four Fiends of the Underworld, the Fujibayashi Jonin was his sole heir! The Fujibayashi Clan possessed a legendary treasure that shook the martial arts world—the Golden Mother-of-Pearl Hair-Pulling Katana, which was the token worn by each successive head of the clan!

Huang Miwu was quite surprised and puzzled. He said to Shi Qian, "Fujibayashi Shunke's grandfather, Fujibayashi Yasutsugu, wrote a groundbreaking book on ninja training techniques in 1676—'Mansenshukai.' It became a required textbook for the Japanese government to train spies and assassins, and a classic martial arts book that martial artists eagerly sought to study. Fujibayashi Yasutsugu's fame soared, and countless people came to study under him; he truly had students all over the world. To win him over, the Japanese Prime Minister personally bestowed upon him the national treasure-level ancient divine weapon—the Golden-Patterned Mother-of-Pearl Hair-Pulling Sword—as a reward, and ordered him to oversee ninjutsu throughout the land. Thus, Fujibayashi Yasutsugu served in Iga, Koga, and Kiga provinces..." He distinguished himself among the various schools of martial arts in Isan Province, eventually forming his own school known as the Koga Fujibayashi Family! That golden katana naturally became a symbol of the family, akin to the exclusive emblem of the sect leader! By the time of Fujibayashi Toshikaku, he was the third generation. How could such a profound and unfathomable martial arts master have lost a national treasure in your hands?! No one would believe it! Tell me the details of the theft, how did you manage to steal it?” Shi Qian rolled his eyes, thinking, “This one-eyed dragon still won’t admit my skills! Hmph, let’s see how I use my silver tongue to boast, so that you bunch of snobbish beasts will open your eyes wide and stare dumbfounded.”

He then began to recount his story, swaying his head: "Seeing his sword so dazzling, I was secretly delighted. After the drinking party with my friends, I followed this Japanese samurai from a distance, and we checked into an inn together. We were separated by only a wall. In the middle of the night, hearing his thunderous snoring, I quietly took out my tools and dug a large hole in the wall, sneaking through! When I got to his room, I found that the Japanese devil curled up in bed, fast asleep, a satisfied look on his face. His golden sword was casually tossed on the table—truly, what I'd been searching for had been right under my nose!" "It came so easily, yet it was stolen so readily by a scoundrel!" Red Moon said to Huang Miwu, "Tokyo, Japan, isn't far from here, only about 150 kilometers away. It's not surprising that Fujibayashi Shunke came to Bashu, especially since his only son is trapped in the water dungeon of the Hangzhou General's Mansion! To save his son, and for the 'Complete Book of Jianghu,' he has every reason to fight! I always feel that he acted this way intentionally, as if some purpose was driving him to do it! Uncle Huang, don't you think so?" Huang Miwu nodded in agreement, "I have the same thought!"

"Open the package! Let me see this golden sword!" White Lightning needed to see the real sword with his own eyes to determine whether Koga Fujibayashi Toshikazu had truly appeared in Yangzhou! He was considering things more thoroughly and still didn't believe that this steel sword was a real Japanese national treasure!

Shi Qian untied the package and placed it on the ground, about to open it—unexpectedly, a flash of white light appeared, and a long, swift claw suddenly swept across from the roof of the main hall, accurately grabbing the package and then rapidly retracting back to its original position! It all happened in the blink of an eye. By the time everyone realized what had happened, a hole appeared in the roof, and the figure vanished in a flash! White Lightning and Yellow Mist hurriedly leaped out of the main hall, soaring into the sky and landing on the roof ridge. But looking around, all they saw was a crescent moon, sparse starlight, and ancient eaves and arches rising and falling—no one was to be seen.

"Oh no! We must hurry to the Shi Gong Temple, be careful, something might happen!" Bai Shandian suddenly blurted out this sentence, leaving Huang Miwu completely bewildered. He couldn't help but ask, "Lord Bai, what do you mean by 'be careful, something might happen'?" Bai Shandian's face immediately turned red, and he hurriedly covered it up, saying, "Nothing! We must immediately march to the Shi Gong Temple by Plum Blossom Ridge to capture the Red Flower Society and the Southern Fist School rebels!" He jumped off the roof first. He went to the main hall and directly called out to Shi Qian: "You must lead the way and guide our main force to the Shi Gong Temple immediately!" Seeing that he was not being punished for his theft, Shi Qian was overjoyed and jumped up, happily becoming the guide.

When Bai Shandian led his troops to the Shi Gong Ancestral Hall, it was already dawn. However, apart from Shi Yanshi, who was fast asleep inside, there was no one else there! Shi Qian smiled awkwardly and had no choice but to wake his third uncle, asking, "This is the army sent by the imperial court! Tell me quickly! Where have all the Red Flower Society rebels who were hiding here gone?!" Shi Yanshi looked innocent, staring at him with utter confusion, "What nonsense are you spouting so early in the morning! What Red Flower Society? What hiding? I don't understand any of it! What exactly do you want to tell your third uncle?"

Seeing that he pretended to be unaffected, Shi Qian became enraged and slapped him twice across the face! A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and Shi Yanshi trembled with rage, cursing, "You disrespectful beast! How dare you, in front of our ancestors, commit such an act of disrespect, assaulting your elders! Aren't you afraid of the ancestral spirits' wrath?!" Shi Qian spat and retorted, "You still have the nerve to talk about ancestors! You colluded with rebels and plotted treason, which is already a great disrespect to our ancestors. Now you've released rebels and you're pretending nothing happened. You've truly degenerated and have no shame!" "Shi Yanshi, having completely abandoned all pretense of civility, roared, 'Who willingly degenerates? Who has no shame? You seven cousins ​​have colluded with Magistrate Gui Nanna, working together in wicked ways. To become a mere constable, you've even had your ancestral graves dug up and your ancestral hall demolished! You seven are worse than pigs and dogs! You've even sold out your own ancestors, are you even human?! Beasts, utter beasts!' Enraged, Shi Qian drew his dagger, its cold light flashing, and plunged it towards his third uncle's chest! It seemed his anger had risen from the depths of his heart, and he was driven by malice, wanting to spill blood on his own family's ancestral hall!"

Unexpectedly, his right wrist was suddenly gripped tightly by a large hand. Turning around, he saw it was none other than the Imperial Envoy, Bai Shandian! He angrily rebuked him: "Who gave you such audacity? Who gave you such confidence? How dare you kill someone in public! Moreover, this happened in your ancestral hall, and the one you killed was your own elder. Are you even human? Aren't you afraid of being punished by your ancestors? You are committing treason!" He snatched the dagger from his hand, and with a whoosh, threw it. With a loud thud, it embedded itself deeply in the roof beam, all the way to the hilt!

Shi Qian knew this imperial envoy was no ordinary man; he was capricious and unpredictable. Seeing the immense force with which the envoy threw the flying knife, he knew the envoy must be equally enraged. Shi Qian immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly, and said in utter terror, "Your Excellency, spare my life! I truly did not lie! After obtaining the golden katana, I fled home in haste. When I passed by the Shi Gong Temple, I truly saw through the crack in the door a large group of Red Flower Society rebels, about a hundred of them, secretly talking with my third uncle in this room! Heaven and earth bear witness! If I have uttered a single lie, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death!"