Chapter 12 His Unusual Blade

"This officer..." Just as Fang Jin was in shock, a man's voice sounded beside him, "Your blade seems… extraordinary."

Fang Jin turned his head in response, and his blood ran cold.

He hadn't even noticed anyone approaching until the voice spoke.

Yet, when he looked back, he found two more people at the table in front of him.

These two were dressed quite ordinarily, looking to be around twenty-five years old, thirty at most.

The people around them, including the owner of the tea shop, hadn't realized when these two had appeared, as if...they had been sitting there from the start.

"Gentlemen..." Fang Jin was, after all, a formidable character. Even though he was inwardly alarmed, he remained outwardly calm. "Do we know each other?"

This question was, in reality, a pointless one.

But sometimes, pointless words have their uses.

They can give you time to think, help you probe the other party's reaction, and be used to evade the previous question they asked.

"We don't." [Sushi] looked at Fang Jin with a rather wooden expression, then continued, "But I think, since we're already sitting together, we might as well get acquainted."

"Heh… good then." Fang Jin sneered, muttering, "I am Fang Jin."

He only gave his name, revealing nothing else, and didn't even use polite words like "I" or "this humble one."

"I'm Sushi." Sushi didn't give his full game ID; even if the system would help correct the incongruity of that word in the NPC's mind, it still felt strange to him.

"Hic… This humble one is [Meng Jingchan]." At this moment, Brother Chan, who had been drinking "BYOB" next to him, chimed in appropriately, adding a hearty burp.

Fang Jin's gaze swept over the faces of the two men once more, then he thought to himself, "Yu Pian… Meng Jingchan… Hmm… Never heard of them…"

Although Fang Jin wasn't a member of the martial world, he knew a great deal about it. If there were any young experts who could approach him so silently, he would at least know their names.

"So… Brother Yu, Brother Meng…" Fang Jin pondered for a few seconds before asking, "I won't beat around the bush with you two. May I ask… why have you sought me out?"

"Just a few small matters." Sushi replied, "Firstly…" As he spoke, he turned his head and glanced at the woman with the twin blades, who was walking further and further away on the road. "...If I'm not mistaken… Brother Fang has noticed that she is no ordinary person and intends to try and probe her…" He paused. "The main reason we came over was to advise you… don't."

"Oh?" Fang Jin raised an eyebrow. "So, you recognize her?"

"I do." Sushi said.

"Who is she?" Fang Jin asked again.

"Someone who has come to seize the sword manual." Sushi said.

"Many people have come to seize the sword manual." Fang Jin said.

"Many." Sushi said.

"What makes her different?" Fang Jin asked.

As soon as he said this, Meng Jingchan, with his slightly tipsy expression, jokingly replied, "Brother Fang, are there many people in this town who can kill you?"

Asked such a question, Fang Jin didn't get angry. On the contrary, his attitude became even calmer. "Not many."

"Hmm…" Meng Jingchan nodded, picked up the white wine he had brought with him, and took a sip. "Now there are more."

"You mean… she can kill me?" Fang Jin asked. By the time he said this, the woman's silhouette had disappeared down the road.

"Sure, she can." Meng Jingchan smiled. "Not only her, but we can too." As he spoke, he casually raised his hand and pointed at himself and Sushi.

To a modern person, this might sound like a joke, but to the ears of someone in the martial world, it was undoubtedly a very serious provocation.

"Oh?" Fang Jin was also a martial artist, and when he heard this, his blood naturally surged.

He was just about to say the second half of the sentence, "Why don't we try it out," but…

Sushi quickly cut him off, saying, "Brother Fang, don't be angry. My Brother Chan is a drunkard, he speaks without thinking and doesn't mean to offend you."

Upon hearing this, the expression on Fang Jin's face changed several times. After about five seconds of silence, he snorted. "Hmph… Forget it…"

Others might not be able to tell, but Sushi, whose forte was "listening," knew exactly what Fang Jin had been thinking.

During those five seconds, Fang Jin had thought of something very important—since these two could approach him completely unnoticed and sit down safely, killing him… would indeed not be difficult.

For one thing, if those two quietly put some poison in Fang Jin's teacup, he would probably already be a dead man.

Thinking of this, reason prevailed over momentary impulse…

Fang Jin's thoughts and reactions, including when he first noticed the woman with the twin blades, would all be reflected in subtle physical characteristics such as his heartbeat, breathing, pulse, and eyes.

And all of these… without exception, could not escape Sushi's eyes and ears.

These two experts from Order were the first group of players to arrive in Linlu Town. Experienced as they were, they didn't rush into the town to explore, but instead stayed near the main road at the entrance of the town, waiting and quietly observing.

They were well aware that… players were their opponents, and the only targets they needed to be wary of and pay attention to.

As for NPCs like Fang Jin, who had special functions, they were resources that could be used…

…………

Now, let's shift the focus to the other side of the town.

A secluded place.

An empty alley.

Two people stood face to face.

He carried a sword.

He carried a sword too.

He was Mian Daoren, a well-known swordsman in the martial world.

And he was just "Zhang San," a passerby who would never be given a second glance in a crowd.

"Daozhang, we don't know each other, why have you stopped me here?" He said this, but Zhang San's tone was not at all like that of someone facing a "stranger."

"Legend has it…" Mian Daoren didn't take Zhang San's words to heart. He continued to speak to himself, "In the martial world, there is a mysterious assassin. No one has ever seen his true face or heard his true voice, and no one knows how old he is or how high his martial arts are. What is certain is that… every time he appears, he will become another person, and even those closest to that person will find it difficult to tell the difference."

Mian Daoren paused at this point. "To be honest, I never thought I would encounter the most mysterious and terrifying assassin in the martial world… ‘Mirror’… at this time and place."

"Oh?" Mirror sneered. "Then I'm curious… Since even those closest to a person can't tell the difference, how did you see… that I am ‘Mirror’?"

"Coincidence." Mian Daoren only replied with two words.

Two words were enough.

Mirror thought for a moment, then said, "Do you know Zhang San?"

"I do." Mian Daoren said.

"What is he to you?" Mirror said.

"He is my benefactor." Mian Daoren said.

"A hunter from the mountains is your benefactor?" Mirror questioned.

"People always have bad luck sometimes." Mian Daoren said again.

"I see…" Mirror didn't need to ask for more details on that aspect. He turned to ask, "Then how did you see that I am a fake?"

"It's simple." Mian Daoren replied, "To repay Zhang San's life-saving grace, I taught him a unique internal energy cultivation method."

"But I… don't have that kind of internal energy." Mirror continued.

"You don't." Mian Daoren also said.

"And my appearance and voice… are all the same as Zhang San's." Mirror continued to say.

"Exactly the same." Mian Daoren said.

"Could I not be his twin brother?" Mirror asked.

"Even if you were twin brothers, it's impossible for you to have the same walking posture." Mian Daoren said.

"Have you not considered… perhaps Zhang San lost the internal energy you taught him due to some reason?" Mirror asked again.

"I have." Mian Daoren said, "But that doesn't explain how this ‘Zhang San’ got involved with Wang Qiong."

"Heh heh… I see." Mirror laughed. "You have been secretly monitoring Wang Qiong's residence all along, haven't you…"

"Indeed." Mian Daoren frankly admitted this matter. "So, when I saw a person who looked exactly like Zhang San but didn't have my unique internal energy, I knew… Zhang San was dead, and the person in front of me is… you."

"Hmm… this is indeed a coincidence." Mirror nodded. "I really didn't expect… an ordinary hunter to know Mian Daoren and even carry an internal energy that I couldn't detect."

"Why Zhang San?" When he asked this question, Mian Daoren's expression was very cold, and his voice was even colder. "Does his identity have special value?"

"Heh heh…" Mirror smiled. "'Nothing special' is precisely where its value lies." He said slowly, "It is very dangerous to transform into those ‘special people.’ I only do that when the mission requires it. Most of the time, I live as ‘Zhang San,’ ‘Li Si,’ ‘Wang Wu,’ and the like." He proudly continued, "You should understand the principle of hiding a tree in the forest, right? So, I always have a dozen or so identities like ‘Zhang San’ ready at any time."

Having said this, Mirror paused for a few seconds, then said again, "Heh heh… However, judging from the current situation, the next time I ‘take’ such an identity, I'll have to be more careful."

"You won't have a next time." In that instant, Mian Daoren's killing intent and sword energy enveloped him along with his voice.

"Heh heh… Is that so?" Mirror was still laughing, laughing very easily. In the next second, his voice suddenly changed, becoming Mian Daoren's voice. "Then I can only ask Daozhang… to enlighten me…"