Chapter 351: A Sword with a Spirit

Hua Erniang’s husband was a mortal swordsman who once shook the martial world of Great Wu decades ago. People called him the “Free Wanderer Swordsman.”

As the saying goes, “There are only mistaken names, never mistaken nicknames.” This “Free Wanderer Swordsman,” Yang Ping, was a man of chivalry, always standing up for the weak.

Whether it was a wealthy landowner or a tyrant ruling over a region, he would stand against them without hesitation.

At eighteen, he ventured into the martial world, and by twenty-three, he had already made a name for himself.

However, with great fame came many enemies. His foes came from various factions, united by a common goal—to eliminate the Free Wanderer Swordsman.

Hua Erniang, intrigued by the stories, joined the hunt.

Yet, as she followed the traces of the Free Wanderer Swordsman, hearing tales of his deeds, she found herself increasingly fascinated by this mortal swordsman.

During an ambush, he was cornered in a valley with no escape.

But against all odds, he single-handedly slaughtered foes numbering a hundred times his own.

What shocked Hua Erniang the most was that, despite being drenched in blood, the Free Wanderer Swordsman suffered only minor wounds.

Still, no matter how skilled he was, as a mortal, he was no match for Hua Erniang, a seasoned demon cultivator. The difference between them was like heaven and earth.

After holding back in a duel with him, Hua Erniang let him go—but she herself was already “entangled” with him, insisting he take her along on his adventures in the martial world.

As the saying goes, “A man pursuing a woman is like climbing a mountain; a woman pursuing a man is like a veil separating them.”

Faced with Hua Erniang’s relentless and straightforward advances, the Free Wanderer Swordsman didn’t hold out for long before succumbing to her.

For the next twenty years, the couple roamed the martial world, righting injustices. What began as the Free Wanderer Swordsman’s solitary journey became a shared adventure of husband and wife…

But good times never last. At forty-five, the Free Wanderer Swordsman suddenly fell gravely ill, beyond the aid of medicine.

On his deathbed, Hua Erniang revealed her true identity to him.

To her surprise, he was not shocked at all. Instead, he simply said, “I’ve known all along.”

This startled Hua Erniang so much that she never even had the chance to ask how he had figured it out.

All she remembered was his last words to her:

“What does it matter if one is a demon or a human? I, the Free Wanderer Swordsman, never cared… It’s just a pity this body is too frail. Twenty years with you was far too short…”

And with that, the Free Wanderer Swordsman passed.

From then on, Hua Erniang lived as he did, traveling the martial world in his stead, continuing his chivalrous deeds under the name of the Free Wanderer Swordsman.

That was until the past decade when she settled in Eternal Slumber City, opening an inn to shelter refugees.

As Hua Erniang recounted her past to Gu Ning’an, she took out an ancient longsword—”Free Wanderer,” a blade imbued with the power of virtue.

Holding the Free Wanderer Sword, Gu Ning’an could distinctly “feel” the twenty years of adventures and love Hua Erniang shared with her husband.

“A sword imbued with virtue… and quite a significant amount,” Gu Ning’an remarked.

Hua Erniang was momentarily stunned. “Mr. Gu, you can see the power of virtue?”

Gu Ning’an nodded. “Yes, I can. I have some understanding of mystic arts, so recognizing virtue energy is not difficult for me.”

“Some understanding of mystic arts?”

Hua Erniang scrutinized Gu Ning’an carefully before saying seriously, “Sir, I see no trace of cultivation in you. Could it be that your cultivation is far beyond mine, so I cannot perceive it?”

Gu Ning’an did not respond. Instead, he flicked the sword’s scabbard lightly.

With a resonant clang, the Free Wanderer Sword flew out on its own, hovering at table height.

The blade glowed with a flowing radiance, and after a single humming vibration, it unleashed sharp sword energy.

The sword aura burst out just two inches beneath the blade, instantly carving deep fissures into the inn’s stone floor, each as deep as a finger.

Startled by the sword’s sudden display of hostility and unprecedented killing intent, Hua Erniang instinctively moved to shield Gu Ning’an.

But as soon as she stood up, she noticed that the sword aura’s range was very small.

Recalling that this phenomenon occurred only after Mr. Gu flicked the sword’s scabbard, and seeing how calm he remained, she sat back down.

“The spirit of a sword nourished by virtue should not exude such murderous intent…”

Gu Ning’an gestured toward the marks on the floor. “Innkeeper Hua, take a look.”

Following his direction, Hua Erniang’s eyes widened in shock.

The seemingly random sword scars on the ground formed a single word—”Kill”.

“How can this be?” Hua Erniang frowned, filled with confusion.

Gu Ning’an answered, “A treasured sword possesses a spirit. Now that its spirit has awakened, and the first thing it does upon being unsheathed is to form the word ‘Kill’… I fear its former master did not pass away as peacefully as Innkeeper Hua believed.”

“What?” Hua Erniang’s eyes widened as she spoke in a deep voice. “Mr. Gu, are you saying that the spirit of the Free Wanderer Sword is trying to tell me that my husband was murdered?”

“That seems to be the case. Otherwise, the sword spirit wouldn’t have been so full of killing intent the moment it awakened.”

As soon as these words fell, the Free Wanderer Sword, which had been hovering quietly, seemed to affirm Gu Ning’an’s statement. It once again erupted with sword energy, further shredding the already-scarred “kill” character it had carved into the floor.

Seeing this, Hua Erniang hurriedly turned to the sword and shouted angrily, “Who? Who killed my husband?”

In response to Hua Erniang’s question, the Free Wanderer Sword remained still for a moment before clattering to the ground with a loud clang. Its posture seemed to convey that it didn’t know the answer either.

“It seems the sword doesn’t know who the killer is,” Gu Ning’an said. “Otherwise, instead of carving the word ‘kill,’ it would have simply followed the culprit’s aura and sought revenge.”

“However, a sword’s heart is bound to its master. On some level, the Free Wanderer Sword sensed that its master was murdered—that’s why this is happening.”

Hearing Gu Ning’an’s analysis, Hua Erniang furrowed her brows tightly, as if trying to recall something. After a long silence, she finally spoke. “I was always by my husband’s side. No one should have been able to harm him right in front of me and then make it look like a natural death.”

Gu Ning’an replied calmly, “Just think about how many cultivators your husband encountered. After all, such a method is not something an ordinary person could achieve—it had to be a cultivator.”

“A cultivator…”

Muttering under her breath, Hua Erniang fell into deep thought again, recalling the various spirits and cultivators she and her husband had crossed paths with over the past twenty years.

A moment later, a figure with a sword on his back flashed through her mind. She lifted her head, looked at Gu Ning’an, and said in a serious tone, “Duan Chen. Duan Chen was the only person who had direct contact with my husband!”

“But back then, his cultivation was far weaker than mine. How could he have possibly done something under my very nose?”

“Sometimes, even what you see with your own eyes isn’t the truth.”

As he spoke, Gu Ning’an stood up, gathered the bowls and chopsticks, and headed toward the backyard. As he walked, he gestured toward the inn’s entrance and smiled.

“The suspect has arrived. Can you sense it?”