Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Mental Realm Map
A short while later.
South City, City Guard Bureau.
In the constable’s Hall Office, the two squad leaders, Zheng Wang and Luo Chang, were reporting in hushed tones.
"It must have happened within two hours of dawn. The blood hasn’t even dried..."
"A single, clean strike to kill. The Hu Family sent their own people to inspect the body. They said the attacker’s strength was astounding and that they used the Wind-Breaking Sword Momentum."
Zheng Wang and Luo Chang recounted the matter in detail.
The Sima of the South City Bureau had been murdered, so Su Mu, the constable, had naturally been at the scene.
However, after the people from the Hu Family of the Inner City arrived, they kicked him right out. In contrast, Zheng Wang and Luo Chang, who had been somewhat close to Hu Yuxing, were allowed to stay.
"According to the Hu Family, the killer might be Peng Li, ranked ninety-fifth on the wanted list. He’s famous for his Wind-Breaking Sword Momentum and happens to have been spotted near Wuling City recently."
The two men added, "The Hu Family said they will handle the pursuit of the killer and told us not to get involved."
Su Mu listened with a calm expression, then waved a hand. "Alright, I understand."
’Since the Hu Family has intervened, it means there’s nothing left for us to do.’
"Constable Xiao Su, even if we’re not needed for the investigation, the Sima has been murdered. We need you to step up and steer the South City Bureau through this."
Zheng Wang said, bowing slightly.
"Don’t worry. Hu Sima was already due for a promotion, and a new Sima has already been appointed. With this incident, the new Sima should arrive soon. Until then, you all just carry on as usual."
Su Mu stood up and started walking out. "There’s not much to do today. I’m going out on patrol."
As a constable, he naturally wasn’t required to patrol the streets.
But Su Mu was a peculiar constable; he had always enjoyed patrolling.
Zheng Wang and Luo Chang just chalked it up to Su Mu’s strange hobby and didn’t think much of it.
’After all, the last constable loved silver, and the one before that loved beautiful women. So it’s only reasonable that Constable Xiao Su enjoys patrolling, right?’
Su Mu spent the entire day on patrol, but it was now hard to find any thieves on the streets of South City. They were hiding much deeper than before.
This left Su Mu slightly disappointed.
Still, he mediated three neighborhood disputes before concluding a fulfilling day’s work and returning home.
Back in his bedroom, Su Mu shut the door and windows, then pried up a few floor tiles in the corner.
Beneath the tiles was a hidden compartment containing a rosewood box and a scroll.
There was also a blue-steel longsword worth seven taels of silver—the kind you could buy from any street-side blacksmith.
’Peng Li, ninety-fifth on the wanted list. What a coincidence.’
Su Mu thought to himself.
No one knew he practiced the Wind-Breaking Swordsmanship. He had originally intended only to hide his identity, but he hadn’t expected it to conveniently provide someone else to blame.
The Wind-Breaking Swordsmanship, like the Submerging Wave Saber Technique, wasn’t a particularly rare martial art. You could buy it for a few hundred taels of silver.
However, mastering such an art to the point of manifesting a Saber Momentum or Sword Momentum was no easy feat.
After killing Hu Yuxing and Fu Peisheng yesterday, Su Mu had been summoned to the South City Bureau before he even had a chance to check his spoils.
’Forty thousand taels...’
The thick stack of silver notes was enough to surprise even Su Mu.
’I knew Hu Yuxing was rich, but I didn’t expect him to be *this* rich.’
Even Xu Mingchen, once known as the richest man in South City, probably couldn’t have produced this much cash.
Putting the silver notes away with his previous savings, Su Mu opened the scroll.
He was far more interested in this than in the silver.
’A Xunfeng Realm Map!’
Su Mu’s breathing quickened. He had learned from Luo Anning that there was a shortcut to comprehending a Realm: using a Mental Realm Map.
So-called Mental Realm Maps were records of a Realm, created by powerful experts who had comprehended them and captured them in the form of a painting.
An original would be absolutely priceless.
Even a copy would be worth a fortune.
Most importantly, Mental Realm Maps were priceless and rarely available on the market. Anyone who obtained one would treasure it like a family heirloom, not easily putting it up for sale.
’What a coincidence. I’ve mastered the Wind-Breaking Sword Momentum, and now I’ve obtained a Xunfeng Realm Map. Perhaps I can actually comprehend the Xun Wind Realm.’
Su Mu carefully observed the Xunfeng Realm Map.
The painting was highly abstract. It seemed to depict a vast, boundless wilderness with dozens of wisps of wind drawn across it, giving off an ethereal, transcendent feeling.
The origins of the Martial Dao lay in an unknown ancient era, when certain beings at the pinnacle of existence observed the heavens and earth, summarizing all things into the Sixty-Four Symbols.
The Sixty-Four Symbols were too abstruse for ordinary people to comprehend, so later generations simplified them into eight Realms.
Even these eight Realms could only be grasped by those with extraordinary talent. And so, powerful experts, taking pity on the masses, moved from simplicity back to complexity, deriving countless "Momentums."
This was the origin of the endless evolution of techniques, skills, and the arts of the saber, spear, and sword.
From complex to simple, then from simple back to complex—the closer one got to the origin, the harder it was to master.
The martial arts passed down today were actually very distant from the comprehension of heaven and earth, but their advantage was that they were easier to master. Even the most mediocre mortal could practice them.
In truth, the original Sixty-Four Symbols Diagram had long since vanished into the river of time. It was now the stuff of legend, and it was uncertain if it even existed anymore.
Even the original eight Mental Realm Maps had long since disappeared without a trace.
The Mental Realm Maps one could find today were basically all created by later Martial Artists based on their own comprehension, a far cry from the originals.
The Realms contained within them, whether in terms of depth or proximity to the essence of heaven and earth, could not be compared to the original Mental Realm Maps.
’The true ultimate treasure must be the original Sixty-Four Symbols Diagram. The Mental Realm Maps circulating now are just some Martial Artists’ understanding of a Realm. After being copied and recopied, imprinted and reprinted, they only become more and more distorted.’
Su Mu thought to himself, ’I wonder how many times this Mental Realm Map has been copied. The quality is honestly quite poor.
’But it’s perfect for me. I might not be able to comprehend a map that’s too high-level anyway.’
Although he might also be able to comprehend the Xun Wind Realm by mastering more Sword Momentums of the Xunfeng Lineage...
...having a Mental Realm Map could potentially shorten the time it would take him to comprehend the Realm.
’What if I comprehend it right away?’
’Then I wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of learning multiple Sword Techniques from the Xunfeng Lineage.’
Su Mu calmed his mind, adjusted his state, and sat down on his bed, placing the Xunfeng Realm Map before him.
He gazed intently at the Xunfeng Realm Map, at the wisps of wind upon it, and gradually became completely immersed.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he suddenly felt as if the wisps of wind had come to life, transforming into a real breeze that brushed against his body.
Su Mu raised his head in a daze, only to realize that the wind had started blowing outside at some point.
It wasn’t that he had comprehended the Realm. There was a real wind, blowing in through the crack in the window.
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