Chapter 114: Blood and Splinters

The local market of Qingshui Town was crowded and noisy, filled with the loud sounds of people buying and selling. Vendors shouted the prices of their vegetables, butchers chopped meat on blood-stained wooden blocks, and the strong smell of unwashed bodies mixed with the smoke from roasting chestnuts.

It was a place where ordinary people struggled every day simply to survive.

Lin Yuan stood at the edge of the central square, a worn, frayed canvas mat laid out on the cobblestones before him. Arranged on the mat were a few wooden practice swords, a blunt iron spear, and a small wooden sign that read: Azure Swallow School - Accepting Disciples.