Heishan City is divided into inner and outer sections.

The inner city is the original urban area of Heishan City, while the outer city is a mixed settlement formed over the years by migrants from nearby villages.

Not only is it dirty, but it’s also chaotic.

It’s fine during the day, but at night, hardly anyone in the outer city dares to go out alone.

Samuel Bennett works at the yamen. Although he’s not even considered a temporary constable, he’s heard plenty about murders and robberies.

So, as soon as evening fell and the person tailing him left, Samuel Bennett tucked the house deed and land deed into his clothes, grabbed a broken knife, and headed out.

The traces of heavy rain from a few days ago still lingered, and the roads were still a bit muddy.

Samuel Bennett carefully made his way through the alleys, avoiding the hooligans wandering the streets, heading toward the inner city.

“There are quite a few factions in the outer city, and even large sects like the Liansheng Sect with many followers. But I can’t do business with them…”

Samuel Bennett steadied his mind, thinking things over carefully.

A year was enough for him to get a general understanding of Heishan City. Compared to the chaotic outer city, the inner city was much better.

At least people there weren’t so shameless.

“Wuu wuu~”

On the road, Samuel Bennett could faintly hear someone sobbing, and many households had white cloth hanging outside.

“Another death.”

Samuel Bennett sighed inwardly and quickened his pace.

Wherever there are rotting corpses, there will be vultures circling, preying on the helpless. His family wasn’t the only one to encounter this.

Before the inner city gates closed, Samuel Bennett entered the inner city, skillfully turned down a few streets, and arrived at a small alley.

In the year since he crossed over, he hadn’t just done nothing. Whenever he had free time, if he wasn’t auditing classes at the village school to learn to read,

he was coming here to learn martial arts.

Of course, this wasn’t a martial arts school. With his family’s background, he couldn’t afford the high tuition.

Everyone knows that the poor study literature and the rich study martial arts, but in reality, neither literature nor martial arts has much to do with ordinary people.

Dong dong dong~

The door wasn’t closed, but Samuel Bennett still knocked before quietly stepping into the courtyard.

……

“There are twenty-four bones in the human back, with some differences depending on age and gender, but not by much!”

“To wield the blade and behead, you must know the bones. This is a craft, but also an act of mercy!”

“…When a person dies, all is over. If someone commits a crime, the law will judge them. We act on orders, neither harming our virtue nor violating the natural order. Just remember…”

“One stroke—only and absolutely one stroke! One stroke is justice; two strokes is torture. That truly harms virtue and offends the heavens!”

“This is the greatest rule of our trade!”

……

Inside the gray-white courtyard walls, a group of youths squatted in the corner, holding wooden knives out in front of them, with stones tied to their wrists and the blades.

It was already cold in autumn, and even colder at dusk, yet sweat dripped from all of them.

An old man sat on a wooden chair, staring intently at the youths, scolding them from time to time.

This old man was quite advanced in years; the hair under his hood was all gray and white, his face full of weathered wrinkles. In his arms squatted an old monkey, its fur gray and dull.

His withered old hand kept stroking the back of the monkey’s neck.

“Hoo!”

Samuel Bennett stood outside the courtyard, not stepping forward, quietly listening to Old Man Walker scold his disciples.

This lame Old Man Walker was quite famous in Heishan City.

It’s said that when he was young, he joined the army with the villagers, and after returning seriously wounded, he became an executioner. Now, some of the executioners in Heishan City are his disciples.

Not counting his time in the army, just in these years alone, he’s personally beheaded nearly a hundred people.

He’s truly a ruthless character.

Samuel Bennett said nothing, quietly watching the youths practice with their knives.

These young men had started much earlier than him; some had been training for seven or eight years, the least for three or four.

Three years of chores before you can even hold a wooden knife—this was Old Man Walker’s rule.

Samuel Bennett had barely been here a year, so he’d only had his fill of scoldings and hadn’t even touched a knife yet.

“Practice well. If you can master what I teach, I won’t say you’ll be rich, but at least you’ll have three meals a day and a roof over your head. At the very least, you won’t end up homeless and eating dirt on the streets.”

Old Man Walker scolded his disciples unhurriedly, and at the end, he glanced at Samuel Bennett.

“Homeless and eating dirt on the streets…”

Samuel Bennett gave a bitter smile. Wasn’t that exactly his story?

A little over a year ago, he woke up in this world as an orphaned beggar. If not for the old couple Head Bennett taking him in, he would have starved to death outside the city.

When you’re starving, you really will eat anything.

He had truly eaten dirt…

“Many people look down on our trade, but we follow orders and earn our living with our skills. What’s so shameful about that?”

Old Head Walker stood up, holding the monkey, limping as he paced into the house:

“Earning a living isn’t shameful. Letting your parents starve to death on the street—that’s what’s truly shameful!”

Samuel Bennett’s face was expressionless as he silently followed.

“If you have something to say, just say it.”

Old Man Walker flicked his hand, and the old monkey squeaked a few times before leaping onto the old locust tree in the courtyard.

“Knew I couldn’t hide it from teacher…”

The light inside the house was even dimmer. Samuel Bennett lowered his head with a bitter smile and explained his purpose for coming.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the furnishings in the room, his gaze landing on the table in the center.

On the table lay a large, unsheathed blade.

The blade was broad and thick-backed, with a ghost head carved into the hilt. It was snow-white and gleaming, but the scent of blood was hard to conceal, sending a chill down one’s spine.