They don’t value their own lives, nor do they value the lives of others. At the slightest disagreement, they draw their blades; with just a pretext, they can wipe out an entire family. Master has no desire to be labeled a villain by these two and then killed with a single stroke—he doesn’t believe he could withstand even one sword from them (seriously, didn’t he just see those eight burly men, all much stronger than him, lying dead on the cart?).

So Master quickly settled the reward silver and made himself scarce. He didn’t want to offend them, nor did he want any deep interaction; best to settle the transaction and never meet again.

He had no need to concern himself with other matters. As for the county constable Frank Thompson, who was currently cozying up to the two young heroes, Master saw no reason to get involved.

As a constable, Frank Thompson often had to deal with these martial world folks, especially since he frequently needed their help. So whenever someone brought in a wanted criminal for a reward, he would take the opportunity to build a connection.

This time was no different, except he hadn’t expected that the one speaking to him would be the young girl who looked no more than sixteen or seventeen, while the young man remained silent, seeming more like her attendant.

“Could she be the favored disciple or daughter of some great sect elder, out here for training?”

He didn’t know that William Clark was currently preoccupied with the voice in his head and had no mind to respond, and Emily Carter saw nothing wrong with representing the two of them in conversation. So neither realized they were giving off this impression.

“May I ask which sect you two young heroes hail from?”

After some back and forth, the conversation inevitably turned to this question, which was almost always Frank Thompson’s go-to when meeting martial world people. It was a way to probe their background and see if they were worth befriending.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he asked, Emily Carter, who had been chatting with him for a while, suddenly looked awkward and fell silent, sneaking a glance at the young man.

Although Emily Carter’s movement was subtle, how could it escape the notice of Frank Thompson, who had been a constable for over a decade and was practically a master at this?

“If it’s inconvenient, you two needn’t say!”

Normally, people in the martial world wouldn’t hide their sect affiliation. If they did, there was usually a special reason, sometimes even something taboo. So it was best not to press, and Frank Thompson understood this well, immediately changing the subject to show he had no ulterior motives.

But just then, the silent William Clark suddenly replied, “My junior sister and I are disciples of the Shushan Sect, a small and humble school—Constable Thompson has probably never heard of it!”

“Shushan Sect?”

Frank Thompson did know of the Shushan Sect—it was a small sect on Shushan Mountain, and he’d heard of it because of its good name. But he’d also heard that the Shushan Sect had been wiped out just a few days ago.

“No!” William Clark smiled. “Not Shushan, but Shushan Sect…”

……

After leaving the constable’s office, Emily Carter and William Clark walked in silence for quite a while, until finally Emily Carter couldn’t hold back any longer and spoke: “Senior brother, even though our sect’s name has been taken, and even if our sect has been destroyed, you can’t just change its name like that!”

She was not pleased with William Clark’s casual alteration of their sect’s name. Especially since their sect had been taken over, by rights the two of them were now wandering martial artists with no affiliation. Now, suddenly claiming to be disciples of the Shushan Sect made Emily Carter feel her senior brother had forgotten the kindness of their sect and was unworthy of being the head of Shushan.

But William Clark didn’t care at all, and his decision was made after careful thought.

“Junior sister, Shushan Sect or Shushan Sect, they’re both us! The name is just a signboard. If you want to talk about tradition, as long as the two of us remain, the lineage continues. What we need to do is carry on our sect’s legacy, not get hung up on a name!”

More importantly, the Shushan Sect wasn’t famous at all, so even keeping the old name brought no benefit. William Clark naturally discarded it without a second thought.

As for why he suddenly wanted to carry on the Shushan Sect’s legacy, it was because he finally understood what the voice in his head had been trying to tell him. And it was all thanks to Constable Thompson’s question about their sect.

It turned out that during the duel that day, William Clark had taken over this body, while the original William Clark had actually died on the spot. Only a wisp of his soul remained, lingering in the body out of guilt for failing his master’s trust, becoming an obsession.

In the past few days, when William Clark’s body was weak, it wasn’t strange. But as his health improved, this obsession surfaced, hoping that the William Clark who had taken over his body would revive the sect in his stead.

This thought circled endlessly in his mind, nearly driving William Clark mad. If not for his extraordinary willpower, the newly revived William Clark might have died again from sudden soul departure.