Chapter 4 — Sword God Appears

Ha Chau Town was nestled on a winding river, about three days' journey from Lang Uyen Citadel. This was where Ky Van Son, an old knight who had once roamed the martial world, chose to stay in the last years of his life. He had no family, lived alone in a small house by the river, fished every day, grew vegetables, occasionally taught a few children in the neighborhood to learn to read in exchange for some rice, lived a simple life like any other old farmer. No one expected that in the past he was one of the famous knights, close friends with many famous figures in martial arts, including Chuc Thanh Phong and Vu Bach Trinh.

Ky Van Son is over sixty this year, his health is much weaker than in his younger years, but his mind is still sharp, his eyes and ears are still wide open throughout the world thanks to a network of old friends who still keep in touch. He heard news about unusual things happening to a young girl in Thanh Lang Uyen through the words of an old friend who specialized in selling medicinal herbs, who often traveled back and forth between the two towns to deliver goods to pharmacies.

At first he didn't pay much attention, until he heard more details about that girl: her name was Chuc Dieu Vy, owner of a small pharmacy called Nhan Tam Duong, the only daughter of a man who disappeared many years ago during a long trip. The name Chuc made Ky Van Son startled and stunned. He quickly asked for more details, and the more he asked, the more certain he became that the girl was the daughter of Chuc Thanh Phong, his soulmate whose mysterious death he had always felt many years ago.

Ky Van Son was not a member of the Tang Phong Mon, but he had many years of association with Thanh Phong through joint journeys, understanding his friend's personality and the story of his sudden death, although he himself did not know all the details of the incident, only hearing rumors that there was something wrong behind the so-called "robbery and murder" that the Tang Phong Mon announced at that time.

He pondered for many days, wondering why Thanh Phong's daughter, a girl who only knew how to take medicine to save people, suddenly became a target after so many years of peace. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. His intuition told him that this was not a coincidence, but was closely related to the never-before-revealed secrets of eighteen years ago.

Ky Van Son decided to do something. He knew he was old and weak, no longer strong enough to personally intervene in such a big matter, but he knew someone who could do it: Vu Bach Trinh, the ancient sword god, the only person alive who knew clearly the relationship between Thanh Phong and that mysterious death, the person he was sure would not sit still if he knew his old man's daughter was in danger.

The problem was, after eighteen years, no one knew exactly where Bach Trinh was. He cut off all contact with the martial world, and none of his old friends still had news of his whereabouts. Ky Van Son had to follow old clues, ask around a few remaining acquaintances from his youth, and finally learned that there was an old woodcutter living in seclusion in the northern mountains called Tuyet Phong Coc. He occasionally went down the mountain to buy some necessary items, and according to the descriptions of those who had met him, his appearance and behavior had many similarities with Bach Trinh in the past.

He wrote a letter, his hands shaking from both old age and worry, recounting everything he knew about Dieu Vy's situation, pleading with Bach Trinh, if it was indeed him, to help Thanh Phong's daughter out of old brotherly love. He wrote and rewrote many times, erased and then wrote again, because he understood that this could be the last chance to partially redeem the debt of gratitude that he had carried in his heart for many years, when he could not do anything to help Thanh Phong during his lifetime.

He called a trustworthy postman, carefully instructed him on the route, and gave him a small amount of money compared to his family situation, just to make sure the letter would reach the right person. After the postman left, Ky Van Son sat quietly on the porch, looking at the river flowing in front of him, his heart heavy with a bad premonition that he could not clearly explain.

That hunch turned out to be not wrong. Three days after the letter was sent, on a moonless night, three figures dressed in gray quietly approached Ky Van Son's small riverside house. They had been following him for a long time, ever since they discovered him asking for news about a girl in Thanh Lang Uyen, and were even more certain when they saw him sending a courier to the northern mountains.

Although Ky Van Son is old and weak, he still retains some of the vigilance of an experienced knight. He heard a slight noise outside, knew something was wrong, quickly reached for the short knife still hanging on the wall, but before he could stand, the door was kicked open, three figures rushed in, the lights of the swords in their hands glinting under the flickering oil lamp light.

The battle was short and brutal. Ky Van Son, despite trying his best to fight back, was still no match for the three young, strong, well-trained assassins, using coordinated attacks as they had practiced many times for similar incidents. After only a few rounds, he was hit by two knives in the chest and shoulder, collapsing to the floor, blood staining the old mat.

Before he died, he tried to raise his head and look towards the north, where his letter was on the way to Tuyet Phong Coc, muttering a name that the assassins standing nearby could not hear clearly, or even if they could hear it clearly, they could not understand the meaning behind it: "Bach Trinh... that girl... is his child... please... don't let history repeat itself..." Then he breathed his last, ending a life of quiet chivalry that no one in that vast world had seen. know that final sacrifice.

The three assassins searched the whole house, did not find any important documents other than a few harmless old letters, immediately set fire to the house to destroy the evidence, then quietly retreated into the night, reporting to their superiors that the target had been successfully eliminated, but there was a letter that had been sent before that they could not chase.

The next morning, people in the fishing village along the river were shocked to see that the old knight's small house had burned to ashes, leaving only a few charred rafters among the rubble. No one dared to guess for sure what happened, they only whispered to each other that perhaps the old man had accidentally left the fire burning late at night, because of his old age, his eyes were poor and his limbs were slow. No one in that small town of Ha Chau could have imagined that the death of a gentle, quiet old farmer was the final sacrifice of a knight who once roamed the streets, exchanging his life to send a ray of hope to the daughter of his long-dead friend.

Meanwhile, at Tuyet Phong Coc, Bach Trinh received a letter from a strange postman, exhausted after a long trip through the mountains. He recognized the shaky handwriting but still had the mark of someone who had practiced martial arts for many years, and when he read the line mentioning the name Chuc, his heart sank. He read the letter over and over again, each word like a knife cutting into an old wound that had never truly healed.

Thanh Phong's daughter. In danger. Pursued by a mysterious force whose cause is unknown. Bach Trinh sat silently for a long time on the front porch, his hand clenching the letter so tightly that her knuckles turned white. For eighteen years he had been hiding from the martial world, hiding from himself, telling himself that he was no longer qualified to get involved in anything related to the people he once loved, because he was unable to protect the most important person.

But now, Thanh Phong's daughter, the only remaining drop of blood from the person he considered his blood, was in need of a protector, and the only person who could do that, the only person who still owed Thanh Phong an incomplete promise, was him. Bach Trinh stood up, walked into the house, and stood in front of the wall where a cloth-wrapped sword hung that had never been opened for eighteen years.

His hand trembled slightly when he touched the rough hemp fabric, but this time, he didn't pull his hand back like before. He slowly untied the strap, letting the fabric fall, revealing the old sword with the blade still shining despite being forgotten for so many years, as if it had always been waiting for this day. Bach Trinh tightly grasped the hilt of the sword, feeling again the familiar weight that had been associated with his entire youth, and in that moment, he knew that he could no longer avoid it.

That night, Bach Trinh packed up a few necessary items, put on a simple but sturdy outfit, put his sword on his side for the first time in eighteen years, and then left the small cottage in the middle of Tuyet Phong Coc. He stood for a moment in the doorway, looked back at the place that had protected him for nearly two decades, then turned and walked south, where Thanh Lang Uyen was waiting, carrying a mission that he knew he could not refuse, no matter what the cost.