Are Minor Grandmasters This Cheap Now?

In the pine forest, the headless corpses of Yu Canghai and the Four Talents of Qingcheng lay lined up in a row.

Leaning on his saber, Su Chen stood to one side and said to Lin Zhennan, "Chief Escort Lin, go ahead and inspect them."

"Hehe, no need, no need." Lin Zhennan forced a smile, his forehead already covered in cold sweat.

What was there to inspect?

Their heads were gone. They were dead beyond all doubt; even if immortals walked the earth, they could not be brought back to life.

Lin Zhennan somewhat stiffly raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his brow, stealing a glance at Su Chen with profound fear in his eyes.

From start to finish, it had probably taken less than a quarter of an hour for Yu Canghai, a Minor Grandmaster, and the Four Talents of Qingcheng to all become souls beneath Su Chen's blade.

Lin Zhennan felt deeply terrified and shaken by the strength and ruthlessness Su Chen had displayed.

Though it was a warm spring day, chills ran down his spine in waves.

Since Lin Zhennan had no intention of inspecting the goods, Su Chen naturally would not force him.

"Alright, then it's time to discuss the price." At the mention of silver, a glimmer of excitement finally appeared in Su Chen's eyes.

Lin Zhennan's heart tightened, and he thought to himself, So here it comes. I knew his motives couldn't be that simple. I just wonder what exactly he wants, and whether the Lin family can satisfy him.

As he hesitated inwardly, Su Chen had already spoken. "Originally, I agreed with your son that I'd settle Yu Canghai for three thousand taels of silver. But you broke the agreement on your own, making me travel all this way and waste an entire morning for nothing. Charging you five thousand taels shouldn't be excessive, should it?"

"Besides, although the Four Talents of Qingcheng were trash, I still had to make a move. The four of them together come to another five thousand taels. No problem with that, right?"

"Ten thousand taels for all five people. That's a fair price, isn't it?"

Having said that, Su Chen looked at Lin Zhennan and waited for his reply.

At that moment, Lin Zhennan was somewhat dumbfounded, because what Su Chen wanted had truly exceeded his expectations.

"He... he... he really only wants silver? Nothing else?" Lin Zhennan was genuinely stunned.

He had never imagined that someone would truly take action against a Minor Grandmaster with powerful backing for the sake of a mere sum of silver.

It would have been one thing if he acted for silver, but the price was this low.

If his family had not broken the agreement on their own, Su Chen's price for acting would have been only three thousand taels.

Three thousand taels to kill a Minor Grandmaster? Since when had Minor Grandmasters become so cheap?

Even now, after killing Yu Canghai and throwing in the Four Talents of Qingcheng besides, he was asking only ten thousand taels.

That was a little too outrageous, wasn't it?

Lin Zhennan quickly suppressed his shock and hurriedly said, "Fair, very fair. Ten thousand taels of silver is more than fair."

"However, we left in such haste that we did not bring enough silver with us. We'll have to trouble you to return to the escort agency with us to collect it."

"Mm." Su Chen nodded, then followed Lin Zhennan and his family back to the Fuwei Escort Agency.

After returning to the escort agency, Lin Zhennan did not dare delay. He swiftly gathered ten thousand taels of silver and handed them over to Su Chen.

Upon receiving the silver, Su Chen's mood improved considerably. "Chief Escort Lin, if you need anything in the future, you can come find me again. I'll give you a discount."

With that, Su Chen drove the carriage Lin Zhennan had given him as an extra gift, loaded with ten thousand taels of silver, and left the escort agency.

Ten thousand taels of silver weighed nearly half a ton. There was no way he could carry it away by hand.

After leaving the escort agency, Su Chen drove the carriage to a secluded place with no one around.

"System, spend ten thousand taels."

With a thought from Su Chen, all the silver on the carriage was swallowed up the next second.

Ding. Host has spent ten thousand taels of silver, obtaining Martial Arts Points: 1000. Current total Martial Arts Points: 1000

Looking at the thousand Martial Arts Points on the system panel, Su Chen smiled silently.

"This trip wasn't for nothing after all."

"System, raise Tread Snow Without Trace to the Grand Completion realm."

Life-saving qinggong had always been Su Chen's first choice.

This time, one reason he had been able to kill Yu Canghai was that Tread Snow Without Trace, this superb qinggong technique, had played no small part.

Otherwise, faced with Yu Canghai's dense sword net, Su Chen could hardly have guaranteed that he would emerge completely unscathed.

Ding. Host has consumed 500 Martial Arts Points. Tread Snow Without Trace has been raised to the Grand Completion realm

In this world, martial arts progression was divided into Entry, Minor Completion, Major Completion, and Grand Completion. The farther one progressed, the more difficult cultivation became.

With the support of five hundred Martial Arts Points, Su Chen's Tread Snow Without Trace qinggong instantly reached the realm of Grand Completion.

Had he studied it painstakingly on his own, raising Tread Snow Without Trace from Major Completion to Grand Completion would have taken at least two or three years.

Yet Su Chen could not help but feel a pang of heartache.

He had only just earned a thousand Martial Arts Points, yet in the blink of an eye, half of them were gone. This alone was equivalent to spending five thousand taels of silver. Money truly did not hold up under spending.

"Still, still, at least Tread Snow Without Trace has reached the Grand Completion realm. With quicker feet, I'll be able to do things more conveniently in the future, and make money faster too." Su Chen comforted himself, then turned his attention back to spending money to cultivate.

"According to the original plan, it's time to go join the excitement at Liu Zhengfeng's Golden Basin Hand-Washing Ceremony."

"If I remember correctly, in order to deal with Liu Zhengfeng, Zuo Lengchan dispatched three members of the Thirteen Taibao of Songshan at once: Great Songyang Hand Fei Bin, Crane Hand Lu Bai, and Pagoda Hand Ding Mian."

"The Thirteen Taibao of Songshan are no weaklings, especially Ding Mian, Fei Bin, and Lu Bai, the foremost among them. In a one-on-one fight to the death, I'm afraid any one of them would be no weaker than Yu Canghai."

"If I meddle in Liu Zhengfeng's affairs, I'll inevitably have to face them. With my current strength, taking on three alone is still a little too risky."

Having considered this, Su Chen immediately decided to continue raising his cultivation.

"System, put all five hundred remaining Martial Arts Points into cultivation." With a thought from Su Chen, all five hundred Martial Arts Points were invested into his cultivation.

In an instant, a scorching sensation rose through his meridians once more, and his cultivation realm climbed another small step.

Host: Su Chen

Cultivation: Minor Grandmaster (Mid Stage)

Internal Energy: Hundun Treasure Mirror (Fourth Layer—Bixue Ice)

Saber Art: No-Second Saber Art (Minor Success)

Lightness Skill: Tread Snow Without Trace (Grand Completion)

Weapon: Chi Dragon-Pattern Ring-Pommel Saber

Balance: 2.5 taels of silver

Martial Arts Points: 0

His cultivation had successfully advanced from the early stage of Minor Grandmaster to the middle stage.

Though it was only a single small step, the gap between them was unquestionably enormous. Most visibly, the amount of true qi in his body had increased by at least twofold.

Su Chen believed that if he faced Yu Canghai now, there would be no need for such trouble. At most two or three saber strikes would be enough to forcibly kill Yu Canghai.

Afterward, Su Chen tidied himself up, casually found someone to sell the carriage Lin Zhennan had given him, and gained another sum of silver.

Although the carriage had been a gift from someone else, and the silver from selling it could not be used for top-ups, it could still serve as travel funds for everyday expenses.

Once everything was ready, Su Chen set off for Mount Heng.

Naturally, he used Tread Snow Without Trace to travel along the way.

At the Grand Completion realm, Tread Snow Without Trace made Su Chen roughly three times faster than before.

Feeling the wind howl past his ears, Su Chen could not stop praising it. "Not bad, not bad. Those five hundred Martial Arts Points weren't spent for nothing..."