Du Xiang's Death! The Chen Family's Weakness—Please Vote

4: Yesterday, you paid attention to the Lightning Sword Martial Arts School and obtained related intelligence: the Lightning Sword Martial Arts School and the Iron Cloth Martial Arts School would divide up the Flying Eagle Martial Arts School's territory.

5: Yesterday, your Minor Scarlet Sun Cultivation successfully reached the beginner level. You sensed a trace of inner qi and obtained related intelligence: you would enter the Third-Rate realm in three days.

6: Yesterday, you paid attention to Ji Zhang, leader of the Black River Gang, and obtained related intelligence: Ji Zhang would meet the Snow Lotus Emissary of the Snow Lotus Sect today and be granted the next three layers of the Bloodthirsty Divine Skill. Martial artists with powerful qi and blood would become Ji Zhang's targets for bloodsucking.

7: Yesterday, you paid attention to the Flying Eagle Martial Arts School and obtained related intelligence: Du Xiang's son, Du Feng, had fled with his younger sister, Du Yunniang, to seek refuge with their uncle at Black Wind Stockade.

8: Yesterday, you paid attention to the Flying Eagle Martial Arts School and obtained related intelligence: the traitor Lin Yunfeng had been introduced by his maternal uncle Lei Wu and accepted as the ninth disciple of Jiang Haitian, the "Lightning Sword," master of the Lightning Sword Martial Arts School.

9: Yesterday, you paid attention to the Chen Family of the Four Great Families and obtained related intelligence: Chen Yi, the Chen Family's young master, had caught the eye of Zhao Jianyi, a passing Taiyi Sword Sect Elder, and been accepted on the spot as his tenth disciple and taken to the Immortal Sect for cultivation. The Chen Family chose an auspicious day to lay out hundreds of banquet tables, inviting relatives and friends from all sides to announce this joyous event that brought glory to their ancestors.

10: Yesterday, you paid attention to the Chen Family of the Four Great Families and obtained related intelligence: although the Chen Family's primary cultivation method, the Purple Sun Cultivation, was powerful, its weakness was obvious—its power was halved every night at midnight. To make up for this flaw, family head Chen Kun had castrated himself three months ago to cultivate the Purple Sunflower Swordplay, and his temperament had changed drastically.

"Du Xiang, master of the Flying Eagle Martial Arts School, won't survive sixty breaths? He's currently hiding in my kitchen?"

Qin Wang looked at the first piece of intelligence, his eyes flying wide as a shiver ran through him.

Qin Wang did not doubt the Intelligence Panel's authenticity. Since the intelligence said Du Xiang was hiding in his home, then he definitely was.

As far as Qin Wang knew,

Du Xiang was one of Yan Yun County's three great veterans, known as the "Flying Iron Eagle"!

Even grievously wounded and on the brink of death,

he had not made a single sound just now!

It was clear that his Flying Eagle Movement Technique was indeed formidable!

"Will Du Xiang attack me?!"

Qin Wang was on guard. As the saying went, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. Even a Du Xiang on the verge of death was not someone he could provoke.

He reached beneath his pillow, drew out a dagger, and gripped it tightly. At the same time, he pricked up his ears to listen toward the kitchen, where he faintly heard the rustling of firewood.

At this moment,

in the kitchen, separated from Qin Wang by a single wall,

a thin old man in green lay atop a pile of firewood, his face pale. He pressed a hand to his wound as blood poured from the corner of his mouth. His chest had caved in, his body was covered in wounds, and his breath was weak. He could no longer move.

"Is... is anyone there?"

Du Xiang opened his mouth and called out, only to discover that his voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz. Despair immediately filled his heart.

He had once been a famous bandit of Liangzhou. After offending one of Liangzhou's great powers, he had fled to Yan Yun County in You Prefecture, changed his name to Du Xiang, and opened this Flying Eagle Martial Arts School. He had never dared use the Martial Arts he practiced in his former days.

He had only displayed the Flying Eagle Movement Technique before others.

Yet he had never expected

that Shi Lan, his eldest disciple and intended successor, would poison his tea with a slow-acting toxin. Then Jiang Haitian and Lu Ming had joined forces to hunt him down, leaving him gravely wounded. Though he had escaped by relying on the Flying Eagle Movement Technique, he had discovered that he likely would not hold on for much longer.

The only ones he could not set his mind at ease over were his son Du Feng and daughter Du Yunniang. The children had escaped through the martial school's underground passage with his second disciple, but he had not had time to tell them about the treasures and secret manuals he had left behind in Liangzhou, nor about his assets in Yan Yun County.

He had wanted to call for someone to help deliver a message, but his injuries were too severe. He could not raise his voice.

"To think that I, the mighty Flying Soul Palm of Liangzhou, would be schemed against by my own eldest disciple... Reduced to dying in the kitchen of a common home... This old man... will not... accept it..."

Du Xiang suddenly arched his body, convulsed several times, then let his head fall to one side. He died with his eyes wide open.

Qin Wang waited for a while.

When he found that the rustling had stopped, he secretly thought, The intelligence said he would die after sixty breaths. If there's no sound, he should be dead.

Qin Wang put on his clothes, got out of bed, lit a sesame-oil lamp, and cautiously headed toward the main room.

By the dim yellow light,

he saw from afar an old man with a thin frame and wounds all over his body lying atop the kitchen's pile of firewood. His eyes were wide open, and he did not move. His chest was covered in blood.

"It really is Du Xiang!"

Qin Wang looked at the man's profile and silently confirmed it. He had seen Du Xiang from afar at the Flying Eagle Martial Arts School before.

"He really is dead!"

Qin Wang stood where he was and waited for nearly another half hour, making sure Du Xiang was dead.

Only then did he carefully approach. He used a stick to poke open Du Xiang's clothing at the chest, and a palm-sized gray pouch immediately rolled out. Qin Wang carefully used the stick to pry open the gray pouch and found five banknotes inside, each worth fifty taels, for a total of two hundred and fifty taels of silver.

There was also a black object two inches long, shaped somewhat like a key.

"No secret manual?"

"Only two hundred and fifty taels of silver?"

Qin Wang studied Du Xiang's unclosed eyes, a thoughtful look in his own. He searched Du Xiang from head to toe, but aside from the five banknotes, there was nothing else.

"Who carries secret manuals around with them? Forget it. Two hundred and fifty taels of silver isn't bad either. I can buy quite a few Qi and Blood Pills with it."

Qin Wang consoled himself.

If he had not awakened the Intelligence Panel, he probably would not have been able to earn two hundred and fifty taels of silver in a lifetime, right?

"Du Xiang dying here will be troublesome to deal with. How about burying him behind the house?"

Qin Wang looked at the dead Du Xiang, his eyes thoughtful.

Report it to the authorities tomorrow?

That would be hard to explain.

It would also draw the attention of Jiang Haitian and Lu Ming.

Burying him right here was the best choice.

With that thought, Qin Wang put away the key and banknotes, shut the door, fetched an Iron Wedge, and began digging behind the house. He dug a full four feet down, placed Du Xiang inside, then filled the pit and tamped it flat. He dumped the excess soil into the grass outside the courtyard to cover his tracks.

By the time he finished this round of work, more than half an hour had passed.

Only then did he begin reviewing the remaining nine pieces of intelligence on the panel.

"A Black River Gang disciple was sucked dry by Ji Zhang in my place?"

Qin Wang's gaze flickered as he looked at the second piece of intelligence, fear lingering in his heart. If the Intelligence Panel could not foresee the future, he would still be staying in that original rented house. By now, he would have become a dried corpse.

"The Flying Eagle Martial Arts School will be smashed up and burned by the relatives of the dead disciples?"

Qin Wang looked at the third and fourth pieces of intelligence, silent in his heart.

That was inevitable.

People sent their children to your martial arts school to learn, only for their children to be killed because of your school's affairs. If they did not come after you, who else would they seek?

"I'll enter the Third-Rate realm in three days?"

"Wonderful!"

Qin Wang's eyes lit up as he looked at the fifth piece of intelligence.

As far as he knew,

in this world, the Martial Arts realms were divided into Third-Rate, Second-Rate, First-Rate, and Martial Arts Innate.

Every realm was further divided into early stage, middle stage, late stage, and completion.

Third-Rate martial artists: inner force had just formed. Their punches, kicks, saber techniques, and sword techniques were proper and conventional, and they possessed one to five years of inner force.

Second-Rate Masters: possessed six to twenty years of inner force and had cultivated one supreme skill to major accomplishment; or they could make zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting serve their purposes, taking unorthodox paths and letting their swords stray toward dangerous edges!

First-Rate Masters: possessed over twenty years of inner force and had cultivated several techniques to the pinnacle, wielding them with perfect ease and integrating them completely. Saber qi, Sword Qi, and fist force could be contained within or unleashed outward for one zhang; even plucking flowers and leaves could wound others!

Martial Arts Innate: attaining a sudden enlightenment in Martial Arts, returning to simplicity, and condensing innate true qi!

Advancing to Third-Rate at last showed results.