Worry-Free Temple, Sword in Both Hands

Time flew like a hare chased by a crow:

The Martial Academy Preliminary Exam drew ever closer.

By now, the wind had stopped, and so had the rain.

Yet flooding still lingered in many places.

Great numbers of disaster victims remained gathered outside the city, while more stragglers continued to trickle in.

Having eaten all the wild grass outside the County Town, these victims had no choice but to enter Stone Ridge Mountain to survive.

The mountains held abundant bamboo, with bamboo rats, bamboo worms, bamboo shoots, and other things to fill their bellies. For the moment, no one had starved to death.

But... every one of them was sallow and emaciated. Things did not look good.

Over these past few days, Chu Qing had not been idle either. He had constantly investigated the whereabouts of the pharmacists.

He had even contacted the families of the missing pharmacists and formed a small search party.

As the Martial Academy Preliminary Exam approached, he grew increasingly anxious.

Over the past few days, his progress had nearly stagnated.

Whether it was Mantis Fist or Eagle Claw Technique, he had not forged even a single Copper Sinew.

Instead, he had ground Mantis Sword's first requirement—which was of little use for the Preliminary Exam—over seventy thousand times.

"If I had Toad Secret Medicine, I could forge at least dozens of Iron Sinews with Toad Skill."

"But..."

That afternoon:

As he copied from a calligraphy model, a servant brought him word:

"Young Master Qing, someone called Medicine Seeker is looking for you."

Medicine Seeker was the name of their little group.

Chu Qing's heart stirred. After bidding Madam Jin farewell, he hurried out.

Outside the gates, a Cloth-clothed Youth paced anxiously.

The moment he saw Chu Qing emerge, delight appeared on his face.

"Brother Qing, there's news."

Chu Qing raised a brow. "What news?"

"They're at Worry-Free Temple!"

"All the missing pharmacists are at Worry-Free Temple."

Worry-Free Temple was a temple outside the city.

Its incense offerings were quite prosperous.

There were many monks inside, each broad-shouldered, thick-waisted, and shining with grease.

After the disaster victims appeared, they had also gone to Worry-Free Temple to beg for vegetarian meals.

The result was:

After the monks of Worry-Free Temple beat several dozen disaster victims to death with clubs, no one dared ask for alms anymore.

"No wonder no one was in the County Town."

"So they were sent outside the city."

"But... why would a bunch of monks capture so many pharmacists?"

Chu Qing was suspicious.

But he could not be bothered to think it through.

All he wanted was the Toad Secret Medicine in Pharmacist Li's hands.

More than ten minutes later:

The youth led Chu Qing to a courtyard beneath the city walls.

More than ten people had gathered there.

All of them were family members of the pharmacists.

After Chu Qing arrived, the group was chattering away, discussing what to do.

One youth said, "How about we ask the authorities to act?"

A woman wept. "The authorities are greedy for money. Even if they take our money, they might not bring our people out."

A youth dressed like a scholar said, "We'll demand them directly."

"With so many of us, we can surely get them back."

The others felt that was a workable idea as well and nodded one after another.

Only Chu Qing shook his head.

What a joke.

With over ten thousand disaster victims outside, the monks of Worry-Free Temple had still dared to beat those victims to death.

They had to be both domineering and confident.

And these dozen or so ordinary people thought they could simply go over and demand their people back?

They would never get them out.

More than ten minutes later:

The group set off in grand force toward Worry-Free Temple.

When they reached the temple's entrance, terror filled them.

Because:

Several trees held dozens of rotting corpses hanging from their branches.

Someone vomited.

But for the sake of their families, they still gathered their courage and knocked on the gate.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A monk with a face full of savage flesh opened the door and snarled, "What do you want?"

The scholar said, "I heard my father is at Worry-Free Temple. I want to take him away."

The monk sneered. "Get lost!"

"There's no one from your family here."

The others hurriedly begged the monk to release their family members.

The result was that the monk became enraged. He casually grabbed a staff and snarled, "All of you, get the hell out!"

"Keep yapping, and I'll beat you all to death."

At that moment, another seven or eight thick-fleshed monks emerged holding clubs.

"Get lost. If we say there's no one here, then there's no one here."

As they spoke, they swung their clubs at people.

The crowd had no choice but to retreat.

Chu Qing remained mixed among them without saying a single word.

He carefully observed the monks.

"They don't have the slightest compassion of those who have left the secular world. All they have is savagery."

"They're a group of fake monks."

A group of fake monks had occupied a temple and captured pharmacists.

What... exactly were they trying to do?

Another ten or so minutes later, the group returned helplessly.

They gathered together and discussed what to do.

Chu Qing suddenly said, "The monks are vicious. Only by being more vicious than they are can we bring our people out."

"Everyone put up some money. Hire some blades and snatch them back."

The crowd suddenly saw the light.

"That's right. We can't do it, but hired blades can."

"Hired blades are definitely more vicious than monks."

They began discussing where to find hired blades.

Some said they should find blades from the gangs, while others said they should go to the refugee camps.

Chu Qing listened for a while and was left speechless.

This group could spend half the day dithering over finding a few hired blades.

He rose and quietly left. Now that he knew where Pharmacist Li might be, why waste time here?

As Chu Qing left, several people saw him, but none tried to stop him.

Only after he had gone did someone suddenly say:

"Once we hire blades and rescue our families, we'll leave the pharmacist that man wanted to rescue somewhere and ignore him."

The crowd nodded in agreement.

At home:

Chu Qing drew his longsword and flicked it with his fingers.

His ten fingers danced, producing a cascade of clinks and clangs like a violent storm.

Sword Finger +1

Sword Finger +1

In a single second, he refreshed twenty or thirty points of progress. Sword Finger was nearing eighty thousand.

At this point, only three days remained until the Preliminary Exam.

"These past few days of searching for Pharmacist Li have delayed me so much."

"Otherwise, Sword Finger would have reached the mark long ago."

"Those damned fake monks made me waste so much time... how are you going to compensate me?"

As his fingers struck the blade, the ringing sound of gold and iron somehow hooked his killing intent, sending it steadily rising.

"If nothing had gone wrong, Toad Skill might have reached Perfection ten days ago."

"If Toad Skill reached Perfection, perhaps it could speed up the advancement of my Copper Sinews."

"How much progress have they delayed?"

As night fell, Chu Qing's killing intent deepened threefold along with the darkness.

With his sword clasped in both hands and his face covered, he headed straight for Worry-Free Temple.

When he reached the temple's outskirts, he leaped onto a large tree and looked out over it.

The temple:

Its lights blazed brightly, and the scent of meat drifted over on the wind.

There were also faint, intermittent sounds of women.

"As expected, they really are a bunch of fake monks."

Chu Qing waited silently.

He wanted to see whether that group would actually hire blades.

If they did, the hired blades could conveniently test the fake monks' methods for him.

Otherwise, he could only take the risk and act himself.

One hour...

Two hours...

Past ten at night, the fake monks went to sleep, and many lights went out. Yet the crucial locations remained brightly lit, with fake monks still patrolling.

Chu Qing observed carefully and found that the fake monks patrolled in groups of two or three. They carried bronze gongs and held whistles in their mouths. They changed shifts, and their patrol routes were quite orderly.

After watching for a while longer, he felt their methods resembled military patrol tactics.

"Rebel Army?"

"Or... regular troops?"

One hour...

Chu Qing discovered that without alerting the patrols, there was simply no way to sneak in silently.

"Looks like that group didn't hire any blades either."

"This time... I can only force my way in."

After observing for hours, he discovered that the fake monks paid particular attention to one side room.

Outside the side room hung many lanterns and torches. No matter when someone emerged from inside, the patrolling monks would see them.

"Pharmacist Li and the others may be locked in there."

He loosened his limbs, preparing to force his way in and kill his way through.