Returning Again

Twenty minutes later.

Jiang Dao frowned slightly. From the man in black, he learned everything he wanted to know.

Just as he had guessed.

Magistrate Wang deliberately let people leave the city, only to have them ambushed and robbed midway!

However!

"What's going on with the strange occurrences inside the city? Is it something the court is doing?"

Jiang Dao asked.

"I don't know, I really don't know, please don't kill me..."

The man in black said painfully.

Jiang Dao pondered.

Could it be that the court had collaborated with Malevolent Spirits, deliberately blockading the city to let them kill people?

But for what purpose?

"What kind of martial arts did you learn? What's its name?"

Jiang Dao looked at the man in black and asked.

"I learned Wind Chasing Saber and Poison Sand Palm..."

The man quickly replied.

"Poison Sand Palm? Good, teach me both of these martial arts, and I'll spare your life!"

Jiang Dao said.

"Teach... teach you? You'll really spare my life?"

The man asked.

"If you don't teach me, I'll cut the flesh from your body piece by piece and force you to swallow it yourself."

Jiang Dao's tone was icy as he looked down at him.

"Okay, I'll teach you, I'll teach you..."

The man in black said fearfully.

Thus, enduring the pain in his arm, he first explained the profound principles of Poison Sand Palm to Jiang Dao, and then the principles and key points of Wind Chasing Saber.

Unknowingly, more than half the night passed.

Jiang Dao listened attentively, repeatedly asking for details during the process.

He wasn't worried about being deceived, because if he were, the panel wouldn't react, and he would know immediately.

In the latter half of the night.

Finally, two new ultimate skills appeared on the panel.

Wind Chasing Saber [Modifiable]

Poison Sand Palm [Modifiable]

"It wasn't a waste of effort after all..."

Jiang Dao's eyes flickered.

"Now... you can let me go, right?"

The man in black asked in terror.

"Why do all villains ask such brainless questions before they die?"

Crack!

With a grab of his five fingers, Jiang Dao hollowed out the man in black's forehead bone on the spot, causing him to die a violent death.

From the moment the man saw him, his fate was sealed.

Jiang Dao stood up, looked at the panel before him, and began to modify it.

Swish!

The text on the panel began to change rapidly, becoming blurry.

Wind Chasing Saber (Sixty Years Later) [Unmodifiable]

Poison Sand Palm (Sixty Years Later) [Unmodifiable]

Hoo!

In an instant, Jiang Dao's body underwent another significant change. Countless pieces of information flooded his mind, and his body crackled and popped. His physique seemed to suddenly become more robust, his blood vessels and muscles firmer, and a terrifying, intangible aura emanated from him.

His hands, in particular, had grown a size larger. He could clearly feel a flow of energy in his palms.

With a forceful clap, both palms would turn completely red, as if stained with cinnabar.

This was the perfected Poison Sand Palm!

The palm contained potent venom!

A slight touch would be fatal.

He looked at the panel again, seeing his stats had changed once more.

Strength: 1.8

Speed: 1.6

Spirit: 1.2

Although his strength had only increased by 0.3 on the panel, in reality, his strength had increased by at least seven to eight times.

For every 0.1 increase in strength, his actual power roughly doubled.

Jiang Dao looked at his palm, the previous thought returning.

"My current strength should be enough to fight a Malevolent Spirit, right? The hunger in my body has also disappeared; I no longer need to replenish energy like before."

Five martial arts had reached mastery, all trained to the sixty-year realm.

Such strength, if not unique, was certainly rare in the Great Ye Dynasty.

He could even crush steel blades with his bare hands.

Even ordinary weapons could no longer harm him.

"Malevolent Spirits... are they really impossible to deal with?"

His eyes narrowed.

As he grew stronger, his desire to test the Malevolent Spirits intensified.

Jiang Dao suddenly bent down and retrieved a thick stack of banknotes from the dead leader of the black-clothed men.

In the torchlight, they were almost all large denomination notes, ranging from one thousand to three thousand taels.

Altogether, it was at least four to five hundred thousand taels of silver.

"These banknotes must belong to the young masters who were secretly leaving the city these past few days and were ambushed."

After all, there were many wealthy merchants within the city.

When faced with attacks from Malevolent Spirits, they would undoubtedly try every means to ensure the continuation of their families.

Little did they know, they might not die from Malevolent Spirits within the city, only to perish at the hands of bandits after leaving.

Jiang Dao stuffed all the banknotes into his embrace, casually picked up a steel saber from the ground, and sheathed it at his waist. Turning back, he said in a deep voice, "You will spend the night in this ruined temple. Tomorrow morning, second brother, you will take the others to the neighboring Fengzhou City to take refuge. Once you reach Fengzhou City, send a letter home!"

His younger brothers had already been terrified out of their wits by Jiang Dao's methods.

Hearing this, his second brother, Jiang Feng, stammered, "Big brother, what about you? Aren't you coming with us?"

Jiang Dao looked at him deeply and said, "I need to go back and check on our father!"

He led the way towards the ruined temple.

His younger brothers hurried to follow behind him.

His younger sister, Jiang Ruyan, was still vomiting uncontrollably, trembling, her body weak and sore, as she struggled towards the ruined temple.

"Ruyan, you sleep with me!"

Jiang Dao said, looking at Ruyan.

Although Jiang Ruyan was frightened, she nodded forcefully. With so many corpses outside the temple, she absolutely dared not sleep alone.

And so, the night passed quickly.

The next morning.

Jiang Dao handed the black package his father had given him to his second brother, Jiang Feng, and instructed, "Spend the money inside sparingly. Also, no bullying little sister. If I find out anyone bullies her, I'll skin them myself!"

His gaze was cold as he swept over his five useless younger brothers.

The five brothers all shivered and forced smiles.

"Big brother, don't worry, how could we dare bully little sister!"

"Yes, yes!"

"Ruyan, go with second brother. Remember to send a letter when you reach Fengzhou!"

Jiang Dao casually picked up his younger sister and placed her on Jiang Feng's fast horse.

"Big brother, you be careful..."

Jiang Ruyan said timidly.

Jiang Dao nodded gently, turned, mounted his fast horse, and galloped back towards Hengzhou City.

He felt utterly pathetic, fleeing like this.

With five martial arts reaching mastery consecutively, he refused to believe it had no effect.

Even if he couldn't kill the Malevolent Spirit, he should have been able to protect himself.

"Giddy up, giddy up..."

Twenty minutes later.

Jiang Dao appeared below Hengzhou City and shouted upwards, "Head Constable Zhang, open the gate quickly, it's me!"

On the city wall, Head Constable Zhang's expression was startled as he looked down at Jiang Dao.

He's fine?

How could this kid be fine?

Did Fang Biao and the others fail?

"Young Master Jiang, where are your other brothers?"

Head Constable Zhang shouted, trying to pry information out of him.

"Head Constable Zhang, open the gate first, and let me enter the city!"

Jiang Dao yelled.

Head Constable Zhang frowned and thought deeply. He still waved his hand, signaling for them to open the small gate.

Jiang Dao immediately galloped into the city.

Head Constable Zhang quickly came forward, cupped his hands, and smiled, "Young Master Jiang, didn't you have several brothers last night? Where did they go?"

"I sent them to Dengzhou City and then returned overnight myself."

Jiang Dao replied.

"Did you encounter anything on the road?"

Head Constable Zhang asked suspiciously.

"Encounter? What encounter?"

Jiang Dao asked deliberately.

"Uh, nothing, nothing."

Head Constable Zhang chuckled, unwilling to elaborate. "Since Young Master Jiang is fine, hurry home. However, once you're in the city, you can't just leave again!"

"Thank you, Head Constable Zhang!"

Jiang Dao nodded, glanced deeply at Head Constable Zhang, and sneered inwardly before galloping towards the Jiang Manor.

Magistrate Wang dared to betray him.

He would never let this matter go, no matter what.

Once he figured out the situation with the Malevolent Spirit, he would settle the score with Magistrate Wang!?