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Jingye City.

Chen's Apothecary.

In a room in the rear courtyard.

"Father, you and Mother should rest here for two days first. Once I've finished handling my affairs, I'll come settle you down."

Wu Ming spoke to Wu Qi and Liu Shi inside the room.

Wu Qi remained calm as he saw Wu Ming to the door, then said in a low voice, "Go deal with your matters. Your mother and I will be fine. This world was dangerous at every turn to begin with. Don't let us tie your hands and feet."

Wu Ming had already told Wu Qi about how, in a fit of rage, he had killed Guo Huai and the others. As for Liu Shi, she was elderly and injured. To keep her from worrying too much, both Wu Qi and Wu Ming had decided to hide it from her for now.

Though Wu Qi was not a martial artist, he had traveled between Wu Village and Jingye City all year round and had weathered his share of storms. When he learned that Wu Ming had killed Guo Huai, he fell silent briefly. He neither condemned him nor took pleasure in the revenge. He only instructed Wu Ming to handle everything as properly as possible. Fighting and killing between martial artists were commonplace, especially once he entered the Cautious Punishment Division, where such things would be even harder to avoid.

For him and Liu Shi, they were merely an ordinary elderly couple. They had nothing but age, and they could no longer guide Wu Ming in any way. They had supported him until he successfully forged his blood and sent him onto the path of a martial artist. From here on, Wu Ming could only walk the road ahead himself.

All they could do was try not to become Wu Ming's burden.

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

Wu Ming answered calmly, then stepped outside into the courtyard.

In the courtyard,

Seeing Wu Ming emerge, Chen Gui took the initiative to ask, "Are they all settled?"

Wu Ming nodded, then clasped his hands toward Chen Gui. "I've troubled you this time, Brother Chen."

"Hahaha, we're brothers. What's a trifling matter like this worth mentioning?"

Chen Gui smiled. "Once you've entered the Cautious Punishment Division, we'll have a proper drink together."

"Alright."

Wu Ming gave a slight nod.

He had made some minor arrangements concerning the deaths of Guo Huai, Lu Yuan, and the others, but concealing it completely was impossible. Even if he had quietly ambushed and killed them at night, it would still have been difficult to hide. After all, word had already quietly spread that he had slain ten vicious bandits in a single battle within the city. Among those Guo Huai had offended recently, Wu Ming had both the strongest motive and the greatest ability. No matter how one looked at it, Guo Huai's death would be traced back to him.

As for Guo Huai's older brother, Guo Xiang, Wu Ming was not afraid. In terms of strength, he feared no opponent at Second Blood Forging. In terms of backing, he would report to the Cautious Punishment Division tomorrow, so he had no reason to fear the Black Fiend Sect either.

In any case,

bringing Wu Qi and Liu Shi into the city made things much safer. Inside and outside the city were practically two different worlds. The Cautious Punishment Division barely concerned itself with affairs outside the city, where it was a world of pure survival of the fittest. Within the city, however, the Cautious Punishment Division maintained order. Killing without cause was a grave crime, and if martial artists relied on force to casually kill innocent civilians, the crime was aggravated further.

Wu Ming did not know when Guo Xiang would react, but as long as they were in the city, even if the other party wanted revenge, he would have to weigh matters carefully and could not act recklessly. Besides, Wu Qi and Liu Shi would only stay temporarily at Chen's Apothecary for two days. Once he entered the Cautious Punishment Division, he could arrange for them to live in the safer inner city of the Cautious Punishment Division.

It was only through chatting casually with Chen Gui that he had learned one of the benefits martial artists could enjoy after entering the Cautious Punishment Division: they could bring their immediate family to live in Tranquility Lane, located in the inner city behind the Cautious Punishment Division.

The constables of the Cautious Punishment Division dealt with all sorts of vicious criminals every day and all worried that those criminals would retaliate against their families. Thus, the Cautious Punishment Division had arrangements for this. Tranquility Lane, located behind the Cautious Punishment Division, was far safer. Not only was it near the division's headquarters, it was patrolled day and night.

Of course,

arranging for family members to live in Tranquility Lane would likely require a substantial amount of silver to rent a house there. But Wu Ming was no longer so short on silver. He could always go shake down North Street for some money, and if that truly did not work, he could borrow a little from Chen Gui.

For the time being, there was no need to worry about the safety of Wu Qi and his wife. As for his elder sister Wu Yu... she had already married into the Xu Family. Xu Hao was a member of the Inner Hall of the Seven Martial Alliance. His status was no lower than that of an inner disciple of the Black Fiend Sect, and he was even harder to provoke. Unless Guo Xiang had lost his mind, he would not drag the Xu Family into this. Naturally, Wu Ming still needed to notify Xu Hao in advance.

After bidding farewell to Chen Gui,

Wu Ming detoured to Return Mountain Hall of the Seven Martial Alliance, found Xu Hao, and briefly explained what had happened.

"So you killed him. He was only trash; there's no need to care too much. I know about it now, and you needn't worry about my side." After learning of it, Xu Hao was even more indifferent than Wu Ming.

As a member of the Inner Hall of Return Mountain Hall, he had seen far more struggles than Wu Ming. Especially outside the city, the Seven Martial Alliance, the Black Fiend Sect, and the Profound Jade Sect fought fiercely over resources. Even casualties among Inner Hall members and inner disciples were hardly rare.

One Guo Huai was nothing at all.

Compared to that, Wu Ming having the chance to enter the Cautious Punishment Division was what Xu Hao considered worthy of attention. After all, entering the Cautious Punishment Division was no easier than entering the Inner Hall of the Seven Martial Alliance.

At the First Blood Forging stage, Wu Ming had killed ten vicious bandits overnight. His talent with the spear truly could be called outstanding. With that spear talent, he was almost qualified enough to enter one of the Seven Martial Alliance's seven Inner Halls. But since the Cautious Punishment Division had already chosen to recruit Wu Ming, the Seven Martial Alliance would not step in and interfere.

After all,

compared to talent in martial skills, aptitude for the martial path was still more important. If Wu Ming could not achieve Third Blood Forging in the future, then even if he could sweep through opponents of the same rank at Second Blood Forging, he still would not be able to take the grand stage.

"This time, entering the Cautious Punishment Division is an opportunity. Seize it well, and there's no need to concern yourself with anything else. The resources of this world are limited. The higher you climb, the fiercer the disputes become."

The martial path was a process of accumulating Blood Qi, and accumulating Blood Qi required resources. The world's resources were limited and could only supply some people. Thus, the more one wanted to climb, the more disputes there would be. The struggles he encountered in the Inner Hall were far more numerous than those in the outer hall.

Especially when one reached the limits of Second Blood Forging and stood before the bottleneck of Third Blood Forging, everyone would exhaust every possible means, casting all else behind them just to charge at Third Blood Forging. Once they crossed that step, the sky would be boundless for birds to fly. Whether in status or position, it was a qualitative transformation—from lowly martial artists scrambling for survival to people who began wielding power and authority!

"I heard Guo Xiang holds quite a high position among the inner disciples of the Black Fiend Sect?"

Seeing that Xu Hao seemed to know something about Guo Xiang, Wu Ming asked.

Xu Hao said blandly, "His aptitude is decent, so naturally he has some standing. But he has remained at Second Blood Forging for years. So long as he does not achieve Third Blood Forging, that so-called standing is all hollow. Third Blood Forging is not so easy to attain. Even those of mid-upper grade aptitude may still fail to cross that threshold."

Hearing Xu Hao's explanation, Wu Ming immediately gained some understanding.

It was not just the Black Fiend Sect. The Inner Hall of the Seven Martial Alliance was the same. Take Tian Hong, whom he had met when he first joined the Seven Martial Alliance. Tian Hong possessed mid-upper grade aptitude and had been directly admitted into the Inner Hall by Steward Zhang. He would be cultivated as a key disciple by the Inner Hall, but being specially nurtured did not mean he would certainly achieve Third Blood Forging. So long as he failed several attempts, as he gradually grew older, his chances of crossing that threshold would become smaller and smaller.

At that point, his standing in the Inner Hall would slowly decline as well. Once he passed thirty and had completely lost any chance of Third Blood Forging, he would generally be assigned by the Inner Hall to take over and manage a business. Compared to martial artists of the outer hall, the difference would no longer be great.

The Cautious Punishment Division and the Demon Slayer Division were the same.

The younger one was, and the higher one's aptitude, the greater the chance of breaking through to Third Blood Forging, and thus the better one's treatment. But if one remained unable to cross that threshold, one's status and position would gradually decline with age, until one finally returned to ordinary.