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Jingye City.

Chen's Apothecary.

Inside a room in the backyard.

"Dad, you two can rest here for two days. Once I'm done with my business, I'll come pick you up to settle down properly," Wu Ming said to Wu Qi and Liu Shi inside the room.

Wu Qi, with a calm expression, escorted Wu Ming to the doorway and said in a low voice, "Feel free to handle your affairs. Your mother and I are fine. This world is inherently dangerous, so don't let us hold you back."

Wu Ming had already told Wu Qi about his enraged killing of Guo Huai and others. As for Liu Shi, due to her age and injuries, both Wu Qi and Wu Ming decided to keep it from her to avoid causing her unnecessary worry.

Although Wu Qi was not a martial artist, he had traveled between Wu Village and Jingye City for many years and had experienced his fair share of storms. After a brief silence upon learning that Wu Ming had killed Guo Huai, he neither criticized nor expressed any joy of revenge. He only urged Wu Ming to handle everything as properly as possible, stating that fighting among martial artists was common, especially once he entered the Cautious Punishment Division, where such encounters would be unavoidable.

For him and Liu Shi, an ordinary elderly couple, despite their age, they could no longer guide Wu Ming. After supporting Wu Ming until his successful Blood Forging and seeing him embark on the path of a martial artist, the rest of the journey could only be walked by Wu Ming himself.

All they could do was try their best not to become a burden to Wu Ming.

"Don't worry, I've got it handled," Wu Ming replied calmly, then walked out the door and into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, Chen Gui saw Wu Ming emerge and proactively asked, "Are they all settled in?"

Wu Ming nodded, then cupped his fist towards Chen Gui and said, "Thank you for your trouble this time, Brother Chen."

"Hahaha, we're brothers, so it's just a small matter, nothing to mention," Chen Gui chuckled and added, "Let's have a good drink when you join the Cautious Punishment Division."

"Alright," Wu Ming nodded slightly.

He had also made some arrangements for the deaths of Guo Huai and Lu Yuan, but it was impossible to completely conceal them. Even if he had attacked stealthily at night, it would still be difficult to hide. After all, the news of him killing ten evil bandits in the city had already quietly spread. Among those Guo Huai had recently offended, he was the one with the most motive and capability. Guo Huai's death would inevitably lead to suspicion falling on him, no matter what.

He wasn't afraid of Guo Xiang, Guo Huai's brother. In terms of strength, he feared no opponent at the Second Blood Forging stage. In terms of background, he was reporting to the Cautious Punishment Division tomorrow, so he also had no fear of the Black Fiend Sect.

In any case.

Bringing Wu Qi and Liu Shi into the city had made things much more secure. After all, the order inside and outside the city was almost like two different worlds. Outside the city, the Cautious Punishment Division barely interfered, and it was a world purely governed by the law of the jungle. Inside the city, however, the Cautious Punishment Division maintained order. Unprovoked killings were serious crimes, and if a martial artist used their strength to arbitrarily kill innocent civilians, the crime was even more severe.

Wu Ming didn't know when Guo Xiang, Guo Huai's brother, would react, but being in the city, even if the other party wanted revenge, they would have to weigh their options and couldn't act recklessly. Furthermore, Wu Qi and Liu Shi were only temporarily staying at Chen's Apothecary for two days. Once he joined the Cautious Punishment Division, he could arrange for Wu Qi and Liu Shi to live in the more secure inner city of the Cautious Punishment Division.

He learned from his casual conversation with Chen Gui that one of the many benefits for martial artists entering the Cautious Punishment Division was the ability to bring their immediate family members to live in the inner city, specifically in "Tranquility Lane," located behind the Cautious Punishment Division.

The officers of the Cautious Punishment Division dealt with all sorts of vicious criminals daily and worried about those criminals retaliating against their families. Therefore, the Cautious Punishment Division had its own arrangements for this. Tranquility Lane, located behind the Cautious Punishment Division, was much safer. Not only was it near the headquarters of the Cautious Punishment Division, but it was also patrolled day and night.

Of course, Arranging for relatives to live in Tranquility Lane would likely involve paying a considerable amount of silver to rent the houses there. However, for Wu Ming now, money was not that scarce. He could always go to North Street to "gather some autumn harvest," or if necessary, he could borrow some from Chen Gui.

Wu Qi and Liu Shi's safety was temporarily not a concern. As for his sister, Wu Yu... Wu Yu was married into the Xu family. Xu Hao was a member of the Inner Hall of the Seven Martial Alliance, and his status and position were no less than that of the Inner Sect of the Black Fiend Sect. He was even more difficult to deal with than Wu Ming. Unless Guo Xiang had lost his mind, he wouldn't involve the Xu family. Of course, Wu Ming would have to inform Xu Hao about this in advance.

After bidding farewell to Chen Gui.

Wu Ming then went to the Return Mountain Hall of the Seven Martial Alliance and found Xu Hao, briefly explaining the situation.

"If you killed him, you killed him. He's just a piece of trash, no need to worry too much. I know about it, you don't need to worry about me here," Xu Hao's attitude was even more indifferent than Wu Ming's upon hearing the news.

As a member of the Inner Hall of the Return Mountain Hall, he had witnessed far more conflicts than Wu Ming. Especially outside the city, the Seven Martial Alliance, the Black Fiend Sect, and the Profound Jade Sect were already fiercely competing for resources. Even among members of the Inner Hall and Inner Sect, casualties were not uncommon.

A Guo Huai was nothing.

In comparison, Xu Hao considered Wu Ming's opportunity to enter the Cautious Punishment Division to be the more noteworthy matter, as the difficulty of entering the Cautious Punishment Division was no less than entering the Inner Hall of the Seven Martial Alliance.

Wu Ming's talent in spear techniques was indeed outstanding, being able to kill ten evil bandits in one night at the First Blood Forging stage. With this spear technique talent, it was almost enough to enter any of the Seven Martial Alliance's seven Inner Halls. However, since the Cautious Punishment Division had already chosen to recruit Wu Ming, the Seven Martial Alliance would not interfere.

After all, Compared to technical talent, martial path aptitude was more important. If Wu Ming could not reach the Third Blood Forging stage in the future, even if he could sweep through opponents of the same level in the Second Blood Forging stage, he would still not be able to reach the major leagues.

"This opportunity to enter the Cautious Punishment Division is yours to seize. Don't worry about anything else. Resources in this world are limited, and the higher you go, the fiercer the conflicts become."

The Martial Path was a process of accumulating blood energy, and accumulating blood energy required resources. The world's resources were limited and could only supply a portion of people. Therefore, the more one wanted to ascend, the more conflicts there would be. The conflicts he encountered in the Inner Hall were far more numerous than those in the Outer Hall.

Especially at the limit of the Second Blood Forging stage, before the bottleneck of the Third Blood Forging stage, everyone would do their utmost, casting everything else aside, just to break through to the Third Blood Forging stage. After all, crossing this step meant soaring freely, regardless of status or position, it was a qualitative change, transforming from a low-level martial artist struggling for survival to one who began to wield power!

"I heard Guo Xiang has a rather high position in the Inner Sect of the Black Fiend Sect?" Wu Ming asked, seeing that Xu Hao seemed to have some knowledge of Guo Xiang.

Xu Hao said indifferently, "His aptitude is good, so he naturally has some status. But he has been stuck at the Second Blood Forging stage for some years. This so-called status is all in vain as long as he doesn't reach the Third Blood Forging stage. The Third Blood Forging stage is not that easy to achieve; even those with upper-middle aptitude might not be able to cross it."

Upon hearing Xu Hao's explanation, Wu Ming immediately understood.

It wasn't just the Black Fiend Sect; it was the same for the Inner Hall of the Seven Martial Alliance. For example, Tian Hong, whom he met when he first joined the Seven Martial Alliance, had upper-middle aptitude and was directly taken into the Inner Hall by Warden Zhang He to be cultivated as a key disciple. However, specialized cultivation did not mean he would definitely reach the Third Blood Forging stage. If he failed to break through a few times, as he aged, the possibility of crossing that threshold would also decrease.

At that time, his status in the Inner Hall would gradually decline. Once he reached thirty and had no chance of reaching the Third Blood Forging stage, he would generally be arranged by the Inner Hall to take over a business operation, and the difference compared to martial artists in the Outer Hall would not be very significant.

It was the same for the Cautious Punishment Division and the Demon Slayer Division.

The younger one was and the higher their aptitude, the greater the possibility of breaking through to the Third Blood Forging stage, and thus the better their treatment. However, if one persistently failed to cross that threshold, their status would gradually decrease with age, eventually returning to the ordinary.