Xiao Cui

"I..."

Long Shi touched his chest in terror.

Light shone straight through from front to back, yet strangely, his inner qi still circulated normally. It quickly gathered and stopped the blood from pouring out.

Huang Deyou had vanished who knew where.

Jiang Ding sheathed his sword and said flatly, "Who sent you after me?"

Long Shi steeled himself. "No one. Greed got the better of me alone. You are a great man with great magnanimity..."

Clang!

The sword left its sheath, then returned to it.

His left arm broke off and flew away. Blood gushed down in torrents, and his internal force could no longer stop it.

"AAARGH!"

Long Shi's miserable scream startled a flock of birds into flight.

Jiang Ding watched him calmly until his screams weakened, then said, "Continue."

Long Shi's body trembled.

The youth before him wore flowing blue robes and had handsome features, but he was no less ruthless than any other martial artist of the jianghu.

He knew what "continue" meant.

It meant continuing to live, or continuing to die. The choice was entirely his.

"It was the Zheng Family."

Suppressing the searing agony in his left arm, Long Shi said softly, "I received orders from Chen Chen, a guest retainer of the Zheng Family, to come here and test the waters."

"The only reason I could gain a foothold on Rotten Plank Street was the Zheng Family's support. I didn't dare refuse their orders."

"The Zheng Family? In-laws of the Marquis's estate."

Jiang Ding muttered to himself.

"Would such a lofty household come out and rob people too?"

"It should have been private work."

Long Shi lowered his voice. "Chen Chen specifically handles dirty work for the Zheng Family and has connections with many underworld factions. I wouldn't dare ask for confirmation every time as to whether it was truly the main household's order."

Jiang Ding pondered for a while.

If the Zheng Family really had no scruples to such an extent, then he could only run.

He could not defeat a large army laying siege to him.

But there was no need to be overly afraid. If he could not win, he could run. Even with the city's cramped terrain and drones watching from above, it would not be so easy for a large force to surround him.

"Let's leave it at that. Completely tearing our faces apart wouldn't be good either." Jiang Ding sighed. "Hand over the internal cultivation method you practice, then get lost."

"Remember, you only get one chance. If there's a next time, make better preparations."

Long Shi was ecstatic, scarcely daring to believe his ears.

"Young master, how could this lowly one ever forget such great kindness? If I do, may Heaven strike me down, Earth destroy me, and my descendants be cut off!" He pointed at the sky and swore, burying the cold resentment and venom in his heart's deepest depths without revealing a trace on his face.

"Cut the act."

Jiang Ding laughed and cursed, "If you can chop off my dog's head someday, that will be your skill."

Long Shi mumbled, not daring to reply. He called over one of the men outside and whispered a few words into his ear.

A short while later, a martial artist in tight-fitting clothes hurried over. He cast Jiang Ding a fearful glance, then handed a bundle to Long Shi.

"Young master, this is the cultivation technique I practice, called Desolate Wolf Strength." He forced a smile. "Of course, it cannot compare to even a fraction of what you practice."

"And this gold and silver is all my savings. I offer it to you as well, young master."

Beneath the manual lay a small pile of gold and silver, roughly four or five hundred taels—about half the value of a ninety-year-old Aged Ginseng.

"Leave."

Jiang Ding took the manual. He always wore transparent gloves, so he was not afraid of contact poison.

Long Shi did not dare refuse. He wrapped up the remaining gold and silver, joined the fifteen uninjured riders outside, and fled as though flying, not even daring to collect Lang Si's corpse from the ground.

Jiang Ding called softly, "Manager Huang."

"Boss."

Huang Deyou emerged from who knew where again.

"Find a professional corpse collector to clean this place up. Leave no loose ends. Do you know anyone who can handle it?"

"I do, Boss."

Huang Deyou nodded repeatedly. He had grown up on Rotten Plank Street. Though he did not mix with gangs, he knew what he needed to know.

"Also, find someone to deliver this to the Four Seas Merchant Guild."

Coldness flashed in Jiang Ding's eyes as he tapped Lang Si's wide-eyed head with his sword sheath.

Whether the Four Seas Merchant Guild had an insider was none of his business, but once it threatened his life, it became his business.

"Yes, Boss!"

Sitting in a chair, Jiang Ding flipped through Desolate Wolf Strength, the first local internal cultivation method he had ever obtained.

"Hmm, it only has the Twelve Meridians, Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and minor meridians, for a total of just three hundred and sixty-five meridians. Its special effect is that both hands strike twenty to thirty percent faster than with ordinary internal cultivation methods. It can be cultivated at most to inner qi great accomplishment. It counts as a minor treasure."

He flipped through it casually. It was very simple. With the Immortal Sect high school education Jiang Ding had received, he could understand everything with a single glance. There were no secrets at all.

If this sort of cultivation technique manual were submitted to the Immortal Sect Library, it would not even earn 0.001 points.

Only by writing a paper such as <An Overview of Mortal Sect Cultivation Methods in Such-and-Such a Realm> could one earn dozens or hundreds of points. A highly valuable reference work might even earn thousands of points.

"This internal force structure located in the Ren and Du meridians..."

After turning to the latter half, Jiang Ding found a certain internal force circulation structure somewhat familiar. He carefully recalled what his teacher had taught in language class.

"Right, the Spirit Root to Qi Conversion Structure. Two points on a fill-in-the-blank question."

Jiang Ding lightly patted the book.

"It can use the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth naturally absorbed through spirit roots and convert it into inner qi, allowing cultivation to advance a thousand miles in a day. The better the spirit root, the faster the cultivation. There are capable people in the martial world too."

Without spirit roots, cultivation speed naturally became slower still—what people called bone aptitude and the like.

It was useless. Jiang Ding turned past it at a glance.

More than twenty minutes later, Jiang Ding casually tossed the manual into a corner. He had memorized and understood it all. At best, it had broadened his reading.

Afterward, he recalled the contents of Minor Breath Concealment Technique from his mind, and his whole body sank into a dazed state.

His inner qi rolled from time to time, shifting according to an extremely complex circulation structure. At times his presence became so ethereal that people instinctively overlooked him; at other times it became extraordinarily conspicuous, drawing countless gazes.

Over the past few days, he had tried no fewer than a hundred times, yet Minor Breath Concealment Technique remained difficult to execute.

Still, it would be soon. Since obtaining the Rusty Sword Tip, his comprehension had steadily improved. He was confident that he would be able to get started in a few more days.

Four Seas Merchant Guild.

"Who was it?!"

Long San stared at the head quietly placed inside a wooden box, preserved with lime. His face flushed red as he growled.

"My Long Clan has risen for more than several hundred years. We relied on honest business and kindness toward others. Only then did we gain the Founding Emperor's favor and leap into becoming one of the Yue Kingdom's two great merchant guilds."

"While serving the imperial family, we have also earned the trust of masters from every path of the martial world, handling all manner of miscellaneous affairs for them."

"Even though Marquis Zhen Dong dislikes our Four Seas Merchant Guild, he still agreed to let us establish ourselves here and provide protection. That rests on the golden signboard we have built over centuries!"

"Yet today—"

Long San roared, "Who wants to turn the Four Seas Merchant Guild into one of those filthy dens of thieves that cannot be shown in public?"

After waiting for him to vent his fury, the maid at his side said calmly, "Shopkeeper, we found out. It was Xiao Cui from the pharmacy. Her older brother works for the Zheng Family."

"The Zheng Family? Hmph. Mere upstarts, nothing but filthy, stinking trash. Who knows when they'll be gone."

Long San sneered.