"Have you made up your mind?"
Gu Sheng's right hand, shaped like a tiger's paw, gripped Qin San's sweat-covered head, forcing him to meet his cold gaze.
"I—I'll talk!"
Qin San had originally wanted to curse a few times, but when he met those frigid eyes, he swallowed the vile words in his mouth and instead begged almost hysterically, "I'll agree to all your conditions, but you have to promise not to kill me."
"Fine!"
Gu Sheng nodded, circled behind Qin San, and fiddled around for a while. Qin San noticed that the dripping had grown quieter. It seemed Gu Sheng was bandaging his wounds.
"I can give you what you want right now, but you have to swear first—a deadly oath!"
Gu Sheng returned to stand before Qin San. Qin San quickly stated his conditions, afraid Gu Sheng would not let him speak.
"Fine!"
Gu Sheng gave him a deep look. "I, Teng Qinghu, hereby swear that today..." Gu Sheng's oath was simple: he promised not to kill Qin San today and to let him go.
"Can I talk now?"
Gu Sheng's voice rang out again.
"Fine!"
Qin San said impatiently, "I'll tell you everything you want to know. The Li family... the eldest young lady has been gaining tremendous momentum recently. She has drawn up several plans in succession, and even Lord Li said they were excellent. They...
"That's everything specific. As for the other things, including my Secret Codex, the Flying Star Sword manual, they're in the hidden compartment behind the bookshelf in my study. You only need to...
"I've told you everything I should. Let me go!"
Qin San laboriously opened and closed his mouth. After saying so much, he was terribly thirsty, but what made him even more anxious was that his right hand was still "bleeding." Though the dripping had lessened, it still continued, reminding him that he was still "losing blood."
Gu Sheng did not look at him again. He paced into the study and examined the bookshelf for a while. Then he pushed it with both hands. After fiddling around, he took a book and a large number of letters and account books from a hidden compartment.
"Ding!"
A notification tone rang out.
"Obtained the martial art 'Flying Star Sword.' After learning it, personal Conquest Progress will increase by 0.005%."
Flying Star Sword Type: Internal and External Cultivation (Unrated) Quality: D-grade Technique (Two-Star Technique) Note: Skill not authenticated. It can only be used in this world and cannot be brought back to the Lord God Space. Authentication Required: 200 Points, one Black Iron Medal
"Ding-ling!"
The notification tone rang out again. "System notification: Database entry recorded. 'Flying Star Sword' successfully archived."
"An unrated technique? No wonder!"
Gu Sheng flipped through it for a while before losing interest. This Flying Star Sword truly could not be considered a good technique. It was divided into seven levels, but the creator apparently had not perfected the seventh level, so only the first six could be cultivated.
After mastering the sixth level, one would possess at least six thousand jin of strength. Combined with personal talent, that was already extremely close to the ten-thousand-jin threshold of a First-Rate Expert. Yet the difference between the two was like heaven and earth. The gap between a Second-Rate and First-Rate expert was not merely a difference in strength.
This was probably Qin San's sect inheritance: an unrated Inner Force technique that allowed one to steadily cultivate to the Second-Rate realm. In truth, this technique was already quite good.
One had to know that, aside from disciples of sects, most so-called Inner Force experts in the martial world of the Nine Provinces had merely cultivated Inner Force through crude techniques. The vast majority of their techniques were unrated.
Above unrated techniques were the Heaven, Earth, and Human-grade Secret Codices. The major sects guarded these graded Secret Codices extremely closely, and they almost never found their way into the outside world. In the martial world, most martial artists who could reach the First-Rate realm had a master or sect behind them. Very few had truly fought their way up from the grassroots, step by step.
"You got what you wanted. Hurry up and let me go!"
Qin San's voice grew weaker and weaker, but Gu Sheng, in the study, gave no reply. Instead, he sat before the desk and rapidly yet meticulously leafed through the letters, account books, and other documents written personally by Qin San.
"Phew~"
Gu Sheng let out a long breath, ignoring Qin San's hoarse curses. He then took out a sheet of paper and spread it open, gripping a writing brush as he silently recited a phrase in his mind.
"Ding-ling!"
A notification tone rang out. A trace of pain flashed across Gu Sheng's face. He had just spent ten Luck Points to comprehend an extremely useless skill: "Qin San's Handwriting." By observing a large number of Qin San's authentic writings, he had mastered his writing habits and gained the ability to imitate Qin San's handwriting.
The Multiverse Reincarnation System was called a system, but in Gu Sheng's view, it could completely be treated as a supercomputer with unlimited memory that could be carried around. Sorting databases, comprehending memories, and similar tasks were all things it handled with ease. Too bad it was so obsessed with charging him for everything. Otherwise, it would have been perfect.
After letting his imagination wander for a while, Gu Sheng picked up his brush and began forging a letter. He planned to create a letter claiming that Qin San had betrayed his master and committed suicide out of guilt. The general meaning was that Qin San had colluded with outsiders to abduct Miss Li for a ransom, after which he would personally go to exchange for her and play the hero rescuing the beauty.
He then wrote that although the plan had been perfect, something had gone wrong today. The fifteen thousand taels of deposit he had used to hire the men had all been lost today, and the bandits he had hired had come to demand payment again that night.
Qin San could no longer produce the silver. After attacking them, he discovered that he was completely outmatched. The other party then threatened him, saying that if he could not produce the money, they would report everything to Lord Li.
Since the other party possessed the correspondence Qin San had previously left behind, Qin San had been left with no choice. Under extreme helplessness, he had committed suicide out of guilt.
Gu Sheng's plan could not be called perfect. It could even be said to be riddled with flaws. However, as long as a single trace of Qin San's correspondence fell into Lord Li's hands, the secrets in his study would eventually be exposed.
There was so much incriminating evidence concerning Qin San and the guards. Once Lord Li learned of it, he would certainly investigate everything. By then, whether Qin San had been wronged would no longer matter. It would be enough if those guards could look after themselves.
No one would investigate Qin San's death, and even less attention would be paid to what had happened at Teng Village.
"Let me go! Let me go! I've lost too much blood. If I die, you'll still be breaking your oath. You..."
Qin San's hoarse, feeble shrieks grew slower and slower. Gradually, he felt dizzy, his face grew pale, and his body weakened...
His head grew increasingly dizzy, and his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. After closing his eyes, his breathing gradually slowed. In the end, he stopped breathing.
"Dead?"
Gu Sheng suddenly stopped his brushstrokes. Seeing that Qin San had stopped breathing, he shook his head and sighed. "A person's fear can truly be terrifying at times!"
Gu Sheng walked behind Qin San and picked up a copper basin filled with chicken blood from the floor. He removed the pig's bladder hanging from Qin San's wrist and poured all of its contents into the basin. Then he let out a long sigh and fell silent for a moment.
"Sure enough, I still can't get used to this sort of thing."
Gu Sheng forcefully suppressed the churning in his stomach. After cleaning up every trace, he threw Qin San's corpse onto the bed.
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