Swordsmanship Insights

Swordsmanship Insights

Seeing that Sanyue was clearly about to let her imagination run wild, Ye Weiming quickly interrupted her bold speculation. "Without evidence, try not to make judgments based solely on subjective assumptions."

The girl refused to accept that. "Then how do you explain his unusual behavior?"

"Do you think his behavior was unusual?" Ye Weiming shook his head. "I think his reaction was perfectly reasonable."

"But there were so many suspicious points at the scene, yet he chose to turn a blind eye to them."

Ye Weiming shrugged. "Seeking advantage and avoiding harm is human nature. Naturally, he would selectively ignore anything that brought him no benefit." Seeing that Sanyue still did not understand, Ye Weiming could only put it more bluntly. "If Old Man Li committed suicide, he could close the case now. If it was murder, then as a constable, he had to find the real culprit. If he failed, he would at least be charged with incompetence."

"But after you appeared, he was sarcastic and mocking toward someone from his superior department. Is that reasonable too?"

"He was merely making his unwillingness to cooperate clear." Ye Weiming lightly shook his head. "Offending a superior might not end well, but a constable from the Divine Constable Bureau like me could not take his life. A vicious bandit with powerful martial arts who killed without blinking, however, could."

"But in the end, he looked like he had suddenly come to his senses and was willing to cooperate..."

"That happened after I said the Divine Constable Bureau would take over the case. With his own safety guaranteed, of course he would be willing to repair his relationship with his superiors. Believe me, if I asked him for help, he would definitely agree without hesitation and do his utmost. But the scope of that help would absolutely not include risking his life to accompany me in catching bandits."

"Something still isn't right." The girl shook her head. "Didn't the official game introduction say before we entered the game that only higher-level NPCs had greater intelligence? And Constable Liu doesn't look like a high-level NPC at all..."

"You've confused two concepts." Ye Weiming raised a finger and gently waved it. "Intelligence and fear of death are not the same thing."

"Besides, game designers are no good people. Most of them enjoy messing with players. I guarantee that if I really used my authority to force Constable Liu and the others to act as cannon fodder, they would dare shout a few times at the critical moment of catching the bandits and ruin our mission completely. And if you analyzed it carefully, their actions would still be entirely reasonable, leaving you unable to find fault with them. That is what makes game designers truly clever."

Sanyue fell silent for a few seconds. "All of a sudden, I feel like this game is really hard to play..."

Ye Weiming did not want to waste any more breath on such a pointless topic, so he immediately changed the subject. "Let's talk about your mission first."

When asked about her mission, the girl immediately showed a hint of pride. "Actually, I've already cleared every quest in the beginner village that doesn't require special conditions to trigger. The last quest was to help Doctor Hu deliver a batch of Golden Wound Medicine Old Man Li had ordered. But when I got here, I found that Old Man Li was already dead, so my quest changed from delivering medicine to investigating the truth behind his death."

She had cleared all the ordinary quests in Dukang Village?

Ye Weiming could not help asking, "What level are you?"

"Level 13, but I haven't gone to take a master yet. I planned to wait until I finished all the quests here first."

"As expected, your level is even higher than mine." Ye Weiming rubbed his nose, then immediately changed the subject. "Since you've cleared all the ordinary quests, you should know Dukang Village very well. Do you know anyone who was close to Old Man Li and might know more about him?"

"It's Wang Dalong next door!" Sanyue answered without hesitation. "He was Old Man Li's drinking buddy. The two often drank together and talked about nearly everything. But Old Man Li had seemed a little strange lately and hadn't invited him out for drinks. When I was doing quests earlier, Wang Dalong even muttered to me about it."

"Let's go!" Ye Weiming moved with thunderous momentum. "Let's ask him what he knows."

Ten minutes later, Ye Weiming walked out of Wang Dalong's house with a bitter smile. Sanyue hurried forward to ask about the situation, but Ye Weiming only shook his head bitterly. "That guy was terrified the moment he saw me. When I asked him anything, he claimed to know nothing, as if he was afraid I would arrest him as the murderer. All his answers could basically be summed up in one sentence."

"What sentence?"

"I have not participated in discussions of martial affairs, do not understand martial arts terminology, and have not come into contact with any martial artists. I hereby declare that I have drawn a clear line between myself and them!"

"Hehe..." Sanyue laughed so hard that she trembled all over. Only after a while did she rein in her laughter and ask, "Do you think he knows something?"

"The more he emphasized that he knew nothing, the more it proved that he definitely knew something." Ye Weiming smiled bitterly. "But the problem is that he really seems to be a law-abiding civilian. He is just a little timid and afraid that trouble will come from his mouth. Could I really subject him to torture?"

Sanyue suggested, "How about I give it a try? I've done two quests involving Wang Dalong before, so I'm fairly familiar with him. And I'm not wearing an official uniform, so he shouldn't be so guarded against me."

"Sounds good." Ye Weiming nodded. "You're responsible for gathering information. Not just from Wang Dalong—ask the other villagers too, see if they have any clues. I'll go back and inspect the scene again to see whether any other physical evidence was left behind."

"Also, if it's convenient, help me ask around about an NPC named Soy Milk Xiaobai."

That unlucky NPC was the one who had tricked him into joining the Divine Constable Bureau. But that fellow was not a resident of Dukang Village and had only temporarily appeared here to torment players. If possible, Ye Weiming still planned to drag that guy out and let him learn the consequences of tricking him!

"No problem!" Sanyue said as she strode toward Wang Dalong's house.

At that moment, Constable Liu came running back eagerly and delivered the straw mats Ye Weiming had requested earlier. He had even brought ten of them, exceeding the task requirements.

Ye Weiming returned to Old Man Li's house with the straw mats and laid Old Man Li's body to rest, obtaining the "Swordsmanship Insights" manual ×1.

Old Man Li really was a martial artist!

After glancing at the manual in his hand, Ye Weiming became even more certain of his earlier judgment. But when he saw the manual's attributes, he could not help drawing in a sharp breath!

Swordsmanship Insights: Jade Flute Master of Mount Tai's swordsmanship notes. Can be applied to a designated swordplay technique, increasing its Proficiency by 5000 points!

It was actually such a good item for increasing martial arts Proficiency!

Ye Weiming had been playing Eternal Chivalry for quite some time now. He had spent a full five days in the beginner village alone.

Of course, five days was nothing for a game meant to be played continuously for years, day and night. However, compared with levels, martial arts Proficiency was much harder to raise.

His deepest impression from the beginner village was that levels were easy to gain, while martial arts were hard to train!

Take Ye Weiming's current attributes, for example:

Ye Weiming

Level: 12

...

Vitality: 620/620

Internal Energy: 420/420

Physique: 59

Arm Strength: 59

Agility: 64

Reaction: 59

Aptitude: 25

Comprehension: 28

Breathing Technique (Low-grade) Level: 5

Proficiency: 132/1600

The most basic breathing and circulation method in the martial world. It has no special qualities, but there is never any danger of Qi Deviation.

Vitality +250, Internal Energy +250

Physique +25, Arm Strength +25, Agility +25, Reaction +25

...

Moon Maiden Swordplay (Low-grade)

A swordplay technique passed down from the Spring and Autumn period. Its power is ordinary.

Level: 3

Proficiency: 86/400

Power +30%, Accuracy +30%

...

Equipment

Flying Fish Robe: Standard equipment of the Divine Constable Bureau.

Physical Defense +30, Internal Defense +30, Vitality Limit +100.

...

Woven Palm Hat: Standard equipment of the Divine Constable Bureau.

Physical Defense +10, Internal Defense +10, Internal Energy Limit +50.

...

Long Official Boots: Standard equipment of the Divine Constable Bureau.

Defense +5, Agility +5.

...

Dragon Spring Sword: Standard equipment of the Divine Constable Bureau.

Attack Power +50, Internal Energy Damage Amplification 10%.

...

Two Low-grade techniques—this was the current state of Ye Weiming's martial arts. And even those Low-grade techniques were at pitifully low levels. His internal cultivation, the Breathing Technique, was only level 5, and that was the result of completing an entire chain of hidden quests!

As for Moon Maiden Swordplay, because he had acquired it later, its level had risen even more slowly.

Yet the "Swordsmanship Insights" in Ye Weiming's hand could directly increase Proficiency by 5000 points. Its value was obvious!

Then he thought of the NPC named Han Xiaoying. He had only helped her find a few medicinal herbs, yet she had rewarded him with an entire swordplay technique. But Soy Milk Xiaobai had only given him a damn useless broken token after an entire chain of hidden quests.

Why was the gap between people so enormous?