Zhuang Jing raised his head to glance at the hole in the roof, then looked at the corpse on the ground and said:
"Whoever made the attack was a saber wielder no weaker than us. He must have joined forces with Yin Sha and lain in ambush on the roof, striking at her vital point when she was caught off guard."
Su Youyu nodded, then said somewhat regretfully:
"I heard Yang Sha's techniques are rather sinister. Once Yin Sha's cultivation reaches perfection, all of it will be absorbed by him. She must have been unwilling to accept that, so she took this opportunity to work with someone and strike first. Once she digests Yang Sha's power, her three centuries of cultivation may well reach the realm of a top-tier Grandmaster in the martial world."
"She may be top-tier, but calling her a Grandmaster is a stretch. Cultivation alone isn't enough to become a Grandmaster."
"Even so, she isn't someone my Great River Gang can afford to provoke."
"What's there to fear? She isn't a Grandmaster yet. Even if she truly becomes one, my Great River Gang isn't without backing."
"But now that Yang Sha is dead, there's no need to search so thoroughly."
The two chatted idly in envy and did not continue the pursuit. They merely left the search to their subordinates. Those men were no experts, only gang members, with the strongest barely at the third-rate or second-rate level. How could they possibly catch up with Yin Sha and Lin Xiao, whose powers had fully recovered? The two raced straight out of this residential district and vanished somewhere in the city.
In an ordinary residence in the southern part of the city, Lin Xiao, completely naked, and the sweat-drenched Yin Sha Maiden lay curled beneath the covers, their bodies tightly entwined. Having barely escaped with their lives, she had also eliminated the threat in one stroke. With their emotions running high, things naturally took their course.
Afterward, she nestled in his arms and whispered:
"I'm going to leave this place and find somewhere with beautiful mountains and clear waters to devote myself to cultivating the Yang Sha Scripture and Yin Sha Scripture. Come with me. When the time comes, I'll marry you."
The proposal was incredibly tempting. Nine out of ten other men would have agreed, and Lin Xiao was genuinely moved as well.
However, he was a Descender. He had come with a mission, and he had only recently descended. He had not even completed his Final Wish Mission yet. How could he possibly withdraw from the world and live in seclusion now? Even if he did, it would have to wait until after he completed the Final Wish Mission. Otherwise, what if he secluded himself for decades and became the greatest under heaven, only to return with none of that cultivation? Wouldn't that be a complete disaster?
He could only accept the beauty's kindness in his heart. Gently caressing her silky-smooth skin, he spoke beside her ear:
"I still have things to do. Once I'm finished, I'll come find you, and we can live in seclusion in the mountains and enjoy a world for just the two of us. How about it?"
She raised her head and looked into his eyes. He met her gaze with complete seriousness, not avoiding it in the slightest.
After a long while, she nodded:
"Don't make me wait too long."
He held her soft, delicate body tightly and took her earlobe into his mouth as he whispered:
"It won't be too long. Besides, I can go visit you anytime."
"Mm!"
Three days later, Lin Xiao appeared at the gates of the Great River Gang carrying a bloodstained cloth bundle. Before long, several high-ranking gang members came out, and he presented them with Yang Sha's head along with the Two-Star High-Grade internal cultivation manual, the Yang Sha Scripture.
Two days later, Lin Xiao was promoted to Hall Master of Great River Hall's Sixth Branch Hall. As Hall Master Lin, he had risen in a single step to become one of the Great River Gang's mid-to-high-ranking members, while also obtaining four Great Merits from the gang.
Taking Yang Sha's head earned him one Great Merit. However, contributing the Two-Star High-Grade martial arts manual, the Yang Sha Technique, earned him three Great Merits outright. His position as Hall Master was mainly granted because he had contributed this divine technique.
From top to bottom, the Great River Gang consisted of one Gang Lord, four Protectors, four Main Hall Masters, and seven Branch Leaders. These sixteen people were the Great River Gang's high-ranking members; everyone else was mid-ranking or below. A Hall Master was the leader of a branch hall beneath a main hall. Beneath a Hall Master were the Chief Overseers and Junior Overseers. Gu He, who had previously brought him into Great River Hall, was merely a Junior Overseer.
Chief Overseers and Junior Overseers belonged to the same rank. Those with more subordinates and greater strength were Chief Overseers, while those with fewer subordinates and weaker strength were Junior Overseers. Great River Hall had originally possessed only five branch halls. Lin Xiao's position as Hall Master of the Sixth Branch Hall had appeared out of nowhere, so he currently had not a single subordinate. He would have to find a way to recruit them himself.
He could either transfer one or two Chief or Junior Overseers from the other Hall Masters, or wait until new recruits joined the gang and have them assigned to him first.
Lin Xiao was in no hurry. He still had to focus on integrating the Yang Sha and Yin Sha internal energies within his body.
After all, he had only been in the gang for a few days at most. There was no need to rush into recruiting subordinates. He only had to cultivate first and raise his cultivation. By then, would he still need to worry about having no subordinates? He feared there would be hordes of gang members flocking to pledge themselves to him.
As a Hall Master of the Great River Gang, Lin Xiao had an independent courtyard within the complex of buildings belonging to Great River Hall. His living conditions were extraordinarily good, and he had more than a dozen servants alone.
"You may leave for now."
After dismissing the servants, Lin Xiao sat in the grand armchair and rocked back and forth. He silently commanded the attribute panel to open. It displayed—
Lin Xiao. Yang Sha Scripture (Two-Star High-Grade), Seventh Layer. Yin Sha Scripture (Two-Star Mid-Grade), Seventh Layer. Flying Heaven Steps (Two-Star Low-Grade), First Layer. Three Rivers Heart Method (One-Star High-Grade), Second Layer. Three Rivers Saber (One-Star Mid-Grade), Third Layer. Dark Cloud Saber (One-Star Mid-Grade), Second Layer. Riptide Saber Technique (One-Star Mid-Grade), Second Layer. Potential Points: 26.
His three days with the Yin Sha Maiden had not consisted solely of making love every day. After obtaining the Yang Sha Scripture from Yang Sha, he had immediately begun studying it. Combined with the sixty years of Yang Sha internal energy he had absorbed, he quickly gained an entry-level understanding of it and smoothly converted all the Yang Sha internal energy. The divine technique naturally rose to the Seventh Layer, standing alongside the Yin Sha Scripture.
Besides that, the Yin Sha Maiden had also taught him the Lightness Skill she excelled at, the Flying Heaven Steps. Unfortunately, the time had been too short, and he had only just reached the entry level.
Of the twenty-six Potential Points below, four were his original points, while the remaining twenty-two had come from killing Yang Sha. This confirmed his guess: the Potential Points granted by this attribute ability were indeed obtained by killing powerful opponents.
Moreover, at the instant he had first received Potential Points from killing Yang Sha, he had not only learned how Potential Points were obtained but had also clearly understood the various rules governing them.
First, he had to kill an opponent whose strength was not far below his own in order to obtain Potential Points. The weaker the opponent, the fewer Potential Points he would receive; the stronger the opponent, the more he would naturally receive. Killing Yang Sha had granted him twenty-two Potential Points at once. But if he killed ordinary Great River Gang thugs, he might have to kill several to gain a single point. If he killed ordinary civilians, he would not receive even the tiniest bit.
Even if he slaughtered a city's hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians, he would not gain a single Potential Point. This cut off any notion he might have had of slaughtering cities and villages to crazily farm Potential Points—though he had never entertained such a notion in the first place.
Besides that, he could also obtain some Potential Points by absorbing and refining certain heavenly treasures and earthly wonders.
For Lin Xiao, this counted as good news. It meant he did not have to accumulate Potential Points by slaughtering people like a butcher, killing madly whenever he had nothing else to do.
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