Li Shui Sect

Whoosh!

The instant he sensed danger descending, Ye Zhen sprang like a nimble serpent, flashing behind a wall within the mountain stronghold.

At the moment he darted away, Ye Zhen hooked and brushed the fingers resting on Mountain Crossing Wind's bracelet, slipping the bracelet that was likely a Storage Bracelet into his own hand.

Almost at the same time, amid the clatter of countless armor plates, a large group of people charged into Mountain Crossing Wind's courtyard. Some raised their bows and crossbows directly at the already-dead Mountain Crossing Wind.

Others aimed their bows and crossbows at where Ye Zhen was hiding. In particular, the two-meter-long blood-red greatbow sent a chill through Ye Zhen's heart.

Ye Zhen recognized it. It was the Blood Kill Bow used exclusively by Black Water Country's military. Within a hundred meters, no one below the True Essence Realm could withstand it. Even True Essence Realm martial artists would find it extremely difficult to block.

Yet upon seeing the Blood Kill Bow, Ye Zhen relaxed instead. These people who had suddenly appeared were not enemies; they should be soldiers from Wuan Commandery.

"Captain, it's Mountain Crossing Wind! Mountain Crossing Wind has already been killed!" After checking the scene, a commandery soldier reported.

"My daughter! You must have suffered so much! Are you all right?" Hearing that Mountain Crossing Wind was dead, He Bancheng, following behind the group, stumbled toward Young Lady He in the inner hall.

He Bancheng did not even untie the ropes binding his own daughter before carrying Young Lady He out of the inner hall. With her and the ropes in his arms, he spun around the courtyard several times before finally untying her.

At first, Ye Zhen did not understand, but he soon saw the reason.

By not untying the ropes, He Bancheng was proving his daughter's innocence to everyone present. If he did not do this, who knew what rumors might spread later?

"Is that our benefactor over there?"

Ye Zhen had remained hidden. Even when He Bancheng shouted, he did not come out. Only after the Commandery Guard Captain ordered the soldiers to lower their bows and crossbows did Ye Zhen cautiously emerge from behind the wall.

After all that had happened over the past few months, Ye Zhen had become much more careful in his actions. If he had rashly stepped out and been shot down in a barrage of official arrows, that would have been truly unjust.

Seeing that the person emerging was a young man whose face still carried some boyishness, the Commandery Guard Captain froze visibly, disbelief and astonishment rising in his eyes.

He had led elite soldiers in three assaults on the mountain, only to be repelled by Mountain Crossing Wind each time. This time, He Bancheng had suddenly come to the barracks to report that a great hero had single-handedly charged into Half-Step Many.

He had assumed it was some martial artist roaming the world and upholding justice, never imagining it would be a youth who had not yet shed all his childishness.

"Did you kill all these people?" Commandery Guard Captain Guan Ping asked in astonishment.

Ye Zhen was rather speechless. He nodded irritably. Who else could have killed them?

Commandery Guard Captain Guan Ping immediately came to his senses. "My apologies. May I ask your honored name?"

"Ye Zhen, of Qi Yun Sect."

"Qi Yun Sect?" Commandery Guard Captain Guan Ping was overjoyed at those words. After casually ordering the soldiers beside him to hunt down the remaining bandits, he moved closer to Ye Zhen.

"Junior Brother Ye, Mountain Crossing Wind was a fugitive wanted by the imperial court. Killing him earns Military Merit. Could you allow me to inspect Senior Brother Ye's Identity Jade Token, so I may report it?" Commandery Guard Captain Guan Ping asked.

"Junior Brother Ye?" Ye Zhen found the form of address rather strange.

"Oh, to be honest with you, Junior Brother Ye, I was once an Outer Disciple of Qi Yun Sect. Later, I accumulated Military Merit and came to Wuan Commandery as its Commandery Guard Captain. I am ashamed. My cultivation was insufficient, and Mountain Crossing Wind was extremely cunning, allowing him to run rampant within the commandery for so long without being eliminated," Guan Ping said.

Once Ye Zhen heard that they were fellow disciples, he was naturally delighted. He hurriedly handed Guan Ping his Identity Jade Token for inspection.

After one look, Guan Ping regarded him with solemn respect. "Junior Brother is actually first on the Earth Ranking?"

Ye Zhen was also stunned at this, then understood. Gu Duozhi, who had been first on the Earth Ranking, was finished, so his own rank had naturally risen in order.

He Bancheng, who had been constantly comforting his daughter nearby, also had his eyes light up sharply. Qi Yun Sect's Heaven and Earth Ranking was famous throughout Black Water Country. This Ye Zhen before him was first on the Earth Ranking, and so young besides.

After learning of Ye Zhen's identity as first on the Earth Ranking, Guan Ping changed how he addressed him, from Junior Brother Ye to Senior Brother Ye. It sounded as awkward to Ye Zhen as it possibly could.

Yet no matter how Ye Zhen tried to persuade him, Guan Ping refused to change it, saying that this was the rule among Qi Yun Sect's Outer Disciples.

Very soon, the soldiers under Commandery Guard Captain Guan Ping swept through the entire bandit lair, cutting off and gathering the heads of all two hundred or so bandits, top to bottom.

What surprised Ye Zhen most was that the soldiers also confiscated quite a considerable amount of goods and wealth from the bandit lair, amounting to roughly ten or twenty thousand taels of silver.

This made Ye Zhen somewhat worried. Could the bracelet he had taken from Mountain Crossing Wind not be a Storage Bracelet after all?

"So little?" Commandery Guard Captain Guan Ping casually kicked the pile of goods and wealth, frowning. "People said Mountain Crossing Wind squandered without restraint. It seems the reputation was well deserved. Just last year, he robbed the entire fortune of the Wang household of Mo Shui County, supposedly several hundred thousand taels' worth of wealth. In less than a year, he squandered it all away."

Hearing this, Ye Zhen's heart stirred. It seemed the bracelet in his possession was still very likely a Storage Bracelet.

Suddenly, Commandery Guard Captain Guan Ping drew Ye Zhen aside and, with a troubled expression, discussed something with him. "Senior Brother Ye, could I discuss something with you?"

"What is it? Go ahead."

"Senior Brother Ye, could you give us half of the Military Merit?"

Seeing Ye Zhen's expression change, Guan Ping hurriedly explained, "Senior Brother Ye, you do not know this, but we attacked Mountain Crossing Wind three times and lost many brothers killed or wounded. If we could receive some Military Merit now, the compensation for those brothers could be more generous.

"Besides, if wiping out Mountain Crossing Wind has nothing to do with us at all, then my position as Commandery Guard Captain will likely be at its end." As he spoke, Guan Ping pulled open the front of his clothes, revealing a half-healed wound so deep that bone could be seen.

"Senior Brother Ye, it is not that we did not give it our all! I nearly lost my life here."

"Oh, right. You can take half of today's spoils as well. How about it? Please help us out."

That wound moved Ye Zhen deeply. As for Military Merit, Ye Zhen had no ambitions in that direction and did not care about it. He nodded in agreement.

Only after burning down the bandit lair did Captain Guan Ping lead everyone back to the small grove with the heads in tow.

Among the people in the grove who had survived the calamity, some grieved while others rejoiced. After all kowtowing to Ye Zhen, their benefactor, they left. Only the youth whose father had died earlier remained, his face blank with loss after hastily burying his father's remains.

"My father originally said he would send me to Qi Yun Sect as a Menial Disciple, but I never expected..." When Ye Zhen asked, grief overwhelmed the youth.

"If you want to become a Menial Disciple, do you have a bloodline talent?" Ye Zhen asked.

"Three Meridians Upper-Grade!"

Hearing this answer, Ye Zhen casually handed the youth five hundred taels of silver. "Go. Use this as traveling expenses and head to Qi Yun Sect to become a Menial Disciple. Cultivate well, and do not forget today..."

The youth froze, not understanding what Ye Zhen meant.

"Only strength—only by possessing greater strength—can you completely take control of your own fate!"

As he said those words to the youth, Ye Zhen suddenly gained an insight. All at once, he understood what he had been pursuing so stubbornly by entering Qi Yun Sect.

It was strength. It was freedom. It was the power to rule his own fate!

Just like that girl he had glimpsed in childhood, soaring and weaving through the skies, freely flying across the heavens...

On the way down the mountain, Ye Zhen chatted casually with Guan Ping. Naturally, they spoke most of all about how Ye Zhen had killed Mountain Crossing Wind, something Guan Ping was especially interested in.

"Senior Brother Ye, how did you break Mountain Crossing Wind's Flowing Water Cotton Palm? I suffered terribly at the hands of that fellow's Flowing Water Cotton Palm," Guan Ping asked.

"Flowing Water Cotton Palm?" Ye Zhen froze. "Was that the palm technique of Mountain Crossing Wind's, whose moves seemed slow but were actually fast, coming in an unbroken stream, with the previous force not yet exhausted before the next force was unleashed?"

"Yes, that is the palm technique. You did not know?"

Ye Zhen shook his head. "I did not. That palm technique was too troublesome. In the end, I could only break his offensive by trading injury for injury. Otherwise, I would surely have lost as well. What, do you know its origins?"

"Senior Brother Ye, perhaps you have not traveled much and do not know that this Flowing Water Cotton Palm is Li Shui Sect's signature art. It is not passed down to anyone but elite disciples, and it is incredibly formidable," Guan Ping said.

Ye Zhen knew of Li Shui Sect. It was one of the more powerful sects among Black Water Country's many sects, and in recent years, it had faintly shown signs of standing shoulder to shoulder with Qi Yun Sect.

"Then how did Mountain Crossing Wind learn Li Shui Sect's signature art?" Ye Zhen asked doubtfully.

"Senior Brother Ye, you do not know this, but Mountain Crossing Wind was an expelled disciple of Li Shui Sect. After drifting through the martial world for several years, he came here, took to the mountains, and committed evil."

"Since he was an expelled disciple, why did you not ask Li Shui Sect to clean house?" Ye Zhen asked.

"We did ask. Who said we did not? The Commandery Governor sent five official documents in succession, but Li Shui Sect gave no response at all."

"This Li Shui Sect is truly detestable!" Instinctively, Ye Zhen developed a trace of dislike for Li Shui Sect.

Because it was too late to reach Wuan Commandery City, Ye Zhen and the surviving civilians could only spend the night in Captain Guan Ping's military camp.

Naturally, Ye Zhen, the great hero, received different treatment from the others. He had a military tent all to himself.

After seeing Captain Guan Ping off, once Ye Zhen was alone in the tent, he eagerly took out the bracelet he had removed from Mountain Crossing Wind.

Following the method he knew for opening a Storage Bracelet, Ye Zhen put it on his wrist. The instant he focused his mind on it, he activated a thread of True Essence and sent it into Mountain Crossing Wind's bracelet.

The instant the True Essence entered, a faint light flashed from the bracelet, and a space roughly one meter in length, width, and height suddenly appeared before Ye Zhen's eyes.

The items stored within that cubic meter of space made Ye Zhen's eyes widen in sudden shock.

P.S.: All right, I buried several foreshadowing jokes in this chapter. My head hurts from burying them.

As the saying goes, the child who cries gets milk.

As usual, Pig Three is asking the brothers for a few recommendation votes. Brothers reading can also log in before reading to increase member points.

Thanks in advance, brothers!