Li Shui Sect

Whoosh!

The moment he sensed the approaching danger, Ye Zhen's body sprang away like a nimble snake, instantly flashing behind a wall within the mountain stronghold.

In the split second he darted away, Ye Zhen's fingers hooked and swiped at the bracelet on Mountain Crossing Wind's wrist, snatching the item—which he suspected was a storage bracelet—into his own hand.

Almost simultaneously, accompanied by the heavy clatter of armor plates, a large group of men charged into Mountain Crossing Wind's courtyard. Some of them aimed their crossbows directly at the now-deceased Mountain Crossing Wind.

Others, however, aimed their crossbows at the spot where Ye Zhen was hiding, especially one particular blood-red giant bow over two meters long, which sent a chill down Ye Zhen's spine.

Ye Zhen recognized it; that was a Blood Kill Bow, standard issue for the Black Water Country military. Within a hundred meters, no one below the True Essence Realm could withstand it, and even warriors in the True Essence Realm would find it extremely difficult to block.

However, upon seeing the Blood Kill Bow, Ye Zhen breathed a sigh of relief. These people who had suddenly appeared were not enemies; they were likely the garrison troops of Wuan Commandery.

"Captain, it's Mountain Crossing Wind! Mountain Crossing Wind has already been killed by someone!" a soldier reported after inspecting the body.

"My daughter! You've suffered so much, are you alright?" Hearing that Mountain Crossing Wind was dead, He Bancheng, who had been following the troop, stumbled toward Young Lady He in the inner hall.

He Bancheng didn't even untie the ropes binding his daughter before he scooped her up from the inner hall, spinning around the courtyard several times with her still tied up before finally undoing the knots.

Ye Zhen was initially confused, but he soon understood.

By not untying the ropes immediately, He Bancheng was proving his daughter's innocence to everyone present. If he hadn't done that, heaven knows what kind of rumors might have spread later.

"Is that our benefactor over there?"

Ye Zhen had not come out, and even when He Bancheng called out, he remained hidden. It was only after the Commandery Guard Captain ordered his soldiers to lower their crossbows that Ye Zhen cautiously emerged from behind the wall.

Influenced by the events of the past few months, Ye Zhen had become much more cautious. If he had rushed out blindly and been riddled with arrows by the government troops, it would have been a truly unjust death.

Seeing that the person who emerged was a youth with a face still bearing traces of childishness, the Commandery Guard Captain was visibly stunned, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He had led elite soldiers to attack this mountain three times, only to be repelled by Mountain Crossing Wind each time. Today, he had suddenly heard from He Bancheng at the barracks that a hero had single-handedly stormed Half-Step Many.

He had expected a seasoned warrior who traveled the world upholding justice, never imagining it would be a youth who had yet to shed his boyish looks.

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

Ye Zhen was speechless. He nodded curtly—who else could it have been?

Guan Ping immediately collected himself. "My apologies. May I ask for your honorable name?"

"Ye Zhen of the Qi Yun Sect!"

"Qi Yun Sect?" Upon hearing this, Guan Ping was overjoyed. After casually ordering his soldiers to hunt down the remaining remnants, he hurried to Ye Zhen's side.

"Junior Brother Ye, Mountain Crossing Wind is a wanted criminal of the imperial court. Killing him earns Military Merit. May I verify your Identity Jade Token so I can report it?" Guan Ping asked.

"Junior Brother Ye?" Ye Zhen was quite surprised by the address.

"Oh, I won't hide it from you, Junior Brother Ye. I was once an Outer Disciple of the Qi Yun Sect. Later, I accumulated enough Military Merit to become the Commandery Guard Captain here in Wuan Commandery. I am ashamed to say that my cultivation was lacking, and Mountain Crossing Wind was extremely cunning, which is why he was able to run rampant in this territory for so long without being wiped out," Guan Ping explained.

Upon hearing that they were fellow disciples, Ye Zhen was delighted and hurriedly handed over his Identity Jade Token for Guan Ping to inspect.

After a glance, Guan Ping looked at him with newfound respect. "Junior Brother is actually first on the Heaven and Earth Ranking?"

Hearing this, Ye Zhen was stunned for a moment before realizing the truth: Gu Duozhi, the former first-place holder, was finished, so his own ranking had naturally moved up.

Nearby, He Bancheng, who was still comforting his daughter, also had his eyes light up. The Heaven and Earth Ranking of the Qi Yun Sect was famous throughout the entire Black Water Country. To think this Ye Zhen was first on the ranking and so young!

Knowing Ye Zhen's status as the top of the ranking, Guan Ping's address changed from "Junior Brother Ye" to "Senior Brother Ye," which made Ye Zhen feel incredibly awkward.

No matter how Ye Zhen tried to persuade him, Guan Ping refused to change his tone, insisting it was the rules of the Qi Yun Sect's outer sect.

Soon, Guan Ping's soldiers had cleared out the entire bandit den, decapitating all two hundred bandits and collecting their heads.

What surprised Ye Zhen most was that the soldiers also confiscated a fair amount of wealth from the den, appearing to be around ten or twenty thousand taels.

This made Ye Zhen slightly worried. Could it be that the bracelet he snatched from Mountain Crossing Wind wasn't a storage bracelet after all?

"So little?" Guan Ping kicked the pile of loot casually, his brow furrowing. "It is rumored that Mountain Crossing Wind was incredibly extravagant, and it seems true. He robbed the entire fortune of the wealthy Wang family in Mo Shui County just last year—reportedly hundreds of thousands of taels—and it's all been squandered in less than a year."

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

Suddenly, Guan Ping pulled Ye Zhen aside, looking troubled as he negotiated, "Senior Brother Ye, there is a matter I would like to discuss with you."

"What is it? Please, speak!"

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

Seeing Ye Zhen's expression shift, Guan Ping hurriedly explained, "Senior Brother Ye, you don't know this, but we attacked Mountain Crossing Wind three times and lost many brothers. If we can get some Military Merit now, the compensation for those brothers' families will be more substantial.

Furthermore, if the destruction of Mountain Crossing Wind has nothing to do with us, I'm afraid my time as Commandery Guard Captain will be at an end." As he spoke, Guan Ping pulled open his chest armor, revealing a deep, half-healed wound that reached the bone.

"Senior Brother Ye, it's not that we didn't try our best! I nearly lost my life here."

"By the way, you can take half of today's loot. How about it? Could you do me a favor?"

Ye Zhen was moved by the sight of that wound. As for the Military Merit, he didn't care about it at all, so he nodded and agreed.

After burning the bandit den to the ground, Guan Ping led his men and the heads back to the small grove.

The survivors in the grove, some grieving and some rejoicing, all kowtowed to Ye Zhen as their benefactor before leaving. Only the youth whose father had died remained, looking lost after burying his father's remains in a shallow grave.

"My father said he was going to send me to the Qi Yun Sect to be a Menial Disciple, but I never expected..." When Ye Zhen asked, the youth couldn't help but be overcome with grief.

"To be a Menial Disciple, do you have any bloodline talent?" Ye Zhen asked.

"Third-grade superior!"

Upon hearing this answer, Ye Zhen casually handed the youth five hundred taels of silver. "Go, take this as travel expenses, go to the Qi Yun Sect to become a Menial Disciple, cultivate diligently, and do not forget today..."

The youth was stunned, not understanding what Ye Zhen meant.

"Only with power, only by possessing even greater power, can one completely control their own destiny!"

As he said these words to the youth, Ye Zhen suddenly had a realization; he suddenly understood what it was he was truly pursuing in his persistent quest to enter the Qi Yun Sect.

It was power, it was freedom, it was the ability to master his own destiny!

It was just like that young girl he had caught a fleeting glimpse of in his childhood, soaring freely through the sky...

On the way down the mountain, Ye Zhen chatted casually with Guan Ping. They talked most about the process of Ye Zhen killing Mountain Crossing Wind, a topic Guan Ping was particularly keen on.

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

"Flowing Water Cotton Palm?" Ye Zhen was taken aback. "Is that the palm technique where the fist style seems slow but is actually fast, continuous and unending, where the front force never ceases and the rear force follows?"

"Yes, that's the one. You didn't know?"

Ye Zhen shook his head. "I didn't. That palm technique was too troublesome; I only broke his offensive by using a trade-damage-for-damage tactic. Otherwise, I would have surely lost. Why, do you know its origin?"

"Brother Ye, perhaps you haven't traveled much. This Flowing Water Cotton Palm is the signature skill of the Li Shui Sect, only taught to elite disciples. It is extremely formidable," Guan Ping said.

Ye Zhen knew of the Li Shui Sect; it was a very powerful faction among the many sects in the Black Water Country, and in recent years, it had shown signs of rivaling the Qi Yun Sect.

"Then how did this Mountain Crossing Wind learn the signature skill of the Li Shui Sect?" Ye Zhen asked, feeling somewhat puzzled.

"Brother Ye, you don't know, but this Mountain Crossing Wind is a disgraced disciple of the Li Shui Sect. After drifting through the martial world for a few years, he ended up here to become a bandit."

"Since he is a disgraced disciple, why don't you ask the Li Shui Sect to clean up their own house?" Ye Zhen asked.

"We did ask! Who said we didn't? The Commandery Governor sent five official dispatches, but the Li Shui Sect never gave any response."

"This Li Shui Sect is truly detestable!" Instinctively, Ye Zhen felt a trace of disgust toward the Li Shui Sect.

Because it was too late to reach Wuan Commandery, Ye Zhen and the surviving civilians had no choice but to spend the night in the military camp of Captain Guan Ping.

Of course, the treatment for Ye Zhen, the great hero, was different from the others; he had a private military tent to stay in.

After seeing off Captain Guan Ping, when Ye Zhen was the only one left in the tent, he took out the bracelet he had taken from Mountain Crossing Wind with a sense of anticipation.

Following the method he knew for opening a Storage Bracelet, Ye Zhen put the bracelet on his wrist. The moment he poured his focus into it and channeled a sliver of true essence into the bracelet, it happened.

The instant the true essence was sent over, the bracelet flashed with a faint light, and a space about one meter in length, width, and height suddenly appeared before Ye Zhen's eyes.

The items stored within this one-cubic-meter space made Ye Zhen's eyes widen, and he was suddenly taken aback.

**********

ps: Alright, I buried quite a few foreshadowings in this chapter; my head hurts from burying them.

As the saying goes, the crying child gets the milk.

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