Huh? Why a Spear Technique? (Please Read On)

Huh? Why a Spear Technique? (Please Read On)

Wen Xiaoqiao had disappeared.

When Li Yuan heard this, his scalp immediately went numb.

"How did she disappear?"

"She was fine on the night watch. Nothing happened.

Yesterday, she wandered around Central Market as usual, but by evening, she suddenly vanished.

The servants searched everywhere for her, but they couldn't find her at all."

Disbelief still lingered on Cai Ze's face.

By now, he too had sensed that something was clearly strange and abnormal.

Li Yuan asked again, "What about Lord Li?"

Cai Ze said, "Lord Li is fine. But Lord Li didn't notice anything unusual either."

The Blood Saber Sect disciple dressed in a constable's uniform suddenly gave Li Yuan a strange look, then lowered his voice. "Did you discover something, so you claimed illness and stayed home in advance?"

Li Yuan gave a bitter smile. "How could that be? If even Lord Li couldn't discover it, how could I?

My injury is real. Brother Cai can ask the people at Little Ink Village, or ask the doctors at Returning Spring Hall. They all know."

Cai Ze fell silent for a moment. "Then where does Brother Li think the problem lies?"

Li Yuan thought for a while, then suddenly said, "Yesterday, Brother Cai said those missing disciples might have been quietly slaughtered. Then... where are their corpses? Where would the bodies be?"

Cai Ze froze. He had only casually said "slaughtered" yesterday, but now that Li Yuan mentioned it, he realized it was indeed possible.

Previously, he had not considered this possibility because, first, there had been no signs of a struggle at the scene at all,

and second, the Blood Saber Sect was the local emperor in Silver Stream Village. No one had dared provoke the Blood Saber Sect in Silver Creek for a long time.

Cai Ze's eyes rolled around. He handed over the basket of apples in his hand and hurriedly said, "Brother Li, rest well and recover. I'll head back first."

Li Yuan accepted the apples and saw him off with a cupped-fist salute. "Brother Cai, come in and have some water."

"Next time."

"Then take care~~"

The twilight was like blood, sticky and clinging to the narrow path outside the shantytown of Silver Stream Village, red enough to make one feel sick.

Only after Cai Ze had gone far away did Li Yuan close the door.

The hand holding the apples trembled slightly.

Cai Ze had not come to visit him at all! Someone had sent him to test him!

But Wen Xiaoqiao's disappearance was probably real. The Blood Saber Sect might treat one or two disappearances as ordinary missing-person cases, but now even Wen Xiaoqiao had vanished. This matter had to be thoroughly investigated.

The Blood Saber Sect would not tolerate such a huge source of instability.

Hopefully... hopefully it really was just murder, just gang conflict of the martial world...

And not...

Li Yuan closed his eyes slightly. That rotten-smelling, cold mountain manor, like a giant corpse, appeared in his mind once more.

With it came waves of fear that he could never forget.

"Husband, what's wrong?"

A pair of soft hands wrapped around Li Yuan's waist from behind, and Yan Yu's gentle voice sounded by his ear.

Li Yuan closed his eyes and held her hands. Only when he felt the warmth from his woman's hands did he let out a slight breath, saying in a low voice, "Let's eat. Afterward, I'll keep practicing my saber."

Before transmigrating, he had immersed himself in the Pig-Slaying Saber Technique for many years.

After practicing diligently these past few days, he had indeed faintly grasped some of the principles of exerting force.

Especially the feeling of "thrusting"—it was exceptionally clear.

A skill was, after all, a method of maximizing one's strength.

He had a bow for long-range attacks. He needed something for close combat too, otherwise he could not feel at ease.

Night fell.

The moon was like frost and snow.

Li Yuan held his saber and alternated between slashing and thrusting in the moonlit backyard.

Heat surged through his muscles, and his movements became increasingly fluid.

Suddenly, as though he had found the feeling, Li Yuan's eyes flew open, gleaming like lightning.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

He thrust three times in succession, producing a sharp whistle like lightly tearing silk, something he had never achieved before.

At the same time, a mysterious sensation welled up in his heart.

He felt the flow of heat. Though it was still rough, as long as he followed it, he could unleash greater strength than with an ordinary strike.

Li Yuan closed his eyes for a long while before exhaling. Then he glanced at several changed entries in his status:

Name: Li Yuan

Points: 159

Skill: Beginner Spear Technique (1/10)

Li Yuan: ??????

Spear technique?

He had practiced with a saber and developed a spear technique?

He gripped the saber in his hand and turned to look. The value, which had originally been "12–13," was still "12–13."

"Add points."

Li Yuan experimentally tapped the "+" after "Beginner Spear Technique (1/10)" ten times in a row.

A flood of memories immediately emerged—memories of dozens of days of hard practice and sweat.

As those memories settled into place, subtle changes took place in his muscles. His arms became slightly thicker, though not noticeably so.

Some finer details of his muscles had also changed, allowing him to adjust his strength better when thrusting with a spear.

Li Yuan looked again.

"Beginner Spear Technique (1/10)" had become "Intermediate Spear Technique (1/20)."

After thinking for a moment, Li Yuan hurriedly fetched an arrow and a hard wooden pole used for drying clothes in the backyard. He tightly bound them together, weighed it in his hand, then turned to look again. The value had become "14–15."

It was just a broken bamboo pole with an arrowhead, an incredibly crude "spear."

Yet when he held such a weapon, the displayed value was actually higher than when he held the Fine Steel Saber.

"Husband, it's dark."

The oiled-paper window opened a crack, and Yan Niangzi's lovely face peeked out from the candlelight.

"I'll practice my saber and spear a while longer," Li Yuan replied.

This dangerous world filled him with a sense of urgency. Previously, he had relied almost entirely on adding points. But from now on... if he had the time, he would cultivate on his own to save points. Even if it was not much, every point saved was a point gained.

Li Yuan gripped the spear and began thrusting fiercely forward.

The feeling of thrusting grew more and more satisfying, and he felt increasingly at ease with it.

Two days later, morning.

On the icy Lake Heart Island, the Black Market remained bustling. Several Blood Saber Sect boats were docked around the edges of the island.

Some people dressed in tight leather clothing stood along the sides of these boats.

Ropes were tied around their waists, while hollow circular tin tubes covered their noses.

Splash! Splash! Splash!

The sounds of people diving into the water were not especially noticeable amid the Black Market's clamor.

Before long, a rope suddenly tugged.

The people on the boats understood and hurriedly pulled the ropes, hauling the divers back up.

These people were professional "divers," or rather, "pearl divers."

After coming up, the pearl divers shook their heads.

The people on the boats handed them blankets and hot water, so the pearl divers would not catch a chill.

The boats continued onward.

When they reached a new location, the pearl divers removed their blankets and jumped into the water again.

The water rippled, then soon returned to calm. A little later, the ropes moved again, and the pearl divers returned to the boats.

"Did you find anything?" the people on the boats continued asking.

The pearl divers still shook their heads.

The cycle repeated itself.

The pearl divers and several boats patiently searched the surrounding areas with Lake Heart Island as the center, only withdrawing at dusk when the sky grew dark.

They were searching for "corpses."

Night fell.

Cai Ze, dressed in casual clothes, arrived before a rather imposing pavilion.

A curtain of pearl strands hung from its entrance. Behind it, he could vaguely see beautiful women, while women's laughter occasionally drifted out.

Cai Ze did not dare enter. He merely stood before the stone steps.

After waiting a while, a drunken man's voice came from inside.

"Come in, come in."

Only then did Cai Ze enter.

The moment he entered, warmth from the heated floor channels rose around him, completely shutting out the cold outside.

There was chaos beyond the county walls and starving corpses within the county, yet this place even had heated floor channels. It could not be called anything but extravagant.

Besides the warmth, several beautiful women wrapped in blankets lounged about in the spacious wooden pavilion, each with her own charm.

Cai Ze swallowed and walked to the end. Looking toward a man in the darkness being attended by two beauties, he said, "Black Face Elder, today's investigation yielded nothing."

The man called Black Face Elder nodded. "Then keep investigating.

If those three disciples did not go missing but were murdered, whoever disposed of the bodies would only have thrown them into the nearby lake.

We'll know once we investigate."

Cai Ze respectfully answered, "Yes," and was about to withdraw.

Black Face Elder said, "Is that young man who entered the rank still recovering from illness?"

"Yes."

"He is an interesting fellow, and one blessed with good fortune.

Find an opportunity to tell him that he could have directly become an Outer Sect Disciple. It is only because our Vice Sect Leader did not think highly of him."

"Yes."

"Leave."

The next day.

The pearl divers continued searching, without result.

The third day.

Strong winds. The search was suspended.

The fourth day.

Gales. The search was suspended.

The fifth day.

The search resumed, without result.

The sixth day.

The search continued, without result.

The seventh day.

When one pearl diver jumped into a new stretch of water to conduct a routine search, his body suddenly stiffened.

In the dark waters far from the sunlight, he vaguely saw several livid, swollen faces.

Those faces were twisted and ferocious, yet carried a strange terror.

The pearl diver who discovered them immediately began trembling, goosebumps rising across his body in waves.

He hurriedly tugged the rope and fled as though escaping for his life. Only after being pulled back onto the boat did he gasp, "F-Found them."