Chu Qing had guessed correctly. Less than the time it took to burn an incense stick after he left, two figures came rushing over.
"The bodies are here!"
Chu Fan landed first and swept his gaze around, seemingly searching for someone.
Junior Sister Wen said nothing and merely stood to one side, still holding a strip of cloth in her hand.
The words "Night Emperor" could vaguely be seen upon it, fluttering in the wind.
After a long while, Chu Fan found nothing. He stared at the two charred corpses.
"Night Emperor again... Just who is this person?"
Junior Sister Wen did not answer. She only stared at the words on the cloth strip.
Seeing this, Chu Fan waited a moment before asking:
"Did you spot any clue, Junior Sister?"
Junior Sister Wen pondered briefly before speaking seriously:
"This person's handwriting... is really ugly."
"..."
Chu Fan seemed to freeze for a moment, then gave a helpless laugh.
He had long grown accustomed to the temperament of this junior sister of his, so he did not take it to heart.
Yet when he recalled what had just happened, he could not help frowning again.
"Who knows where those two crazy women came from? They were truly hateful! Fortunately, the Night Emperor stepped in and wiped out the Seven Iron Horse Thieves. Otherwise, if they had escaped, who knew how many more innocent people would have suffered at their hands."
Junior Sister Wen thought for a moment upon hearing this, then said:
"They were deceived."
Chu Fan nodded. After the two Seven Iron Horse Thieves had left, they continued fighting for quite some time before Chu Fan finally found a chance to explain.
Through their exchange of questions and answers, Chu Fan quickly made his origins clear.
The two women immediately stopped fighting. Ashamed, they were also furious that those two thieves had dared deceive them. Their crimes truly deserved ten thousand deaths.
They had now gone to seek out the two thieves' tracks. After killing them, they would come back to apologize to Chu Fan.
After saying that, they leaped away and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Chu Fan had been so angered that he nearly stamped his feet on the spot... because the direction they chased was not remotely the same direction in which the Seven Iron Horse Thieves had gone!
Were those two truly that stupid, or did they have ulterior motives?
Afterward, he and Junior Sister Wen had tracked their way here. Yet halfway there, they saw those two horses with heads hanging from them.
"No matter what, the execution of the Seven Iron Horse Thieves is ultimately a good thing."
As Chu Fan said this, he suddenly thought of something and asked:
"By the way, Junior Sister, when we were chasing them earlier, why did you disappear the moment I turned around? Where did you go?"
There was still no ripple on Junior Sister Wen's face as she replied in a low voice:
"I saw a flower in the mountain ravine. It bloomed brilliantly, so I went to pick it."
"...I shouldn't have asked!"
Chu Fan bared his teeth in exasperation. If anyone else had said that, they would certainly have been lying.
But Junior Sister Wen... never lied.
She truly was the sort of person capable of doing such a thing.
Unreliable!
Unreliable to the extreme!
Still, Chu Fan really had grown used to it.
Under Cui Bunü, the Divine Fist of Non-Anger of the Great Easy Sect, Junior Sister Wen was not the only unreliable one.
If Eldest Senior Brother were here...
At that thought, Chu Fan suddenly felt his teeth ache.
He sighed.
"No wonder Master calls himself Non-Anger, yet gets so angry at you people every day that he jumps to his feet..."
One unopened Martial Arts Treasure Chest. Open it?
Inside a cave in the desolate mountains, Chu Qing opened the system interface while building a fire and roasting meat.
This prompt immediately appeared.
"Open it."
Naturally, Chu Qing did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately chose to open it.
He was greatly looking forward to what the second treasure chest might contain.
The prompt followed at once.
Successfully opened. Obtained qinggong: Golden Goose Technique!
Threads of information flowed into his mind like running water. At the same time, the corresponding meridians and parts of his body grew faintly warm.
Only after quite a while did everything settle.
After sorting through the information, Chu Qing smacked his lips, feeling somewhat regretful.
"...Not an inner cultivation technique."
What he hoped for most right now was to obtain an advanced inner cultivation technique from one of these treasure chests.
Then he could soar into the heavens in one leap and fear no one.
With Ah Fei's Fast Sword at his disposal, he believed that in a one-on-one fight, even if his opponent's inner cultivation surpassed his own, he could still kill them in a single strike.
But if he fell into an encirclement, or if the opponent's internal energy differed from his by heaven and earth, he would be in danger.
"Inner cultivation is still my weak point... but this Golden Goose Technique is no ordinary qinggong.
"After mastering it, one can walk thirty-seven steps through the air. I just wonder how far I can go with my current internal energy?"
With a thought, he shot upward like a swallow returning to the forest, leaping out of the cave.
When he landed, he tapped his foot against the ground and soared into the air once more. His feet tapped repeatedly through empty space as he walked in the air, crossing about three zhang before his strength gave out.
Yet at that point, his inner breath shifted. With another midair leap, he rose nearly another zhang, landing atop a tree.
"The Golden Goose Technique does not excel at traveling or speed, but its method of walking through the air and lifting one's breath is truly extraordinary.
"With this qinggong, many places that are difficult to cross can be passed in a single sweep.
"It can be said to have its own strengths alongside my family's Star Chasing Moon Catching Steps!"
His steps turned, and his body had already descended back into the cave.
"If this qinggong is used well, it can save my life at a crucial moment.
"As for inner cultivation... I'll see whether I can get one from the next chest."
With that, he continued roasting the meat. After eating his fill, he sat cross-legged and began cultivating the Ruoxu Scripture.
Over the past half month, the more he cultivated the Ruoxu Scripture, the more he felt the exquisite mysteries of this inner cultivation technique.
Moreover, perhaps because his transmigration had affected his body to some extent, his cultivation speed over the past half month had been far faster than the original owner's speed in his memories.
He had already been hovering at the threshold of the fourth level. Tonight, he might well step into the realm of the fourth level.
Nothing happened that night. The next morning, Chu Qing opened his eyes, and a sharp gleam flashed through them.
"The Ruoxu Scripture has entered the fourth level, and my inner breath has grown a few degrees more robust.
"The inner breath of this technique flows on without end. Put simply, it has tremendous staying power.
"If another person's inner cultivation is roughly equal to mine, after fighting for an hour they would be like a thief leaving an empty tower, completely drained. Yet I could last three hours and still have strength to spare."
With his inner cultivation rising another level, Chu Qing felt greatly pleased.
For breakfast, he simply ate a few chicken-heart fruits and the meat left over from the previous night.
Only after carefully erasing every trace of his presence did he continue toward Heavenly Dance City.
He was now within Heavenly Dance City's territory. At his pace, he could arrive in seven days at most.
The journey was fairly peaceful.
Wu Ganqi, the Lord of Heavenly Dance City, was chivalrous and capable in governance. Within his sphere of influence, matters such as martial world vendettas and killings were rarely seen.
Yet on the sixth day of Chu Qing's journey in disguise, a small accident occurred.
He was now less than a day's journey from Heavenly Dance City. Chu Qing was using qinggong to travel through the forest. As he landed to catch his breath and prepared to leap up again, he suddenly sensed something amiss.
Less than three chi beneath his feet lay a corpse.
"Heavenly Dance Guards?"
Chu Qing recognized at once that the clothes on the person were those of the Heavenly Dance Guards.
"Why would someone from the Heavenly Dance Guards die here?"
Surprised, he moved a little closer to inspect the body—only for the corpse to abruptly open its eyes!
Before you continue