Chu Qing's guess had been right. Less than the time it took an incense stick to burn after he left, two figures came sprinting over.
"The bodies are here!"
Chu Fan landed first and looked all around, as if searching for someone.
Junior Sister Wen said nothing. She stood off to one side, holding a strip of cloth.
The words "Night Emperor" could just barely be made out on it as it fluttered in the wind.
After a while, Chu Fan found nothing. He stared at the two charred corpses.
"Another one of the Night Emperor's handiworks... Who exactly is this person?"
Junior Sister Wen did not answer. She only kept her eyes on the words on the strip of cloth.
After waiting a moment, Chu Fan asked:
"Junior Sister, did you notice anything?"
Junior Sister Wen thought it over briefly, then replied with all seriousness:
"This person's handwriting... is really ugly."
"..."
Chu Fan seemed to freeze for a moment, then let out a helpless laugh.
He was long accustomed to his junior sister's temperament and didn't take it to heart.
But as he recalled what had just happened, he couldn't help frowning.
"I don't know where those two crazy women came from. They're truly detestable! Good thing the Night Emperor stepped in and wiped out the Iron Horse Seven Bandits. Otherwise, if they'd escaped, who knows how many innocent people they would have harmed?"
At that, Junior Sister Wen considered it before replying:
"They were tricked."
Chu Fan nodded. After the two Iron Horse Seven Bandits had left, he and the women fought for quite a while before he finally found a chance to explain.
Through their back-and-forth, Chu Fan quickly made his background clear.
The two women immediately stopped fighting. Ashamed, they were also furious, saying that those two bandits had dared to deceive them and deserved to die.
They would first hunt down the two bandits and kill them, then come back to apologize to Chu Fan.
With that, they sprang away and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Chu Fan was so angry he nearly jumped on the spot... because they had gone in a completely different direction from the Iron Horse Seven Bandits!
Who knew if those two really were that stupid or if they had some ulterior motive?
Afterward, he and Junior Sister Wen followed the trail. But when they had only gone halfway, they came across the two horses with heads hanging from them.
"Whatever the case, the Iron Horse Seven Bandits being brought to justice is a good thing."
As he spoke, Chu Fan suddenly thought of something and asked:
"By the way, Junior Sister, when we were chasing them earlier, how did you disappear the moment I turned around? Where did you go?"
Junior Sister Wen's face remained impassive as she replied in a low voice:
"I saw a flower growing in the ravine. It was very beautiful, so I went to pick it."
"...I shouldn't have asked!"
Chu Fan was so angry his teeth were bared. If anyone else had said that, it would have been a lie.
But Junior Sister Wen... never lied.
She really was the sort of person who would do something like that.
Unreliable!
Unbelievably unreliable!
But Chu Fan was used to it by now.
Among the disciples under Cui Buno, the Taiyi Sect's Wrathful God Fist master, Junior Sister Wen wasn't the only unreliable one.
If Senior Brother were here...
At that thought, Chu Fan suddenly felt a toothache coming on.
He sighed.
"No wonder Master calls himself the Wrathful God, yet you all make him stomp around in anger every day..."
[One unopened Martial Arts Treasure Chest. Open it now?]
In a cave in the barren hills, Chu Qing started a fire to roast meat as he opened the system interface.
A prompt immediately popped up.
"Open it."
Naturally, Chu Qing didn't hesitate. He immediately chose to open it.
He was eager to see what this second treasure chest would give him.
The prompt appeared right after.
[Opening successful. Obtained lightness skill: Golden Goose Skill!]
Information trickled into his mind like flowing water. At the same time, the meridians in his body and the corresponding parts of his body grew faintly warm.
After a while, everything settled.
Chu Qing sorted through the information, smacked his lips, and felt a little disappointed.
"...It's not an internal energy technique."
What he wanted most right now was for the treasure chest to give him a superior internal energy technique.
Then he could use it to soar to new heights and fear no one.
With Swift Flying Sword in hand, he believed that in a one-on-one fight, even if his opponent's internal energy surpassed his own, he could still kill them with a single strike.
But if he were surrounded, or if his opponent's internal energy was vastly stronger than his, he would be in danger.
"My internal energy technique is still my weak point... But the Golden Goose Skill is no ordinary lightness skill, either.
"Once mastered, it lets you walk through the air for thirty-seven steps. I just don't know how far I'll be able to go with my current internal energy."
At a thought, he leaped up, like a fledgling swallow returning to its nest, and sprang out of the cave.
When he landed, he tapped his foot and shot up once more. Stepping through the air, he covered about three zhang before his strength gave out.
But then his internal energy shifted. He leaped through the air again, nearly a zhang higher, and landed in a tree.
"The Golden Goose Skill isn't known for covering ground quickly or for speed, but its method of gathering energy to walk through the air is truly extraordinary.
"With this lightness skill, I can glide right over many places that would otherwise be difficult to cross.
"It complements my family's Star Chasing Moon Following Steps perfectly. Each excels in its own way!"
He turned his foot, and his body dropped back down, returning to the cave.
"If I use this lightness skill well, it could save my life at a critical moment.
"As for an internal energy technique... I'll see if I can get one next time."
With that, he continued roasting meat. After eating his fill, he sat cross-legged and began cultivating the Void Scripture.
Over the past half month, the more he cultivated the Void Scripture, the more he appreciated its subtle intricacies.
And perhaps his transmigration had affected his body somehow. Over the past half month, he had cultivated much faster than the original owner had, according to his memories.
He had already reached the threshold of the fourth level. It was possible he would break through to the fourth level tonight.
The night passed without incident. The next morning, Chu Qing opened his eyes, a flash of light gleaming in them.
"The Void Scripture has reached the fourth level, and my internal energy has become a little denser.
"This technique's internal energy flows on and on. In short, it lasts.
"If someone else's internal energy were about the same as mine, they'd be completely drained after fighting for an hour. I could keep going for three hours and still have strength to spare."
With his internal energy advancing another level, Chu Qing felt quite pleased.
For breakfast, he simply ate a few Chicken Heart Fruits and the leftover meat from the night before.
After carefully wiping away every trace that he had been there, he continued on toward Heavenly Dance City.
He was already within Heavenly Dance City's borders. At his pace, he would arrive in seven days at most.
The journey was peaceful enough.
Wu Ganqi, the lord of Heavenly Dance City, was a chivalrous man who governed well. Feuds and other such conflicts between martial artists were rare within his territory.
But on the sixth day of Chu Qing's journey in disguise, a small mishap occurred.
He was now less than a day's journey from Heavenly Dance City. As he used his lightness skill to travel through the forest, he landed to catch his breath and was about to leap up again when he suddenly sensed something amiss.
Less than three feet beneath him lay a corpse.
"A Heavenly Dance Guard?"
Chu Qing recognized the clothes on the man at a glance. They were the uniform of a Heavenly Dance Guard.
"Why would a Heavenly Dance Guard die here?"
Puzzled, Chu Qing approached to examine the body. But without warning, the corpse suddenly opened its eyes!
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