On Appointment

After executing Mountain Collapse with a single slash, Lu Chuan stood where he was, saber in hand.

Jiang Hao still seemed unable to accept what had happened. He stared blankly at his empty hand.

"How could this be? I clearly already used..."

At the edge of the yard, the few Outer Disciples watching the show stood open-mouthed, unable to force out a single word.

Su Tang's gaze settled on Lu Chuan.

Her usually indifferent eyes now reflected undisguised surprise.

No one had expected Lu Chuan to have a move like this.

Zhou Ming Chuan stood several paces away, staring blankly at Lu Chuan.

After a long while, he finally squeezed a sentence from his throat:

"Junior Brother... what you just used—was that Mountain Collapse?"

Lu Chuan barely recovered a breath of true qi. "That's right. I had an epiphany over the past few days. Even I didn't expect to actually execute it just now..."

Zhou Ming Chuan fell silent.

He practiced the Mountain Splitting Saber, so of course he knew what Mountain Collapse was. He knew even better what this slash meant.

Of the several hundred disciples who had passed through Mountain Splitting Saber Hall, only a handful could count themselves capable of mastering this killing move.

And Lu Chuan had only Initiated four months ago.

Chen Mo Bai was just as stunned.

Watching Lu Chuan return the saber to its sheath, wave after wave of regret suddenly surged through his heart.

When Lu Chuan had first entered the hall, he had possessed neither foundation nor backing. If Chen Mo Bai had offered even a single word of guidance back then, today's situation would never have come to this.

Yet he had deliberately left Lu Chuan hanging, pushing him into Zhou Ming Chuan's arms. Now he had offended him beyond repair.

Not only had he missed the chance to befriend a genius, he had also secretly made himself an enemy.

"If only I'd known... But luckily, this fellow has only just entered the Blood Pass. Things haven't reached such a serious point yet..."

As he thought about it, Chen Mo Bai came back to himself. A chill entered his gaze as he looked toward Lu Chuan.

Old Zheng watched the youth who had just swung his saber, a trace of delight flashing through his eyes, followed immediately by regret.

To bring the Mountain Splitting Saber to Major Success in four months—of all the saber talent he had seen in his long life, no more than three people possessed such ability.

It was a pity that Lu Chuan's Bone Root was only mid-to-low grade. Old Zheng had personally confirmed this.

A mid-to-low-grade Bone Root meant that breaking through to Second Qi and Blood would be three, five, or even ten times harder than it was for Jiang Hao.

It meant that the faster he surged forward now, the harder the wall he would eventually crash into would be.

The Martial Arts Hall needed someone capable of carrying on its legacy, not a genius who might be trapped forever by a bottleneck.

Thus, even though Lu Chuan possessed such lofty saber talent, Old Zheng still had no intention of taking him as a Formal Disciple.

With that thought, Old Zheng's gaze gradually hardened.

"Good, Lu Chuan. You performed well."

"Today's spar is over."

"Jiang Hao, stay behind."

After leaving the Backyard, Zhou Ming Chuan slapped Lu Chuan on the shoulder.

"Not bad, kid!" His face was full of smiles.

"Two months apart, and not only did your cultivation break through, your saber skills gave your senior brother a huge shock. You executed Mountain Collapse after only four months of Initiation? Do you know how long it took me back then?"

Lu Chuan smiled as well.

"It was nothing." He deliberately said, "I have Senior Brother Jiang to thank. If he hadn't put so much pressure on me, I might not have comprehended this slash."

"Pressure?" Zhou Ming Chuan gave a strange laugh. "You call that pressure? That Jiang Hao kid was the one under real pressure."

"Didn't you see him? After the spar just now, Master made him stay behind. His face was so dark—I've never seen him look like that before."

Lu Chuan smiled too, but said nothing.

He had certainly offended that fellow this time, but there had been no other way. Avoiding the challenge then simply wasn't his style.

As he thought about it, another face flashed through his mind.

"Right. Where's Senior Brother Chen?"

"Him?" The smile at the corners of Zhou Ming Chuan's mouth faded somewhat. "The moment Master said to stop there, he vanished."

Lu Chuan frowned.

Chen Mo Bai.

He was the true instigator behind today's attempt to divert the trouble onto him.

In front of so many people, he had casually placed Lu Chuan and Jiang Hao side by side, and with one lighthearted sentence, he had nearly allowed Jiang Hao to trample Lu Chuan in public.

If Mountain Collapse had not been hard enough, the thing lying on the ground today would not have been Jiang Hao's saber, but Lu Chuan's dignity.

A man like that was sinister and treacherous. Now that the two of them had formed a grudge, he certainly would not let the matter rest.

Lu Chuan silently recorded this debt in his heart.

Seeing his expression, Zhou Ming Chuan no longer mentioned Chen Mo Bai and changed the subject.

"By the way, Junior Brother, your strength is sufficient now. There's something you ought to start considering."

"What?"

"Appointment."

Lu Chuan paused. "Appointment?"

"That's right." Zhou Ming Chuan explained, "Find an Escort Agency or a wealthy household and register yourself there. You can escort shipments and transport goods for them. You won't need to go every day, either—just rotate through a few days of duty each month."

He counted on his fingers as he calculated for Lu Chuan. "With your current strength—newly entered Blood Pass, saber technique at Major Success—you'd earn at least Ten Taels of Silver a month at an Escort Agency."

"Ten taels! If you go hunting in the mountains, you might bring in that much if you're lucky. What about when you're unlucky? A Mountain Lord isn't something you find everywhere, and how much can ordinary game sell for?"

Lu Chuan said nothing. He often went into the mountains himself, so he naturally knew Zhou Ming Chuan was right.

Ten taels of silver was indeed no small sum. More importantly, it was stable.

"I have considered it," Lu Chuan said. "I just don't know how to find a connection."

Zhou Ming Chuan chuckled.

"Junior Brother, you defeated Jiang Hao today. The news will spread within two days. When that happens, you won't need to look for anyone. People will naturally come knocking."

He paused, then lowered his voice.

"Perhaps even people from the Five Great Families will come asking."

Lu Chuan's eyes stirred. "The Five Great Families?"

"Oh, I forgot that Junior Brother doesn't usually ask about these things." Only then did Zhou Ming Chuan give Lu Chuan a proper introduction.

"Our Qinghe County has five great Martial Way clans, each with a legacy stretching back at least two hundred years. They control most of Qinghe County's martial resources."

He held up three fingers.

"Moreover, every one of them has experts at Third Qi and Blood or higher holding down the fort."

Lu Chuan raised his brows slightly. "Third Qi and Blood or higher?"

"That's right." Zhou Ming Chuan's expression was unusually solemn.

Lu Chuan thought for a moment before asking again.

"Besides the Five Great Families, are there any other experts at Third Qi and Blood or higher in Qinghe County?"

Zhou Ming Chuan thought about it and shook his head.

"I'm not entirely sure. But even if there are, they aren't in any of our Martial Arts Halls."

He sighed, his tone carrying a resigned calm.

"For Martial Arts Halls like ours, Third Qi and Blood is the end of the road. To go higher, you can't rely on bitter training alone. You need a legacy, resources, and someone to pave the way for you."

"So that's how it is..." Listening to this, Lu Chuan grew extremely curious about the Five Great Families.

Only the Five Great Families possessed people above Third Qi and Blood. Clearly, they must have control of some kind of secret method or resources.

"But it's still too early to think about that. The most important thing now really is the Appointment."

Glancing at his shriveled money pouch, Lu Chuan smiled bitterly to himself.

"Without money to buy Qi and Blood Pills, improving really is too slow..."