Sword Finger Secret Technique

Chang Chi arrived quickly and left even faster.

He shattered Monster with a single punch and left without a word.

Some were shocked, others envious.

Even happier were the patrol members with flower buds on their heads, cursed and contaminated by Monster. They wept with joy.

They had narrowly escaped death again. Although they would lose some vital energy, their lives being saved was the greatest surprise. Nothing else mattered in the face of survival.

Tang Long and Fei Shan were also swamped with work. Ten deaths this time were a huge loss for the patrol.

The patrol once again faced a shortage of personnel.

Jiang Yan and the others left to continue their night watch.

The latter half of the night was peaceful. Finally, nothing else happened.

At noon, Jiang Yan opened his eyes, got up, dressed, fetched water to wash, and went to the plaza to eat.

As soon as he arrived at the plaza, Tang Long approached him directly.

"Brother Jiang, are you free? I've prepared a few good dishes. Let's go for a drink."

Tang Long's eyes held a mix of sincerity and slight embarrassment.

Jiang Yan remained silent, staring directly at Tang Long. After a long pause, he finally said coldly, "Then I'll trouble you."

"No trouble," Tang Long chuckled and quickly led Jiang Yan away.

At Tang Long's house, a large pot was set up in the courtyard. Fei Shan, a minor leader of Dahe Gang, had transformed into a chef, clanging and banging with a spatula and spoon. The aroma of meat filled the air.

Seeing Jiang Yan enter, he grinned, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said nothing.

Soon, a table full of dishes was laid out. Tang Long poured wine for the three of them.

No one spoke. After a moment of silence, Fei Shan spoke directly to Jiang Yan, "Brother Jiang, we fled without fighting yesterday. We apologize to you and offer our sincere apologies."

Jiang Yan remained silent.

Fei Shan drank a cup in one go, then refilled it. "You understand the situation yesterday. Under the objective circumstances, Chief Sheng designed it so we would escape alone. Even if all three of us stayed, we would only die. And I, I did not wish to die like that."

Jiang Yan continued to be silent. He knew Fei Shan was telling the truth. If Mu Yang hadn't shown signs of advancing, he might have died there.

Tang Long and Fei Shan staying would not have changed the outcome.

Mu Yang's speed was too great. No amount of reinforcement could deal with it; one had to possess the ability to kill it in a single blow.

And none of the three of them had that power.

But, Even so, although rationally the two of them had done nothing wrong, Jiang Yan still found it hard to accept and felt a chill in his heart.

Being abandoned once might lead to a second time.

He would not resent Tang Long for this. He had already killed Sheng Fuwu, and the malice in his heart had largely dissipated.

Jiang Yan was a person who acted low-key, with a belief in developing slowly. Only when truly cornered would he act. When he acted, it was like a raging fire, earth-shattering, crushing the enemy to bone and scattering their ashes, leaving no loose ends.

Low-key, rational, and insane.

The type who was ruthless and spoke little.

He didn't want any further interaction with these two. Anyway, his transfer order would be coming soon, and he could find something else to do then.

As he thought this, Fei Shan was about to drink his second cup. He raised his cup and said coldly, "I don't blame you."

Because if it were me, I would have done the same!

He said to himself silently in his heart.

Fei Shan smiled and exchanged a glance with Tang Long.

They both raised their cups simultaneously and gently clinked them against Jiang Yan's, producing a clear and pleasant sound.

They drank together.

After finishing the cup, Fei Shan stood up and went into the inner room to retrieve a package.

He removed a large serving platter and opened the bundle. Inside were three items that attracted Jiang Yan's attention.

One was a medicine bottle, likely for pills.

The second was a booklet, probably a cultivation technique or martial skill.

The third was a jade slip; he couldn't guess what it was.

Fei Shan said solemnly, "Jiang Yan, it was indeed ungentlemanly of Tang Long and me this time. We are willing to give you one of these three items as compensation, and we hope you will accept it."

He picked up the medicine bottle and said, "There are five Blood Qi Pills inside."

Blood Qi Pills were made with precious medicinal ingredients and could strengthen qi and blood. For Martial Apprentice realm martial artists, they were very valuable pills.

Pills, very good.

But Jiang Yan no longer needed them. He was already at the peak of Martial Apprentice, and Blood Qi Pills were useless to him.

Unless the medicine bottle contained a Pill of Breakthrough, used when a Martial Apprentice advances, it wouldn't work.

But Tang Long and Fei Shan couldn't possibly have a Pill of Breakthrough; those were pills that made Martial Apprentices go all out.

Fei Shan continued his introduction, "This booklet is a manual for External Cultivation. External Cultivation doesn't refine qi, it only refines the body. Generally, only disciples of noble families or sects with abundant resources can consider cultivating it."

External Cultivation. Jiang Yan's eyebrows twitched. Martial Apprentices had high attack power but low defense. If they cultivated a type of External Cultivation, not only would their physical defense be enhanced, greatly increasing their chances of survival, but their physical strength and constitution would also improve significantly.

His cultivation had already reached the peak of Martial Apprentice, and he hadn't yet found a method to cultivate the Body Refining realm. Cultivating a type of External Cultivation was a good choice.

As for the resources needed for External Cultivation, the monsters encountered during patrols were the resources.

"As for this third item," Fei Shan's face showed some hesitation, but he still said, "Actually, I don't know what this jade token is. To be honest, I picked this jade token up."

"Originally, I thought it was jade, so it must be worth something. But I asked at a pawnshop in Guihua City, and it's just a low-grade jade, worthless."

"Later, I experimented with it by chance, and this jade was very hard, so I've just kept it here..."

Fei Shan pointed to the area over his heart, using it as a protective mirror.

Jiang Yan understood and picked up the jade piece.

He examined it carefully. The jade piece was very thin, with gray patterns inside that were very obvious.

He looked closely. The gray patterns were very chaotic. After looking for a while, he suddenly felt as if the gray patterns had come alive, deeply drawing his gaze.

Chaos, disorder. A twisted sense of nausea welled up in his heart.

He averted his gaze and looked at Fei Shan.

Fei Shan said, "You felt it too, right? These patterns are not normal. Looking at them for too long makes you feel sick."

Jiang Yan nodded. This wasn't anything too strange or monstrous. In fact, if a person stood by the shore of a raging river for a long time, they would also feel fear.

However, the appearance was truly hideous. Monsters were not accepted by pawnshops.

These damn patterns, no matter how you looked at them, resembled the patterns on talismans, and looking at them for too long made one feel sick.

Thinking of this, he suddenly had an inspiration.

Martial Arts Modifier:

Human: Jiang Yan

...

Secret Technique: Sword Finger

Level: ?

Status: Untrained

Upgrade (No) Deduce (No)

Monster Value: 15

"Secret Technique?"

What was this? Questions arose in Jiang Yan's mind.

He wasn't a complete novice anymore, but he had never heard of a martial skill called "Secret Technique."

However, what did that matter?

Jiang Yan put down the jade piece and picked up the External Cultivation booklet. Without even looking at it, he put it in his embrace.

He said in a deep voice, "A gentleman does not take what others love. This jade token must have saved your life, Brother Fei. I'll choose this External Cultivation!"