Patrol II (Thanks to Demon Fire Fox, Alliance Leader)

"I only just advanced... besides, I've only been practicing swordsmanship for a few days." Lin Hui said helplessly.

"Alright, alright. He's the descendant of an old friend, brought in through my connections. The yamen added an extra slot out of respect for me, so he doesn't take up one of the temple's quotas." True Person Mingde clapped his hands as he explained. "I have a rough idea of your abilities. Chen Sui, go give Yiren some pointers. Let everyone see the gap."

"Yes." Senior Brother Chen Sui nodded, drew his sword, and stepped forward to stand opposite Qiu Yiren. He cupped his fist.

"Junior Sister, be careful."

"Please enlighten me, Senior Brother." Qiu Yiren nodded, raising her sword as she fixed her full attention on him.

But...

With a crisp shhk.

She had not even seen how he vanished when the wooden sword in her hand was violently knocked flying.

The wooden sword was still whistling and spinning through the air when a large hand shot out, seized the hilt, and brought it to a dead stop.

"Thank you for letting me win." Chen Sui's gaze was calm as he looked at the somewhat stunned Qiu Yiren.

One move.

With a single move, he had defeated the so-called genius sword heroine.

"See?" Mingde added from the side. "Someone at Chen Sui's level has already reached the pinnacle of external cultivation. His Body Tempering has reached its limit. Compared with other external cultivation experts at the limit, the difference lies mainly in their comprehension of techniques and their grasp of condition and timing."

"True Person, then among the external cultivation experts in the other martial halls, gangs, and sects, how many are there like Senior Brother?" Huang Shan asked curiously, having recovered some of his strength.

"The yamen once established a nine-grade assessment system for external cultivation. It is divided purely according to the level of Body Tempering. It does not represent actual combat strength, since things like comprehension of techniques cannot be judged. You may use it as a rough reference." Mingde explained. "Chen Sui, Zhao Jiang'an, and Mu Qiao Zhi are all at the ninth grade of external cultivation Body Tempering. Their bodies have reached the utmost limit. As for the four of you, Chen Chong is roughly at the Fourth Rank. Huang Shan is third grade, Qiu Yiren is third grade, and Lin Hui only broke through a few days ago. Judging by his movement speed, he should only be first grade."

"How are these grades determined?" Huang Shan continued asking.

"Very simply. Watch carefully—when our Nine Section Fast Sword is used in actual combat, it involuntarily leaves faint sword-swinging afterimages. Each grade corresponds to one afterimage flashing past. It is very clear. Other martial arts each have their own methods of assessment as well. But no matter what, if you four encounter a speed-type expert who can leave nine afterimages in a single instant, don't be idiots. Turn around and run away."

He paused, then continued, "Of course, not every martial art uses speed afterimages to determine grades. For specific judgments, just listen to Senior Brother. He will tell you how to act based on the threat level of your opponent."

Everyone looked toward Chen Sui. The latter shrugged and nodded.

After eating together that afternoon, they each returned to rest.

Early the next morning, just as the mist dispersed, Mingde led the five out of Qingfeng Temple and hurried toward the Xinyu Town yamen.

An hour later, under Chen Sui's lead, the five changed into different clothes and began their official patrol duties.

Just as Mingde had said, their patrols mainly dealt with minor cases and petty thieves.

Lin Hui patrolled for an hour. They rested three times along the way, and he acted once, catching a petty thief who had stolen someone else's money pouch. Beyond that, there were no other gains.

Until the end, they encountered no further trouble and all returned safely to their quarters to rest.

Their quarters were a designated small building arranged by the yamen, with food and drink provided.

And so, the group completed their first day of basic patrols.

Then came the second day, the third day...

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Xinyu Town streets.

Pedestrians streamed back and forth. Carts constantly turned off the main road into the backyards of various shops, while farmers carried loads of vegetables and rice to set up roadside stalls and call out their wares.

Lin Hui and Qiu Yiren walked together, dressed in gray-white fitted outfits. White patrol tokens issued by the yamen hung from their waists.

Both wore tall leather boots and white face-covering masks. Their respective weapons—genuine iron longswords—hung at their waists.

The two strolled slowly along the roadside, avoiding the mud splashed up by passing carts as they conducted their rather dull patrol.

"This job is good and all, but honestly, it's a little too boring." Qiu Yiren yawned sleepily.

She was a girl who cared greatly about her image, but the patrol had been so dull for so long that she could not help relaxing and letting that image slip a little.

"Indeed. At first, I thought there really might be monsters from the Mist Zone, but..." Lin Hui agreed.

These past days, he had been diligently practicing the Nine Section Fast Sword every day. Rather than drilling the complete sword set as before, he still practiced it one move at a time.

With this method, his proficiency soared at once. Without activating the special effect, his speed had reached roughly the third- or fourth-grade level of Body Tempering disciples, comparable to Huang Shan and the others—extremely fast. If he activated the light-body special effect, he estimated that for a short period, he could burst forth with movement and sword speed exceeding even Senior Brother and the others.

But speed alone did not make up for poor swordsmanship. In a real fight, he did not think he could defeat Senior Brother. Still, the speed gap would let him quickly leave the battlefield, neither winning nor losing. That was the key reason he had chosen Qingfeng Temple.

"I wonder how things are going on Senior Brother's side. He took Huang Shan and Chen Chong with him." Qiu Yiren exhaled. She wanted to go over and take a look, but her teammate here was not even proficient in the Nine Section Fast Sword. She herself was bound to be the main force. And naturally, the main force could not simply run away to slack off. If she left, Lin Hui would be in trouble.

The two slowly passed one shop after another along the street. This was the central district of Xinyu Town, and both sides of the road were lined with tightly packed little shops open for business.

Because of the morning and evening mist, the townspeople had relatively little time to purchase everything they needed during the day while also finishing their own work. Thus, most of the people passing by walked in great haste.

"It should be fine. Although quite a few people have come from other districts recently, they're all experts entering the Inner City. They have nothing to do with towns around our Outer City. If—"

Lin Hui had been about to continue when, not far ahead, a dull crash suddenly rang out from the second floor of a gray-white two-story tavern. A living man burst backward through a window and plummeted viciously from above.

"You bastard! How dare you wrong me?!" A rough male voice roared, followed by a violent series of weapon clashes.

"Something happened." Qiu Yiren immediately perked up. This job had been far too boring; at last, there was something new.

She gripped her sword and rushed toward the tavern without the slightest hesitation.

Lin Hui glanced at the name of the tavern—Wanjia Tavern.

Helpless, he hurried after her.

As patrol assistants, they had to stabilize the situation before the actual constables arrived.

They had encountered petty thieves during previous patrols, but they had all been weaklings—ordinary people who could be taken down in two moves.

But judging by the commotion this time, things seemed different. Lin Hui quietly raised his guard.

The two swiftly entered the tavern, identified themselves, and were immediately led to the second floor by a panicked waiter.

The moment they went up, they saw two brawny men locked in fierce combat, weapons in hand.

One was a bald, plainly dressed man wielding a thick wooden staff bound with iron strips. He appeared to be using a staff technique, and its force was quite impressive.

The other wore a gray robe with a black sash around his waist. His face was covered in a thick beard, and he gripped a white single-edged saber in both hands, meeting his opponent head-on without giving an inch.

After going upstairs and observing two exchanges, Qiu Yiren swiftly made her decision.

"They're both ordinary martial artists who haven't undergone Body Tempering. One each."

"Alright," Lin Hui replied.

Before his words had even faded, Qiu Yiren flashed forward, darting between the two men at a speed far beyond theirs.

Hiss, hiss.

Two streaks of sword light shot at their vital points.

Attacked at once, the two men had no choice but to retreat and defend themselves.

"Who are you!?"

"Government patrol! Both of you, stop at once!" Qiu Yiren shouted. Her longsword circled again, easily pinning the bearded man in place and forcing him into a hasty defense.

But the gap in their footwork was enormous. Their speed and attacks were on entirely different levels. The bearded man swung with all his might again and again, yet kept cutting through empty air. In the blink of an eye, several sword wounds had appeared on his body. Cold sweat poured down his face as he repeatedly cried that he would not fight anymore.

On the other side, Lin Hui stopped the bald man, who still wanted to run away.

"Brother Monk, don't be in such a hurry to leave. It'd be best if we didn't have to fight."

"I'm not a monk! I..." Before the bald man could finish, he suddenly charged toward the tavern stairs.

But how could his movement speed compare to Lin Hui's after Body Tempering?

In only a few steps, Lin Hui blocked his path again.

The bald man moved again, only to be blocked once more.

After repeating this several times, the bald man was left utterly helpless.

"I don't want to fight either, but that bastard went too far! He insisted on forcibly buying the old mountain ginseng on me! I couldn't swallow that anger, so I threw his servant out!"

"Don't tell me that. Tell it to the constables when they get here," Lin Hui said without wavering.

Keeping one eye on the bald man, he swept his gaze around the room.

There were still some bold diners watching the spectacle, as well as the waiters. Several among them carried weapons, and they needed special attention in case more trouble arose.

However, after patrolling for so long, he more or less understood the situation.

The odds of encountering a Body Tempering martial artist on the streets were very low. After all these days of patrols, they had only run into two, and both had been from nearby martial halls. Once everyone stated their affiliations and identities and exchanged a few words of persuasion, the matter was settled.

This was what people called the ways of the martial world—face was given mutually. This was Qingfeng Temple's patrol district, and the other side was giving Qingfeng Temple face. Likewise, if someone from Qingfeng Temple ran into trouble in their patrol district, they would refrain from embarrassing them or causing them extra trouble.

Lin Hui had thought that patrol duty would let him take part in more real combat whenever he encountered skilled opponents. Yet these past few days had shown him that everything still came down to social ties... It left him rather helpless.

He had only practiced two killing moves from the Nine Section Fast Sword, but he was already adept at using them. His Body Tempering was also advancing by leaps and bounds—one day of his training was equivalent to three days for an ordinary disciple, or a day and a half for a genius like Huang Shan.

And his efficiency was much higher as well. Others needed to train Body Tempering for two hours before they might reach their limit, while he only needed ten repetitions, taking less than half an hour in total.

That also gave him plenty of time to practice other things.

"I knew you people were all in cahoots!" After being intercepted several times, the bald man finally grew frantic, his eyes faintly reddening.

With a roar, he swung his wooden staff horizontally at Lin Hui. But before he could complete the move, an unusual whistle of sword light rang out. Pain flashed through the hand gripping the staff, and he could no longer hold his weapon. It fell to the floor.

"Well done!" the bearded man shouted from the other side, delight in his voice.

"You three, hold him down! That bastard stole my old mountain ginseng!" At some point, three black-clad servants had rushed upstairs to his side. Each carried a short blade and a small shield, fully armed.

"Bullshit from your mother's mouth!! It's mine!!" The bald man flew into a rage at those words and immediately went to pick up his staff again.

"Everyone, stop!" Qiu Yiren shouted from the side.

But neither side listened. They were on the verge of fighting again.

She immediately struck once more. Sword light flickered, and against these ordinary servants, the Nine Section Fast Sword was utterly overwhelming.

Those servants were merely strong and knew a few simple saber techniques. Within a few exchanges, they were knocked to the ground.

"We are patrol assistants of Qingfeng Temple! If any of you make another move, you are refusing to give Qingfeng Temple face!" Qiu Yiren shouted.

On Lin Hui's side, a few more sword strikes hit the bald man's points again, and his sword tip hovered before the man's face.

"Qingfeng Temple's face must naturally be given. I am Duan Xinde of Feiyun Hall. Senior Sister, could you move your sword away from my brother first?"

At that moment, three more men and women in fitted white clothes came up to the second floor.

One of them had sword-like brows and star-bright eyes, stood six feet tall, and wore silver-black metal bracers on both arms. His presence was no weak one, and at a glance, he locked onto Qiu Yiren, who was restraining the bearded man.

"Feiyun Hall?!" Qiu Yiren's eyes flickered. Feiyun Hall's master was even stronger than Daoist Baohe of her own Qingfeng Temple, leaving her somewhat lacking in confidence when facing him.

"A Body Tempering disciple? Your swordsmanship is barely passable. Hand that man over to us, and you can get lost," the man said again. "And I said it already—take your sword off my brother!"

With a bang, the man brazenly struck, driving a fist straight at Qiu Yiren's chest.

Though the speed of his punch did not match Qingfeng Temple's movement techniques, it was surprisingly not far behind.

Meanwhile, the other two fixed their eyes on Lin Hui, glaring like tigers watching their prey, poised to make a move at any moment.