In the end, Shen Han found a total of forty taels' worth of silver notes on Kong Xuan and his two disciples.
After tidying up, he left the place.
As for the three corpses, there was no need to worry about them. The nearby jackals and wild beasts would take care of them.
He returned to the small courtyard in the eastern part of Three Rivers County.
It was nearly midnight.
Shen Han boiled the Qi Condensing Powder and had his clone take it.
While his clone cultivated the Breathing Technique with the help of the Qi Condensing Powder, Shen Han began to reflect on his trip to Stone Snake Town that day.
Wen Tai, Zhao Yu, Daoist Xuanyang, Kong Xuan... Their faces drifted through his mind, one after another, until at last he thought of Ning Xinxee and her maid.
He had to admit, he'd been incredibly lucky.
What kind of faction did Ning Xinxee belong to?
Judging by how effortlessly Yang Liu had killed Kong Xuan, her cultivation was definitely above the Bone Refining Realm!
The Four Stages of Martial Arts were Skin Refining, Flesh Refining, Tendon Refining, and Bone Refining.
What came after the Bone Refining Realm?
It seemed this world was far more vast than he'd imagined!
He was only at the Skin Refining Realm right now. Compared to Ning Xinxee, he wasn't even a frog at the bottom of a well.
So be it. I won't even think about reaching the level of those two for now.
The most pressing thing is figuring out how to improve as quickly as possible and become the number one person in Three Rivers County.
As he thought this, Shen Han spread the scroll out on the table.
The scroll recorded a saber technique called the Sky-Splitting Blade Technique.
The technique was overwhelmingly forceful, but it had very few moves—just five. It focused on achieving great skill through simplicity and winning with strength. Once mastered, it allowed the user to wield even the heaviest saber with incredible speed, killing enemies without a trace. And the heavier the saber, the greater its power.
At the end of the scroll was a drawing of a curved saber, complete with measurements.
"Give it a try, clone..."
An hour later, after his clone had finished practicing the Breathing Technique, Shen Han directed him to try the Sky-Splitting Blade Technique.
Without a word of complaint, his clone took the saber-technique scroll into the Bronze Mirror.
Before long, the clone had finished reading it.
"Practice it. Let me see."
Shen Han spoke eagerly to the Bronze Mirror.
To his surprise, the clone shook his head, then pointed at his own empty hands.
"You need a saber?"
Shen Han immediately understood.
He should have brought back the masked man's saber.
But it was the dead of night, and there was nowhere to find one. Shen Han went into the courtyard and handed the woodcutter's cleaver to his clone in the mirror.
After taking the cleaver, the clone began practicing the moves methodically.
The clone truly had an extraordinary talent. From the very first pass, he had already grasped the essence of the Sky-Splitting Blade Technique.
Shen Han watched, enthralled.
A moment later, he brought up the panel.
Martial Arts: Sky-Splitting Blade Technique (Beginner)
In just a quarter of an hour, the technique had reached the beginner level. It was astonishingly fast.
"Keep at it!"
Satisfied, Shen Han directed his clone to practice through the night. He drew a bucket of well water, washed up, and went to sleep.
Before he knew it, five days had passed.
During those five days, Shen Han went back and forth between the clinic and his courtyard, leading a busy but uncomplicated life.
Noon.
"Brother Feng Hao, I'm heading out for a while. Keep an eye on the consultation room."
After lunch, Shen Han left the clinic.
"Understood."
Feng Hao quickly acknowledged him.
During this time, Shen Han had given Feng Hao plenty of chances to practice. Little by little, he had become almost capable of managing things on his own. Apart from a few difficult and unusual cases, he could handle nearly everything by himself.
That was precisely why Shen Han now had some free time.
"Let's check the progress..."
As he walked through the streets and alleys of Three Rivers County, Shen Han opened the panel.
Mirror Master: Shen Han
Cultivation: Skin Refining
Technique: Breathing Technique (Perfection)
Martial Arts: Angry Dragon Divine Fist (Perfection), Sky-Splitting Blade Technique (Minor Mastery)
Skill: Medicine (Perfection)
After his clone had practiced day and night, the saber technique had reached the minor mastery stage.
The secrets of the draw and the methods of building strength had sunk into his bones. He knew exactly which move to use in every situation.
At the same time, his cultivation had gradually improved with the help of the Qi Condensing Powder.
Shen Han had tested his strength in secret. He could now lift eight hundred pounds.
"Let's test the technique at minor mastery."
He casually picked up a wooden stick, using it as a long saber, and swung it at an abandoned stone lion.
Crack!
In an instant, the stone lion split in two.
The wooden stick broke as well.
"Tsk, tsk. If this had been a good saber, its power would've been even more outrageous. Once the technique reaches great mastery or even perfection, I should be able to match an ordinary Flesh Refining Realm martial artist."
Before long, he arrived at the entrance of a Blacksmith Shop.
"Young master, what would you like to buy?"
The blacksmith shop's owner was surnamed Lei. He was a lean, middle-aged man.
"Do you have any good sabers here?"
"Sabers?"
Shopkeeper Lei immediately replied with pride, "Young master, you've come to the right place.
"When it comes to forging blades in Three Rivers County, I, Lei Ming, am second to none.
"What kind of saber are you looking for? I have every kind here."
He led Shen Han over to the display case.
Inside were all kinds of sabers—long and short, broad and narrow, so many that the array dazzled the eye.
Shen Han glanced over them.
None of them were the kind of curved saber shown in the scroll, and not one weighed more than ten pounds. The scroll had stated clearly that the heavier the saber, the greater the power it could unleash.
"Do you have anything heavier?"
"Young master, for ordinary people like us, a saber that's too heavy is inconvenient to carry and use..."
"So you don't have any?"
Shen Han cut Lei Ming off.
Lei Ming hesitated. "Young master, are you a martial artist who's entered a realm?"
Shen Han replied, "I was just asking. If you don't have any, I can try another shop."
"Young master, please come to the back."
Lei Ming clenched his teeth and led Shen Han into a nondescript, hidden room.
The room was dark, so Lei Ming lit an oil lamp.
Three heavy sabers came into view.
Unlike the sabers in the display case, all three were enormous, and each one weighed more than fifty pounds.
"Will these do?"
Lei Ming lowered his voice. "There's no helping it. The Imperial Court strictly controls the forging of heavy sabers, so I hope you understand, young master."
That was the honest truth.
The Imperial Court had never interfered with the forging of ordinary blades. But once a blade exceeded a certain weight, it was clearly intended for martial artists, and the Court would bring it under its control.
Certain factions could ignore the restrictions, but a little blacksmith shop had no power to defy the Imperial Court.
"They're still a little too light..."
Shen Han picked up each saber and tested it.
With his physique at the late stage of the Skin Refining Realm, a fifty-pound saber felt as light as a feather.
"Well..."
Lei Ming was utterly speechless.
Shen Han put the sabers down and said seriously, "How about this, Shopkeeper Lei? I'll give you a design, and you can forge one to my specifications. What do you say?"
"What are your requirements, young master?"
"A curved saber, a hundred pounds, and high hardness."
Shen Han took out a sheet of paper bearing a drawing of the curved saber and its dimensions.
Lei Ming exclaimed in surprise, "A hundred pounds?"
"Yes."
Shen Han nodded.
Seeing that Shen Han didn't seem to be joking, Lei Ming picked up the design and studied it closely. "Since you require high hardness, it would be best to add sixty pounds of Sulfur Iron. The price, however, will go up accordingly."
"How much?"
"Sixty taels of silver."
Lei Ming named his price.
Shen Han exclaimed, "That expensive?"
Lei Ming explained, "The Sulfur Iron is the main expense. If I forged it with ordinary iron, ten taels... no, eight taels would be enough."
"Fine, I'll take it at that price. I just didn't bring that much silver with me today."
Shen Han made his decision without hesitation.
This was no place to cut costs. He had to use the very best for his weapon, whatever the price!
"No problem, no problem. You can pay half up front."
Lei Ming said, "Forging a heavy saber isn't easy. It'll take at least ten days to finish. When you come to the shop to pick it up ten days from now, you can pay the remaining thirty taels."
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