A Bountiful Harvest

"Bang, bang..."

What Qin Dongcheng hadn't expected was that just as he was about to circle around this stretch of dense forest, the two Five Elements Sect disciples who had tried to rob a True Inheritance Disciple of the Shadow Sect were wounded by the other party's hidden weapons and fled out of the forest, crashing right in front of him.

The Shadow Sect was one of the top sects in Heyuan Prefecture, occupying a territory spanning tens of millions of square kilometers. But just like the Zhao Kingdom, it had come under attack by a great many demons and ghosts, and its entire sect had been breached.

Many of its disciples had fled to the neighboring Luo Cloud Prefecture. The True Inheritance Disciple of the Shadow Sect who had been ambushed was one of them.

Looking at the two Five Elements Sect disciples sprawled before him, Qin Dongcheng could tell from the Blood Qi fluctuations emanating from their bodies that both were Martial Artists in the Flesh Phase Realm. They could be considered first-rate experts. No wonder they dared to ambush and kill people around the Bamboo Forest Black Market.

The two men's eyes lit up when they saw Qin Dongcheng, and they hurriedly begged him for help.

"Senior Brother, save us! A True Inheritance Disciple of the Shadow Sect is trying to kill us. Please, Senior Brother, help us, and we'll repay you handsomely."

"If Senior Brother saves us, we're willing to hand over all our Sect Contribution. We have Transfer Jades on us, so we can transfer it to you."

Just then, the True Inheritance Disciple of the Shadow Sect came after them. He wore a cloak that hid his face. His steps halted at once, and he warily looked toward Qin Dongcheng.

Faced with trouble coming right to his doorstep, Qin Dongcheng was speechless. He glanced at them and shifted his feet, preparing to leave. "Sort out your own business. Just don't bother me."

With that, he turned to leave.

But to his surprise, even though he'd already been quite reasonable, the Shadow Sect disciple still wouldn't let it go. Perhaps he was afraid Qin Dongcheng would run off and alert someone.

After all, according to the two Five Elements Sect disciples, the other man was their Senior Brother. Even if they might well be lying, Qin Dongcheng couldn't afford to let his guard down.

This was near the Five Elements Sect's headquarters, after all, and Five Elements Sect disciples were everywhere. He absolutely couldn't afford to let anything go wrong.

"Whoosh..."

A poisoned needle shot silently toward Qin Dongcheng, intent on killing him.

This True Inheritance Disciple of the Shadow Sect was also a Martial Artist in the Flesh Phase Realm, and had already reached the Perfected Realm of that phase.

The Shadow Sect was the most renowned hidden-weapon sect in the surrounding prefectures, with techniques that had reached the pinnacle. Qin Dongcheng couldn't help wondering what those two Five Elements Sect disciples had been thinking. They knew the other man was from the Shadow Sect, yet they'd still dared to ambush him.

And look how it had turned out. They hadn't succeeded in killing him; instead, he'd struck back and grievously wounded them. Now they even wanted to drag Qin Dongcheng into it. Did they really take him for a fool?

"Whoosh..."

Qin Dongcheng's expression changed as the Shadow Sect True Disciple launched his sneak attack. He'd originally intended to spare the other man and stay out of the matter. He hadn't expected that after he let the man go, the man would refuse to let him go in turn.

Did he really look like a pushover?

Qin Dongcheng moved his feet, and afterimages flickered into view. With a single dart forward, he covered a hundred meters or so.

He appeared right in front of the Shadow Sect True Inheritance Disciple. Before the man could react, Qin Dongcheng's fist slammed into his chest and abdomen.

"Diamond Pestle Pounding!"

It was one of the striking techniques in the Diamond Skin Refining Fist, and could be considered a top-tier complementary combat skill. Its training and combat methods were one and the same. For that little Sect Contribution, it was an absolute bargain.

"Crack..."

The blow utterly destroyed the man's internal organs. The Shadow Sect True Disciple stared at Qin Dongcheng in disbelief, never imagining that he would be so powerful.

If he'd known Qin Dongcheng was this strong, he wouldn't have tried to silence him.

Qin Dongcheng had clearly let him go, yet he'd brought this death upon himself. What a regret.

Misfortune brought on by Heaven might be survived; misfortune brought on by oneself could not.

Faced with this kind of fool, all Qin Dongcheng could do was send him on his way.

After searching the man, he found several hidden weapons, mostly poisoned needles. There were a full thousand of them, known as the Seven Star Bone-Piercing Needles—a set of Intermediate Weapons.

The value of that one set of Seven Star Bone-Piercing Needles alone was probably over tens of thousands of taels of silver. As expected of a True Inheritance Disciple of the Shadow Sect—he really was loaded.

More importantly, along with the Seven Star Bone-Piercing Needles, there was also a Top-Tier Battle Technique.

Thousand Threads and Myriad Strands!

A hidden-weapon art and Top-Tier Battle Technique, it was also one of the Shadow Sect's most formidable hidden-weapon techniques. Its value was simply immeasurable.

If Qin Dongcheng could master it, it would surely become one of his trump cards. Paired with the Seven Star Bone-Piercing Needles, he might even be able to easily kill Martial Artists one or two realms above him.

Just those two things alone made this trip a fortune.

When Qin Dongcheng looked at the other two Five Elements Sect disciples, they were already dead, killed by the Shadow Sect True Disciple's Seven Star Bone-Piercing Needles.

While attacking Qin Dongcheng, the other man had also fired two needles at the Five Elements Sect disciples. Qin Dongcheng had noticed, but hadn't tried to stop them. He'd simply watched as the two men were killed.

Those two had robbed and killed people. They were no good, and deserved what they got.

They'd even just tried to drag Qin Dongcheng into their mess. They were quite malicious.

He searched them, too, and found over three thousand taels of silver, along with two low-tier weapons worth several hundred taels of silver.

Murder and arson filled the pockets with gold. He'd really made a fortune this time.

Qin Dongcheng left happily with his spoils, paying no mind to the corpses on the ground. He simply cleaned up all traces of himself so the matter wouldn't be traced back to him.

After returning to Osmanthus Garden, he began studying Thousand Threads and Myriad Strands.

Faced with such a practical combat skill and its accompanying hidden-weapon techniques, Qin Dongcheng had no intention of passing it up. He needed to add a few more trump cards to his arsenal.

Combat skills and secret arts involving hidden weapons were exactly what he lacked. Learning them would not only improve his strength, but also help him become familiar with the skills and techniques of hidden weapons, making it easier for him to deal with them in the future.

Thousand Threads and Myriad Strands wasn't very difficult to study, far easier than the Heaven Concealment Art. Within a few days, he had nearly figured it out and could begin training.

This Top-Tier Battle Technique was divided into several stages: Initiate, Minor Achievement, Major Achievement, and Perfected Realm. At the Initiate stage, one could skillfully control ten sharp needles; at Minor Achievement, a hundred; at Major Achievement, three hundred; and at the Perfected Realm, a thousand.

Once they were all launched at once, the thousand threads and myriad strands would be impossible to evade.

It reminded Qin Dongcheng of Dongfang Bubai from his previous life. Whenever he practiced, the whole thing felt a little strange, but as long as it worked, that was all that mattered. Maybe he could even master a side profession through it.

Thinking no further, Qin Dongcheng began practicing Thousand Threads and Myriad Strands. He soon reached the Initiate stage and could just barely use it in actual combat.

However, its power was a little weak; even dealing with Martial Artists of the same realm would be difficult. He still needed to practice for a while—at the very least, he had to get close to Minor Achievement before it could unleash respectable power.

Before Thousand Threads and Myriad Strands had even reached Minor Achievement, Qin Dongcheng's cultivation realm was on the verge of a breakthrough.