The Weight of Great Events

Su Xin and Li Huai returned to Happy Forest carrying the heads. Li Qing and the others had been waiting there anxiously.

Su Xin had originally assigned them to cover the retreat, but he and Li Huai had acted so swiftly that they returned with Dai Chong and Zhang Hong's heads before the Green Bamboo Gang's men even arrived. They hadn't given them a chance to pursue.

"Boss, are you all right?" Li Qing asked at once.

"Do we look like we're hurt? Here are Dai Chong and Zhang Hong's heads. Take care of them." Su Xin tossed the bundle containing the heads to Li Qing.

At least the kid knew what mattered. He'd asked about his boss's safety as soon as they met, rather than whether the assassination had succeeded. He had a good eye.

Li Qing took the bundle with trembling hands, overwhelmed by shock.

Truthfully, he hadn't believed Su Xin could succeed in assassinating Dai Chong.

He had stepped forward back then only because his resentment had been too much to bear. He couldn't accept that his brother's life had been bought for ten taels of silver.

And when Su Xin said he would avenge Chen San, Li Qing had sworn to himself that, whether or not they succeeded, he would entrust his life to Su Xin from then on!

He never expected Su Xin to actually return with the heads of Dai Chong and Zhang Hong.

"Third, you can finally rest in peace. We found ourselves a good boss!" Carrying the heads, Li Qing followed silently behind Su Xin, his eyes turning red.

At that moment, Huang Bingcheng was pacing anxiously back and forth in the main hall of Happy Forest. The sight was making his head spin.

Following a boss like Su Xin certainly had its perks. He had money and power in abundance.

But the boss also had a nerve like no other.

Huang Bingcheng had grown used to living in constant fear every day. Especially this time, if anything went wrong, their little Happy Forest would fall apart in an instant.

Ji Gang watched the anxious crowd in the hall with cold eyes. Whether the assassination succeeded or not, Su Xin was doomed. Then they'd see how the rest of them handled things!

"Our boss is back!" one of the gang members shouted as he ran in to deliver the news.

Huang Bingcheng immediately stopped pacing and hurried over to welcome Su Xin and the others inside.

"Boss, how did it go?" Huang Bingcheng asked at once.

Li Qing set the bundle of heads on the table and opened it. Everyone present sucked in a sharp breath.

Dai Chong, a senior leader of the Green Bamboo Gang, was on the same level as Third Master Hu. He used to swagger about wherever he went, and most of them had seen him before.

But now Su Xin had actually cut off his head and laid it in front of them.

"He really did it! He really killed Dai Chong! Doesn't that mean he's already as strong as Third Master Hu?" Ji Gang was too stunned to speak.

He had guessed that Su Xin might die on the spot or perhaps escape by sheer luck, but he'd never imagined that Su Xin would actually succeed!

Ji Gang slumped into his chair without a word.

Things had reached a point beyond anything he could have predicted.

Now all he hoped was that the Flying Eagle Gang's higher-ups wouldn't drag him into it when they investigated.

At the thought, Ji Gang glared viciously at Li Huai. It was all that madman's fault!

Back when he was under Third Master Hu, Ji Gang had already known that Li Huai was a little unhinged, bloodthirsty and eager for a fight, often disregarding the bigger picture.

But who could have guessed he'd go this far? He'd ignored Third Master Hu's secret orders and joined Su Xin in assassinating Dai Chong.

"Find some lime to treat the heads and pack them away. The rest of you can leave."

Huang Bingcheng asked in a low voice, "What about Ji Gang? Should we keep someone watching him?"

Su Xin shook his head, a faintly amused expression on his face. "No need. If he wants to talk, let him. Besides, even if he doesn't, the Flying Eagle Gang's higher-ups will find out anyway."

When they assassinated Dai Chong, Su Xin and Li Huai hadn't concealed their faces.

They might have been nobodies in the Flying Eagle Gang, but a little digging would be enough to identify them. In less than half an hour, this would probably spread throughout Changning Prefecture.

"Then what do we do now?" Huang Bingcheng asked.

"Sleep."

"Sleep?" Huang Bingcheng was stunned.

Su Xin replied as if it were obvious, "Killing people takes effort, of course we should get some good rest. It'll give the Flying Eagle Gang's higher-ups time to think about what to do with us. Someone will probably come looking for us tomorrow."

After hearing Su Xin's words, Huang Bingcheng had no desire to sleep. He was even more worried.

Just as Master Li had told them before, the Flying Eagle Gang couldn't possibly fight another war with the Green Bamboo Gang right now.

The two gangs were evenly matched. Even if they went to war, they would only waste money and manpower without gaining the slightest advantage.

But now Su Xin's assassination of Dai Chong had upset the balance between the two gangs. Huang Bingcheng could easily imagine how furious the Green Bamboo Gang would be.

If the two factions went to war, Su Xin would be the one to blame. They could all guess what their fate would be.

Ignoring Huang Bingcheng's anxious face, Su Xin strolled back to his own courtyard.

Xin'er was practicing her sword in the yard.

The little wooden sword Su Xin had made for her last time looked quite convincing in her hands. She was using the Great Sumeru Sword Style.

When Xin'er had said she wanted to practice swordsmanship, Su Xin had thought she was only playing around, so he'd casually taught her the Great Sumeru Sword Style. He hadn't expected her to practice so seriously while he'd been busy cultivating.

"Tsk, my little sister really is a sword prodigy."

Su Xin's mouth twitched. He couldn't deny that Su Xin'er was more talented at swordsmanship than he was.

Without the five percent proficiency the system had given him, he probably wouldn't have been as skilled as Xin'er was now.

"Brother, you're back!" Xin'er rushed over as soon as she saw Su Xin.

But then she pushed him away, pinching her nose with a disgusted look. "Brother, what's that smell? You stink! Go take a bath!"

"You've got quite a sharp nose, little girl." Su Xin tapped Xin'er on the head.

He had just killed someone, so it was no surprise that the smell of blood clung to him. After being warmed by the midday sun, it had taken on a faintly sour stench.

"All right, stop playing around. Go eat after you've bathed." Su Xin pinched her little nose.

Xin'er slapped his hand away in displeasure. "I'm not playing! Once I've mastered my swordsmanship, I'll be able to protect you, Brother."

After bathing and eating, Su Xin didn't rest right away. Instead, he thought back over the fight that day.

This had really been his first fight since he began practicing martial arts. When he killed Liu Sandao, both Chen Dao and Liu Sandao had been too weak for Su Xin to get a clear measure of his own abilities.

This time, Dai Chong and Su Xin had been evenly matched. In fact, Su Xin had been less experienced in combat than Dai Chong. If not for the strength of his swordsmanship, it was anyone's guess who would have won.

The fight had also shown him where he fell short.

Whether in his past life or this one, Su Xin had seen blood and killed people, though in his past life he'd been the one who was killed.

He wasn't like those inexperienced youngsters, whose hands trembled the moment they saw blood.

But as a latecomer who had only started learning martial arts a month ago, he also couldn't match warriors who had trained since childhood under renowned masters, mastering their skills until they flowed as one.

Su Xin's movements in battle were still stiff. Part of the problem was his shaky foundation, and part was his lack of experience.

Jing Wuming's Quick Sword focused on offense, while the Great Sumeru Sword Style focused on defense.

Those were the only two techniques Su Xin knew, yet he still couldn't switch between them smoothly. In fact, without his heavy sword, he couldn't use the Great Sumeru Sword Style at all.

It all came down to his swordsmanship proficiency. At only five percent, he could barely manage to use the technique. Mastering it completely was out of the question.

To raise his proficiency, he had to train hard. Of course, fighting was the best kind of practice. After the battle, Su Xin's proficiency in the Great Sumeru Sword Style had risen to ten percent.

But that was also the problem. If he relied on hard training alone, he would have to spend a great deal of time.

The Great Sumeru Sword Style was only a one-and-a-half-star technique, and it was bound to become obsolete eventually. Spending time on it was clearly a poor investment.

At this thought, Su Xin hurried into the system to ask about it.

"Hello, Host No. 01. Welcome to the Great Villain System." A cold voice rang out.

"I have a question. Can martial technique proficiency only be raised through hard training and combat?

"The Great Sumeru Sword Style is still useful to me, but if I train hard in this technique now, won't it become useless once I grow stronger? Then all the time I spent practicing it will have been wasted."

The system replied, "Martial technique proficiency can also be raised through enlightenment. In fact, once some advanced techniques reach a certain level of proficiency, hard training can no longer improve them. They can only be advanced through enlightenment.

"As for your second question, you've fallen into a misconception. Proficiency in a martial technique comes not only from learning the technique itself but also from understanding the martial path.

"If you were a sword god like Ximen Chuixue, you'd only need to glance at the Great Sumeru Sword Style to bring its proficiency to the limit. With a little thought, you might even raise the technique's original one-and-a-half-star rank.

"So you don't need to worry that training hard in the Great Sumeru Sword Style will be a waste of time. You're not only practicing the Great Sumeru Sword Style; you're also cultivating the way of the sword."

As soon as the system finished speaking, Su Xin understood. He really had fallen into a misconception.

Martial techniques were only a means. His own martial path was the foundation.

What he needed to do wasn't to bury himself in training the Great Sumeru Sword Style, but to comprehend the sword path within it.