Great Sumeru Sword Style

The next morning, Su Xin woke up and saw Su Xin'er still sleeping like a little pig. He didn't disturb her, instead walking straight out of the courtyard.

Outside, two sharp-witted gang members arranged by Huang Bingcheng were keeping watch.

Originally, Huang Bingcheng had arranged for four people, but Su Xin felt it was unnecessary, so he left two to rotate shifts with the others for night watch.

Seeing Su Xin emerge, the two gang members hurriedly bowed respectfully, "Boss Su."

Su Xin nodded, took out a tael of silver, and stuffed it into one of their hands. "Go buy ten meat buns and a catty of soy milk. Keep the rest for drinks; guarding all night is hard work."

Ten meat buns and a catty of soy milk only cost eleven wen. The remaining money was practically a tip, which left the two gang members incredibly excited.

"Thank you, Boss Su!"

Watching the two men, Su Xin felt a bit surprised. It was just a small tip; was there any need to be this excited?

In truth, he didn't know that when Liu Sandao was the boss, he had been far more severe, often resorting to beatings and verbal abuse at the slightest provocation.

Liu Sandao was not a man of great character. When he was a low-level gang member, he had been sociable and acted heroic toward everyone.

But once he rose to power, he revealed the face of a petty man who had gained success; his authority was small, but his arrogance was immense.

They had seen Su Xin's performance in the Drunken Moon Pavilion, and that ruthlessness had chilled them to the bone.

They had expected to be saddled with another vicious boss, but they hadn't expected Su Xin to be so amiable in daily life, even being generous enough to hand out a tael of silver as a tip.

For low-level gang members like them, a tael of silver was enough to live on for a month.

Returning to his room, Su Xin'er was still fast asleep, so Su Xin entered the system.

In the vast, white system space, the large screen was no longer blank; a column now read: Villain Points: 10.

"Congratulations to the host for taking the first step. You are one step closer to the goal of becoming the greatest villain."

"Novice mission complete. Activating main quest."

"Main quest: Posture of an Overlord (I). Mission description: A great man cannot go a day without power; a lesser man cannot go a day without money. To have power, one must first obtain money. Time limit: six months. Earn ten thousand taels of silver."

"Failure consequence: Randomly strip one permanently learned martial art."

"Mission reward: One intermediate draw, 200 Villain Points."

"Ten thousand taels of silver! Tsk tsk, that is certainly not a small amount."

Su Xin's current primary means of making money was collecting dues from merchants in the Happy Forest, commonly known as protection money.

Normally, the monthly dues were only about five hundred taels. The fact that Liu Sandao could scrape together several thousand taels during his tenure was only because he squeezed them dry.

However, if Su Xin did the same, the Happy Forest would collectively go bankrupt in less than two months.

To get ten thousand taels, he really needed to come up with a good plan.

Moreover, Su Xin was indeed in dire need of money right now.

The development of a gang could not be separated from people, and even less so from money.

Without money, did he think those gang members would pull out their blades to help him hack people? It would be a miracle if they didn't use those blades on him.

"By the way, why is the penalty for this main quest so light, only stripping one martial art? Yet the penalty for the novice mission was to lose an arm?" Su Xin asked.

The failure penalty for the novice mission was actually heavier than the main quest, which Su Xin felt was highly unscientific.

"If you cannot even complete the novice mission, it proves the host is too useless. Better to die early than to waste time."

Su Xin: "..."

"Right, I should still have one primary draw opportunity. I want to draw."

A new day had arrived, so Su Xin naturally had another primary draw opportunity.

Although primary draws were often lackluster, for the penniless Su Xin, even drawing a Qi Nourishing Pill would be decent.

The wheel on the large screen began to spin. It didn't land on pills or martial arts as Su Xin had hoped, but jumped to the 'Sundries' category.

"Congratulations to the host for drawing a piece of embroidery hand-stitched by Dongfang Bubai. Rating: One star."

Su Xin's face darkened. What use was this to him? He wasn't Yang Lianting.

He chose to discard it immediately. After thinking for a moment, Su Xin said, "I still have ten Villain Points. Give me another primary draw."

Although Su Xin now had internal energy and techniques, his moves were too singular.

While the fast sword of Jin Wuming was strong, its strength lay only in being tricky, ruthless, and vicious.

The system had already stated that his fast sword could not reach 100% proficiency; the personal style of the technique was too intense.

Su Xin's fast sword had flaws. Once analyzed and countered by an opponent, Su Xin, having no other means besides his fast sword, would be at his wit's end.

Not everyone could be like Li Xunhuan with his flying daggers—a single move that could conquer the world.

The wheel spun rapidly—martial arts, consumables, pills... Finally, under Su Xin's expectant gaze, the pointer slowly drifted past 'Empty' and barely landed on the 'Martial Arts' category.

On the large screen appeared a young man wearing a Northwest desert robe and headscarf, holding a strange sword with a circular guard.

Although the young man was handsome, there was a look of viciousness and arrogance between his brows that made people uncomfortable.

"Congratulations to the host for drawing the character Chu Zhaonan, who comes with seven martial arts including the Wind Chasing Sword Technique, Great Sumeru Sword Style, and Tianshan Sword Technique. Rating: One to one-and-a-half stars. The host may choose a random draw or spend 20 Villain Points to make a specific selection."

"Chu Zhaonan, it's actually him."

The wielder of the Dragon-Roaming Sword among the Seven Swords, and one of the three great sword masters of the early Kangxi era.

Su Xin had read relatively few Liang School novels in his past life; even for the most famous work, the Seven Swords, he had originally only watched the television adaptation.

In the Zhao Wenzhuo version of Seven Swords, the character Chu Zhaonan was significantly altered, portrayed as a hero who endured humiliation for a greater cause.

But in reality, this fellow was a genuine villain.

Although Chu Zhaonan was one of the Seven Swords, he was arrogant, base in character, and would betray his principles for profit.

He first pursued the heroine Fei Hongjin to assist her in resisting the Qing, but when he could not have his way, he betrayed his companions, defected to the Qing Dynasty, and became a lackey of the Qing court.

"The last designated draw only cost 5 Villain Points, why is it 20 this time?" Su Xin asked suspiciously.

The system replied: "The character drawn last time was Yin Zhiping, whose highest-ranked martial art was half a star, hence the cost of only 5 Villain Points.

This time, the character Chu Zhaonan is rated at one and a half stars, and his martial arts range from one to one and a half stars, so a higher amount of Villain Points is required for the draw."

Su Xin shook his head: "You really don't leave any loopholes, do you? Just do a random draw. It's a pity that although this guy has many martial arts, seven in total, none of them are of a high grade."

Chu Zhaonan's master was Zen Master Huiming, the founder of the Tianshan Sect Northern Branch, so he knew almost all of the Tianshan Sect's techniques.

However, Liang School martial arts belong to a low-martial world and cannot compare to the Huang School, which borders on the supernatural. It was normal for the rating to be lower, and Su Xin felt relieved once he thought it through.

The roulette spun again, and the system's cold voice rang out: "Congratulations to the host, you have successfully drawn the Great Sumeru Sword Style, rated at one and a half stars."

The Great Sumeru Sword Style was a sword technique created by the Divine Radiance of Tianshan, Ling Mofeng, taking its name from the concept of containing Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed.

It combined offense and defense, with complex variations; every move and stance was impeccable.

Although it wasn't the Wind Chasing Sword Technique Su Xin had wanted, this Great Sumeru Sword Style had a great advantage in defense, which could make up for the defensive shortcomings of Jin Wuming's Quick Sword, so it was considered quite good.

After a while, the gang members outside had bought breakfast and delivered it. Su Xin patted Su Xin'er's cheek, and she rubbed her face, looking sleepy.

"Yay! Meat buns!"

Seeing the steaming meat buns on the table, the sleepiness on Xin'er's face vanished instantly, and she immediately grabbed a bun and stuffed it into her mouth.

Su Xin poured her a bowl of soy milk and tapped her little head: "You didn't even wash your hands, isn't that dirty?"

With her mouth full of bun, Xin'er's big eyes squinted into happy crescents. She didn't answer, just kept stuffing the bun into her mouth.

The little girl's world was very simple; as long as there was good food and her brother's company, she was happier than anyone.

After finishing breakfast, Su Xin ordered his subordinates to find Huang Bingcheng.

Su Xin had become a minor leader recognized by the upper echelons of the Flying Eagle Gang. As the first to defect to Su Xin, Huang Bingcheng now held a position under only Su Xin, but above dozens of others.

While Su Xin was sleeping last night, he had thoroughly enjoyed his newfound authority, calling over the sixty-plus gang members under Su Xin to lecture them one by one, enjoying it immensely.

"Boss Su, you called for me?"

"Sit." Su Xin pointed to Su Xin'er and said, "This is my sister, Xin'er."

"Oh, this little girl is truly beautiful!"

Huang Bingcheng grinned broadly in praise, though with his appearance, he looked every bit like a creepy uncle trying to lure a little girl to look at goldfish.

Xin'er replied obediently: "Hello, Uncle."

Huang Bingcheng's face darkened instantly. Heaven have mercy, he had only just turned thirty today; how did he become an uncle?

Moreover, he called Su Xin "Boss," and Su Xin's sister called him "Uncle"—how did he end up a generation lower for no reason?

"Call him Big Brother." Su Xin smiled amusedly.

"Oh, hello, Big Brother Huang." Su Xin'er looked at Huang Bingcheng's face, which clearly looked much older than his years, but still obediently called him Big Brother.

Su Xin patted Xin'er's head and said to Huang Bingcheng: "Find a few brothers and come with me to Wang's Pharmacy."

"If you need to buy medicine, just say the word, and I'll have them go buy it."

A cold glint flashed in Su Xin's eyes: "I'm not going to buy medicine, I'm going to find someone to take something back!"