Spirit Sparrow Qi-Eating Method

"Master Lin, I found it!"

Dong Cheng diligently searched the teahouse from end to end, finally locating a hidden cabinet on the wall.

This place was nominally under Shopkeeper Wang's name, but in reality, it served as Liu Zhen's money chest. Moreover, being a gambling den, it was bound to hold some silver.

With this thought, he suddenly swung his fist, channeling his spiritual energy, and smashed open the hidden cabinet with a few powerful blows.

Clang!

The next moment, a cascade of gleaming silver poured out like a breached dam, scattering across the floor.

"This scoundrel!"

Dong Cheng was startled. A quick glance revealed at least five to six thousand taels.

He couldn't fathom how this single gambling den held so much silver, let alone how much Liu Zhen had stashed away at home.

A regular constable's monthly salary was barely three to five taels of silver, and a captain's double that. If one were to earn the Purple Flood Dragon insignia, they'd receive an additional forty taels in subsidies.

No wonder he chose to be a corrupt constable; the money came in so fast.

It was a shame that Liu, the fellow, lived in East City, right under the nose of the yamen. Otherwise...

Snap.

Dong Cheng lightly slapped his own face. What was he thinking? Firstly, the money belonged to Master Lin.

Secondly, what was the point of thinking about Liu's family fortune? The silver right before him might not even be safely acquired.

"..."

Lin Shu strolled upstairs, his gaze falling upon the scattered silver.

This is more like it.

He bent down and casually picked out two intact large silver ingots from the pile, both of fifty-tael denomination, larger than his palm.

He pocketed the heavy objects.

"Take a thousand for yourself. Count the rest and store it properly; I'll need it later to exchange for pills at the gang."

Back when he was at the Magpie Nest, Lin Shu had been unwilling to stay in the brothel and had even considered buying a large mansion in the city.

But ever since Yu Sheng woke up, he had abandoned that idea.

The young one had said that Blackwater City was sealed off not due to any natural disaster, but because it was being kept as a farm by an Immortal Scion.

Who knew what that Immortal Scion intended to do with the entire city's populace?

To put it bluntly, if people realized they were in a pigsty, wouldn't they be thinking of escaping rather than trying to build a better sty within it?

"I, I get a share too?"

Dong Cheng stood frozen, watching Master Lin ascend the stairs.

After a moment's hesitation, he quickly began gathering the silver from the floor, piling it back into the hidden cabinet.

"Wait a moment, Master Lin! There was something I didn't get a chance to tell you yesterday!"

"What is it?" Lin Shu found a private room and sat down, looking at him curiously.

"Well, it's just..." Dong Cheng rubbed his face vigorously, a little embarrassed. "Before you took over, Fatty Tian was also working for the White Tiger Hall, helping them select a batch of young boys with strong bones."

Clearly, he hadn't failed to mention it; he had intended to pocket it for himself.

Seeing Lin Shu's indifferent gaze, Dong Cheng trembled slightly and quickly added:

"Don't worry, Master Lin. These are all boys from the Good Fortune Martial Hall. After that Zhang fellow died, they all dispersed. Fatty Tian specifically picked them, and told me to keep an eye on them. Their families are all dirt-poor from the South Suburb, I guarantee they won't cause any trouble."

It was said that scholarly pursuits were for the poor and martial arts for the rich. If a family had little surplus, just sending a child to a martial arts hall would drain their finances.

These "dirt-poor" families hoped their children could learn a move or two, achieve something, and make a living in West City.

To save money, their families would often not visit the city for half a year. Furthermore, with Zhang Zhongping dead, no one would even notice the disappearance of these youths.

Dong Cheng smiled obsequiously, deliberately emphasizing "Good Fortune Martial Hall."

He knew that Master Lin and this martial arts hall were mortal enemies.

"Let them go." Lin Shu withdrew his gaze.

He wasn't a lunatic. Even if he wanted to cut all ties, he had to consider the circumstances.

Zhang Zhongping ran a martial arts hall and recruited apprentices, not gang enforcers.

If the other party could truly unite his subordinates and turn them into sharp blades for killing, then the people who came to Green Willow Alley for revenge that day wouldn't have been merely nine.

"Uh."

The young man's simple words left Dong Cheng stunned in place. "Let them go? But the White... White Tiger Hall..."

The main reason he was revealing this now was that he had been terrified by Lin Shu's brutal methods. Moreover, this Greedy Wolf was willing to share some spoils with him, unlike the previous two Fierce Wolves.

While touched, Dong Cheng also had to consider the interests of Master Lin and himself.

Liu Zhen was, after all, working for the White Tiger Hall. Now that he was dead, the tiger was highly likely to be enraged.

Fatty Tian had already prepared these brats for Master Lin. As long as Master Lin handed them over normally, it would not only slightly appease the tiger's anger and earn him a sum of benefits, but he might even be able to latch onto the other party's influence.

Now, you're saying, let them go?

"As you command, I'll go do it now!"

Dong Cheng didn't understand, but he didn't dare to ask further. He could only obediently go downstairs and quickly disappear into the night.

[Life and death are determined by heaven, snatching life from the King of Hell, saving a wretched life, bestowing two Virtue Coins.]

It was estimated that Tian Jingyuan had indeed put in a lot of effort, specifically selecting this batch of young martial artists with potential.

Eight consecutive, neat prompts appeared, and sixteen white jade Virtue Coins continuously flowed in, bringing Lin Shu's total to thirty-four.

"..."

Lin Shu tossed the coins in his hand.

He suddenly felt annoyed by this so-called White Tiger Hall.

First, they came to him asking for infants.

On the way to the gambling house, Dong Cheng mentioned the Zhao family's affairs, which also stemmed from a fetus in a woman's womb carrying medicinal power.

Now, it involved a group of impoverished brats.

Lin Shu felt it was too shameful to be doing these things.

Could it be that to cultivate properly, one had to suck the blood of the poor and weak?

It was bad enough to suck their blood, but at least leave them a way to live. They had to kill them to feel comfortable.

If all the so-called "great cultivators" in the White Tiger Hall were like this...

Then so be it if he offended them.

"Tsk."

Lin Shu's gaze sharpened, and his palm suddenly clenched the Virtue Coins.

The white jade coins turned into a dense milky white light between his fingers, rapidly flowing into the phantom image of the green feather.

Back then, the Bright Moon Claw Technique had evolved into a mid-tier immortal art with less than ten Evil Coins, and then it broke through two more stages, touching the threshold of the upper-tier, using only about a hundred coins.

Even if the Virtue Coins were slower, there should be some change.

The Blue Bird Qi-Guiding Art, which had long been stuck at the limit of the seventh rank, seemed to have gathered its strength and erupted with an unprecedented clear cry!

"Caw!"

[Rank Six. Blue Bird Qi-Guiding Art: Minor Accomplishment]

New prompts quickly emerged, and as Virtue Coins continued to pour in, the text on them kept changing.

"Mid-tier internal art!"

Lin Shu closed his eyes, and a second complete scroll appeared in his mind.

A tiny spirit sparrow flapped its wings, wobbling as it flew towards the sky. With each trembling flap of its wings, its body grew stronger.

Originally, it needed to cry out to summon a few wisps of misty spiritual energy.

But now, it actively plunged into this cloud screen.

Instead of drawing Qi into my body, why not I go to the spiritual sea!

From begging to capturing.

The spirit sparrow's wings grew to several dozen feet wide, carrying a large amount of spiritual energy, turning it into a sharp arrow that whistled through the sky!

[Qi Refining Rank Six: Spirit Sparrow Qi-Eating Method: Minor Accomplishment]

The text on the prompt became clearer, and the brand-new internal art revealed its true name.

Although still rank six, it had opened up future possibilities.

At the same time, Lin Shu also felt the small pool of spiritual power within his body being widened one after another.

Absorbing fifty strands of Qi... seventy... breaking through a hundred!

The proficiency of the internal art directly surpassed Great Accomplishment and then, with strong momentum, rushed through another stage!

[Qi Refining Rank Six. Spirit Sparrow Qi-Eating Method: Perfection]