Spirit Sparrow Qi-Eating Method

"Master Lin, we found it!"

Dong Cheng diligently searched every inch of the teahouse and finally found a hidden compartment in the wall.

On paper, this place belonged to Shopkeeper Wang, but in truth, it was Liu Zhen's cashbox. And since it was a gambling den, a special kind of establishment, there was bound to be some silver kept here.

Thinking of this, he suddenly threw a punch, channeling all his Spiritual Power into it, and smashed the hidden compartment to pieces with several blows.

Crash!

The next moment, a flood of gleaming silver poured out as if a sluice gate had been opened, then scattered across the floor.

"That bastard!"

Dong Cheng jumped in fright. A quick glance told him there had to be at least five or six thousand taels.

He could hardly imagine how much silver Liu Zhen had stashed away at home, if there was this much in just one gambling den.

Ordinary constables earned no more than three to five taels of silver a month. Constables in charge earned double that, and if they managed to earn a Purple Flood Dragon insignia, they received an extra forty taels in allowances.

No wonder people became corrupt constables. The money came in a lot faster.

Too bad Liu's home was in East City, right under the Yamen's nose. Otherwise...

Smack.

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

And besides, why think about a whole fortune? He might not even get away with the silver right in front of him.

"..."

Lin Shu strolled upstairs and looked at the silver gleaming across the floor.

Now that was more like it.

He bent down and casually picked two intact silver ingots from the pile of broken silver. They were both fifty-tael ingots, each a little bigger than his palm.

He put the weighty objects away.

"Take a thousand. Count the rest and put it away for me. It'll be easier to exchange it for pills through the gang later."

Back when he was at Magpie Nest, Lin Shu hadn't wanted to live in a brothel and had even considered simply buying himself a large mansion in the city.

But after Yu Sheng woke up, he had abandoned the idea.

The little girl had told him that Blackwater City was under lockdown not because of some natural disaster, but because an Immortal Scion was keeping the whole city like livestock.

Who knew what that Immortal Scion intended to do with all the people in the city?

To put it bluntly, they'd already realized they were living in a pigsty. Instead of thinking about how to escape as quickly as possible, why would they work hard to build a nicer nest in the pigsty?

"I-I get a share too?"

Dong Cheng stood there dumbstruck, watching Master Lin head upstairs.

He hesitated for a moment, then swiftly gathered up the silver and stacked it back in the hidden compartment.

"Wait a moment. There's something I didn't get a chance to tell you yesterday!"

"What is it?" Lin Shu found a private room and sat down, looking over in puzzlement.

"It's, it's..." Dong Cheng rubbed his face hard, looking a little embarrassed. "Before you came to take over, Fatty Tian was also working for White Tiger Hall. He helped them pick a batch of youngsters who were strong for their age."

Clearly, he hadn't simply forgotten to mention it. He'd wanted to quietly pocket the matter for himself.

Seeing Lin Shu's gaze turn cold, Dong Cheng trembled and hurriedly said:

"Don't worry. They're all kids from Good Fortune Martial Hall. After Zhang Zhongping died, they scattered. Fatty Tian picked them out specially and told me to keep an eye on them. Their families are all dirt-poor farmers from South Suburb. I guarantee they won't make so much as a ripple."

They said the poor could study, but only the rich could practice martial arts. If a family had little grain to spare, sending a child to a martial hall alone could drain the family's savings.

The dirt-poor farmers hoped their children could learn a trick or two and make something of themselves, so they could earn a living in West City one day.

To save money, their families often wouldn't come into the city to visit for half a year or more. And with Zhang Zhongping dead, no one would even notice if this batch of youngsters disappeared.

Dong Cheng smiled ingratiatingly, deliberately putting extra emphasis on "Good Fortune Martial Hall."

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

"Let them go." Lin Shu looked away.

He wasn't crazy. Even if he wanted to root out the problem, the circumstances still mattered.

Zhang Zhongping had run a martial hall and taken in apprentices, not trained gang enforcers.

If he'd truly been able to unite his people into one and turn them all into blades for killing, then there wouldn't have been only a mere nine people coming to Green Willow Alley for revenge.

"Uh."

The young man's two simple words left Dong Cheng standing there in shock. "Let them go? But White... White Tiger Hall..."

The main reason he'd brought it up now was that he'd been frightened by Lin Shu's ruthless methods. Besides, this Greedy Wolf was willing to share a piece of the meat with him, unlike the two Fierce Wolves before him.

Moved by this, Dong Cheng also had to consider what was best for Master Lin and himself.

Liu Zhen had been working for White Tiger Hall. Now that he was dead, the old tiger would likely be furious.

Fatty Tian had already prepared those youngsters for Master Lin. All Master Lin had to do was send them over as usual. Not only would that soothe the tiger's anger a little, he could also get a reward—and maybe even use the opportunity to latch onto the other party's coattails.

And now he was saying, let them go?

"I'll do as you say. I'll take care of it right away!"

Dong Cheng didn't understand, but he didn't dare ask again. He obediently went downstairs and hurried into the night.

[Life and death are fated by Heaven. Snatched a life from the King of Hell, saved a wretched soul, bestowed two Virtue Coins]

Tian Jingyuan must have gone to a lot of trouble, carefully selecting this batch of young martial artists with talent.

Eight neat prompts appeared in succession, and sixteen White Jade Virtue Coins emerged one after another, bringing Lin Shu's total Virtue Coins to thirty-four.

"..."

Lin Shu tossed the coins in his hand.

Suddenly, he felt a little irritated with this so-called White Tiger Hall.

First, they'd come to demand infants from him.

On the way to the gambling den, Dong Cheng had mentioned the Zhao Family's affairs, which had also involved a woman carrying a fetus infused with medicinal power.

Now there was this group of little kids from poor families.

Lin Shu felt that doing these things was just too shameful.

Was it really necessary to suck the blood out of the poor and weak to cultivate properly?

If they were going to suck them dry, fine—but at least leave them a way to live. Why did they have to kill them outright to be satisfied?

If everyone in White Tiger Hall was this sort of so-called "great cultivator"...

Then so be it. He'd offend them.

"Tsk."

Lin Shu's gaze narrowed as his hand abruptly clenched around the Virtue Coins.

The White Jade Coins transformed between his fingers into a dense, milky-white radiance, swiftly flowing into the illusory Azure Sparrow Feather.

Back then, the Bright Moon Claw Technique had needed fewer than ten Evil Coins to evolve into a Middle Three Ranks Immortal Method. Then it had broken through two levels in a row, touching the threshold of the Upper Three Ranks, with only about a hundred coins.

Even if Virtue Coins were slower, there should have been some change by now.

The Blue Bird Qi-Guiding Art, long stuck at the limit of the Seventh Rank, seemed to have gathered all its strength and let out a clear cry unlike any it had made before!

"Creee!"

[Sixth Rank. Blue Bird Qi-Guiding Art: Minor Success]

A new prompt appeared quickly, and as the Virtue Coins continued to pour in, the text kept changing.

"Middle Three Ranks Inner Method!"

Lin Shu closed his eyes. A second complete illustration unfolded in his mind.

The tiny Azure Sparrow flapped its wings, wobbling as it flew toward the sky. Each time it trembled and beat its wings, its body grew a little stronger.

Before, it had needed to cry out to draw in a few wisps of mist-like Spiritual Power.

But now, it charged straight into the cloud bank of its own accord.

Rather than draw the qi into myself, I'll head for the Spiritual Sea!

It had gone from begging for scraps to hunting down its prey.

The Azure Sparrow's wings expanded to several zhang wide, sweeping up great quantities of Spiritual Power. It became a sharp arrow and shot across the sky with a whoosh!

[Qi Condensation Sixth Stage: Spirit Sparrow Qi-Eating Method: Minor Success]

The lettering on the prompt grew clearer, and the brand-new Inner Method revealed its true name.

It was still Sixth Rank, but it had opened up possibilities for the future.

At the same time, Lin Shu felt the small pool of Spiritual Power inside him expanding again and again.

Fifty wisps of Qi absorbed... seventy... over a hundred!

The Inner Method's mastery went straight past Great Success, then surged toward the next breakthrough with unstoppable force!

[Qi Condensation Sixth Stage. Spirit Sparrow Qi-Eating Method: Perfection]