Blood Splatters Three Feet, Acquired Trait: Blood Courage

Chapter 27: Blood Splatters Three Feet, Acquired Trait: Blood Courage

[Hidden Achievement: Blood Splatters Three Feet]

[Reward: Acquired Trait: Blood Courage]

[Blood Courage: Critical Hit +1, Health Points +1]

After Lu Xingshi blew Black Face Snake to pieces with the Golden Crow Hand Cannon, he actually completed a hidden achievement. Come to think of it, he really hadn't killed anyone before.

More importantly, this Acquired Trait of Blood Courage could still be upgraded, with three subsequent stages: Meridian Courage, Bone Courage, and Spirit Courage.

The follow-up tasks were also quite special, requiring him to defeat a larger force with a smaller one, overcome a stronger enemy while being weaker, and slay a general amidst a thousand troops.

The hardest one was probably Bone Courage's overcoming a stronger enemy while being weaker. Lu Xingshi had no idea where to find someone stronger than himself.

Well, maybe there were some, but finding them would be extremely difficult.

Defeating a larger force with a smaller one was easy to solve, since there was no limit on strength. As for slaying a general amidst a thousand troops, he could just brute force his way through without much issue.

"Young friend Lu, this Golden Crow Gun of yours is a contraband item..." Cui Xuan reminded him.

The Imperial Court did not ban swords or sabers, but armor, crossbows, bird guns, cannons, and other corresponding military equipment were prohibited. Unless granted permission, one simply could not display them openly.

"Are you going to report me?" Hearing this, Lu Xingshi loaded another shell into the Golden Crow Hand Cannon.

The Golden Crow Hand Cannon had three drawbacks: first, it was inconvenient to carry; second, it could only fire one shot at a time; third, it was illegal and easy to get caught.

As for the risk of it blowing himself up, that was no problem for Lu Xingshi at all. With his twenty thousand percent Health Points and hundredfold self-healing regeneration, plus the amplification from his cultivation technique, how could anything go wrong?

In truth, Lu Xingshi had originally planned to build a full set of mechanical armor, but when he looked into it, by the time he finished designing it, let alone forging it, grass would probably already be growing on his master's grave.

So he had to make do with the Golden Crow Hand Cannon for now. If he had ample time, he intended to start building from the Steam Engine, then construct an alloy dump truck and just rampage straight through everything.

"No, no, young friend, you misunderstand." Cui Xuan's eyelid twitched, especially when he saw Lu Xingshi loading ammunition. He quickly spoke up, afraid that Lu Xingshi might misunderstand and blast him on the spot.

He only dared to cautiously call it a Golden Crow Gun, but in truth, he had long regarded it as a small cannon.

"That's good then. Don't worry, I'm just loading ammunition as routine. I'm not shooting you." After loading, Lu Xingshi put the Golden Crow Cannon back into his bundle and slung it over his body.

Cui Xuan didn't even see where Lu Xingshi had pulled the ammunition from.

After the thunderous blast, Cui Xuan gathered everyone back together and prepared to discuss the situation.

The worst off was probably the Shangguan Family—their joyous occasion had turned into a funeral.

Cui Xuan had gone over to help settle things before returning.

"Speaking of which, what exactly is the situation in Saibei? Why would someone come to ambush you?" Lu Xingshi asked curiously.

The Iron Sword Sect's movements weren't exactly a secret. Earlier, Shangguan Zhe had invited the Iron Sword Sect to attend the birthday banquet. It shouldn't have been Cui Xuan who came, but the Iron Sword Sect's Sect Leader. However, the Sect Leader had gone to Saibei, so Cui Xuan, as the Great Elder, had to come instead, making the trip to Saibei along the way.

But looking at it now, the situation in Saibei didn't seem that simple. Otherwise, how could the timing be so coincidental? It meant the other side had been prepared.

"Not entirely clear, but I can confirm that the rebellion in Saibei might be about to spiral out of control." Cui Xuan said gravely.

"Your Iron Sword Sect was ambushed. Could the other famous sects and major schools be the same?" Lu Xingshi suddenly thought of this.

"Possibly. If my guess is correct, they might have been completely wiped out by now." Cui Xuan speculated reasonably. If they hadn't met Lu Xingshi, who was skilled in 'gun techniques,' they too would have been annihilated.

"Black Face Snake's strength was off. Thinking back carefully, he might have taken some kind of secret medicine. Otherwise, even as weak as I am, I shouldn't have been unable to last even a single move against him."

"That kind of secret medicine has an unusual origin." Cui Xuan stated the key point he had observed earlier.

Lu Xingshi didn't care about the other party taking secret medicine. No matter how strong they were, they couldn't compare to his hand cannon. If they could withstand his hand cannon, then he would have to step in personally.

Black Face Snake's overall strength was probably only half a notch above the Bearman. If he actually fought the Bearman head-on, there was a high chance the Bearman would beat him to death.

As for Cui Xuan, he was on par with the Bearman to slightly above. He couldn't beat Black Face Snake because he was countered.

Desert Saber Gao Li was slightly inferior to the Bearman by a notch, so he couldn't kill the Bearman and barely escaped with severe injuries.

"Earlier, I heard something in Youping County..." Lu Xingshi recalled a matter—the Deserters he had heard about back then. Combined with Desert Saber Gao Li suddenly heading Southbound, even moving his master, a Grandmaster, it had seemed like a simple case of deserters at first. But now it appeared there were many secrets hidden within.

"I do know a little about this. It's said that the military pay in Saibei ran into problems." Cui Xuan revealed a portion of the information.

Hearing this, the word 'silence' surfaced in Lu Xingshi's mind.

"And that military pay..." Lu Xingshi pressed on.

Cui Xuan just shook his head without speaking. Whether that shake meant he didn't know or couldn't say, Lu Xingshi couldn't tell.

"In that case, does your sect plan to continue heading north or return to the sect to recover from injuries?" Lu Xingshi could also see that they could easily use recovery or even going missing to weasel out of this northern trip.

Yet Cui Xuan had no intention of going back: "Continue heading north. If danger arises, we can support the Sect Leader."

Going back was impossible. They had to grit their teeth and go.

Fortunately, they weren't the Iron Sword Sect's true main force or foundation. Only Cui Xuan knew about the Imperial Court's conscription. They could indeed weasel out now, but it would be too conspicuous. If they had suffered heavy casualties, they could refuse. Since they hadn't taken losses, to avoid being targeted again, they had to go.

"But this time, the matter is urgent. I'm afraid we can't wait until tomorrow. Once things settle down at the Shangguan Residence, we'll set out immediately."

"What do you think, young friend Lu?" Cui Xuan asked for his opinion.

"The sooner, the better, of course." Lu Xingshi certainly didn't want to delay. He hadn't even planned to come to the feast in the first place, and now it really had turned into a funeral feast.

"Then please wait a moment, young friend. I'll go handle some matters." Cui Xuan understood the danger, so the personnel structure needed to be adjusted.

He would send some of the disciples who were on training trips back to the Iron Sword Sect first, while they traveled light to reach Saibei as quickly as possible.

"Go ahead." Lu Xingshi saw through his intentions, so he found a nearby spot to sit down, fiddling with the Golden Crow Hand Cannon by himself, thinking about how to make up for its shortcomings.

For example, the number of shells it could fire... that probably couldn't be increased at this stage, but switching to bullets might work. However, hand-forcing the rifling and chamber would be somewhat difficult, and he needed to find a substitute method.