Wind Thunder Martial Arts Gathering

Shen Xiu had not expected that this trip out would bring such an unexpected windfall.

Still, he did not fully trust that Old Daoist. After all, that fellow had a prior record.

On his way back to the martial arts school, he passed Hundred Refinements Hall in Taixi City and sold off all his Horse-Slaying Sabers, earning a sum of silver. While he was at it, he also asked about spirit talismans sold by merchant guilds.

Hundred Refinements Hall specialized in cold weapons, metal forging, and the like. Naturally, it was not a place that sold talismans.

Though he had not received a definite answer, Shen Xiu had achieved his purpose. A single Mysterious Grade spirit talisman truly was worth a great deal.

At the low end, it cost a hundred taels; at the high end, a thousand.

After clearing everything out, Shen Xiu's hands were empty. All that remained was the head of Crimson Fire Stronghold's Third Boss.

The weather was not yet hot, but if he left it any longer, it would probably start to smell.

Following his memories, Shen Xiu headed toward the Taixi City yamen. When he arrived, he found a crowd gathered around the entrance, chattering noisily about something.

As he drew closer, he realized that the surrounding crowd was staring at the wall by the yamen entrance.

"Impressive! Those Crimson Fire Bandits' bounties have gone up again. Yang Long, the Crimson Fire Bandits' Boss, is up to five hundred taels now!"

"Isn't it because those lunatics slaughtered far too many nearby villages? They're a monstrous scourge, yet no one has taken them down..."

"It's gone up, it's gone up! Third Boss Wang Bao's bounty has gone up too. It was fifty taels before, and now it's a hundred!"

"Then what are we waiting for? The Boss, Yang Long, is too formidable for us, but he's only the Third Boss. We should be able to handle him, right...?"

The speaker was a burly man with thick brows and big eyes, his blood and qi robust. He looked extremely confident, brimming with assurance.

Upon hearing Wang Bao's name, Shen Xiu could not help glancing at him.

Yet the man's instincts were rather sharp. Shen Xiu's gaze had rested on him only briefly before the bearded man sensed it and immediately turned to glare at him.

"What are you looking at? Never seen anyone this fierce before?"

Shen Xiu could not be bothered with the bearded man. The news of Wang Bao's increased bounty did make him happy for a moment. No one ever complained about having too much money.

Yet Shen Xiu's indifference looked like naked cowardice to the bearded man. Then he noticed the handsome young man's face.

It reminded him of the wife who had run off with some down-and-out scholar, and rage rose from his heart. He became even more vicious.

"I'm telling you, people without the ability shouldn't be looking at these things. Otherwise, people might think you can actually do something, and you'll make them laugh their teeth out."

"With those skinny arms and twig legs of yours, you want to claim a bounty? Better wash up and go home to sleep first..."

Seeing Shen Xiu about to leave, the bearded man's mouth did not stop flapping.

As he prattled on, he noticed that Shen Xiu's clothes seemed to be wrapping something. Then it suddenly slipped loose, and a dust-covered object rolled out in circles.

Rolling and rolling until it came to his feet.

What was this, some new kind of watermelon?

Puzzled, the bearded man planted a foot on the rolling object, wanting to see what the thing actually was.

His foot sank slightly, and he felt it go soft beneath him. Then the dirt and dust on its surface peeled away layer by layer, revealing its true face.

The bearded man looked.

That one look sent his soul flying from his body. He went utterly numb on the spot.

It was no good thing at all. It was unmistakably a bloody, miserable head, its dead fish eyes wide open.

The spot where he had stepped on the head was just right: those lifeless eyes stared directly into his own.

In an instant, a chill shot up fiercely from the depths of his heart, and his body froze stiff where he stood.

"Make way, make way! I dropped something!"

Shen Xiu called out as he passed through the crowd, grabbed the hair atop that head, and lifted it whole.

Chunks of dried mud fell away, and the blood-smeared face appeared before the surrounding crowd. An uproar broke out, and in the blink of an eye, they retreated a short distance from him.

Someone in the middle stared at that terrifying head, their expression stiff as they said doubtfully,

"That head... looks a little like the Crimson Fire Bandits' Third Boss on the wanted poster..."

The bearded man's head buzzed. He instantly recalled what he had just said, and cold sweat sprang from his scalp as he looked at the silent youth.

"Big brother, this little brother was in the wrong just now... Big brother, tell me, what can I do to make you feel better...?"

Shen Xiu immediately laughed upon hearing that. A mouth that did not grow from the heart only needed a beating.

With a laugh, he swung out a palm. The bearded man's two-hundred-plus-pound body flew out like a cannonball, smashing straight into the wall of the tavern across the street and embedding itself deeply within.

That technique.

It rather resembled the way Deputy Pavilion Master Xiang Shou waved his hand.

The enormous crash instantly startled the people in the tavern across the street. A waiter upstairs ran down and stared dumbfounded at the figure embedded in his tavern's wall.

"As for compensation, go ask him for it yourself!"

The waiter glanced at Shen Xiu across from him and nodded. He strode over, snatched away the bearded man's money pouch in one smooth motion, then handed it to the plump head shopkeeper who had come downstairs to see what was happening.

His movements were clean and swift, seasoned and practiced.

Yet when the plump head shopkeeper caught sight of Shen Xiu, he could not help taking another look.

"This cultivation..."

Upstairs in the tavern, a young man wearing the disciple uniform of the Golden Rainbow Martial Arts School watched the scene with slight surprise before lowering his eyes in thought.

After this interruption, no one present dared look down on this seemingly ordinary youth again. They stared blankly at his every movement until he stepped forward and tore down the wanted notice that had just been posted.

When Shen Xiu came out, he had an additional one-hundred-tael banknote on him. Added to his previous silver, he now had more than fourteen hundred taels in total. He had truly made a fortune.

Even when he returned to the martial arts school and asked Instructor Duan how to obtain a movement technique.

Instructor Duan wore a gentle smile as he took out an invitation. Its edges were a subdued shade of green, patterned with wood grain. It looked no different from an ordinary invitation.

"Better movement techniques are hard to come by. Hundred Peaks Merchant Guild has some decent ones, but they cost a great deal of silver. Ordinary ones are too weak. Before that, though, you can try attending the Wind Thunder Martial Arts Gathering."

Seeing Shen Xiu's puzzled gaze, Duan Hongfei smiled and explained,

"Not long ago, the Wind Thunder Martial Arts School obtained a heavy stone containing traces left behind by a sixth-realm martial cultivator. They say one can comprehend a Mysterious Grade cultivation technique from it.

"To build their reputation, the Wind Thunder Martial Arts School took the opportunity to spread word far and wide, regardless of identity. They set aside a place on the western bank of the Lishui River for everyone to go and experience and appraise it, and somehow it turned into this damned Wind Thunder Martial Arts Gathering...

"Though I remain doubtful..."

Shen Xiu's expression grew solemn.

He had been in the city for quite some time now. As a member of the Golden Rainbow Martial Arts School, this was not the first time he had heard of their rival, the Wind Thunder Martial Arts School.

He had not expected them to possess such a method.

Yet being able to sense the martial aura of a sixth-realm martial cultivator from it, or even comprehend a move or two, was an immense temptation. As the hosts of such an event, they had truly made a grand gesture.

It could be put this way.

The Wind Thunder Martial Arts School's reputation had directly multiplied severalfold because of that heavy stone. When the time came, those wanting to enter would likely have to squeeze their way in until their heads split open.