I Want to Make a Deal with You

A monk?

Yang Ling's heart tightened slightly.

He'd come so quickly!

This had to be a monk from Bitter Enlightenment Temple!

He opened the other party's status panel and took a look:

Name: Hui Neng

Class: Martial Artist

Strength: 18

Agility: 12

Spirit: 6

Martial Arts: Stele-Splitting Hand (proficient), Gale Step (proficient), Bitter Enlightenment Heart Sutra (second-rate, beginner)

Faction: Bitter Enlightenment Temple

"Three martial arts!?"

"Is this the foundation of a major sect..."

Yang Ling was astonished.

However, he noticed that the Bitter Enlightenment Heart Sutra Hui Neng cultivated was merely second-rate.

His status in Bitter Enlightenment Temple probably isn't high. Still, with his spiritual power, he hasn't reached the level needed to cultivate the Vajra Wisdom King Art either.

Yang Ling thought to himself.

"You said Prisoner Slayer was captured here?"

The monk spoke calmly.

"That's correct."

Supervisor Wu nodded cautiously.

All the miners were stunned.

It was the first time they'd seen such "caution" on Supervisor Wu's face.

They were deeply shocked. Just who was this monk?

"Other than a few taels of loose silver, Prisoner Slayer had nothing else on him?"

The monk asked again.

A bitter smile appeared on Supervisor Wu's face.

"Prisoner Slayer had already been taken away by Constable Lin at the time. I never searched him..."

He secretly glanced at Constable Lin, vaguely guessing what had happened.

Constable Lin frowned. "Master Hui Neng, after Prisoner Slayer was captured, his identity was verified. There was indeed nothing else on him."

As he said this, he seemed to realize something.

"There were rumors in the martial world that Prisoner Slayer stole a Buddhist scripture from Bitter Enlightenment Temple. Could the rumors be true? Are you looking for that scripture, Master Hui Neng?"

Hui Neng glanced at Constable Lin, then smiled.

"Prisoner Slayer did indeed steal a Buddhist classic from Bitter Enlightenment Temple. As it was the original copy and contained profound Buddhist teachings, it could not be allowed to go missing.

"That is why Bitter Enlightenment Temple sent me to recover this text.

"But since he isn't carrying any Buddhist scripture from Bitter Enlightenment Temple, it means he has hidden it somewhere."

Supervisor Wu's expression shifted. "Master Hui Neng, you mean..."

"This Fire Crystal Ore mine is an excellent place to hide something."

Hui Neng pressed his palms together. "Benefactor Wu, could you assist in the search? If we find that Buddhist text, this poor monk will be deeply grateful."

"Brother Wu, we can help with this. I've brought several dozen brothers with me this time, so we'll search as well."

Constable Lin said.

Seeing this, Supervisor Wu naturally couldn't refuse. He immediately instructed Steward Niu to arrange for all the miners to search for the Buddhist text.

Facing over a thousand miners, Hui Neng suddenly called out loudly.

"Whoever finds the Buddhist text of Bitter Enlightenment Temple, this poor monk will teach them a fist or leg technique, along with fifty taels of patterned silver."

"Gasp—"

"A martial art! Fifty taels of silver!?"

"Is that for real!?"

"A master from Bitter Enlightenment Temple surely keeps his word! If we really find it, won't we be rich!?"

Zhang Wei, Lin Guoliang, and the others in the crowd grew exceptionally excited as well.

To them, this was a game quest!

"Mengmeng, Chen Xu, if we find the quest objective, we'll share the reward together!"

Lin Guoliang said excitedly.

Wu Meng nodded happily.

Chen Xu's face showed a trace of gravity.

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy..."

To prevent anyone from finding the item and secretly keeping it, thereby offending Bitter Enlightenment Temple, Supervisor Wu—

—had the mine guards and Constable Lin's men oversee the search.

Together, the two sides had nearly a hundred people.

One person supervising around ten miners was no problem.

The miners were also told to monitor one another.

If anyone secretly kept something and was successfully reported, the reward would be one hundred taels!

That was even more than Hui Neng's reward!

Whether by coincidence or not—

Yang Ling was assigned to the same group as Zhang Wei, Lin Guoliang, and the others.

Chen Xu was somewhat pleasantly surprised and stepped forward to greet Yang Ling.

"What are you whispering about!? Get searching!"

The one supervising them was a constable. Naturally, he had no pleasant expression for these refugee miners.

Chen Xu didn't dare say more and hurriedly began searching around.

People were searching not only in the mine veins, but also in the miners' village.

"You two, I'll search as well."

Hui Neng suddenly cupped his hands, then headed toward the mine veins.

After he had gone far away—

Supervisor Wu suddenly lowered his voice.

"Brother Lin, did Bitter Enlightenment Temple truly lose a Buddhist text? Not a martial art?"

"It must be a martial art."

Constable Lin's expression was grave.

"And its grade won't be low. At the very least, it has to be a second-rate martial art."

"This is a major matter!"

Supervisor Wu muttered to himself. "Even a sect as powerful as the Mountains and Rivers Sect only possesses two third-rate martial arts..."

He suddenly came to his senses.

"What did Prisoner Slayer say? Didn't you capture him? Did you get anything out of him?"

"Prisoner Slayer..."

Constable Lin glanced at Hui Neng's retreating back.

"Master Hui Neng spoke with him alone for a few moments, and then Prisoner Slayer died."

"He died...?"

Supervisor Wu's heart tightened slightly.

"Your yamen isn't doing anything about it?"

"Doing what? There's no need to offend Bitter Enlightenment Temple over this. How many high-ranking officials and nobles in the Zhao Kingdom are patrons of Bitter Enlightenment Temple?"

Constable Lin said indifferently.

"Besides, they are the victims."

Supervisor Wu nodded thoughtfully.

He was certain that what Bitter Enlightenment Temple had lost was a martial art, at least a second-rate one.

Otherwise, Hui Neng wouldn't have needed to silence Prisoner Slayer to keep the news from spreading and attracting the covetous eyes of other major sects.

Time passed little by little.

Even the five mine tunnels had miners assigned to search them.

Yang Ling pretended to search seriously, while secretly watching Hui Neng's movements.

When he saw Hui Neng enter Mine Tunnel No. 5, his heart skipped a beat.

Could the man have already learned from Prisoner Slayer where the Vajra Wisdom King Art was hidden?

No. If he knew, there'd be no need to make such a huge fuss.

Yang Ling sighed inwardly in relief.

"Yang Ling, have you almost saved up five taels of silver?"

Nearby, Zhang Wei spoke while searching every corner.

"What does that have to do with you?"

Yang Ling gave him a sidelong glance.

He also took a look at Zhang Wei's status panel.

Name: Zhang Wei

Class: Martial Artist

Level: 3

Strength: 4

Agility: 2

Spirit: 1

Martial Arts: Zhang Family Leg Technique (beginner)

Health: 40

Yang Ling remained impassive, not showing the slightest hint of surprise.

The other man's class had already changed from miner to martial artist.

This guy had come into contact with Zhang Hao?

Why would Zhang Hao teach him the Zhang Family Leg Technique?

Zhang Wei hadn't expected his secret to be seen through so easily and continued.

"You mine quickly, so saving up five taels of silver won't be difficult. I want to make a deal with you."

"What could you possibly have to trade with me?"

Yang Ling asked casually.

A flash of anger crossed Zhang Wei's eyes, but he suppressed it. Slowly moving closer to Yang Ling, he lowered his voice.

"A martial art."

"A martial art? You have a martial art?"

Yang Ling stopped in his tracks.

Zhang Wei said, "Keep it down. If you want to cultivate it, use silver to buy it from me!"

Yang Ling's thoughts stirred.

Could this guy really have an extra martial art?

Did he get it from Zhang Hao?

If that was true, it seemed the other man could only trade with him.

If he went to anyone else, he'd be dead for sure!