Treasure Hunt

After returning to the Merit Transmission Hall, Chen Yuan first summoned Zhang Xiaoyi.

"Find some idle street loafers to keep watch on the four city gates. The moment they spot Duan Kun, the 'Ghostfang Saber,' one of the Blackwater Gang's five great protectors, leaving the city, notify me immediately."

Zhang Xiaoyi nodded repeatedly. "Rest assured, Young Master. This time, I'll definitely find a few reliable people."

He was still blaming himself over what had happened with Wei Yidao last time.

He had found a greedy, unreliable fellow, and in the end, Young Master had needed to clean up his mess. He was simply too useless.

"Don't be so tense. They only need to watch the gates; it does not even count as tracking. Anyone whose eyes are not blind can do it. Just do not reveal the Heavenly Wolf Gang's identity."

Zhang Xiaoyi nodded and immediately ran off to make arrangements.

But this time, he had learned his lesson. He could not place too much trust in those people.

So he planned to hire three loafers for each gate, with none of them knowing the others existed.

That way, even if someone slacked off, surely one out of the three would be reliable, right?

If all three slacked off, then he was simply out of luck.

Chen Yuan had Zhang Xiaoyi keep watch on Duan Kun of the Blackwater Gang because he wanted to seize something from him.

Before taking the divine artifact, the more trump cards Chen Yuan held in his hand, the better.

But no matter how many cultivation methods and martial skills he had, Chen Yuan's time was limited. In less than two months, Jiang Kaitai would begin the blood sacrifice for the divine artifact.

Therefore, before then, aside from raising his own strength, Chen Yuan needed to accumulate a few more trump cards.

Duan Kun possessed something Chen Yuan wanted.

As one of the Blackwater Gang's five great protectors, Duan Kun, the "Ghostfang Saber," possessed Blood-Shifting Realm cultivation.

The Blackwater Gang's five great protectors were all formidable, every one of them in the Blood-Shifting Realm.

Hu Laosan had not been wrong when he said that the Blackwater Gang's five great protectors were stronger than the Heavenly Wolf Gang's Three Elites.

It was simply that Chen Yuan and the other two were still young, while even the youngest among the Blackwater Gang's five protectors was already forty.

In the original storyline, after the Seven Kill Stele was blood-sacrificed, the Heavenly Wolf Gang was wiped out. The Blackwater Gang naturally took over all of Linked Mountains City without shedding a drop of blood.

With no rivals left, the Blackwater Gang grew ever more arrogant and tyrannical. They could be said to commit every imaginable evil, leaving no wicked deed undone. Thus, there was a storyline where players fought the Blackwater Gang's five great protectors.

It was during that storyline that Duan Kun revealed one of his trump cards: Guanyin's Tears, a high-grade concealed weapon forged by the Divine Mechanism Pavilion.

The Divine Mechanism Pavilion was renowned throughout the martial world for concealed weapons and mechanisms, and it controlled the divine artifact, Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements.

Every concealed weapon produced by the Divine Mechanism Pavilion possessed supremely terrifying power.

In the original storyline, there was only one memory sequence concerning the Guanyin's Tears in Duan Kun's possession.

Someone had pawned a fragment of a mechanism at a Blackwater Gang pawnshop, and Duan Kun discovered the Divine Mechanism Pavilion's mark upon it.

Following the vine to find the melon, Duan Kun discovered that a servant who had fled the Divine Mechanism Pavilion lived outside Linked Mountains City. The person who had pawned the item was that servant's son.

Since they possessed a mechanism fragment, they might possess a complete concealed weapon as well.

With a try-it-and-see mindset, Duan Kun brought his men to slaughter the entire family, and truly found Guanyin's Tears in their home.

That memory sequence had flashed by quickly, without giving a specific date or the place where the servant who had fled the Divine Mechanism Pavilion lived.

Based on the fleeting images in the storyline, Chen Yuan concluded that Duan Kun should have obtained Guanyin's Tears during this period before the Seven Kill Stele's blood sacrifice.

As long as Duan Kun left the city with men during this period, there was a ninety-percent chance that he was going to seize Guanyin's Tears.

After arranging for Zhang Xiaoyi to keep watch, Chen Yuan began another period of secluded cultivation, practicing the Surging Waves, Flowing Clouds Formula.

Opening all the acupoints throughout his body could only be considered entry-level. To truly cultivate the Surging Waves, Flowing Clouds Formula to great mastery, he still needed to continuously stimulate his acupoints, temper his meridians, and expand his dantian.

Only when a single thought could make the inner force in every acupoint throughout his body instantly swell and surge, filling his dantian in the blink of an eye and erupting with majestic inner force like stormy waves, could the Surging Waves, Flowing Clouds Formula be considered mastered.

He cultivated peacefully in seclusion for more than thirty days, until Zhang Xiaoyi finally brought news.

Duan Kun had left through the south gate with his men!

Throughout those thirty-plus days, Zhang Xiaoyi had not relaxed in the slightest.

Afraid that the loafers he had hired would slack off, he paid them every day and replaced them with a new batch every few days. Sometimes, he even pretended to wander casually around the city gates himself.

When someone finally reported that Duan Kun had left the city with men, Zhang Xiaoyi immediately rushed without stopping to inform Chen Yuan.

After changing into another set of clothes, Chen Yuan found a bamboo hat and put it on.

"Find me a horse."

Zhang Xiaoyi prepared one, and Chen Yuan immediately gave chase.

The east and west sides of Linked Mountains City had major roads, and passing merchant caravans almost all used the eastern and western gates.

To the north and south were smaller roads. Few merchant caravans traveled them; most of those passing through were villagers from the surrounding settlements.

Duan Kun had left the city with around ten subordinates on horseback. Chen Yuan examined the hoofprints on the ground and followed their trail.

About a quarter of an hour later, faint sounds of activity came from ahead.

It was a courtyard built beside a small stream, currently surrounded by seven or eight Blackwater Gang members wielding weapons.

The corpses of a man and woman lay on the ground, their blood already covering the entire courtyard.

A bald, burly man in his forties held a broad, thick saber more than half a man's height in his hand.

Its blade was black, its edge like serrated wolf fangs, savage and vicious. He was none other than Duan Kun, the "Ghostfang Saber," one of the Blackwater Gang's five great protectors.

Duan Kun held the Ghostfang Saber and lightly patted the face of a boy around seventeen or eighteen years old lying on the ground. With a savage grin, he said, "Kid, hand over the Divine Mechanism Pavilion's concealed weapon, and I can still let you die quickly. Otherwise, I have plenty of ways to make you confess even about wetting the bed as a child!"

The icy edge of the saber pressed against the youth's face, making him shudder. His body trembled without stop, his eyes filled with terror and regret.

He regretted not listening to his parents and insisting on going to Linked Mountains City to have fun.

After witnessing the city's prosperity, he had wanted to eat everything and own everything. Yet his pockets were empty, with only a few copper coins to his name.

His family did not have much money, but he remembered that there seemed to be some scattered metal pieces at home. His father had always treated them like treasures and forbidden him from touching them.

The youth instinctively felt that they were valuable, so he stole the smallest one and pawned it, receiving more than two hundred coins. He spent an entire day eating and drinking extravagantly in the city.

Who could have imagined that this single act would bring a calamity of death upon his family?

Just then, a Blackwater Gang member emerged from the house holding a box and shouted, "Boss! I found it!"

Duan Kun's heart immediately leaped with joy, but before he could speak, the thunder of galloping hooves suddenly rang out.

At the same time, a clear saber cry suddenly sounded.

The Blackwater Gang member still held the box aloft, but his head had already flown into the air.

Chen Yuan snatched the box and stuffed it into his robes, then leaped down from his horse. His broad bamboo hat concealed half his face completely.

Duan Kun froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. "You dare steal my things? You're courting death! Kill him!"

At those words, the remaining Blackwater Gang members immediately surrounded Chen Yuan and charged at him.

With a flick of his wrist, Chen Yuan drew the Wild Goose Feather Saber. The instant it left its sheath, a dazzling slash of saber light streaked across the sky—like a startled swan in an instant, incomparably swift.

"Pfft!"

With a soft sound, a spray of warm blood blossomed from the neck of the first gang member to rush forward. His charge did not stop, but his body had already gone limp as he collapsed.

Duan Kun's expression changed.

What a fast saber!

A gang member behind Chen Yuan thrust a spear at him from an angle. Chen Yuan sidestepped it, then grabbed and yanked with his left hand. His tremendous strength pulled the man off balance, sending his body lurching toward Chen Yuan.

The next instant, Chen Yuan's left hand moved like a spiritual serpent coiling silk, snapping the man's wrist, twisting his elbow, and shattering his bones.

Coiling Silk Shattered Jade Hand!

Amid a string of crisp cracks, the Blackwater Gang member's left arm and throat bones were instantly crushed, and he crumpled limply to the ground.

After killing two men in the blink of an eye, Chen Yuan moved among the remaining gang members. The Wild Goose Feather Saber in his hand was like a blooming blood-red flower, magnificent and dazzling, yet brimming with deadly intent.

Whenever that Autumn Waters, Startled Goose saber light flashed, blood flowers bloomed upon someone's body, and another person fell.

In almost an instant, Chen Yuan had already killed four of the eight Blackwater Gang members present!

"Scatter! I'll handle him!"

Duan Kun roared, swinging the Ghostfang Saber and sending it slashing toward Chen Yuan amid a howling gust.

Duan Kun had not acted at the beginning, instead allowing his subordinates to surround and attack first, because he wanted to test Chen Yuan's background.

Duan Kun appeared crude and brainless, but in truth, he was rough on the outside and meticulous within, with deep and calculating thoughts.

This fellow dared to steal his things alone; he most likely had something to rely on.

Thus, Duan Kun had wanted his subordinates to probe him first, then find his weakness and kill him.

But he had not expected the saber technique of the man before him to be so ruthless. Killing intent lurked within its splendor, and it was so swift that nearly every slash took a life.

Duan Kun had intended to keep this Divine Mechanism Pavilion concealed weapon as one of his own trump cards. He had never planned to hand it over to the gang leader.

Therefore, the men he had brought this time were all his trusted subordinates. Now that half had died in one go, Duan Kun's heart bled.

The Wild Goose Feather Saber in Chen Yuan's hand trembled with a ringing hum. Facing Duan Kun's heavy, powerful slash, he neither dodged nor evaded, instead bringing his saber down head-on.

In an instant, the Surging Waves, Flowing Clouds Formula circulated rapidly within Chen Yuan. Traces of inner force gathered from the three hundred and sixty-five acupoints of his body, ultimately transforming into an incomparably mighty surge of inner force that erupted forth.

As the saber descended, waves of force rolled out. In an instant, it was like emerald waters surging, its might boundless!

Autumn Waters, Startled Goose—Wave-Treading Slash!

Gathering surging-wave inner force and striking with the force of treading waves, this slash unleashed power at its utmost limit. It was not merely fast; it also carried an overwhelmingly fierce and powerful momentum.

A tremendous explosion rang out like the tolling of great bells. Duan Kun felt as if he had slammed into a wall of bronze and iron. The webs between his thumbs and forefingers instantly split open, blood streaming down.

The core Blade Intent of the Autumn Water, Startling Swan Saber Art contained only one word: speed. The art did not contain many moves.

Aside from a few fundamental saber variations, the essence of the entire saber art was condensed into three strikes.

Those three strikes were the Wave-Treading Slash, Autumn Wind Slash, and Startling Swan Slash.

With Chen Yuan's current understanding of the Autumn Water Startled Swan Saber, he could already bring out eighty percent of the power of the most basic of those three strikes, the Wave-Treading Slash.

Duan Kun was horrified, his expression changing drastically.

The cultivation method and martial skills he practiced were actually ordinary, but he had been born with Divine Power. Once he wielded the Ghostfang Saber, martial artists of the same realm could only dodge and evade; almost no one dared meet him head-on.

Who would have thought that this man's saber technique was not only swift and ruthless, but his strength was also so great?

Before Duan Kun could react, Chen Yuan's Wild Goose Feather Saber had already descended in a succession of strikes. The sky filled with incomparably swift saber shadows, forcing Duan Kun back step by step until he could barely hold the Ghostfang Saber.

Duan Kun roared. Swinging the long saber sideways with both hands, he abruptly let go, actually hurling the enormous Ghostfang Saber directly at Chen Yuan.

The moment Chen Yuan knocked the Ghostfang Saber aside and left his front exposed.

The muscles throughout Duan Kun's body suddenly swelled by a great deal. Like a massive bear, he lunged at Chen Yuan and clawed toward his chest!

Metal-Rending Hand!

Chen Yuan extended his left hand, Silk-Winding Force dispersing the power inch by inch. Duan Kun's claw felt as if it had grabbed cotton; no matter how he shifted his moves, he could not touch Chen Yuan's hand.

The next instant, Chen Yuan clenched Duan Kun's hand, pulled, yanked, twisted, and wrenched. Shattered-Jade Force suddenly erupted, and an incomparably fierce power crushed Duan Kun's hand into a twisted knot!

Duan Kun let out a miserable howl. He tried to pull back his hand, but Chen Yuan held him firmly.

The next instant, saber light flashed, and Duan Kun's head instantly fell to the ground.

At the moment his head hit the ground, Duan Kun seemed to glimpse Chen Yuan's face beneath the bamboo hat. His pupils instantly widened, as though he had died with his eyes open.

PS: Duan Kun was a character contributed by reader Mr. Yao.