The Heavenly Wolf Gang's Merit Transmission Hall stood in the rear courtyard of the hall compound, with a training ground stretching a thousand zhang for the gang members to cultivate.
All new members who joined the Heavenly Wolf Gang had to train there for half a year to a year before being assigned to different halls according to their strength and performance.
Chen Yuan had caught Jiang Kaitai's eye while training in the Merit Transmission Hall and had been taken in as his adopted son.
There were only a dozen or so people in the Merit Transmission Hall. Aside from Chen Yuan's trusted attendants, the rest were retired old members of the Heavenly Wolf Gang serving as instructors.
When they saw Chen Yuan return, the old instructors respectfully greeted him and addressed him as Hall Master.
On the path of martial arts, those who had attained more came first. Though Chen Yuan was young, his understanding of the Heavenly Wolf Gang's martial arts ran far deeper than theirs.
Moreover, Chen Yuan was generous and never begrudged sharing his insights and experience, earning the respect of these old instructors.
Chen Yuan no longer needed to personally teach these newcomers in daily life. He could leave that to the old instructors, while he, the Hall Master, remained quite leisurely.
After returning to his room, Chen Yuan took out a notebook filled with all manner of obscure words and symbols.
During the first few days after his transmigration, he had recorded every opportunity that had appeared in his memories of Linked Mountains City and even other places.
He did not dare guarantee that time would not blur those memories, so he immediately recorded them in a way he could understand.
After staring at the notebook in thought for a long while, Chen Yuan put it away, his mind racing.
What he needed to do now was not merely win Jiang Kaitai's trust. More importantly, he had to improve his strength.
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Without strength, no matter how much one schemed, it was all empty illusion.
In this jianghu, the strong had always been revered. Power was the foundation of everything.
Of the Nine Martial Realms, Chen Yuan was currently only in the first realm, the Body-Tempering Realm.
This realm simply involved honing the flesh and tempering one's physique and strength.
It could be said that ninety percent of martial artists in the jianghu who had never cultivated internal arts were in the Body-Tempering Realm.
The Meridian-Unblocking Realm above it required an internal cultivation method. Only by gathering inner force could one open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and use the power of the meridians to take one's strength another step further.
Chen Yuan did possess an internal cultivation method: the Azure Wood Method Jiang Kaitai had taught him.
Qin Yuancheng, Chu Ziping, and quite a few hall masters of the Heavenly Wolf Gang all cultivated this same internal art.
However, this internal art had practically no advantages. Its cultivation progress was excruciatingly slow, and its inner force grew at a turtle's pace. One could only endure the passage of time to gain the slightest increase.
If one insisted on naming an advantage, it was merely that it was balanced and gentle, with no risk of suffering qi deviation.
Jianghu II divided cultivation methods into four grades: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Each grade was further divided into upper, middle, and lower ranks.
This Azure Wood Method was a Yellow Tier lower-rank cultivation method, the very definition of trash among trash.
As for martial skills, Chen Yuan only knew the Heavenly Wolf Saber Art, a Yellow Tier middle-rank saber technique that everyone in the Heavenly Wolf Gang knew.
However, Chen Yuan had exceptional talent and had cultivated it to an extremely profound level, enough to instantly crush most Body-Tempering Realm martial artists of the same rank.
The Heavenly Wolf Gang did possess higher-level cultivation methods. Jiang Kaitai did not cultivate the Azure Wood Method, but a Yellow Tier upper-rank internal art called the Black Fiend Art.
Jiang Kaitai's famous ultimate move, the Northern Dipper Sky Wolf Slash, was an advancement of the Heavenly Wolf Saber Art and could rank as a Profound Tier lower-rank technique.
But Jiang Kaitai was cautious and suspicious by nature. He had never passed on either the Black Fiend Art or the Northern Dipper Sky Wolf Slash, keeping them tightly in his own hands.
If Chen Yuan wanted higher-level cultivation methods and martial skills, he could only find a way within Linked Mountains City.
As one of the beginner villages in Jianghu II, Linked Mountains City's martial prowess was not particularly high.
The strongest people in the city were Jiang Kaitai and Yuan Dongtian, the Blackwater Gang's leader. Both had reached the fourth martial realm, the Qi Forging Realm, and could project true qi beyond their bodies.
Yet just because Linked Mountains City was low-level did not mean it lacked good things.
Those treasures were simply hidden extremely deeply, left as Easter eggs waiting for players to uncover them.
And now, all those good things belonged to Chen Yuan.
After locking the notebook in a cabinet, Chen Yuan began cultivating in meditation with his eyes closed.
Though the Azure Wood Method's cultivation progress was painfully slow, Chen Yuan did not want to waste time when he had no replacement. Even the slightest improvement was better than none.
After all, time waited for no one. There were less than three months left before Jiang Kaitai performed a blood sacrifice for the divine artifact.
Early the next morning, after breakfast, Chen Yuan called for his trusted attendant Zhang Xiaoyi and had him prepare a carriage.
Zhang Xiaoyi was only eighteen this year. He was simple-minded and looked somewhat immature.
His parents had died early, forcing him to enter a gang to make a living.
Because of his young age, he had been bullied by other gang members while training in the Merit Transmission Hall. Once, he had nearly been beaten to death. Chen Yuan had saved him and made him his attendant.
From that day onward, Zhang Xiaoyi had been utterly loyal to Chen Yuan. His strength was ordinary, but he was steady and reliable in his work.
Thus, after transmigrating, Chen Yuan had continued keeping him by his side.
"Young Master, where are we going?"
"Black-Clothes Alley."
Zhang Xiaoyi drove the carriage all the way to Black-Clothes Alley. Just as they reached the corner at the entrance, Chen Yuan suddenly said, "Stop here and wait for me."
Chen Yuan stepped down from the carriage, walked over to the beggar he had given money to yesterday, and handed him another small piece of silver.
This time, however, Chen Yuan did not leave. He stood before the beggar as though waiting for a response.
This ragged, filthy beggar sprawled before him was one of Linked Mountains City's opportunities.
The beggar had once been Duan Mubai, heir to Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy, the foremost martial arts academy in Linked Mountains City.
He had been handsome and dashing, a graceful young gentleman of the wind and moon, and several years ago he had been something of a well-known figure in Linked Mountains City.
Back when Duan Mubai's father, Duan Zhenshan, was still alive, Duan Mubai had been a frivolous young master. He had not devoted much attention to martial cultivation and had barely involved himself in the academy's affairs.
Once, Duan Zhenshan had gone out to repay a favor. He had been perfectly fine when he left, but returned as a corpse.
When the academy master died unexpectedly, Duan Mubai had no choice but to take over Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy, becoming its master in haste.
Yet Lin Jingqi, Duan Zhenshan's eldest disciple, openly challenged Duan Mubai, claiming he was unqualified to become academy master. He could not even properly wield Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy's secret Great Coiling Silk Hand, so what right did he have to become academy master?
Lin Jingqi contacted some of the disciples to stir up trouble, forcing Duan Mubai into accepting a challenge. They even signed a life-and-death contract: if Duan Mubai lost, Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy would be handed over to Lin Jingqi.
Duan Mubai had once been a frivolous young master, but his talent in martial arts was excellent.
Even though he had not been diligent in cultivation, he still possessed late-stage Body-Tempering Realm strength.
Furthermore, thanks to his father's secret teachings, his strength surpassed Lin Jingqi's by a sliver.
But Lin Jingqi had long been having an affair with Duan Mubai's junior sister, who was also Duan Mubai's childhood sweetheart and fiancée. Lin Jingqi had instructed her to give Duan Mubai a light dose of Bone-Softening Powder the day before the match.
Then, during the match, Lin Jingqi not only defeated Duan Mubai, but viciously used the Duan Clan's inherited Great Coiling Silk Hand to crush the bones in his hands and feet, turning him into a cripple.
Yet to display his magnanimity, Lin Jingqi did not kill Duan Mubai. He merely drove him out of Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy, leaving him a beggar crippled in all four limbs.
In the original plot, a player had taken pity on Duan Mubai. He could not even compete with the other beggars for alms, so the player gave him one copper coin every day.
Some players were simply like that. They would do strange, inexplicable things in games that had nothing to do with the main storyline.
On the tenth day, Duan Mubai, who had remained unresponsive all along, would teach the player Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy's true ultimate art, the Coiling Silk Shattered Jade Hand, as thanks.
Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy's Great Coiling Silk Hand was merely an ordinary grappling art, only at the Yellow Tier lower-rank level.
But the Coiling Silk Shattered Jade Hand was a Profound Tier upper-rank martial skill. One aspect was hard and the other soft; by cultivating both Silk-Winding Force and Shattered-Jade Force, hardness and softness merged as one, producing boundless might.
Afterward, Duan Mubai would ask the player to help him kill Lin Jingqi and avenge him once the player had mastered the skill. After killing Lin Jingqi, the player would gain an achievement.
In a small city like Linked Mountains City, the Profound Tier upper-rank Coiling Silk Shattered Jade Hand was absolutely a remarkably rare top-tier martial skill, enough to give someone an overwhelming advantage during the beginner stage.
Chen Yuan stood before Duan Mubai for quite some time, only to find him still lying there without the slightest movement.
What was this supposed to mean?
Back then, someone gave him one copper coin every day, and he had eagerly handed over the Coiling Silk Shattered Jade Hand on his own initiative.
I give you a piece of silver every day, and now you're playing dead with me?
Chen Yuan waited a moment longer. Seeing that the other party still did not react, he could only cough and say in a deep voice, "Duan Mubai, are you truly willing to spend the rest of your life as a beggar, watching helplessly as the foundation your father built with his blood and sweat is seized and occupied by another?"
This time, Duan Mubai finally moved.
He laboriously raised his head to look at Chen Yuan and said in a hoarse voice, "What else can I do? I'm a cripple. What can I use to take revenge? What can I use to reclaim Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy?"
"Your Duan Clan's heritage, of course!"
Chen Yuan crouched before Duan Mubai and said quietly, "Teach me your Duan Clan's Coiling Silk Shattered Jade Hand. I'll help you kill Lin Jingqi and reclaim Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy!"
A glint burst forth in Duan Mubai's eyes as he stared fixedly at Chen Yuan, seemingly wondering why Chen Yuan knew of the Coiling Silk Shattered Jade Hand.
His father, Duan Zhenshan, had never taught this ultimate skill to any other disciple, nor had he ever used it in public.
Although Duan Mubai had learned it, he had not mastered it well enough to use it in its entirety, so he had likewise never revealed it.
After drawing a deep breath, Duan Mubai asked, "You are Chen Yuan, Hall Master of the Merit Transmission Hall and one of the Heavenly Wolf Gang's Three Heroes?"
Chen Yuan nodded.
It was not strange that Duan Mubai knew him.
Chen Yuan had previously kept a low profile, but recently, in order to earn Jiang Kaitai's favor, he had made several moves.
Especially after publicly killing Hu Laosan in Worry-Free Tower, Chen Yuan's name had spread throughout Linked Mountains City.
Though Duan Mubai was now a beggar, beggars also discussed jianghu gossip among themselves.
"Fine! As long as you bring me Lin Jingqi's head, I'll give you the Coiling Silk Shattered Jade Hand!"
Duan Mubai's eyes were bloodshot. Merely mentioning Lin Jingqi's name made it seem as though he wanted to grind his teeth to pieces.
"You won't give me the Coiling Silk Shattered Jade Hand first? You want me to bring you his head before you give me the martial skill?"
Chen Yuan immediately felt somewhat frustrated.
Back then, that player gave you one copper coin a day, and you eagerly handed over the martial skill yourself, begging them to avenge you.
I give you a piece of silver every day and proactively offer to avenge you, yet you still don't trust me. You insist on seeing the head before giving me the martial skill. Isn't that far too much of a double standard?
Duan Mubai said directly, "You are a gang member. I don't trust you. If you take the martial skill and refuse to avenge me, there is nothing I can do to you.
"Of course, you can capture me now and torture the martial skill out of me. But I believe that in the end, I will certainly take my Duan Clan's inherited secret art with me to the Netherworld."
Chen Yuan was speechless for a moment, then could only say, "Deal. One hand delivers the head, the other delivers the martial skill."
Torturing Duan Mubai was unrealistic.
His body was severely depleted. He might die from the slightest touch.
Duan Mubai's matter had taught Chen Yuan a lesson.
This was not truly a game, where every character would operate according to a fixed script.
In the original plot, the one giving Duan Mubai money had merely been an ordinary player, outwardly a poor, lowly person of the jianghu.
Charity and assistance from someone of the same lowly background would clearly move a person more deeply.
It was like how a billionaire donating several hundred million might seem entirely ordinary, while an elderly scavenger donating a few hundred would move people to tears.
Moreover, Chen Yuan's identity as a gang member truly made him difficult to trust.
The two gangs controlling Linked Mountains City were neither of them good things. Their reputations were terrible; exploiting merchants and commoners and throwing their weight around were everyday occurrences.
There was another reason as well: the timing was different.
The original plot took place later than now. By then, Duan Mubai was likely already at the end of his oil, his lamp about to run dry.
Thus, before dying, he chose to gamble once. He chose someone he believed he could trust and entrust with the martial skill and his revenge.
Duan Mubai still had some time now. His wariness and caution toward Chen Yuan, who had come forward of his own accord, were only natural.
Chen Yuan rose and instructed Zhang Xiaoyi, "Find several gang members to keep an eye on him. Buy him something to eat and make sure nothing happens to him.
"Then go to the Merit Transmission Hall and gather a dozen or so gang members whose cultivation progress is among the best. Come with me to Zhenshan Martial Arts Academy."
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