The host had obtained the Thirty-Six Style Wind Chasing Swordplay.
Wen Qingkong felt Xie Qianyu's entire Martial Arts Grandmaster cultivation from the cold couch flow into his body, as though he himself had practiced swordsmanship diligently since childhood.
Wen Qingkong could not help but let out a slow breath.
He had originally been wondering where to find the corpse of a Martial Arts Grandmaster to stitch, yet today, a true swordsmanship genius had arrived and helped him break through smoothly into the Martial Arts Grandmaster realm.
The forms and movements of the Fifty Hand Great Zhou Heaven Swordplay still lingered in his mind.
Shen Luo had killed his own son-in-law, not knowing that Xie Qianyu possessed an eidetic memory.
When he had studied the Fifty Hand Great Zhou Heaven Swordplay, he had already memorized the entire supreme art.
Even Wen Qingkong did not know whether Xie Qianyu had truly forgotten to tell his wife, Shen Jiaoniang, about this matter, or whether he had also been wary of his wife and father-in-law.
The martial world was treacherous by nature. There was no such thing as trust.
This father-in-law and son-in-law pair were proof enough.
Wen Qingkong dressed Xie Qianyu in the clothes left behind by the elderly steward.
That old man was Xie Meng, the Xie Family's steward, and someone who had watched Xie Qianyu grow up.
Once Xie Qianyu's corpse had been dressed, it truly looked lifelike, its former bearing undiminished.
"Be an ordinary person in your next life. Perhaps then you can live happily."
Wen Qingkong sighed, then laughed at himself.
If one were truly ordinary in a world where martial artists existed, one would likely be nothing more than an ant, trampled and bullied by all.
Now that he had entered the Martial Arts Grandmaster realm, half of Wen Qingkong's pressing problem had been resolved.
He called it half because a Martial Arts Grandmaster truly amounted to little within the White Lotus Sect.
However, according to Xie Qianyu's life review, Ji Xiuzhu, the swordsmanship expert who had shaken Yujing City a century ago, had been a powerhouse beyond the Martial Arts Great Grandmaster realm. The White Lotus Sect could not possibly be uninterested in the swordsmanship such a person had left behind.
Shen Luo was a Martial Arts Grandmaster. Though the Shen Family could not compare to a rebel organization like the White Lotus Sect, within the capital, it was a force on par with the Three Rivers Gang and Wuding Gang. None of them were weak.
If the White Lotus Sect wanted to move against the Shen Family, then aside from the Holy Maiden, they would likely need to dispatch another three to five Martial Arts Grandmasters, or even a Martial Arts Great Grandmaster.
That would definitely draw the imperial court's attention.
When that happened, the White Lotus Sect would certainly pay a price.
Having considered this, Wen Qingkong had already made his decision.
He rested and slept on the first floor, waiting for dawn the next day.
The next day, at the hour of the dragon, someone knocked on the door.
When Wen Qingkong opened it, he found Xie Meng, the Xie Family steward, along with Xie Qianyu's father, Xie Hai.
Wen Qingkong stepped aside.
Xie Hai walked to the cold couch. Seeing his son as he had been in life, grief welled up in his heart.
This son had been obedient and sensible from childhood. Whatever he had been told to do, he had always done his utmost to accomplish it.
At sixteen, he had traveled alone to Songzhou thousands of miles away without incident. Who could have expected that he would die here in Yujing City?
He had been a genius who entered the Martial Arts Grandmaster realm at only twenty-four!
Xie Hai, a white-haired man sending off his black-haired son—the future hope of the Xie Family at that—was overwhelmed by grief and fury.
Steward Xie Meng hurried forward to console and support him.
After a long while, Xie Meng beckoned for the Xie Family servants to carry in the coffin and place Xie Qianyu inside. Only then did Xie Hai barely suppress his sorrow and direct the others to carry his son away.
He walked up to Wen Qingkong and cupped his hands in thanks. "Master Wen, your craftsmanship is extraordinary. The old madam of the Dongan Escort Agency truly did not deceive me. I have no way to repay you, so I can only give you more worldly compensation."
As he spoke, he pulled out a stack of banknotes and stuffed it into Wen Qingkong's hand.
Wen Qingkong's heart stirred. If it was this kind of worldly compensation, then the more, the better.
After seeing Xie Hai off, he shut the door.
Wen Qingkong counted them. There were a full fifty banknotes worth one hundred taels each.
He had earned five thousand taels from this job!
Money from the dead really was easy to earn.
After counting the banknotes, he handed them to Li Lan'er, who had come down from the second floor.
Li Lan'er was so dizzy that she could barely stand steadily.
In all her life, she had never seen so much money.
Did Corpse Seamstresses really earn this much?
"Where are you going?"
Li Lan'er watched Wen Qingkong prepare to leave and asked curiously. Breakfast had not even been made yet.
"You and little Shuang'er eat first. I have something to do, and I don't know when I'll be back."
Then Wen Qingkong rubbed little Shuang'er's head.
"While Uncle is away, little Shuang'er needs to practice her punches obediently too."
"Got it, Uncle."
"Little Shuang'er will practice her punches obediently."
Little Shuang'er's crisp voice was especially pleasant to hear.
Wen Qingkong left Corpse Seamstress House Number Nine and headed straight for the Listening Wind Tea House in the eastern part of the city.
When Wen Qingkong arrived at the Listening Wind Tea House, he carefully looked it over.
The tea house was elegantly decorated, its pastries exquisite, and there were few rough-clothed men inside. Most of those drinking tea came from moderately well-off households.
After casually asking around, he learned that the Listening Wind Tea House had been doing business here for ten years.
Clearly, the White Lotus Sect had been operating in Yujing City for quite some time. The Holy Maiden's words had been neither entirely true nor entirely false. Her insistence on drawing him into the White Lotus Sect was likely not simply to gain another foothold.
Wen Qingkong entered the tea house and approached the counter.
The shopkeeper was short and thin, with the particular sharpness of a businessman.
"Young man, what can I do for you?"
"I owe Mu Yinyao three taels and three fen of silver."
"Oh?"
"Young man, come with me."
The shopkeeper started walking, leading the way.
Wen Qingkong's sharp gaze swept over the shopkeeper's hands.
Though the shopkeeper was thin, his knuckles were broad and callused. Those hands were surely not ordinary.
Upon reaching the second floor, the shopkeeper led him directly to the innermost room.
After closing the door, the shopkeeper narrowed his eyes slightly. The merchant's air of copper stench and harshness vanished, replaced by sharp dominance.
"You are the little Corpse Seamstress newly recruited by the Holy Maiden, aren't you?"
"Tell me. What is it?"
The shopkeeper sat down on his own, picked up a cup of tea, and looked down at him from above.
Wen Qingkong feigned caution. "Senior, I just received some news. I heard that Ji Xiuzhu of Qingyang Mountain's Fifty Hand Great Zhou Heaven Swordplay has fallen into Shen Luo's hands."
The shopkeeper set down his teacup, his brows tightly furrowed. He stared at Wen Qingkong with suspicion. "Where did you get this news?"
"Last night, I stitched the corpse of Xie Qianyu from the Xie Family. Today, Xie Hai, the Xie Family head, came to take Xie Qianyu's body away."
"In his grief and fury, he said he would definitely seek revenge against that old dog Shen!"
"He also said he would definitely reclaim the Fifty Hand Great Zhou Heaven Swordplay!"
"I heard that during the battle at Qingyang Mountain, Xie Qianyu killed more than a hundred heroes, before being besieged to death himself."
"Shen Luo personally brought Xie Qianyu's corpse back, and he was injured as well."
"But strangely, Ji Xiuzhu's Fifty Hand Great Zhou Heaven Swordplay was nowhere to be found."
"No matter how one thinks about it, something is wrong."
"Connecting that with what Xie Hai said today, I believe Xie Qianyu had originally obtained the Fifty Hand Great Zhou Heaven Swordplay, but Shen Luo ambushed him. Shen Luo must have taken the swordplay long ago!"
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