Chapter 59: Identity III

With his internal force breakthrough and sword speed significantly increased, Lin Hui didn’t waste time. Since he had come all this way, he simply hunted two more Tree Scorpions. This time, he didn’t kill them completely but just severed their tails to take back.

Firstly, because the scorpion tail had a weakness that made it easier to cut off; secondly, killing them completely would damage the Clear River sword too much.

Although he wasn’t short of money now with his father’s support and the booming elderly health class, this Clear River sword had been with him for a long time, and he had feelings for it.

It had witnessed his growth step by step from his weakest moment.

Near evening, he dragged the scorpion tails and piled them together. He rented a small temporary hut in Shiqiao Town, hung a jade talisman to isolate the mist, and waited for the next day.

At night, gray mist filled the air outside the hut, and whispers resembling human voices could be heard from time to time.

Lin Hui sat cross-legged on the bed, watching the slightly swaying jade talisman, involuntarily recalling the conversation he had with his teacher in the Inner City.

‘This jade talisman… can actually be remotely controlled to turn on and off… What exactly do the people in the Inner City regard the Outer City as…‘

It was fine when he didn’t know, but now that he knew the truth, every time his gaze fell on the jade talisman, he couldn’t help but stare at it, fearing it would suddenly fail the next moment.

After an unknown amount of time, when drowsiness became impossible to suppress, he slowly narrowed his eyes and entered a light sleep.

Alone outside with three scorpion tails dragged over beside him, he didn’t dare sleep deeply at all, just sitting there until dawn.

After daybreak, the medicine merchant he had negotiated with previously would come to transport them.

While he was resting peacefully.

Just as the sky began to brighten, in the Shiqiao Town Mist Zone, a temporarily assembled three-person hunting team, fully equipped, carefully entered the area where the Tree Scorpions resided.

All three wore lightweight brown and black leather armor and carried large waist bags and backpacks. The person in the middle held a Tranquility Incense, wisps of aroma drifting up to support a spherical cavity around them.

As they went deeper, the three familiarly passed the warning sign and entered the Tree Scorpion activity range.

However, usually there were many Tree Scorpions in this area, but this time they walked for quite a while before encountering one.

All three were in the Internal Force Realm. One defended, one distracted and diverted attention, and the last one attacked the weak point by repeatedly smashing the thinnest connection point of the Tree Scorpion’s tail.

After a full ten minutes, a Tree Scorpion finally crashed to the ground.

“This scorpion shell is relatively complete and can be sold for a good price. The tail is also good, not too damaged. The whole thing should fetch over three hundred thousand, right?” the flat-headed sturdy man leading the team said wearily.

He was responsible for defense. Facing a massive monster like the Tree Scorpion, even with his innate divine strength and internal force, he couldn’t take two hits in a row. He needed cooperation to distract it and give him a breather.

“Should be possible. One more, and we can go back and rest for a while.” The distracter was a woman with long red hair, a beautiful face, and a thin scar on her forehead.

“But have you noticed? Recently, other colleagues should be hunting Tree Scorpions too. Apart from the Hundred Flowers Gate nearby who can tackle tough targets, there don’t seem to be any other experts who can break the Tree Scorpion’s shell, right?” The last person squatted down suspiciously, checking the ground, and found deep traces remaining that weren’t left by them.

“Tree Scorpions are basically the most valuable Mist Zone monsters outside the ruins. Although they are a bit hard to kill, going higher means group monsters, which are more troublesome. It’s normal for other expert teams to hunt here.” The flat-headed sturdy man dismissed it.

“No… this hunting team… likely consists of only one person…” the last person said in a deep voice.

“One person?!” The sturdy man and the red-haired woman both changed their expressions slightly. “Could it be Yu Ying?” Yu Ying from the Inner City had been investigating the disappearance of the exploration team everywhere recently. They knew about this.

With the Tree Scorpion’s defense, apart from Summoners, who could confront it head-on?

“The style isn’t right… Actually, I found traces last time too, but I was only suspicious then, not certain. But this time, I can be sure. This person didn’t grind the Tree Scorpion to death head-on, but ended the battle in a very short time,” the last person said softly.

The sturdy man and the red-haired woman looked at each other.

“Hunting a Tree Scorpion alone? With this strength, isn’t he approaching a High-tier Summoner? Even the top assault experts of the Hundred Flowers Gate need two people working together to achieve this, right?”

“Regardless, if we encounter him, we must be careful.” The last person nodded. “After all, there is at least some order within the urban district, but in this Mist Zone, killing over a disagreement is common.”

The other two nodded, their moods becoming heavy.

If that lone ranger hunter continued to hunt here regularly, they might be forced to choose another location.

An expert capable of solo speed-killing Tree Scorpions was not someone they could contend with. For experts, numbers and grouping were often useless.

---

Two days later, Clear Wind Taoist Temple.

Lin Hui walked slowly on the training ground, checking the mastery of the Seven-Section Quick Sword among the group of elderly students.

Confirming there were no major issues with the slow-motion version, he walked to another separate training area on the side, where Xiaohu and Vivi were practicing swordplay.

Lin Hui observed Xiaohu’s state carefully, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

“Xiaohu, you’re at the Third Rank of Body Tempering?”

“Yes, Master. I was lucky enough to break through yesterday,” Xiaohu answered seriously, sheathing his sword and standing still.

“Good, very good.” Lin Hui nodded approvingly. “It seems my perfected Seven-Section Quick Sword indeed has better Body Tempering effects than before.”

“I’m at the Eighth Rank too. Indeed, the Body Tempering speed of the Perfected Version is much faster than before.” Vivi walked over from the side, wiping sweat from her forehead.

She had originally been too lazy to practice, but because she had to teach, she learned the Perfected Seven-Section Quick Sword along with them. Unexpectedly, the effect was surprisingly good, so she kept practicing.

She had actually never reached the limit of Body Tempering, let alone the secondary Body Tempering of the Clear Wind Sword Style.

Because her dad, an Internal Force expert, protected her before, everything was fine. But now that her dad had run away, the only one she could rely on was herself. She couldn’t rely on Lin Hui without any relation, right?

She was the Senior Sister; she couldn’t lose face like that.

“Very good. Since the effect is good, we can consider recruiting a few talented disciples later to expand the Sword Sect organization. Relying just on us few, we often can’t handle things,” Lin Hui said in a low voice.

“Ah Hui, are you saying we should return to the Martial Alliance?” Vivi was stunned, frowning. “With our current strength, isn’t going back now too…”

“No need to go back.” Lin Hui shook his head. “Since we have left the martial arts hall circle, there is no need to compete with others again. It’s simply to find some manpower to expand the Sword Sect’s organizational capacity. If the aptitude is good, tuition can be waived entirely; this can expand the selection range.”

“If tuition is waived, quite a few people will come.” Vivi nodded in agreement. “Come to think of it, lately this place has almost become a senior activity center. These grandpas and grandmas call their friends, chartering a bus to bring a whole group. During breaks, they play cards, chess, and nap in the open space of the front courtyard… Do you think we should control it?”

“Handle that aspect as you see fit. Who is in charge of the medicinal field in the back now?” Lin Hui asked.

“No one is tending to it; no one knows how. It’s been abandoned for a while,” Vivi replied.

“Then hire herbalists to help. We should learn a bit ourselves too; don’t wait until people leave to realize we know nothing…” Lin Hui said in a deep voice.

“Understood.”

“Also, hire some helpers and cooking aunties. With more people, we can’t do all the miscellaneous chores ourselves.”

“But this will increase the scale and might attract attention,” Vivi frowned.

“As long as we don’t enter the martial arts hall circle, it’s fine. Surely they won’t try to snatch even this elderly class market, right?” Lin Hui replied.

---

Black Dragon Gate.

In front of the three-story pavilion with a square roof, on the wide open ground, hundreds of disciples stood densely packed, divided into three formations practicing claw techniques.

Song Zhanlong, as the Sect Master, sat motionless at the top center, slowly drinking a cup of tea.

Beside him stood the three strongest disciples of the current Black Dragon Gate.

Eldest Senior Brother Wang Hongshi, Second Senior Brother Chen Yuan, and Third Senior Sister Mu Qiaozhi.

Originally, Zhao Jiangan, the second disciple of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple, had also joined Song Zhanlong, but due to handling business for a long time, his progress in the Black Dragon Claw was gradually surpassed by Mu Qiaozhi over time.

Now Mu Qiaozhi had replaced Zhao Jiangan to become the true third disciple of the Black Dragon Gate.

“Speaking of which, the current Clear Wind Taoist Temple seems to be developing quite well?” Song Zhanlong said softly. “Does anyone know the situation over there?”

The three were silent for a moment before the second disciple, Chen Yuan, answered.

“Junior Sister Mu and Junior Brother Zhao came from there. They should know the situation better, right?”

Mu Qiaozhi’s expression changed slightly. Since coming to the Black Dragon Gate, Song Zhanlong’s temper was much harder to deal with than Daoist Baohe’s. The slightest displeasure would result in a slap. Plus, his Hard Body skills were powerful, ranking among the top experts in the Internal Force Realm. When angry, a casual palm strike could leave disciples at the limit of Body Tempering like them recovering for a long time.

This Sect Master came from Xingdao and had far less fear of local Summoner families than Baohe, who had been rooted here for years. If things went south, he could run away at any time.

This also caused all the disciples in the sect to fear him somewhat.

Hearing the topic shift to herself, Mu Qiaozhi lowered her head slightly and spoke.

“The three Ming generation experts of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple have all left. Only a few former front courtyard disciples remain. They opened a so-called health class and don’t teach martial arts anymore, just teaching the elderly how to preserve health and exercise.”

“So they are still practicing? The noise has reached me here; it seems business is good.” Song Zhanlong tapped the metal claws on his hand lightly against the armrest, making crisp sounds.

“Perhaps, but they are all old men. The Clear Wind Taoist Temple can never rise again,” Mu Qiaozhi replied.

“They are all from the Clear Wind Taoist Temple. If they can teach, can’t you teach just the same?” Song Zhanlong obviously didn’t want to let go of even this profit. “Number Three, go kick the Clear Wind Taoist Temple again. Close them down, drive the people away, and take that piece of land. Although the location is a bit remote, it will be good as a branch for our Black Dragon Gate in the future.”

Mu Qiaozhi’s expression changed slightly, but she dared not refuse. She cupped her fists and said,

“Yes.”

“Go. The New Martial Alliance ranking is about to be held. This ranking determines the future resource and position allocation for major martial arts halls, and potentially even connecting with the Three Sects and Six Gangs of the Inner City. As your master, I need to prepare well. You must also work hard; we need to get good rankings in both the Sect Master Battle and the Disciple Battle,” Song Zhanlong said in a deep voice.

“Yes!”

The three responded together.

Like the previous Martial Alliance, the New Martial Alliance followed the model of internal ranking battles and cooperation with the Inner City.

Top-ranking martial arts schools could obtain many invisible privileges. Privileges brought influence, industries, resources, and profits.

It could be said that as long as the ranking was high enough, the gains would be plentiful. Money, power, cultivation resources—all these required channels. Especially some special drugs usable only in the Internal Force Realm, which could only be manufactured in the Inner City. Without channels and quotas, even money couldn’t buy them.

This would also lead to the strong getting stronger in the Martial Alliance rankings. So for this first Grand Competition Ranking of the New Martial Alliance, Song Zhanlong was determined to push forward with all his might.

After dismissal, Mu Qiaozhi left quickly to return to her room and prepare her weapons and equipment.

(End of Chapter)