Chapter 99: The Ninth Day of the Ninth Month

Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, they suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure sitting on the wall out of the corner of their eyes.

That was the Long Family's Third Master!

Long Ye's reputation was even more terrifying than the Human Butcher Long An! Because Long An was brought up by Long Ye himself! Especially since Long Ye hadn't kept a low profile over the years, but had instead taken action many times.

Compared to Long An, everyone knew Long Ye was even more ruthless! It was truly 'grinding bones and scattering ashes'; even the egg yolk would be shaken loose!

"Third Senior Brother, don't scare people."

Qin Jiang's figure suddenly appeared behind the two, his hands resting on their shoulders. "Go, feel free to walk boldly; no one will stop you."

After speaking, he leaped up and sat beside Long Ye, picking up a wine jar and drinking heartily.

Long Ye's eyes widened. "This wine of mine isn't cheap; leave some for me!"

Qin Jiang smiled slightly, took out the three hundred-tael silver notes Li Miaoyan had given him from his bosom, and stuffed them into Long Ye's hand. "Consider it my treat."

Long Ye looked at the three hundred taels of silver in his hand, his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

Good kid, this is from the hundred thousand taels I gave you, right? Thinking of this, he felt uncomfortable all over, wishing he could give himself a few slaps! His gaze fell on the pimp siblings who hadn't left yet, and he said irritably: "Still not leaving? Do you want to drink my wine too!"

The pimp siblings shuddered and walked away quickly.

Along the way, sure enough, no one stopped them; there were even a few who guided them—no way around it, the Long Mansion was really big.

Out of the Long Mansion, a breeze blew on the street, giving the two a feeling of surviving a disaster.

"Sister, what exactly is that lord's identity? To have such strong authority in the Long family," Li Xunan asked.

Li Miaoyan curled her lips. "Didn't you hear that lord call Third Master Long 'Third Senior Brother'? I guess the apprenticeship ceremony held by the Long family some time ago was held for him."

Li Xunan suddenly realized. "No wonder, it's actually that person!"

"Hey! You two over there! Why haven't you left yet! Do you want to go back to the dungeon for a tour!" the guard captain at the Long Mansion gate shouted.

The pimp siblings shuddered and didn't dare to say anything more, walking away quickly.

When no one noticed, a black fire mark flashed and disappeared on the back of their necks near their ears.

Inside the Long Mansion, on the courtyard wall, Long Ye looked at the pimp siblings leaving. "Is it useful? I feel it's not very reliable."

Qin Jiang smiled. "Of course, wait and see; maybe there will be some unexpected gains."

That black fire mark was a tracker he left on the two. He used Long Ye as a reference; as long as the source power level exceeded Long Ye's, it would automatically emit the unique fluctuations of black fire.

At that time, he could find at least one Gold Mask belonging to the Golden Jade Pavilion.

Maybe it could even be a Jade Mask; then he could just happen to exchange a few blows and test the strength of a high-level Secret Martial Artist.

"Suit yourself, but your strength... I heard from Long An that you took down that Jin Qi in just one breath?"

Long Ye was somewhat afraid—or rather, unwilling—to believe it.

Even for him, it would take at least the time of a cup of tea to take down that Jin Qi, yet Qin Jiang was faster than him.

He naturally knew Qin Jiang would surpass him, but he didn't expect this day to come so soon.

"Correct. Does Third Senior Brother want to test my strength?" Qin Jiang asked with a smile.

Long Ye shook his head. "No need. You have already proven your strength with facts; why should I do something superfluous?"

After speaking, he pondered for a moment. "How many layers have you practiced the Green Fire Copper Furnace Art to now?"

"It's already reached Great Completion," Qin Jiang said casually.

Long Ye froze in place. Although he had guessed this possibility, he still couldn't believe it. He would rather believe that Qin Jiang had only practiced to the second or third layer and was just very strong in combat power, able to cross realms to suppress a Fifth-Rank Secret Martial Artist, than believe that Qin Jiang had not only surpassed him in strength but also in realm.

He nodded with a smile. "Good, really good. It seems the year-end tournament is a sure thing."

For an existence that could suppress Secret Martial Artists during the True Martial Artist period, he didn't think the other party would only have this much strength after the Secret Martial Arts reached Great Completion.

I'm afraid it wouldn't take many moves to deal with me.

Standing up, he patted the dust off his body. "You drink; I'm going back."

A few days later, the ninth day of the ninth month, Copper Bell Sect.

At this time, the mountainside of the main peak was already full of people; the outer circle was all inner sect disciples and some geniuses among the outer sect disciples, while the inner circle was the sect's protectors and many true transmission disciples.

Qin Jiang sat in the inner circle, with Long Ye beside him.

He looked toward the position near the top of the mountain; the ones presiding over this true transmission disciple ranking tournament were two elders, exactly Liu Xiangyi and Su Yun from that day.

"Fourth, just fight casually this time; don't expose your full strength for now. It will only be stable after you get the spot at the end of the year and practice the Golden Light Subduing Demon Fist," Long Ye said.

For Qin Jiang, this ranking tournament was actually about the same as playing house.

If it weren't for the fact that the reward for first place this time was a bottle of Golden Light Spirit Liquid, which was diluted from Golden Light Source Power, he would even feel it would be better not to participate directly.

Ning'an, or rather the entire Yuan Prefecture, was far from as calm as it looked today.

As a place bordering the Huai Kingdom, people everywhere in Yuan Prefecture were panicked, fearing that one day the Huai Kingdom army would attack.

Therefore, many forces had the idea of defecting to the Huai Kingdom, and even in Ning'an City, there were such guys, but they were hidden too deep and could never be found.

So, if Qin Jiang exposed too strong a talent, he might be assassinated!

In this Ning'an City, although Qin Jiang's current strength could rank in the top twenty, it was still a bit worse than high-level Secret Martial Artists above the Seventh Rank.

If some family head was shameless and personally took action to deal with Qin Jiang, the Long family might not be able to protect Qin Jiang under a high-level Secret Martial Artist.

After all, it's easy to catch a thief but hard to guard against one.

Qin Jiang smiled. He didn't care whether he used his full strength or not; what if he exposed his strength? However, he looked at the many true transmission disciples; there were about thirty of them.

Most were still below the Second Rank, a few reached the Third Rank, and only four reached the Fourth Rank.

With such a lineup, it was really hard for him to raise the desire to fight.

Even if they were tied together, they couldn't block a punch from him in his prime state.

"I know. I will suppress my strength to the fourth layer, third layer, second layer... hiss~"

He suddenly discovered that even when he had just broken through, he was much stronger than the one with the strongest aura inside.

Long Ye beside him had an 'as expected' expression; he was already used to it and said helplessly, "Just suppress your strength to an ordinary Fourth Rank, and then use some more profound techniques to defeat that Liu Chenyi."

Speaking of this, he thought for a moment. "Liu Chenyi has a source artifact divine sword in his hand; you can pretend to be wary of the sharpness of the source artifact, and then explode with a move at the critical moment. Wouldn't that be a very reasonable way to win?"

Hearing this, Qin Jiang couldn't help but laugh. "Third Senior Brother is really quick-witted."

Long Ye waved his hand. "Overpraised, overpraised. If you think my suggestion is okay, when you have time tomorrow, I'll treat you to play at the Chaofeng Tower."

"Of course, I'll treat, but the money will definitely be paid by you."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 100 =====