Chapter 248: and ===GLOSSARY===

"You really want to exchange this? I advise you to think it over again." Old Wang glanced at the entry that Bai Lang pointed to in the catalog, blinked a few times, presumably recalling, then said kindly. Bai Lang flipped through the catalog, found the page marked by the catalog identifier, and began to carefully read the introduction of this martial art.

"I think it's indeed good, I'll take this—plus it's cheap. Forget it, we're not close anyway, so I won't ask you to lend me money, haha. How about this: later you find a few easy tasks for me, then advance some bounty to me— isn't that killing two birds with one stone?" Bai Lang said proudly.

"You'd better behave yourself." Old Wang said, laughing and crying, "Forget it, Innate Experts have privileges, I agree to you." He also knew that Bai Lang's kind keeps his word, and befriending experts is always good. So he also took out a jade pendant and made a mark on the catalog of this martial art.

"Butterfly Swallow Double Flight, one wing double kill... Don't be fooled by the nice name, it's actually not very effective." Old Wang also said earnestly. "Oh, I know. But while you say that, your marking motion is so fast it doesn't seem to match." Bai Lang said offhand.

"As for my martial arts, this kind of martial art is just for reference—this is the method for using double-handed weapons, right?" Bai Lang said, "And ultimately, the exchange price... actually isn't much, is it?" His face showed a peculiar smile, "We're just joking, life is like that."

Then Bai Lang flipped to the materials at the back, "I say, Old Wang, is there any metal that, fist-sized, can weigh a thousand catties? Even a few hundred catties would do." He rustled through the metal materials catalog.

"Huh, a fist-sized piece weighing a thousand catties? There are some, and not few. But I don't think you or I, martial artists at the Innate level, could get hold of such material—these materials are almost always used to forge divine weapons, and not the kind of divine weapons that mere Innate Experts would use." Old Wang shook his head, "Such treasures are priceless; even if one had them, they probably couldn't be exchanged for merit."

He thought for a moment, "At least relying on missions won't work—I mean the missions posted publicly."

Bai Lang flipped through the catalog silently, "Is there any heavy material that's not used for forging divine weapons and is relatively useless?" Without waiting for Old Wang's answer, he said, "Ah-ha, found it."

"Black Gold Stone... this stuff is heavy enough that a fist-sized piece can weigh five or six hundred catties. But it's not of much use; it only slightly makes forged weapons easier to sharpen and keep sharp, and only in tiny amounts. Too much makes the weapon's energy flow unsmooth and also prevents further increasing its sharpness." Bai Lang read the explanation above and actively summarized it.

"In other words, this thing is like a rib of little use—its effects can be matched by many other materials, but adding it makes the weapon considerably heavier, too heavy for low-level martial artists, and yet not very useful for experts above the Innate level—because Internal Force flowing over the weapon is not very smooth, so it's mostly used to grind handcuffs and shackles..." Bai Lang looked at the description of this item; it is indeed mainly used as a torture device, but the problem is it's not heat-resistant—just a spark that can ignite firewood can melt these shackles.

The weight of this stuff still doesn't quite satisfy Bai Lang's needs, but making it a bit larger should be barely usable.

Finally, it was time to look for materials. After Old Wang took out a stack of bounties, he also left—he's busy too, being able to accompany Bai Lang for this while is already good. He left a low-ranking guard who delivered the jade slip manual to follow Bai Lang's orders. And that guard, following Bai Lang's instructions, brought the latest information from Donghai Listening Tide Pavilion, Huanhua Sword Sect, the Murong family, and the Medicine King Valley.

Bai Lang flipped through these materials, "Hmm... Ma Rulong isn't dead, Murong Ronghua is also alive. Miss Murong's status is unknown, Miss Qin is safe and sound." These few are all near Innate level, and considering their age they count as promising youths in their respective sects, so the records are naturally quite detailed.

Bai Lang saw nothing abnormal in the materials, so he could only say the problem might lie with himself—he had split from those people. This problem is somewhat serious; he knows the Adventurer's Hall, and now the Adventurer's Hall can't touch him, so there might be danger in that.

Bai Lang closed the materials book, opened the bounty list, casually picked a few bounties for lone bandits and mountain stronghold water bandits, then left. After stepping out, a new list just came out; the square before the guard's mansion, covering several mu, was already filled with idlers, and the list would be posted on the two huge screen walls.

"The Heavenly Ranking is basically fixed; the lists of the seven states are mostly the same. As for the Earthly Ranking, those listed are also roughly the same—each state basically puts its own experts at the front, unless the strength disparity is undeniable. The Human Ranking varies per person." Bai Lang muttered, hands in his sleeves, looking at the list.

He didn't need to look at the Heavenly and Earthly Rankings; in the Human Ranking he quickly found himself from front to back. "Earth Strong Star Bai Lang White Yuzhu, nickname 'Holding Up the White Yuzhu', skilled in fist and palm techniques." Bai Lang looked at his ranking and description, nodded. If he did a bit more, it seems he could hope for the Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars.

The Thirty-Six Heavenly Stars and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, one hundred eight stars—"How many of them have left their names in the Adventurer's Hall? And how many are hiding their cultivation?" Bai Lang hummed a little tune, pocketing the jade slip and leaving—Black Gold Stone isn't urgent; although it's cheap, if used in large amounts Bai Lang doesn't want to keep running up debt, so he'll wait until he finishes the bounties before coming to exchange.

Leaving, he no longer needed to walk the Kangna step—because it's rather foolish; when he came in he walked that step to see if anyone wanted to hit him, but going out there should be no one to hit him, so no need. The Six-and-a-Half Hall and the Gold Wind Fine Rain Tower have never appeared on the guard mansion's various bounties—even though one is the underworld, the other counts as semi-legitimate, they're both very smart about not causing trouble for the guard mansion.

"Ah right, I'm also considered half a government official." Bai Lang thought that this was probably also one reason the Six-and-a-Half Hall doesn't seek him. Returning to the Mountain God Temple, Bai Lang stuck that jade slip onto his forehead; after circulating his true qi and contemplating, it turned into an article—the jade slip was then useless. "What the heck? Couldn't it just be written as a document?" Bai Lang recalled a bit and realized this wasn't a dynamic picture.

"Really awesome martial arts are true intention transmission; Bai Lang knows this—just like the Southern Dipper Holy Fist and the Arhat Benevolent King Fist, although they appear as manuals, when you look at them they are actually dynamic transmission of true intention. This martial art is a killing method where each hand holds a weapon, with circular attacks becoming increasingly fierce and violent, so it's best to use double iron truncheons or double swords."

Dual swords are fine—just need to be broadswords or heavy swords; that scholar's sword is a bit lacking because it can only thrust and slash, not chop, while dual iron spears are also fine—basically, as long as you hold the same weapon in each hand, it works. This set of martial arts can be considered a 'general outline'; the compiler likely gathered many two-handed weapon techniques, discarded the dross, kept the essence, and arranged them into a complete killing method, exactly the kind of thing Bai Lang likes.