Chapter 19: New Card—Equipment Card!

Night.

Dark clouds covered the sky, blocking the moonlight.

In the darkness of Wulong Fucheng, most districts were silent.

Changping Ward.

Chen Mu was lying in bed, about to fall asleep, when a sudden scream came from afar.

The cry was shrill, piercing the curtain of night.

Immediately after, roars and battle shouts mingled together, shattering the silence.

Chen Mu scrambled up from the bed, threw on his clothes, opened the door, and walked out.

"Creak~"

Huang Feiyang, from the rear wing, came out of his room at the same time. Hearing the movement on Chen Mu's side, he hurriedly called out, "Huzi, don't go out. That sounds like a jianghu vendetta."

"By the sound, it's coming from the neighboring Changlong Ward." Chen Mu nodded. "I'll go take a look. Don't worry, brother—I won't get near the fighting, I'll just watch from the outside."

As his words fell, he tapped his toe, leapt into the air, and landed on the rooftop.

He darted swiftly across the rooftops and was gone.

"You—"

Huang Feiyang had been about to curse, but the words died on his lips—Chen Mu had already vanished—so he swallowed them back.

The next instant, astonishment flooded his face.

"Huzi can see in the dark?"

In the blink of an eye, Chen Mu was gone.

No matter how good one's lightness skill, if one cannot see, it's useless.

Chen Mu clearly had no such trouble.

……

……

With the "Night Vision" skill activated, the pitch-black curtain of night in Chen Mu's eyes turned a pale violet, and a translucent one at that.

Seeing was naturally no problem—no different from daytime.

Darting across the rooftops, the Spirit Serpent Step unfurled, and in no time he drew near the place where the roars and battle shouts had erupted.

An inn in Changlong Ward!

At this moment, the inn's front door was shattered, and the rear courtyard's room doors were flung wide open.

Two groups of fighters were locked in combat, spilling in and out of the inn.

One side, judging by their dress, were sect disciples; the other appeared to be an armed escort caravan.

The former were few in number but strong; the latter were many but only middling.

At the very least, on the martial artist side, every one of the sect disciples was one.

If the numbers reached into the hundreds, they could pile up enough bodies to wear down even a Postnatal martial artist.

However, though the escort caravan had the advantage in numbers, they only had a little over thirty.

Facing the sect disciples' assault, seven or eight of them had already fallen by now.

Just as Chen Mu crouched on the rooftop, watching from afar, two more died in the rear courtyard.

"Run!!"

A great roar rang out at just the right moment.

On the escort caravan's side, a burly man bellowed furiously, "Everyone, follow me—fall back!"

"Clang clang clang~!"

A burst of weapons clashing, sending up a shower of sparks.

The remaining members of the escort caravan swiftly pulled out of the inn and fled into the street.

Seven martial artists from the sect disciples pursued from behind.

Seizing the moment, Chen Mu leapt down from the rooftop, the Spirit Serpent Step unfurled, weaving between the corpses.

【Corpse detected. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

【Corpse detected. Pick up?】

"Yes!"

……

In total, thirteen cards were picked up!

Several of the escort men who had died inside the inn as well.

Chen Mu didn't miss a single one.

Cards in hand, he left at once.

He had come by rooftop, and he left by rooftop as well.

Along the way, no one intercepted him.

Or rather, the commotion at the inn failed to draw martial artists from any of the city's established powers to come investigate.

As for the Great Blade Gang…

Changlong Ward was indeed Great Blade Gang territory—that was true, but only in the sense of an underground power collecting protection money on the streets.

This kind of jianghu vendetta—let alone Yu Baoliang, who was in charge of Changlong Ward—even the Great Blade Gang's gang leader wouldn't dare stick his hand in.

The two sides' clash, Yu Baoliang naturally heard the commotion, but he didn't dare come out at all.

The others were even less daring!

……

He returned home easily.

Huang Feiyang, waiting in the courtyard, pulled him aside and chattered on.

Chen Mu went into his room and checked the cards he had collected.

Energy Card, Stamina Card, Stamina Card…

Internal Force Card!

Equipment Card!

After checking, he used one Internal Force Card—the internal force cultivation was two months.

Another new card, the Equipment Card, truly surprised Chen Mu.

As the name suggests, an Equipment Card contains various gear, items, and even pills.

Valuable items left on corpses could be collected during pickup and sealed within an Equipment Card.

Chen Mu silently activated it; the Equipment Card unsealed, releasing the item.

At that moment, Chen Mu held in his hand a leather item made of unknown material, like an enlarged face mask.

Human Skin Mask!

The item sealed within the collected Equipment Card was a Human Skin Mask capable of disguise!

Although named "Human Skin," the mask's material was not human skin, but rather the intestines of strange beasts, special wood, precious minerals, and more.

It was expensive—no one could buy it for less than several thousand taels of silver, and ordinary people had no access to it.

Chen Mu had truly struck gold this time!

"Traveling the Jianghu, it's best to disguise your appearance. Changing form requires special cultivation, but disguise is already in hand."

"Good, good."

Playing with the Human Skin Mask, Chen Mu nodded in satisfaction.

Moments later, he tucked it away snugly against his body.

Immediately, he used the Internal Force Card—internal force spontaneously arose within him, propelling the Rolling Cloud Art to churn and strike at the Postnatal Fourth Stage.

However, the threshold from Postnatal Third Stage to Postnatal Fourth Stage was high.

The two months' worth of internal force from the card was entirely consumed without success.

Chen Mu was not discouraged; failure had been within his expectations.

It's just an Internal Force Card.

Two months won't do? Try three, four, five…

As long as he had enough Internal Force Cards, he refused to believe he couldn't break through!

……

……

The next day.

The fighting in Changlong Ward the previous night sparked discussion across several market streets.

But by early morning, the bodies had been taken away by the officials' men.

This was precisely why Chen Mu, despite knowing the risk, had still gone to the inn to investigate last night.

If he arrived too late, he couldn't reach the corpses.

How could he collect the cards?

Fortunately, after ascending to Postnatal Third Stage, his collection range expanded to eight meters—so long as the corpse lay within a straight-line distance of eight meters, he could collect the card.

No need to get close.

If he broke through to Postnatal Fourth Stage, this range would grow even larger!

……

He had a goal. He had motivation.

Chen Mu continued wandering throughout the city.

But his luck was limited.

He found nothing in the morning, and nothing in the afternoon.

At dusk, Chen Mu returned to Changping Fang.

As he entered the neighborhood gate, he faced two members of the Great Knife Gang.

"Erhu? You're back?"

One of the men, seeing Chen Mu, hurried forward and whispered, "Erhu, where have you been? Boss Hu sent us to find you…"

"My brother's looking for me?"

Chen Mu frowned. "What's happened?"

"The Green Snake Gang came to retaliate!"

The other burly youth whispered, "Just after noon, Green Snake Gang members suddenly crossed the boundary and ambushed Boss Hu…"

"What?" Chen Mu was startled. "Is my brother alright?"

The burly youth replied, "Luckily, Boss Hu's Wu Gong has improved—he's grown much stronger. When ambushed, he was with six men. He took some injuries, but only superficial wounds—nothing serious."

"Boss Hu told us to find you to warn you—don't go out for the next few days, or you might be ambushed by Green Snake Gang members!"

"I understand."

Chen Mu exhaled in relief. "Do you know who led the Green Snake Gang's ambush on my brother?"