Chapter 74: 74. Matters Concluded

Dark clouds pressed down on the city, a fierce wind arrived in a rush, and a rainstorm was on the verge of falling; the sky took on a dull, grayish-yellow hue.

The carriage drove through the streets, and the clamor of conversation along the way caused many sounds to fall into Song Cheng's ears.

Phrases like "Kill the barbarians," "Certain victory," and "Personally taught by a Form Realm expert" drilled into his ears from all directions.

Figures outlined in plain white lines, tall or short, fat or thin, all different, ran and hurried through a world of ink and wash, shouting and yelling, rushing from one place to another.

"Steward, go through the central city district, and circle past the Prefecture Government office," the youth suddenly instructed.

The Steward replied respectfully, "Yes, Son-in-law."

Inside the carriage, things suddenly exploded.

"What is this? Son-in-law? What kind of son-in-law?" Master An exploded like a dog that had had its tail stepped on.

Wang Da Xiansheng, who had said "Shut up" twice in a row, stopped pretending and ignored even the most basic master-servant etiquette.

"Shut up."

He said this coldly, his voice devoid of temperature, even harboring killing intent.

Master An was a useless coward with his brains in his pants; he lost his temper the moment he was frightened, but he just looked at Wang Da Xiansheng and said softly, "I was just asking. Great Master, what kind of son-in-law is that blind servant? Whose son-in-law is he?"

Wang Da Xiansheng clenched his fists.

Master An was not stupid, and he said with a trembling voice, "It wouldn't be my family's, would it? No... my father, hasn't my wife already..."

Wang Da Xiansheng said, "Master, many things have happened at home. After you return, the President will explain them to you herself."

Master An hesitated, "The President... is... Changsheng, right?"

Wang Da Xiansheng said, "It is President An Chenyu."

Master An:... Song Cheng listened to the confused old father-in-law behind the curtain and was also speechless, while the carriage had already arrived in the central city district amidst the rumbling thunder and lightning.

A large number of people were lined up in front of the County Government, and Martial Artists from all over were gathering here like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea; this seemed to be just the beginning, and more and more people were rushing over.

A scorched scent drifted in the air.

The clamor of human voices gathered into high-spirited morale.

Song Xiazi felt something in his heart and suddenly turned his head slowly to look in one direction; his attention concentrated there, the surrounding noise faded away, and the sounds from that place drifted over faintly.

But in just a moment, that faint sound was like fire meeting oil, suddenly exploding, and the wave of sound spread to the surroundings.

"It's the External Affairs Envoy of the Mountain and River Martial Hall, the great Form Realm expert, 'Six-Armed Old Ape' Yuan Qianke!"

"Master Yuan!"

"External Affairs Envoy Yuan!"

"Master Yuan has really come to recruit people!"

"I heard that as long as you pass the test, you can enter the Mountain and River Martial Hall!"

Many excited voices intertwined, so loud that even the thunder in the sky could not suppress them.

Which Martial Artist does not crave the Form Realm?

Once one enters the Form Realm, to say nothing else, one will no longer be plagued by a hundred illnesses.

Yet in a frontier Prefecture City, "Form Realm cultivation techniques" are so hard to come by.

If one wishes to obtain them, there are only three places: the Mountain and River Martial Hall, White Camel Manor, and Zhushan Temple.

And vaguely, more news was spreading, saying that these three major powers were the ones who truly controlled Hanping Prefecture; joining them meant a boundless future.

Song Cheng raised his eyes and looked from afar at a figure surrounded by many data points, the highest data point here:

93~184.

Clearly, this was the strength of the Mountain and River Martial Hall's External Affairs Envoy, 'Six-Armed Old Ape' Yuan Qianke.

Song Cheng was silent for a moment, then glanced at himself.

143~286.

It seems that even in the same realm, the gap is still very large.

However, it is not yet large enough.

The other party's "184" exceeded his "143."

An External Affairs Envoy could threaten him; he was not yet safe enough.

However, it is fine; he has not yet fully digested his existing resources, nor has he fully grown stronger.

He still has the fierce body-tempering system that he has not yet mastered, and the new energy he has cultivated has not yet evolved into a form.

He still needs time to practice, to digest, and to consolidate.

However, he must first resolve the matter of the Mountain and River Martial Hall's peripheral disciples who are extorting the An Family, as well as the matter of the Chen Family's young master.

If one honestly pays money for this, one will be extorted endlessly.

If one exposes it to the Mountain and River Martial Hall, one will be resented by the Mountain and River Martial Hall, leaving endless hidden dangers.

Therefore, he will pay the money to clear his suspicion—after all, there are several other families being extorted—and then kill them while he is at it, and just take the money back.

This was Song Cheng's plan.

Today, he was going to take a look at the targets he intended to kill, so as not to kill the wrong ones.

Master An returned home, asked around, and was completely dumbfounded.

His father was dead, his wife was dead, and his own eldest son was also dead, and he had even been beheaded by the government.

Now, his daughter completely controlled the An Family.

And that blind servant really was his son-in-law... Master An didn't know what to say; he wanted to cry, but realized that his feelings for this An Family had long since faded over the years. This was not his problem, but rather that almost everyone of his generation in the An Family was like this.

If he wanted to make a scene, what was there to make a scene about?

Thus, he sought out Young Miss An and said with a bitter smile, "Daughter, why don't... you give me some money, and let your old father move out."

He prepared to go to the pleasure quarters to find little beauties and pour out his grievances under their pomegranate skirts.

When he ran out of money, he would come back to ask for more.

However, Young Miss An had long since seen through the true nature of this father of hers. After thinking for a moment, she summoned Zhao Hua and said, "Huazi, take An Xu to practice martial arts. It doesn't matter if he succeeds or not; just have him practice."

After several incidents, Huazi's capabilities had long since been recognized by Young Miss. Now that she was restructuring the Chamber of Commerce, she allocated a good portion of its power to Zhao Hua, letting him focus on gathering information while also handling some external affairs.

Because Zhao Hua had made up his mind to follow Song Cheng, and also because he knew the history of this Young Miss's arduous rise to power, he had immense respect for this sister-in-law. Thus, he did not decline and took on the task directly.

At this moment, he tilted his head to look at the An master, who looked like "a lump of booger," and smiled: "Yes, sister-in-law."

Saying this, Zhao Hua walked straight over.

The An master was startled at first, then said haughtily: "I am your sister-in-law's father. You try touching me and see what happens?"

Zhao Hua raised his hand to grab his clothes, leaned into the An master's ear, and whispered a few words.

It was unknown what he said, but the An master suddenly stood at attention, then obediently followed him away.

An Chenyu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, she was quite curious about what Zhao Hua had said.

But no matter what he said, Zhao Hua was truly a genius at operating in the "gray areas"; he could firmly manipulate a person like the An master.

Time flew by, and two more days passed.

The Ruyi Chamber of Commerce had lost a total of 12 Martial Artists, but none were of the Jin Realm. Other factions had lost even more.

In the small courtyard, a gale stirred. The youth, dressed in Jin Clothing, threw punches and pushed palms, full of vigor.

He was practicing the "Savage Bear Force." Three days of time had only allowed him to step from "Not Yet Initiated (0/4)" to "Initiated (1/8)."

Just then, a refined-looking man who looked like a cultured scoundrel hurried into the courtyard and said softly: "Big Brother, it's been verified. The Gao family paid yesterday, and the Chi family paid this evening."

"Hard work, Huazi."

Song Cheng said, "Big Brother doesn't know how to do these things; I have to trouble you with them."

Zhao Hua hurriedly said: "What is Big Brother saying? These trivial, filthy matters are not things Big Brother's hands should touch."

He looked with fiery eyes at the youth whose eyes were wrapped in black cloth.

He knew what Big Brother was going to do today.

But he did not know how Big Brother was going to do it.

Yet it would surely be incomparably brilliant and dazzling, because the opponent had a full four Jin Realm experts and eight Force Jin Martial Artists.

The difficulty of this time was not actually killing them, but killing them silently and without giving the Mountain and River Martial Hall any handle to use.

The sky gradually darkened.

A waning moon hung in the sky.

The youth put on a bamboo hat and a cloak, concealed his long saber, and then took a set of embroidery needles from the manor, glancing at his panel: 【Add Points: 127 points】

【Skills】

Pear Blossom Flying Needles (Yellow Grade, Fourth Rank) (Not Yet Initiated (1/2)). He had started looking at this "Pear Blossom Flying Needles" skill the day before yesterday; it belonged to the common variety and was a skill of the lowest martial arts realm.

The reason it was called "Pear Blossom" was because when the flying needles were flicked, the metal needles would burst with white light in the sunlight, just like pear blossoms.

It sounded pretty, but in reality, it was nothing.

Concealed weapon techniques should definitely be as hidden as possible; bursting with white light in the sunlight was simply dog shit.

However, what high requirements could one have for a "Yellow Grade, Fourth Rank" cultivation technique? At this moment, Song Cheng invested into the skill point by point.

After spending 14 points, he successfully pulled the progress of "Pear Blossom Needle Shooting" to "Great Accomplishment (1/16)."

He had actually long wanted to secretly learn a "secondary weapon."

And among them, concealed weapons were the first choice.

These "concealed weapon methods" would not be displayed on normal days and would only be used to kill in secret. After all, if he used a saber and shield to kill, it would be easy for people to follow the trail and find him.

But if others died by concealed weapons, it would have nothing to do with him.

He, Song Xiazi, held a saber in his right hand and a shield in his left; he did not use concealed weapons.

Song Cheng twisted an embroidery needle, feeling it slightly.

'The accuracy should be no problem.'

'That is enough.'

He did not intend to continue wasting points.

His lower limit of strength was set there; even if he picked up a brick, a full-force strike could reach a strength of 143.

With this strength, let alone instantly killing those few extortionist disciples, even that External Affairs Envoy of the Mountain and River Martial Hall, "Six-Armed Old Ape" Yuan Qianke, would have to die if caught unprepared.

After finishing this, Song Cheng followed the route provided by Zhao Hua, moving quickly, and in the blink of an eye, arrived at a small alley.

This small alley was the place he had been to before.

However, he glanced around; there was no data, no people.

Song Xiazi was not in a hurry either; he climbed over the wall into the house, found a hidden spot, and his Soul left his body to look around. The room was not tidied up, and it did not look like people had left; there were not even silver notes, so it was highly likely they had gone to exchange for hard cash.

After all, if Hanping Prefecture were breached, the silver notes issued by the Hanping Prefecture bank would become worthless.

He waited patiently.

His patience had always been very good.

Even if he had to wait here for three days and three nights, as long as he could successfully kill the targets, he had no problem with it.

What's more, at this moment his Soul was drifting outside, searching everywhere for those disciples who dared to extort the An Family.

Suddenly, his Soul went still, and he saw a man in black in a deep alley, brandishing a large saber and killing violently.

That man in black killed one with every strike, fast and accurate; his strength was clearly Form Realm.

Looking closer, wasn't this that External Affairs Envoy of the Mountain and River Martial Hall, "Six-Armed Old Ape" Yuan Qianke? Song Cheng's Soul looked again at the people Yuan Qianke was killing.

Weren't these people his targets this time? Yuan Qianke quickly slaughtered the people, then reached into the bosom of the leading extortionist disciple and fished out silver notes.

That disciple hurriedly knelt down and said: "External Affairs Envoy, spare my life, spare my life... This little one only wanted a little bit of money. This little one has no other bad intentions; this little one did not betray the Martial Hall."

Yuan Qianke counted the silver notes, tucked them into his bosom, and smacked his lips, saying: "Just happened to count as military expenses; well done."

The extortionist disciple's face lit up with joy, and he was just about to beg for mercy again.

Yuan Qianke raised his hand and swung his blade, casually finishing that disciple off.

After finishing him, he wrapped his black robes around himself and quickly departed.

Song Cheng only felt that the ways of the world were unpredictable, leaving him unable to decide whether to laugh or cry.

The target he intended to kill had actually been intercepted by someone else.

Today, he had planned to practice the "Black Heaven Trickery," making these people go blind one by one, then killing them in seconds with needle strikes.

Yet he had not expected that there would be no need for him to act at all.

These little things who extorted others truly harbored wishful thinking, unable to see the slightest bit of potential danger; doing such things at the height of a storm, there is no telling how many people wanted to kill them, use them, or rob them in turn.

They really were "looking fierce, but actually stupid."

It was just a pity about the ten thousand taels of silver from the An Family.

Forget it, let it be military funds; it can be considered the An Family contributing their share.

Song Cheng did not intend to seek out Yuan Qianke; he had looked into this man, who could be considered a hero with a good reputation, and he was going to leave the city to fight the barbarians. Forget it.

However, since he had come out tonight, he did not want to return empty-handed, so he stopped by the home of Young Master Chen, whose strength was "2~2" and favorability was "10."

Lecherous sounds were coming from inside Young Master Chen's room; after a while, it seemed he had finished, and a moment later, snoring began to rise.

Song Cheng looked at Young Master Chen's data through the wall, his heart calm, and the appearance of that Young Master Chen was outlined in his mind.

He did not enter the room, nor did he look closely, but raised his hand and shot out a needle at random.

The needle was wrapped in vigorous Qi, and the brick wall was like paper, easily pierced through.

The embroidery needle instantly broke through the air, entering from Young Master Chen's temple and slanting deep into the ground, disappearing entirely.

Young Master Chen's body twitched in his Dream, his eyes snapped open, his consciousness gathered for a moment before instantly dissipating, and he immediately went limp, two lines of blood flowing from his skull. This hidden danger was resolved.

It was just as if Song Cheng had casually stepped on an ant on his way home.

He felt no nervousness when he struck, and no pride after killing.

(End of this chapter)