Chapter 127: The New Rankings at Yunshu Tower (Extra Chapter for Monthly Votes)

In the carriage, Li Yuan leaned against one side, eyes slightly narrowed, counting the three full incense burners with a sense of satisfaction from hoarding.

First were the Spirit-Retaining Small Return Pills, taken by the little rat after testing the medicine.

These three pills were the best he had ever seen, bar none.

He had visited the medicine hall in Fucheng, which was ten times the size of the Four Seasons Medicine Hall in Gao Liu County; the best pill there was this one.

One was priced at eight hundred and seventy taels of silver, and was called the "Pill King" by Fuxiu Fuxiu Daoren inside and outside Fucheng.

"Nourishes the spirit, strengthens the physique, purifies the qi and blood, warms the internal force... if the fire is sufficient, one pill might help me break through to Internal Fortification!"

Li Yuan calculated in his mind.

The Spirit-Retaining Small Return Pill was not for Body Tempering martial artists; it had a great effect even for those at the Form Transformation or Meridian Opening stages.

"Internal force spreads throughout the body, from outside to inside; the process of breaking the second limit is called Internal Fortification..."

After putting these three pills away, Li Yuan counted the other items; the second-rank inner armor had no essential difference from the one he had forged himself.

What concerned him was the Six Spirits Boots.

【Six Spirits Boots (Second Rank)】

【Boots sewn from the skins of six spiritual beasts...】

【Control Condition: Proficiency in any light-foot movement technique】

【Control Effect: Swift as a fleeing rabbit (White), Fast as an eagle (Blue)】

These boots were unremarkable; a hard comparison might not show them as superior to the pair he had forged using the Combined Weapon Furnace.

But these boots were standard issue.

He had seen them on true disciples like Ba Ba Wanli, Fang Fang Bao Luo, and Shi Hong, and even on some inner disciples.

"Boots are very important."

Li Yuan valued inner armor and boots highly, second only to hammer weapons that could stack talents.

Because before he descended the mountain, he heard again that an inner disciple had been killed, even in broad daylight, right before the Fucheng city gate.

And the killer...

"Zhao Zhao Yunsheng."

Li Yuan felt something strange in his heart.

This was not hard to guess; surely a member of the Zhao family had learned that "Bai Shen Fa" and worshipped the deceased Zhao Zhao Yunsheng as a god...

"That old fellow is truly ruthless."

Having obtained the Living Person's Portrait and the Dead Man's Stele from the underground tunnel, Li Yuan had held them for a long time and was very certain his thoughts at the time were correct.

That visualization technique had a similar record in the Library Tower; it was a strange martial art that interfered with one's own and others' spirits.

The Wu Gong itself had no problem, but the Zhao Zhao Yunsheng who left it only provided fragments, and one had to visualize him to enter the path; this hidden danger was too great.

"The person killed possessed Wu Gong no inferior to Gao Gang; if not from a great sect, then to kill him, one must at least be a Form Transformation martial artist, yet the Zhao family members wandering outside don't even have Internal Fortification..."

In such a short time, from Body Tempering to Form Transformation?

Even Li Yuan, who was certain Zhao Zhao Yunsheng was dead, murmured to himself about this speed of martial arts cultivation.

Either they obtained a great fortune or a miraculous encounter, or...

"Blood Sacrifice!"

Inner disciples were being killed one after another, even slain before the city gates; the Divine Weapon Valley was in an uproar.

When Li Yuan stepped down from the carriage, he saw the Divine Guard Army sealing all city gates; passersby were driven to both sides of the bridge, and merchant ships on the Grand Canal were all stopped.

"Brother Zou?"

Li Yuan spotted an acquaintance and walked toward him; many armored Divine Guards glanced at him and made way.

True disciples were also commanders of a Divine Guard unit; they had no authority to stop him.

Zou Kui stood solemnly with a face like iron; he did not answer Li Yuan's greeting, only nodded slightly.

Li Yuan did not trouble him; he nodded and walked onto the wooden bridge. Wherever he passed, the way was clear, causing passersby outside the bridge to discuss it.

He overheard snippets, nothing but "Dragon-Form Bone Structure," "True Disciple Li Yuan," "Disciple of Han Han Chuijun,"

"Forging Genius," and the like.

"Tsk, my reputation precedes me."

Li Yuan stepped onto the wooden bridge and saw Elder Ku Yue with a long sword on her back; her brows were tightly furrowed, and her already stern face made people dare not breathe loudly.

"The qi is like a green snake, the blade like a strip of silk, one strike kills; this is the Little Green Snake Blade!"

From a distance, Li Yuan recognized the Wu Gong used by the culprit because he controlled the blueprint of the Little Green Snake Blade.

"The perpetrator's Qing She Dao Fa has reached perfection!"

Li Yuan felt a slight chill in his heart.

Talented disciples of the Zhao family were sent to the Divine Weapon Valley early; those less talented were in the outer sect; few talented disciples would stay in the Zhao family to learn this Qing She Dao Fa.

The only one in the Zhao family who had perfected this blade technique was its head, Zhao Zhao Yunsheng...

"Hypnotizing oneself; it's impossible to even learn the Wu Gong, that old fellow?"

Li Yuan instinctively approached the corpse; after examining it several times, he felt a slight chill: "How was this done?"

"Zhao Zhao Yunsheng is dead; it is absolutely impossible for him to be resurrected!"

Elder Ku Yue's voice was sharp as a sword; all the inner disciples on the wooden bridge nodded in agreement.

"This might be the Bai Shen Fa."

Shi Hong had also arrived; he glanced around and paused slightly on Li Yuan.

"Oh?"

Elder Ku Yue gave no opinion, only looked around as if searching for something.

"The Bai Shen Fa ranks among the Ten Great Mo Gong of the world; even in its incomplete state, it possesses methods to bewitch the human heart."

"Do not pursue what he has learned!"

Elder Ku Yue interrupted Shi Hong, his cold gaze sweeping over the disciples:

"Do not speak of changing forms; even if one opens the meridians, to dare kill at the city gate and depart calmly, there must surely be someone providing support!"

"Find them and exterminate their entire family!"

"Yes!"

Ku Yue hurried away, but the blockade by the Divine Guard Army remained unlifted, allowing entry but forbidding exit.

Li Yuan followed the flow of people into the city; not long after, he heard the murmurs from nearby taverns and tea houses.

"In broad daylight, daring to kill an inner sect disciple of the Divine Weapon Valley at the city gate; that Old Master Zhao is truly fierce!"

"Ten of them? How long has it been, killing so many inner sect disciples..."

"The List of Talents? I think it should be called the Assassination List!"

Li Yuan walked along, hearing people discuss things intermittently all the way.

The Divine Weapon Valley has dominated Zhe Long for a thousand years; suddenly being provoked at its doorstep naturally caused a stir throughout the city, with various discussions and speculations.

Some were shocked, some terrified, and some even took malicious pleasure...

"The storm is about to break!"

Li Yuan sighed inwardly.

He only wished to quietly practice martial arts, find some incense money to forge a hammer, and stack talents to locate the Sea-Splitting Profound Whale Hammer.

With a slight sigh in his heart, Li Yuan entered the Yun Shu Tower.

Most businesses in the Zhe Long Prefecture were owned by elders and disciples of the Divine Weapon Valley, but the Yun Shu Tower was not among them.

The influence of the Yun Shu Tower spread across many prefectures in Huizhou; the Zhe Long Prefecture City was merely a branch tower. Without some backing behind it, they would never dare to conduct the business of ranking lists.

In the Jianghu, fame and profit; fame comes before profit.

Entering through the main gate, the interior furnishings were simple; a single glance revealed various counters selling all kinds of goods,

and even various weapons.

"There are no shortage of famous artifacts. Hmm, no top-tier famous artifacts? Perhaps there are, but they are not sold openly?"

Li Yuan pondered this in his mind, scanning the various counters.

"Honored guest, what do you need?"

A shop assistant approached.

"Hmm, bring me a copy of the 'List of Talents'."

"The cost is twenty taels!"

"So expensive?"

Li Yuan frowned, turned, and left; he did not think this thing was worth that much money.

The Courtesan List at least had illustrations; what could this thing possibly have?

"Honored guest, take care."

The shop assistant's smile did not fade; after seeing Li Yuan off, he quickly returned to the counter, extremely excited:

"The True Transmission disciple Li Yuan has descended the mountain. Write it down quickly..."

"Fires are breaking out everywhere!"

Li Yuan found a tea house, ordered several plates of desserts, and from here, he could see the Yun Shu Tower.

Gao Liu County, Pinggou County, Yunjing Commandery, the Zhao family... now the List of Talents has been added.

Let alone Li Yuan, even the slightly duller Fuxiu Fuxiu Daoren smelled danger, all going into hiding, no longer accepting missions; some stopped leaving the city, while others moved far away from Zhe Long Prefecture City.

"The Xieshen Sect? Perhaps also the Qianjun Cave, the Sanyuan Wu, and the Pang Pang Liexue Mountain?"

Li Yuan ate a piece of dessert, pondering.

Of the eight prefectures in Huizhou, the Divine Weapon Valley implicitly controls half, but friction with the other three great sects has never ceased.

Especially in recent years, seeing the decline of the Divine Weapon Valley, provocations occurred from time to time, but killing inner sect disciples at the city gate was a first.

"What exactly does the Xieshen Sect want to do?"

Li Yuan had not even finished a pot of tea before Liu Zheng and Wang Wang Peiyao had arrived.

"Brother Li, you, why have you descended the mountain now?"

Wang Wang Peiyao scanned the surroundings and lowered her voice: "Haven't you heard? That Zhao Zhao Yunsheng has killed more than ten inner sect disciples..."

"I saw it when entering the city."

Li Yuan invited the two to sit and also asked about this matter.

"That suspected perpetrator, Zhao Zhao Yunsheng, is indeed killing according to the List of Talents, from low to high, skipping experts of other factions, and only killing disciples of the Divine Weapon Valley."

Liu Zheng took a booklet from his chest, with the title List of Talents written on it:

"You are also on the List of Talents, and moreover, your ranking is not high..."

Not high? It was clearly very low.

Li Yuan knew this in his heart; his time in the sect was too short. Even with the Dragon-Form Bone Structure and his body-refining cultivation, how could he possibly rank among the top talents of the entire Zhe Long Prefecture?

He casually flipped through it; the number one on the List of Talents was indeed Shi Hong, followed by True Transmission disciples such as Qiu Qiu Changying and Ba Ba Wanli.

Among the top ten, there was only one outsider: Jiang Jiang Shaochong, the second on the Fuxiu List and a castaway from the Sanyuan Wu.

Of the ten True Transmission disciples of the Divine Weapon Valley, only he was not among the top ranks.

Liu Zheng and Wang Wang Peiyao exchanged a glance, both a little worried, but they silently sat down to drink tea without disturbing Li Yuan.

"Is Lady Fang ranked that high?"

Li Yuan flipped a few pages and saw Fang Fang Yunxiu.

Her ranking was even ahead of Sha Sha Pingying, eighty-ninth on the Hidden Dragon Talents list — that was already a very high placement.

One had to remember, there were other sects on this list as well.

While Sha Sha Pingying was ranked one hundred and forty-three.

"Fang Fang Yunxiu, inner disciple of the Divine Weapon Valley, superior-grade bone constitution, extremely high swordsmanship talent, inherited part of the Heavenly Cicada Sword, suspected to have already broken through to the Body Transformation realm…"

"Lady Fang has actually broken through to the Body Transformation realm?"

Li Yuan was a little surprised.

But on second thought it wasn't strange — Fang Fang Yunxiu was, after all, the most diligent inner disciple, constantly traveling back and forth between places year-round.

And in the true sense, she had been through a hundred battles.

The problem was, she rarely took elixirs…

"Lady Fang's talent must be no lower than that, surely?"

Li Yuan flipped directly to the end and saw the ten names that had been crossed out.

Those ten names were not bunched together — at least thirty-four people had been skipped between them — and the only thing they had in common was that they were all inner disciples.

Flipping back two pages, Li Yuan also saw his own name.

"Li Yuan, tenth true disciple of the Divine Weapon Valley, personal disciple of Han Han Chuijun of the Hammer Hall, nine-form bone constitution, initial-stage Body Tempering, obsessed with smithing, White Ape Cloak Hammer at Great Perfection… once narrowly defeated Gao Gang…"

"Ranked, seven hundred and sixty-third on the Talents list."

They look down on me that much?

Li Yuan was a little speechless.

But he noticed there really was no record of his cross-realm wheel-fights on the list, and only then did he understand.

"The Valley has sealed off part of the information."

Li Yuan was

caught between laughter and tears.

Of course he didn't care about a ranking like his, but the problem now was that the one suspected to be Zhao Zhao Yunsheng was killing his way up from the bottom.

His ranking wasn't high, but his status was extremely high — it would be easy for people to target him…

Hoo~

Closing the Talents list, Li Yuan's gaze darkened slightly:

"That Sun Zan had no good intentions!"

……