Chapter 44: Refined in an Instant
Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Refined in an Instant
The dead of night was, naturally, the perfect time for killing.
Wu Chen wasn’t sleeping tonight. Naturally, he was going out to kill.
As the young woman vanished into the darkness, Wu Chen also leaped down from his window.
THUD!
He landed on the stone-paved ground with a dull thud, his skill a notch below the young woman’s from a moment ago.
’I wonder if there’s a chance to exchange Martial Arts knowledge with her.’
As Wu Chen’s figure flitted across the street into a pitch-black alley, he found himself coveting the Body Technique the young woman had just displayed.
After all, one could never have too many skills, and he had something of value to offer in an exchange.
[Bone-Eroding Wind Blade - Stance]
Wu Chen was confident that this blade art, which integrated the strengths of various saber techniques, was in no way inferior to the Body Technique the young woman had just used!
She probably wouldn’t refuse.
And there was a reason why Wu Chen wasn’t secretive about this high-quality blade art and was willing to trade it so openly.
After all, if someone else got their hands on this Martial Art, who knew how many years of bitter practice it would take them to achieve mastery.
But if he got his hands on their Martial Arts...
He could absorb it in an instant!
’But it’s a bit rude to offer to trade our most precious possessions right after meeting for the first time.’
’This can wait until we’re more familiar with each other.’
Wu Chen shook his head, casting aside his desperate thirst for Martial Arts, and focused on navigating the twisting and turning alleys.
The alleys reeked to high heaven, with sewage pooling everywhere and excrement visible at every turn.
He could even see a bloated corpse floating face down in the filthy water.
But Wu Chen acted as if he smelled nothing, his expression remaining completely unfazed.
Compared to a bit of stench and a creepy scene, he was far more afraid of the escaped Qian Fugui.
Being able to casually spend thousands of taels of silver to cultivate "great medicines" made Wu Chen extremely wary of the Blood Slaughter Sect, this Demon Sect.
He couldn’t help but speculate about his current situation:
’Being able to casually raise a batch of "great medicines" for the sect’s disciples to use in their trials... they can’t be doing that just through plunder.’
’This Demon Sect must have its own businesses and industries.’
’In that case, the Demon Sect must be enormous. There are probably Blood Slaughter Sect strongholds near every city.’
’Now that I’ve destroyed a Blood Slaughter Sect Zhuangzi and Qian Fugui didn’t die, I’m afraid my description has already been spread throughout the sect.’
’No matter where I go, they’ll be able to find me easily.’
’So I must become much stronger before they find me.’
During his two months at the medicine-planting Zhuangzi, Wu Chen had learned that everyone in the Blood Slaughter Sect was cruel and ruthless.
The disciples killed each other and stabbed one another in the back. How could they possibly let an enemy like him go free?
Thus, his fear of the Blood Slaughter Sect became the driving force behind his desperate need for more Martial Arts.
This was also the reason he wasn’t sleeping and was instead wandering through these alleys in the middle of the night.
He walked for a bit, then stopped to listen.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he stopped at a small courtyard where firelight flickered and unrestrained laughter could be heard.
Compared to the gloomy atmosphere of the rest of Black Stone City, this place seemed out of place.
Wu Chen silently took up a position by the corner of the wall without alerting the people inside, who were still talking and laughing.
He quietly listened to the conversation between the two men in the courtyard:
"Hiss! That shudder... felt good! So damn good!"
The man inside hissed, his voice trembling, still savoring the afterglow:
"Big Brother, joining the Profound Snake Gang is really something else. You can beat the refugees who come here to death and no one gives a damn. The women are just a bit dry, not very... slick."
"Haha, that’s normal. What good quality can you expect from refugees?"
A rough voice laughed. "You just stick with the Profound Snake Gang and do a good job. When I get a chance, I’ll take you to find a couple of slicker girls to break you in..."
WHOOSH!
A sudden gust of wind cut the rough voice short.
Wu Chen’s figure sailed easily over the wall and landed inside the small courtyard.
He scanned the courtyard and saw a corpse in the corner, its clothes in disarray, its eyes wide open in death.
It must be the female refugee from outside the city they were just talking about.
’Fucking animals!’ Wu Chen was utterly disgusted.
The two men in the yard were startled by the gust of wind Wu Chen had created. Without even getting a clear look at him, they knew he meant trouble and reached for the hilts of their sabers.
CRACK! CRACK!
However, before they could make a move, Wu Chen chopped one of them on the neck with the edge of his hand, shattering his vertebrae. The man died on the spot.
Only then did Wu Chen slowly release his other hand, looking down at the remaining Profound Snake Gang grunt and asking in an indifferent voice:
"Tell me all the gangs in Black Stone City, who’s in them, and what the strength of their leaders is."
If he weren’t trying to be cautious for his future actions, he would have killed these two scumbags with a single palm strike long ago.
"Cough, cough, cough! Hero, milord, spare me! Spare my life!"
Seeing that the intruder had killed his Big Brother in a single move without any chance to resist, the scrawny man’s first reaction was to drop to his knees, crying and begging for mercy.
But when he met Wu Chen’s cold gaze, he instantly sobered up and scrambled to answer the question:
"T-To answer milord, there are sixteen gangs in the city in total!"
Hearing this number, Wu Chen clicked his tongue inwardly. ’Can the businesses inside and outside the city really support so many gangs, so many idle thugs?’
’They probably make their money by oppressing the innocent and through swindling and extortion!’
No wonder Black Stone City was in such a state.
With snot and tears covering his face, the man continued:
"The biggest gang is the Golden Tooth Gang. They have seventy or eighty fighters and make a living by running casinos. Their leader has been at the Ninth Layer of the Flesh Refining Realm for many years. By now, he’s probably reached the Meridian Passage Realm One Lineage!"
"The other gangs all have about ten to thirty members, and their leaders’ strengths vary, but they’re all around the Fifth or Sixth Layer of the Flesh Refining Realm."
After speaking, he looked at Wu Chen with a hopeful expression.
Wu Chen nodded, and then, as the man watched with hope in his eyes, he crushed his neck.
He then drew his saber, flicked open the man’s chest clothing, and dug in with ruthless precision.
Of course, he wasn’t actually trying to create any "great medicine." He was just committing murder and carving out the heart to make it look like the handiwork of the Blood Slaughter Sect.
Whether the authorities investigated or not, anyone with a discerning eye would know this was the work of the Blood Slaughter Sect.
What did it have to do with him, Wu Chen?
’The Blood Slaughter Sect probably doesn’t care, right?’
With this in mind, he found a stinking latrine pit and tossed the two cloth-wrapped hearts into it.
Wu Chen wasn’t satisfied with information from a single source.
Throughout the night, he repeated the process five times, digging out the hearts of more than a dozen gang grunts before he was finally certain that the first man had undoubtedly told the truth.
But these people preyed on the weak, bullied the good, and deserved to die anyway. Wu Chen felt no guilt in killing them.
Checking to see that not a single drop of blood had splattered on him, Wu Chen nodded, satisfied with his blade work.
He wandered the city for the rest of the night, only returning to the inn at the crack of dawn to knock on the wooden door.
BANG BANG BANG!
CREAK~
The inn door opened to reveal the same attendant from yesterday.
The attendant looked at Wu Chen at the door with sleepy eyes, showing no curiosity whatsoever.
As for why this martial world traveler wasn’t in his room, what he had been doing last night, and why he was showing up from outside so early in the morning...
He didn’t ask any nosy questions, simply leading Wu Chen inside in silence.
Back on the second floor,
Wu Chen heard that the young woman from two doors down had also returned. It seemed her injuries were even more severe now, as her breathing had become much heavier.
Wu Chen paid it no mind. He returned to his room, secured the door and windows, and sat down at the wooden table.
He pulled out four or five Martial Arts Manuals he had looted, along with fragmented silver totaling about five taels.
This was what he’d plundered from the gang grunts he had killed last night.
"It’s just like the old saying: ’Murder and arson pay the best.’"
Just yesterday he had been worrying about silver coins, but now, after a single night, money was no longer an immediate concern.
He tucked the silver away safely against his body, then began to look through the Martial Arts and add points.
In the time it takes half an incense stick to burn, he had finished flipping through the four or five basic Martial Arts. Adding the points took less than a moment.
There was no change on his panel, so Wu Chen turned his attention to the single entry there:
[Qi Power - Hegemon-King Lifts a Cauldron]
"I wonder how many basic Martial Arts it will take for my Qi Power to reach the next stage."
Wu Chen was quite curious. Although it was just a common white-tier entry for now, his Qi Power was at least no longer something he could only estimate. It was now represented in a tangible form.
Hegemon-King Lifts a Cauldron—the name alone sounded majestic and powerful.
"Perhaps when the entry advances in the future, it won’t just be a change in name and a tangible representation of Qi Power."
"It’s not impossible that it might even come with some special effects!"
Wu Chen was greatly looking forward to the next entry.