"Why do you believe I am the Three-legged Bird?"
The man asked.
Shi Xiaole replied, "Because I learned from intelligence that the Three-legged Bird is a left-hander. The man just now used his left hand to draw his blade, but the blade he put on the table had its hilt facing the right side, which obviously does not adhere to the habit of left-handers."
"And you, your blade's hilt faces right, you eat with your right hand, yet for a man who trained in the sword, why does your right hand have so few calluses, whereas your left hand does?"
With each sentence Shi Xiaole uttered, the man's countenance grew darker until finally, he burst out laughing, "All those words, they're just your assumptions."
Shi Xiaole nodded, saying, "Indeed these are my assumptions, yet I trust my judgement, and so I must kill you."
While speaking, Shi Xiaole gripped his sword handle.
The man intrigued, said, "Assuming I am the Three-legged Bird, who has killed masters of the first stage of the Qi Absorption Realm, would you dare to attack me?"
Shi Xiaole didn't say a word, but slowly drew his sword.
Everyone thought this young man had lost his mind, presuming too much. And as the man stated, if he truly was the Three-legged Bird, how could he possibly contend with him?
Hiss!
At this moment, no one expected a thin-as-a-hair silver needle to suddenly shoot out of the man's mouth.
How could a person who is speaking suddenly launch a needle from his mouth?
This move caught everyone off guard!
There was only a little over three feet between Shi Xiaole and the man. At such a distance, regardless of whether his cultivation was at the third stage of Hidden Qi or even a master at the first stage of Qi Absorption, he would probably not have had time to react.
A cruel smile appeared on the man's face. However, the next moment his smile suddenly froze as Shi Xiaole blocked his surefire silver needle. No, it should be said that Shi Xiaole was waiting there from the very beginning, and the needle almost automatically stabbed into the sword body and fell to the ground.
"Each time you speak, your throat hardly moves, you must be using ventriloquism. And you always have a silver needle hidden in your mouth to take people by surprise. That's how the master of the Qi Absorption Realm died, isn't it? Alas, your tricks have been used before."
Shi Xiaole whirled his sword effortlessly.
The man barely had time to react, his throat has been slightly slashed. As he was dying, he asked tremulously, "Who.. who has used it?"
"He's called the Plum Blossom Thief."
At this reply, the man finally slumped to his death.
The inn fell into silence, one could hear a pin drop. All eyes were resting on Shi Xiaole.
In the martial world, it was highly possible that the Plum Blossom Thief was actually the most beautiful woman in the world, Lin Xian'er, who was disguised to frame Li Xunhuan. His martial arts prowess and authenticity were totally unknown.
Later, the story narrators added spice to the story, and ventriloquism combined with a weapon in the mouth became the Plum Blossom Thief's signature moves, terrorizing the martial world.
Shi Xiaole secretly sighed, wherever there are people, there are remarkable similarities.
He fished out two secret manuals and a bag of silver from the Three-legged Bird's body. Shi Xiaole took out a silver ingot from it and placed it on the table, saluted everyone with a fist, and left.
"Young man, what's your name?"
The landlady shouted from behind, but got no response.
"Hehe, how interesting."
It had been a long time since the landlady had seen such an intriguing young man. A faint yet inscrutable smile crossed her face.
Just when people thought the matter had settled, the three disciples of the Duster Gate returned, followed by a yellow-faced head catcher.
"Did anyone leave just now?"
Among the three disciples of the Duster Gate, the arrogant young man called out, his face not looking too good.
A while ago they had met the Head Catcher Jin. Unexpectedly, when the latter saw the Three-legged Bird they were carrying, he said it was a stand-in, not the real deal, which made them a laughing stock.
The Head Catcher Jin scanned the room, his gaze fixing onto the dead man. Swiftly, he walked up to the corpse, undid his clothes, and said with a grin, "The Three-legged Bird is dead."
The arrogant young man named Qi Hui retorted, "Head Catcher Jin, on what grounds do you believe this is the Three-legged Bird?"
Head Catcher Jin said, "Based on the investigation conducted by my Six Fan Gate, today is the day when the Three-legged Bird and his stand in rendezvous, and the birthmark on his chest cannot be faked."
When Qi Hui and the others looked, they indeed saw a hideous birthmark on the man's chest and none of them spoke further.
"Who is the hero who has eliminated this major scourge from the martial world?"
Head Catcher Jin asked the room.
All the martial world guests in the room turned red, and finally an old man stood up and said, "I'm ashamed to say that the one who recognized the Three-legged Bird was not any of us, but rather an unidentified young man."
"Oh," exclaimed the Head Catcher, with a look of surprise.
Beside Qi Hui, the lovely young girl Zhao Molan looked towards the empty seat by the window. She didn't know why, but Shi Xiaole's figure emerged in her mind.
...
"Floating Skill, Golden Whip Blade Technique?"
Instead of returning directly to the Huajian Sect, Shi Xiaole first went back to the inn and took out the two martial arts secret manuals he found on the Three-legged Bird.
According to the memories of the original owner of this body, the protection and cherishing of their own martial arts by this world's martial arts schools has reached a crazy extent.
Not to mention the top-tier martial arts or second-tier martial arts, anyone daring to covet even the third-tier superior martial arts would face retaliation from the martial arts sects.
Of course, in this world there isn't a net that captures all fish. After so many years, no sect dares claim that their martial arts have never been leaked.
However, due to the methods of the major sects, many individuals who secretly cultivate powerful martial arts dare not display them in public.
Not daring to make a move against the major sects, many in the martial world have thus turned their attention to solitary cultivators.
Looking at the blood-stained secret manual, Shi Xiaole believed that the two books in the hands of the Three-legged Bird must have been snatched from others.
Immersing his mind into the system, Shi Xiaole asked: "How much reward value can I exchange for the two secret books in my hands?"
A flash of light appeared in his hand, the secret books disappeared, but two more murals were added on the stone wall of the first floor of the Martial God Hall.
The system said: "Floating Skill, third-rate lower-level flying skill, can be exchanged for 130 reward points. Golden Whip Blade Technique, third-rate lower-level blade technique, can be exchanged for 150 reward points."
"Can the martial arts that I acquire be directly exchanged for martial arts within the system?"
Shi Xiaole asked, struck by a sudden thought.
"Yes, but you can only exchange it for martial arts of the same level."
The system answered without any emotion.
After some thought, Shi Xiaole decided to abandon the plan of direct exchange. Compared with the Huashan Sword Technique, Golden Whip Blade Technique wasn't superior. He had no need to practice it.
But the Floating Skill, although inferior to the Huashan Sword Technique, was indeed a flying skill, which he lacked. He should practice it.
"The host has successfully completed Task 2 and has been rewarded with a chance to draw a third-rate martial art. Would you like to draw immediately, or would you like to reserve it?"
Shi Xiaole's eyes lit up, and he asked, "What happens if I choose to reserve it?"
"If you accumulate two opportunities of the same level task, the minimum level of your draw will increase by one sub-level. Accumulate five times, and the success rate of the draw will increase by 10%."
An idea sprouted in Shi Xiaole's mind.
By this logic, if he completes two one-star tasks, as long as he doesn't draw a blank, the worst result is a mid-level, third-rate martial art.
"Preserve the drawing chance! Besides, I want to use my reward points to purchase martial arts."
After exchanging the two secret books, plus the rewards from this task, Shi Xiaole had as much as 450 reward points, enough to buy some top-third rate martial arts.
Shi Xiaole decided that he would get a top third-rate martial art this time, and after saving up two drawing opportunities, as long as he isn't unlucky, he should be able to get a mid-level, third-rate martial art, which will definitely enhance his strength greatly!
The system said: "If the host wants to buy directly, in addition to the reward value of the martial art itself, the host also needs to pay three types of taxes: martial art level specification, martial art category specification, and specific martial art specification. Each tax will charge half the amount of the reward value."
This statement, like a basin of cold water, cooled Shi Xiaole's soaring heart to the point of freezing.
What the hell?!
In other words, even the Huashan Sword Technique, with a value of 150 points, if purchased directly, wouldn't it also require a whopping 375 points?
And for those top third-rate martial arts worth four to five hundred points, one must spend over a thousand reward points to afford them!
Is the Grand Wuxia System intentionally making things difficult for him?
"Host, do you wish to purchase?"
The system politely inquired.
Shi Xiaole urged himself to stay composed, taking another look at a few of the murals. He noticed that he couldn't afford many of them. And of those he could, he found none worth his while.
After some hesitation, his eyes suddenly shone and he decided on one of the murals, declaring, "That one. I'll buy it!"
Ding!
A beam of light from one mural dove into Shi Xiaole's brain.
"Congratulations, host, on acquiring the mid-level, third-rate Miao Family Sword Technique of Miao Renfeng at the cost of 450 reward points."
The Miao Family Sword Technique had an original price of just 180 reward points. However, after a designated purchase, its value rose to an astonishing 450 points. But, Shi Xiaole didn't regret it.
Who knows when the next mission will come? Rather than waiting, he might as well exchange his reward points now. Even though he would lose some training time in the Martial God Hall, the trade wasn't a loss.
As the ultimate technique of Miao Renfeng, the invincible 'Golden Face Buddha,' the Miao Family Sword Technique in the martial world was an unparalleled sword technique, on equal footing with the Hu Family Knife Technique.
Some say that the Miao Family Sword Technique has a fatal flaw. When executing the ultimate move Raising Sword White Crane Spreads Wings, a slight shrug of the shoulders exposes a weakness to the enemy.
Regarding this point, Miao Renfeng explained to Hu Fei (the Flying Blade) that because he had been practicing the sword since childhood and a louse had bitten on his back, shrugging had gradually become a habit. It wasn't a problem with the Miao Family Sword Technique itself.
Shi Xiaole even suspected that it was precisely this flaw of Miao Renfeng that led to the Miao Family Sword Technique's original price being only 180 reward points.
With 25 reward points left, without any hesitation, Shi Xiaole immediately converted them into two and a half 2-hour periods of cultivation time to familiarize himself with the Miao Family Sword Technique.
After cultivating for two and a half 2-hour periods in the Martial God Hall, not even a 2-hour period in the outside world had passed. Shi Xiaole smiled slightly and said, "The Miao Family Sword Technique is indeed outstanding. Although I have only managed to achieve perfect Shape Mimicry up to this point, its power has already surpassed the Huashan Sword Technique's perfect Shape Mimicry."
Pushing open the window and perceiving the movement outside, a sneer welled up within Shi Xiaole's heart.
When he took the secret books from the Three-legged Bird, he had already noticed that many people in the inn were getting ideas.
Not in a hurry to go out, Shi Xiaole spent three days in his room practicing the Miao Family Sword Technique and Floating Step.
Perhaps the experience of practicing the Huashan Sword Technique gave him insight, or perhaps because he was too focused, it only took him three days to practice the Miao Family Sword Technique to a minor accomplishment in Spirit Integration, while the Floating Step had reached Divine Harmony Perfection.
"My strength has increased again."
With a slight smile, Shi Xiaole checked out of his room on the fourth day at noon, and calmly left the inn.