"I..."
Long Shi touched his chest in panic.
Though pierced through, bizarrely the Inner Qi was still circulating normally, quickly gathering to stop the continuous flow of blood.
Huang Deyou had disappeared without a trace.
Jiang Ding sheathed his sword and said indifferently, "Who sent you to find me?"
With great difficulty, Long Shi mustered his courage and said, "No one, it was all my own greed, please, Your Excellency, be magnanimous..."
Clang!
The sword was drawn and then returned to its sheath.
HIs left arm severed and flung away, with blood gushing out, his Inner Energy could no longer stop it.
"Ahhhh!"
Long Shi's agonized screams startled a flock of birds.
Jiang Ding watched him calmly until the screams weakened and then said, "Continue."
Long Shi trembled.
The youth before him, clad in flowing blue, with a handsome appearance, was no less ruthless than any other figure in Jianghu.
He knew what 'continue' meant.
It was a choice between continuing to live and continuing to die, all up to his own decision.
"It was the Zheng Clan."
Long Shi suppressed the intense pain in his severed left arm and said in a low voice, "I was following the orders of Chen Chen, a guest official of the Zheng Clan, who told me to come here and probe around."
"I owe my footing in Lanban Street to the support of the Zheng Clan; I dare not refuse their commands."
"The Zheng Clan? Affiliated by marriage to the Marquis household."
Jiang Ding mused.
"Would such a prestigious family also stoop to robbery?"
"It must be a private affair."
Long Shi said quietly, "Chen Chen has always done the dirty work for the Zheng Clan, and he's connected to many underworld forces. I can't always verify whether each command comes from the main family."
Jiang Ding thought for a while.
If it was true that the Zheng Clan was this unscrupulous, then he would have no choice but to flee.
He couldn't defeat a massive army.
But he didn't need to be too afraid, either; if he couldn't win, he could run, and even if the city's terrain were narrow and drones monitored from above, it wouldn't be easy for a large force to corner someone.
"Let it be, it's not great to completely fall out," Jiang Ding sighed. "Hand over the Cultivation Method you practice, and then get lost."
"Remember, just this once; next time, if there is a next, come more prepared."
Long Shi was overjoyed, almost unable to believe his own ears.
"A great kindness from the young master, I would never be so ungrateful and treacherous. Should that happen, may heaven and earth obliterate me, and may my lineage be cut off!" He swore vehemently to heaven, burying the cold resentment in his heart deep down, not showing the slightest on the surface.
"Cut the act."
Jiang Ding chuckled and scolded, "If you manage to take my head in the future, that will be your own skill."
Long Shi mumbled and dared not speak, calling someone from outside to come and whisper in his ear.
A few moments later, an armed warrior arrived in haste, looking fearfully at Jiang Ding before handing a package to Long Shi.
"Young master, this is the Cultivation Method I have been practicing, called 'Wild Wolf Strength'." He said apologetically with a smile, "Of course, it's nowhere near as good as a fraction of what you have cultivated."
"And this gold and silver is all my savings, which I hereby offer to you."
Under the secret manual was a small pile of gold and silver, amounting to about four or five hundred taels, worth roughly half of a ginseng of ninety years.
"You may leave."
Jiang Ding took the manual, wearing transparent gloves at all times so he wasn't afraid of contact poisons.
Long Shi dared not hesitate, hastily gathered the remaining gold and silver, and, with the fifteen intact riders waiting outside, fled the scene as if flying, not even daring to collect Langsi's corpse from the ground.
"Manager Huang," Jiang Ding said softly.
"Master."
Huang Deyou seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"Find a professional to clean up this place, leave no traces, do you know where to find someone capable of doing so?"
"Yes, master."
Huang Deyou nodded repeatedly. He grew up on Lanban Street and, although he wasn't part of any gang, he knew all that he should.
"Additionally, find someone to deliver this to the Sihai Trading Company."
A cold light flashed in Jiang Ding's eyes as he tapped the furiously staring head of Langsi with the sheath of his sword.
Whether Sihai Trading Company had spies within was not his concern, but a threat to his life certainly was.
"Yes, master!"
...
Sitting in his chair, Jiang Ding flipped through "Wild Wolf Strength," the local Inner Power cultivation method he had obtained for the first time.
"Hmm, with only twelve regular and the eight extraordinary meridians combined, there are only three hundred and sixty-five meridians in total. Its special effect increases hand speed by twenty to thirty percent faster than ordinary cultivation methods when striking, and it can reach the Great Achievement of Inner Qi at its peak, quite a small treasure indeed."
He flipped through it casually, and with the education he received at Xianmen High School, he could understand everything at a glance, there were no secrets.
If this cultivation method were handed over to the Xianmen Library, it wouldn't even be worth 0.001 points.
Only by writing a thesis similar to "An Overview of Mortal Sect Cultivation Methods in a Certain Realm" could one earn dozens or even hundreds of points, and it's not impossible to receive thousands of points for contributions of high referential value.
"This structure of Inner Energy in the Ren-Du Meridians..."
As he read the latter half, Jiang Ding found a particular Inner Energy circulation structure somewhat familiar and carefully recalled what his Chinese teacher had taught in class.
"Right, the Spiritual Root-inspired structure for transforming qi— worth two points for the fill-in-the-blank question," he said as he lightly tapped the book.
"It can utilize the Spiritual Root's natural absorption of Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi to transform into Inner Qi, making progress by leaps and bounds daily. The better the Spiritual Root, the faster the cultivation speed—there are indeed talented individuals in the Jianghu martial arts community."
Without a Spiritual Root, one would naturally cultivate at a much slower pace, what's commonly referred to as one's intrinsic quality.
Seeing it as of little use, Jiang Ding flipped past it without a second glance.
Twenty minutes later, Jiang Ding casually tossed the manual into a corner, having memorized and understood its contents, deeming it a modest expansion of his reading.
Then, he recalled the content of the "Minor Concealing Breath Technique" in his mind and fell into a dazed state.
HIs Inner Qi rolled intermittently, flowing in an incredibly complex cycle, making his presence ephemeral and easy to overlook one moment and exceedingly conspicuous the next, drawing gazes aplenty.
For the past few days, he had attempted the technique over a hundred times without success, yet "Minor Concealing Breath Technique" remained difficult to execute.
However, he was close. Since acquiring the rusty sword tip, his aptitude had continuously improved, and he was confident he would master the basics in another few days.
...
Sihai Trading Company.
"Who is it?!"
Dragon Three, his face turning red as he glared at the human head preserved in lime inside the wooden box, roared.
"My Long family has risen over the past several centuries on the back of honest dealing and kindness to others, earning the favor of the founder and leaping to become one of the two prominent trading companies in Yue Country."
"While serving the royal family, we have also gained the trust of masters in the Jianghu, dealing with all manner of miscellaneous items for them."
"Even the Zhendong Marquis, who disapproves of Sihai Trading Company, still agreed to allow our settlement and protection, all thanks to the golden reputation we've built over centuries!"
"Who would want to turn Sihai Trading Company into one of those disreputable dens fit only for thieves?" Dragon Three thundered.
After he vented his rage, the maid beside him calmly said, "Shopkeeper, we found out. It was Xiaocui from the pharmacy; her brother works for the Zheng Clan."
"Zheng Clan? Hmpf, upstarts, nothing but filth. Who knows how long they'll last?"
Dragon Three sneered.