classifiedscript Chapter 252: A Shared Sense of Crisis
Chapter 252: A Shared Sense of Crisis
Zhang Cha’er’s corpse lay in the front courtyard of the Sanjiang Branch Helm.
Beside him were six ordinary Caobang disciples, all covered with white cloth.
Su Wangchuan felt heavy-hearted.
Although the price of taking down the Third-Rank Martial Artist ‘Tian Chou’ had not been terribly steep, the losses under his command were the only Second-Rank Martial Artist the branch helm had besides himself, as well as the core men he had brought over from the Yulong Gang.
Each of them had been flesh and blood. Every single one was a tremendous loss!
“Each disciple will receive ten taels of gold as a pension compensation. Zhang Cha’er will receive fifty taels of gold, to be given to his family.”
“Every disciple who participated in today’s encirclement operation will receive five taels of silver.”
Su Wangchuan’s words rekindled everyone’s spirits and drove them to steady themselves.
To the disciples of the Sanjiang Branch Helm, killing the Five Poison Sect’s branch leader—killing a Third-Rank Martial Artist—was, in truth, a great victory!
Jianghu was just like this…Everyone was used to life and death, licking blood from the blade’s edge.
Besides, the Five Poison Sect branch leader ‘Tian Chou’ was on both the authorities’ wanted list and the Caobang’s wanted list.
The former offered a reward of fifty taels of gold;
The latter offered sixty taels of gold, with a bounty for his corpse;
Before dawn, Su Wangchuan had already sent a carrier pigeon message to the prefectural government, informing Old Seven of the good news.
Early that morning, people arrived from the prefectural government.
Cui Mingjue saw ‘Tian Chou’s’ beheaded body with his own eyes, then looked over the corpses of Zhang Cha’er and the others. He walked aside with Su Wangchuan and lowered his voice as he offered congratulations.
“Congratulations, Helm Leader. You have rendered another great service.”
“It is all thanks to Hall Master. If it were not for the Heart-Piercing Crossbow, the consequences this time would truly have been unimaginable.”
Su Wangchuan spoke plainly.
Cui Mingjue nodded. He had examined Tian Chou’s wound, and there truly was a penetrating injury caused by a Heart-Piercing Crossbow bolt. Smiling, he said, “The Heart-Piercing Crossbow was forged specifically to break a martial artist’s protective energy. Old Seven said that, back then, he relied on this very crossbow to wipe out quite a few experts, including a Crimson Pavilion Silver-Ranked assassin.”
“Old Seven bestowed the Heart-Piercing Crossbow because he wanted you to secure the Sanjiang Branch Helm and hold it steady. Now it seems, Brother Wangchuan, you have not disappointed Old Seven’s expectations.” Cui Mingjue knew how to speak.
Su Wangchuan clasped his fists and laughed it off.
Cui Mingjue continued, “When the news of killing the Five Poison Sect branch leader reached the hall, Old Seven was delighted. He said you have once again brought honor to our Caobang, brought honor to the hall as well, and he specifically instructed Cui to bring you the wanted bounty, and this.”
He drew gold notes from his robe, along with a token from the armory manual vault.
With this token, Su Wangchuan could exchange it for a Third-Rank martial arts manual from the armory manual vault.
“Many thanks to Old Seven.”
Su Wangchuan accepted the items.
Cui Mingjue took Tian Chou’s head and returned to the hall.
On the branch helm’s side, order was quickly restored. They could not allow Tian Chou’s incident to delay the branch helm’s shipping operations.
Su Wangchuan had Wang Yuehui go to comfort Zhang Cha’er’s family, while he himself logged off to rest, preparing to continue his training.
Tian Chou’s appearance had once again shown him the power of a Third-Rank Martial Artist, and made him keenly aware of how insufficient his own strength as a Second-Rank Martial Artist still was.
He had to keep training!
《Black Tortoise Art》 had to be raised to Entry-Level Mastery;
《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》 had to be raised to Integration;
And he also had to start cultivating the Third-Rank lightness skill 《Water Strider》.
Over the next two days, Su Wangchuan quickly returned to his original rhythm. In the meantime, he also sent a carrier pigeon message to Old Seven, requesting a Deputy Helm Leader position for Bai Yuhui, who had broken through to become a Second-Rank Martial Artist.
Bang! Bang!
Bang! Bang!
In the courtyard, Chen Ergou’s Second-Rank 《Green Bamboo Staff Art》 lashed out in layer upon layer of staff shadows!
Ever since Zhang Cha’er had died in battle, Su Wangchuan had deliberated again and again, and finally decided he had to help Chen Ergou and Zhao Heiniu speed up their push toward breaking through to the Second Rank…
These NPCs did not have a status panel like players. Their training was messy and unstructured, and their progress was somewhat slow.
But Chen Ergou was the first NPC to follow him, loyal to the bone;
And Zhao Heiniu had been half a mentor to him back in Blackstone Village, and was an NPC with real ability.
Sparring with Zhang Yao had made him realize that he could, in fact, use companion training to help them raise their martial arts realms faster, and break through to the Second Rank more quickly.
So, after carefully understanding the martial arts and realms the two of them had mastered, he roughly determined that Chen Ergou’s agility and stamina were already at forty points. What he lacked most at the moment was strength.
Thus, Su Wangchuan proactively asked Chen Ergou to temporarily hand off some branch helm affairs to Zhang Yao, so Chen Ergou could focus on training alongside him.
《Green Bamboo Staff Art》 increased weapon attack and was a strength-oriented martial art. In Chen Ergou’s hands, it erupted with more than thirty points of attack. With double attack, it could reach sixty points. The danger in companion training was far greater than with 《Black Tiger Fist》.
Su Wangchuan was not afraid!
《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》 had been raised to Entry-Level Mastery, increasing defense by twenty points. The body-protection method alone could offset the impact of sixty points of attack.
When the staff struck his body, under the protection of the dragon-elephant guard, it was already difficult to cause any real harm.
When Chen Ergou saw that all his attacks were being defended against indiscriminately, unable to injure the helm leader at all, he gradually began to loosen up. His staff art slowly became broad and unrestrained, no longer holding back.
Whoosh!
WHOOSH!!
The staff howled through the air—chopping, smashing, thrusting, striking!
Su Wangchuan received every single move—with his body, his hands, and his feet.
With Entry-Level Mastery 《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》 paired with Practice Makes Perfect realm 《Black Tortoise Art》, his HP had surged to 630 points…
Now, as long as he kept his HP above 400, he would not be injured. He could use 《Qingcheng Heart Method》 to recover quickly and keep training without interruption.
That meant he could endure 230 attacks in a single session. Each session gave him 11 to 12 points of experience value, but the circulation time for 《Qingcheng Heart Method》 increased from half an hour to forty minutes.
The rate at which his experience value increased did not change much.
Yet Chen Ergou’s 《Green Bamboo Staff Art》 broke through to Minor Mastery on the first day, and then smoothly advanced to Practice Makes Perfect on the second day! In one breath, his strength increased by three points.
After that, he pressed forward with surging morale toward Entry-Level Mastery.
On the third night…
Chen Ergou let out a low roar!
His staff art suddenly became sharp and ferocious. One strike erupted with savage power and came crashing down. Even though Su Wangchuan sensed the target of the blow and moved in time to brace and block, the sudden surge of force still drove him back several big steps with a rapid stomp-stomp-stomp, leaving his arm bruised.
“Helm leader!”
“Are you all right?”
Chen Ergou blanched and hurriedly threw aside the staff as he rushed over to check on him.
Su Wangchuan glanced at the status panel.
HP -21!
That meant that the strike just now had pushed Chen Ergou’s 《Green Bamboo Staff Art》 attack power past one hundred, breaking through the threshold of Su Wangchuan’s overall defense.
“I am fine.”
Rather than alarm, Su Wangchuan felt joy. He threw back his head and laughed.
“Congratulations, Ergou. Your staff art has broken through.”
Chen Ergou froze at first. Then, after picking up the staff and running through a set, he smashed the iron dummy stake hard enough to leave a dent two finger-widths deep. Ecstasy flashed in his eyes.
“Thank you, Helm leader!”
Then Chen Ergou delivered another piece of good news. “Your subordinate… I think I have broken through to the Second Rank.”
Su Wangchuan’s grin spread wide.
“Tomorrow, take this and make a trip to the prefectural government. Go to the armory manual vault and copy two Third-Rank martial arts.”
“Yes!”
Chen Ergou lifted his chin, his voice full of exhilaration.