Chapter 36
‘You are quite skilful in martial arts but you are mentally weak, like a flower in a greenhouse, a delicate lady…’
‘You have ties with Four Seas Court, and the Court can get their hands on large quantities of spiritual plants, so you must be somebody…’
Fang Yuan was a smart person, and his chain of thoughts brought him to a conclusion. “Spirit Returning Sect?”
This lady was highly skilled and was on par with Song Yujie, and was therefore obvious that she was a skilled disciple of the Spirit Returning Sect.
If he killed her, he would likely get himself more enemies.
But of course, she only had the intention to stalk him, and therefore didn’t deserve to die.
“What do you want! Don’t come near me!”
Young Qing looked at Fang Yuan, feeling uneasy. She thought about the many stories of people being raped throughout the martial arts world and was scared out of her wits. “If you touch me… I will…”
“Don’t you dare mention any backings that you might have, otherwise, I might just kill you!”
Fang Yuan stuck his index finger out and flicked the skin of this young master. At this moment, the young master held her breath and stopped crying.
“That’s right, much better!”
He patted her cheeks.
‘This lady’s skin is perfect and smooth as silk, comparable to the fur of the Flower Fox Ferret……Pui… What am I even thinking?’
Fang Yuan shook his head violently, and in a deep voice said, “After stalking me, are you prepared to compensate me?”
“Compensate…?”
The green master was lost.
This pervert shouldn’t be thinking of doing any unruly actions, right? Why did he change so quickly?
After panicking for a while, she calmed down and tried to made sense of things. ‘Could it be that I am not attractive enough… And that even this pervert don’t even want me!?’
She looked at Fang Yuan and felt that his eyes could kill someone just by staring.
“What are you staring at? Unless you want your body to be searched?”
Fang Yuan judged Master Qing, and even though she was not as skilful in martial arts, her figure was not bad.
And by not having an Adam’s apple at her throat, she gave away her gender.
“No! No!”
Master Qing was anxious and almost sustained an internal injury. “Whatever you want… I… I will give you!”
“I don’t want any martial arts manual!”
He recalled the incomplete ‘Spirit Returning Heart Manual’ which he looted from Song Yujie and thus felt that way. He held onto the object which Master Qing surrendered.
He opened the shell-shaped box, saw its bright-red interior and became speechless.
“This is the best Purple Scent Token in the county, worth 10 pieces of taels!” Master Qing replied weakly.
“You rich people sure know how to play a fool!”
Fang Yuan felt a little speechless, and when he knew that the lady was rich, the thought of kidnapping her arose.
However, he was aware that her backing would not be any less influential compared to Song Yujie’s.
This time although she lost, losing a little money would mean nothing, but letting her know about the dangers of the martial arts world would be the best lesson for her.
If he indeed took the martial arts manual, or even kidnapped and blackmailed this green master, it would escalate the situation. The county might even close its gates to do a county-wide search.
He knew that he could not deal with all those by himself.
“Keke…… Young Qing, you’re quite rich eh?”
Fang Yuan would be satisfied even if he was able to get a small fortune.
“Qinghe Bank banknote, worth a 100 pieces of taels! And some loose change of 20 to 30 fragments of silver, and this jade bangle, and this hairpin, and this Emerald Feline Eye… Mmm, good deal, good deal!”
Fang Yuan was used to being thrifty. He took the Feline Eye Emerald from her and smiled sheepishly to himself.
In his eyes, Young Qing was his saviour.
With this lady selflessly giving away her treasures, it quickly covered the cost of the spiritual plant he bought and even earned a little more.
“You… You……Boohoo…”
Tears welled up in Young Qing’s eyes. The Golden Ticket was her hidden savings! She had just deposited it in the bank today but had to give up the ticket now.
She was lucky not to have tried threatening Fang Yuan.
“I know, you would definitely find someone to take revenge! As long as it’s not a senior, I’ll accept the challenge!”
Fang Yuan tilted his chin and appeared boastful. “Among our age group, I, Young Martial God Wu Ming, is not scared of anyone!”
“Young Martial God Wu Ming!”
Young Qing repeated these few words to herself, as though she wanted to remember them for life.
“Mmm, get lost, and remember that I live at the ‘Ends of the World’, and will welcome you anytime!”
Fang Yuan kept the items, turned around and left.
After acting, he ran for his life! how exciting!
Of course, his name was not Wu Ming, and as for living at the ‘Ends of the World’, it was the name of the largest motel he saw on his way here.
Poor Young Qing was being lied to, and unaware. “Young Martial God Wu Ming! Ends of the World! You remember this, I will get my seniors within the Sect to avenge for me!”
…
“An announcement from the Spirit Returning Sect: From investigations on the alleged Elder Song, he had killed the innocent and harmed fellow Sect members. It was long since a person became mad from mourning, and after discussion among the Elders, the unanimous decision is to expel him from the Sect and put him on the list of wanted criminals. Anyone who captures this thief will get a reward of one thousand taels, a martial artist manual, or a piece of Gui Yuan Order!”
Time flew by and a few days passed. A crowd formed at the gate of the county, reading the newly posted announcement from the Sect, all confused.
“Song Zhong, Elder Song? He’s a martial artist of 7th Gate! How did he end up in this state?”
“I’ve heard that news that his son passed away, and that drove him crazy!”
“He’s the one who created chaos and destroyed the Kou Village!”
“Hehe… Do you think the Sect would even bother if it was only a few outsiders who were killed?”
Within the discussion, a person claiming to have insider information laughed. “The only thing that will condemn him for life, is that he took the lives of a fellow sect member’s family, the Zhou Family!”
“Zhou Family? Zhou Family from Qingye City? …”
“That’s right, I previously even saw the Zhou Family’s young master stepping up to file the appeal!”
“And Song Zhong managed to escape?”
“This is their own internal affairs, otherwise why do you think they are recruiting help?”
“No matter what, here’s our chance!”
…
As the word spread, many members of the martial arts world were enticed by the reward of capturing Song Zhong.
Taels and martial arts manual may not mean much, but the Gui Yuan Order was no small reward. Whoever held this order would gain the respect of anyone from the Spirit Returning Sect like an honoured guest, and could even exchange the order for a favour from the sect.
In theory, they would accede to any request that was possible!
“Song Zhong… Gui Yuan Order?”
Outside the city, in a farm shed, Fang Yuan stopped his training as soon as he heard the news.
The city was too dangerous, and hard to escape if he got into any trouble. He could only escape if he had extreme Lightness Skill, otherwise, he would without a doubt be captured. Therefore, he left the city and took shelter from a farmer.
He did not use much money; just a few taels were enough to satisfy the family and convince them to let him stay.
He took a quick look at his stats window:
“Name: Fang Yuan
Essence: 2.7
Spirit: 2.6
Magic: 1.5
Age: 18
Cultivation: [Martial Artist (5th Gate)]
Technique: [Black Sand Palm (Level 5)], [Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique (Level 5)]
Skill: [Medicine (Grade 2)], [Botany (Grade 3)]”
“I was all along a [Martial Artist (5th Gate)], and the progress of Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique towards Grade 5 was quick. I have finally attained it…”
After grasping the basics, mastering other techniques would be simple, and even the standards to meet were lowered in the progress bar, so naturally, he would have a rapid progression.
He used this feature to extort Young Qing a few days ago.
After all, the Pain Gate was one of the 3 Perilous Gates, and if there was an accident, one would get injured with no hope of recovery. Therefore, Fang Yuan had no choice but to take it seriously.
“Initially, I thought that I could return home after the issue was settled, and focus on training. Who would’ve thought that the incompetent Spirit Returning Sect could not contain Song Zhong, and even had to recruit the help of the public to capture him?”
Fang Yuan did not understand.
Of course, he didn’t know that the internal strife within Spirit Returning Sect has escalated out of control.
The Sect Head, Shi Yutong was not resolute, and the two clans under the leadership of the elders, Elder Yan and Elder Han, were in conflict, which resulted in such an outcome.
The Sect Head only wanted peace and have positive control over the entire situation, and as for Song Zhong, she did not care if he was dead or alive.
Of course, Fang Yuan didn’t know so much, but he knew one thing!
He would only find peace if Song Zhong was killed!
Although he took steps to cover his traces, he still wasn’t sure if someone could track him down. By then, if the martial artist in the 3 Perilous Gate ordered for his death, he could never escape from him.
“I need to take this opportunity to get rid of him, while the situation allows!”
Fang Yuan had decided, wore his clothing, ran out and soon disappeared.
…
It was a piece of cake to obtain information about Song Zhong.
The entire county was looking for him.
It was heard that this person killed with no regard to his own life, killed his way out of the Sect, and escaped to take refuge within the large green mountains.
This mountain was a part of the mountainous ridge of Clear Spirit Mountains, and after shutting down the major arterial routes within the mountain, patrolling was conducted. Many martial artists brought along their dry rations and followed, hoping that sooner or later, he would be captured.
“Oh! It’s so crowded?”
Outside of the mountains, Fang Yuan looked up, and saw the sun burning down brilliantly, and looked around and the numerous martial artists around. He was speechless. “I shouldn’t be too hasty. I just need to follow the crowd and witness Song Zhong’s death!”
Although the large green mountain was an arterial peak, it was also rather large. The mountain was covered in grass and trees, and to find a highly skilled martial artist hiding within was no easy feat.
But Fang Yuan wasn’t rushed. He slowly scanned the vicinity, at the same time made a few new martial artists friends and started sharing their experiences.
One day, at noontime, he was sleeping on a large piece of rock. Suddenly, he heard a delicate voice. “Senior, it’s him!”
The delicate voice sounded familiar.
He turned his head to the source of the sound and was shocked.