I Cheated While Cultivating

“He Yang?” Zhou Heng’s brows furrowed as he turned to look at Wu Zongshan, “Is there only the name He Yang?”

“Yes, what about it?” Wu Zongshan looked at Zhou Heng with a hint of surprise, wondering, “Could it be that Young Master Zhou has obtained other clues in Yuyang County?”

“That ghostly entity I vanquished referred to itself as Xuan Yang,” Zhou Heng said. This time, he did not hide the fact that he had the means to slay ghostly entities.

Because the situation was different now.

At present, he was essentially an outer disciple of Pure Yang Palace.

Though he hadn’t officially passed the assessment, he wasn’t at risk of attracting calamity because others coveted a Taoist formula of not very high rank.

That was the difference between having backing or not.

“Xuan Yang?” Wu Zongshan chewed over the name, nodding as he spoke, “I will pay attention to the investigation, and I will also notify the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer to see if there is any information on ‘Xuan Yang’.”

“Master Wu goes to great trouble,” Zhou Heng gave a slight nod and added, “There’s also the matter of the Plague Emperor Sect; please take the trouble to look into that as well.”

He always spared no kindness to talents and disciples of Martial Dao Sects, for having more friends meant having more avenues to explore.

“Thankyou,” Zhou Heng bowed in farewell.

Then Wu Zongshan was left alone in the study again.

“Xuan Yang…” Wu Zongshan murmured the name, once more opening the hidden compartment, and with a cinnabar pen, he wrote these two characters on yellowed paper, then added a few more sentences, awaiting a reply from the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer.

But after waiting for a long time, there was no movement on the yellowed paper.

Wu Zongshan knew that this must mean the people from Zhou Tian Boundary Officer were out and no one was responding to the signal from the talisman paper.

Their numbers were too few indeed.

But recently, contact with them seemed increasingly difficult; had something happened in the West Wasteland forbidden lands, or were there anomalies in various places in Pingzhou?

Wu Zongshan was somewhat puzzled.

Zhou Heng returned to his rented room.

If all went as expected,

It would be his last night staying there.

“He Yang, why would the ghostly entity sealed in Yuyang County be from He Yang?” Zhou Heng was very curious in his mind. Could there be a mistake in Zhou Tian Boundary Officer’s investigation?

Or was it that there wasn’t just a Xuan Yang sealed there, but other ghostly entities as well?

Well, Wu Zongshan should have already notified the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer about this, so letting them investigate would be enough.

Zhou Heng steadied his mind.

Ready to open the Fortune Bags he had acquired in the past two days.

Xuan Yang contributed two Silver Fortune Bags.

Chen Song and Chen Feihong contributed two Copper Fortune Bags.

It really was a bountiful harvest.

“Open the two Silver Fortune Bags and two Copper Fortune Bags!”

“Congratulations! You have obtained a special skill card: Fooling Card [Copper].”

“Congratulations! You have acquired a basic attribute: Constitution +1.”

“Congratulations! Your luck has exploded, you have obtained the martial arts ‘Lone Nine Swords’ [Seventh Rank]!”

“Congratulations! Your luck has exploded, you have obtained a special skill card: Peak Card!”

Zhou Heng was all smiles.

The sensation of continuously hearing “congratulations,” continuously receiving rewards, was really pleasing, truly exhilarating.

Importantly, the items acquired this time seemed quite good.

Especially the two skill cards.

“Fooling Card [Copper]: Can reduce a ‘person’s’ intelligence, halt a ‘person’s’ thoughts, and obliterate a ‘person’s’ rationality.”

“Peak Card: Allows for one attack using the peak proficiency of a martial art or a Taoist formula.”

Hiss hiss!

Zhou Heng couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air.

—The “people” mentioned in the Fooling Card effect description refers to all sentient beings in a broad sense, whether they are living people or ghosts, or any other sentient entities.

With these two skill cards combined, he even had the confidence to take down ghosts of the Fifth Rank or even the Fourth Rank!

So strong!

The Fooling Card could dumb down an enemy, causing them to stand there dazed and even forget to counterattack.

Then, by using the Peak Card, he could perform the “Five Thunder Righteous Method” with peak proficiency, which was a Fifth Rank Taoist Formula. Coupled with its restraining attribute that was especially effective against Yin spirits, it was practically a ghost’s bane.

In that instant, Zhou Heng even felt the impulse to rush to Yuyang County City and directly take out Xuan Yang. After all, with these two skill cards stacked together, he was highly likely to already possess that capability.

However, an impulse is just that, impulsive. As soon as his mind cleared up a bit, he abandoned that idea. These two skill cards were definitely epic-level trump cards!

Use them as little as possible.

Only if he truly was in a desperate situation, with no other options, would he consider it.

Beyond these two special skill cards, Zhou Heng also received two other rewards, which were actually quite remarkable.

The effect of a basic attribute boost to Constitution +1 was simple, as it just enhanced one’s physical fitness by improving resilience and resistance to hits, commonly referred to as “adding HP and defense.”

As for Lone Nine Swords, Zhou Heng chose to comprehend and learn it directly.

This time it wasn’t just a single move, but the complete set of Lone Nine Swords.

Seventh Rank Martial Arts!

“Congratulations! Since the proficiency of your martial arts ‘Lone Nine Swords: Breaking the Sword Technique’ [Eighth Rank] has reached Advanced, the proficiency of the martial arts ‘Lone Nine Swords’ [Seventh Rank] has increased by 1000.”

“Congratulations! Since the proficiency of your martial arts ‘Lone Nine Swords: Breaking the Qi Technique’ [Eighth Rank] has reached Intermediate, the proficiency of the martial arts ‘Lone Nine Swords’ [Seventh Rank] has increased by 600.”

“Congratulations! Since the proficiency of your martial arts ‘Six Routes Plum Breaking Hand’ [Seventh Rank] has reached Beginner, the proficiency of the martial arts ‘Lone Nine Swords’ [Seventh Rank] has increased by 500.”

“Congratulations! Since the proficiency of your martial arts ‘Lone Nine Swords’ [Seventh Rank] has reached Intermediate, the proficiency of the martial arts ‘Six Routes Plum Breaking Hand’ has increased by 500.”

After this series of notifications.

The two individual Lone Nine Swords techniques that Zhou Heng originally mastered were formally included in the overall formula, and because of the presence of the “Breaking Palm Technique”, they even added proficiency to each other and to the Six Routes Plum Breaking Hand.

[Seventh Rank] Lone Nine Swords: Intermediate (1450/2000)

[Seventh Rank] Six Routes Plum Breaking Hand: Beginner (869/1000)

This once again gave Zhou Heng an exponential boost to his strength, with the clearest indication being that when facing enemies, he no longer had a weakness in the weapons department.

Although the proficiency of Lone Nine Swords was only Intermediate now, the strength he could display surpassed its previous level and became more comprehensive.

Even if Zhou Heng had not learned other martial arts such as “spear arts,” “whip arts,” or “rope arts,” the entire set of Lone Nine Swords provided him with the philosophy to decode various moves.

To put it simply, it was “sword theory.”

Even just using sword theory to break moves, Lone Nine Swords was already one of the best. Coupled with the Six Routes Plum Breaking Hand which was naturally good at grappling, it could incorporate other martial arts.

This enabled Zhou Heng to have a high probability of completely breaking through his opponents’ moves after a short exchange.

In such a case, unless the opponent had reached the Seventh Rank of the Martial Path, with their True Qi incredibly dense and beginning to undergo a metamorphosis, it was nearly impossible for them to be Zhou Heng’s match.

Which means, theoretically, he was invincible below the Seventh Rank.

“However, the martial skills at hand are just that, skills,” Zhou Heng moved his fingers and chuckled lightly, “To truly assess one’s strength, it still needs to be verified through actual combat.”

Next, he took out the items he had obtained from the two people he had killed on his way to Yuyang County and spilled them onto the table, ready for examination.

To see if there was anything of value.

Could he sell them for some more money?

The silver from those two men had been collected by Zhou Heng long ago; now he needed to inspect some other items.

Two copper tokens, a letter, a list, two medicine packets with a fishy smell, and some darts emitting a green glow that were obviously poisoned.

Zhou Heng, wearing gloves fit for handling sharp instruments, first picked up the letter, which read, “To Young Master Wei Gaopeng of Shocking Thunder Manor…” Shocking Thunder Manor, wasn’t that Chen Feihong’s sect?

He then opened the envelope to look at the contents, but after just one glance, he was stunned and puzzled.

“This, this is…”

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