Da Xuan Martial Saint

Chapter 40: Chapter 38 Major Achievement

Indeed.

Wei Lun was killed by Chen Mu.

The protectors and the servants in that household had all perished by his hand as well.

Since the time Chen Yue went to Inner City to practice martial arts until now, a total of five months had passed. It seemed like a long time, but in reality, it was not even as long as the time he had previously spent advancing his Wind Blade Technique from Major Achievement to Perfection.

However, during this period, his strength had soared tremendously, climbing rapidly.

The system panel now was also considerably rich.

[Martial Skills: Raging Wind Blade Technique (Perfection), Gale Blade Technique (Perfection), Spirit Wind Sword Technique (Major Achievement)]

[Experience: 1125 points]

Having perfected both the Raging Wind and Gale Blade Techniques, his current swordplay could simultaneously execute the 'ferocious' momentum of both techniques. Since Raging Wind and Gale Wind were similar in nature, the two momentums were quite compatible, and their execution was smooth and unforced.

As for the Spirit Wind Sword Technique, it was another martial skill from the 'Xun Wind' lineage he had found later. Though it was a sword technique, firstly, the sword was not separate from the saber, and secondly, with the system panel, the problem of being unaccustomed to different weapons did not exist for him.

Moreover,

Compared to the Wind Blade and Gale Blade Techniques, the Spirit Wind Sword Technique could be said to be his very secret method. Just like when he killed Wei Lun and a group of protectors, he used only the Spirit Wind Sword Technique, so no one could associate it with him.

After personally inspecting the injuries, Min Baoyi concluded that the assailant was likely a strong swordsman whose swordsmanship had not yet reached the level of Momentum, but whose physique was extremely robust—at least having achieved Body Refinement Perfection.

Such individuals with a physique stronger than their skill often had significant backgrounds, as building one's physique just required money and could be continuously improved. With several thousand silvers, even someone with average talent could cultivate a body to the level of Body Refinement Perfection, although it was not feasible for lesser families without such wealth.

However, precisely because of this,

Min Baoyi's judgment was only a hair's breadth from the truth, yet missed by a thousand li.

[Fierce Ox Body Refinement Method (Major Achievement)]

[Experience: 243 points]

Chen Mu's current Body Refinement had merely reached the level of 'Major Achievement', still some distance away from Perfection.

But because he had mastered three types of Skin Toughening Methods to Perfection, his skin like copper and steel added significantly to his abilities in the first realm of Body Refinement. Even with just a Major Achievement in Body Refinement, he was comparable to the average practitioner with Body Refinement Perfection when exerting his full strength!

This was the essence of Min Baoyi's misjudgment.

In fact, with Chen Mu's current martial arts skills and methods, even against someone like Min Baoyi, he would not be at a disadvantage. Once he exerted 'Dual Momentum', winning the battle wouldn't be difficult.

It was precisely with such strength and confidence that Chen Mu gradually became active. Because practicing Body Refinement and Skin Toughening Methods consumed too much silver, leaving him somewhat financially embarrassed, he straightforwardly embarked on the path of killing and plundering.

In the current times,

What brings in money the fastest?

That, of course, would be robbery.

And such incidents could be said to be happening one after another, almost daily, with no way to clearly differentiate. The City Defense Division would receive similar reports every day, but they essentially showed little interest in investigating, unless a prominent family was victimized by thieves.

If pressures were exerted through connections on the City Defense Division, only then would they seriously look into the matter.

As a head constable in the City Defense Division, Chen Mu knew the Ninth District very well, even if not like the back of his hand. Finding a suitable target was quite easy for him, and people like Wei Lun were precisely his targets.

It wasn't entirely because the other party had committed heinous crimes too numerous to record, though.

Chen Mu had always been a man who disliked hypocrisy and had no interest in fabricating a facade of punishing the wicked to justify his killings; to kill was to kill. He targeted Wei Lun mainly because the man had no other complex background or connections. Once dead, everything would end there.

Min Baoyi's reaction to the incident matched what Chen Mu had anticipated.

As for the unfortunate girl who had found a stroke of luck last night, he didn't have much thought about her. After all, his place wasn't a refuge, and he had no interest in bringing people home casually—a single old servant and a young maidservant were enough.

Killing Wei Lun along with his protector, servants, and all, was sufficient. He had not untied her bonds as a precaution to prevent her from running about; as long as she stayed inside the house, she would naturally be discovered by the City Defense Division the next day.

Having heard from Liu Song and Li Tie that she had already returned home, Chen Mu felt no commotion in his heart and didn't need the girl to know him and later come to offer her thanks.

That was how the Outer City was.

The homes of commoners were insecure at all times.

Even wealthy families lived in constant fear, hiring many protectors and martial men, worried about bandits entering to kill and rob.

It could be said that only the Inner City offered a land of peace, not only patrolled day and night by the City Lord's guards but also regularly surveyed by the major families' protectors and the numerous martial arts schools and martial men.

Should an incident occur, the perpetrator could be caught almost immediately.

Just like Tang Quan.

A man of Body Refinement Perfection who had mastered Momentum, Tang Quan was not inferior to Min Baoyi in the slightest and had even fled to the Outer City after committing his crime. Yet, in the end, he was forcefully dragged out.

Even if that day he hadn't encountered Chen Mu and had lived a bit longer by chance, ultimately, he wouldn't have been able to escape.

"Hmm…"

Chen Mu thought for a moment, pulled out twenty gold leaves from that pile of silver, put them in a small pouch, then reburied the rest of the gold leaves and nearly two hundred taels of silver under the floor tile.

He then pressed the floor tile down with a box and placed about thirty or forty taels worth of loose silver ingots and nuggets inside the box.

Silver was heavy.

That's why rich people generally didn't carry silver with them; they carried gold leaves instead. One leaf was worth about ten taels of silver, so twenty leaves would be two hundred taels. At most, they would let their servants carry ten or so taels of silver for petty expenses.

Chen Yue was now studying in the Inner City at the Yu Family Martial Arts School. Although she got in through Xu Hongyu's connections, all her living expenses and medicinal powders were provided by the Martial Arts School.

Nevertheless, she needed some silver on hand for emergencies, such as accidentally injuring her muscles and bones during practice, which would require purchasing some high-quality Muscle and Bone Injury Medicine.

Chen Mu had previously had someone send a few dozen taels of silver to Chen Yue.

Back then, they were rather poor, but now they were slightly better off. He planned to go to the Inner City in person to deliver these twenty gold leaves to Chen Yue, to save her from any embarrassment in certain situations.

Two hundred taels of silver might seem like a lot, but in reality, it wasn't much for Chen Yue. After all, those who could train at the Yu Family Martial Arts School were either direct or side members of the Yu Family, external forces with some status like Min Baoyi, or wealthy families with tens of thousands in their coffers.

A few hundred taels of silver were nothing but a drop in the bucket for them.

Therefore, he wasn't worried that this amount of money would cause any trouble for Chen Yue.

After a simple tidy-up,

Chen Mu changed into casual clothes but still kept his servant's knife at his side. He then took the gold leaves and left the house, heading to the Inner City.

It had been nearly five months since his last visit to the Inner City to see her; by this time, the young girl's grudge against him was probably as endless as a torrential river.