Chapter 54: Splitting the Spoils on the Spot and an Ambush on the Road

Chapter 54: Dividing the Spoils and an Ambush Along the Way

Wiping out five disciples of the Xingshuo Sect in one fell swoop had only yielded a single martial arts manual, and a rather mediocre one at that: the Three-Yin Centipede Claws.

It was evident that relying on killing plot characters to acquire martial arts was an extremely inefficient and flawed approach.

Among the items dropped by the Xingshuo disciples, aside from the manual, the rest consisted of hidden weapons, poisons, and training insights for Xingshuo Sect martial arts.

Setting aside the hidden weapons and poisons, the training insights were particularly noteworthy.

The use of these items was extremely specific; only those who had already practiced the corresponding martial arts could acquire the relevant skill proficiency bonus upon obtaining the manual. Someone like Zhang Fang, who had never practiced these techniques, would only gain anywhere from one-percent to ten-percent proficiency even if he used these insights, which would then be applied to the martial art of the closest matching type.

For instance, if Zhang Fang obtained the training insights for the Sapping Palm, it would normally grant 200 points of proficiency for that technique. However, because he had never learned this palm style, this portion of proficiency would be heavily discounted and added to his Repenting Dragon's Grasp, ultimately resulting in a pathetic few points. As for the insights for the Three-Yin Centipede Claws, the bonus would be even scarcer.

After some filtering, Zhang Fang ultimately kept only the manual for the Three-Yin Centipede Claws.

A-Zi had already learned this martial art long ago and had raised it to a fairly high level, so giving it to her was entirely useless. Of course, Zhang Fang kept this manual simply with the intention of tossing it into the consignment market in exchange for points.

He certainly had no intention of learning it himself.

The lesson from the last "Random Martial Arts Upgrade Card" was still vivid in his memory. To prevent similar absurd incidents from happening to him again, Zhang Fang adopted an attitude of avoiding the learning of low-utility martial arts whenever possible.

Except for the manual, he bundled up all the remaining items and sold them to A-Zi for a price of 2,200 points.

Following that, he escorted A-Zi back to Luoyang City, letting her pick out a brand-new set of clothes at the tailor shop to change into, before unhurriedly leading her back to the Beggar Sect's main headquarters.

Along the way, Zhang Fang noticed the excited look on the little girl's face and couldn't help teasingly asking, "Speaking of which, during that previous battle, I scammed you out of over 2,000 points. How come you don't look depressed at all, but rather look like you got the better end of the deal?"

"Of course I got the better end of the deal!" A-Zi chuckled softly and replied, "Through this battle, the various martial arts proficiencies I gained added up to a massive 6,500 points, and the Three-Yin Centipede Claws even reached level 7!"

"Coupled with so many top-tier hidden weapons and poisons, it only cost me 3,200 points, and more than half of those points were actually earned right during that battle."

"No matter how you look at it, I made a massive profit, right?"

Pausing slightly, she added, "You have to realize that without you, the moment I saw them I would have had to run away immediately, not daring to have a direct conflict with them at all."

A-Zi wasn't lying.

Against the other four, A-Zi's strength meant she wasn't afraid, but once she was bogged down by those four and couldn't escape in time after Star-Catcher appeared, the consequences would have been too grave.

Hearing her say this, a satisfied smile hung at the corners of Zhang Fang's lips beneath his mask.

Although this younger sister wore A-Zi's skin, her worldview and values were actually quite upright.

Earlier, Zhang Fang had deliberately put on the airs of a skinflint, seemingly intent on bleeding her dry. His purpose had been to test her character and, based on that, decide how to arrange her placement in subsequent missions.

If she were an intensely self-centered person, she would definitely be filled with resentment toward him.

Yet this young woman disguised as A-Zi was able to look past the superficial appearance and see the fact that far from suffering a loss in this cooperation, she had reaped gratifying gains.

One had to realize that when faced with matters concerning their personal interests, even many seemingly magnanimous grown men might not be able to see things this clearly.

Based on this alone, she was worth further, deeper cooperation within this dungeon world.

Before that, however, Zhang Fang decided to offer her a few pointers regarding martial arts. Therefore, he deliberately asked in a slightly puzzled tone, "During our fight earlier, I noticed that Star-Catcher's cultivation was only a cut above the ordinary elders of the Beggar Sect. Paired with all sorts of bizarre poisons and toxic techniques, he's probably about on par with the punishment and law enforcement elders."

"Yet looking at your performance earlier, even if your strength isn't quite on par with Star-Catcher, it shouldn't be too far off. Plus, you have the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Technique, a malefic art that strikes fear into the hearts of everyone in the Xingshuo Sect, acting as your trump card."

"Against Star-Catcher, even if you couldn't defeat him, you certainly wouldn't lose easily. Relying on the Cloud Crane Nine Heavens lightness skill, even if you couldn't beat him, you could definitely have run away."

"I simply can't figure out what made you fear that Star-Catcher like a mouse fears a cat?"

"Ah, this..." A-Zi was startled upon hearing this, and her eyes suddenly lit up: "That's right! With my current strength, I don't need to fear that Star-Catcher at all anymore!"

With that, she couldn't help offering a wry smile: "It was A-Zi's original memories that caused me to generate an unconquerable impression of Star-Catcher deep in my heart the moment I thought of him."

"Coupled with the fact that I suffered a heavy defeat at his hands in the previous reincarnation world, I suppose it left me with a psychological shadow?"

As they spoke, the two of them were already less than five li away from the Beggar Sect's main headquarters, before them a bluestone path winding through the woods. The two each employed their lightness skills to travel into the forest. A-Zi, whose movements had originally been graceful and ethereal, inexplicably slowed her pace. Across her joyful little face flashed a very unnatural look of awkwardness, and her right hand even subconsciously patted her flat lower abdomen.

Seeing this, Zhang Fang also slowed his pace and asked in a deep voice, "What's wrong with you?"

Hearing this, A-Zi's pretty face instantly flushed red with two patches of crimson. She timidly lowered her head and whispered in explanation, "I'm hungry."

Zhang Fang subconsciously looked up at the sky. It was currently just reaching noon, precisely the time ordinary households ate lunch. He hadn't expected this young woman's biological clock to be so precise...

She was hungry truly, damn it, right on schedule!

After frantically complaining in his heart about the girl's foodie attributes, Zhang Fang was just about to say that there would be food once they returned to the main headquarters when a sudden sense of impending danger arose in his heart. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he drew the edge-sharpened steel shield into his hand and shouted in a deep voice, "Murderous intent! Fall back!"

Hearing this, A-Zi instinctively leaped back several paces in succession, her hands already grasping a Heart-Refining Pellet and three Azure Phosphorus Needles respectively, having evidently prepared herself for battle.

However, looking around left and right, she saw that the dense forest was dead silent without a trace of any enemy, prompting her to ask with some puzzlement, "Brother You, are you sure there's an enemy and not just misjudging?"

"There's no mistake!" Zhang Fang's gaze turned icy as he looked toward a certain direction deep in the forest ahead. "A few friends, since you've already come, why not show yourselves?"

"Not necessarily, not necessarily!"

As Zhang Fang's voice trailed off, an extremely irritating voice instantly rang out from the forest ahead.

Immediately following that, two figures leaped out, blocking the path of Zhang Fang and A-Zi. One of them was precisely Bao Butong: "You and I are enemies to begin with, and since we came here with openly malicious intentions, no matter how you look at it, we are foes rather than friends. Yet you open and close your mouth calling us 'friends'—truly utterly hypocritical."

Zhang Fang's remark was simply a common piece of martial world jargon, typically used when discovering an opponent lying in ambush ahead of time. The word "friend" was merely a casual courtesy that no one would take seriously.

Yet Bao Butong seized upon this word to pick a stubborn argument, amply demonstrating his nature as a habitual nitpicker.

With such a person, the more attention you paid to him, the more he would court humiliation. Zhang Fang simply acted as if he hadn't heard and instead shifted his gaze to the black-robed man holding a single saber beside him.

That black-robed man let out a hehe chuckle, then laid his saber horizontally across his hands and said arrogantly, "No need to ask, my name is Feng Bo'e, and in this life, I passionately love fighting with others. You previously humiliated the three of us in every possible way at the Beggar Sect headquarters, and today our brothers have come to ambush and kill you, which similarly cannot be called open and aboveboard. So neither of us has the right to judge the other—let's fight!"

With that, his body leaped into the air, and the single saber in his hand descended from above in a mighty Mount Hua Cleaving stance, hacking straight down toward the crown of Zhang Fang's head.

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(End of chapter)