novelraw Chapter 121
Chapter 121
That evening, Instructor Yu took one hundred taels’ worth of gold notes from Wangchuan.
As he was leaving, Instructor Yu asked casually, “Supervisor Su told me you are going up to Blackwind Stronghold tomorrow as well?”
“Instructor Yu, are you going too?”
“The Land-Clearing Team is short-handed. As a full-fledged Martial Artist, I will definitely go over to help. Lin Xun will be going tomorrow as well. Are you all right over here? You have only just been promoted to a hall master, and you are already going out?”
Instructor Yu knew the situation at the Yulong Gang’s hall. There was only one Martial Artist here—Wangchuan.
He was worried that if Wangchuan left, the place would be leaderless, and something might go wrong.
Wangchuan gave him a reassuring look and said, “It is fine.”
“I have made arrangements.”
He truly had. Qian Sihai was keeping an eye on the Weapon Room, so nothing could go wrong there.
Over here at the hall, Wang Yuehui was leading people to keep watch, and he was also keeping an eye on the dock branch helm. Nothing would go wrong there either—after all, he had only just submitted his pledge of loyalty, and besides, there were plenty of people from various studios in the hall.“Mm.” Instructor Yu nodded, still somewhat surprised.
Wangchuan had barely taken office, yet he already carried the presence and confidence of a hall master. He was growing a little too fast.
“How many people are you planning to bring up the mountain tomorrow?”
“Fourteen for now.”
Wangchuan answered, “Besides Chen Ergou, Bai Yuhui, Hong Kaibao, and Captain Zhao Heiniu, I am also planning to bring ten inner disciples up the mountain. They all know archery or throwing knives… If it is not dangerous, they will carry arrows for me. If it is dangerous, they can still lend a hand and put in some strength.”
Instructor Yu was startled.
More than a dozen people!
Worthy of the strongest hall master in Huishui County.
As a constable from the county office, he could not casually bring more than a dozen people out of the city to handle work.
Wangchuan truly was different now.
“Good!” Instructor Yu said. “At dawn tomorrow, Lin Xun and I will be waiting for you at the city gate.”
“Mm.”
…
The next day.
Before daybreak, Wangchuan led a team out from the hall. They ate meat buns from the docks and went to meet Instructor Yu and Lin Xun’s group at the city gate.
Behind Instructor Yu were two people—one man and one woman—wearing the uniforms of yamen runners. At a glance, they were clearly players.
Behind Lin Xun were Li Zekai and three other men. They were players as well, all with Quasi-Martial Artist strength.
“Wangchuan is here,” Lin Xun greeted him.
Seeing how quickly Wangchuan had grown into a First-Rank Martial Artist, Lin Xun’s expression turned complicated, a mix of emotions. There was less closeness than before, and a bit more courtesy and distance.
Wangchuan sighed quietly to himself.
He could understand Lin Xun’s feelings.
Back when he was still at the blacksmith shop, he had only just reached the threshold of a Quasi-Martial Artist at thirty attribute points, and Lin Xun had seemed like an awe-inspiring expert to him.
Who would have thought that only a few months later, Lin Xun was still stuck on stamina attributes, unable to scrape together even twenty points of stamina?
Meanwhile, Wangchuan had broken through with the Hundredfold Steel Forging Technique, used his free attribute points, successfully become a First-Rank Martial Artist, and even taken charge of a hall, surpassing Lin Xun. Lin Xun might be an elder of the Yulong Gang, but an elder only had an offering salary and the prestige of reputation. He had no direct subordinates, and his authority was far inferior to that of a hall master.
“Brother Lin,” Wangchuan said. “We should not waste time. Let us depart.”
After they joined up, the party’s size swelled to twenty-two.
They headed straight for the great mountain where Blackwind Stronghold was located.
When they reached the vicinity of the mountain, another group had already arrived.
Monk Dalong led seventeen people, and there was also a Captain Zhao Heiniu beside him.
Zhao Heiniu had received Wangchuan’s message yesterday.
Wangchuan’s reputation in Blackstone Village had already reached Revered. If he personally asked Captain Zhao Heiniu to leave the village and help, there was naturally no problem.
Seeing how large the party was this time, Monk Dalong was clearly delighted—especially when he noticed that the Yulong Gang’s inner disciples all had large baskets filled to the brim with arrows. His smile grew even wider.
“Hall Master Wang truly is bold! With a single move, you bring several thousand arrows. That is enough to fight a battle on a proper scale.”
“Senior Dalong said we should bring more arrows and more people,” Wangchuan replied. “So I brought out all the brothers in the hall who had nothing urgent to do. I hope we can be of some help.”
With those words, Wangchuan gave Monk Dalong ample face.
Monk Dalong was pleased.
“Good!” he said. “Then we officially set out.”
“Today’s task is heavy. Everyone pick up the pace. Let us enter the stronghold as early as we can.”
With Monk Dalong’s order, the team entered the mountain.
Wangchuan noticed that almost everyone carried a hunting bow, with their backs bundled with arrows, and each person held a short-range weapon for close combat—a saber or a sword. They were fully armed, lean, and steady.
However, not many carried Hundredfold Steel weapons.
Aside from Monk Dalong, Lin Xun, Instructor Yu, and his own group, there were only a few.
That was right.
For this operation, Wangchuan had proactively equipped all ten accompanying inner disciples with Hundredfold Steel sabers made by the Weapon Room. Each of them was naturally thrilled, treating this private assignment from their hall master as a prized errand.
Wangchuan himself was also armed to the teeth. He carried an iron-reinforced bow and two quivers of armor-piercing arrows on his back. He gripped a Hundredfold Steel saber in his hand, and a ring of twelve Hundredfold Steel throwing knives was wrapped around his waist.
“Everyone, be careful,” Captain Zhao Heiniu warned.
“There is the scent of beasts up ahead.”
Although Captain Zhao Heiniu was only a Quasi-Martial Artist, he had spent countless years hunting and moving through the mountains. His nose had long been honed.
Monk Dalong hurried at the front to lead the way, not even breathing hard as he said, “At this hour, many beasts probably have not bedded down yet. Do not worry about them. If they come, we kill them. If they do not come close, we do not stir up trouble either. Our proper business matters.”
The moment he finished speaking, pairs of eyes lit up from within the woods—cold, ghostly glints.
“Wolves,” someone said.
Everyone was startled.
The Quasi-Martial Artists in the group drew their weapons together and formed up, prepared.
“I did not think we would run into a wolf pack here,” Monk Dalong said, turning cautious. He pulled down his Hundredfold Steel iron staff and said, “It seems we will have to kill for a while… Lin Xun, Old Yu, protect the group. Everyone else, form a defensive circle.”
Captain Zhao Heiniu hurried to Wangchuan’s side and whispered a few words into his ear.
Wangchuan’s expression tightened slightly. Then he decisively took down his iron-reinforced bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed into the woods. He issued an order to his disciples:
“Loose!”
In an instant, more than a dozen people drew and fired together.
TWANG!!
The iron-reinforced bow carried terrifying force.
Hundred Paces Piercing the Poplar granted even greater attack power.
A wolf’s skull was pierced straight through. Those cold, eerie eyes instantly went still.
Captain Zhao Heiniu, Bai Yuhui, Hong Kaibao, Chen Ergou, and the others all loosed arrows as well.
In moments, more than a dozen wolves in the woods were shot down.
Whine—whine!
Awoooo!
The wolves fled at once, tails tucked as they ran.
Monk Dalong stared, dumbstruck.
Wangchuan explained, “Senior Dalong, we should hurry! Those wolves were only part of a pack. If we get tied down with them, it will draw in more wolves. Then it will become troublesome…”
That warning had come from Captain Zhao Heiniu.
“Good!” Monk Dalong’s expression turned grim. He did not want to delay the real business. “We move!”
The party quickly resumed their march.
After that encounter, everyone’s vigilance rose.
They discovered that they truly could keep seeing pairs of eyes flickering behind them in the woods, neither rushing nor falling back, always trailing at a steady distance.
Farther away in the forest, there seemed to be more movement, and wolf howls rose and fell, answering one another.
Walking through the dim woods, everyone felt their hair stand on end.
Wangchuan, however, did not care.
A wolf pack was nothing…
It was not as though he had never killed wolves before.
Plenty of wild wolves had died by his hand.
And besides, there were so many Martial Artists and Quasi-Martial Artists at his side—each one sharp and tough.
Wangchuan’s steps remained steady and swift, calm and unhurried as he followed the party all the way. When his men saw him like that, they steadied themselves as well.
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