99: The ninth day of the ninth month
Just as they breathed a sigh of relief, they suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure sitting on the wall out of the corner of their eyes.
That was Third Master Long!
Long Ye's reputation was even more terrifying than Human Butcher Long An!
Because Long An was personally brought up by Long Ye!
Especially since Long Ye had not kept a low profile in recent years; on the contrary, he had made many moves.
Compared to Long An, everyone knew Long Ye was more ruthless! He was truly one to grind bones to dust, even the egg yolk would be shaken loose!
"Third Senior Brother, don't scare people."
Qin Jiang's figure suddenly appeared behind the two, placing his hands on their shoulders, "Go, walk with confidence, no one will stop you."
After speaking, he leaped up and sat beside Long Ye, picking up a wine jar and drinking heartily.
Long Ye's eyes widened slightly, "My wine isn't cheap, leave some for me!"
Qin Jiang smiled slightly, took out the three hundred tael silver notes Li Miaoyan had given him from hisin my arms and stuffed them into Long Ye's hand, "Consider it my treat."
Long Ye looked at the three hundred tael silver notes in his hand, and the corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Good boy, isn't this from the one hundred thousand taels I gave you?
Thinking of this made him feel uncomfortable all over, wishing he could slap himself a few times!
His gaze fell on the old madam and her brother, who had not yet left, and he said testily, "Still not leaving? Do you want to drink my wine too!"
The old madam and her brother shivered and quickly left.
Along the way, no one blocked them, and there were even a few people guiding them. There was no other way, Long Manor was truly vast.
After leaving Long Manor, a gentle breeze blew on the street, giving the two a feeling of surviving a catastrophe.
"Sister, what do you think is the identity of that adult? To have such strong say in the Long family," Li Xunan asked.
Li Miaoyan pouted, "Didn't you hear that adult call Third Master Long 'Third Senior Brother'? I guess the apprenticeship ceremony the Long family held some time ago was for him."
Li Xunan suddenly realized, "No wonder, it was that person!"
"Hey! You two over there! Why aren't you leaving yet! Do you want to visit the dungeon again!" the captain of the guards at the Long Manor entrance shouted.
The old madam and her brother shivered, not daring to say anything more, and quickly left.
Without anyone noticing, a black fire mark flashed and disappeared on the back of their necks, near their ears.
Inside Long Manor, on the courtyard wall, Long Ye looked at the departing old madam and her brother, "Is it useful? I don't feel it's very reliable."
Qin Jiang smiled, "Of course, just wait and see, there might be some unexpected gains."
That black fire mark was a tracker he left on the two of them. He used Long Ye as a reference; as long as it exceeded Long Ye's source energy level, it would automatically emit the unique fluctuations of black fire.
At that time, he would be able to find at least one Golden Face belonging to the Jin Yu Pavilion.
Perhaps it might even be a Yu Mian, and then he could just have a match or two to test the strength of a high-level Secret Martial Artist.
"As you wish, but your strength... I heard from Long An that you took down that Gold Seven in just one breath?"
Long Ye was somewhat disbelieving, or rather, unwilling to believe it.
Even he would need at least a cup of tea's time to take down that Gold Seven, and Qin Jiang was actually faster than him.
He, of course, knew Qin Jiang would surpass him, but he just didn't expect this day to come so soon.
"Yes, Third Senior Brother, do you want to test my strength?" Qin Jiang asked with a smile.
Long Ye shook his head, "No need, you have already proven your strength with facts, why should I do something unnecessary?"
After speaking, he pondered for a moment, "How many layers of the Azure Fire Bronze Furnace Skill have you cultivated to now?"
"It has reached Major Achievement," Qin Jiang said casually.
Long Ye froze in place. Although he had already guessed this possibility, he still couldn't quite believe it.
He would rather believe that Qin Jiang had only cultivated to the second or third layer, but possessed extremely powerful combat strength, capable of overpowering a fifth-stage Secret Martial Artist across Realms, than believe that Qin Jiang had not only surpassed him in strength but also in Realm.
He smiled and nodded, "Good, truly good. It seems the year-end competition is already a sure thing."
Someone who could overpower a Secret Martial Artist during his True Martial Artist period, he didn't think that person would only have this much strength after achieving Major Achievement in Secret Martial Arts.
He probably wouldn't even need many moves to deal with himself.
He stood up, brushed off the dust on his clothes, "You drink, I'm going back."
A few days later, on the ninth day of the ninth month, at the Bronze Bell Sect.
At this time, the mountainside of the main peak was already packed with people. The outer circle consisted of Inner Sect Disciples and some Geniuses among the Outer Sect Disciples, while the inner circle held the Protectors and many True Disciples of the sect.
Qin Jiang sat in the inner circle, with Long Ye beside him.
He looked towards the area near the mountain top. The ones presiding over this True Disciple ranking competition were two Elders, precisely Liu Xiangyi and Su Yun from that day.
"Fourth Brother, just fight casually this time, don't expose your full strength for now. It will be stable only after you secure a spot at the end of the year and master the Golden Light Subduing Demon Fist," Long Ye said.
This ranking competition was practically child's play for Qin Jiang.
If it weren't for the fact that the reward for the top spot was a bottle of Golden Light Spirit Liquid, diluted from Golden Light Source Energy, he would even think it better not to participate at all.
Ningan, or rather, the entire Yuan Province, was far from as peaceful as it currently seemed.
As a region bordering Huai Country, people throughout Yuan Province were in a state of panic, fearing that the Huai Country army would invade one day.
Therefore, many forces harbored thoughts of defecting to Huai Country. Even in Ningan City, there were such individuals, but they were hidden too deeply and had not been found.
So, if Qin Jiang exposed too much of his talent, he might be assassinated!
In Ningan City, Qin Jiang's current strength, although among the top twenty, was still somewhat inferior to high-level Secret Martial Artists above the seventh stage.
If some family head were shameless enough to personally deal with Qin Jiang, the Long family might not be able to protect Qin Jiang from a high-level Secret Martial Artist.
After all, catching a thief is easy, but guarding against one is difficult.
Qin Jiang smiled, he didn't care whether he used his full strength or not. What if he exposed his strength?
However, he looked at the many True Disciples, roughly thirty of them.
Most were still below the second stage, a few had reached the third stage, and only four had reached the fourth stage.
Such a lineup really made it difficult for him to feel the desire to fight.
Even if they were tied together, they couldn't withstand one punch from him in his peak state.
"I understand, I will suppress my strength to the fourth, third, second stage... *hiss*"
He suddenly realized that even when he had just made his Breakthrough, he was still much stronger than the one with the strongest aura among them.
Long Ye beside him wore an 'I knew it' expression. He was already used to it and spoke helplessly, "Just suppress your strength to that of an ordinary fourth-stage, and then use some rather profound techniques to defeat that Liu Chenyi."
Speaking of this, he thought for a moment, "Liu Chenyi has a Divine Sword as a source artifact. You can pretend to be wary of the power of the source artifact, and then burst out at a critical moment. Wouldn't that be a very reasonable win?"
Qin Jiang couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this, "Third Senior Brother is truly quick-witted."
Long Ye waved his hand, "You flatter me, you flatter me. If you think my suggestion is good, then if you're free tomorrow, I'll treat you to Fengyi Pavilion.
Of course, I'll treat you, but you'll definitely be paying the bill."