12: Chapter 12 Third-Rate Master, Challenge Point

[Wind-Treading Step Stage 1 (90%) → Wind-Treading Step Stage 2 (30%)]

[Falling Thunder Swordsmanship Stage 1 (0%) → Falling Thunder Swordsmanship Stage 1 (60%)]

Having slain the two men and glanced at the changes on his interface, Qin Muyuan nodded slightly.

Not bad. Although this Falling Thunder Swordsmanship is also a colorless quality martial art, it is much stronger than the Flowing Cloud Hand.

Coupled with the downward strike critical hit blessing of the pure nail, this kind of mini elite monster goes down in one hit, directly instakilled.

Behind Qin Muyuan, Xiao Chang was instantly dumbfounded when he saw him quickly and effortlessly dispatch two hall masters of the Black Tiger Gang.

Wang Heihu of the Black Tiger Gang possesses second-rate strength, and the hall masters under him are not weak either.

Although these two cannot be considered third-rate, they can at least be called experts in various small countries.

Yet such experts were cleaved to death by Brother Qin with a single sword?!

"And that Falling Thunder Swordsmanship..."

Xiao Chang was incomparably shocked in his heart. This Falling Thunder Swordsmanship was a swordsmanship solely created by an ancestor of his Xiao Family, and it was only circulated within the Xiao Family and families closely allied with them.

It was impossible for outsiders to know it.

Could the Falling Thunder Swordsmanship that Qin Muyuan was displaying right now... have been learned from the sword manual his own Family gave him just moments ago?

But... from the time their Xiao Family handed the swordsmanship to Qin Muyuan, to the moment Qin Muyuan displayed it now, less than an hour had passed!

In an hour, he directly learned the swordsmanship that it would take a swordsmanship Genius of their Xiao Family a year and a half to learn?

Is this possible?!

Is this kind of swordsmanship talent something the Human Race should possess!?

"What are the second-rate and third-rate experts you mentioned just now, and how are they classified? How can I find them?"

Ending the battle, Qin Muyuan put away the pure nail and asked Xiao Chang.

These two elite monsters were too weak; they couldn't even withstand a single sword stroke from him.

Although instakilling small mobs is satisfying, Qin Muyuan still prefers challenging opponents with thicker health bars so he can hack at them a few more times until he's satisfied.

"Brother Qin actually doesn't know the strength classifications?" Xiao Chang was slightly surprised, but quickly thought of a reason for Qin Muyuan.

He thought: "Brother Qin must frequently stay in the Sect, immersed in the world of practicing martial arts and growing his strength, paying little attention to external matters, which is why he doesn't even know the Realm strength classifications."

After thinking this, Xiao Chang said to Qin Muyuan:

"Brother Qin, in the Jianghu of the Southern Wilderness nations, Martial Artists are divided into several grades."

"The lowest tier is naturally unranked Martial Artists who haven't generated internal force in their bodies and only know how to throw some punches and kicks."

"Then there are fourth-rate Martial Artists who have already learned a martial art and are quite nimble with their fists and feet."

"Next are third-rate Martial Artists, who have generated internal force within."

"Second-rate Martial Artists have internal force surging endlessly."

"First-rate Martial Artists have internal force overflowing into Qi, which can be released across a distance with impressive methods."

Qin Muyuan understood. It seemed that the Realm classification in this world was not quite the same as the Rank on his interface.

"Then how do I find these people?" he asked.

Xiao Chang said: "Third-rate Martial Artists can open martial arts halls in various countries and recruit Disciples."

"Second-rate Martial Artists can become the largest martial arts hall in a city and cooperate with the official government."

"As for first-rate Martial Artists, they are beings worshipped as honored guests by the imperial courts of various nations, and are mostly close bodyguards of the monarchs of various countries."

Martial arts hall?

Challenge points...

Qin Muyuan understood. The functions of these so-called experts and martial arts halls in the game were just like gym after gym in Pokémon.

If he won the challenge, he could obtain badges or similar things and raise his reputation.

He just wondered if there would be any special rewards after kicking through all the martial arts halls in a city.

"Finding challenge points isn't urgent; let's finish the quest first and raise my Rank before talking about it."

Qin Muyuan thought to himself.

Although challenge points like this should be endlessly challengeable,

but the NPC intelligence in this game is very good. If he lost a challenge, it would be a bit embarrassing.

It would drop his mood value.

Having killed the two members of the Black Tiger Gang, Qin Muyuan followed the arrows of the [Quest Guidance] and continued forward.

Xiao Chang followed closely behind him, saying with no small amount of worry:

"Brother Qin, Wang Heihu, the leader of the Black Tiger Gang, holds grudges for every slight. Since you killed his subordinate hall masters, he will definitely send people to pursue you. Please be sure to be careful!"

Hearing this, Qin Muyuan thought: "It's quite realistic. The moment I kill his subordinates, he sends people to hunt me down..."

However, with such a high degree of freedom in this game, it shouldn't restrict the player's means of counterattack.

For example, finding Wang Heihu's lair and butchering him before Wang Heihu sends people to hunt him down, or something similar.

"Hmm, let's finish this quest first, and then take down Wang Heihu... Speaking of which, since Wang Heihu is the boss of an underworld Gang, there should be bounty quests and the like in the city..."

Qin Muyuan thought to himself.

Following the arrows deep into the courtyard, he could see several guards holding long staffs along the way.

Their strength didn't even count as fourth-rate Martial Artists. Once spotted by Qin Muyuan, they were hacked down in a single exchange.

Following the arrows all the way straight in, the arrows finally stopped at a cellar entrance in the courtyard.

"A cellar? Brother Qin thinks that Shi Gandang is locked in the cellar?"

Xiao Chang felt doubtful in his heart.

But what puzzled him even more was that Brother Qin acted as if he had a roadmap in his eyes. After breaking into this residence, he didn't take a single wrong fork and directly found this cellar.

It was simply extremely miraculous!

Qin Muyuan didn't know what Xiao Chang was thinking. He simply gripped the pure nail, yanked open the stone slab covering the cellar entrance, and walked straight into the cellar.

...

Oil lamps were burning beneath the cellar, so it wasn't dim.

As Qin Muyuan walked down the cellar steps, a burst of footsteps also came from behind the corner of the spiral staircase below.

The owner of those footsteps also heard Qin Muyuan's footsteps walking down from above, but didn't care. Instead, as he walked up, he said:

"Youlan? Or Shijin? I heard someone broke into my residence. Has it been resolved?"

Clearly, that person didn't know about what happened above and still thought the person coming down was his trusted aide.

However, the person below quickly realized something was wrong.

Because Qin Muyuan above didn't speak; instead, he quickened the footsteps walking downward.

Hearing the quickened footsteps, the person below instantly felt something was amiss and immediately switched from walking up to running down.

However, no matter how fast he was, he couldn't be faster than Qin Muyuan, who had executed the Wind-Treading Step.

Then Qin Muyuan was seen darting out swiftly from behind, grabbing this person by the collar and pressing him down onto the ground.

Xiao Chang quickly followed from behind. Seeing the pinned person, he said: "Brother Qin, look at the robe on his body—it's a squire's robe! He must be that Squire Chen!"

"Squire Chen?"

Qin Muyuan looked toward the quest interface, and the content on it had indeed changed:

[Quest Guidance: There is actually such a deep cellar in Squire Chen's residence? What is this cellar used for? What kind of secrets are hidden inside? Perhaps I can pry open Squire Chen's mouth and learn from him]