7: Chapter 7 Escort Mission Completed! Lightning Strike Sword Technique!

In the Huoyun Mountain Range, cluster after cluster of Huoyun Flowers bloomed with a crimson glow, resembling the clouds on the horizon illuminated by the setting sun.

Two figures crossed the Huoyun Mountain Range and arrived at the territory of Hongyan Prefecture. These two were naturally Qin Muyuan, who had just slaughtered his way through the cavalry of Xiaoshan Country, and Xiao Chang, who had just cheered for Qin Muyuan as he massacred the cavalry.

Entering Hongyan Prefecture, Xiao Chang found a tavern operated by the Xiao Family on the main road and had them quickly notify the members of the Xiao Family.

Seeing that Xiao Chang had an extraordinary bearing, Qin Muyuan was covered in blood, and knowing that the Young Master of the Xiao Family had indeed gone missing not long ago, the tavern waiter quickly reported to the tavern owner.

The tavern owner, a collateral member of the Xiao Family, hurriedly rushed out from the back courtyard of the tavern. The moment he saw Xiao Chang, he recognized this only son of the Xiao Family lineage:

"Cousin Xiao Chang! Are, are you alright!"

Xiao Chang also recognized this collateral cousin of the Xiao Family. For a moment, the two cousins embraced and shed tears, recounting the tragic story of how he was ambushed by a tiger demon and subsequently captured alive and thrown into a dungeon by Xiaoshan Country...

Qin Muyuan hopped around nearby, listening for a few sentences. Feeling that it was uninteresting, he stopped paying attention and instead opened the game panel.

[Completed Quest: Escort Xiao Chang back to the Xiao Family's territory]

[Rewards: EXP +200, Mall Points +1500, Huoyun Country Regional Fame +50, Colorless · Killing Intent Perception * 1]

[Rank: 2 → 3]

With 200 EXP credited, Qin Muyuan felt that his Physical Body strength had improved once again. In addition, the enhancement brought by the [I Love Killing] talent had also increased to 300%.

He also obtained a new colorless martial art, Killing Intent Perception.

The effect of Killing Intent Perception was very simple: within a certain range around him, as long as someone harbored Killing Intent towards Qin Muyuan, a blazing red mark would light up above their head, allowing Qin Muyuan to quickly notice it.

The higher the Rank, the larger the perception range.

"Not bad."

Qin Muyuan was quite satisfied. With Killing Intent Perception, he would know who wanted to kill him, and then he could kill everyone who wanted to kill him.

After Xiao Chang finished pouring out his grievances, that cousin led Xiao Chang and Qin Muyuan toward the Xiao Mansion.

Along the way, this Xiao Family cousin was quite curious about Qin Muyuan. From Xiao Chang's description, he heard that it was Qin Muyuan who had slaughtered his way through the defensive forces of Heishui County and escorted Xiao Chang all the way back to Huoyun Country.

However, Qin Muyuan was not interested in this Xiao Family cousin—he was not interested in any NPCs that did not have an exclamation mark above their heads and could not provide quests.

Arriving at the Xiao Mansion, the members of the Xiao Family who had received the news were already waiting in front of the Xiao Mansion.

"A-Chang!"

Seeing Xiao Chang, a beautiful woman hurriedly stepped forward, supported by a maid, her eyes shimmering with tears:

"You've lost so much weight... You must have suffered a lot along this journey, right? I told you long ago that things are not like before and the outside world is very chaotic, so you shouldn't go out on travels, but you refused to listen..."

Behind the beautiful woman, a middle-aged man with a strong scholarly aura also stepped up to greet him with concern.

After the greetings, the middle-aged man finally noticed Qin Muyuan in the rear.

The middle-aged man walked up quickly and bowed solemnly to Qin Muyuan:

"Many thanks to the righteous warrior for saving my rebellious son from Heishui Prison. Xiao Feng is endlessly grateful!"

Qin Muyuan glanced at Xiao Feng and said,

"Come on, bro, you're just expressing thanks with your mouth, aren't you going to give something substantive?"

Xiao Chang was stunned for a moment by Qin Muyuan's remark "Come on, bro" and his subsequent words.

Hearing this, Xiao Chang quickly turned his head and explained to his father, Xiao Feng: "Father, Brother Qin's temperament is just like this, please don't mind..."

"Hahaha! How could I mind!" Before Xiao Chang could finish explaining, Xiao Feng let out a loud laugh and interrupted him, while raising his hand to gesture toward the interior of the mansion:

"Little Brother Qin is uninhibited and straightforward—a person of genuine character! Please quickly enter the mansion to rest for a moment. I will immediately order someone to prepare a token of gratitude and properly reward you!"

Seeing this, Qin Muyuan walked straight into the mansion, completely ignoring the strange gazes of the others.

While following the servant into the mansion, he looked left and right. Every time he passed through a small courtyard, he rummaged around to see if he could find any treasures.

Unfortunately, this game seemed to be designed quite realistically in this aspect; there was no abrupt treasure chest hidden in some corner of the courtyard.

Or perhaps design a secret door somewhere, then design a jumping puzzle inside the secret door, and finally place a martial arts secret manual or some precious sword behind the jumping puzzle.

Seeing Qin Muyuan's eccentric actions of darting east and jumping west, the guiding servant was extremely mortified for a moment. He wanted to speak up and remind him, but he didn't dare to offend the savior of the Xiao Family's Young Master.

Fortunately, Qin Muyuan quickly lost interest after failing to find a treasure chest and stopped running around, instead following the servant straight to a scenic small courtyard in the Xiao Mansion.

Leading Qin Muyuan to the small courtyard, the servant finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Once he guided him to the courtyard, his task was considered complete. If Qin Muyuan stirred up any trouble, it would have nothing to do with him anymore.

The servant bowed and quickly retreated:

"Young Master Qin, please rest here for a moment. I will have someone serve tea right away."

"Go on, go on." Qin Muyuan waved his hand dismissively.

Soon, tea was served. At the same time, Xiao Chang and his old man Xiao Feng also arrived at the courtyard with the tokens of gratitude.

"Brother Qin, this is five hundred taels of silver, this is the deed to a courtyard in Qinghua County, Hongyan Prefecture, and this is a sword manual treasured by our Xiao Family..."

Xiao Chang handed the tokens of gratitude into Qin Muyuan's hands and said with sincere gratitude.

Qin Muyuan didn't stand on ceremony at all and took them directly.

He didn't understand how much purchasing power five hundred taels of silver equated to in the game, but he quite liked that property deed.

In that case, it would be equivalent to having a stronghold of his own here.

Hmm, this should be the player housing given after completing the game's beginner tutorial quests. Afterward, he should be able to add furniture to this housing, much like the housing gameplay in other games.

In addition, Qin Muyuan took that sword manual and glanced at it briefly. Under the talent bonus of [Essential Master], the contents of the sword manual were quickly recorded into the game panel.

[Colorless · Falling Thunder Swordsmanship Level 1 (0%): Circulate the body's strength, gather it at the sword tip, and trigger the momentum of falling heavenly thunder to slash at the enemy with astonishing might]

Seeing Qin Muyuan accept the tokens of gratitude, both Xiao Chang and Xiao Feng wore a trace of joy. It was good as long as he was willing to accept the gratitude gift.

If he didn't accept this token of gratitude, once the news spread, who knows how the other great families in Huoyun Country would gossip about their Xiao Family behind their backs.

They would probably say that their Xiao Family didn't even understand the etiquette of treating guests and repaying favors.

"Do you guys have a sword?" Closing the panel, Qin Muyuan asked.

Hearing this, both Xiao Chang and Xiao Feng were slightly startled.

They had only prepared the sword manual as a token of gratitude without preparing a precious sword precisely because they heard that Qin Muyuan was a Disciple of a major sect, assuming that his sect must have already bestowed a personal sword upon him.

Furthermore, the two of them were not even sure whether Qin Muyuan would look down upon the sword manual treasured by the Xiao Family.

After all, in the eyes of ordinary Disciples of major sects, such ancestral sword manuals might not catch their eye.

But looking at it now... Qin Muyuan didn't seem to even have a sword of his own?

Xiao Feng quickly recovered his wits. He slapped his forehead, looking regretful: "I prepared a precious sword, but I forgot it in the rush! Little Brother Qin, please wait a moment, I will have someone go down to the Armory to fetch a sword..."

However, before he finished speaking, Qin Muyuan, too lazy to wait, had already spent Mall Points to buy a "sword" from the game mall whose blade gleamed with cold light, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, shaped like a triangle.