Chapter 306: Unexpected Gains

With Wangchuan’s sudden assault breaking through the formation, two Second-Rank Martial Artists of the Beggar Sect were swiftly killed.

The remaining men, realizing the situation was beyond saving, panicked and were cut down in a chaotic flurry of blades by Cui Mingjue, Chen Ergou, and the others.

Wangchuan did not forget to search the bodies of those Ranked Martial Artists.

Chen Ergou and the others quickly pulled out one money pouch after another.

“Let’s go!”

“Move!”

“People from the Six Gates should arrive soon.”

Cui Mingjue reminded Wangchuan.

After this battle, he had completely recognized Wangchuan’s strength.

Wangchuan silently removed the Armor-Piercing Crossbow Bolt from the wall—the very one that had struck Zhang Ye. With a casual punch, he shattered the hole in the wall, then rushed out of the sub-branch with the others, heading toward the Main Helm dock.

Zhao Heiniu, Hong Kaibao, and the rest had already sheathed their weapons and hurried to the headquarters dock.

“Helm Leader Wangchuan, travel safely.”

“Mm.”

Wangchuan waved with a smile. “We will drink the victory wine another time.”

“Certainly!”

The two sides cupped their fists and parted ways.

Moments later, the group leapt into the river one after another.

After swimming for more than a li, they finally boarded the large ship of the Sanjiang Branch Helm and returned to the branch helm.

This night raid had gone extremely smoothly.

Zhang Ye and the others had been caught completely off guard. Nearly two hundred people in the Beggar Sect sub-branch were wiped out entirely—no survivors left.

Even so, Wangchuan could not bring himself to feel happy.

This operation by the Caobang had been a desperate counterattack.

But it might also provoke further retaliation from the Beggar Sect.

The consequences were difficult to predict.

Fortunately, his mission had been completed perfectly. If the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill promised by Old Seven could truly be approved, he would be able to remain at the Second Rank and continue cultivating the 《Black Tortoise Art》, taking advantage of his lower-rank stage to push the progress bar of his internal cultivation method even further.

After returning to the Sanjiang Branch Helm,

Wangchuan was too excited to sit still.

Chen Ergou and the others were even more excited.

“Helm Leader!”

“These Beggar Sect beggars are surprisingly rich.”

“These few Second-Rank Martial Artists each had one hundred taels’ worth of gold notes on them. Yet they dressed like ragged vagrants. They really knew how to put on an act!”

The group began counting the spoils of the operation.

They had not taken the weapons of the Beggar Sect disciples, but they had brought back the money pouches and various small items. The table was soon covered with a dazzling assortment.

Finally, Chen Ergou finished tallying everything.

The total value came to seven hundred and forty taels of gold.

In addition, there was a bottle of poison, a bottle of wound medicine for healing injuries, and one item that surprised Wangchuan greatly—

a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill.

When Chen Ergou handed the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill to him, Wangchuan’s eyes widened.

“Whose body did this come from?”

His face was filled with disbelief.

Chen Ergou answered,

“The pouch you retrieved, Helm Leader—that one belonged to the sub-branch master Zhang Ye.”

“… ”

Wangchuan still found it hard to believe.

A mere Second-Rank Martial Artist like Zhang Ye had dropped a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill.

Zhao Heiniu pointed to the pile of gold, silver jewelry, and gemstones on the table.

“These beggars are skilled thieves. Could they have stolen these from somewhere else?”

This explanation was at least somewhat acceptable to Wangchuan.

Then he could not help but laugh.

It truly was like receiving a soft pillow just as sleepiness arrived.

He had been wondering whether he could buy a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill somewhere at a high price.

Yet now the pill had fallen directly into his hands.

Wonderful.

Holding the pill tightly, he instructed Chen Ergou,

“Restore the wooden vat for me. I am going into closed-door cultivation.”

The Beggar Sect sub-branch had been completely annihilated. For the time being, the Beggar Sect was weakened while the Caobang held the advantage. This was the perfect opportunity to cultivate in seclusion.

“Yes!”

Chen Ergou immediately went to carry out the order.

The large wooden vat was prepared and filled with water. However, Wangchuan did not begin cultivating immediately. Instead, he waited for one hour until a carrier pigeon message arrived from the hall headquarters.

Everything proceeded smoothly.

Those four words written on the note allowed Wangchuan to finally relax, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

Old Seven’s operation had concluded.

Three Third-Rank Martial Artists of the Beggar Sect had been executed!

They were safe.

“Starting tomorrow morning, double all patrol boats across the upper and lower waterways!”

“Have Li Qing keep a close watch on every unfamiliar face at the dock. Report immediately if anything unusual appears!”

“Yes!”

After issuing these orders, Wangchuan swallowed the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill, sat inside the wooden vat, and began cultivating the 《Black Tortoise Art》.

Under the stimulation of the pill’s medicinal power, the 《Black Tortoise Art》 once again entered a rapid cultivation state—one full circulation every two minutes, directly granting one experience point.

After each full circulation cycle, his internal breath visibly expanded.

The medicinal energy fused with his body, rapidly nurturing and condensing the internal breath, strengthening it further.

Wangchuan once again entered a state of complete absorption in cultivation.

He immersed himself entirely.

Chen Ergou arranged four First-Rank Martial Artists to stand guard outside the courtyard. From time to time, Chen Ergou personally came to report the latest news from the prefectural authorities.

“Helm Leader.”

“The sub-branch master of the Beggar Sect and the three deputy branch masters have all been killed… The bodies of three people were missing, but there was blood everywhere in their residence. The scene looked somewhat like the work of monsters from the Blood Moon Incident.”

“… ”

“The news that the Beggar Sect sub-branch has been destroyed has already spread.”

“The Six Gates have sealed off the crime scene according to procedure and have begun searching for clues.”

“Our operation at the Beggar Sect sub-branch was extremely clean. We left no obvious traces pointing toward us… Although the Six Gates know that it was done by our Caobang, they probably will not take direct action against us.”

Wangchuan understood.

This arrangement of truth mixed with deception served two purposes: it gave the Six Gates room to ease their pressure, and at the same time it intimidated the other local forces of Sanhe Commandery.

“Today, the news of the Beggar Sect sub-branch’s destruction has spread quickly across all dock halls. So far, no river bandits have dared to show themselves, and shipping across the waterways has proceeded very smoothly.”

The destruction of the Beggar Sect sub-branch,

and the ferocity of the Caobang’s retaliation,

had indeed shocked the surrounding powers.

Whether local families or various gangs, all of them now had to consider carefully whether they were strong enough to provoke such an enemy.

Old Seven’s objective had been achieved.

What remained was to see how the Beggar Sect would respond.

One day and one night soon passed.

Wangchuan clenched his teeth and endured an entire day and night of cultivation, steadily gaining more than seven hundred experience points and raising the experience progress of the 《Black Tortoise Art》 to 800 points.

Although there was still a long road ahead before reaching the realm of Perfect Mastery, at least the progress was already obvious.

During this time,

Chen Gang from the Bajiquan Martial Arts Gym called him and told him that two of his friends would arrive that evening and stay at the gym for a month. If Wangchuan had time, he could go there to spar with them.

…

On the third day after the Beggar Sect sub-branch was destroyed,

the Caobang’s rewards arrived.

Cui Mingjue personally led a team to deliver the rewards from above.

After learning of the operation in Sanhe Commandery, the high-ranking leaders of the Caobang gave Old Seven high praise. Not only did they remove the word “acting” from his title—making him the official Hall Master of the Sanhe Commandery hall—but they also awarded a total of four Lesser Rejuvenation Pills, three Fourth-Rank martial arts manuals, and one Third-Rank martial arts manual.

Fourth-Rank martial arts…

Naturally, Wangchuan had no share in those.

But the Lesser Rejuvenation Pills and the Third-Rank martial arts manual made him extremely pleased.

The Caobang leadership had thoughtfully delivered a martial art that was not available in the hall’s Armory Manual Vault.

Moreover, it was a relatively rare hidden-weapon technique—

《Star-Plucking Hand》