Chapter 365: Causes a Sensation

For the Caobang, driving piles into the river and building raised fighting stages was no difficult matter at all.

Early the next morning, more than a hundred Caobang disciples set out in boats, transporting shipload after shipload of wooden piles to the designated stretch of open river...

Many ordinary townspeople, standing in the city streets or along the riverbank, could see at once that the area was in a frenzy of activity.

Many Caobang disciples plunged into the river clutching enormous wooden piles, then took turns bringing down iron hammers and metal spikes, hammering away without pause...

After that, people saw a group of craftsmen begin modifying and constructing plankways and viewing platforms along the river.

They extended more than a zhang from the bank out over the river!

The craftsmen worked without a word.

Caobang disciples stood nearby pointing and directing;

out on the river, boats came and went in an unending stream!

“What are the Caobang people doing?”

“No idea.”

“Judging by the scale of it, they must be planning something big.”

“...”

A great many people watched for half the day without making sense of it.

Not until the city began posting the Caobang’s Jianghu Grand Tournament Reward Notices.

One thousand taels of gold, written in especially eye-catching characters, stopped countless people in their tracks.

“Damn!”

“The champion’s prize is one thousand taels of gold!”

“Why on earth didn’t I learn martial arts...”

“Even tenth place would be good enough! That’s still fifty taels of gold! Tsk, tsk...”

The Caobang posted the reward notices at the city’s Dock Plaza, at the city gates, and at every major crossroads. The onlookers spread the word from ten to a hundred, from a hundred to a thousand, and before long everyone understood what sort of grand undertaking the Caobang was preparing.

The fifteenth day of the tenth month!

The Caobang would put up several thousand taels of gold as rewards for the highest-ranking winners among first-rank, second-rank, and third-rank martial artists.

Among the crowd, quite a few martial artists were stirred to excitement. They immediately ran off to spread the news to their friends, their families, or their colleagues in their studios.

Black words on white paper!

The notices were posted all the way from Sanhe Commandery to the various county seats and major towns.

In just a few short days, the Sanhe Commandery hall’s lavish display spread from Sanhe Commandery into the neighboring commanderies, stirring an enormous uproar throughout the Jianghu!

Many martial artists came after hearing the news!

Before the fifteenth day of the tenth month had even arrived,

the restaurants and inns of Sanhe Commandery were already packed to the brim, and business was booming.

Shipping traffic increased;

the business of restaurants and inns increased!

Even the brothels and gambling houses were seeing rising trade.

Throughout the prefectural seat of Sanhe Commandery, nearly everyone doing business benefited from the Caobang’s single reward notice, and all manner of praise was heaped on the Caobang for its wealth and boldness.

The prefectural government of Sanhe Commandery specially arranged for more yamen runners and constables to patrol the streets and maintain order;

at the same time, they assigned a separate force to protect the construction work on the river and along the riverbank.

Constable Captain He and Constable Captain Yu of the Six Gates soon found out that Wangchuan was behind all of this.

The two Constable Captains could only laugh and cry at once:

No sooner had they given the boy their advice

than he turned around and found a way to increase their workload dramatically.

Still...

the scale, the commotion, and the spread of it all were indeed extraordinary.

In just a few short days, the number of martial artists in Sanhe Commandery had doubled.

From martial artists of minor families to disciples of famous sects and great schools, they had already begun appearing in Sanhe Commandery with increasing frequency.

The news had already spread throughout the Jianghu!

Many people had come precisely for fame and profit!

And Wangchuan, the man who had set all of this in motion, had no time to rest either. Every day during this period, he was... cultivating 《Cloud Ladder》 in the hall’s training grounds.

After several long days of hard cultivation,

“Ding!”

The system prompt sounded:

“《Cloud Ladder》 has advanced from ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ to ‘Entry-Level Mastery.’ Reward: +3 Agility.”

Wangchuan still did not break through to fourth rank.

Now that the internal hall tournament had been upgraded into a Jianghu martial competition, he had to keep his rank suppressed at third-rank martial artist, so that when the final stage of the tournament arrived, the Caobang would still have at least one hidden card left to play in him. At the very least, it would keep the Caobang from losing too disgracefully.

There was no helping it.

They could not exactly have Old Seven step onto the stage and compete in person...

If a Deputy Hall Master lost, that could still be accepted.

If the seated Hall Master lost!

His prestige would be cut in half, at the very least!

So Wangchuan had been suppressing his Strength the entire time.

But his Agility and Stamina, he had continued to raise without pause.

Time soon came to the first day of the tenth month.

“Ding!”

The system prompt sounded:

“《Qingcheng Heart Method》 has advanced from ‘Entry-Level Mastery’ to ‘Integration.’ Reward: +4 Stamina!”

Through unremitting effort, 《Qingcheng Heart Method》 had actually broken through.

Wangchuan glanced at his Status Panel:

Wangchuan: Male (Hunger 59/100)

(Life Profession: Blacksmith)

(Combat Profession: Third-Rank Martial Artist)

Strength 79; Attack 26–27;

Agility 96; Defense 19.2; Speed +96;

Stamina 86; HP 860/860;

Spirit 27: Internal Energy 270/270.

Free Attributes: 8 (Unassigned)

With attributes like these, he was vastly stronger than when he had first faced Luo Laoqi.

His Agility was already close to matching that of a fifth-rank martial artist!

Against those disciples of famous sects and great schools in the Jianghu, he should now possess a fair degree of competitiveness.

But during this same period, Qinghe Commandery had continued to suffer one troublesome incident after another.

The hall was infiltrated under cover of night.

Although it was protected by both the Six Gates and the Caobang, with several fourth-rank martial artists assigned to guard it, mysterious assassins still killed seven or eight Caobang disciples in a rage;

the Lu Family, too, had assassins come to their doors and slaughter more than ten martial artists, leaving everyone anxious and on edge by the day.

On this day,

Wangchuan was once again cultivating 《Cloud Ladder》 as usual when Chen Ergou entered, bringing with him an old man who was clearly in disguise.

Wangchuan recognized the man’s identity at a single glance.

Yang Feiyue!

Without betraying anything on his face, he brought the man back to his own courtyard.

“Ergou, make some tea.”

“Yes!”

“Old Yang, what brings you here?”

Wangchuan looked at Yang Feiyue with a smile.

The old fox sat down grinning.

“You’ve made such a huge stir here in Sanhe Commandery that I’ve wanted to come take a look for a long time. I simply never had the opportunity. Now that my cultivation of 《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》 and 《Qingcheng Heart Method》 has borne fruit, I came specially to see for myself.”

As he spoke, he glanced at Chen Ergou and said,

“Ergou really is different now that he’s by your side. His spirit and bearing are much stronger—more and more like a true expert.”

“It’s all because the Hall Master has taken care of me. He granted this subordinate a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill, and only then was 《Xuanwu Art》 able to break through so quickly.”

After all, Chen Ergou had once merely been a minor underling beneath Yang Feiyue.

Yang Feiyue clearly knew the effects of the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill. His eyes immediately lit up, and he looked toward Wangchuan.

“I’d better come back to the hall and continue following you, Wangchuan.”

“Of course.”

Wangchuan bared his teeth in a grin and agreed on the spot.

The Sanjiang Branch Helm, in truth, had been developing quite well.

With Wang Yuehui and Hong Kaibao watching over it, and with people like Li Qing and Chen Hong as well, the two studios supported one another and were as solid as walls of bronze and iron. Whether Yang Feiyue was there or not no longer made much difference.

The hall, on the other hand, was short on manpower. Keeping Yang Feiyue there would help strengthen the hall’s forces.

Silently, Wangchuan drew a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill from his robe and pushed it across in front of Yang Feiyue.

“I know you’re cultivating 《Xuanwu Art》, Old Yang. Take this Lesser Rejuvenation Pill and use it to cultivate. Break through to ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ as soon as possible.”

A smile appeared on Yang Feiyue’s face.

“Heh, between the two of us, why be so formal?”

With a flick of his hand, the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill had already slipped into his sleeve.