Chapter 407: Who Are You?!

“A five-hundred-year-old wild mountain ginseng?”

“Quick, let me see it.”

Elder Zheng looked extremely excited.

A hundred-year ginseng was already considered first-rate medicine. At three hundred years, it could already be called a treasure.

A five-hundred-year-old wild mountain ginseng could not only nourish Yin and strengthen Yang, replenish Qi, and bolster the body, but was also said to prolong life. For a martial artist, it could also improve one’s Inner Power cultivation.

Elder Zheng was already advanced in years. His vitality was failing, and his Inner Power had been steadily declining. It was only a matter of time before he fell from the Fifth Rank to the Fourth Rank.

But if he could be nourished by a five-hundred-year-old wild mountain ginseng, he might well be able to delay the decline of his body and energy and remain at the Fifth-Rank level for another year or two.

Who would not want to stay as vigorous as a young man?

Elder Zheng hurriedly threw on an outer robe and came out.

The man outside the screen had already drawn out a long, narrow box from his sleeve and set it on the table before opening it.

A faint fragrance of mountain ginseng drifted out.

Elder Zheng took one glance at it, involuntarily drew in a sharp breath, then broke into a grin.

“Although it has not quite reached five hundred years, it is indeed a precious ginseng, and highly valuable!”

“Good!!”

“I’ll take it.”

“When this old man finds the time, I’ll personally go to Sanhe Commandery and remove the head of that brat Hall Master from the Caobang.”

“Then I’ll return to the Main Altar and await good news.”

The visitor cupped his fists with a smile and left.

Elder Zheng could not be bothered to see him out. Holding the box, he fondled it lovingly and muttered,

“I’ll have to find a good physician and have this precious ginseng turned into medicine and refined into pills, so all its medicinal properties can be fully brought out.”

“Divine Physician Shen of Medicine King Valley has some ability.”

“It looks like I’ll have to make a trip to the prefectural city after all.”

Elder Zheng murmured to himself.

...

Before dawn, Beggar Sect disciple Qiu Dahong left Elder Zheng’s estate and went straight out of town.

A Third-Rank Martial Artist moved quickly, and his movement technique made him fast even on the main road.

But before long, he stopped in an open stretch of wilderness. Alert and grave, he looked around in all directions, then cupped his fists and called out loudly:

“I wonder which friend from the Jianghu has been following me. Please show yourself.”

Ever since leaving town, he had felt someone watching him. He had failed to shake that person the entire way, which alarmed him greatly. In the end, he simply called them out openly.

The moment his words fell, a figure emerged from the woods beside the road.

Black clothes, black trousers, and a black face covering.

But the eyes above the cloth were very young, with sharp brows and bright eyes.

And yet the moment the other man showed himself, Qiu Dahong felt no small amount of pressure.

“I am Qiu Dahong of the Beggar Sect. May I ask who you are?”

From the look in the other man’s eyes, Qiu Dahong caught a trace of danger. Slowly cupping his fists, he said, “Have you mistaken me for someone else?”

Wangchuan smiled faintly.

“If you’re from the Beggar Sect, then there’s no mistake.”

The moment those words were spoken, Qiu Dahong’s face changed dramatically. He pushed off with his feet and, with both hands, suddenly flung out a shower of black objects.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A spread of Iron Caltrops shot out from both hands.

Star-Picking Hand.

Wangchuan could sense that the man had locked onto several points on his body. His figure flashed sideways like lightning, and he lunged straight at him.

All the Iron Caltrops missed.

As he chased after him, Wangchuan curled Refined Iron Caltrops between his fingers.

While the other man was fleeing at full speed, Wangchuan raised his hand and fired off five black streaks.

Pfft!

The hand technique of a Fifth-Rank hidden weapon art was clearly much stronger than Star-Picking Hand. With the attack trajectories covering and sealing off all angles, the man was struck in the thigh and the back on the spot. He coughed up blood, rolled, and crashed onto the main road.

“Spare me, hero!”

Wangchuan said nothing. Closing the distance, Autumn Water Sword flashed in a spray of sword-light, and with a sharp ding, knocked away a hidden crossbow bolt that Qiu Dahong had tried to fire in secret.

Every hidden weapon attack could be sensed in advance through Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique.

Qiu Dahong’s face changed drastically.

“Wait!”

Autumn Water Sword instantly pierced through his chest.

Qiu Dahong’s health dropped to zero. His head lolled to one side, and he died on the spot.

Wangchuan quickly searched the corpse and found a Tang Sect hidden crossbow, a Thousand-Forged short blade, three hundred taels’ worth of Gold Notes, and even one Lesser Rejuvenation Pill.

This man had not been poor.

Was he a branch altar master, or perhaps some confidant of a higher-up in the Main Altar?

In truth, from the moment Wangchuan learned Elder Zheng’s exact location and circumstances, he had come here overnight, intending to eliminate this retired Fifth-Rank Martial Artist hidden within Sanhe Commandery as soon as possible.

According to Guan Qifeng’s confession:

Elder Zheng’s strength had long since fallen to the edge of the Fifth Rank. For all these years, apart from offering guidance, no one had seen him engage in real combat. On top of that, the old man was especially lustful. He kept more than a dozen maids in his estate. Even a martial artist in his prime would not be able to withstand that sort of indulgence, much less an old man nearing eighty.

Unfortunately...

Just as Wangchuan arrived at the Zheng estate, he saw this Qiu Dahong enter the compound.

The man had not alerted the estate’s vicious dogs.

The Beggar Sect really did have some ability.

Qiu Dahong had smeared a medicine on his body specifically meant for dogs, one that erased the scent of strangers.

Wangchuan tossed Qiu Dahong’s corpse into the woods, then returned to Rongjiang Town.

There had been no good opportunity earlier because one was a Fifth-Rank Martial Artist and the other a Third-Rank Martial Artist.

Now that the Third-Rank Martial Artist had been removed, only the lustful old Fifth-Rank man remained.

Time to get to work.

Wangchuan tightened the black cloth over his face and quietly vaulted over the wall. Avoiding the patrols, he moved stealthily toward the main room, pushed open the door, and entered.

Elder Zheng had clearly heard the movement, but had not thought much of it.

“Why are you back again... Who are you?!”

He had assumed Qiu Dahong had returned, but when he saw a stranger in black clothes and black trousers barging in, Elder Zheng’s cloudy old eyes flashed with sharp, fierce light, and the aura of a Fifth-Rank Martial Artist erupted at once.

Bang!

He thrust out a palm. The table in front of him howled through the air and smashed toward Wangchuan, then exploded into fragments halfway there as Inner Force burst outward.

When a Fifth-Rank Martial Artist made a move, the commotion truly was not small.

But Wangchuan was not intimidated.

Twenty years old against eighty years old...

The advantage was mine!

Wangchuan’s movement technique was nimble as he swept sideways, running along the wall to evade the exploding fragments of the shattered table. Then he curved sharply toward a sheathed long saber hanging on the wall.

That was Elder Zheng’s target as well.

The two of them moved almost at the same time.

Wangchuan’s cultivation rank was lower than Elder Zheng’s, but his Agility had already reached 131 points. With Inner Force erupting under his Entry-Level Mastery Cloud Ladder leap, he arrived almost simultaneously with Elder Zheng.

Shing!!

Autumn Water Sword erupted in a sheet of sword-light.

Elder Zheng immediately withdrew his hand and kicked off the ground, retreating backward at speed.

“Where did this brat come from?! Are you tired of living?!”

He had already sensed that the intruder’s cultivation was only at the Fourth Rank, and he flew into a rage. A red glow gathered in his right hand, hard as steel, as he cut into Wangchuan’s sword momentum at close range.

His fists and feet were faster and fiercer than the sword!

Wangchuan did not hesitate in the slightest. He activated Poison Sand Palm and met the blow head-on.

Elder Zheng’s Iron Sand Palm struck Wangchuan’s Thousand-Forged Battle Armor.

Wangchuan’s palm slammed into Elder Zheng’s chest.

Boom!

Boom!

When experts fought, victory always went to the braver one in a head-on clash.

A move for a move.

An injury for an injury.

Relying on his higher rank and cultivation, Elder Zheng had no intention of letting Wangchuan wear away his Inner Power. He chose to trade blows directly, fierce and ruthless, enough to show what kind of ruthless character he had been in his younger days.

But Wangchuan had his own advantages.

The other man wore only ordinary outer clothes, with no protection.

He himself was fully armed...

Who was afraid of whom?

Both men were struck staggering backward by the other’s palm.