Chapter 412: The Alliance Leader’s Order

“Hall Master.”

“Hall Master is awake already?”

“You rise very early!”

Su Yun and Su Qi had been awakened by the sound of Wangchuan training.

The Hall Master had clearly only gone into his room to rest deep into the night, yet before dawn had even broken, he was already up again, cultivating.

From somewhere, Chen Ergou had found four Second-Rank Martial Artists. They were currently taking turns swinging long staffs at Hall Master Wangchuan. Throughout the entire process, the Hall Master did not retaliate. He simply used his arms and body to receive the blows.

Smack!

Smack!

The four Second-Rank Martial Artists struck with all their strength, and every blow landed solidly, yet they could not shake the Hall Master in the slightest.

Instead, they themselves were forced to stagger backward from the rebounding force, loosening their grip on the staffs to ease the pressure and reduce the damage to the mouths of their hands.

The four of them took turns attacking.

Each strike was able to inflict a certain amount of damage on Wangchuan.

Wangchuan currently had 131 points of Agility. Once he activated 《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》, his defense broke past 50. Then, once he activated 《Xuanwu Art》, his defense increased by another eighty percent, rising to over 90...

An ordinary Second-Rank Martial Artist attacking with full force could not break through that level of defense.

So even without armor, he would not truly suffer much damage.

Each forced deduction of health amounted to only three to five points.

For Wangchuan, whose Stamina temporarily surged to 122 and whose health had risen to 1220, this was no problem at all. As long as his health did not fall below seventy percent and he did not enter a lightly wounded state, he could endure it.

Bang!

Bang!

The four men attacked in rotation.

The heavy staff techniques struck him squarely.

《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》 emitted a dull metallic thud.

All four of them were Second-Rank Martial Artists. Every time they were hit by the rebounding force from 《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》, they also lost a small amount of health.

But Second-Rank Martial Artists had their own pride.

If the four of them acted as sparring partners together, yet Hall Master remained unhurt while they themselves were injured by the rebound...

It would be far too humiliating to speak of.

So they gritted their teeth and endured it.

Only when Wangchuan called for a stop did they finally withdraw.

The mouths of their hands were red and split open.

“Enough.”

“That is all for today. Go apply medicine and rest well.”

“Yes!”

The four men obeyed and withdrew.

Another group waiting outside was then brought in by Chen Ergou to continue acting as sparring partners.

These men had all been carefully selected by Chen Ergou. Each of them knew at least some staff techniques, and if they did not, they were made to learn them on the spot.

Wangchuan circulated 《Qingcheng Heart Method》, restored the health he had lost, dispersed the light bruising from his body, and returned himself to peak condition. Then without pause, he entered the second round of training.

With his current health reserves, one full round gave him around a hundred points of experience...

Although circulating his inner cultivation to heal up wasted a bit of time,

that kind of training speed was still entirely acceptable.

After switching through four waves of sparring partners in succession,

his experience had increased by nearly four hundred points.

Wangchuan still wanted more...

Yet it was only noon, and the Hall’s Second-Rank Martial Artists had already been driven to this state.

Their foundation was still not enough.

“Ergou.”

“Make a count of all the brothers in the Hall who are at the First Rank. Check the cultivation realm of each person’s martial arts... It is time to cultivate another batch of Second-Rank Martial Artists.”

“Yes! This subordinate will handle it at once.”

Chen Ergou nodded and accepted the order.

Wangchuan then looked toward Su Yun and Su Qi.

“You two are idle anyway. Why not come down and loosen your muscles a little?”

“Good!”

Su Yun was the first to step forward.

Watching a Hall Master of such high status work this hard had already made him restless.

“Hall Master, what are we training today?”

“I’ll practice swordsmanship. Use whatever you like...”

Wangchuan had decided to use Su Yun and Su Qi to slowly improve his 《Water-Moon Sword Art》 and 《Raging Tide Sword Art》.

The two men each picked up ordinary weapons, put on Thousand-Forged Battle Armor, and quickly began fighting.

Clang! Clang!

Clang! Clang!

Only after a hundred or so exchanges did they separate and sit down cross-legged to circulate their Inner Power.

Wangchuan glanced at his status panel. 《Water-Moon Sword Art》 had risen to 689/5000, and 《Raging Tide Sword Art》 to 409/2000.

Both had advanced.

Even 《Dragon-Elephant Body-Protection Technique》 had reached 1902/5000.

Wangchuan’s 《Qingcheng Heart Method》 had long since reached Integration, so his recovery speed was extremely fast.

Before Su Yun had fully recovered, Wangchuan was already sparring with Su Qi.

Su Qi had only just advanced into the Fourth Rank. Both Wangchuan’s Inner Art and Fifth-Rank swordsmanship were extremely hard for him to handle. No matter how hard he tried, he could only endure for a short while before being forced to call for a halt and rest.

“Hall Master is too formidable.”

“You begin training before dawn and continue all the way until now. No wonder Hall Master is so young and yet has reached such accomplishments. This subordinate is full of admiration!”

Su Qi was sincerely convinced now.

To possess this level of talent and comprehension, and still be this hardworking...

If such a man failed to rise to greatness, there would be no justice in heaven.

At noon, when it was time to eat, Wangchuan invited Su Yun, Su Qi, Chen Ergou, and Zhao Heiniu to dine with him.

During the meal, he naturally steered the conversation toward the Beggar Sect’s situation during the Blood Moon.

Su Yun and Su Qi both grew serious and laid everything out openly.

It turned out that the Beggar Sect had not escaped losses during the Blood Moon.

Several Branch Altars of the Beggar Sect, as well as some of the martial artists stationed near docks and rivers, including Outer Elders, had all been attacked by the blood mist.

That very night, at least three hundred people vanished without a trace.

It was only because their people had been too scattered out that, compared with the destruction of entire Hall branches and sub-helms among the Beggar Sect, the Salt Gang, and various branch factions, the losses had seemed insignificant.

Only later, after making a count, did the Beggar Sect realize that it had lost quite a number of men.

In addition,

during their clashes with the Caobang, and under pressure from Six Gates and other sects and families, they had lost even more manpower.

Otherwise, the Beggar Sect would never have fallen to the straits it was in today.

Su Yun mentioned:

The Beggar Sect had wanted to use the Blood Moon incident as an opportunity to swallow up and take control of part of the Salt Gang’s and the Caobang’s dock and shipping businesses. In the end, however, it was met with a fierce counterattack from three sides, including Six Gates, and also faced resistance from the native gangs in various regions.

Their losses during this period had been severe.

The Beggar Sect Leader and the Main Altar were now considering whether they should rein in their aggression and focus on dealing with one target alone.

Even a force as strong as the Beggar Sect did not wish to make too many enemies at the same time.

As he ate, Wangchuan asked thoughtfully,

“What else do you know about the Blood Moon?”

“What do your higher-ups think of it?”

Wangchuan was still shaken by the nightmare he had suffered the previous night.

Every year on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, an even more dreadful Blood Moon incident would erupt, with the number of victims growing exponentially.

Now that the end of the year was approaching, there were only a little more than eight months left before the next fifteenth day of the seventh month.

He had to prepare ahead of time.

“All we know is that before the Blood Moon arrived, many of the experts in our sect had already been sent out under the Alliance Leader’s Order to carry out missions.”

“The Alliance Leader?”

Wangchuan was startled.

Su Yun explained,

“That would be the Martial Alliance Leader elected by the various factions of the Jianghu. It is said that at last year’s Mount Hua Sword Debate Tournament, the Martial Alliance Leader was chosen.”

“At the Mount Hua Sword Debate Tournament, they elected an Alliance Leader. The sect leaders and gang leaders of the major sects were all required to obey his orders. I once happened to overhear that under the Alliance Leader’s Order, all martial artists of the Sixth Rank and above from every faction were required to carry it out!”

Su Yun’s words made Wangchuan suddenly realize that

the sect leaders and gang leaders of the major sects, along with the Alliance Leader elected at the Mount Hua Sword Debate Tournament, clearly knew far more secrets regarding the Blood Moon incident.

“Which sect leader became the Martial Alliance Leader?”