The Tianlang Gang’s Transmission Hall was in the rear courtyard of its headquarters, where there was a training field a thousand zhang in size for the gang members to cultivate.
All members who had just joined the Tianlang Gang had to cultivate there for half a year to a year, after which they would be assigned to the various halls according to their strength and performance.
Back then, Chen Yuan had been cultivating in the Transmission Hall when Jiang Kaitai took a liking to him and accepted him as his adopted son.
In truth, there were only a dozen or so people in the Transmission Hall altogether. Aside from Chen Yuan’s trusted followers, the rest were retired old members of the Tianlang Gang serving as instructors.
Seeing Chen Yuan return, the old instructors all bowed respectfully and greeted him, addressing him as Hall Master.
On the path of martial arts, those who have attained mastery come first. Though Chen Yuan was young, his understanding of the Tianlang Gang’s martial arts was far deeper than theirs.
Moreover, Chen Yuan was very generous and never stingy with his insights and experience, so he had also earned the respect of these old instructors.
On ordinary days, there was no longer any need for Chen Yuan to personally instruct the newcomers. Leaving it to these old instructors was enough. As the Hall Master, he was usually quite idle.
Returning to his room, Chen Yuan took out a notebook. It was filled with all sorts of obscure and difficult words and symbols.
These were all the various opportunities that Chen Yuan had recorded from his memory in the first few days after transmigrating—those that would appear in Lianshan City, and even in other places.
He did not dare guarantee that he would not forget them as time passed, so he had immediately made a record in a way that he himself could understand.
Staring at the notebook in thought for a long while, Chen Yuan put it away, his mind turning rapidly.
What he needed to do now was not only gain Jiang Kaitai’s trust, but more importantly, increase his strength.
Without strength, no matter how many schemes he laid, they would all be nothing but illusion.
In this jianghu, the strong had always been revered. Power was the foundation of everything.
There were nine realms of martial arts, and the current Chen Yuan was only at the first realm: Body Tempering.
This realm was merely the simple honing of the flesh and tempering of bodily strength.
It could be said that among those martial artists in the jianghu who had never cultivated internal arts, ninety percent were in the Body Tempering Realm.
The Meridian Opening Realm above it required an internal cultivation method. Only by gathering internal force could one open the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and use the power of the meridians to bring one’s strength a step further.
Chen Yuan did have an internal art: the Qingmu Heart Method taught to him by Jiang Kaitai.
Qin Yuancheng, Chu Ziping, and quite a few hall masters of the Tianlang Gang all cultivated this internal art.
But this internal art had almost no merits at all. Its cultivation progress was exceedingly slow, and the growth of internal force was as sluggish as a tortoise. It relied entirely on grinding away time to increase by that tiny bit.
If one had to force out a merit, then it could only be said to be upright and balanced, carrying no risk of cultivation deviation.
Jianghu II divided cultivation methods into four ranks: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Each rank was further divided into upper, middle, and lower grades.
This Qingmu Heart Method was a lower-grade Yellow-rank cultivation method—the standard trash among trash.
As for martial techniques, Chen Yuan only knew one: the Tianlang Saber Art, a middle-grade Yellow-rank saber art that everyone in the Tianlang Gang knew.
It was just that Chen Yuan had good talent and had cultivated it to an extremely profound level, enough to instantly kill most Body Tempering Realm martial artists of the same level.
The Tianlang Gang did have higher-level cultivation methods. What Jiang Kaitai cultivated was not the Qingmu Heart Method, but an upper-grade Yellow-rank internal art called the Heisha Art.
There was also Jiang Kaitai’s famed ultimate technique, the Beichen Tianlang Slash, an advancement of the Tianlang Saber Art, enough to be listed as a lower-grade Profound-rank technique.
However, Jiang Kaitai was naturally cautious and suspicious. He had never taught the Heisha Art or the Beichen Tianlang Slash to anyone, keeping both firmly in his own hands.
If Chen Yuan wanted to obtain cultivation methods and martial techniques of a higher level, he could only look for a way within Lianshan City.
As one of the newbie villages of Jianghu II, Lianshan City’s martial level was not considered very high.
The strongest people in the city were Jiang Kaitai and the Blackwater Gang’s leader, Yuan Dongtian. They had reached the fourth realm of martial arts, the Qi Forging Realm, and could project true qi outward.
But although Lianshan City’s level was not high, that did not mean there were no good things within the city.
It was just that these good things were hidden extremely deeply, existing as easter eggs waiting for players to dig them up.
And now, all of these good things belonged to Chen Yuan.
After locking the notebook in a cabinet, Chen Yuan began to sit cross-legged with his eyes closed and cultivate.
Although the cultivation speed of the Qingmu Heart Method was moving enough to bring tears to one’s eyes, with no substitute available, Chen Yuan did not want to waste time. Even a sliver of progress was still good.
After all, time waited for no one. There were now less than three months before Jiang Kaitai’s blood sacrifice to the divine weapon.
Early the next morning, after Chen Yuan finished breakfast, he called his trusted follower Zhang Xiaoyi to drive the carriage out.
Zhang Xiaoyi was only eighteen this year. He was simple and somewhat foolish-looking, still carrying a bit of youthful immaturity.
His parents had died early, and with no other choice, he had entered the gang to make a living.
Because he was young, he had been bullied by other gang members while cultivating in the Transmission Hall. Once, he had nearly been beaten to death. It was Chen Yuan who saved him and made him his follower.
From then on, Zhang Xiaoyi had been utterly loyal to Chen Yuan. Though his strength was mediocre, his merit lay in being steady and reliable.
Thus, after transmigrating, Chen Yuan had continued to keep him by his side.
“Young Master, where are we going?”
“Wuyi Lane.”
Zhang Xiaoyi drove the carriage all the way to Wuyi Lane. Just as they reached the corner by the entrance of the alley, Chen Yuan suddenly said, “Stop here and wait for me.”
Chen Yuan got off the carriage and came before the beggar to whom he had given money yesterday, then handed him another small piece of broken silver.
But this time, Chen Yuan did not leave. He stood in front of the beggar as though waiting for a response from him.
The filthy, disheveled beggar sprawled before him was one of the opportunities in Lianshan City.
This beggar had once been the heir of Lianshan City’s number one martial hall, the Zhenshan Martial Hall: Duan Mubai.
He had been handsome and elegant, a dashing romantic. Several years ago, he could be considered a well-known figure in Lianshan City.
Back when Duan Mubai’s father, Duan Zhenshan, was still alive, Duan Mubai had been a carefree young master. He had not paid much attention to martial cultivation, nor had he managed the affairs of the martial hall much.
Once, because Duan Zhenshan had to repay someone a favor, he went out on a trip. He had been perfectly fine when he left, but when he returned, he was a corpse.
With the hall master dead by accident, Duan Mubai had no choice but to take over the Zhenshan Martial Hall and hastily become its master.
But Duan Zhenshan’s eldest disciple, Lin Jingqi, openly challenged Duan Mubai, saying that he had no qualifications to become the hall master. He could not even properly use the Zhenshan Martial Hall’s secret Great Coiling Silk Hand—what right did he have to be hall master?
Lin Jingqi contacted a portion of the disciples to stir up trouble, provoking Duan Mubai until he had no choice but to accept the challenge. They even signed a life-and-death agreement: if Duan Mubai lost, the Zhenshan Martial Hall would be handed over to Lin Jingqi.
Duan Mubai had indeed been a carefree young master before, but his martial talent was not bad.
Even though he had not been very diligent in cultivation, he still possessed the strength of the late Body Tempering Realm.
Moreover, because he had received his father’s secret teachings, his strength was a notch above Lin Jingqi’s.
But Lin Jingqi had long been carrying on an affair with Duan Mubai’s junior sister, who was also his childhood sweetheart and fiancée. He instructed her to poison Duan Mubai with a small amount of Soft Bone Powder the day before the match.
Then, during the match, Lin Jingqi not only defeated Duan Mubai, but also viciously used the Duan family’s ancestral Great Coiling Silk Hand to crush the bones in his hands and feet, turning him into a cripple.
But in order to show magnanimity, Lin Jingqi did not kill Duan Mubai. He merely drove him out of the Zhenshan Martial Hall, leaving him to become a beggar with crippled limbs.
In the original plot, a player saw that Duan Mubai was pitiful, unable even to compete with other beggars when begging for food, and thus gave him one wen every day.
Some players were just like that. They would do strange, inexplicable things in the game that had nothing to do with the main storyline.
On the tenth day, Duan Mubai, who had never responded before, would teach that player the true ultimate technique of the Zhenshan Martial Hall in gratitude: the Coiling Silk Jade-Shattering Hand.
The Zhenshan Martial Hall’s Great Coiling Silk Hand was only an ordinary grappling technique, at the level of a lower-grade Yellow-rank technique.
But the Coiling Silk Jade-Shattering Hand was an upper-grade Profound-rank martial technique. One hard and one soft, it cultivated both Coiling Silk Force and Jade-Shattering Force. With hardness and softness complementing each other, its power was boundless.
Afterward, Duan Mubai would request that the player help him kill Lin Jingqi for revenge after mastering the technique. Once the player killed Lin Jingqi, they would obtain an achievement.
In a small city like Lianshan City, the upper-grade Profound-rank Coiling Silk Jade-Shattering Hand could absolutely be considered a remarkably rare superior martial technique, enough to seize every advantage in the beginner period.
Chen Yuan stood before Duan Mubai for a long while, only to discover that he was still sprawled there without the slightest movement.
What was the meaning of this?
Back then, someone gave you one wen a day, and you took the initiative to hand over the Coiling Silk Jade-Shattering Hand to them.
I give you a piece of silver every day, and now you’re playing dead with me?
Chen Yuan waited for a moment. Seeing that the other party still did not move, he could only cough once and say in a deep voice, “Duan Mubai, are you truly willing to spend your whole life as a beggar, sitting by and watching the foundation your father poured his heart into be seized and occupied by someone else?”
This time, Duan Mubai finally moved.
He laboriously raised his head to look at Chen Yuan and said in a hoarse voice, “Otherwise? I’m a cripple. What am I supposed to use to take revenge? What am I supposed to use to take back the Zhenshan Martial Hall?”
“Of course, the foundation of your Duan family!”
Chen Yuan crouched in front of Duan Mubai and said in a low voice, “Teach me your Duan family’s Coiling Silk Jade-Shattering Hand. I’ll help you kill Lin Jingqi and take back the Zhenshan Martial Hall!”
A flash of light erupted in Duan Mubai’s eyes. He stared fixedly at Chen Yuan, seemingly puzzled as to how Chen Yuan could know about the Coiling Silk Jade-Shattering Hand.
His father, Duan Zhenshan, had never taught this ultimate technique to any other disciple, and had never even used it in public.
Although Duan Mubai had learned it, because his skill was lacking and he could not execute it completely, he had likewise never displayed it.
Taking a deep breath, Duan Mubai asked, “You are Chen Yuan, the Hall Master of the Transmission Hall, one of the Three Heroes of the Tianlang Gang?”
Chen Yuan nodded.
It was not strange that Duan Mubai knew him.
Previously, Chen Yuan had kept a low profile, but recently, in order to curry favor with Jiang Kaitai, he had already taken action several times.
Especially after he had publicly killed Hu Laosan in Wangyou Tower, Chen Yuan’s name had already spread throughout Lianshan City.
Although Duan Mubai was now a beggar, even beggars would discuss jianghu gossip among themselves.
“Good! As long as you can bring me Lin Jingqi’s head, I’ll hand the Coiling Silk Jade-Shattering Hand over to you!”
Duan Mubai’s eyes were bloodshot. Just mentioning the name Lin Jingqi made it seem as if he wanted to grind his teeth to pieces.
“You won’t hand the Coiling Silk Jade-Shattering Hand over to me first? I have to bring you the head before you’ll give me the technique?”
Chen Yuan immediately felt rather depressed.
Back then, that player gave you one wen a day, and you eagerly took the initiative to hand over the technique, begging them to help you take revenge.
I give you a piece of silver every day and take the initiative to help you avenge yourself, yet you still don’t trust me. You have to see the head first before giving me the technique. Isn’t this treatment far too different?
Duan Mubai said bluntly, “You’re a member of a gang. I don’t trust you. If you take the technique and don’t help me get revenge, there’s nothing I can do to you.
“Of course, you can also capture me now, torture me, and force me to reveal the technique. But I believe that in the end, I will definitely take my Duan family’s ancestral secret art with me to the underworld.”
Chen Yuan was speechless for a moment. In the end, he could only say, “Deal. One hand delivers the head, the other hand delivers the technique.”
Torturing Duan Mubai was not realistic.
His body was severely depleted now. It was possible he might die from a casual touch.
The matter with Duan Mubai also taught Chen Yuan a lesson.
This was, after all, not a real game. Not every character would operate according to a fixed program.
In the original plot, the one who gave Duan Mubai money was only an ordinary player, whose appearance was that of a poor, lowly jianghu wanderer.
Charity and aid from someone of the same lowly background would clearly move a person more.
It was like how you would find it perfectly ordinary for the richest man to donate several hundred million, but when an old scavenger donated a few hundred, it would move people.
Moreover, Chen Yuan’s identity as a gang member did indeed make it very difficult for others to feel at ease.
The two gangs controlling Lianshan City were not good things. Their reputations were extremely poor. Oppressing merchants and commoners, bullying the weak, and dominating the market were all common occurrences.
There was also another reason: the timing was different.
The time in the original plot was later than now. By then, Duan Mubai was probably already at the end of his rope.
So he chose to gamble before his death, selecting someone he felt he could trust and entrust things to, teaching them the technique to help him take revenge.
Right now, Duan Mubai still had some time left. Faced with Chen Yuan, who had taken the initiative to approach him, it was normal for him to be guarded and wary.
Chen Yuan stood and instructed Zhang Xiaoyi, “Go find a few gang members to keep an eye on him. Buy him some food. Don’t let anything happen to him.
“Then go to the Transmission Hall and find a dozen or so gang members whose cultivation progress is among the best. Follow me to the Zhenshan Martial Hall.”