Chapter 116 - 98: Property

Chapter 116: Chapter 98: Property

After enduring for so long, he had finally saved up two thousand Points.

His Body Tempering Realm hadn’t improved for far too long.

During his earlier clash with Hu Guangshao at the South City Government Office, Su Mu had also realized his own shortcomings.

Namely, that his Body Tempering Realm was too low.

Although a martial realm had the power to turn the mundane into the miraculous, it still needed sufficient strength to support it.

In that exchange with Hu Guangshao, if he had also been in the Bone Tempering Realm, then even if Hu Guangshao didn’t die, his arm would have been crippled. There would have been no way for him to escape unscathed.

But he was only at Minor Accomplishment in Tendon Tempering, and the difference in strength between him and Hu Guangshao was quite large. That was why he had only managed to force Hu Guangshao back a few steps.

Of course, he hadn’t used his full strength at the time. At the very least, he hadn’t used his Xun Wind Realm.

But who could guarantee that Hu Guangshao had used his full strength either?

All in all, his Body Tempering Realm was still too low, which greatly limited the power of his martial realms.

So he had to spend more effort on Body Tempering.

’Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique... let’s do it.’

Su Mu solemnly tapped on the system panel.

...

[Name: Su Mu]

[Identity: Ghostwriter/Taiping Bureau White Clothes (Ninth Grade)]

[Points: 0]

[Realm: Third Stage of Body Tempering (Extreme Skin Tempering Realm, Extreme Flesh Tempering Realm)]

[Cultivation Technique: Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique (Major Accomplishment)...]

[Martial Arts: Mountain-Opening Saber Technique (Uninitiated), Kan Water Realm (Minor Accomplishment), Xun Wind Realm (Minor Accomplishment), Archery (Initiate)]

「The next morning.」

After Su Mu got out of bed, he felt a sense of aimlessness.

Back when he had the constable’s job, every day was busy and incredibly fulfilling.

Now that he had been suddenly stripped of his position, he wasn’t quite used to having all this free time.

"Damn that Hu Guangshao!"

Su Mu could now understand the helplessness Director Qi must have felt.

The position he had worked so hard and fought for couldn’t stand against a single word from someone else.

A single sentence had wiped away a whole year of his efforts. Forget his post as constable—they didn’t even leave him with the rank of a constable.

’You’d better not leave the city!’

Su Mu clenched his fists, feeling the thick, powerful tendons within his body binding his muscles and skin more tightly together.

With Tendon Tempering at Major Accomplishment, combined with his Extreme Skin Tempering and Extreme Flesh Tempering, his strength was already no weaker than an ordinary martial artist at Major Accomplishment in Bone Tempering. The gap between him and Hu Guangshao, who was at Bone Tempering Perfection, had narrowed even further.

If they were to meet outside the city and he unleashed both of his martial realms, Su Mu was eighty percent confident he could kill Hu Guangshao on the spot.

If he could reach the Extreme Tendon Tempering realm, then he would be one hundred percent certain!

To advance the Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique from Major Accomplishment to Perfection required four thousand points.

If he still had his status as a constable, he could have saved up those four thousand Points in about a month.

But without his constable status, relying solely on his identity as a Taiping Bureau White Clothes meant his daily cap on earning Points wouldn’t even break one hundred. To save up four thousand, he would need two months, or even longer.

’Should I take on some missions as a Ghostwriter first?’

As Su Mu mulled this over, bored, the thought of being a Ghostwriter suddenly reminded him of something.

’That’s right, I still haven’t collected the reward silver for eliminating the bandits, and there’s also the Feiyun Thieves’ hoard.’

The bandit-hunting reward wasn’t urgent. Hu Guangshao could get him fired, but he couldn’t embezzle the reward money. He wouldn’t get a single tael less than what he was owed.

As for the Feiyun Thieves’ hoard...

Su Mu took out the small Golden Seal. After a moment of thought, he got dressed, equipped his Autumn Water Saber, and headed toward the Datong Bank.

The Datong Bank’s South City branch was right next to the South City Government Office, located in what was practically the most central and prosperous part of all of South City.

It was a magnificent, three-story building, with nearly a dozen rooms on each floor, taking up half a street.

Su Mu had passed by it countless times, but this was the first time he had ever actually stepped inside.

The service at Datong Bank was surprisingly professional.

After Su Mu presented the Golden Seal, an attendant immediately led him to a private room, where a middle-aged man dressed as a Steward came to receive him.

The man carefully verified the Golden Seal, excused himself, and left. About the time it takes to eat a meal, the Steward returned, directing several attendants to carry a massive chest into the room.

"Sir, these are the items you have stored at our bank. Please, take your time. I will be waiting right outside the door. If you need anything at all, just call for me."

The Steward smiled attentively.

Before leaving the room, he even thoughtfully closed the door for Su Mu.

Once he was alone in the room, Su Mu’s gaze fell upon the large chest.

’Yan Zhu sure was bold. Who would have thought he’d be audacious enough to store the spoils of his robberies so openly in a bank?’

’Then again, the Datong Bank must have incredible connections to be able to fleece even the criminals on the wanted list.’

Storing a chest like this at the Datong Bank cost a hundred taels of silver a year in storage fees. The average person couldn’t possibly afford it.

Su Mu mused to himself as he inserted the Golden Seal into the keyhole on the chest.

The Golden Seal was not only the proof of deposit but also the key to open the chest.

CLICK.

Su Mu lifted the lid of the chest.

The chest was very large, but it was only about half full.

Su Mu took out the contents one by one and laid them on the table.

There was a stack of silver notes from Datong Bank, each worth five thousand taels. There were at least twenty or thirty of them.

The silver notes alone amounted to well over one hundred thousand taels.

To put it in perspective, the Xu Family, who had smuggled military equipment for decades, had only amassed a fortune of about that size.

And if it were a matter of ready cash, the Xu Family couldn’t have produced this much.

Of course, that was because a large portion of the Xu Family’s profits had to be sent to the Inner City.

Still, this showed just how profitable the Feiyun Thieves were.

Su Mu estimated that even if you asked the four great families of the Inner City to produce this much silver at once, not every one of them would be able to do it.

Besides the silver notes, there was also a pile of antiques and calligraphic works. Su Mu wasn’t an expert in these things, so he had no idea how much silver they were worth.

He set those aside. What remained was what interested Su Mu the most.

Manuals!

And weapons!

Unlike the rare and carefully selected manuals from the Xu Family, Yan Zhu had clearly taken anything he could get his hands on.

There were more than ten manuals for saber and sword techniques in the chest.

Su Mu looked through them one by one and found that most were common trash that even he, at his current level, wouldn’t deign to look at. Only two or three could be considered high-quality.

Among the rest, there was one of each type—a Skin Tempering Technique, a Flesh Tempering Technique, a Tendon Tempering Technique, and a Bone Tempering Technique—but they were all of the most common variety.

This was understandable. Martial arts were easy to come by, but Cultivation Techniques were hard to find.

Martial arts like saber and sword techniques, especially the cruder ones, were easy to obtain as long as one had money.

But Cultivation Techniques, which could truly allow a person to be reborn, were rarely circulated publicly.

This was especially true for truly superior Body Tempering Techniques, which were secretly passed down within the major families or large sects.

Luo Anning had taught the Heavenly Dragon Eight Sounds Marrow Tempering Technique to Su Mu previously for the sole purpose of making him one of the Luo Family.

Otherwise, Su Mu would have had almost no chance to come across such a superior Tendon Tempering Technique.

’Counting the one seized from the Xu Family, I now have two Bone Tempering Techniques. Even if neither of them is top-tier, I can cultivate them both. As long as I have enough techniques, I can still cultivate Bone Tempering to its extreme. At most, it will just waste a few months.’

Su Mu put away the Cultivation Technique manuals and his gaze fell on another object.

A Soft Sword, still in its sheath, over three feet long.

Su Mu raised his hand and drew the sword. With a flick of his wrist, the Soft Sword instantly straightened.

Its sharp edge was so menacing that the temperature in the room seemed to drop by several degrees in an instant.

’What a fine sword!’

Su Mu couldn’t help but praise it silently.

This sword was not much inferior to his Autumn Water Saber.

The Autumn Water Saber was a precious saber that Wang Lai had been rewarded with only after saving the life of the Wang Family’s Patriarch, a blade worth a thousand pieces of gold.

Since this sword was no worse than the Autumn Water, it could also be considered a priceless treasure.

For a Martial Artist, a Divine Weapon like this was practically a second life.

At a critical moment, a Divine Weapon could truly save one’s life.

In Su Mu’s opinion, this sword was the most valuable item in the entire chest.

The Feiyun Thieves had truly delivered a fine gift. He was very fond of this Soft Sword.

He wrapped the Soft Sword around his waist, where it served perfectly as a belt. It looked inconspicuous, but at a critical moment, it could serve as a hidden trump card.

’You don’t have a name. From now on, I’ll call you Ziwei.’

Su Mu patted the Soft Sword, thinking to himself.

...