Chapter 88 - 84: Minor Accomplishment in Tendon Tempering

Chapter 88: Chapter 84: Minor Accomplishment in Tendon Tempering

In an instant, he felt streams of scorching energy fragment into countless needle points, seeping through his pores and the gaps in his muscles, delving deeper into his body.

The major tendons in his body felt as if they were being plucked by a mysterious force. With every twitch, they grew a fraction thicker.

Tendon Tempering was all about forging the body’s major tendons until they were thick and strong enough to link all the muscles together, allowing one to unleash even greater power.

Su Mu had seen Peng Li, who had mastered Tendon Tempering; with a light leap, he could cover forty to fifty feet.

Before tempering his tendons, although Su Mu’s raw strength was no less than Peng Li’s, he could only leap twenty to thirty feet.

That was because the major tendons in his body weren’t strong enough to fully unleash the power of his skin and muscles.

As he achieved a breakthrough in the Tendon Tempering Technique, Su Mu felt the major tendons in his body being reshaped. He knew that, given time, his explosive power and agility would undergo a qualitative transformation.

The burning, tingling sensation lasted for an unknown amount of time before gradually fading.

After the painful itchiness subsided, a wave of pleasant relief washed over Su Mu’s entire body, as if he’d just had a deep-tissue massage.

Casually stretching his limbs, Su Mu immediately felt a distinct difference.

He could clearly feel how his major tendons now bound the muscles and skin throughout his body more tightly together.

With a thought, Su Mu called up his system panel again.

[Name: Su Mu]

[Status: Constable / Taiping Bureau White Clothes (Ninth Grade)]

[Points: 220]

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

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

[Martial Arts: Cloud Rain Saber Technique (Perfection), Submerging Wave Saber Technique (Perfection), Wind-Breaking Swordsmanship (Perfection), Archery (Initiate/+)]

’I’ve finally initiated the Tendon Tempering Technique. It’ll take six hundred Points to advance from Initiate to the minor success stage. I should be able to manage that in another four or five days. This is decent progress, but I still need to practice my martial arts. I’m still a bit short on Points.’

With the boost from his dual identities, Su Mu’s daily limit for earning Points was one hundred and forty. By working diligently, he basically managed to earn over a hundred Points every day.

This rate was actually already quite fast.

But Su Mu still felt it wasn’t quite enough.

The main issue was that he had started later than others. If he wanted to catch up, he had no choice but to run even harder.

’To become a fully-fledged Taiping Bureau White Clothes, I need to reach the Fourth Stage of Body Tempering at the very least,’ Su Mu mused. ’Even the Fourth Stage might not be enough.’

For now, there was definitely no chance of a promotion within the Taiping Bureau. As for his constable status—

The positions of Minister and Chief Clerk had opened up, but those were Civil Servant roles, not a good fit for him.

The Sima?

Wang Guan hadn’t offended him. It didn’t seem right to make a move against him.

’Climbing the ranks is truly difficult.’

Su Mu sighed inwardly. The most viable method was still to find a way to get another identity.

He couldn’t help but think of the Ghostwriters again.

’It earns money, provides practice, and harvests Points. It’s killing three birds with one stone.’

The only problem was that a Ghostwriter’s missions couldn’t overlap with his duties for the Taiping Bureau or the South City Bureau. Otherwise, it would affect the performance evaluation of his other two identities.

For example, if someone paid him to kill Peng Li, even if he did it, it would only be considered him fulfilling his duties as a constable of the South City Bureau. The system panel wouldn’t recognize his Ghostwriter identity. Or, if it did recognize the Ghostwriter identity, he’d get no performance credit for his constable role.

For a single act, the system panel would only grant performance credit to one identity.

Therefore, how to make the system panel acknowledge his Ghostwriter identity was a problem that required careful planning.

An idea gradually formed in Su Mu’s mind.

***

"Miss Xiang, Constable Xiao Su is out investigating a case."

Early in the morning at the South City Bureau, Zheng Wang said with a wry smile, "Our Constable Xiao Su is just like that. He’s never idle. He’s either investigating a case or on his way to one.

I honestly don’t know when he’ll be back at the station. He never just sits around in the office."

"Then where does he live?"

Xiang Xiaoyuan asked, unwilling to give up.

"It’s no use. Constable Xiao Su doesn’t go home during the day, and there’s no telling when he’ll be back at night."

Zheng Wang said, "He’s often out on patrol at night, too. South City is as peaceful as it is today thanks to Constable Xiao Su working day and night."

’Is he really that kind of person?’

A light flickered in Xiang Xiaoyuan’s beautiful eyes. "Thank you, squad leader. I will be back."

Watching Xiang Xiaoyuan’s graceful, slender figure recede, Zheng Wang clicked his tongue in wonder. ’Constable Xiao Su, you’ve got some incredible luck with the ladies.’

***

KNOCK!

KNOCK!

KNOCK!

The wooden door creaked open, revealing a head of graying hair.

"Su Mu? What are you doing here?"

Yang Jin looked at Su Mu, surprised and confused.

"Came to see an old friend. Is it a bad time?"

Su Mu said with a smile.

He had been so busy these past days that he hadn’t had a chance to see Yang Jin.

And Yang Jin hadn’t come looking for him either, as if he had forgotten the promise they once made.

"I was afraid it would be inconvenient for *you*."

Yang Jin opened the door wider and stepped aside. "Come in."

After letting Su Mu into the courtyard, Yang Jin closed the gate and asked, "Alright, what do you need?"

"I’m here to fulfill our promise."

Su Mu said seriously, "I promised you that one day I would help you kill someone."

Yang Jin looked at Su Mu, his expression calm. "Your strength isn’t there yet."

"How do you know my strength isn’t enough?" Su Mu said. "Unless the person you want me to kill is a powerhouse at the Blood Transformation Realm, or even the Rebirth Realm."

"He’s neither, but he is an expert at the Fourth Stage of Body Tempering, the Bone Tempering Realm."

Yang Jin shook his head and said, "You only finished tempering your skin a year ago. There’s no way you can be his opponent.

I don’t know how you became a Taiping Bureau White Clothes and a South City Bureau constable at the same time, but to kill that person, neither of those two identities will help you.

In fact, they won’t just be unhelpful; they’ll get in your way."

"The person you want to kill is a government official?"

Su Mu had actually guessed this long ago.

Yang Jin had been secretive from the very beginning, which could only mean the target’s status was extraordinary.

Extraordinary strength, extraordinary status... Considering Yang Jin’s own background, the person he wanted to kill was, in all likelihood, a military officer, and probably not a low-ranking one.

Wuling City did indeed have a garrison. Its commanding general was a fifth-grade military officer, ranked only below the Wuling City Lord and the Wuling City Governor of the Taiping Bureau.

Yang Jin nodded. "If you regret this now, we can pretend our agreement never existed."

"Yang Jin, the person standing before you right now isn’t a constable from the South City Bureau, nor a White Clothes from the Taiping Bureau. It’s the Ghostwriter, Su Mu."

Su Mu said with a smile, "Give me one tael of silver, and I’ll kill that person for you. How about it?"

"Are you serious? Are you really not afraid of ruining your future?"

Yang Jin asked in a low voice.

"Ruin my future?"

Su Mu shook his head. "No, no. The one doing the killing will be a Ghostwriter. What does that have to do with me, Su Mu?

If anything, you’re the one hiring an assassin, Yang Jin. You’d better be careful I don’t arrest you."

Yang Jin froze for a moment, then couldn’t help but laugh.

He understood Su Mu’s meaning. The assassination obviously couldn’t be done out in the open.

Su Mu planned to use a fake identity to kill the man. As long as he was careful, no one would suspect the killer was a constable from the South City Bureau.

Unless Yang Jin betrayed him, who would suspect a South City Bureau constable of killing someone with whom he had no grudge?

What Yang Jin could never have guessed was that Su Mu wasn’t just doing this to hide his identity—he genuinely wanted to acquire a new one.

"Alright, I can tell you who he is, but you have to promise me you’ll only make your move when you’re confident."

Yang Jin said seriously, "I don’t want anyone else to die because of this."

"Don’t worry. I care more about my own life than you do,"

Su Mu said.

Yang Jin glanced around warily, then spoke a name in a voice only he and Su Mu could hear.

Su Mu repeated the name twice to commit it to memory, then held out his hand to Yang Jin.

Yang Jin froze again.

"My fee, if you please. One tael of silver,"

Su Mu said.