Chapter 90: The Importance of Attribute Points

Chapter 90: Chapter 90: The Importance of Attribute Points

PHEW!

Watching the figures retreat, Huang Qingzhou breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

He had just stood up to check on Fang Xu’s injuries when another silhouette vaulted into the courtyard from outside. He immediately gripped his sword, bracing for combat.

The newly arrived man in black hastily called out, "Don’t misunderstand! Our boss said that injuring you was a complete misunderstanding. This is the deposit Su Cheng gave us. Please accept it as an apology from us."

As he spoke, the man carefully placed a cloth bundle on the ground before him. He cupped his hands in a salute toward Huang Qingzhou, then leaped out of Zhiyuan Hall and vanished.

Glancing at the bundle on the ground, Huang Qingzhou flicked it up with the tip of his sword. He opened it and let out a cold chuckle. "He’s quite generous. Ten grade-four Qi Blood Pills, ten grade-four Barrier-Breaking Pills, ten grade-four Rejuvenation Pills, and a deposit slip for five hundred taels of gold."

Carrying the bundle, he slowly walked over to Fang Xu and Lu Qingluo. After inspecting their injuries, he took a grade-four Rejuvenation Pill from the bag and popped it into Fang Xu’s mouth.

"You’re a bizarre one," Huang Qingzhou said. "If it were anyone else, taking a direct hit from a Martial Master with the body of a Martial Disciple would have snapped their spine in two. Yet, you’re relatively fine."

Swallowing the Rejuvenation Pill, Fang Xu forced a weak smile. "Thank you for tonight, Senior Brother Huang."

Huang Qingzhou waved his hand dismissively. "Although that guy Su Cheng has a crooked mind, he’s been a grade-four Pill Master for over a decade. The grade-four Rejuvenation Pills he refines are actually quite excellent. Get a few days of good rest, and you should be fully recovered."

Reaching out, he helped Fang Xu to his feet. He swept his gaze over the corpses left in the courtyard and added, "Your strength is far greater than I imagined. To be honest, I thought we were all going to die here today."

Fang Xu scratched his head and chuckled. "You’re very strong too, Senior Brother Huang. Taking on six opponents at once and forcing them to retreat."

"Me? I just talk a big game to scare them," Huang Qingzhou said, curling his lip.

As a Pill Master, he wasn’t adept at combat. If it had been any of the Ascension Association’s battle-focused disciples, they might have actually slaughtered all six intruders on the spot today.

"You were tricking them?" Lu Qingluo stared at him in astonishment. "If we were killed today, wouldn’t the Ascension Association really send someone to investigate?"

Huang Qingzhou sighed. "They would, but if Su Cheng, Mu Xuan, and the others firmly claimed we died in the ruins, the Ascension Association definitely wouldn’t dig deep to verify their story.

"After all, countless disciples of the Ascension Association die every year. The Law Enforcement Hall doesn’t have the time to investigate every single case.

"However, it would be a different story if one of us were a Core Disciple.

"If a Core Disciple truly died in Fenglin Town, the Law Enforcement Hall would absolutely tear through the entire Huangzhou Prefecture to investigate."

A Core Disciple...

Fang Xu was slightly taken aback. From Huang Qingzhou’s words, it was clear that the Core Disciples of the Ascension Association held immense status. If he could become one, he would likely be able to walk uncontested through the entire Yu Kingdom!

"Senior Brother Huang, who are these people?" Lu Qingluo asked with a frown, glancing at the corpses in the courtyard.

It was obvious that the six men in black had been hired by Su Cheng to forcefully abduct Chu Muyun, but the other group seemed to have specifically targeted Fang Xu.

Hearing this, Huang Qingzhou slowly walked over to the corpse of the Martial Master whose neck Fang Xu had snapped. Using his longsword, he lifted the man’s mask, took it in his hand, and scrutinized it for a long time before frowning. "I think I’ve seen this kind of mask at my master’s place. To figure out their identities, I’ll have to go back and ask him."

Returning to Fang Xu’s side, he added, "You need to be careful lately. These people clearly aren’t afraid of the Ascension Association.

"In this kind of situation, the first possibility is that the faction backing them is no weaker than the Association. The other possibility is that they’re all complete lunatics."

Fang Xu nodded slightly.

In truth, he had already roughly guessed their identities because, during the battle, they had mentioned a specific title.

Lord Father!

Back in Qinghe County Town, Yun Qing had told him legends about the Divination God Sect. According to Yun Qing, the leader of the Divination God Sect styled himself as the Lord, and beneath him were five Lord Fathers. The people who attacked him tonight were highly likely to be cultists of the Divination God Sect!

However, Fang Xu wasn’t entirely sure whether they had come for the Divination God Treasure or specifically for him.

"Alright, let me walk you back to your room," Huang Qingzhou said, offering his arm to support Fang Xu.

"I won’t trouble you, Senior Brother. I can walk on my own," Fang Xu hastily declined.

The Divination God Treasure and the Flame Spirit True Understanding were still in his room. Neither of these items could be exposed, so it would be bad if Huang Qingzhou saw them.

"Fine, head back on your own then." Huang Qingzhou paused for a moment, replied casually, and went back to his own room.

Lu Qingluo looked at Fang Xu and said, "I’ll walk you back."

Fang Xu shook his head. "You should go check on Mu Yun first, Senior Sister. She must have been terribly frightened by the battle just now."

Chu Muyun was timid. Even though she hadn’t come out during the fight, hearing the commotion outside had likely terrified her.

Lu Qingluo nodded. "Be careful then."

Clutching his lower back, Fang Xu limped toward his room.

Upon returning, he immediately used his consciousness to command the Divine Attendants within his body, having them continue to mend his wounds. The blood-red substance flowed through the meridians of his entire body, converging once more at the wound on his lower back and slowly repairing the gash.

Enduring a faint, tingling itch, Fang Xu hid the Divination God Treasure and the Flame Spirit True Understanding from under his pillow into a safer spot, then sat cross-legged on his bed to begin cultivating.

Facing Su Cheng during the day, and then the Divination God Sect cultists and hired Martial Artists at night, he and Chu Muyun had skirted the edge of life and death several times.

In the end, it all came down to the fact that he was still too weak.

Strength!

If he currently possessed the power of a Martial Venerable, Su Cheng wouldn’t have dared to be so arrogant during the day, threatening to use Chu Muyun for alchemy right to his face!

If he had the power of a Martial Venerable, he could have effortlessly obliterated the attackers during tonight’s ambush!

PHEW!

Exhaling the pent-up frustration in his chest, he began plotting how to rapidly boost his strength next.

Normal cultivation was one thing, but if he wanted to level up his power quickly, he still had to rely on the system. From the time the Tilan Mountain ruins opened until now, he had already used the system to prepare nearly a hundred inheritances for himself!

Eighty percent of these inheritances were attribute points, while only twenty percent were other items. To acquire these attribute points, he had to touch the corpses of those "friends." And there was a very high probability that these friends had all died in the Tilan Mountain ruins.

It seemed he needed to find time for a trip to the Tilan Mountain ruins.

The importance of attribute points had been fully demonstrated in the recent battle. By leveraging his Strength Attribute, he had crippled the Fifth Realm Martial Master in the Blood Robe with a single staff strike. Otherwise, that battle would have almost certainly ended in their defeat.

Furthermore, the physical resilience enhanced by his Life Attribute had allowed him to miraculously survive taking a direct slash from a powerful Martial Master.

From this, it was clear that as long as his added attribute points were high enough, he could completely defy convention and defeat enemies much stronger than himself!