Chapter 108 - 80: Perfection-Level Wave-Treading Blade Technique!

Chapter 108: Chapter 80: Perfection-Level Wave-Treading Blade Technique!

Black Mountain County, Military Department.

Cai Xun sat rocking in his rattan chair, clutching the faded Broken Jade Skill Secret Manual in his hands and studying it over and over.

To him, this Broken Jade Skill was his hope for changing his destiny. The Broken Jade True Qi was incredibly formidable. As long as he mastered it, he could free himself from his current state of powerlessness and become a genuine Outer Gang Martial Artist, saving him from his presently awkward situation.

As for everything else, Cai Xun had entrusted it completely to Zheng Jun. Right now, Zheng Jun was the undisputed head of the Military Department in name and reality.

Yesterday, Zheng Jun had set out to eradicate bandits, an action Cai Xun had already submitted a report for. However, as far as Cai Xun was concerned, there was really no need for Zheng San to go out and hunt bandits. Why go through all that trouble?

What was there to gain from eradicating those bandits? They just hid deep in the mountains. Trekking all the way out there was exhausting and demanding, and killing them yielded no real benefits. The little silver they might confiscate probably wouldn’t even cover the compensation for fallen soldiers.

Unless, of course, they could kill Lu Hao of the Black Mountain Thieves. But given Zheng Jun’s current strength, he likely couldn’t kill Lu Hao. After all, Lu Hao was different from Meng Xian. Meng Xian was a lone wolf with no lackeys. The number of Qi Storage and Blood Refining subordinates surrounding Lu Hao was actually higher than the total number of Qi Storage and Blood Refining experts in the Black Mountain County government.

Therefore, Cai Xun didn’t quite understand why Zheng Jun had bothered to go out hunting bandits.

When it came to other matters, however, Cai Xun felt quite pleased. He had received word that his family was preparing to push for him to become the County Magistrate of Black Mountain County. Once that happened, he would truly sit as the undisputed authority of his own territory—a truly delightful prospect. As for the other official positions in Black Mountain County, the Cai family would do their utmost to recommend people closely affiliated with their clan, ensuring absolute control over the county.

At the same time, Cai Xun had received a fair amount of intelligence regarding his siblings. His fourth brother’s official career in the Guangyi Commandery wasn’t going smoothly, and his fifth brother was serving as a Squad Commander in the State, where his subordinates apparently didn’t respect him much. His brothers’ failures made him look absolutely perfect by comparison. This made Cai Xun feel incredibly refreshed; he could sense his own status within the family steadily rising.

"It’s all thanks to Zheng San," Cai Xun sighed with deep emotion. Without Zheng San, he felt his current situation would likely be similar to—or even worse than—that of his fourth and fifth brothers.

After all, their jurisdictions didn’t have nearly as many incidents as Black Mountain County. The remnants of Southern Chu, the Human Slaves of the Northern Demon Court... either of those incidents would have been a catastrophic explosion if brought to light.

Thank goodness he had the valiant and invincible Zheng Jun—Zheng San—under his command. Otherwise, he probably would have been stripped of his position and sent home in disgrace to face the eye-rolls of his family.

"I wonder where that girl An Yun is now. It’s been over ten days, and she still hasn’t reached Pingzhang Commandery?" Cai Xun muttered. He got the feeling that his ninth sister hadn’t come to reject a marriage proposal at all; she had purely run away from home to go sightseeing.

According to the family’s secret reports, the girl was having the time of her life. She shouted about upholding justice every day, severely beating constables who bullied commoners along the way, and stopping the shady dealings of several local prominent families. But her own skills weren’t nearly enough to accomplish all that, which meant there was only one possibility: the family guards accompanying her had resolved everything.

"Sigh." Cai Xun exhaled. Right now, he only hoped that Zheng Jun’s trip up the mountain would yield some results. He prayed he wouldn’t return empty-handed or suffer heavy casualties. Otherwise, it would affect his future maneuvers.

However, just as Cai Xun was sitting with his legs crossed, rocking back and forth in his rattan chair, Cai Liu barged in and reported, "Third Young Master, the County Soldiers who went out have returned."

"They’re back, huh," Cai Xun nodded slightly and asked casually. "How was the battle?"

"Uh..." Cai Liu hesitated for a moment before replying, "Third Young Master, they came back this time to conscript Civilian Soldiers from the Strong Shift. They’re planning to escort empty carts up Black Mountain."

"Why bring empty carts?" Cai Xun sat up straight, looking at Cai Liu with some curiosity.

"It seems the loot was too much to carry back, so they need Civilian Soldiers to transport the goods," Cai Liu explained. "I heard that Zheng San single-handedly wiped out a group of bandits on Black Mountain, and the haul is quite substantial."

For a moment, Cai Xun froze, unsure of what to say. He simply stared blankly at Cai Liu. It took him a long while to recover before he opened his mouth and marveled, "Zheng San is truly extraordinary."

Without hesitation, Cai Xun stood up and declared to Cai Liu and Cai Qi, "I will personally lead men to escort the goods, just to ensure nothing goes wrong!"

"Understood!" Cai Liu and Cai Qi nodded repeatedly.

With that, Cai Xun immediately prepared to head up the mountain alongside the Civilian Soldiers. Even though his status as an ’Outer Gang’ expert was somewhat inflated, in the eyes of others, he was a genuine Outer Gang Martial Artist. Just his presence was enough to deter any petty thieves.

Seeing this, Cai Liu hesitated briefly before reminding him, "Third Young Master, it is already late tonight. The Civilian Soldiers and carts are not fully prepared yet. Let us rest for now and set off tomorrow."

"You’re right," Cai Xun nodded, lying back down in his rattan chair. "Then we shall depart tomorrow.

"Bring me my brush and ink. I’m going to write a memorial to request a reward for Zheng San!"

That night, under a star-studded sky, within a ravine on Black Mountain, inside the former stronghold of the United Righteous Thieves.

Zheng Jun sat on a wooden stool in Zhang Kang’s room, carefully studying the Former Yu text before him, trying to translate it. However, due to his low level of education, he simply couldn’t comprehend it. After attempting to decipher it for a while, he gave up.

"Forget it. Trying to figure this out on my own is a quick way to suffer qi deviation. I’d better study something else," Zheng Jun sighed. He neatly folded and stored away the silk cloth recording the ’Radiant Sunlight Fulong Blade Weaponry Art’. Then, with a shift of his Divine Thought, the Great Tao Martial Book materialized abruptly before him.