Chapter 34: Do You Even Have the Right to Say No?

At night, Yang Ling took his official saber and found an uninhabited spot near the village to practice the Thief-Capturing Saber Technique.

The hut was too small to properly practice it; practicing fist techniques was fine, but practicing saber techniques would end up chopping the entire hut to pieces.

Unconsciously, two hours passed.

His Proficiency had increased by 5 points.

2.5 points per hour, exactly matching his previous guess.

He practiced like this until it was almost dawn, then returned to the wooden hut to cultivate the Vajra Bright King Technique.

One hour passed.

Two hours passed.

When his Experience Points had increased by 13 points, they stopped moving.

"The daily limit for the Vajra Bright King Technique has also become 13 points."

"Nearly four hundred points a month, so I should be able to break through to the second layer in a little over two months."

At that moment, Chen Xu's voice came from outside the door, calling him to go down to the mine.

"......"

Yang Ling suddenly realized his time was simply not enough.

"I haven't practiced Boulder Crushing Fist today. I need to go down to the mine, practice martial techniques, and cultivate internal techniques. There's completely not enough time."

"If I don't find a way to do both, I'll probably have to streamline some martial techniques in the future..."

"Right, can I buy treasures like the Spirit Nurturing Pill with my own money?"

"If I could buy Spirit Nurturing Pills, the issue of martial technique proficiency could be temporarily solved..."

Thinking this, Yang Ling picked up his Steel Pickaxe and went out.

By the time he returned, it was already evening.

He continued practicing the Thief-Capturing Saber Technique.

This martial technique had a follow-up benefit, offering much greater advantages than Boulder Crushing Fist, so he wanted to push its proficiency.

Unconsciously, the sky brightened again. He switched to cultivating the Vajra Bright King Technique, using it to replace sleep, replenish his spirit, and then went out to mine again.

The next several days basically followed this routine.

Every day, new miners were sent to the mine vein. Yang Ling had already spotted several batches of players.

But he couldn't be bothered to interact with them.

He only communicated with Chen Xu and Chen Guoqing.

These two had also grasped some principles through Lin Guoliang's incident and were temporarily avoiding contact with those other players.

Mine Shaft No. 4.

As Yang Ling was mining, he suddenly felt a warm current.

He was about to level up.

A slight surge of joy rose in his heart.

Sure enough, a crisp, pleasant sound rang out:

"Ding!"

「Congratulations, you have leveled up, obtaining 1 Free Attribute Point」

Without much thought, Yang Ling directly added it to Spirit.

"Time is about right, let's call it a day today."

Leaving the mine vein, Yang Ling continued to find a place to practice the Thief-Capturing Saber Technique.

As he practiced, another warm current appeared.

The official saber in his hand suddenly became several degrees sharper! Its speed also increased by a notch!

Yang Ling opened his Status Panel for a look:

Character: Yang Ling

Profession: Constable

Level: 14

Strength: 11

Agility: 5

Spirit: 26

Exclusive Skill: Insight

Martial Arts: Vajra Bright King Technique (Beginner's Insight)

Experience Points: 140/1000

Boulder Crushing Fist (Comprehensive Mastery)

Proficiency: 102/10000

Thief-Capturing Saber Technique (Beginner's Insight)

Proficiency: 0/1000

HP: 210

"When Circulating Energy, my Agility increases by 15 points. Adding the 3 points from the Thief-Capturing Saber Technique and my base 5 points, my Agility can reach 23 points..."

Yang Ling's expression shifted slightly as he slowly activated the Vajra Bright King Technique.

Holding the official saber, he performed the Thief-Capturing Saber Technique.

His saber became faster and faster, and his entire body darted and weaved across the open ground.

At that moment, a light rain began to fall from the sky.

Under the sharp, fierce saber momentum, the raindrops were momentarily unable to get close to him.

Yang Ling suddenly locked onto a tree about a foot thick and slashed down!

Thud—

The tree was cleanly chopped into two sections!

Only then did the raindrops gently fall on Yang Ling, making him feel a slight chill.

"So this is saber technique."

Looking at the tree severed into two sections, Yang Ling couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

His maximum achievable Strength right now was 32 points.

But even using Boulder Crushing Fist, 32 points of Strength would find it difficult for him to break this tree in a short time.

It would require at least two or three punches.

"This is probably why this saber has 20 points of Attack."

"It seems weapons inherently have an advantage over bare hands."

"Correspondingly, the difficulty of obtaining martial techniques like swordplay or saber techniques should be higher. If I hadn't become a constable, I wouldn't have gotten a saber technique in a short time either."

Yang Ling immediately formed a plan in his heart.

From now on, he would focus on cultivating the Thief-Capturing Saber Technique. Boulder Crushing Fist could be set aside for now.

If his Vajra Bright King Technique advanced to the second layer,

and the Thief-Capturing Saber Technique reached Flawless Proficiency, then his saber momentum would become truly terrifying!

"I wonder how my current strength compares to Xu Qing and Hui Neng."

"I should be no weaker than the latter, but probably still a bit weaker than Xu Qing."

"However, without absolute strength to overwhelm them, if I really faced experts of their caliber, they definitely wouldn't panic like Wu Que did. Then, using their profound combat experience against me, I might not necessarily win."

Lost in thought, Yang Ling walked back towards the wooden hut.

Returning to the hut, he continued cultivating the Vajra Bright King Technique.

Until Chen Xu's voice came from outside again.

As soon as Chen Xu saw Yang Ling come out, he immediately stepped forward and whispered:

"Brother Yang, it seems another big shot has arrived today. I saw Supervisor Niu scurrying over to Supervisor Wu's residence."

"Is that so."

Yang Ling smiled, "That has nothing to do with us. Let's go down to the mine."

"Right, down to the mine!"

Chen Xu and Chen Guoqing nodded excitedly.

They felt they weren't far from their next level-up.

They hadn't been mining for long this time when suddenly, a Mine Guard entered the mine shaft calling for Yang Ling, saying he was to go to Supervisor Wu's residence.

"While I'm gone, you two mine outside, don't go into the shafts. There are still quite a few Ore Thieves here, you need to be careful."

After giving this warning, Yang Ling headed for Supervisor Wu's residence.

He knew the person from the Mountain and River Sect headquarters had come to check the accounts.

……

"A shortage of a full three thousand catties! Hahaha! How have you been managing things here?"

A middle-aged man with a gloomy expression, dressed in fine silks, laughed in extreme anger.

Supervisor Niu's face was somewhat pale. He hadn't expected the inventory to be short by three thousand catties either!

"Where is Wu Que? Why isn't he here when he knew I was coming today?"

The middle-aged man said coldly.

"Lord Li, please don't be anxious. I've already sent someone to fetch Yang Ling."

Supervisor Niu said with a bitter smile.

The middle-aged man fell silent, waiting quietly.

As soon as Yang Ling arrived, he was met with the man's sharp gaze.

"Tell me Wu Que's whereabouts."

The other party got straight to the point.

Yang Ling repeated the same explanation he had previously given to Supervisor Niu.

"You don't know where he went either?"

The middle-aged man's gaze was sharp:

"I now suspect Wu Que of stealing Fire Crystal Rock. You seem to be on good terms with him. Come with me back to the Mountain and River Sect."

"Sir, Supervisor Wu and I have no real friendship. He just asked me to help him with an Ore Competition, which didn't even happen in the end."

Yang Ling said thoughtfully, "As for going to the Mountain and River Sect, I'm afraid that won't be possible."

"Won't be possible? Do you have the right to say it's not possible?"

The other party said sternly.

Yang Ling: "I am already a constable of Green Mountain City, registered with the Ironclad Department. I occasionally have shifts to attend, so I truly cannot go to the Mountain and River Sect."

"Huh?"

The other party was momentarily stunned, glancing at Supervisor Niu.

Supervisor Niu slapped his forehead: "Look at me, I got so scared I forgot to mention this. Yang Ling is indeed a constable of Green Mountain City now."

"Oh..."

The other party's expression softened a few degrees, speaking to Yang Ling more politely:

"Constable Yang, on the night you and Wu Que stayed in Green Mountain City, was there anything unusual?"

"Nothing seemed unusual... Wait, Supervisor Wu should have gone out once, returning almost at dawn."

Yang Ling's expression shifted as he spoke.