Chapter 389: A Hot Potato

Luo Tiancong might have some understanding of the Hall Masters in the various halls, but when it came to the Deputy Hall Masters under them… his understanding was clearly much more limited.

He was the Gang Leader of the mighty Caobang, with more than thirty halls under his command!

All he needed to do was seize hold of the main threads. As for the people being used beneath those threads, he had never paid much attention.

These Deputy Hall Masters were generally recommended by the elders or Hall Masters below.

So when he saw Wan Xiwen hesitate, he immediately understood:

these two men were not suitable candidates.

“Go on.”

“Tell me their exact situation.”

Wan Xiwen cupped his fists and answered after a moment’s thought:

“Wu Sanlei and Jin Zhixian are both fourth-rank martial artists. In their respective regions, they are responsible for executing missions, managing the Weapon Room, and overseeing the Armory Manual Vault, and they are very familiar with the conditions of the branch helms under them. Promoting these two would save a great deal of unnecessary trouble and allow the commandery situation to be brought under control very quickly…”

“Of course!”

“The morale and manpower in these two halls have both suffered losses. It would still be safest for us to assign a batch of disciples as reinforcements, or send elders to inspect and stabilize the situation.”

“Fourth-rank martial artists…”

After pondering for a moment, Luo Tiancong nodded his agreement.

There was some logic in what Wan Xiwen was saying.

“In that case, Elder Wan, you and Elder Hu will make another trip to those two places and ensure the safety of Heitu Commandery and Shenyu Commandery.”

“Yes!”

Wan Xiwen revealed a smile.

“This subordinate will call the two of them in at once.”

…

When Wangchuan came out of the west wing room, he found Lin Zhentao cleaning the neighboring room, while carrying a few things out as well.

“Brother Lin, has someone moved into the west wing?”

“Yes, but they’ve already left.”

Lin Zhentao stopped and answered.

Wangchuan was taken aback.

“They just arrived. Why did they leave already? Weren’t they here to study and cultivate?”

After being here for several days, he had only just gotten two neighbors.

“Hall Master Wangchuan, you don’t know. Those two are Deputy Hall Masters from Heitu Commandery and Shenyu Commandery. Because the Hall Master positions there are vacant, they were just summoned by the Gang Leader and have already been appointed Temporary Acting Hall Masters. Then they were sent straight back.”

“Heitu Commandery and Shenyu Commandery…”

Wangchuan remembered that those two commanderies seemed to be south of the capital and not far apart.

“So they were promoted! Their luck is pretty good.”

Wangchuan gave a dry laugh, while inwardly thinking:

Different people truly had different fates.

He had rendered great service to the gang, come here for several days, and had not seen the Gang Leader a second time;

yet those two, because the Hall Master positions were vacant, had been made Acting Hall Masters directly. By the looks of it, they were being confirmed in the role.

Envious!

Truly envious!

But Lin Zhentao shook his head and said,

“Hall Master Wangchuan, the Hall Master positions in Heitu Commandery and Shenyu Commandery are hot potatoes… They’re not easy to sit in.”

“Oh? Brother Lin, why not come inside and sit while we talk?”

Wangchuan invited him in.

Lin Zhentao had a good impression of Wangchuan and followed him inside.

The two sat down.

Wangchuan personally poured the tea.

Lin Zhentao was flattered and got straight to the point, recounting the series of bad tidings from Heitu Commandery and Shenyu Commandery:

“Hall Master Wangchuan, the Heitu Commandery hall gathered its forces and took the initiative in attacking the Beggar Sect this time, but a fifth-rank expert suddenly appeared halfway through and nearly wiped out the hall’s strike team. The Hall Master was beheaded on the spot, and dozens of elite fighters died, from second-rank to third-rank… It was a miserable slaughter. Now the Beggar Sect has grown overbearing there, and our hall has already shut its gates and is defending itself. Tell me, isn’t that awful?”

“As for Shenyu Commandery, a sixth-rank expert broke into the hall at night and shattered the Hall Master’s arms and legs. A Deputy Hall Master and a group of guards were all killed…”

“Neither of those two places is peaceful now.”

“If they were truly good positions, there are still two suitable candidates waiting here at headquarters. How could it possibly be their turn?”

Lin Zhentao spoke with the tone of someone who clearly knew the inside story.

Wangchuan paused.

“There are two candidates here at headquarters?”

“That’s right. One is Yin Xingtian, the former Hall Master from Sanhe Commandery. The other is said to be Elder Wan Xiwen’s personal disciple, who has also already advanced to fourth rank and is not weak. At the moment he holds the position of Outer Hall Master here at headquarters, but that post has no real hidden profits. It is usually just used for gilding one’s credentials before being sent out to the provinces to take charge of a commandery hall.”

Lin Zhentao’s explanation deepened Wangchuan’s understanding of headquarters.

He also immediately realized:

Heitu Commandery and Shenyu Commandery were probably genuine hot potatoes.

Otherwise,

given Hall Master Yin’s disposition, and given Elder Wan’s advantages, how could it ever have been the turn of those two men he had just seen?

Their scheming nature was practically written across their faces. Their cultivation was average, their bearing unimpressive. Among fourth-rank martial artists, they were the very definition of mediocrity…

At that thought, he could not help nodding.

“You’re right.”

“The Hall Master seats of Heitu Commandery and Shenyu Commandery are not something just anyone can hold down.”

The fact that neither Hall Master Yin nor Elder Wan’s disciple wanted to compete for them said more than enough.

After drinking tea for a while, Lin Zhentao found an excuse and took his leave.

Wangchuan resumed his cultivation.

Standing before the Iron Dummy Stake, Wangchuan held an Iron Caltrop between his fingers. Following the methods of circulation and force application from 《Star-Plucking Hand》, he launched it with a sharp air-piercing whistle.

A streak of black light struck the Iron Dummy Stake from more than ten meters away and embedded itself deeply within it.

The consumption was not high. Each attack only used 2 points of internal energy.

It took twenty effective hits to raise the experience by 1 point.

This was much easier than 《Raging Tide Sword Art》.

With Wangchuan’s abilities, he could gain 10 points of experience in one go, and very soon he heard the system prompt:

“Ding!”

“《Star-Plucking Hand》 has advanced to ‘Minor Mastery.’ Reward: +1 Agility.”

His Agility Attribute broke through to 120 points.

Then, the next day, 《Star-Plucking Hand》 advanced smoothly into Practice Makes Perfect, pushing his Agility up to 122.

Without pausing for even a moment, Wangchuan switched to 《Flying Dragon Hand Technique》.

《Flying Dragon Hand Technique》 was much more complicated to train, because it incorporated all kinds of variations in hand technique and internal force.

For example, when training it, one was required to hit the target along a curved trajectory.

Just mastering the hand motions and adapting to the shifts in internal force required by 《Flying Dragon Hand Technique》 took him a full day!

Entry alone took a day.

Then, once he started properly training it, he discovered that he had to activate two hidden weapons at the same time and send them along different flight paths to hit the target, fulfilling the “Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl” condition, before experience would increase.

To raise the realm as quickly as possible, Wangchuan practiced in the Caobang training ground during the day, then returned offline at night to practice in his personal dedicated training ground. It still took him two full days and two full nights before he finally managed to achieve “Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl.”

He held two concealed weapons between his fingers, then exploded with force.

It consumed 4 points of internal energy.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two streaks of black light crossed left and right and struck the Iron Dummy Stake twenty meters away dead on.

Only then did the experience finally begin to grow, slowly.

But Wangchuan did not stop there.

Once his right hand was trained, he trained his left!

During the day he practiced his right-hand hidden weapon techniques at the Caobang training ground; at night, after logging off, he practiced his left-hand concealed weapon techniques at his own private training ground.

Grinding his teeth through another two days and two nights of practice, he finally fully absorbed the muscle memory and force application method of 《Flying Dragon Hand Technique》 and could now use both hands equally well.