Chapter 443: Spring Departure Begins—Wait and See

Once he realized that the permanent Spirit increase granted by 《Three-Yin Qi-Circulation Art》 was even greater than he had imagined, Wangchuan immediately grew excited and cultivated with even greater focus.

He used two more Lesser Rejuvenation Pills.

As the realm of 《Three-Yin Qi-Circulation Art》 rose, the time required for one full circulation dropped to fourteen minutes. With the help of the Lesser Rejuvenation Pills, it was compressed to thirteen minutes per cycle, and his cultivation speed increased noticeably. He could now gain around 5 points of experience in about an hour.

Wangchuan buried himself in cultivation for two full days and nights.

By the end, the experience value of 《Three-Yin Qi-Circulation Art》 had reached 230/300.

Wangchuan still devoted himself to cultivation with complete focus. Even though the cultivation speed had slowed considerably and he could now only gain 5 points of experience per day, he still intended to push 《Three-Yin Qi-Circulation Art》 to Practice Makes Perfect first.

The higher his Spirit attribute, the deeper his internal energy reserves, and the greater the benefit to an expert!

That meant he could last longer in actual combat!

At the same time,

when unleashing the Ultimate Art 《Wind Fills the Vast Sky》, he would be able to activate it multiple times, building up greater advantages in a life-and-death battle.

He had to raise 《Three-Yin Qi-Circulation Art》 to Practice Makes Perfect.

...

As the festive atmosphere of the New Year gradually faded,

the beginning of spring drew closer and closer.

During that time, Wangchuan continuously received reports from Qinghe Commandery:

Zhuang Xuyan and his group from the Beggar Sect really had gone to Qinghe Commandery and attempted to challenge the Qinghe Commandery Hall. However, because the Hall Master there was only a third-rank martial artist and the Lu Family had already been warned in advance and raised their guard, Zhuang Xuyan’s plan failed to go through.

Wangchuan also found time to appoint a new batch of people in charge.

Cui Mingjue’s injuries had fully healed, and he now formally took office as Main Helm Leader;

Hong Kaibao continued to hold the Sanjiang Branch Helm;

Monk Dalong was appointed to take command of the Leishui Branch Helm;

and the former boat captain, Zhao Zuo, was placed by Wangchuan into the position of Helm Leader of the Jinhe Branch Helm.

Two players and two NPCs.

Cui Mingjue now came every day to pay his respects, and the attitude he had once reserved for Old Seven had now shifted completely onto Wangchuan. He even gave off the faint impression of wanting to compete with Chen Ergou for favor. His loyalty was absolutely not in question.

Zhao Zuo, meanwhile, had no local roots in Sanhe Commandery, but he was steady, careful, and able to keep his composure. With a group of men assigned to follow him and help him control the Jinhe Branch Helm, he was certain to produce results.

As for Monk Dalong...

Wangchuan had known him comparatively well before. Now that Warring States had merged over, Wangchuan wanted to give him a hand on the one hand, and on the other, he also wanted to see whether he could keep him within Sanjiang Studio.

After all, Monk Dalong was already a third-rank martial artist and could collect a license and go independent at any time.

As for the other island masters and cavern masters...

those positions were all split between NPCs and players as well, so that later he could use the performance of the NPCs to put pressure on the players.

Day after day passed.

Then, on this day, Wang Yuehui came to report:

“Hall Master!”

“The heavy consignments from the Dongfang Family and the Ouyang Family are already preparing to be sent our way. They’ve urged us several times to settle on the date.”

“And also, there are two families in our own commandery preparing to set sail immediately once spring begins! At that time, we can combine the shipments and escort them together! The total value has now reached fourteen thousand taels of gold.”

“Has there been any reply from Qinghe Commandery?”

Wangchuan asked after stopping his cultivation.

Wang Yuehui nodded.

“The Qinghe Commandery Hall has already joined forces with the Lu Family and two local families to assemble a batch of heavy consignments as well, worth roughly thirteen thousand taels of gold. They will travel together with us when the time comes.”

“And has the escort lineup been finalized?”

“Yes.”

Wang Yuehui continued:

“The Qinghe Commandery Hall is assigning four third-rank martial artists, twelve second-rank martial artists, and forty-eight first-rank martial artists to the escort. Below them, there will also be one hundred and twenty full-fledged martial artists and Quasi-Martial Artists!”

“On the Lu Family’s side, Young Master Lu will personally take command with two fourth-rank guards. The Lu Family will also dispatch thirty-six second-rank to third-rank martial artists.”

“In addition, the guards from the three families total around another eighty men.”

The scale of Qinghe Commandery’s spring-departure escort force was close to three hundred men, no small display of strength.

“Hall Master.”

“On our side, the family guards number over one hundred and sixty.”

“This subordinate has contacted Constable Captain Yu and Constable Captain He of the Six Gates to lend us support. At that time, the authorities will send over thirty men as well.”

“For our hall, Captain Zhao Heiniu will lead the main force, with Captain Bai as outside support. We will also arrange for Su Yun and Su Qi to disguise themselves and guard in secret. Beneath them, there are more than two hundred brothers ranging from the First Rank to the Third Rank, so the full scale of our side comes to around four hundred men.”

Taken together, the total escort force of the two halls for the spring departure reached seven hundred men! With a scale like that, with a formation like that, who could possibly shake it?

Wangchuan nodded.

This mission would bring in a total of four thousand taels of gold. Although half of it would have to be distributed back out, it still counted as the first shipping run of the new year, an auspicious opening. It was worth doing.

“Good!”

“Once you finish coordinating with Qinghe Commandery and settle the itinerary for the next two days, you may formally set sail.”

“And explain the personnel deployment roster clearly to Captain Zhao.”

“Yes!”

Wang Yuehui accepted the order, and even his footsteps grew lighter as he left.

...

Within Qinghe Commandery,

a carrier pigeon flapped its wings and flew into a residence, landing in the hands of a man dressed in plain clothes.

He removed the tightly rolled slip of paper and quickly brought it to one of the sect elders.

“Elder Lin!”

“It’s a carrier pigeon from the Weihai Commandery Sub-Branch.”

The elder paused with the pipe in his hand, rubbed his wine-red nose, and held out a hand.

“Let me see it.”

This was the very same Outer Elder who had earlier gone with Zhuang Xuyan and Wang Gu to challenge the Sanhe Commandery Hall.

The man beneath him respectfully handed over the paper slip.

Elder Lin with the wine-red nose glanced over the contents. Then he abruptly rose from his seat, fierce light flashing in his eyes like a hunter who had finally spotted his prey.

Gnashing his teeth, Elder Lin said,

“Good!”

“We’ve finally waited for it!”

He immediately took his pipe and went to find Zhuang Xuyan.

Zhuang Xuyan was currently drinking with three Outer Elders.

“Well now, drinking behind my back, are you?”

“Old Lin, why are you here again?”

“You reek of smoke. It’s enough to choke a man to death. No wonder Elder Zhuang doesn’t want to stay in the same room as you. Hahahaha...”

“Enough. There’s word from Weihai Commandery.”

“The Ouyang Family’s heavy consignment has already set sail. It will enter Sanhe Commandery tomorrow.”

The moment Elder Lin said this, everyone in the room immediately grew grave and serious.

“It’s set sail?”

“Good!”

“Excellent!”

“We can finally make our move!”

“Damn it!”

“These last few days have nearly suffocated me.”

“Hurry up and notify the brothers in the sect. Time to get to work!”

The various Outer Elders all stood up at once and looked toward Zhuang Xuyan.

Zhuang Xuyan had been suffocating too.

He had overseen the challenge against Sanhe Commandery—and failed.

He had overseen the challenge against Qinghe Commandery—and failed again.

People within the sect had already begun questioning his ability, questioning whether he was still capable of leading his men to break open the situation in Sanhe Commandery.

Now he only had one last chance left.

The Caobang hall’s spring departure!

Either deal a heavy blow to Sanhe Commandery’s convoy!

Or raid the Sanhe Commandery Hall by night and kill someone!

One of those two!

Complete either mission, and it would strike at the morale of the Caobang in Sanhe Commandery and tear open a breach.

Fail again, and he would be thrown out and replaced!