Chapter 453: The Picture Was Too Beautiful to Behold

Take another pass through them?

Li Na’s parting reminder struck a chord with Su Wangchuan.

Did he lack martial arts?

Not at all!

At present, he had at least fifty-odd cultivation methods under his belt. If he pushed every one of them to Entry-Level Mastery, he would be able to accumulate at least three hundred more attribute points, which would be more than enough to carry him into the Sixth Rank.

But it was true that many of those cultivation methods were still stuck at Practice Makes Perfect, halted at that very first bottleneck.

For ordinary cultivation bottlenecks, once a technique was stuck at Practice Makes Perfect, a good many of them could still be pushed to Perfect Mastery, or even Peak Perfection, by killing targets around the strength of a Quasi-Martial Artist.

However, the higher the rank of the martial art, the more stubborn the bottleneck became. Against targets at the level of a Quasi-Martial Artist, that kind of cultivation could at best push them to Entry-Level Mastery...

The 《Underwater Killing Techniques》 that Li Na had mentioned was a niche cultivation method he had practiced back when he was with the Yulong Gang. It had not moved in a whole year.

Li Na had proposed a solution, and it tempted Su Wangchuan greatly.

After hesitating for a long time, he had the security robots fetch a batch of venomous snakes from the seventh floor and dump them all into his private swimming pool.

The sight of an entire cage of venomous snakes scattering through the water and writhing like demons was even more unsettling than the scene on the seventh floor.

For a moment, it felt as though he were once again facing the Five Poison Sect’s snake tide back in Huishui County.

Splash.

Su Wangchuan did not hesitate. He leaped into the pool from the opposite end, held his breath, activated 《Water-Submerged Breath Regulation Art》, and closed in on the nearest venomous snake as it swam toward him.

Underwater, he could breathe with ease and see clearly. The short blade in his hand effortlessly cut the venomous snake in two.

The nearby snakes all darted toward him at once.

Su Wangchuan’s scalp prickled.

Underwater, many of his techniques could not be brought out at all, and his strength was badly restricted. He quickly sank to the bottom and pulled away with agile movements, avoiding the snake cluster and going in search of lone stragglers.

Slash!

Slash!

One venomous snake after another was cut down.

Spurting blood fouled the water.

The pool water changed color with astonishing speed.

A dozen or so security robots stood guard around the pool. Whenever a venomous snake tried to climb ashore, they kicked it back into the water without hesitation.

Su Wangchuan continued searching for targets.

He remained in motion underwater for more than an hour before surfacing to catch his breath.

Of the five hundred venomous snakes, he had already cleared half.

A little over another hour passed.

By then, the entire pool was filled with snake corpses.

The water in the pool had turned a murky black-green and gave off a harsh, nauseating stench...

Su Wangchuan climbed out of the pool, his face full of disgust at the smell clinging to his body. He took a shower, then let the robots keep cleaning the pool and changing the water...

When he checked back in the game, he saw:

“Ding!”

System prompt:

“《Underwater Killing Techniques》 has risen from ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ to ‘Entry-Level Mastery.’ Reward: +3 Stamina.”

He took a glance at the Status Panel and saw that the experience of 《Water-Submerged Breath Regulation Art》 had also risen by more than ten points.

Su Wangchuan’s eyes lit up.

《Water-Submerged Breath Regulation Art》 could be cultivated too.

A new direction had opened up.

Not bad!

He spent two days raising 《Water-Submerged Breath Regulation Art》 to Entry-Level Mastery.

“Ding!”

System prompt:

“《Water-Submerged Breath Regulation Art》 has risen from ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ to ‘Entry-Level Mastery.’ Reward: +3 Stamina.”

Greatly inspired, Su Wangchuan began going back through his martial arts from the beginning, trying to pick up again all those techniques that could increase Agility and Stamina, and push them as far as possible.

However...

many of those cultivation methods had already broken through to Entry-Level Mastery. After testing them one by one, only 《Water-Submerged Breath Regulation Art》, 《Water Strider》, and the body-protection techniques could still continue to be cultivated.

So he focused on cultivating 《Water-Submerged Breath Regulation Art》 first, intending to wait until Ye Baiyi brought back another batch of venomous snakes before cultivating 《Underwater Killing Techniques》 again.

The plan was ideal;

reality was harsh.

Li Na quickly facilitated trades with more than a hundred studios.

A great many studios took out the treasures they had been hoarding and were willing to cooperate with Sanjiang Studio, bartering goods for goods.

Some wanted niche cultivation methods; others had their eyes on the fifth-rank 《Raging Tide Sword Art》.

One of them even brought out the balanced fifth-rank saber art 《Two Principles Saber Art》 and specifically asked to trade it for 《Raging Tide Sword Art》.

Su Wangchuan could only carve out time each day to produce manuals.

The transaction rules required that everything be delivered to the Capital and exchanged under the notarized supervision of the 《spirit realm》 Online Guidance Center.

But what Su Wangchuan had not expected was that something bad happened in the meantime.

Heitu Commandery and Shenyu Commandery still had not begun their spring-departure ceremonies even after the start of spring.

Because Zhuang Xuyan’s Beggar Sect force had died, the Beggar Sect had been moving men around with unusual frequency, creating the oppressive feeling that a great storm was about to break.

Yin Xingtian and Old Seven, the two Hall Masters, both held back and dragged things out for several days, not daring to begin the spring departure because they did not want to leave the rear of their halls empty.

After several days passed, however, and as they watched the other halls complete their spring ceremonies smoothly and successfully,

headquarters began pressing them over and over again.

The major branch helms and subordinate gang halls beneath them could no longer sit still either, and grumbling and dissatisfaction rose on all sides.

In the end, Old Seven and Yin Xingtian both arranged to begin their spring-departure ceremonies at the same time.

And then—

that very night, two Beggar Sect elders with sixth-rank cultivation stormed Yin Xingtian’s hall.

Yin Xingtian’s hall had two Caobang elders stationed there, yet under this sudden Beggar Sect assault, both were badly wounded...

Yin Xingtian’s weak point was pierced by a single finger strike, causing the realm of his 《Golden Bell Shield》 to fall by an entire stage and his strength to plummet!

If not for the fact that the Beggar Sect elders had overconsumed their internal energy and withdrawn on their own at the end, the consequences for Yin Xingtian and the other two men might have been dire.

After that battle, the Caobang hurriedly sent three elders south to reinforce Shenyu Commandery and stabilize the hall.

Just as everyone thought that the Beggar Sect’s revenge had ended there, news came again early the next morning.

The spring-departure convoy had been attacked. Its hulls were blown open, and the cargo aboard was sunk into the river right at the dock, resulting in devastating losses.

Old Seven and Yin Xingtian’s halls now faced astronomical compensation.

At nearly the same time that Su Wangchuan received the grim report from headquarters, he also received a carrier pigeon letter from Old Seven in Heitu Commandery.

The spring departure had failed!

The morale throughout both the Heitu Commandery and Shenyu Commandery halls was dismal.

Many of the laborers had already begun seeking other ways to survive.

Even the disciples in the halls were convinced they could not possibly come up with enough money to pay such compensation. The future looked bleak, and hearts were wavering.

Old Seven sent word in the dead of night, hoping that Su Wangchuan could advance him a sum of money and help Heitu Commandery through its urgent crisis.

From the wording of the letter, Su Wangchuan keenly picked up on something slightly unusual:

Advance...

Help Heitu Commandery through its urgent crisis.

Old Seven did not mention Shenyu Commandery or Hall Master Yin Xingtian even once.

“Hall Master Yin Xingtian... does he have some way to preserve himself? Or are his injuries so severe that he is likely to withdraw behind the scenes and relinquish the position of Hall Master of Shenyu Commandery?”

Holding the strip of paper in hand, Su Wangchuan fell into thought.

After a long while, he called Zhao Heiniu over and instructed him:

“Captain Zhao, make a trip to Heitu Commandery for me and meet Old Seven. Here are fifteen thousand taels of gold. Keep them on your person. Stay low-key, conceal your identity as the Caobang Deputy Hall Master, and be careful.”

“Yes!”