Chapter 49 Opening the Box Again
"Ah!"
Fang Xuanwen suddenly let out a cry of agony.
His palms were firmly locked in the grip of Chen Xuan. Over thirty years of his inner Qi were being relentlessly drained away, while the vicious poison inside his body raged like a turbulent river, surging straight toward his heart until he could no longer hold on.
Puff!
A massive stream of blood spewed from his mouth, accompanied by gushing blood from his ears, nostrils, and eyes.
After a brief, shrill shriek, Chen Xuan delivered a kick to his neck, instantly shattering his entire cervical vertebra. Fang Xuanwen flew backward, crashing heavily into the distance, thoroughly and irrevocably dead.
"Master Fang!"
"Master Fang is dead?"
Someone screamed in terror.
...
Chen Xuan let out a cold snort, turned back to face the crowd, and shouted loudly, "Listen up, everyone! A true man never hides his name when walking the martial world. I am indeed Chen Xuan, but I am certainly no 'Family-Extinguishing Hand.' This wicked and malicious Fang Xuanwen has committed every conceivable evil. He condoned his son's forcible seizure of commoners' daughters and ruined innocent families—acts I have witnessed on numerous occasions, which is why he constantly slandered me. Today, I have executed him right here to purge the martial world of a scourge. If any of you doubt my words, go ask the leader of the Four Heroes of Yunzhou to find out the truth!"
The crowd fell into a dead silence, their faces pale with shock.
Not a single person dared to utter a word.
Chen Xuan searched Fang Xuanwen's body, pocketed a few hundred taels of silver banknotes, and then turned to head upstairs. He stripped off the tavern waiter's clothes, discarded them, and changed back into his own attire. After releasing the waiter's acupuncture seal, he leaped out through the window and vanished from the scene.
It was not until they were certain he had completely departed that the martial artists in the tavern finally erupted into a flurry of clamorous discussions.
"How vicious! The Family-Extinguishing Hand Chen Xuan actually murdered the venerable Master Fang!"
"This young demon should be sliced into a thousand pieces; everyone ought to rise and kill him!"
"Venerable Master Fang!"
"We must not let this demon go unpunished! Let's hurry and report this to the authorities, and send word to the Three Great Families at once!"
"Everyone, my second and third brothers were just killed by the Family-Extinguishing Hand Chen Xuan while trying to aid venerable Master Fang. You all witnessed this with your own eyes! This blood feud cannot go unavenged. We, the Four Heroes of the Fang Family, will never let this rest!"
"That's right! The Four Heroes of the Fang Family are true heroes!"
The crowd was in utter chaos, filled with a deafening uproar.
"This Family-Extinguishing Hand Chen Xuan is truly ruthless."
Yu Guan, the roaming informant, muttered under his breath with a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.
Fortunately, Chen Xuan had not bothered to settle accounts with him over what he had said earlier; otherwise, ten lives would not have been enough to save him.
...
Chen Xuan galloped all the way out of the small town, finally stopping only after traveling dozens of miles.
The meridians in both of his arms throbbed with a stinging pain, feeling as though they were being pierced by steel needles. Rolling up his sleeves, he saw blood seeping from numerous blood vessels in his arms.
This was the consequence of using the Art of Energy Dissolution before having fully mastered it.
Just like the last time he dealt with Steward Liu, whenever he encountered someone with profound internal energy, his meridians would be battered by that energy as if sliced by knives.
However, once he advanced the Art of Energy Dissolution further, this situation would improve significantly.
He brought up the system panel and took a look.
The experience points had increased by another 200.
Under Quest Two, poisoning to death an elder of the Righteous Alliance rewarded him with 200 experience points, and Fang Xuanwen happened to be one of the Ten Elders.
Yet, aside from the 200 experience points, there was something else that brought great joy to Chen Xuan.
And that was his renown!
Having killed Fang Xuanwen, his renown had increased by another 45 points, changing to "A Modest Achievement (88/280)."
His luck value rose directly from 39 to 48.
This meant he could unlock a major gift package once again.
Filled with inner delight, he tapped on the major gift package.
Whoosh!
His luck value instantly decreased by 40 points, and a massive chest materialized, spinning violently before him.
Bang!
The chest burst open.
A screen of light emerged.
[Experience Points +320]
[Luck Value +3]
[Stamina +200]
[Rain of Pears Storm Needles +1]
[Lesser Rejuvenation Pill +1]
[Basic Swordsmanship +1]
Lines of tiny text made Chen Xuan's eyes light up, and he cheered with joy.
This draw was simply heaven-defying.
Even the Rain of Pears Storm Needles had been unlocked.
This was an ultimate weapon of mass destruction, capable of easily taking down a practitioner at the Meridian Realm.
Of course, what pleased him the most was still the 320 experience points.
His experience points had now reached a full 560 points—an overnight fortune!
Swish!
He tapped on the items, and the light quickly dissipated. Everything that could merge into his mind did so, leaving only the Rain of Pears Storm Needles and the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill in his hands.
The Rain of Pears Storm Needles were crafted delicately and ingeniously, roughly the size of an adult's wrist, and colored a deep black. Inside, it resembled a beehive densely packed with countless poisoned steel needles of unknown quantity.
After careful inspection, he tucked the item safely against his body.
Powerful though the Rain of Pears Storm Needles were, they were ultimately a one-time consumable. Once depleted, reloading them would be exceedingly difficult, so he could not use them casually unless facing desperate straits.
Having stowed the needles, he turned his attention to the sealed wax pellet in his hand and gently cracked it open.
According to texts, the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill was a rare divine pill used by certain martial arts sects and ancient families to cultivate exceptional disciples. Difficult to manufacture and extremely precious, a single pill could increase one's internal energy by ten years, though it was only effective the very first time it was consumed.
Given the strength of their Five Poisons Sect, they were not yet qualified to refine such pills.
The Three Great Families of Yunzhou were similarly unequipped.
To refine such a pill required at least the caliber of Wudang and Shaolin, or some ancient clans of Zhongzhou.
Still, today Chen Xuan would get to taste the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill.
He tossed the longan-sized pill directly into his mouth. A rich fragrance and a faint medicinal herbal scent instantly diffused across his senses. Soon, Chen Xuan felt a warmth blooming in his abdomen, akin to a surge of hot current crashing through him.
He immediately sat cross-legged on the ground and circulated the Five Poisons Heart Classic to absorb it.
Boom!
The medicinal potency acted with extreme swiftness; within the span of half a cup of tea, he had completely absorbed it all.
The internal Qi within his meridians suddenly expanded by about a third compared to before.
He opened his eyes and brought up the panel.
Host: Chen Xuan
Identity: Disciple of the Five Poisons Sect
Internal Energy: 37 years
Stamina: 1120
Experience Points: 560
Techniques: Demonic Iron Cloth (Novice 0/280), Five Poisons Heart Classic (Proficient 0/280), Art of Energy Dissolution (Rudimentary 0/120), Eight-Step Cicada Chase (Rudimentary 0/60), Basic Swordsmanship (Novice 0/10)
Title: Family-Extinguishing Hand
Renown: A Modest Achievement (88/280) (For every 5 points of renown increased, 1 point of luck value is gained)
Luck Value: 11 (Increase luck value by 60 points to unlock a major gift package)
Current Major Gift Package: Unavailable.
Current Quests: (1) Uncover the truth behind the joint encirclement and suppression of the Five Poisons Sect.
(2) Acting as an undercover agent for the Five Poisons Sect, secretly assist the unorthodox factions in poisoning to death the Ten Elders of the Righteous Alliance. Each elder poisoned yields a reward of 200 experience points.
(3) Rapidly enhance personal strength to secure a ranking on the Human Roll.
(4) Serial Quest (Not yet unlocked).
...
Chen Xuan's eyes lit up.
His internal energy had indeed become 37 years.
Next, he needed to consider which technique to allocate his 560 experience points to.
He currently possessed five techniques: the Demonic Iron Cloth, the Five Poisons Heart Classic, the Art of Energy Dissolution, the Eight-Step Cicada Chase, and Basic Swordsmanship.
Basic Swordsmanship was what he had just unlocked from the chest, appearing automatically on the panel the moment it was drawn.
To be honest, he had little interest in this technique because its grade was too low; upgrading it should certainly not be his priority. If he had any points left over afterward, allocating them then wouldn't be too late.
He could not quite figure out why such a low-level technique as Basic Swordsmanship had appeared.
After a brief contemplation, Chen Xuan decided to upgrade the Demonic Iron Cloth another tier first. After all, it was his foundational technique and had resolved numerous troubles for him; it could not be lightly discarded.
Whoosh!
The Demonic Iron Cloth advanced directly from Novice (0/280) to Rudimentary (0/500).
Chen Xuan felt a swelling sensation within his body as an overwhelming surge of supreme strength burst forth once more. Blood vessels bulged across his skin, and muscles swelled, but this time he firmly suppressed it, preventing a full physical transformation.
The only aspect of this technique that left him somewhat dissatisfied was precisely this transformation.
It made him look like a blunt, oversized brute!
What he yearned for was the style of figures clad in flowing white robes, crossing rivers on a single reed!
Exhaling a long breath, he looked at the panel once more. His 560 experience points had instantly decreased by 280, leaving 280 points remaining.
However, those 280 points were rather limited; if he spent them on the Five Poisons Heart Classic, he would have nothing left for the Art of Energy Dissolution or the Eight-Step Cicada Chase.
After a brief thought, he decided against upgrading the Five Poisons Heart Classic this time, opting instead for the Art of Energy Dissolution.
Fewer than thirty percent of the specialized meridians required for his Art of Energy Dissolution had been unblocked, and whenever he dealt with powerful experts possessing profound internal energy, the impact always caused a stinging pain in his meridians—a trouble that had to be resolved.
Besides, having just ingested the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill and gained 10 years of internal energy, skipping the Five Poisons Heart Classic this time was of no consequence.
Whoosh!
The Art of Energy Dissolution advanced directly from Rudimentary (0/120) to Proficient (0/240).
In an instant, he felt a mystical transformation occur within his body. A peculiar force emerged within certain specialized meridians in his arms and chest, flowing backward into his dantian.