"I see your strength is only in the Forging Tendons Realm. It's best you don't take on Gray Star level missions. It's best to consider it after you break through to the Blood Transportation Realm."
Huang Quan's gaze swept across the gray-edged paper as he spoke lightly to Lin Sheng.
"If you want merit points, you can take personal assignments within the organization. You can also earn merit points that way, just fewer. However, there aren't many personal assignments in a small place like this."
"Furthermore, if you are sure you need merit points, you can also exchange silver for them. This is the simplest method. The ratio is roughly 100 taels of silver to 1."
"You can also exchange silver?"
Lin Sheng was a little surprised, but thinking about it carefully, it was normal. After all, the operation of the Dark Star Organization also couldn't do without money.
"In that case, many thanks, Brother Huang Quan. I will take my leave now."
His purpose for this trip had been achieved; he had obtained the second-rate martial art. If there were no suitable missions, then so be it. He had no reason to stay any longer, so he cupped his hand towards the other party and left.
"Go ahead, but I advise you to be cautious about cultivating that Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm." Huang Quan waved his hand, ultimately giving a reminder.
"Naturally. Then, see you next time." Lin Sheng smiled and nodded, already turning to leave.
Watching Lin Sheng's figure disappear from sight, only then did Huang Quan shake his head.
"Truly, one doesn't shed tears until they see the coffin. Where would there be a next time? There are really too many stubborn donkeys in this world."
"I heard this kid was directly recommended by the Blazing Star Envoy from Fu City. If something happens then, don't let it fall on me..."
Huang Quan slapped his head, regretting a little at that moment that he hadn't made the other party leave a written note or something.
On the other side, Lin Sheng walked out of Tongming Academy and headed towards the bustling streets of the city without stopping.
Since he had come all this way with some difficulty, he was not in a hurry to go back.
Tongzhi County was much more prosperous than Lin'an, both in terms of population and wealth.
Since he had come here, he naturally couldn't go back empty-handed.
Strolling on the street, Lin Sheng was dressed like an ordinary Jianghu wanderer. Such attire was numerous in the County Town and didn't stand out, but to be safe, he still bought a bamboo hat from a street vendor and wore it to cover his face.
After asking the vendor about the location of the largest pharmacy in the city, he slowly walked along.
"Although he is old, his strength is not weak. He should still be above that Mu Niu, undoubtedly a Blood Transportation Realm Martial Artist."
As he walked, Lin Sheng pondered Huang Quan's strength.
He could basically confirm in his heart that the other party was undoubtedly in the Blood Transportation Realm, but he was too old, and his vital energy had already declined. His strength was significantly weaker than a Blood Transportation Warrior in their prime.
"I wonder, how big is the gap between me and a Blood Transportation Warrior when I go all out?"
"Never mind, mere speculation cannot determine the gap between us. I still need to actually fight to know the difference."
Lin Sheng shook his head, suppressed the thought, and quickened his pace.
Before long, he arrived at the pharmacy in Tongzhi County.
He adjusted the bamboo hat on his head and strode in with large, confident steps.
It wasn't until noon that he left Tongzhi County.
"I didn't expect that in a large County Town like Tongzhi County, there wouldn't be much stock of high-grade common beast blood."
In one morning, he visited all the pharmacies, big and small, in Tongzhi County. However, the high-grade common beast blood he bought was much less than he had imagined.
In total, he only got about one hundred and thirty to forty catties, not much more than what he had gained in Yangping Town, and the price was also 20% more expensive.
In order to activate the second imprint as soon as possible, he didn't pay attention to these things.
He found an empty corner and absorbed it. The activation progress of the second imprint had reached 77%.
"One step closer to complete activation."
After the second imprint is activated, his strength will undoubtedly increase by a large margin.
Without a word along the way, Lin Sheng galloped towards Yangping Town.
His speed was very fast, much faster than ordinary horses.
The great sun set in the west, and by sunset, he had already reached the border between Lin'an and Tongzhi County.
On the official road, a rare sight of a caravan was approaching him.
The leaders were all sturdy and heroic men. Seeing Lin Sheng alone on the official road, their eyes all showed vigilance.
Although the sky was dark, Lin Sheng began to see these people clearly, and his right hand was already on the hilt of the saber at his waist.
He frowned slightly, raising a bit of caution in his heart. He moved to the side of the official road, and the caravan slowly drove past him. He clearly felt more than one gaze fixed on him.
Only when the caravan gradually moved away did the gazes shift.
"These people are..."
Looking back at the distant caravan, a trace of doubt flashed in Lin Sheng's eyes.
This caravan had dozens of people, including no less than ten carriages.
Among them were children and female voices, clearly bringing their families along, seemingly relocating.
"Relocating from Lin'an County?"
A thought flashed through Lin Sheng's mind.
This official road under his feet only connected Lin'an and Tongzhi County. The other party was likely from Lin'an County.
This group of people was quite numerous, and there were also some cultivation experts among them, whose strength was not weak.
They should not be unknown figures in Lin'an County, but he didn't know which family they belonged to.
Without paying too much attention to this small interlude, Lin Sheng continued forward. By late night, he finally arrived in Yangping Town.
He opened the courtyard gate, glanced at Big Yellow, who was curled up in the courtyard seemingly asleep, and Lin Sheng stepped into the room and quickly went to sleep.
He had been traveling continuously without rest, and even his physique was somewhat tired at this point.
The next day, in the early morning.
After Lin Sheng had a simple breakfast, he pushed open the courtyard gate and walked towards the Ninth Squad's station. He had rested for a few days, and now that he was back, it was time to show his face.
However, as soon as he arrived at the station, he found that something seemed wrong. There were less than half the usual number of people in the station.
And Wang Sanyang was also not at the station.
"Lin Tou."
Noticing Lin Sheng's arrival, a shout filled with a bit of surprise rang out from the station.
"Xiao Shi, what happened? Why are there so few people?"
Looking at Xiao Shi who ran over, Lin Sheng asked.
"Team Leader Wang went to a meeting. As for the others in the squad, they went out to perform escort missions."
"Also, something has indeed happened in the past few days."
Xiao Shi said straightforwardly. Soon, the surprise on his face turned into anger.
"In the past few days, several of our transport teams have been robbed, and not a single person responsible for the transport has returned alive."
"Several squads have suffered severe casualties, and even the captains who participated in the escort are gone."
"Who did it?"
Lin Sheng's heart tightened. He didn't expect someone would dare to rob Zhenshan Tower's goods, and leave no survivors, using vicious methods.
Such a thing had almost never happened before. After all, the official road was not a dangerous place like Yangping Mountain where one could lose their life at any time.
Robbing Zhenshan Tower openly on the official road was clearly a public provocation.
The transport teams between Yangping Town and the County Town basically carried various beasts hunted on Yangping Mountain, and most of them were Materials from mid-grade or even high-grade common beasts, which were not low in value.
The value of each trip was quite high, at least over a thousand taels of silver.
Robbing several caravans consecutively meant the loss was several thousand taels.
Lin Sheng quickly realized the trouble behind this matter.
A loss of a few thousand taels of silver was nothing to Zhenshan Tower, but the real trouble was that someone had started this. If Zhenshan Tower didn't handle it properly, such incidents might not be isolated cases in the future.
Zhenshan Tower almost monopolized the beast meat and medicinal herb business on Yangping Mountain, and the profits were huge, which already made other forces envious.
It was precisely because of Zhenshan Tower's formidable power that it was able to deter others in the region.
Therefore, it was not difficult to imagine that in the face of this incident, Zhenshan Tower must respond with thunderous methods, resolving all those who acted, in order to deter others.
"We don't know who did it yet, but several Tang Zhu have gone to investigate, and they should be able to find those bastards soon."
Hearing Lin Sheng's question, Xiao Shi replied.
"Haven't found out yet? I see."
Lin Sheng nodded, but he had some guesses in his heart.
Those who dared to attack Zhenshan Tower were definitely not ordinary people, and the transport teams were not weak in strength, basically led by Forging Tendons Early Stage Martial Artists.
To be able to kill everyone, the people who acted were very strong.
"Black Wind Bandits?"
He chewed on the name in his mouth.
The first group he suspected was this group of ferocious bandits who had fled from Tongzhi County.
Being able to almost wipe out the White Elephant Martial Hall was enough to prove the strength of the Black Wind Bandits.
Moreover, being able to evade the government's search and pursuit, the strength of the Black Wind Bandits was definitely not as rumored.
He also asked Xiao Shi and the others in the station about what had happened during this period.
He found that besides Zhenshan Tower, some small and medium-sized forces in the County Town had also encountered robberies outside the city.
At this time, Lin'an County was in a state of panic.
Thinking of the caravan he encountered on the official road last night, the reason for their relocation was probably not unrelated to the recent chaos in Lin'an.
Coming out of the station, Lin Sheng felt a bit more urgency in his heart.
In fact, he had already seen some signs of the current situation in Lin'an County when he went back last time, but he didn't expect it to develop so quickly.
He walked around the town. He first went to the pharmacy to ask, but the high-grade common beast blood had not arrived yet, so he only bought some medicinal herbs to take back.
In this situation, he wondered if the arrival of goods at these pharmacies would be affected.
Thinking of this, his heart sank slightly.
"If this side is affected, then I will focus on mid-grade common beasts."
Compared to high-grade common beasts, the effect of mid-grade common beast blood is too poor.
The supply brought by ten to twenty catties of mid-grade common beast blood might only be comparable to one catty of high-grade common beast blood.
The amount needed to activate the second imprint solely relying on mid-grade common beast blood is quite large and would definitely attract attention, so unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to do this.
Residence.
Steam rose in the room. In a large round wooden barrel, Lin Sheng sat cross-legged.
The water in the wooden barrel was reddish-brown, and a somewhat strange herbal smell permeated the room.
"Phew... The effect of this medicinal liquid is quite good."
After a long while, Lin Sheng exhaled. At this time, the color of the water in the wooden barrel seemed to have lightened a bit.
This was a medicinal bath recorded in the Ape Embryo Skill, an indispensable step for the third layer of the Ape Embryo Skill. It had the effect of accelerating cultivation and could also mend some injuries sustained during the cultivation process.
Cultivating the quiet practice in the medicinal bath, he did indeed feel some effects.
After soaking for another half an hour, the color in the medicinal bath had significantly lightened, and only then did Lin Sheng come out of it.
After finishing cultivating the Ape Embryo Skill, he then took out the somewhat yellowed blue-covered booklet.
It was precisely the Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm that he had chosen from the Dark Star Organization.
Holding the booklet in his hand, he began to study it carefully.
In fact, there were indeed a few martial arts techniques on the list of second-rate martial arts that looked quite good, but compared to them, Lin Sheng still believed that this martial art was more suitable for him.
【Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm】: A vicious palm technique. The palm force contains three kinds of potent poisons, making it mysterious and unpredictable, impossible to guard against. Those who cultivate it must feed their body with poison to achieve success.
This is the introduction to this palm technique.
The content of this palm technique was not much. In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Lin Sheng had read through it completely.
His eyes also became brighter.
At this time, he had gained a certain understanding of this palm technique.
Although it was called a palm technique, it was not limited to just the palms. It could be applied to all parts of the body, depending on what the cultivator chose.
Perhaps it should be more appropriately called the Three Corpse Soul Severing Skill.
This was a completely evil skill, which could be said to be taking an unconventional path, quite extreme, resulting in either life or death.
The skill was indeed as described in the introduction, requiring one to feed their body with potent poisons, making their vital energy, muscles, tissues, and skin adapt to the poisons, thereby gradually making all parts of their body carry potent poisons. Finally, they would choose to gather a large amount of potent poison in their palms or legs.
Only when fighting others would it be impossible to guard against.
The words "Three Corpse" in the skill corresponded to three types of potent poisons.
There were no specific requirements on what type of potent poison to choose, but the stronger the toxicity of the poison you chose, the stronger the power unleashed after successful cultivation would naturally be.
When all three types of potent poisons were contained within one's body, and the three poisons merged into one, it was considered cultivating this skill to great completion, which was also stepping into the Blood Transportation Realm.
"No wonder Huang Quan kept warning me after seeing me choose this skill. To ordinary people, such a cultivation method is simply no different from seeking death."
Poison is something everyone avoids, let alone potent poison, and what's more, three types of potent poison.
It is likely that in the eyes of others, choosing to cultivate this skill is simply insane.
"However, this point is not fatal to me."
The reason he chose this poison skill was naturally because of the mountain and sea scroll.
Potent poison is fatal to humans, but it is not the case for some exotic beasts.
Some exotic beasts are born with extremely high poison resistance. If he incorporates such an exotic beast into his body, the danger of cultivating this Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm will undoubtedly be greatly reduced.
Just like the two exotic beasts he incorporated, the Black Tiger Ape and the Azure Flower Python.
They have quite high resistance to corrosive poison and cold poison, and they themselves carry these two types of potent poisons.
This should be of considerable help to him in cultivating this skill.
Moreover, this skill has another advantage.
That is, when cultivating this method, there are no Bottlenecks when breaking through realms. As long as the Fusion degree of your vital energy and poison reaches the required level, you can break through naturally.
This was also a pleasant surprise for him.
Having thought this, he immediately began to attempt cultivation.
From the purchased medicinal package, he selected a small dark blue flower the size of a palm, plucked a petal, and put it into his mouth.