Chapter 45: The Supreme Martial Arts (Part 1)

  Xiao Ziyang hastily sat down on the ground, took out a jade bottle from his bosom, poured out a fragrant brown pellet and swallowed it with his head held high.

  After taking the Wugeng Dan, he gritted his teeth and pulled out the sharp sword from his chest.

  Wu Geng Dan did not disappoint its reputation as a divine elixir. A moment later, he felt the scorching pain in his chest ease up a lot, and he no longer felt dizzy and lightheaded like before, with blackness in front of his eyes, almost fainting.

  Xiao Ziyang insisted on standing up and walked towards the corpse of the black-clad man. Looking at the corpse nailed to the wall, he couldn't help but feel a sense of detachment from the world.

  Xiao Ziyang, at this time, had a powerful physique that was rarely seen in the world. In the military, he would be an absolute first-class vanguard general, and in the Jianghu, he would also be considered one of the top masters.

  That black-clad man, although his swordsmanship was superb and his agility unparalleled, had internal energy that was only of a second-rate level. If it weren't for this, his internal energy would have been enough to take Shao Ziyang's life.

  At first glance, this black-clad man's overall strength is only at a first-rate level, and the two should be evenly matched.

  But Neijiaquan has an innate advantage over Waijiaquan. The lightness and agility generated by internal power are themselves a powerful counter to the rigid and clumsy external styles!

  The swordsmanship of the black-clad man is unparalleled, and for a martial artist with swift and agile footwork, they are even more the nemesis of external family masters.

  Xiao Ziyang saw this person's extraordinary lightness skill, flying seven or eight zhang in one leap, and his swordsmanship that sent six swords flying out at once, and was shocked as if he had seen a mortal enemy.

  After taking action, he changed his mind and came up with a hundred ideas. First, he showed weakness to the enemy, luring him into thinking that his body, which had been tempered by practicing "Purple Jade Smoke", was flawed with obvious shortcomings in his horizontal exercise skills. Then, he used his body to lure the enemy, although he ultimately killed his opponent, but also ended up being seriously injured.

  If it weren't for the unexpected collapse of Hong Zhuo's internal energy due to "Zi Yu Sheng Yan", he would have directly invaded his inner organs. Today, who will die in whose hands is still unknown.

  If it weren't for the Wǔ Gēng Dān, a kind of elixir, this severe internal injury would have kept him bedridden for half a year!

  Xiao Ziyang debuted at the age of ten and has been in the industry for nearly a decade, today is the first time he truly experienced the Ghost Gate.

  Xiao Ziyang, having collected his thoughts, walked up to the man in black and began to search him, naturally not willing to let go of a dead man's wealth.

  He first pulled down a bulging purse from the black-clad man's waist, opened it, and under the faint starlight, several purple-gold glows emanated from inside. Xiao Ziyang contentedly stuffed the purse into his bosom.

  Xiao Ziyang also found a thick cloth bag tied to the chest of Hong Shu Ke, which felt like a book inside.

  "Treasured book!" Xiao Ziyang's heart was filled with joy. Hong Zhuo Ke, this lone thief who wandered the four seas, always carried his most precious things on him. Just by looking at his movements, one could tell that this treasured book was no ordinary thing.

  He untied the sack and was just about to open it when he heard footsteps crunching through dry twigs in the distance.

  Xiao Ziyang asked: "Who is it?"

  "Is that you, Wu Da Xia? I just heard a noise over here and wondered what was happening." It turned out to be Zhao Deputy Commander.

  "It was me, I've already killed Hong Chou Ke." Xiao Zi replied in a somewhat weak voice.

  Zhao's deputy suddenly stopped in his tracks, "Wu Xia, are you injured?"

  "They're just superficial wounds, bring some wound medicine over."

  Vice Captain Zhao said: "Wu Da Xia, you endure for a moment, I'll go call the doctor." After finishing speaking, Vice Captain Zhao quickly retreated to the back.

  "Alright, you go quickly and come back quickly." Xiao Ziyang knew that Vice General Zhao did not believe he could kill the Red Guest, fearing that he would be taken hostage by the Red Guest, and had already gone to fetch reinforcements.

  After Zhao Deputy Commander left, Xiao Ziyang took out the arrows on the body of the red guest, wiped them clean and put them in the arrow box.

  Xiao Ziyang searched the corpse of Hong Zhu Ke again, and after making sure he hadn't missed anything, he put away Palm Dragon and sat down under a big tree.

  Before long, Vice Commander Zhao led a group of guards and martial artists over.

  When the guards saw the corpse hanging on the wall, they didn't quite believe it was Hong Zou Ke, but Xiao Zi Yang didn't care whether they believed or not, and had someone help him back to his room.

  Back in his room, Xiao Ziyang sent away the martial artist who was supporting him and hastily bandaged the seven or eight wounds on his body. This Wugeng Dan was indeed extraordinary, as most of the wounds on his body had already stopped bleeding and scabbed over in a short period of time.

  He pulled out the red silk pouch from his bosom.

  Xiao Ziyang wanted to practice "Zi Yu Sheng Yan", but the cost of buying the necessary medicinal materials was not a small sum, so he had no choice but to become a money-obsessed person.

  After opening the pouch, Xiao Ziyang found that it was divided into two parts from the middle. The smaller side contained some gold and silver coins, which seemed to be used for daily expenses. The larger side was surprisingly all purple gold coins, and upon careful counting, there were more than 120 of them. This discovery made Xiao Ziyang extremely delighted.

  Xiao Ziyang took out his own purse and counted it, only to find that he now had 328 Purple Gold Coins. One Purple Gold Coin was officially exchangeable for 1,000 Silver Coins according to the government's regulations, but in reality, the actual exchange price among the people was more than 1,200 Silver Coins per Purple Gold Coin. Calculating this way, it was almost 400,000 taels of silver!

  Don't think that just because Xiao Ziyang spent several thousand taels of silver in one day, he doesn't care about money. What he bought were either precious swords or famous medicinal herbs like ginseng that had been aged for over a decade, which is why he spent money like water.

  In fact, in the Western Liang State, even the best fertile land is only worth more than twenty taels of silver per mu, while in remote areas like Ganzhou, where Shao Ziyang's old home is located, the best fertile land is worth no more than ten taels of silver.

  Xiao Ziyang's face lit up with joy, and he transferred the money from his own purse to the elegant and well-crafted one belonging to Hong Shouke.

  He then pulled out a cloth package from his bosom which he had found on Hong Niangzi's body.

  Only this corner of the bundle had some bloodstains, it was made of thick and sturdy dark blue cotton fabric, three sides were sewn with dense needlework very firmly, the opening was sewn with four strips of cloth that could be tied up, on the four corners of the bundle were sewn four thicker strips of cloth, used to tie the bundle to the body.

  Xiao Ziyang untied the cloth strip that bound the mouth of the bag, and inside the bag were two books, one thin and one thick.

  A thin book titled "The True Interpretation of Easy Disguise" was signed by Tang Zheng, and the book recorded dozens of methods for easy disguise and transformation, as well as techniques for playing various characters after transformation. Xiao Ziyang flipped through a few pages and threw it aside.

  A thick book with a cover that reads "Wu Jing" in large characters, and the three small words "Li Shao Bai" written at the bottom right corner.

  These five words are obviously written by the same person, with a strong and powerful font, and a hint of elegance is revealed. From a calligraphy perspective, this is also a rare masterpiece; however, Xiao Ziyang, who has always been interested in calligraphy, didn't have the slightest thought to appreciate it, he was shocked by those two big words "Wu Jing".

  This Li Shaobai is an unknown person, yet he is so arrogant. Xiao Ziyang flipped open the book and began to read it carefully.