Chapter 58: Murder at the meat market

Back at the Gu Manor,

Aside from controlling the puppet's actions, Gu Lin Fang continued to unlock his meridians and accupoints.

Due to already having a rough idea of their location, he was quite quick with it. Within the night and this morning, he had succeeded in unlocking 63 in his upper body.

This was a long way from the previous pitiful amount.

There are about 180 in the torso alone, adding the ones located in the arms, he was sure it was up to 200 at the very least. Presently, he had the diagram of just (72/180) in the torso, (20) in the arms, (48/180) minor accupoints for each of the two legs, (27/72) minor accupoints of the head.

As he was glancing through the diagrams he had been accumulating, a random thought came to him, 'Do players need these? If yes I'll use them for my experimentation later then'.

"None of them has returned and it indicated that they had completed their task, so I can boldly say that the Golden horse merchant family are still out for their heads"He made some calculations in his head while muttering under his breath.

"Hmm it's almost 10 am" Gu Lin Fang checked the time on the world map and turned to the mortal butler standing not too far from his courtyard, "Wei Fan, cut a piece of the kids hair and have one the noisy ones deliver it to Kin San's father, let them tell him that, he doesn't have much time".

"Yes, Lord Gu" the tall man quickly retreated before disappearing from his sight.

With that done, he decided to continue studying ways to improve his combat efficiency.

First, he decided to understand the effects of the cultivation method and how they really react on skills after changing one's Qi.

[°Cultivation Method or otherwise known as Passive Internal Combat Skills

(Neigong, think passive abilities like buffs) - usually called "Internals"

All Internals have attributes just like your spirit roots.

Which is why it's always recommended to practice internals with the same attributes as your spirit roots.

If an internal is active, it affects your active skills or martial arts techniques. Whether positively or negatively, depending on the compatibility between the internal and the technique.

IF they both have the appropriate and corresponding attributes, you get the following boosts or debuff:

°Tai Chi attribute: boosts Tai Chi martial arts' damage by 20%. But on the other hand boosts all other martial arts' damage by a maximum of only 15%.

°Yin(Moon/Darkness) attribute : boosts Yin & Soft martial arts' damage by 20%. It also boosts Tai Chi skill damage by 15%.

-15% for Yang attributed skill sets.

°Rou (Soft) attribute :Boosts Soft and Yin damage by 20%.

It boosts Tai Chi skill damage by 15%

-15% for Hard attributed skill sets.

°Yang (Sun/Light) attribute: boosts Yang & Hard martial arts' damage by 20%.

This also boosts Tai Chi skill damage by 15%.

-15% for Yin attributed skill sets.

°Gang (Hard) attribute: Boosts Hard and Yang skill damage by 20% while boosting Tai Chi skill damage by 15%.

-15% for Soft attributed skill sets.]

Gu Lin Fang wasn't too surprised as this was in line with his suspicion, just that he didn't know that the cultivation method needed to be corresponding as well, not just the spirit roots and martial arts techniques, "So matching skills of the same attribute together and activating a corresponding Internal Skill allows one to gain the full effect of the attacks (bonus damage).

That means, a warrior has to learn skills that complement the spirit root and internals as much as possible - but even then, the degree of freedom is still high".

As he continued with his thoughts, Wei Fan returned in a hurry and bowed.

"What is it?"

Wei Fan didn't dare waste anytime and said, "Jiang Qin has requested an audience with you".

Gu Lin Fang raised an eyebrow but ultimately said, "let him come, and... The tea has gotten cold"

Wei Fan acknowledged his words and picked up the tea pot as he left once again. Gu Lin Fang was curious and didn't want to read anymore or at least for now, he was more interested in why Gu Yu Xing's disciple would want to see him.

He mutters softly while folding the scrolls he was using as reference for his meridians, "Gu Yu Xing should still be exploring the tunnels...".

__________

On the other side {Iron Crow City}.

On the western outskirts of the inner city, at one of the largest meat market.

Two outer disciples of the sky blade sect's Divination hall had left the Sect grounds temporarily to take up tasks in order to earn good karma.

They were enthusiastic and hardly rested as they went around helping people.

Around 10:15 in the morning, a young man with an arrow sticking out his back suddenly appeared.

The man was not tall; he was about 170 cm.

He was handsome despite his pale face, blue eyes that seemed long and narrow like a willow leaf.

His gaze was filled with anxiousness as he coldly scanned the market. It was obvious that he was mortal but the feeling he gave them was strange.

He looked around, stood weakly for a moment, and then entered deeper into the meat market.

Three minutes later, some Yanmen officers appeared.

The leader had a thick pointed hat on his head, he walked around for a while, holding an instrument that looked like a compass.

He looked around as if he was searching for something.

"sister Sui, looks like that guy from earlier was a bad person. I think he's a thief."

"So what?." She said impatiently, They have been running around all morning and have yet to find the location for their task.

"Think about it! If he really is a thief, wouldn't it be a good deed if we hand him over to these Yanmen officers?"

Immediately, her eyes lit up. "You're right! Why didn't I think of that!

"Let's go and catch up with that thief! "

"calm down, don't go that way. If we go over through here, we'll only alert the enemy."

"Then what should we do?"

"follow me, I know another way."

"okay!"

Presently, the officer with the pointed hat had locked onto a direction based on his recent searching.

He put away the instrument and ordered the others to spread out.

He was going to attempt catching the criminal on his own and earn the merit.

The meat here were piled up different locations. Flies were flying everywhere, and the stench was somewhat pungent, different butchers were hard at work as they cut or sell different kinds of meat.

He quickly approached a huge wooden shade, Like a hungry wolf, his sharp eyes carefully observed every corner.

He moved forward with the gait of a stalking predator, his eyes surveyed as he went. He was very alert even if he knew his target was mortal.

He went deeper into the shade and found nothing, so he let out a disappointed sigh as he pulled out the compass again.

Upon looking at it, the dial continued to rotate repeatedly without showing any particular direction.

It was then something wet drop on his head and rolled down his hat, He lifted his hand and touched this liquid, only to find out it was blood!.

Swallowing hard, he looked up slowly.

Suddenly someone jumped down from the beam above.

Puchi!

An arrow stabbed into his head as he crashed to the ground, there wasn't any time to mobilize his Qi. The attack had come the very moment he let his guard down.

Blood flowed as the assailant breathed heavily.

The person who had ambushed him was Qin Feng.

Presently he was a mess, as he panted heavily. He had used up almost all of his strength to complete that kill.

In the chase a few hours ago, he was severely injured by an arrow. He couldn't go to the local pharmacy, since he hasn't explored the map enough yet.

he could only rely on his own experience in game to do minor first aid.

That was when he heard the door to the shade open.

Presently, he was ready to do anything to survive and complete the bonus task.

During Beta testing when he was hunted because of his treasure, he had picked up all kinds of tricks

Unfortunately he was yet to start Cultivation and was given such a dangerous task.

His breath was rough as he fell to the ground, "luckily the manor shows on the map".

He undressed the corpse and put the clothes on before stepping out.

Not long after he left, the two disciples arrived and found the corpse of the Officer they saw earlier.

"How?"