Chapter 11: Benefits

"Huh?" Unable to open his eyes due to the strong wind, Shen Zhui did not understand what was going on, but he heard an old man yelling behind him.

"Wang Long, what the hell are you trying to do?! Do you want to provoke my Li Family?! Let go of the young master!"

A figure clad in flowing robes suddenly appeared by Li Ming's side, his hands clasped behind him, his temples adorned with several strands of white hair swaying, giving off a transcendent vibe.

It was none other than the head of the Martial Brigade, Wang Long!

"Elder... Elder Cang... s-save... save me..." Li Ming's legs turned to jelly, his teeth chattering.

Gone was the previous exuberant spirit and the audacity of making grand gestures, replaced by pure terror on his face.

Although Wang Long was still a meter away from him, Li Ming felt completely immobilized, sensing invisible strands of energy circling his throat.

If he dared to move even an inch, he would undoubtedly meet his end!

"Your Li Family, has the audacity to mention the word 'face'?" Wang Long said coldly. "Innate martial artists do not meddle in the affairs of acquired martial artists. How dare you now obstruct the executioner of my Martial Brigade! Old Ghost Cang, try and make a move and see, whether Shen Zhui dies first, or your Li family's young master!"

"You...!

The Elder surnamed Cang was in a great haste, and his tone involuntarily softened,

"Wang Long, Captain Wang... let's talk it over... Please, whatever you do, don't harm the young master."

Seeing this, Wang Long gave a light laugh, saying, "A lofty innate martial artist grovelling without dignity. If you dare to kill Shen Zhui with a single punch, I would have respected you a bit... Clearly, you are too accustomed to being a lapdog. In this life, I'm afraid you'll never hope to reach the Spirit Bridge Realm."

The Elder surnamed Cang's face turned a beet red, being publicly humiliated by Wang Long. "Wang Long, don't push it too far!"

Wang Long gave a cold laugh and waved his hand: "I can push it even further!"

"Zing~" An energy sliced across Li Ming's cheek, instantly leaving a shallow cut.

"Young master!" The Elder surnamed Cang roared, and was about to charge forward.

"One more step, and he dies!" Wang Long coldly announced, and a second, deeper cut appeared on Li Ming's face.

"Back up! Back up! Do you want to get me killed?!" Li Ming yelled in panic.

The Elder surnamed Cang, feeling helpless, was forced to take a step back.

After a moment of silence, the Elder surnamed Cang sighed, "Wang Long, we admit our loss in this matter. Now tell me, what will it take for you to spare the young master?"

"Easy." Wang Long pointed to a group of martial artists who had rushed up from the foot of the mountain.

"These people, attacking the executioner, are guilty of a serious crime. Death."

The dozen or so people who had just rushed over were frightened upon hearing this.

The Elder surnamed Cang glanced at them, a trace of determination flashed in his eyes, gritting his teeth, he said, "Fine!"

"Elder Cang, don't!"

"Spare us, we did nothing wrong--"

"Ah..."

"…"

"Puff, puff, puff, puff–" Blood spurted out one after another.

The elder surnamed Cang waved his sleeve, and several tiny hidden weapons carrying penetrating true energy flashed from within his sleeve, piercing the throats of all the people in an instant.

Since they didn't have Shen Zhui's superior agility, all of them died in an instant.

Even Ah Da, an acquired martial artist of the ninth rank, hadn't had time to react.

"You! I despise..."

His eyes were full of resentment as he stared in the direction of Li Ming, filled with endless resentment.

Until his death, he could not comprehend why he loyally served his master, even giving up his own brothers, only to face such an end.

"Ruthless." Seeing this, a chill ran down Shen Zhui's spine.

Twenty-one people were killed in one go, without any hesitation whatsoever.

This Li Family is really ruthless and cold-blooded.

"Wang Long, are you satisfied now?! Quickly, let the young master go!"

However, Wang Long simply shook his head, pointing to Shen Zhui said, "Use your innate spiritual energy essence to heal him."

"Wang Long!!!" The Elder surnamed Cang was genuinely enraged now. "You're going too far!"

Wang Long looked at him calmly and didn't respond.

"Pfft~" Another cut appeared on Li Ming's face.

"Stop! Stop! I'll do it!" The Elder surnamed Cang quickly waved his hands, not daring to resist any further.

Even without Li Ming as a hostage, his strength was not a match for Wang Long's. He had no choice but to submit.

"Come here!"

An attractive force emitted, pulling Shen Zhui towards the Elder surnamed Cang.

"Old Ghost Cang, let me remind you not to try anything funny, otherwise, he will die," Wang Long warned.

The Elder surnamed Cang's face stiffened as he coldly scoffed, immediately giving up on the cunning idea that had just arisen.

"Shen Zhui, if you feel any discomfort, feel free to speak up."

Shen Zhui felt a sense of satisfaction seeing the elder being put in place. "Reply to the Captain, let him try whatever he wants! My life isn't worth much anyway, but if it can pull the Li Family's young master down with me, it would be worth it!"

Wang Long deeply looked at Shen Zhui, then nodded.

As for the Elder surnamed Cang...

In light of current circumstances, he chose to ignore Shen Zhui's words.

With one hand on Shen Zhui's wrist, a surge of concentrated and profound spiritual energy essence was infused into Shen Zhui's body.

Innate spiritual energy is much purer than the acquired elemental energy, which possesses miraculous healing properties.

Moreover, this energy was not ordinary innate spiritual energy.

Just as acquired martial artists can accumulate elemental essence, what Wang Long requested was the essence of the innate spiritual energy!

The accumulation of spiritual energy essence by an Innate martial artist is much more complex than the acquired one. If depleted, its replenishing is not as simple as that of an Acquired martial artist.

Even the Elder surnamed Cang couldn't help but wince at the thought of using up his own spiritual energy essence.

Upon the spiritual essence entering his body, Shen Zhui began guiding it, using it to cleanse his meridians, nourish his organs, and heal his injuries.

Fearing Shen Zhui might contradict him later, Elder Cang didn't dare to be negligent at this point.

His treatment of Shen Zhui was absolutely exhausting, even gentler than how he treated his own father!

The Innate spiritual essence was incredibly harmonious in its control, causing Shen Zhui to feel no discomfort at all.

As the first stream of Innate spiritual essence entered his body, Shen Zhui's complexion began to turn rosy.

After two streams of spiritual essence, the 16 channels of Yuan Qi in Shen Zhui were immediately replenished.

Just as Elder Cang was preparing to recoil his hand, the colour of Shen Zhui's face, however, suddenly returned to pale, indicating an unhealed wound.

Fearing Wang Long's discontent, Elder Cang had no choice but to painfully input a third stream of spiritual essence.

Shen Zhui calmly guided this third spiritual essence, circulated the "Blood Ignition" technique, and began to attack the ninth acupoint!

He had long discovered that the spiritual essence was much more effective than a hundred large pills! So a thought of breaking through emerged instantly!

With Shen Zhui's sudden onslaught, he instantly felt a faint loosening of the bottleneck at the ninth checkpoint!

"Such a good thing?!" exclaimed Shen Zhui. He found that he had managed to jostle the bottleneck quite easily and wasn't about to stop there. He started frantically running the "Blood Ignition" technique!

After doing this twice, the bottleneck was already shaky. But at that moment, Shen Zhui noticed that the Elder Cang was retracting his hand.

"You... dare!" Elder Cang, who realized what Shen Zhui's intention was, snapped and withdrew his hand.

Shen Zhui didn't care and said with a hint of regret, "Thank you, Elder, I am one step closer to breaking the mirror."

Elder Cang was annoyed by Shen Zhui's intentional humiliation and barely restrained himself from slapping him dead.

His expenditure would require at least half a year of rest and the consumption of expensive natural treasures to recover.

But thinking about the fact that Li Ming was still in their hands, Elder Cang had to repress his anger.

"Wang Long, what will you do now?"

Wang Long gave a laugh and waved at Shen Zhui, "Shen Zhui, come over here."

"Wait!" Elder Cang stepped in and stopped Shen Zhui. "First, release the young master."

"Hmph, Elder Cang, you think everyone is as shameless as you? One word, let Shen Zhui come first! Or you could kill him with a slap, then I'll kill your young master."

"It's just perfect. You are weakened from the loss of spiritual energy. Maybe I can slaughter you all together. This trade is quite worthwhile!"

Elder Cang was undecided, but at this moment Li Ming exclaimed anxiously:

"Elder Cang, let him come first! Hurry up!"

"Young Master..." Elder Cang let out a sigh within himself, and waved his hand, no longer blocking Shen Zhui.

Shen Zhui calmly walked to Wang Long's side.

As promised, Wang Long gently waved his hand, and Li Ming quietly flew to Elder Cang's side.

This action made Elder Cang's pupils shrink..

With such ease, Wang Long was indeed much more powerful than him. He was probably already in the later stage of Innate, starting to build the Spirit Bridge and peering at the power of heaven and earth.

"Let's go!" Li Ming, looking pale, breathed heavily.

Elder Cang grabbed Li Ming, and the two floated away down the hillside.

Watching the two actually just leaving like this, Shen Zhui opened his mouth to speak, but ultimately, he did not.

"What do you want to say?" Wang Long glanced at Shen Zhui.

"Captain, are we really going to let them go?"

"Oh? What do you suggest we do?"

"I could kill the young master of Li Family, and you kill Elder Cang..."

Before Shen Zhui could finish, Wang Long shook his head and chuckled.

"It's not that simple. To tell you the truth, even if you really were killed by Elder Cang today, I could at most severely injure him. As for Li Ming, he can't be killed."

"Why?" Shen Zhui disbelievingly asked. So, was the overbearing Captain Wang merely bluffing before?

"There are many things involved... Killing him outside the city would have very serious consequences."

"Those in the Innate realm should not arbitrarily act against those in the Postnatal realm. This is a rule, and it is the first point."

"He is the young master of the Li Family, an important person in the Li family. He wears treasured items that cover sins. Killing him is easy to do, but first, you have to break his treasured items... which is also very tricky for me. My actions can't be wasted on him,"

"Of course, the Li Family wouldn't dare force me... without absolute assurance, nobody wants to see the worst-case scenario happen. There are other reasons you'll understand in time."

"Yes, I understand." Shen Zhui obediently listen.

Although he didn't fully understand politics, he got the point.

The County Lord wanted to remove these two big clans, so rash actions would not do.

If they could be easily killed, then we wouldn't need to wait three years.

And these clans hold the town's power and can easily incite a rebellion and arouse public anger.

One must grasp the degree within this ―

Overthrowing the two major clans, Li and Yang, while ensuring safety and not causing too much damage to the local people. Making things look good will be seen as an achievement...

Of course, this is not something Shen Zhui should be thinking about.

Seeing Shen Zhui no longer asking, Wang Long also didn't say any more about it.

"Coming back to the point... You have some nerve, daring to borrow energy to break the mirror! Weren't you afraid that Elder Cang would destroy your Dantian and channels in a fit of rage?"

Shen Zhui took this opportunity to flatter him: "With Captain backing me up, what is there to fear?"

Speaking of which, Wang Long had taken good care of him these three years. Even the Iron Ruler Ninefold was a door opened by Wang Long's guidance. For Shen Zhui, Wang Long was halfway to being a master.

"Don't think like that. Today was not for your sake. As soon as I received news about Li Family's young master and Elder Cang leading two elite squads out of the city, I followed to see what's up. I didn't expect to encounter this."

"Although... they suffered both in face and strength, and you gained some benefit. But this is not good news for you."

"Even though I protected you today out of happenstance, Li Family will think you are important, and are more likely target to you. The retaliation to come will be even crazier."

"In my opinion, it's best for you to not depart the city these coming days. Stay in the city and take up your guard rotations."