Chapter 16: Chapter 16 Dark Alley
Having obtained the Battle Blade Skill and Embracing the Origin Energy, Shi Xiaole resumed his lonely but joyful cultivation.
If one were to compare internal power to water, then the Mind Methods are the water transport system, consisting of two parts: the pumping power and the delivery pipeline.
So, changing the Hengshan Mind Method to Embracing the Origin Energy was equivalent to creating a new route for conducting the exercise. This process took a full three days.
Three days later, when Shi Xiaole had just started to mobilize his energy, he felt a roar inside his body. Despite it being the same internal power, it now operated like boiling water, bursting with solidity, as if it was endless.
Whether it was the speed of the internal power flow or its power of explosion, both were stronger than before.
This is the importance of the Mind Methods.
The stronger the Mind Method, the more sophisticated the circulation route was, thus under the same conditions, the more powerful it would be.
It was far from over. With a thud, some checkpoint inside his body was broken, and Shi Xiaole’s internal power realm jumped from the early stage of the fourth stage of the Hidden Qi Realm to the middle stage.
Standing tall, he threw a punch, and the air exploded slightly.
Shi Xiaole smiled. He was confident that his strength had increased by at least 10% compared to three days ago.
"It’s time to practice the Battle Blade Skill."
In the original work, the shape of the Hundred Battles Blade is similar to that of the oriental sword of later generations, a mix between a sword and a blade. It is designed this way to maximize the power of the blade technique.
However, Shi Xiaole was not in a hurry. He decided to familiarize himself with the blade skills first; it’s not an issue, as he can always sneak down the mountain later on and find someone to make a replica of the Hundred Battles Blade.
Time flew by, and night was upon them again.
Shi Xiaole returned to his residence and saw a young man standing by his courtyard entrance from afar—composed and calm.
"Brother Qi."
It was Qi Guang from Duster Gate.
Upon hearing his name, Qi Guang’s eyes brightened and he quickly walked over, saying, "Brother Shi, I have been waiting here half-day. I thought you wouldn’t return."
As disciples from the same Thirteen Sects of Lu Yan, they could ’visit’ each other with a notice. However, Shi Xiaole didn’t understand why Qi Guang was seeking him.
Qi Guang apologized, "Brother Shi, my younger brother is spoiled and somewhat ignorant, I hope you don’t mind."
Shi Xiaole just smiled and didn’t respond.
Qi Guang looked even more ashamed, as he knew that his brother’s actions were not so simple. Suddenly, he took out a piece of paper from his bosom and handed it to Shi Xiaole.
"What’s this?"
"Brother Shi, I am sorry! I lied to you that day. Actually, the reason why the Black Evil Gang is after me and junior sister Zhao is not just because of the night attack, but mainly because of this map that I stole."
It turned out that the night Qi Guang and his companions had sneaked into the room of the Black Evil Gang’s leader, they found the leader was not in the room and just casually took the map on the table. This subsequently provoked the violent pursuit of the Black Evil Gang.
"This belongs to you, why are you giving it to me?"
Shi Xiaole asked.
"Brother Shi, you saved my life twice, and I know how to repay kindness. After much thought, I only have this map to give, so I hope you’ll accept it as a token of my gratitude."
Seeing Shi Xiaole hesitating, Qi Guang took the opportunity to bid goodbye, saying he would see him again and walked away hastily.
"That Qi Guang, he’s quite a gentleman, but his younger brother..."
Withdrawing his gaze, Shi Xiaole shook his head and stepped into the courtyard. He only looked at the map in his hand after lighting the lamp in his room.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand a single character on the diagram; it was like a cryptograph to him.
"This should be text from a minority group."
Although the Flying Horse Dynasty was only part of the East Victory Continent, its geographical area was almost on par with an entire Asia in his previous life. So, there are many ethnic groups within the dynasty, with no less than tens of thousands of dialects and languages, all of which varied greatly.
According to Shi Xiaole’s guess, the symbols on the map should be the text of a certain ethnic group. However, trying to figure out which one from tens of thousands of text types is quite impossible.
Therefore, it seems that none of the Black Evil Gang members have deciphered it either; otherwise, they would not have had to go to such lengths to pursue Qi Guang and his companions.
After putting away the map, Shi Xiaole blew out the candle and went to sleep in his clothes.
Over the next few days, apart from cultivating Embracing the Origin Energy, Shi Xiaole mostly focused on practicing the Battle Blade Skill.
Thanks to the foundation of his previous martial arts, his progress was truly impressive. In a short time, he had practiced the Battle Blade Skill to the peak of Spirit Integration stage.
On the stone platform, Shi Xiaole held the sword with both hands and swung it. With a swish, a three-foot-long, two-inch-deep mark was carved into the ground, the line straight as an arrow, revealing a sharp and ruthless aura.
"Very good. I believe in a few more days, the Battle Blade Skill will enter the Transformation phase. By then, my overall strength will make another breakthrough."
Satisfied with his progress, and glancing at the sword in his hand, Shi Xiaole thought that it was about time he went down the mountain.
...
In Emerald Feather City, in a blacksmith shop, Shi Xiaole drew the shape of the Hundred Battles Blade on paper and handed it to the shop owner.
"Young Master, the shape of this sword is really odd. But since you have paid a substantial sum, I will work overnight to ensure it’s ready by tomorrow."
The shop owner looked at a hundred silver coins note on the table and pounded his chest in promise.
According to the cost of living in the Flying Horse Dynasty, ten silver coins would be enough for a family of three’s monthly expenses. The highest price the shop owner had ever charged was fifty silver coins.
However, the young man came in and handed over a hundred silver coins. He was indeed a rich young master; one could only wonder which family from the city he hailed from.
"Good, thank you boss, I’ll pick it up tomorrow."
With a polite word, Shi Xiaole left the blacksmith’s shop. He had no friends in Emerald Feather City, so he just strolled around and unintentionally walked into a long street.
On both sides of the street, besides shops, there were countless street vendors selling all kinds of things such as agates, swords, books, flowers, and even human skulls!
Shi Xiaole also noticed that none of the people here were ordinary; they were all from the martial world.
"Young hero, welcome to Dark Alley. What are you looking to buy?"
An old man approached him.
Dark Alley?
Searching his memories, Shi Xiaole quickly understood.
The words "Dark Alley," simple as they might seem, actually referred to a black market where warriors conducted various trades. Rumor has it that every city in the East Victory continent had its own Dark Alley.
No one knew when the Dark Alley came into being, and no one knew who the master of Dark Alley was.
All they knew was that fighting was forbidden in Dark Alley. You could buy anything you wanted there as long as you had enough chips on hand, you’d be king.
Once, a man did not believe this. He spent twenty years searching in vain for the rare Four Insect Flower, but when he went to Dark Alley, he was literally shocked to death.
Because in Dark Alley, he saw no less than three Four Insect Flowers.
There was also a wealthy merchant in the Hidden Qi Realm who spent a whopping five million taels of silver to buy the head of a martial expert from the Martial Marquis Ranking. As a result, the ranking martial expert died the next day, his head mysteriously vanished.
Similar instances were numerous, each one testifying to the magic of Dark Alley.
Surprisingly, Shi Xiaole ended up in this place by pure chance.
After apologizing to the old man, he began to wander around on his own.
Dark Alley was more like a smaller version of a city rather than a street. It had banks, brothels, inns, and so on, and it was clear that the service attitude was exceptionally good.
No wonder people said that if they had enough money, they would be willing to stay in Dark Alley forever without ever leaving.
Eventually, Shi Xiaole walked into a bookstore.
The bookstore had all kinds of books about preserving health, planting herbs, teaching how to kill others, and even sexual techniques, etc. There were things you couldn’t even imagine.
However, there were very few martial arts manuals, and the few that were present were third-class martial arts.
It made sense, after all, even if there were high-grade martial arts, Dark Alley wouldn’t sell them openly, otherwise, they would be going against the rules of the entire continent’s martial world.
"Customer, what do you want to buy?"
The owner of the bookstore was a middle-aged man with a smile in his eyes.
Shi Xiaole had an idea and said, "I’m looking for a few characters."
After saying that, he picked up the pen on the table and randomly drew a few strokes on the white paper. These were some of the characters from the blueprint that Qi Guang had given him.
"Hehe, you’re in luck, sir. I just moved to Black Tower today, and there’s a book in my shop that introduces this type of writing."
"Oh?"
The shopkeeper handed him a book. Shi Xiaole flipped through it casually, his inner joy growing, but his face remained calm. He said, "Quite interesting, I’ll pay two taels of silver for it."
"Ten taels. There’s no bargaining in Dark Alley."
Shi Xiaole shrugged and reluctantly took out ten taels of silver.
At the same time Shi Xiaole made his discovery, one of the eight assassins of the Black Evil Gang in Emerald Feather City, the Life-Seeking Demon God, was listening to his subordinate’s report.
"Sir, the kid we’ve been watching has appeared again."
"Where?"
"I saw him with my own eyes today. He walked into Dark Alley."
Life-Seeking Demon God was stunned, then cold murderous intent spread in his eyes, "Dark Alley? Humph, keep a close watch on him, report to me immediately if there’s any movement."
"Yes."
Shi Xiaole spent the night in a Dark Alley inn, costing him a hefty hundred taels of silver. By noon, wearing a silk blue shirt specially tailored for him by the innkeeper, he left Dark Alley on his own.
"The target has appeared. Go notify Master Life-Seeking."
Several members of the Black Evil Gang stood up from their seats in a restaurant.
Half an hour later, Shi Xiaole left Emerald Feather City.
He carried two weapons on his waist, one a high-quality imitation of the Hundred Battles Blade and the other a sword. His previous sword had been destroyed by the thin old man, so he conveniently got a new one.
"Kid, you dare to show up again. You’ve got balls."
With a sudden burst of laughter, a dark shadow jumped out from the dense forest, landing steadily three feet away from Shi Xiaole.
"It’s you."
A ray of light flashed in Shi Xiaole’s eyes, and he gripped the handle of his blade with one hand.
A cold and contemptuous smile crossed Life-Seeking Demon God’s lips as he slowly said, "I admire your audacity, offending the Black Evil Gang and still daring to show up casually. Today, your death has come."
