Chapter 53: Generous Rewards

Restaurant.

Liang Jin and County Magistrate Qiu Zhuo had finished their meal and were descending the stairs together.

Miao Yuanzheng and Zhang You stood behind their respective superiors.

Qiu Zhuo had consumed some wine and felt slightly intoxicated, nearly missing his step on the way down.

Liang Jin reached out and steadied his arm:
"Lord Magistrate, watch your step. There is still a long way to go."

The smile on Qiu Zhuo's face was somewhat forced:
"Thank you, Grand Preceptor."
"These stairs are difficult to navigate, and I am grateful for the Grand Preceptor's support."
"However, the Grand Preceptor's own path is by no means an easy one."

Qiu Zhuo harbored a considerable amount of resentment in his heart.

This negotiation had gone exceedingly poorly.
He truly loathed the business of demanding funds.
Master Zhang and he had argued until their lips were chapped, yet they had only managed to squeeze a pittance out of the Grand Preceptor.

And this sum amounted to merely a tenth of the originally agreed-upon amount.

As for the roster of the Taiping Sect, the Grand Preceptor had flatly refused.
Qiu Zhuo had made absolutely no headway on that front.

Liang Jin chuckled:
"I have walked every path in this region. Which ones are smooth and which ones are treacherous, I know by heart."
"I have heard, however, that the world beyond is much broader. I should very much like to go and see it."

Upon hearing this, a thought stirred in Qiu Zhuo's mind.

He had long since heard rumors that the influence of the Taiping Sect was expanding toward neighboring counties.
Even the Prefecture of Qingzhou had begun preparations to establish a branch altar.

After all, Taiyang County was too small, and the Taiping Sect was growing too rapidly; a small pond could never contain a giant dragon.

Qiu Zhuo immediately burst into laughter:
"Hahaha! If the Grand Preceptor is inclined to walk a different path, this official will certainly render all possible assistance."

He had been longing for the Grand Preceptor and the forces of the Taiping Sect to leave Taiyang County as soon as possible.
Otherwise, if things continued for much longer, Qiu Zhuo feared the county yamen wouldn't even be able to collect taxes.

Conversing all the way, the two men exited the restaurant side by side.

Outside, their sedans were already waiting.

"Grand Preceptor, farewell."
Qiu Zhuo cupped his hands in salute and stepped into his sedan.

"Lord Magistrate, take care."
Liang Jin turned and entered his own sedan.

The two sedans parted ways and headed off in different directions.

No sooner had Liang Jin's sedan traveled for a short while than a string of notifications suddenly popped up on his interface:

[Congratulations, Host! You have successfully eliminated the ten targets locked onto by the Thousand-Mile Pursuit. Reward obtained: Soft Hedgehog Armor.]

Liang Jin saw this and realized that his avatar in the desert had successfully hunted down the ten horse bandits.

The trait of the [Thousand-Mile Pursuit] was truly a divine artifact for assassination.
No matter how the enemies hid, they would always be tracked down and killed.

He glanced at the newly acquired reward:

[Soft Hedgehog Armor: Impervious to blades and spears, capable of defending against close-range internal martial arts strikes.]

Liang Jin vaguely remembered seeing such a treasure in some martial arts novel.
However, he recalled that the Soft Hedgehog Armor in the novels was poisonous; why was his version not poisonous?

It was better that it was not poisonous; otherwise, if he accidentally injured himself and became poisoned, there wouldn't even be an antidote.

The [Soft Hedgehog Armor] was classified as an item and was therefore stored in the inventory column.

With a thought in Liang Jin's mind, an object materialized in his hand.

It was a pitch-black, barbs-covered armor, woven from an unknown metallic wire mixed with millennium-old vine branches.
Its texture was soft yet exceptionally tough, completely impervious to ordinary swords and sabers.

In particular, its surface was covered in barbed hooks; once flesh or fists collided with it, the attacker would inevitably be injured by it.

"This is indeed a fine treasure."
"Unless one encounters a high-grade expert or blunt weapons, having this will significantly increase the survival rate."

Liang Jin immediately removed his outer garments and put on the Soft Hedgehog Armor.

The armor was soft against the skin and full of elasticity, not restricting his movements at all when worn.
When Liang Jin put his outer robes back on, it was completely impossible to tell from the outside that he was wearing a soft armor underneath.

"It is a pity there is only one such armor, making it impossible to share."

With one main body and two avatars, it was truly difficult for them to share a single treasured armor.

At that moment.

A new notification popped up on the system interface:

[Congratulations, Host! You have successfully treated ten thousand patients using talisman water. Special reward obtained: Proficiency of all martial arts greatly enhanced!]

The next moment, a surge of new insights regarding all his martial arts techniques flooded into Liang Jin's mind.

These martial arts comprehensions seemed to have been thoroughly branded into his bones and muscle memory, elevating his understanding of all martial arts to a brand-new height.

"Holy shit!"

Seeing this, Liang Jin could not help but be profoundly shocked.

Was the reward for curing ten thousand patients really this generous?

He hurriedly checked his interface:

[Host: Liang Jin]
[Cultivation: Seventh-Rank Martial Artist]
[Martial Arts: "Imperial Guard Long Fist" (Level 8), "Coiling Dragon Stick Technique" (Level 7), "Great Yin Palm" (Level 5), "Great Subduing Demon Fist" (Level 9), "Northern Hegemon Six-Match Spear" (Level 9), "Bone-Melting Cotton Palm" (Level 5), "Ghostly Hundred-Change" (Level 5)]
[Traits: Talisman Water Healing, Thousand-Mile Pursuit]
[Number of Avatars: 2]
[Items: Tiger-Subduing Pill × 5, Longevity Ointment × 1, Bone-Strengthening Medicine × 5, Battle Puppet (Desolate Wanderer)]

Looking at his interface, Liang Jin burst into hearty laughter.

The proficiency of all his martial arts had actually been directly elevated by five levels in one go!
Among them, the "Great Subduing Demon Fist" and the "Northern Hegemon Six-Match Spear" had their proficiencies maxed out directly, reaching the highest ninth level!

He had originally intended to rely on his avatars to practice martial arts and rapidly improve his martial arts proficiency.
But now he realized:
Why bother with bitter training when cheating felt so good?

In the blink of an eye, all his martial arts had been massively upgraded.

One must know that improving martial arts required not only cumulative arduous practice, but even more so, comprehension.
Especially wanting to max out a martial art was no easy task.

An ordinary martial artist might spend their entire life barely managing to max out a single martial arts technique.

The saber-wielding bandit leader encountered by his desert avatar had practiced only a single saber technique his entire life.
Yet even though his saber technique had only reached the eighth level, he could instantly kill martial artists of the same realm and had nearly taken Liang Jin's life.

Only martial artists with high comprehension and the capacity for arduous training could manage to max out multiple martial arts techniques to the ninth level in a lifetime.

Liang Jin's current level, viewed across the entire martial arts world, was probably something only true geniuses could possibly achieve.

"As long as I don't encounter those top-tier genius monsters, I can now be considered invincible among those of the same rank!"
"Within the seventh rank, it is hard to find a match."
"Even ordinary sixth-rank martial artists, I can completely go toe-to-toe with them."

Liang Jin was full of confidence.

Specializing and mastering a martial art naturally had its advantages.
However, knowing many martial arts also had the effect of offering varied moves that kept enemies guessing.
Moreover, knowing numerous martial arts allowed one to employ different techniques when facing different enemies.
After all, certain martial arts possessed inherent restraining relationships against others.

It was just a pity.

Since Liang Jin was currently only at the seventh-rank realm, he could not yet fully unleash the true power of some of his maxed-out martial arts.

The higher the level of a martial art, the more its elevated tiers required powerful internal energy to complement them.
Especially for top-tier Heaven-grade martial arts, a large number of moves required the external projection of internal energy.

If a martial artist could not project their internal energy externally, even if they trained these martial arts to the ninth level, the power they exerted might actually be inferior to some of the lowest-grade Yellow-grade martial arts.
After all, most moves of Yellow-grade manuals did not require external internal energy projection to unleash their full power.

When martial arts were restricted by cultivation realm, their power naturally diminished significantly.

"It seems I must also rapidly elevate my martial artist realm."
"Fortunately, I am already close. I estimate I can break through after a few more days of check-ins."

Liang Jin was not in a hurry.
With the system, he could progress much more easily and quickly than anyone else.

At that moment.

The sedan suddenly lurched and came to a halt.

Outside the sedan, Miao Yuanzheng's voice rang out:
"Grand Preceptor, someone is blocking the road."
"And the visitor means no good."