Chapter 43

Su Wangchuan immediately set down his hammer, grabbed his bow, arrows, and quiver, and rushed outside.

The people in the village were still in a dazed state.

They had no idea what had just happened.

Lin Dahai did not even know when Monk Dalong had disappeared from in front of him.

When Su Wangchuan climbed onto the top of the earthen wall, he saw blade light flashing in the snow. Several familiar sounds of bodies collapsing into the snow followed.

More than a dozen figures dressed in white clothes and white trousers had already been taken down less than thirty meters outside the village.

Monk Dalong advanced with steady steps. His iron staff whistled through the air as he swung it violently, pressing forward without pause.

BOOM!

Each strike forced the bandits in front of him to raise their blades to block, sparks flying everywhere as steel collided.

CLANG!

CLANG CLANG!

An inch longer meant an inch stronger.

The iron staff was heavy and powerful, its offensive ferocious beyond measure.

Although the bandits wielding sabers were far from unskilled, they were still smashed until their tiger’s mouths split open and bled. Their eyes were filled with shock, panic, and fury.

“Who exactly are you? We from Blackwind Stronghold have no enmity with you!”

“To subdue demons and uphold the Dao is the duty of our generation! Since you happened to meet this humble monk, I shall personally send you to Avici Hell. Amitabha!”

Monk Dalong smashed them back again and again with two consecutive staff strikes, fully immersed in his role.

Lin Xun stepped through the snow, silently sweeping past behind the bandits.

A head flew into the air.

Lin Xun caught it in his hand. The body collapsed to the ground as blood spurted like a spring, dyeing the white snow red.

“Why waste words? Just kill them.”

Lin Xun brushed the hair away from the front of the head, examined it carefully, and said, “It’s ‘One-Ear’ Luo Sanhua, ranked fifth in Blackwind Stronghold. Bounty: fifty taels of silver. Not bad. This trip wasn’t wasted after all.”

Monk Dalong quietly walked over to the other bandits and identified them one by one. As expected, there were several more on Huishui County’s wanted list, though they were all minor figures, worth forty to fifty taels combined.

The two of them immediately stripped all the silver from the bodies and tossed the corpses into the village.

Su Wangchuan and the villagers crowded around, pointing at the bodies on the ground.

Everyone was excited.

They had never imagined that the reinforcements Su Wangchuan invited would be this powerful—just the two of them had wiped out more than a dozen fully armed bandits.

The villagers’ gazes toward Monk Dalong and Lin Xun were filled with awe.

“Not bad.”

“I originally thought we’d be wasting an entire night for nothing. Who would’ve thought we’d not only collect a batch of bounties, but also gain dozens of taels of unexpected income.”

“Wangchuan!”

“Here, take this. Consider it your introduction fee.”

Lin Xun tossed Su Wangchuan a five-tael silver ingot.

Everyone immediately grew red-eyed with envy.

Su Wangchuan, however, was worried about another matter. He asked,

“Thank you, Brother Lin. Thank you, Master Dalong. After killing this group from Blackwind Stronghold today, won’t this attract their revenge?”

He was worried that after the two of them left, the three leaders of Blackwind Stronghold would personally come down the mountain for revenge. That would truly be disastrous.

Lin Xun and Monk Dalong exchanged a glance, complex expressions appearing on their faces.

Clearly—

Su Wangchuan’s concern was reasonable.

Lin Xun surveyed the excited villagers, quietly pulled Su Wangchuan aside, and lowered his voice.

“The problem of Blackwind Stronghold is not something we can solve. Their three leaders are all Ranked Martial Artists, and they have many Quasi-Martial Artists under them. With just the two of us, it would be like using a mantis’s arms to stop a chariot.”

“Then what about Blackstone Village?”

Su Wangchuan panicked.

Lin Xun pondered for a moment before saying, “Your skills will still be valuable in Huishui County. I suggest you consider leaving Blackstone Village. The company will also relocate Lin Dahai and the others, preserving its assets as much as possible.”

“…”

Su Wangchuan could not sit still any longer.

“Brother Lin, is there really no other way? My master is still in the village, and I—”

Before he could finish, Lin Xun raised his hand to stop him.

“This is just a game, Wangchuan.”

He emphasized each word deliberately.

“They are nothing more than sets of data. Don’t be foolish. Protect yourself wisely. You said it yourself—you entered 《spirit realm》 just to make money. Then don’t make things hard on yourself.”

“…”

Su Wangchuan stood there, stunned.

Lin Xun’s words made sense.

But…

After spending so much time together, being asked to acknowledge that Master Blacksmith Sun and Captain Zhao Heiniu were nothing but data—

That was something he found very hard to accept.

Lin Xun patted him on the shoulder and said, “I understand how you feel. But this game is not a farming simulator. It contains many cruel realities. Tianshui Village is a lesson. You must learn to adapt if you want to survive long in this game.”

Su Wangchuan felt lost.

He looked at the bandits’ corpses scattered across the ground, then at the villagers and militiamen who were still celebrating the resolution of another crisis. A deep sense of powerlessness suddenly welled up inside him.

Lin Xun was right.

When one was weak and of low status, there were many things one could not see clearly, and many things one could not change.

Only by becoming stronger could one gain a foothold in this world.

And to become stronger, it seemed there was only one path—learn more skills and raise their realms higher and higher.

Su Wangchuan raised his head and asked,

“Brother Lin, you mentioned martial artists before. But what exactly is the difference between Quasi-Martial Artists, Martial Artists, and Ranked Martial Artists?”

“Mm.”

Lin Xun smiled, as if he had expected the question, and answered without hesitation.

“This is the most common power classification in 《spirit realm》.”

“A Quasi-Martial Artist refers to a player or NPC whose Strength, Agility, and Vitality attributes have all reached 10 points, or whose total exceeds 30 points. This means their physical condition far surpasses that of an ordinary adult and approaches that of a martial artist, so they are classified as Quasi-Martial Artists.”

“The threshold for becoming a Martial Artist is very high. At least one of the three attributes—Strength, Agility, or Vitality—must break through 20 points, far surpassing Quasi-Martial Artists, before one can be recognized as a Martial Artist.”

“For example, my Agility has already reached 21 points. My movement speed can easily crush any Quasi-Martial Artist.”

“Monk Dalong’s Strength has reached 23 points. A Quasi-Martial Artist wouldn’t last ten exchanges against him before being smashed apart. That’s the tremendous advantage brought by a martial artist’s physical attributes.”

“Of course!”

“This is also related to the higher realms of the martial arts we cultivate. After all, without at least one martial art reaching the Entry-Level Mastery realm or above, it’s impossible to raise one’s attributes beyond 20 points.”

At this point, he deliberately paused and added,

“Oh, right.”

“The martial arts we learn usually increase attributes in a very focused way. They’re not like basic techniques such as 《Archery》 or 《Basic Spear Technique》 that raise attributes evenly. Monk Dalong cultivates 《Arhat Staff》, which only increases Strength. I cultivate 《Gale Saber Art》, which only increases Agility. So when it reaches Entry-Level Mastery, that means a total increase of 6 points of Agility.”

Lin Xun could truly be said to be taking good care of Su Wangchuan, explaining a great deal of information in a very thorough manner.

Su Wangchuan listened with utmost focus.

Several Quasi-Martial Artists, in front of a true Martial Artist, were indeed like clay chickens and straw dogs—utterly incapable of resisting.

He himself had 11 points of Strength, 10 points of Agility, and 9 points of Vitality, for a total of 30 points across the three attributes. He was already barely stepping into the threshold of a Quasi-Martial Artist.

Once he raised 《Hundredfold Steel Forging Technique》 to the Entry-Level Mastery realm, he would no longer be at the very bottom even among Quasi-Martial Artists.

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