Chapter 38

All the guests in the rooms of the Xinglai Inn had actually been startled.

However, those who frequently traveled to Wulong Town knew that unless someone told you to move, it was best not to act rashly!

Therefore, very quickly, the doors that had been opened a crack were firmly shut again.

Tang Zheng perked up his ears and listened for a few moments.

At first, the communication between the old man and the Tang Family Fortress guards was not going smoothly, because although Tang Zheng recognized the Shadow King’s Order, the guards did not!

He could only hear the guards emphasizing that East Street was the territory of the Tang Family Fortress. Just as Tang Zheng was pondering whether to step in to mediate, the old man sighed with a smile, put away the purple-gold Shadow King’s Order, and took out something else...

Tang Zheng did not see clearly.

But he heard the guards collectively fall silent.

"... Then, this old man will soon visit the Tang Family Fortress to explain the matter of East Street to the Lord of the Fortress." The old man finally managed to communicate successfully.

"Yes, yes, I will certainly convey the message." The guard was almost breaking out in a cold sweat.

The Tang Family Fortress claimed to protect East Street of Wulong Town, but it all depended on who it was!

What the old man showed them turned out to be a guest medal of the Qian Tang Family!

A top-tier family guest!

With such an identity, even if the entire East Street were torn down, the Tang Family Fortress could not protect it!

"Rest well, young friend." The old man returned and smiled at Tang Zheng again.

"Rest well!" Tang Zheng nodded.

The door to Room No. 2 was gently closed.

Tang Zheng glanced and saw that as the old man entered the room, he casually threw the thing he had shown the guards into the waste bin inside the room.

Thrown away...

Tang Zheng was stunned for a while.

"He must be a famous and powerful figure on the Starlight Continent." Tang Zheng returned to Room No. 6, closed the door, and finally confirmed that the old man and the young boy had no intention of making things difficult for him.

Moreover, they seemed to not even consider the life-threatening situation they had just been in as a big deal.

The scene from earlier kept replaying in Tang Zheng’s mind.

Catching an arrow with one hand!

The Soul Annihilation Crossbow, which could kill a three-star martial artist, was actually caught with one hand!

A master-crafted crossbow bolt, worth a purple-gold coin, could be so easily crushed in the hands of a true powerhouse!

And the thing that could subdue all the guards of the Tang Family Fortress...

He could just casually throw it away!

"Ha ha, ha ha ha." Tang Zheng laughed again, suddenly understanding that when the old man destroyed all his mechanisms, he was already hinting: the inn’s safety is under my protection, so don’t mess around anymore!

Seeing Azhi’s gloomy face, Tang Zheng could guess that he must have disrupted something very important for them today!

But he couldn’t be blamed...

Originally, his mechanisms were not set up for them.

It was really late, and Tang Zheng shook his head, not thinking any more, and went to sleep after closing the door.

...

In Room No. 2, the lights did not go out for a long time.

Azhi was really gloomy. After returning to the room, he kept muttering to himself while treating his wounds.

"Grandpa Ghost, do you think I’m very unlucky?"

"Clearly, they were there to kill me, but why did he have to act? And when he did, he didn’t help at all, just made things worse!"

"He almost got me killed. If I had died, it would be fine, but now I’m still alive and owe him so much money. Can I just kill him and not have to pay back?"

The old man, known as Grandpa Ghost, smiled at him but did not answer.

And Azhi didn’t seem to expect an answer, continuing to mutter...

"Forget it, he didn’t even ask for it, and I offered it myself. Hmph, I don’t want to owe him anything."

"But... if he hadn’t interfered, Grandpa Ghost wouldn’t have had to act, and my successor test wouldn’t have to start over..."

"Ah, I really want to kill him, what should I do?"

Azhi was so conflicted that he almost wanted to bang his head against the wall.

Kill or not kill?

Grandpa Ghost didn’t interrupt, letting Azhi work it out for himself, while he kept stroking his chin and smiling.

The wound on Azhi’s ankle was deep to the bone.

The Bone Lock’s clasp went straight through the bone. If it were someone without star power, this would have crippled their legs. However, the body strength of a two-star martial artist was not to be underestimated. Azhi pulled out the lock and threw it aside, applied medicine to the wound, and with a turn of his star power, the wound began to heal slowly.

After Azhi finished treating his wound, Grandpa Ghost said, "Your test can continue."

"What?" Azhi, who had been gloomy just a moment ago, was now full of surprise.

"The arrangements he made were not part of your test at this stage. The test questions were fine, but the test site had problems... I acted not to help you against the assassin, but to deal with things that shouldn’t have been there. So, this time doesn’t count as a failure." Grandpa Ghost nodded with a smile.

Tang Zheng’s mechanisms almost instantly caused almost fatal injuries to the assassin!

And if Azhi hadn’t stepped on the Bone Lock, he wouldn’t have been seriously injured at all.

So, in terms of evaluation, Azhi’s strength was definitely above that of the assassin!

It was just that Azhi was inexperienced and didn’t know that in any place with toxic mist, the nearest upwind spot must have a trap, which is why he stepped on the Bone Lock.

"Ah, I don’t have to start over! Then I don’t want to kill him anymore." Azhi, dragging his injured foot, actually jumped up, as if the pain in his ankle didn’t exist.

"Um um." Grandpa Ghost confirmed again, "You don’t have to start over."

"But..." Azhi pouted, "The fight today was very unsatisfactory. His mechanisms prevented me from using any martial techniques! Every time I was about to use a technique, I was interrupted, it was so annoying! Um, I think... I should still go and kill him!"

"Ha ha ha ha..." Grandpa Ghost laughed, "Azhi, did you notice his mechanism setup?"

"Isn’t it just those things? I can use every one of them!" Azhi answered proudly.

"Is that so?" Grandpa Ghost’s eyes were half open and half closed.

"..." Azhi looked around.

"First, the giant wooden spikes on the roof beam restricted your movement. Then the explosion in the room attracted your attention. When you approached the room, the scattered star oil on the floor forced you to concentrate on your steps. At that moment, the Sorrowful Wind Mist came from above. When you jumped to avoid it, you landed right on his Seven Hidden Sharp Needles..." Grandpa Ghost reconstructed Azhi’s every move.

"Um..." Azhi’s head drooped lower and lower.

"The design of the mechanisms, each step was interconnected, pressing a two-star martial artist to the point where they couldn’t use any martial techniques. Could our Azhi really do that?"

"..." Azhi couldn’t do it, but he didn’t want to admit it.

"Remember, he couldn’t even see you! But his mechanisms perfectly sealed your every martial technique... Oh!" Grandpa Ghost added with a smile.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Azhi twisted the corner of his clothes, continuing to be stubborn, "Even if he’s strong, so what? What’s the point?"

"Oh?" Grandpa Ghost looked at him with a smile, "How did it become pointless?"

"Hmph, just to kill a peak one-star martial artist, and another two-star beginner... spending hundreds of purple-gold coins, is it worth it?"

Grandpa Ghost smiled gently, "But this two-star martial artist happens to be the next Shadow King of Shadow Mountain. Is it worth it?"

Azhi’s face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

...

It started raining heavily early the next morning. Seeing the rain, Tang Zheng decided not to go out.

He opened the window, letting the fine rain drift into the room, and lightly stepped, layer upon layer of star waves rising quickly with his steps.

The star power, cleansed by the Taiyin main star, flowed much more smoothly than before, with the new star power continuously accumulating, repeatedly impacting his star meridians and body.

Three hundred, four hundred...

The high star waves surged up and then crashed down, the two different streams of star power, one up and one down, one down and one up, continuously pushing the height of the star waves higher!

The mechanisms from last night could actually be directly powered by star power.

But each mechanism required four to five hundred strands of one-star star power, and Tang Zheng couldn’t possibly activate one mechanism, rest for a few hours, and then activate the next. So, he had to make some modifications, changing them to a fully manual chain trigger structure.

"Phew..." Tang Zheng stopped.

He already had more than five hundred strands of one-star star power formed in his body.

As long as he gathered a thousand strands, he would step into the mid-stage of one-star!

After a brief rest, he continued to cultivate star power, stopping when he reached six hundred strands.

The rain outside the window had become even heavier.

The West Street was full of flower houses and gambling dens, and with this weather, there wouldn’t be many people. Appearing on West Street at this time would be too conspicuous, so he decided to wait until night.

"I wonder what the prices are for the martial techniques and weapons in the Inner Cabinet." Tang Zheng had already taken out five purple-gold coins, but after some thought, decided to take out two more.

Today, he would definitely make that stubborn old man at Banyi Tower regret!

However, when he threw seven purple-gold coins into the storage bag, he heard a "rip" sound. The intricate array patterns on the storage bag gradually lit up with a white glow, and then all the items in the bag fell out.

"What a lousy bag, it broke just like that?" Tang Zheng was stunned and speechless, "Who are you kidding? Do I have to carry it myself?"

Fortunately, after advancing to one-star, his body had been repeatedly strengthened by star power, otherwise, with a seventy-pound load, he would have had no room for movement.

After cultivating star power all day, by night, the rain had not stopped.

However, the scattered starlight in the rainy night was perfect weather for an assassin...

Tang Zheng packed his bag and was about to leap out of the back window when he heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Tang Zheng twisted his waist belt, and several daggers on his waist were ready to fall into his hands at any moment.

"Hmph, hurry up and open the door? It’s me!" The voice outside the door was Azhi’s.

---

Thank you to Dou Nanbawan for the 5888起点币 (Qidian coins), Xiaojianke and Yiru Nian for the 588起点币, Yan Huang Hun, Shi Yi Shi Yi Si Yi, Xue Ye Xing Chen for the 200起点币, Jia Xiao Qi, Shouhu Zhe Pingfan de Yisheng, Xu Kong Yu Jiu Jian, Wei Zi Lin, Kong Long Ling, Ye Zui Han^Shang, Wu Ye Dang for the 100起点币.

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