Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Midday, within the city of Chenzhou.

Xu Hao sat on a bamboo stool by the roadside at an open-air tea stall, ordered a large bowl of tea from the owner, and slowly sipped his tea while keeping his eyes fixed on the Shunda Inn across the street.

This inn was the meeting place that Boss Lin had told him about before.

Xu Hao chose an excellent location, directly facing the top-tier room on the second floor of the inn.

He held a large, rough porcelain bowl in his left hand, and pressed his right fingers lightly against his chest, the listening talisman in his bosom slightly warm.

The cacophony of street noise instantly amplified in his ears. Xu Hao focused his attention, filtering out the hawkers' cries, the sound of horses' hooves, and other distractions. He then fixed his gaze on the second floor of the inn, behind several tightly closed windows.

Several suppressed, drawn-out breaths reached my ears.

One, two, three... a total of six.

Their breathing was steady, clearly indicating they were all masters of internal martial arts.

"Boss, it's already noon, why haven't we seen any fish bite yet?" a deliberately lowered voice said.

"What's the rush?" another voice said in a soft, high-pitched tone. "If his guards aren't all dead, they'll definitely come here to make contact. We just need to wait and see."

"Boss, what if these guards realize things aren't going well and run off with the loot?"

"Hmph, unless the leader dies, they'll come even if it rains knives all over the state capital."

The shrill voice rang out again, as if to answer their questions, "The one leading the group is surnamed Lin. Master Chen has done a great favor for his family. Long before this job was even started, the Chen family had already made arrangements for the Lin family members."

"If you little bastards hadn't arrived late and failed to catch his family, I wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble in this wretched place."

Xu Hao lowered his head and took a sip of tea, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

The owner of that soft, feminine voice was the same person he had encountered at the city gate, the one with the Imperial Observatory badge hanging from his waist.

"Boss, is this jade pendant you have useful?"

"The token found on Chen Yuanzhi is certainly very useful." The effeminate man chuckled, his body emitting a crisp clinking sound like jade. "That Chen kid is stubborn, but this item can't be fake. As long as we have it, his loyal servants will come knocking on our door."

Xu Hao subconsciously touched the jade pendant with the character "令" (command) given to him by Instructor Lin in his pocket.

What kind of bad luck is the Chen family experiencing?

Not only were they intercepted and killed by the Salt Gang, but they were also completely sold out.

What contact person? From the very beginning, it was a trap set up by the Bureau of Astronomy.

Night falls, curfew is imposed.

Xu Hao changed into a night suit and darted across the rooftops like a raccoon dog.

Since the meeting at the inn is a trap, the only way to get to the young master is to start with him.

The government office was heavily guarded, but now that Xu Hao had entered the Bone Forging Realm, this place was not an impregnable fortress for him.

Xu Hao, who was lying on the roof of the back office, heard a faint sound of wind breaking from the courtyard below.

anyone?

Xu Hao held his breath and saw three dark figures, like ghosts, leap over the opposite wall and head straight for the prison.

The three men moved with unpredictable speed and were ruthless in their attacks. As soon as they landed, they slit the throats of two night patrol officers.

"Who goes there!"

A loud shout rang out from the darkness, followed by a whistling arrow piercing the night sky.

The once quiet government office was instantly brightly lit.

The three men in black were clearly unprepared for the Observatory's ambush, and were instantly surrounded.

The fighting below was extremely fierce.

Although the three assassins were formidable, the Surveillance Bureau had a large and powerful force, and was also supported by powerful crossbows.

In a short while, the two assassins were riddled with arrows, while the leader, despite taking a knife to the back, managed to fight his way out and escape over the wall.

A team of astronomical observers pursued the fleeing assassins.

Someone walked over, squatted down, and began to examine the two black-clad corpses on the ground.

"Boss Wei, these two are from the Blood Robe Tower." The Observatory officer examining the corpses bowed to the man with the effeminate voice and reported.

"This young master of the Chen family is really charming." The one who spoke was the Observatory Officer whom Xu Hao had met at the city gate.

Bloodstained Tower? Xu Hao lay prone in the shadows of the rooftop, a slight unease creeping into his heart.

The world's number one assassin organization has gotten involved too?

Their target was clearly the Chen family.

Xu Hao's gaze fell on the prison deep inside the government office.

Just as he approached the prison, the silent scene in his mind suddenly trembled violently without warning.

A chilling, bone-deep coldness spread from his sea of ​​consciousness, and dark blue characters appeared on the panel.

[Detectable Blessed Land: Prefectural City Death Row (Medium-sized Special Resource Point)]

[Binding Conditions: Being imprisoned for three nights and absorbing resentful energy (0/100)]

【Characteristics of a Blessed Land: Resentment soars to the heavens, malevolent energy gathers to the heavens】

"A new blessed land?"

Xu Hao smiled slightly, "This is truly an unexpected delight."

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, a recruitment notice had already been posted on the screen wall on the west side of the government office.

Last night's men in black caused more than half of the prison guards to be killed, so the prison had to urgently recruit a group of honest and strong laborers.

Xu Hao immediately pulled out the document that Instructor Lin had given him before his death.

This was originally an identity prepared by Master Chen for a distant relative by marriage. His name was Guo Shan, and his ancestors had been farmers for three generations with a clean background.

With the document in his hand, Xu Hao stood before the jailer, his back hunched, his face bearing the awkwardness and naivety of a countryman.

While he was handing over the documents, he slipped a small piece of silver down his sleeve and into the jailer's palm.

The jailer's tightly furrowed brows instantly relaxed. He turned to the side, weighed the man in his hand, and glanced at Xu Hao. Seeing that Xu Hao was fairly sturdy, he turned around, pulled out a dusty gray jacket, and threw it to him.

Xu Hao put on the prison guard's uniform and stepped onto the wet, blackened stone steps into the death row cell, where sunlight never shines.

This place is awful.

Thick, black liquid seeped from the cracks in the walls, and the air was filled with a mixture of excrement, rotting flesh, and the stale stench of blood.

These past two days, Xu Hao, using the alias Guo Shan, has been moving between various prison cells with his head down.

They delivered meals, cleaned toilets, and moved batches of shrouded corpses.

When Xu Hao patrolled late at night, he would choose to stand next to the stone pillar at the deepest part of the death row.

To others, this death row cell was nothing but prisoners, but to Xu Hao, it was filled with countless wisps of black energy.

These resentments and malevolent energy accumulated over decades were now being swallowed up by the scroll in his sea of ​​consciousness, flowing through his pores.

[Absorption of resentful energy complete (100/100)]

[Blessed Land Successfully Bound: Prefectural City Death Row LV1 (Yin Sha)]

[Gained new spiritual effect: Conceal Breath]

As the system notification ended, Xu Hao felt the rapidly surging Bone Forging Realm Qi and Blood within his body subside in an instant.

The feeling was strange, like boiling magma being instantly trapped by a thick layer of ice.

His once sharp eyes, which had become clearer through martial arts practice, became dull and ordinary again, and even his breathing became short and disordered.

Even if he stood in front of the top experts of the Surveillance Bureau, they would only see him as a lowly laborer whose back was bent by life and who reeked of stench.