Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Xu Hao threw out a jug of strong liquor and a set of dry clothes from the Sumeru Warehouse.

"Pour it down, put it on, don't die in front of me."

Chen Yuanzhi tilted his head back and gulped down the strong liquor; as it went down his throat, his complexion returned to normal.

Xu Hao stood on the earthen slope and looked back at the city.

The western half of the sky was red, and the sounds of fighting could be faintly heard.

The imagery in my mind trembled.

[Host detected to have left the bound area. The level of the city's death row is locked. Current status: Temporarily Away]

The buffs from the blessed land temporarily stopped working, but the moment he left the city, a thick, dark red blood light seeped from the edge of the scroll.

It was the immense malevolent energy he had accumulated from executing death row inmates in the prison and instigating a conflict between two major forces in the dyehouse.

These malevolent energies exploded at that moment, transforming into lines of cold, dark blue characters:

Stirring up trouble and diverting disaster eastward.

When the level of malevolent energy exceeds the critical point, a special achievement is achieved: the mastermind behind the scenes.

[Special Reward Obtained: Disguise and Bone-Contraction Technique (Fragment)]

Xu Hao rubbed his face, now he finally had a survival skill to survive in the martial arts world.

"I have repaid the debt of gratitude for saving my life."

Xu Hao looked at Chen Yuanzhi.

"Old Master Chen has been kind to me. I've rescued you, so we're even now."

Chen Yuanzhi remained silent for a moment, staring at Xu Hao.

"Take half of the box of spiritual rice."

"Young Master Chen, your life wasn't saved for nothing."

Chen Yuanzhi tugged at the hem of his shirt. "I know, Brother Xu was able to get me out of death row, so this rice should all be yours."

He paused and then said, "But I'm going to Mingzhou to seek refuge with the Prince of Zhenbei and get revenge for me."

"Okay, I'll take half of this rice, you can keep the rest." Xu Hao was about to take out the wooden box.

"I can't protect the rest. Brother Xu, take me to Mingzhou. The Chen family still has some influence in Luoxia Town; the martial arts techniques and money are all yours. As long as I can see the Prince of Zhenbei, I'll give you 30% of the money I earn in Mingzhou."

"Thirty percent? Young Master, you don't even have your own life anymore. Isn't it a bit premature to talk about profit?"

"That's why I hired you. Are you in or not?"

Xu Hao smiled.

"Deal. But let's make it clear beforehand, if we encounter a situation where death is inevitable, I'll run first."

"That's how it should be."

Chen Yuanzhi pointed ahead.

"Take the mountain path to Luoxia Town. There's a backup plan the Chen family left behind years ago; the deposit is inside."

For the next two days, the two of them acted like wild men.

Xu Hao carried Chen Yuanzhi on his back, traversing through towering mountains and deep valleys.

Two waves of cavalry from the Observatory swept past the foot of the mountain. Xu Hao pressed Chen Yuanzhi's head down into a mud pit, holding his breath and concentrating.

Chen Yuanzhi's face was covered in mud, but he didn't utter a sound, and the restlessness in his eyes completely disappeared.

"You've made a lot of progress."

Xu Hao wiped the mud off his face and made a joke.

"If you've died once and don't improve, you'll really become a pig."

On the morning of the third day, we arrived at Luoxia Town.

The salty, fishy sea breeze, carrying the stench of rotten fish and shrimp, hits you in the face, as if it's going to pickle your lungs.

Luoxia Town is small, with low wooden houses lining both sides of the street. The wooden planks are blackened and covered with withered fish.

Most of the pedestrians on the road were bare-armed, their skin dark and rough from the sea breeze, with water-splitting daggers or boning knives at their waists, and they looked at people as if they were sizing up a fish waiting to be slaughtered.

Xu Hao lowered his straw hat, and his clothes had long since been changed into coarse linen clothes, making him inconspicuous in the crowd.

Chen Yuanzhi followed behind him, his face smeared with soot, his back slightly hunched, trying his best to conceal his scholarly air.

"We're here, it's just ahead." Chen Yuanzhi's voice was very low, but his eyes were fixed on a dilapidated courtyard at the end of the alley.

The courtyard wall of "Chen's Fish Shop" has collapsed halfway, revealing the overgrown weeds inside. Only a plaque at the entrance, weathered and mottled by the sea wind, still faintly reveals the characters "Chen's".

Xu Hao paused slightly, not going directly over, but instead pulling Chen Yuanzhi into the shadows where fishing nets were drying.

"What's wrong?" Chen Yuanzhi asked nervously, gripping the short knife hidden in his sleeve.

Xu Hao didn't speak, but pressed his fingers lightly against his chest.

The Listening Talisman felt slightly warm, and a chaotic and heavy heartbeat traveled into my ears on the wind.

Boom, boom, boom.

There were at least twenty people in the courtyard.

His breathing was heavy, and there were even a few suppressed screams and the crisp sound of whips striking flesh.

The ancient scroll painting that had been dormant in my mind suddenly trembled.

[Discovering a New Blessed Land: Sunset Fish Market (Dilapidated)]

[Binding conditions: Clean the interior of the room, occupy it, and stay overnight.]

[Current Status: Occupied by the "Sea Shark Gang".]

"Your hidden stake has been taken out." Xu Hao withdrew his hand, his tone calm. "They're all trained fighters inside. Judging from their unsteady footsteps, most of them are experts in external martial arts, but there's one with a long, steady breath; he's a tough nut to crack."

Chen Yuanzhi's face turned deathly pale instantly: "Old Ma is inside... He's the contact my father left me; only he knows where the things are hidden."

Xu Hao glanced at the dilapidated courtyard gate in front of him: "Wait there."

Having said that, he lowered his body, as if blending into the shadows, and using the "Concealing Breath" spiritual effect, he silently reached a gap in the courtyard wall.

Through the gaps in the weeds, the view inside the courtyard was completely visible.

A group of shirtless men with shark tattoos were sitting together drinking and eating meat. In the center of the courtyard stood a wooden stake with a bloodied and mangled old man tied to it.

The old man's hand had been chopped off and thrown into the mud at his feet, but he didn't utter a sound. He just hung his head, only exhaling and not inhaling.

A burly man with a face full of scars and a necklace of shark teeth around his neck was brandishing a barbed dagger at the old man's chest.

"Old man, you've got some tough bones." The burly man grinned maliciously, plunging his dagger deep into the old man's thigh and twisting it forcefully. "The Chen family is all dead. Who are you guarding this rubbish for? Tell me, and I'll give you a quick death."

The old man convulsed all over, making a hoarse, bellows-like sound in his throat, but he kept his mouth tightly shut.

Xu Hao returned to Chen Yuanzhi's side and told him what he had seen.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuanzhi's eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and he lunged forward, about to rush into the courtyard.

A hand as strong as an iron clamp instantly gripped his shoulder, pinning him firmly to the spot.

"Let me go! It's Old Ma!" Chen Yuanzhi roared, his voice trembling.

"Go in and die?" Xu Hao looked at him coldly, his eyes colder than the sea breeze. "The leader is also at the Yi Jin realm, and his external martial arts skills are no less than Sun Niqiu's. If you rush in now, you'll only lose another life; you won't save anyone."

"What should we do? Just stand there and watch?"

"In chaotic times, to save others, you must first protect yourself." Xu Hao released his hand and took out a porcelain bottle from his pocket. It was the "Bone-Dissolving Powder" that he had previously scavenged from Sun Niqiu.

He then took out a pot of water from the Sumeru warehouse, poured in the bone-dissolving powder, shook it, and diluted it into a light blue liquid.

"Stay here and don't make a sound."

After Xu Hao finished speaking, he turned around and disappeared from the spot.