The Martial Saint Started from Scavenging

Ye Sheng dragged his weary body and began cleaning up the battlefield. Apart from a few standard longswords, the blood pact assassins had nothing of value on them, only some loose silver and copper coins.

Ye Sheng looted everything, but the total amounted to only three or four taels of silver. He was somewhat disappointed, but it was better than nothing.

He carefully put away the silver, his gaze finally settling on the blood wolf's corpse. As the leader of this operation, a genuine Bone Forging Realm martial artist, he should have some valuable items on him.

Ye Sheng carefully searched his chest and found a cloth bag. Upon opening it, he found a dozen taels of silver, a small porcelain bottle, and a folded piece of parchment inside.

Ye Sheng uncorked the porcelain bottle, and a pure medicinal fragrance immediately filled his nostrils. Inside the bottle were three black pills, each the size of a pigeon egg.

At this moment, the skill panel displayed a prompt: [Qi Gathering Pill (Superior Common Grade): Quickly restores a martial artist's internal energy; has remarkable effects on martial artists below the Bone Forging Realm.]

This luck just happened to come at the right time!

Ye Sheng's eyes lit up immediately, and without hesitation, he poured out one and swallowed it.

Instantly, a gentle and mellow medicinal power dissolved in his abdomen, flowing like a trickle to his dantian, replenishing the internal energy he had previously exhausted.

Ye Sheng could clearly feel that the faint golden internal energy in his dantian was rapidly recovering and growing stronger at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After a short while, his internal energy had recovered to about 70-80%, and even the fatigue in his body had dissipated considerably.

Ye Sheng nodded in satisfaction and carefully put away the remaining two Qi Gathering Pills. Then, he unfolded the parchment, which contained a bounty notice written in cinnabar.

The image above is a rough sketch of a boy's head. Although it is drawn crookedly, the spirit in his eyes and brows can be vaguely discerned as Ye Sheng's appearance.

Below the profile picture, a few lines of small text were written in sharp handwriting.

Name: Ye Sheng

Place of Origin: Drifters from Shuilongdu in the Eastern Region

"Characteristics: Sixteen or seventeen years old, thin build, skilled with an ordinary wood-chopping knife, his strength is suspected to be at the peak of the entry level, and he once killed the guild's silver-ranked assassin 'Silver Mask'."

"Reward: Fifty taels of silver will be awarded to anyone who provides accurate information about his whereabouts; five hundred taels of silver will be awarded to anyone who captures him alive, and he will also receive a position as a guest elder in the Blood Pact Merchant Guild!"

The signature was a blood-red handprint, below which were written "Blood Pact Merchant Guild - Eastern Region Branch".

"Five hundred taels... for the position of guest elder..." Ye Sheng looked at the number and smiled self-deprecatingly.

His life is really valuable.

It seems that killing that masked man has stirred up a hornet's nest.

Ye Sheng carefully put away the bounty poster; it might come in handy later. After doing all this, Ye Sheng's gaze finally fell on the huge pile of rocks that buried the armored rhinoceros.

This beast was the biggest gain this time.

He walked to the pile of rubble, took a deep breath, and began to move the stones by hand.

After the five-zhang-long boulder fell and shattered, the larger pieces were the size of millstones and weighed over a thousand jin, while the smaller ones weighed several hundred jin. However, for Ye Sheng now, it was not too strenuous.

He pushed his internal energy technique to its limit, his arms bulging with veins and his inner strength surging. He lifted pieces of pebbles from the pile of stones and threw them aside.

It took him nearly an hour to finally clear a passage and see the armored rhinoceros carcass below, crushed and mangled.

The beast was smashed beyond recognition, but its sharp horn and its thick, armor-like carapace remained largely intact.

These are all treasures.

Ye Sheng drew his wood-chopping knife and, with great effort, slowly chopped the incredibly hard horn off his skull.

This thing would be very useful, whether he took it to the blacksmith's shop in town to sell for money or kept it to forge weapons. Then, he began to strip the armored rhinoceros hide.

This leather armor was much tougher and thicker than the fur of the Ironback Jackal he had encountered before; ordinary swords and knives could not damage it in the slightest.

Ye Sheng channeled his inner energy into the woodcutter's knife, causing a faint golden light to emanate from the blade. With great effort, he managed to make a small cut, and then, little by little, peeled off the entire leather armor.

If a good blacksmith could forge this into a set of close-fitting inner armor, its defensive capabilities would be absolutely astonishing, and it could even save lives in critical moments.

Finally, there are the inner cores of demonic beasts.

Ye Sheng cut open the armored rhinoceros's mountain-like belly and rummaged through its internal organs for a long time before finally finding the inner core, which was larger than his fist.

The inner elixir is entirely yellowish-brown, with strange natural patterns covering its surface. When held in the hand, one can feel a thick and powerful energy slowly surging, as if holding a beating heart.

The skill panel lit up again with a warning: [Ironclad Rhinoceros Inner Core: Contains abundant earth-attribute energy and pure demonic power, usable for crafting high-level pills or magical artifacts. Warning: Energy is violent; do not ingest directly.]

Ye Sheng stared at the inner core, his breathing quickening. This thing was probably worth more than the Ironback Jackal inner core he'd sold at the Ghost Market!

He then tore off a piece of clothing from a corpse, carefully wrapped the inner core, unicorn horn, and leather armor, and hid them in a very secluded cave nearby, intending to retrieve them later when the opportunity arose.

By the time all this was done, it was nearly dusk.

Feeling tired and hungry, Ye Sheng picked up a dead mushroom pig nearby and roasted it over a fire.

While munching on a fragrant pork leg, Ye Sheng began to plan his next steps.

Although he wiped out the Blood Pact Assassins here, the Blood Pact Merchant Guild will surely find out soon and send more and stronger people. He must leave this place as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, he took out the simple map from his pocket and began to study it carefully.

It's still nearly 300 li from here to Qingyun City. The route involves crossing the Black Wind Ridge mountain range. The map indicates that after passing this canyon, bandits frequently appear, posing a greater danger than low-level demonic beasts.

"Looks like I'll have to change my identity again."

Ye Sheng touched his face. Even Hu Ba and the others could see through his previous disguise as a dark-skinned refugee. Therefore, he needed a new identity that would be less likely to arouse suspicion.

He thought for a moment, then his gaze fell on the corpses of the blood pact assassins he had killed.

perhaps……

An extremely bold idea suddenly formed in Ye Sheng's mind.

Late at night.

Ye Sheng didn't immediately call Ye Kai, but instead dragged the corpse of a blood pact assassin, who was about the same size as him, into the cave.

Then, he quickly changed into the other person's black outfit and put away the other person's identity token and standard longsword.

Then, he sat cross-legged again and began to use his illusion magic. But this time, he didn't simply change his appearance; instead, he meticulously altered his own features, mirroring the face of the dead assassin.

This process is much more difficult and delicate than before. He needs to precisely control the movement of every facial muscle, mimicking the other person's facial contours and eyes, and even some subtle facial expressions.

[Disguise: Novice 50/100]

[Disguise: Novice 60/100]

Through continuous experimentation and adjustments, his skill level has been improving rapidly.

Two hours later.

Ye Sheng took out the polished swamp iron again and used it as a mirror. In the reflection, a completely unfamiliar face appeared, bearing a sinister air—it was the blood pact assassin who had been killed.

Both his appearance and the aura that emanated from his very bones were perfectly replicated.

"From this day forward, I am an outsider assassin for the Blood Pact Merchant Guild."

Ye Sheng muttered to himself. He would use this new identity to cross Black Wind Ridge openly and legitimately, heading towards Qingyun City. The most dangerous identity is often the safest disguise.

However, just as Ye Sheng was about to set off to find Ye Kai, a sudden change occurred. Ye Kai, whom he had settled in the deepest part of a cave, suddenly began to convulse violently.

His eyes were tightly closed, his face was flushed red, and the dark energy that had been dormant for several days under his skin surged wildly again, more violently and violently than ever before.

An extremely cold and violent aura suddenly erupted from his small body.

"Brother!"

Ye Sheng's expression changed drastically, and he immediately rushed towards the cave. Upon arriving, he intended to use his internal energy to help Ye Kai suppress the attack.

But this time, the moment his internal energy touched Ye Kai's body, it was instantly swallowed up by the violent black energy, without even making a ripple!

"roar!"

Ye Kai let out a low, inhuman roar from his throat.

He suddenly opened his eyes, and those once clear eyes had turned into a bottomless blackness, filled with madness and a desire to destroy everything.

The body of Dao'e has completely spiraled out of control!