Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

At the entrance of the Sanshui County Yamen.

Jiang Ran walked out, yawning.

He looked up and saw a group of young women from the Shuiyue Sword Sect standing by the street. On the other side were Li Tianxin, clutching her saber, and Luo Qingyi, with a travel pack on her back.

Ruan Yuqing glanced at Jiang Ran.

"Finished your business?"

Jiang Ran could only nod, studying Ruan Yuqing for a moment.

"Miss Ruan, you’re still here... I stayed up last night to prepare your Antitoxic Pill. The Biluo Poison in your system has now been neutralized.

"I don’t expect any more problems. You can rest easy now."

Jiang Ran hadn’t gotten much sleep last night after all.

Just as he was about to lie down, Fang Li had someone deliver all the medicinal herbs he needed.

He figured he would be parting ways with Ruan Yuqing and the others today.

So he went ahead and prepared the pill overnight.

He had delivered it to Ruan Yuqing first thing this morning.

But Ruan Yuqing had told him they’d already been delayed long enough at the Three Rivers Gang and couldn’t stay any longer.

She had decided they would leave with Jiang Ran.

But leaving didn’t mean they were going their separate ways.

Instead, they had followed him all the way to the Sanshui County Yamen.

Jiang Ran had come here, of course, to collect the bounty for Wu Zhong and the so-called Sanshui Demon Lord.

The Sanshui Demon Lord was a wanted criminal from twenty years ago. Although the case file had since been closed, Jiang Ran, as an Assassin holding an Assassin’s Order, could point out that the man was still alive. As such, he could still collect the bounty.

As for Wu Zhong...

Although he was on the list of the Sword Holding Department, as a master who had escaped from the Great Within, he was naturally also on the public wanted posters.

The bounty was still thirty-nine thousand taels of silver, not a single cent less.

Add to that the twenty thousand taels of silver for the Sanshui Demon Lord.

With a total of fifty-nine thousand taels of pure silver paid out, the County Magistrate of Sanshui County was probably weeping bitterly in his office right now.

However, Jiang Ran felt conflicted about the rewards for these two individuals.

The reward for Wu Zhong was a palm technique called [Heaven-Covering Divine Palm].

And the reward for the Sanshui Demon Lord was eight years of Inner Strength.

’Logically, he should just claim both rewards right away.’

’The problem is, he currently has four buffs active.’

’If he claimed them now, he felt neither option would be very cost-effective.’

’Especially the Heaven-Covering Divine Palm... if this technique were truly so powerful, how could Wu Zhong have been defeated so easily?’

’Even with the buffs, he figured it would just be icing on the cake for him.’

’As for the Inner Strength... he still didn’t know the specifics of the enhancement mechanism.’

’What if each buff could add ten years of Inner Strength? That would make for a full forty-eight years of Inner Strength, which would be quite substantial.’

’But even so, he reckoned the boost to his Creation and True Heart Sutra would be extremely limited.’

’After all, he was still missing an Inner Energy art to fill the ’Three-Nine Deficiency’ of his Creation and True Heart Sutra.’

After mulling it over, Jiang Ran decided not to claim these two rewards for now.

He would just let them sit... not abandon them, but not claim them either. He’d wait and see if any other rewards came up later.

At this moment, Jiang Ran’s data panel was quite extensive.

[Assassin System!]

[Host: Jiang Ran]

[Arrest Target: None]

[Arrest Progress: None]

[Reward Acquired: Heaven-Covering Divine Palm (Twenty-nine years), Unclaimed.]

[Reward Acquired: Eight years of Inner Strength, Unclaimed.]

[Nine Deaths Meridian: Repairing...]

[Remaining Lifespan: Three years, six months, and nine days!]

In terms of lifespan alone, it was a world of difference from before.

Previously, when Jiang Ran had taken down the Sun and Moon Lords, his lifespan had shot up to two years and ten months.

After that, he had taken down Shi Pingzhang, Wu Zhong, and the Sanshui Demon Lord respectively.

As well as some other minor figures.

After subtracting the time wasted on the road... his life had been extended considerably.

But sometimes, when he looked at the three words ’Nine Deaths Meridian’, Jiang Ran would have his doubts.

’Is the system’s ’Repairing...’ actually repairing it, or is it just... simply converting rewards and pouring them into his lifespan?’

It was a question that couldn’t be answered anytime soon.

However, if the system truly was using this process to repair his Nine Deaths Meridian, then there must be some degree of progress.

Perhaps after reaching a certain peak, there would be some external manifestation.

After these thoughts had run their course, Jiang Ran left the yamen, only to find Ruan Yuqing and the others still waiting at the entrance.

Which brought them to the earlier conversation.

"Rest easy?"

Ruan Yuqing sighed.

"I want to rest easy, but you make it impossible.

"News about Jiaowei has already begun to spread in all directions. You’re about to become a public target.

"How can I possibly rest easy?"

Jiang Ran was taken aback.

"Oh... so you were worried about me..."

Beside them, Li Tianxin rolled her eyes again and sighed, her gaze filled with weariness, as if she couldn’t even be bothered to react anymore.

"That’s not wrong,"

Ruan Yuqing said, "You admitted to having Jiaowei for our sake. How could we abandon you now? I will follow you, at least until we reach Sunset Plateau on Three Immortals Mountain."

"What about them?"

Jiang Ran glanced at the other disciples of the Shuiyue Sword Sect.

Their injuries from the previous battle with Wu Zhong had not yet fully healed.

Danger was sure to follow Jiang Ran, and if they came along... a single misstep could cost them their lives.

Ruan Yuqing understood his meaning and said:

"I’ve already made arrangements. They will return to the Shuiyue Sword Sect first.

"I will follow you alone... I know your martial arts are formidable, but two heads are better than one. Even if I can’t match you in a fight, when it comes to other matters, having an extra person to offer another perspective or line of thought is always a good thing."