Make the Immortal Sect Great Again

The next morning, Wang Ping woke before dawn as usual. He headed to the Drill Ground to practice his archery, though this time, he held a steaming red bun in his hand.

Whenever his strength flagged, he would take a bite. Instantly, a warm current surged through his limbs and bones, washing away his fatigue so he could continue training. As he rapidly accumulated repetitions, Wang Ping could feel his comprehension of the Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow improving.

Boom!

Another arrow shot out, but this time it didn't just hit the bullseye. The moment it struck the center, it exploded, throwing off a concussive shockwave.

"Phew!"

A hundred meters away, Wang Ping slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. The thick sinews throughout his body twanged. As he stretched his limbs, a rushing, surging sound echoed from inside him.

His blood was roaring!

He had mastered the basics of the bow. Blood Like Fire was complete!

Wang Ping closed his eyes and looked inward with his spiritual sense. He could clearly see his blood racing through his veins, explosive power accumulating within it.

"No wonder it's called Blood Like Fire."

"Put bluntly, it's igniting the body, trading severe physical backlash for a brief flash of fire. It's killing a thousand enemies while suffering eight hundred losses. I can't use it casually."

Wang Ping also finally understood Xie Shi's outburst that night.

Despite being heavily injured, the man had managed to shrug off his wounds multiple times, erupting with strength equal to his peak. That had to be the effect of Blood Like Fire.

"What he could do, I can do too."

"And I can do it even better!"

Wang Ping slowly clenched his fist, feeling the vitality flow through his palm. Sinking his spiritual sense deep into his body allowed him to grasp his physical state as quickly as possible.

"Just like Sinews Like Dragons, Blood Like Fire has different grades. The manual explains this in detail, dividing it into four tiers: Raging Fire, Blazing Flame, True Inferno, and Extreme Sun... Based on Xie Shi's explosive power that night, he probably had Blazing Flame blood. Compared to me right now, he was far behind."

Wang Ping once again marveled at his current body.

‘Desire Realm Celestial Body. Setting aside whatever miraculous effects it might have in immortal cultivation, at least in this martial arts world, it is practically the aptitude of a Martial God.’

All his hard work at the Red Phoenix Tower hadn't been in vain!

Wang Ping had no doubt that with the constitution of this body, as long as he mastered the Six Gates of External Arts—skin, flesh, sinews, bones, blood, and marrow—he would absolutely achieve the highest grade in each!

‘Sure enough, I am now a one-in-a-ten-thousand martial arts prodigy.’

Wang Ping basked in self-admiration for a moment before his spiritual sense suddenly twitched. He turned toward the entrance of the Drill Ground to see Liu Ye casually strolling over with a smoking pipe in hand.

"How is it? That Blood Jade Bun packs a punch, doesn't it?"

The moment he entered the Drill Ground, Liu Ye's eyes landed on the red bun in Wang Ping's hand. He chuckled. "I managed to get that from the neighboring county."

"Many thanks, older brother."

Wang Ping hurriedly praised him, then lowered his voice. "By the way, older brother, I have a presumptuous request... Do you know if there's any place in the city that sells good iron?"

Iron was an imperial monopoly.

Usually, the only iron allowed to circulate openly was ordinary, low-grade refined iron. Truly extraordinary exotic iron was always priceless and completely absent from the public market.

Of course, constables had specialized channels to purchase it.

However, Liu Ye instantly caught Wang Ping's underlying meaning. He narrowed his eyes. "How good of an iron? The kind that can see the light of day, or the kind that can't?"

Wang Ping shook his head. "The kind that can't."

"Then don't buy it in the city. There are too many eyes here, and even with money, there's nowhere to spend it. A lot of things are inconvenient... Go to the Outer Market outside the city."

"They have connections there."

Liu Ye's tone was calm. "But we need an excuse... Hmm, we'll just say I took you to the Outer Market to collect this month's protection money. It's only a few days early anyway."

Protection money... Wang Ping's gaze shifted slightly. He suddenly recalled the scene of Liu Ye collecting fees in the Outer Market right after he had first transmigrated. Back then, he only thought this Net-Cleaning Tiger was adept at preying on the common people. He never expected that he would now become one of them.

But then again.

Although Liu Ye collected the Outer Market's protection money every month, he also guaranteed its stability and order. Things couldn't be viewed from too extreme an angle.

What? At its core, it was still preying on the common folk?

How could that be the same!

Soon, having successfully convinced himself, Wang Ping followed Liu Ye. After reporting their whereabouts to the County Yamen, the two headed out of the city and arrived at the Outer Market.

"Liu the Skinner is here again!"

"Dammit, why is he early this month?"

"Quick, get the money ready..."

Instantly, commotion swept through the Outer Market. Although many people lowered their voices, to a martial artist's ears, it was no different from them shouting.

Liu Ye's expression grew a bit awkward, and he couldn't help but curse, "These ungrateful peasants. They don't even consider whether this Outer Market could stay open without me! It would've been looted bare by martial artist bandits long ago. Is collecting a little protection money too much? From start to finish, have I ever asked for a single copper coin extra?"

But cursing aside, he didn't actually do anything to them.

Wang Ping remained silent, following him past one stall after another. Every shop paid their dues in full, until they reached the rice shop, where a slight hiccup occurred.

"Master Liu, here is this month's fee."

Old Man Chen hurriedly handed over a string of copper coins with an obsequious smile. "Please rest assured, I've strung it all together for you this time. It's not short a single coin, so it won't waste your time."

Seeing this, Liu Ye first took the money with satisfaction, but after counting it, he showed a look of disgust. "Old Man Chen, didn't you fucking attend a private school?"

"Don't you know how to count?"

Hearing this, the rice shop owner immediately panicked. "No, that's impossible. I counted it several times. It's the exact amount for the protection money, not a single coin short..."

"What do you mean short? It's too much!"

Annoyed, Liu Ye snapped off a section of the copper coin string in his hand and casually threw it back. "Didn't I tell you last month? What I overcharged then would be deducted this month."

"So this time I'm only taking sixty percent."

"Next time, calculate it properly. Only hand it over when you've counted it right. You waste my time every single time. Do you have any idea how busy I am?"

Liu Ye took the opportunity to harshly scold the rice shop owner.

Looking at the returned copper coins, however, the rice shop owner couldn't muster even a bit of resentment. He hurriedly bowed and nodded, stopping just short of dropping to his knees.

After scolding him, Liu Ye walked away without even looking back.

‘He actually follows the rules.’

Wang Ping trailed behind, having witnessed the entire process. He didn't feel much emotion about it, nor did he have the spare energy to interfere and affect things at the moment.

Before long, the protection money was fully collected.

Only then did Liu Ye change direction, leading Wang Ping to a secluded corner of the Outer Market. There was only a single stall there, manned by a lone vendor.

Upon seeing Wang Ping, the previously calm vendor's expression shifted slightly, and he stood up subconsciously.

"Master Liu, you..."

"Cut the crap."

Liu Ye waved his large hand. "I'm introducing a newcomer today. Don't worry, he can be trusted... He wants to buy a piece of exotic iron. Bring out your bottom-of-the-box goods."

Wang Ping maintained his silence. He noticed the vendor secretly sizing him up several times before sitting back down. Then, pulling them from who knew where, the vendor tossed three lumps of metal onto the stall and muttered, "As for exotic iron, these three are all I have right now."

Wang Ping looked over, his expression instantly changing.

For no other reason than the fact that out of the three pieces of exotic iron, he actually recognized two!

One of them was stark white. He recognized it at a glance—it was the flying knife Xie Shi had used that night, except its shape had been reforged.

Another piece was pitch-black. He was equally familiar with it, because it was the exact same material as the Oxtail Saber at his waist. It even still had blood on it!

‘One is Xie Shi's flying knife, and the other... Could it have been scavenged from the corpse of a constable who died in combat that night? Such nerve, to actually get their hands on this? No, wait. Maybe people from the County Yamen were involved in this from the start. Good lord, this is a fucking fencing channel for stolen goods!’

The waters behind this were probably incredibly deep!

While Wang Ping was pondering, the vendor spoke up. "Plain Rainbow Steel, Dark Cloud Iron, and a piece of Hundred-Refined Primordial Copper. Quality ranges from lowest to highest. Which one do you want, sir?"

"Hundred-Refined Primordial Copper."

Wang Ping unhesitatingly chose the highest quality one. The reason was simple: his main goal in buying exotic iron was to sacrifice it to the Taiping Sutra.

Previously, he hadn't even had the power to protect himself, so naturally, he couldn't spare the effort to tend to his precious cheat. Now that he had found his footing, he wanted to upgrade the Taiping Sutra and unlock another slot for a scripture scroll. That way, he could figure out how to activate a new cheat in the future.

"That will be fifty taels of silver."

The vendor held out his hand.

Wang Ping was just about to hand over the money when Liu Ye directly pushed his arm down.

"Fifty taels? Why don't you just go rob someone!"

Liu Ye rebuked righteously. The vendor had clearly been yelled at like this before, as he immediately smiled bitterly. "Then how much does Master Liu think it should be?"

"Five taels."

"You old dog, are you fucking haggling!?"

The vendor instantly grew anxious. He rolled up his sleeves and stood up, looking ready to fight Liu Ye to the death. However, Liu Ye maintained a calm demeanor.

"Cut the crap. If there were no issues with your Hundred-Refined Primordial Copper and it could see the light of day, let alone fifty taels, I could even shell out sixty or seventy taels."

Liu Ye sneered.

"Well? Can you guarantee this iron can see the light of day?"

The vendor immediately fell silent.

A sudden realization also dawned on Wang Ping. Fifty taels was the normal market price, but were the items here normal? Looking down the row, which one of them wasn't stolen goods?

Fencing stolen goods meant they had to be heavily discounted!

"But it still shouldn't be five taels! It's got to be at least twenty!" the vendor argued.

Hearing this, Liu Ye sighed. "Fine, it's not easy doing business, and you're just taking a commission anyway. How about this, I'll pay ten taels. That should do, right?"

"You animal!"

The vendor was so furious his hands shook, looking as though he had suffered an enormous grievance. But Liu Ye remained completely unmoved, stubbornly sticking to ten taels without yielding a single ounce more.

"Believe it or not, I won't sell it to you!" the vendor stood up in exasperation.

Liu Ye chuckled at this. "Then, as a constable of the County Yamen and a loyal supporter of the imperial court, I'll have to discuss with you the penalty for privately trading exotic iron."

The vendor immediately sat back down.

"Master Liu, what are you saying... How could I not sell it to you? I was just joking around just now. Ten taels of silver it is. Please continue to look after my business in the future."

Only then did Liu Ye look toward Wang Ping, signaling him to pay.

Wang Ping felt deep admiration at this.

‘I've learned something today!’

‘It seems the prestige of this Net-Cleaning Tiger isn't completely without merit. Commoners don't fight with officials—that phrase truly is a universal maxim.’

...

After parting ways with Liu Ye, Wang Ping hurried home without stopping.

"Let's begin!"

Wang Ping took out his newly acquired Hundred-Refined Primordial Copper. Although Liu Ye had reminded him before they parted that it was stolen and that he needed to be careful using it, Wang Ping didn't actually care.

After all, it was going to disappear very soon.

A second later, Wang Ping's consciousness entered the Great Peace Mortuary. He felt a profound, mystical power emanate from the towering tome and land on the Hundred-Refined Primordial Copper.

[Hundred-Refined Primordial Copper (Mundane Object)]

Immediately after, Wang Ping watched as the piece of Hundred-Refined Primordial Copper—which was enough to forge an Ordinary Weapon—rapidly melted. It turned into liquid copper and sank into the Great Peace Mortuary.

The next moment, the Great Peace Mortuary violently trembled after absorbing the Hundred-Refined Primordial Copper. The towering tome in the center turned to its second page.

[Scroll Two: Empty]

[Awaiting Record.]

"It worked!"

An excited expression instantly appeared on Wang Ping's face. These two lines of text meant that the second page of the Taiping Sutra had opened, allowing it to house a new scripture scroll.

Thinking of this, Wang Ping couldn't help but let his imagination run wild. After all, he already had the gem that was the Outer Heavenly Demon, which could resurrect him, let him travel between worlds, and provide him with an identity. As long as the materials he chose for the new scripture scroll were good enough, he believed it would surely grant him an even stronger cheat!

The future was bright indeed!

Right at that moment, however—

"Brother Wang? Brother Wang!"

A somewhat urgent voice suddenly called out from beyond the door, jolting Wang Ping from his thoughts. He pushed the door open, only to find a familiar-looking constable.

"...What happened?"

"Lord Chen wants to see you!"

The constable spoke rapidly. "Just fifteen minutes ago, the White Lotus Sect Master, Shouchong, forced his way into the county city. We've completely lost track of him."

"...What?"

In a flash, Wang Ping understood.

‘That old bastard Shouchong suddenly showing up means it's highly likely he didn't want to wait anymore. Chen Haoyan plans to divert the disaster as quickly as possible to avoid getting burned himself.’

In other words, they couldn't wait until the third day.

Plans could never keep up with changes.

Chen Haoyan summoning him at this exact moment meant he probably wanted him to take action immediately, transporting the Lotus Blade to Youren Temple right in front of everyone's eyes!

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