My Cultivation Techniques Upgrade Automatically

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: The Weak Die, the Strong Live

Naturally, Xue Hongling also opened her window at the same moment.

When she saw the back of a stranger instead of Wu Chen’s face, she froze for a moment.

But Xue Hongling reacted quickly.

The instant she saw the assassin draw his blade to strike at Wu Chen, she moved with the grace of a sparrow, stepping along the outer eaves by the window.

The weapon in her hand effortlessly pierced the assassin’s unguarded back, running him through.

The assassin had never imagined that his two targets would be staying in the rooms on either side of his own!

He’d been stabbed for nothing. Despite his arsenal of techniques, he never had a chance to use a single one.

’Have they been watching me ever since I entered the city?’

With that thought, his body fell limply toward the ground.

Before the body could hit the ground, Xue Hongling landed without a sound. She caught the corpse and laid it gently on the ground.

She made no sound.

Then she caught the black blade as it slipped from the assassin’s lifeless grasp.

With the assassin dead, Wu Chen jumped down from his window as well.

Ready to continue the night’s purge.

But just as he was about to land, the tall Xue Hongling easily grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, leaving him dangling a few inches off the ground and breaking his fall.

"You were making too much noise," Xue Hongling explained, gently setting him down.

Wu Chen was speechless. ’Isn’t it normal to make a little noise in front of you?’ he thought.

Besides, being dangled so close to her just now, he’d noticed more than just her faint, pleasant scent. He’d also felt something firm against her chest.

’She must be carrying a Martial Arts Manual in there!’

"Did Jiang Fang leak our location to the assassin?" Xue Hongling wondered, looking down at the corpse.

"I doubt it."

Wu Chen shook his head. "Poison or hidden weapons would have been more effective, don’t you think?"

"Even if he had leaked the information, he wouldn’t have sent just one assassin. He would have sent three or five to surround the inn and wipe us out completely."

"I think he just happened to be staying at the same inn," Wu Chen concluded.

"Since it was a coincidence, let’s go."

Xue Hongling nodded, accepting Wu Chen’s assessment.

She glanced at the corpse, motioning for Wu Chen to deal with it as she handed him the black blade.

Of course, Wu Chen didn’t object. He expertly began to loot the corpse, but found nothing.

So, with the blade in one hand and the corpse in the other, he followed after Xue Hongling.

He had to admit, Xue Hongling’s strike was wickedly precise. It instantly extinguished the assassin’s life force, yet the wound didn’t even start to bleed for some time.

The metallic scent of blood only began to emanate from the corpse after he’d tossed it into an alleyway cesspit, saving Wu Chen a lot of trouble.

Wu Chen didn’t bother wondering whether it was Xue Hongling’s incredible speed or her unusual, dark red blade that was responsible.

His attention was entirely focused on the black blade he’d taken from the assassin.

The black blade was nearly four feet long and pitch-black, with faint, gilded patterns giving it an air that was both understated yet bold.

This was a massive upgrade, several tiers above the standard-issue blade he’d picked up earlier for a mere three to five silver.

At a glance, the blade was long and slender, nothing remarkable.

But it felt incredibly heavy in his hand, with a satisfying heft.

Wu Chen estimated it weighed at least seventy or eighty pounds and must have cost over a hundred silver.

To test the blade’s mettle, he mustered his strength and flicked it with a finger.

DING!

HUMMM!

The blade rang with a clear, pleasant tone that pierced the silence of the night, echoing far into the surrounding neighborhood.

Wu Chen hastily sheathed the blade, silencing the sound.

Seeing that he hadn’t caused a disturbance, Wu Chen drew the blade once more to inspect it under the moonlight.

That flick had contained the power of his Red Sand Palm and nearly half his Qi Power, yet the blade hadn’t bent or shown even the slightest crack.

"What a blade!" Wu Chen couldn’t help but exclaim.

If he’d tried that with his old steel blade, it wouldn’t have just rung out—it would have shattered on the spot.

He remembered that when he’d broken through Xue Hongling’s Ghost Howl Blade Technique, it was only because his own powerful body had absorbed most of the impact; otherwise, the steel blade in his hand would have suffered far more than just a few nicks.

"A weapon forged by Refining Valley, outside Mountain Mist City. Costs about two hundred silver."

Xue Hongling, seeing him stare at it like a treasure he couldn’t quite figure out, decided to enlighten him.

"Mountain Mist City? Refining Valley?"

Wu Chen remembered that Zhou Yuntao and his group had gone to Mountain Mist City. He just didn’t know which Sect they had eventually joined.

He looked at Xue Hongling’s profile and asked curiously, "You’re familiar with Mountain Mist City?"

"I am."

Xue Hongling nodded. "I’ve killed a lot of people there."

Wu Chen: "..."

’Well, that’s one way to get familiar with a place,’ he thought.

There were several Sects in Mountain Mist City, and he figured Xue Hongling was probably on every single one of their wanted lists.

A target for every disciple to hunt.

"I killed twenty-eight people to join the Blood Slaughter Sect. So now that I’ve left, I’m going to kill twenty-eight members of the Blood Slaughter Sect to repay that debt."

She seemed to know what Wu Chen was thinking and offered a quiet justification.

Wu Chen didn’t feel it was his place to comment. He just asked out of curiosity, "How many have you killed so far?"

"Six."

Wu Chen put his hands on his hips and said breezily, "Want me to spot you a few?"

"Spot me a few?"

Xue Hongling blinked. "How many Blood Slaughter Sect fiends have you killed?"

"A couple hundred... uh, dozens, maybe." Wu Chen thought the actual number he’d killed at the herb farm was too horrifying, so he downplayed it to avoid scaring her.

"..."

But even that number left Xue Hongling stunned.

Although the blood-red blade in her hands was a mark of the heart orifices she’d harvested during her trial, she hadn’t killed innocent captives.

Instead, she had killed the disciples who had tried to take *her* heart orifice.

As her reputation grew, she was targeted by disciples from the righteous sects. In the name of self-preservation, the number of lives she had taken only increased...

"It’s actions that count, not intentions..."

Seeing her expression grow somber, Wu Chen shrugged and then muttered some other nonsense like, "When you’re in the martial world, you can’t always choose your path."

An awkward silence filled the alley.

Xue Hongling remained silent for a long moment before finally speaking.

"You are righteous. The ones you kill are Blood Evil fiends."

"But I only killed these people after seeing their faces on Black Stone City’s wanted lists."

"How can you be sure that all the Blood Evil fiends you killed were true villains, and not people who just wanted to turn their lives around?"

’This witch... how dare she try to shake my conviction!’

Wu Chen hadn’t expected his attempt to console her would backfire and put him in check.

He snorted inwardly and said with righteous conviction, "The ones I kill are fiends. Period."

’As if he cared who he killed. Once they were dead, they were dead. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.’

’In this world, the strong survived and the weak died. It was that simple. It wasn’t about drawing a line between good and evil—those were just empty words, full of hot air.’

’Besides, wasn’t the definition of good and evil just decided by whoever was strongest?’

Wu Chen understood all of this perfectly.

All he could do was resolve not to bully the weak, and to never let himself be bullied.

However, his attention was soon captured by what Xue Hongling had said—the so-called Blood Slaughter Sect list.

He asked curiously, "You’ve seen Black Stone City’s roster of fiends?"

"Yes." Xue Hongling nodded.

Wu Chen asked, "Then what realm is the strongest Blood Slaughter Sect fiend in Black Stone City?"

"The second level of the Meridian Passage Realm."

Xue Hongling said, "He’s one level higher than me. I fought him once and couldn’t gain an advantage."

Hearing this, Wu Chen nodded, his mind made up. He then asked:

"Do you know where to find these fiends?"

This time, Xue Hongling just shook her head. The roster and portraits didn’t include that information.

It wasn’t the kind of information a disciple like her would have access to.

As they spoke, the two arrived at a gang hideout.

Unlike the night before, all of this gang’s members were gathered together, but the atmosphere was grim.

It seemed that news of the Profound Snake Gang and Black Scorpion Gang being wiped out—their hearts carved from their chests—had fermented for a day and was now common knowledge on the street.

From within the courtyard, the voices of the gang’s core members carried out:

"Boss, maybe what happened to those two gangs has nothing to do with us."

"Yeah, Boss! Maybe they both hired people from the Blood Slaughter Sect and ended up destroying each other..."

"We should just keep on eating and drinking like always."

"..."

Wu Chen listened closely. As he’d thought, these men were terrified because the other two gangs had been completely annihilated, their hearts torn out.

Wu Chen wanted to listen longer and see how effective his intimidation tactics were, but Xue Hongling at his side had already lost her patience.

She vaulted over the wall and landed in the courtyard.

Wu Chen had no choice but to follow.

With a man and a woman on the job, the work felt effortless.

With Xue Hongling taking the lead, the job was a breeze for Wu Chen.

He focused on looting the bodies, carving out their hearts, and framing the Blood Slaughter Sect for the night’s work.

But he had to admit, each successive gang had more members than the last.

If it weren’t for the incredible sharpness of the black blade, his efficiency at harvesting hearts would have been cut in half.

They wiped out three gangs, but by the time they reached the fourth, it was late in the night, and the place was deserted.

"We’ll continue tomorrow."

As he spoke, Wu Chen tossed aside the Martial Arts Manuals he was holding.

After all that, the three gangs had only yielded about twenty Martial Arts Manuals in total. Not much of a haul.

The silver, on the other hand, was a better find. He’d collected nearly twenty pieces, enough to fill a small pouch until it bulged.

Wu Chen was quite satisfied with that.

He glanced over at Xue Hongling. She was practically glowing after killing so many thugs.

He couldn’t resist a bit of mischief.

"Miss Xue, let me ask you the same question you asked me."

"How can you be sure there weren’t any good people among the gang members we just killed?"

"Maybe some of them only joined for protection, just trying to find a way to survive?"

Just as Wu Chen predicted, Xue Hongling, who had already turned to walk away, faltered at his words. Her body swayed, and the smile on her face froze.

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