Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

Chapter 133 Replacement (3K)

Xu Hao placed a few copper coins on the square table in the inn to settle the tea bill.

He stood up and walked out of the inn.

The fat woman poked half her head out from the kitchen, saw the copper coin, and then looked at his back as he got up and walked out. She opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

Night had fallen, and the streets of Liuyao Town were deserted.

A black carriage without flags was slowly rolling over the cobblestone road, its wheels making a dull "clunking" sound.

Xu Hao trailed far behind.

He is now at the Tongqiao Realm, and with the "Concealing Breath" spiritual effect bestowed by the Death Prison Blessed Land, he seems to blend into a shadow in the night.

Not to mention the driver, even a martial artist of the same level would not be able to detect his presence unless they deliberately released their blood and qi to probe.

The carriage passed through Liuyao Town and headed south into a secluded mountain forest.

After passing three hills, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a vast, brightly lit manor in the night.

The Gu family mansion.

The mansion was surrounded by an astonishingly tight security perimeter.

Every ten steps there was a guard with a crossbow, and hidden sentries with long, drawn-out breaths lurked behind the tree canopy and artificial hill.

This formation was no less impressive than that of the regular army camp of the Daheng Dynasty.

The carriage stopped at the main gate of the manor.

The Gu family's steward was waiting outside the door early, bowing and scraping as he went to greet them.

The carriage curtain was lifted, and a gaunt old man wearing a black cloak stepped out, with a silver tag hanging from his waist.

A silver-ranked centurion in the Observatory is one rank higher than a bronze-ranked captain.

"Where is Master Gu?" The old man's voice was hoarse, carrying a chilling aura of someone who had been issuing orders for years.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, the steward is in the backyard, counting the last batch of medicinal ingredients for you gentlemen," the steward said respectfully.

"lead the way."

The old man and the driver followed the steward into the mansion, while the carriage was led to the backyard.

Xu Hao did not use the main entrance.

With a swift movement, he used the "Surging Waves Step" to leap across the night, using the tree trunks for leverage, and like a night bird, silently crossed the three-zhang-high courtyard wall, avoiding all the sentries, both visible and hidden.

He followed the wheel tracks of the carriage and the lingering smell of horse manure in the air, making his way to the backyard.

The backyard was a huge open space, filled with the pungent smell of herbs and a faint stench of blood.

In the center of the open space, there were more than a dozen black carriages that looked exactly like the ones from before.

Dozens of black-clad officers from the Observatory of Astronomy stood around the carriage, each with a bronze badge hanging from their waist.

On the other side of the open space were rows of cages made of rough iron.

The cage contained what people called "drug slaves".

Xu Hao lurked in the shadows of the rooftop, his eyes cold and sharp.

He saw the gaunt old man walk around the convoy, inspect the goods in each vehicle, and then beckon to a bronze-plated captain next to him.

"Zhao Qi, this batch of goods must be shipped tomorrow morning. The Gu family has prepared enough, but there's no surplus. If a few die on the way, the count won't match when we get to Zezhou. Lord Wei has a temper—you take two men and go to town to find ten more medicine slaves."

"Yes, Commander." Zhao Qi clasped his hands in acceptance, called to his two subordinates, and turned to walk towards the back gate of the mansion.

Xu Hao's lips curled into a cold smile.

The opportunity is here.

Zhao Qi, accompanied by two of his men, walked out of the back gate of the Gu family mansion, cursing and swearing.

"Where are we going to find ten living people in the middle of the night? The Gu family has already searched and scavenged almost everyone in town who can still breathe," one of the henchmen complained.

"Shut up. The centurion has given the order: if we don't catch them alive, we'll use your lives to pay for it." Zhao Qi sneered. "Go to the east end of town. The Gu family tied up a batch of goods there during the day. Pick ten and take them away."

The three of them walked along the mountain road toward Liuyao Town.

The night wind rustled through the trees.

Xu Hao drifted down from the treetop like a weightless leaf, landing silently behind the three of them.

The Surging Waves Step was activated without a sound of wind or a hint of killing intent.

He raised his hands and placed them on the back of his head, one on each of his hands.

Bone resonance.

The extremely short, low-frequency vibrations instantly pierced through the skulls, turning the two men's brains into a paste in an instant.

There were no screams, not even a struggle; the two corpses fell limply to the ground.

Zhao Qi heard a strange noise behind him and was about to turn around when a hand like an iron clamp gripped his throat tightly and lifted him off the ground.

"Don't make a sound, just nod or shake your head." Xu Hao's voice was colder than the night wind.

Zhao Qi's eyes widened in horror.

He was a martial artist at the early stage of the Inner Strength Realm, but in the hands of the dark figure in front of him, he not only had no power to resist, but even the blood and qi in his body were sealed in his dantian by a terrifying pressure.

He nodded vigorously.

"What kind of medicine did you use to pull out the nails in Zezhou?" Xu Hao loosened his grip a little, allowing Zhao Qi to barely breathe.

"Transform—transform into dragon saliva—" Zhao Qi squeezed out a broken sound from his throat, "The centurion said—the seal of Zezhou—must be made by using human blood and flesh—plus the poisonous miasma of the Ten Thousand Poison Forest—to refine into dragon saliva—to cleanse—what impurities—"

"Are drug slaves just flesh and blood used as a medicinal ingredient?"

"Yes—the Gu and Mu families are responsible for arresting them, the Qin family is responsible for providing the auxiliary medicines—we are responsible for escorting them—" Zhao Qi trembled all over, "Hero, spare my life—I'm just following orders—"

'

"Next question, how many people will be escorting the convoy tomorrow?"

"Three centurions—sixty bronze-rank captains—and the Gu family's one hundred private soldiers—"

Xu Hao got the information he wanted.

With a sudden burst of force from his right hand, he crushed Zhao Qi's neck bones with a "crack".

He dragged the three corpses into the forest, stripped Zhao Qi of his black clothes and bronze badge, and then covered the corpses with dry branches.

The operating route of "Disguise and Bone Shrinking Technique (Fragment)" appeared in his mind.

Xu Hao took a deep breath, and the blood and qi in his body flowed along a special trajectory, surging into the muscles and bones of his face.

With a soft "clicking" sound, his cheekbones slightly tucked in, his chin lengthened, and the muscles on his cheeks twisted and rearranged.

In less than ten breaths, when he opened his eyes again, his face already bore an eight or nine-tenths resemblance to Zhao Qi on the ground.

With the cover of night and a deliberately lowered voice, it was enough to fool anyone.

He changed into the black clothes of the Observatory, hung the bronze plaque on his waist, and turned to walk towards Liuyao Town.

On the open ground at the east end of the town, a dozen or so wooden stakes stood forlornly in the night.

Two servants of the Gu family were dozing off against the table, with several empty jugs of cheap wine beside them.

The thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy that Xu Hao had seen during the day was still tied to the outermost wooden stake.

He wasn't asleep; his eyes were wide open, like a trapped wolf cub, staring intently at the two servants.

Xu Hao emerged from the darkness, the sound of his leather boots hitting the muddy ground waking the servants.

"Who?" The servant stood up abruptly and drew an iron ruler from his waist.

"From the Observatory." Xu Hao lowered his voice and flashed the bronze badge at his waist. "By order of the centurion, I have come to fetch ten medicine slaves."

Upon hearing that he was a jinx from the Observatory, the two servants immediately put on obsequious smiles: "So it's you, sir. Please take whatever you like. Steward Gu has instructed us to fully cooperate with you, sirs."

Xu Hao's gaze swept over the medicine slave on the wooden stake.

Most of these people were numb and didn't even lift their heads.

He walked up to the boy, who was looking at him with no fear in his eyes, only undisguised hatred.

"Untie him," Xu Hao said, pointing at the boy.

The servants quickly stepped forward to untie the ropes.

As soon as the boy landed, he suddenly pounced on the servant like a cheetah, opening his mouth to bite the servant's neck.

"You little beast, you're asking for death!" The servant roared, raising his iron ruler to strike.

Xu Hao raised his hand and grabbed the iron ruler.

With a slight exertion of his fingers, the steel ruler was bent like a noodle in his hand.

The servant was stunned, his back instantly soaked with cold sweat.

"I told you, this is the medicine slave that Lord Baihu wanted. If you ruin it, you'll pay with your life!" Xu Hao looked at him coldly.

"Yes, yes, sir, you are right." The servant retreated repeatedly.

Xu Hao grabbed the boy by the back of his collar, threw him aside, and then sealed several of his acupoints, rendering him unable to move.

"Nine more are needed." Xu Hao turned his head and looked at the two servants.

"Sir, there are still a dozen or so stakes here. You can take nine of them if you like—"

"No need for that," Xu Hao interrupted him, taking a step forward.

Startling Waves Step.

Before the two servants could react, they felt a blur before their eyes, and then felt as if they had been struck by lightning in the abdomen.

Xu Hao's hands landed precisely on the two men's dantian, the force of bone resonance penetrating their bodies, instantly destroying their qi sea and shattering their vocal cords in the process.

The two collapsed to the ground, their mouths agape but no sound came out; the excruciating pain contorted their faces.

Xu Hao picked up a hemp rope from the side and deftly put it around the necks of the two servants.

"Now we're seven short."

He then walked to the wooden stake and untied seven drug slaves who seemed to still be able to walk.

"Let's go." Xu Hao grabbed one end of the rope and led the two crippled Gu family servants like livestock, saying to the remaining medicine slaves.

The boy's pressure points were released, and he gave Xu Hao a deep look before silently following behind the group.

Under the cover of night, the group returned to the backyard of the Gu family mansion.

The torches illuminated the backyard.

The gaunt, silver-plated centurion stood in the backyard, watching his subordinates load buckets of dark red, viscous liquid onto the carriage.

Xu Hao lowered his head and led the person to the centurion.

"My lord, the person has been brought here." He imitated Zhao Qi's tone.

The centurion glanced at the group, his gaze lingering on two men dressed as servants of the Gu family, their faces covered in blood.

"Why are there still people who care about their families?" Baihu frowned.

"My lord, there aren't enough living people in town. These two servants offended me, so I crippled them and used them to make up the numbers. Anyway, throwing them into the furnace to refine medicine makes no difference between the Gu family's dogs and stray dogs on the roadside," Xu Hao replied calmly.

Upon hearing this, Baihu not only did not get angry, but instead let out a series of unpleasant, snickering laughs.

"Well done. The Gu family is nothing more than a dog kept by our Surveillance Bureau. Killing them is fine. As long as we can gather enough ingredients for the Dragon Saliva, any price is worth it."

The centurion waved his hand: "Lock the man in an iron cage. Tomorrow morning at dawn, head straight for Zezhou."

"Yes."

Xu Hao herded the drug slave into the iron cage and locked the iron gate.

He turned and blended into the ranks of the black-clad captains, found an inconspicuous corner, sat down cross-legged, and closed his eyes to rest.

The night breeze carried the pungent smell of blood and herbs.

In his sea of ​​consciousness, the secondary nail light spot in the direction of Zezhou on the Six Nails Suppressing Dragon Diagram was still flashing at a frequency of once every five breaths.

almost.

Xu Hao silently recited in his heart.