This martial saint is too cautious.

Chapter 97 Second Turn (Please Subscribe)

The Dongjiang River is flanked by rolling mountains, and in addition to the main channel, there are many tributaries that flow into various counties under Qingzhou Prefecture.

The Lin family's town is located in the Huluzui area in the middle reaches of Qingzhou Prefecture, which stretches for three hundred miles, surrounded by water on three sides and backed by mountains.

When Lin Yan arrived at Huluzui on horseback, it was just dawn.

The rising sun dyed the river surface red, and the distant mountains, like dark eyebrows, were hidden in the thin mist.

The terrain of Huluzui was even more treacherous than he had imagined. It was surrounded by water on three sides, with only a narrow ridge connecting it to the land. Both sides of the ridge were steep slopes, and below the slopes was the surging river.

The Lin family's stronghold was built on a high ground at the end of the mountain ridge. The stronghold walls were made of bluestone and were about ten feet high. The Lin family's flags were planted on the top of the walls and fluttered in the river wind.

Two guards stood at the gate, long swords hanging at their waists. Lin Yan dismounted, took out his identity token, and handed it over. The guard took it, examined it carefully, and then looked up to compare it with the portrait on the back of the token. After confirming that it was correct, he clasped his hands and said, "Young Master Yan, please wait a moment while I go in and inform him."

Lin Yan nodded and waited outside the village gate with his horse in hand.

Before long, footsteps came from inside the gate, and a young man walked out quickly. To Lin Yan's surprise, it was Lin Mingye, whom he had talked with at the Spirit Weapon Storehouse.

"Lin Yan, we meet again." Lin Mingye said with a smile, "Come in first."

Lin Mingye led Lin Yan through the village gate, introducing as they walked: "There are thirty-seven clansmen stationed at Huluzui Village; one of them is at the True Qi Realm; there are eight at the Blood Exchange Realm, including you; the rest are at the Skin Polishing Realm. Uncle Shouzhi took him to discuss matters with the Cui family early this morning, and they probably won't be back for two or three days."

Lin Yan nodded and asked curiously, "Uncle Shouzhi has been mobilized, what's so important?"

"Recently, a gang of bandits has been extremely rampant, hijacking several merchant ships. Moreover, this gang of bandits is very clever. They are located in the border area between us and the Cui family. Although our four major families share the same goal of guarding the Dongjiang River and maintaining the smooth flow of the waterway, we have had many conflicts with each other. Once they cross the border, it will be difficult to pursue them."

Lin Mingye gave Lin Yan a look that said, "You should understand," and Lin Yan did indeed understand.

It's impossible for the four major families of Qingzhou Prefecture to say that there are no frictions between them. Now, they are all guarding the Dongjiang River in different sections for the same goal. However, if bandits intercept boats in the section of the river under the Lin family's control and then run to the section under the Cui family's control, the Lin family's warriors will chase after them, and the Cui family will definitely not cooperate.

Firstly, the two families disliked each other. Secondly, these roaming bandits always had valuables on them, so whoever caught them would get all the spoils.

"Uncle Shouzhi knew you were coming and had already made arrangements for you." Lin Mingye led Lin Yan into a room. The room was simply furnished with a wooden table, a few chairs, and a huge map of the Dongjiang River hanging on the wall. Many places on the map were circled in red.

"This is a detailed map of the 300-mile waterway at Huluzui, which is also the area under the jurisdiction of our Lin family. The areas circled in red are the places where water bandits frequently appear."

Before Lin Mingye could explain, Lin Yan's gaze had already fallen on the map, and he had guessed that the area marked in red was the area where the bandits were active.

The reason is simple: these marked areas are either reed marshes, bays, or areas where one side of the water is adjacent to deep mountains.

"The Lin family is responsible for this section of waterway, where there are three of the most powerful bandit strongholds: the Swallow Gang at Swallow Rock, the Black Dragon Society at Black Dragon Bay, and the bandit alliance in the Broken Dragon Beach area."

Seeing Lin Mingye pointing to three large red circles, Lin Yan frowned and said, "Why not completely wipe out these three families?"

"It's not that easy!"

Lin Mingye gave a wry smile: "The Duanlongtan area is all reed marshes. These water bandits are excellent underwater fighters. They can hide in the reed marshes and hold their breath for half an hour without being detected. Unless we send nearly a thousand people to surround and kill them, and the Black Dragon Bay is surrounded by deep mountains on both sides, they will hide in the mountains before we even arrive. The situation at Yanziji is similar."

"We are here mainly to deter these river pirates and prevent them from being too reckless. These four families dare not touch our merchant ships, while other merchant ships are usually stopped by these three families, and they can be released after paying some money."

Hearing this, Lin Yan's expression was a bit strange. Since these three bandit families had already reached a tacit agreement with the four major families, did they still need someone to guard them?

"Don't think that we don't need anyone to guard it. Before the four of us came to guard it, there were bandits everywhere. Now there are only three of us left. The main reason we are guarding it is to prevent those roving bandits. These roving bandits do not have fixed hideouts. Many of them are even temporary teams. They are extremely ruthless. Once a merchant ship is encountered, the fate of the ship is to be slaughtered."

Lin Yan now fully understood. Bandits like the Swallow Gang wouldn't dare to offend the four major families too much, and wouldn't resort to short-sighted tactics.

But bandits are different. They come for a short time to pull off a few heists, grab what they can, and run. They wipe out the entire ship in one fell swoop to avoid revealing their identities.

"Lin Yan, you're in charge of this section."

Lin Mingye pointed to a section of the river on the map, about fifty miles long: "Fifty miles west of Huluzui, up to the east side of Heishuiwan, this section of the river is relatively calm, but there are many tributaries on both banks, and river bandits often launch surprise attacks on merchant ships from the tributaries."

Lin Yan looked at that section of the river and nodded.

"You also have a patrol team of twenty people under you, two of whom are level four skin-sharpening warriors, and the rest are level three skin-sharpening warriors. The two level four skin-sharpening warriors are waiting for you here. They are all warriors from the Lin family's subordinate clans."

Lin Mingye explained their backgrounds to Lin Yan, then turned and called out towards the door, "Come in."

The curtain was lifted, and two figures walked in.

"This is Zhou Chuan, who has been patrolling the river for five years now, having undergone four skinning procedures."

Lin Mingye pointed to a man in his thirties on the left. The man clasped his hands in a fist salute to Lin Yan and grinned, "Young Master Yan."

"This is Zhao Tong, she's had four skin retouching sessions and has been here for three years."

Zhao Tong was more slender and had a steady gaze. He also clasped his hands in a salute to Lin Yan and said, "Greetings, Young Master Yan."

Lin Yan nodded in acknowledgment, his gaze lingering on the two faces for a moment, memorizing their features.

"Alright, let Zhou Chuan and Zhao Tong tell you more. They've been guarding the Dongjiang region for longer than we have. I only arrived two days earlier than you. It's a pity—I wish I had arrived later than you."

19

Lin Yan was puzzled by Lin Mingye's words: "Brother Ye, what do you mean by that?"

"I arrived early, so Uncle Shouzhi arranged for me to stay here and be in charge of communication with you guys. If you had arrived before me, you would have been in charge of communication, and I would have been able to patrol the river section and have a chance to encounter river bandits while staying here."

Seeing Lin Mingye's bored expression and pursed lips, Lin Yan also laughed.

You're still too young.

Even if he arrives first, the task of patrolling the river section will still fall on him, while Lin Mingye can only be responsible for communication at Huluzui.

The reason is simple: after accepting the mission, he made a special effort to find out that the True Qi Realm expert, Uncle Shouzhi, who was sent by the clan to oversee the situation, came from the eldest branch of the family and was from the same branch as Lin Mingye.

After exchanging a few words with Lin Mingye, Lin Yan led Zhou Chuan and Zhao Tong away from Huluzui and headed to the section of the river they needed to patrol, where they also had a small outpost.

"Young Master Yan, this place is a bit shabby. Would you like to have someone renovate it?"

"No need, this is fine."

The stronghold was located on a slope on one side of the riverbank, consisting of stone houses. Zhao Tong and Zhou Chuan had prepared their own stone house at the highest point, and they had even found stones to build a courtyard wall.

After putting down his luggage, Lin Yan, led by Zhou Chuan and Zhao Tong, patrolled the river section, met the other three skin-grinding martial artists, and learned about the patrol rules of Zhao Tong and the others.

In the morning, Zhou Chuan led the team towards Blackwater Bay, and they returned at noon.

Then Zhao Tong led a patrol towards Hulukou and returned in the evening.

Lin Yan joined the patrol for two days, then stopped participating. It wasn't that he was being lazy, but rather that, as a Blood Exchange Realm expert, it was impossible for him to go out on patrol every day unless something happened.

Three days later, Lin Yan met with Uncle Shouzhi, who offered a few words of encouragement and advice before leaving.

Seven days passed peacefully. On this day, Lin Yan returned to his courtyard after finishing his breakfast.

The martial arts tree within his body was now nearly eight feet tall, and it was time for him to break through to the second stage of the Blood Transformation Realm.

The morning breeze rustles, and the river flows on.

Lin Yan sat cross-legged on the open ground in front of the stone house, facing the Dongjiang River.

He took out the medicine bottle, poured out one of the few remaining Bodhi Pills, and put it in his mouth.

The pill melted instantly upon entering his mouth, and the mass of qi and blood within his body, which he had compressed countless times, began to surge. As Lin Yan circulated the Eight Desolate Dragon Elephant Force, the qi and blood of the eight meridians poured into his dantian like a waterfall.

The fourth stage of blood exchange involves repeatedly compressing and refining blood and qi.

The process is like tempering; there are no shortcuts, only the hard work of grinding.

One week, two weeks, three weeks!

Lin Yan's dantian began to gradually heat up, and the heat eventually spread throughout his body. This heat was not a dry heat, but a heat sensation transmitted from deep within his bone marrow.

As the river breeze blew, Lin Yan's skin pores opened up, and veins bulged, with a faint reddish-gold luster flowing through them—the color that appeared when blood and qi were compressed to their limit.

The moment the blood clot was compressed to its limit, Lin Yan's vertebrae emitted a series of popping sounds, like muffled thunder rolling.

The stone waist and spine root bones were stimulated again, and a surge of heat rushed from the tailbone straight to the top of the head. The entire spine was like a fully drawn bowstring, and the blood and qi in the body were still being compressed wildly.

Lin Yan gritted his teeth, the mantra of the Dragon Elephant Force echoing in his mind again and again.

The eight meridians open, and with each turn, a new realm unfolds.

Blood as red as mercury, breath as powerful as a rainbow, dragon and elephant aura surrounding him, strength reaching the heavens.

boom!

The pale golden blood cluster in his dantian suddenly erupted like a volcano, transforming into countless pale golden streams of blood that surged out along the eight meridians.

The newly generated blood and energy are thicker and hotter than the first time, and the inner walls of the meridians are coated with a light golden layer wherever they pass.

The terrifying blood energy surged out from the pores of the skin, forming a layer of protective energy that was nearly twice as thick as when it was first turned. As it flowed, faint phantom images of dragons and elephants appeared and disappeared in the blood light.

Second blood transfusion, successful!

Lin Yan did not rush to get up. He sat there quietly, feeling the blood and qi surging like a great river within his body, and feeling the blood essence flowing silently under his skin.

After a long while, he raised his right hand, and three sword energies lit up at his fingertips at the same time.

Unlike the first transformation, these three sword energies are darker in color and more condensed in texture.

The Four Phases Condensing Qi Sword is a fusion of blood qi and sword intent, with blood qi as its foundation.

The stronger the blood energy, the greater the power that the sword energy can unleash.

Lin Yan did not test the power of the sword energy, because there was no need to; nothing in the vicinity could withstand his three sword energies.

Stop and look inward into your mind.

When Lin Yan saw the height of the Martial Arts Tree, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.

The martial arts tree was taller than he had expected; it wasn't ten feet, but eleven feet.

At the same time, the entire trunk was thicker than before, and the original branches were also half a foot longer.

"Now it's certain that my martial arts tree is growing faster than expected. It's not because my qi and blood are at their peak, but because of my innate constitution."

Normally, the difference between the first and second stages of the Blood Exchange Realm is two feet, but this time he directly increased it to three feet, breaking the upper limit.

Lin Yan now had a definite answer. If Qi and Blood were perfected, each breakthrough would result in a strength increase far exceeding that of ordinary Blood Exchange Realm warriors. It was impossible for no one in the clan to have revealed this information, nor was it possible for no one to know about it.

The Lin family has existed for over two thousand years, and there have been geniuses who have achieved perfect Qi and blood and broken through to the Blood Exchange Realm.

As far as he knew, Lin Mingya, the number one person of the Ming generation, had entered the Blood Exchange Realm after four rounds of perfecting his Qi and Blood.

Lin Yan stood up and stretched his limbs, his bones cracking.

But the next moment, he walked towards the courtyard gate.

"Young Master Yan!"

A voice called out, and the person was taken aback when they saw that Lin Yan had already opened the courtyard gate.

"What's wrong?"

"Just now, when Master Tong was on patrol, there was a merchant ship that was not moving on the river. When Master Tong went to check, he found that the merchant ship had been robbed. All sixty-two people on board were killed."

The man who delivered the message was a three-times-skin-sharpening martial artist who had seen quite a few things, but the thought of the bloody scene on the ship still made him pale.

Lin Yan's eyes narrowed. Being robbed and being slaughtered were two different things.

Hijacking ships to hold people hostage was standard practice for river pirates. But if someone was killed, who would pay the ransom? Who would inform the merchant guild?

Slaughtering the ship meant leaving no survivors, and it meant that the perpetrators did not want to reveal their identities.

Bandits!

The two words Lin Mingye had said popped into Lin Yan's mind.

"Take me to the scene."

Half an hour later, Lin Yan arrived at the merchant ship on the river. Seeing Lin Yan coming, Zhao Tong's expression was also very ugly: "The people who did this are ruthless. Young Master Lin had better be prepared."

Zhao Tong gave a special reminder. In his opinion, talented members of the Lin family like Lin Yan, despite their high cultivation level and strength, did not have much combat experience and even fewer lives on their hands. He was afraid that if Lin Yan showed signs of discomfort when boarding the ship, he would lose face in front of everyone.

"Um.

""

Lin Yan nodded, then leaped from the small boat onto the deck of the merchant ship. The first scene that caught his eye made his pupils shrink.

He was not unfamiliar with scenes of death; in fact, he had once single-handedly slaughtered the bandits of Qingfeng Village.

But murder is murder, and torture is torture!

The blood on the deck in front of me had congealed, turning dark brown, and spread from the bow to the stern in a thick layer that felt sticky and slippery underfoot.

-

The corpses lay scattered haphazardly on the deck and bow, clearly indicating that they had been driven onto the deck and massacred.

Many of the corpses were elderly women and even children. Compared to the men, the deaths of these corpses were more gruesome. One of the children, about three or four years old, was lying on his back with no wounds on his body, but his face was bluish-purple and there was a deep strangulation mark on his neck. He had been strangled to death.

Several other women were completely naked.

Lin Yan's expression turned cold. He withdrew his gaze from the corpse and looked at Zhao Tong: "Any clues?"