Training and Breakthrough

After listening to Da Xiong's account of the entire incident, I had a strong urge to beat someone up. Fortunately, Gu Bing and Da Xiong grabbed me in time, helping me gradually calm down.

As soon as Da Xiong received my letter, he immediately began searching for someone in Baiqi City who understood the Orcish script. Eventually, he found out that Chen Xiucai from Baiqi Bookstore had extensive knowledge in this area. Chen Xiucai, whose real name was Chen Lin, was nearly forty years old and came from a scholarly family. From a young age, he had studied classical texts from various schools of thought. In his youth, he became deeply fascinated with Orc history, collecting ancient Orcish texts for research. He even interacted with Orcs to learn their language and writing. In reality, most Orcs who traded with humans only spoke the Orcish language—very few actually knew how to write it. Within the Orc Clan, written knowledge was passed down in a highly secretive and limited manner. Therefore, in all of Baiqi City, there was no one more suitable than Chen Xiucai for the task.

After finding Chen Xiucai, the scholar became immediately interested upon learning about an encrypted letter written in Orcish script. He spent two to three days carefully deciphering the entire message. When Da Xiong read the translated letter, he found that the information matched what we had previously extracted from White Fang. Following the instructions in my letter, he handed over both the original Orcish letter and Chen Xiucai's translated version to Lord Wang of Baiqi City's Security Patrol.

As a result, upon receiving the letters, Lord Wang did not even hesitate—he immediately ordered Da Xiong to be beaten with thirty strikes of the rod. Da Xiong, in pain and filled with injustice and confusion, argued with Lord Wang, only to be met with another round of brutal punches and kicks from the guards. That was how he ended up with the bruises on his face.

"He accused you of spreading rumors? The Orcish letter itself is evidence!" I grew angrier the more I thought about it. To declare us liars without even verifying the truth—this was beyond absurd. Looking at it now, I was lucky to have avoided a beating myself when I first delivered the letter.

Da Xiong and Gu Bing remained silent.

"To hell with it! Let's just forget about this whole mess. If the Orcs want to attack Baiqi City, let them. It has nothing to do with me! I can simply leave." The more I thought about it, the more wronged I felt. I wasn't even doing this for myself—I could have chosen to ignore everything from the start.

After venting my frustration for a while, I gradually calmed down.

"What does that bastard look like? Let's find a chance to give him a proper beating," I suggested.

"He's short, fat, and disgustingly greasy," Da Xiong replied.

"But where would we even find him? We can't just storm into the Baiqi Imperial Palace, can we?" Gu Bing questioned.

"There's no way he'll hide in the palace forever."

"I advise you not to act rashly!" A sudden voice interrupted. I looked up to see that it was Da Xiong's uncle. He continued, "That Lord Wang has no real skills except for making people suffer. There are plenty of people in Baiqi City who hate him, but none of them can do anything about it."

"If he's so hated, why is he in charge of the Security Patrol?" I asked.

"That's because his older brother is one of the Baiqi King's closest confidants—the Prime Minister of Baiqi Kingdom," Da Xiong's uncle explained.

"I see!" I was taken aback. So, this guy had quite a powerful background after all.

For now, I couldn't think of a way to get revenge, and knowing that Da Xiong had suffered because of me made me feel even guiltier. I stayed with him until dusk before finally leaving.

Gu Bing and I headed to Woma Inn, intending to grab a quick meal. Back when I was in Baiqi City, I used to mooch off Aunt Yu for food all the time. But now, with the gold coins we earned from selling snake meat, it didn't feel right to do that anymore.

As soon as we stepped into Woma Inn, we were stunned by the bustling crowd and lively atmosphere. In the past, we had always come to the inn at odd hours to sell snake meat, so we had never seen many customers. We never expected it to be so lively during dinner time. Compared to the quiet lunch hours when we first visited, it was clear that snake meat had significantly boosted the inn's business.

A quick glance around the first-floor hall revealed that it was already packed. I went to find Lin Shopkeeper, who, upon seeing Gu Bing and me, greeted us with a broad smile and immediately led us to a "Di" Character Private Room on the second floor.

"You two are the esteemed benefactors of our inn," Lin Shopkeeper said cheerfully. "Tonight, eat as much as you like—it's on the house!"

"That won't be necessary. Business is business—just bring us a few simple dishes. Oh, and no snake meat—we've had more than enough of that."

With that, Lin Shopkeeper ordered the kitchen and then left to attend to other matters. As Gu Bing pulled out a bottle of snake gall wine to pour, loud voices erupted from the adjacent room.

"You two, go get Liang Shan and Wei Li here to drink with me!" A drunken voice slurred.

"This might not be the best time, my lord. Perhaps we should escort you back?" A servant's voice hesitated.

"Just do as I say!" The drunken man roared, followed by the sound of something crashing onto the floor.

At that moment, a waiter entered our room to serve our dishes. Since we had become somewhat familiar with him through our previous transactions, I casually asked, "Hey, who's making such a ruckus next door?"

"Oh, Young Hero, that's Lord Wang of the Security Patrol," the waiter replied. He always addressed me as "Young Hero," which I still wasn't used to.

"Lord Wang?" Gu Bing and I exchanged glances.

"Yeah! He's been drinking here since noon after someone invited him for a feast. He's completely wasted but refuses to leave."

"And those names he just shouted—Liang Shan and Wei Li—who are they?"

"Oh, they're big shots in Baiqi City! Leader Liang and Master Wei are the heads of the two largest guilds in the city." The waiter gave a thumbs-up, then smirked with disdain. "But they wouldn't just come running because a drunkard like him demanded it."

"His men are just pretending to obey orders. They'll wander around for a while and return only after he's sobered up," the waiter added when he saw I was about to ask more.

"Oh." So, it seemed like an opportunity had presented itself.

After the waiter left, Gu Bing and I exchanged knowing smiles. "Should we?" I asked.

"Haha!" Gu Bing laughed heartily. Although he was usually honest and kind-hearted, he valued loyalty and loved adventure.

"Let's eat first! No rush." I said.

We finished our meal and drank a bottle of snake gall wine, feeling energized. Just then, Lord Wang started yelling again next door.

"You! Go find Xiao Cui to drink with me! Hurry up!" Another cup smashed onto the floor.

Hearing footsteps leaving the room and the door closing, we knew our moment had come. Quickly, we changed clothes, covered our faces, and sneaked into the adjacent room, shutting the door behind us.

Before us, Lord Wang slumped in his chair, his bloated belly rising and falling. Without opening his eyes, he slurred, "Back already? Where are Liang Shan and Wei Li?"

I noticed a piece of clothing draped over a chair nearby, so I grabbed it and threw it over his head, then stuffed his mouth with a rag. Gu Bing and I then went at him, delivering a fierce beating until he could only groan and couldn't even curse anymore. Maybe it was because it was dinner time and the whole inn was noisy, or perhaps he was just used to making a ruckus here—no one seemed to care about the sounds coming from this room.

After a while, Lord Wang, who was still blindfolded, suddenly stopped struggling and went completely silent. I quickly lifted the cloth and saw that the guy had passed out from the beating.

"That's enough, let's go!" I didn't want to make things too big, so Gu Bing and I immediately retreated to our own room, changed back into our original clothes, then went downstairs to settle the bill and left.

After venting our anger, we were in a great mood. Gu Bing and I even laughed, saying that by tomorrow, the whole Baiqi City would probably know that the "Pig Head" had been beaten up. Especially those bruises on his face—he'd be carrying them for days.

Thinking about this, I considered two things: first, to ensure that neither we nor our friends would get implicated in this incident; second, whether it was the impending Orc siege or the unpredictable arrival of the Demonic Clan, we needed to get stronger. I discussed with Gu Bing, and we decided that we would leave the city early tomorrow morning. I would take him for some training—we needed to break through as soon as possible.

"Where exactly are you taking me?" Gu Bing asked as we left the city early the next morning.

"The Orc Cave!" It was the best training ground I could think of. There were skeletal monsters there. Back when Lu Xi and I fought them, it was quite a struggle, but with my and Gu Bing's current strength, it shouldn't be a big problem.

On the way, I told Gu Bing about my first trip to the Orc Cave with Lu Xi. After hearing the story, Gu Bing was thrilled—his love for adventure and training was reignited.

Since I had been there before, I still remembered the general route and some of the markers I had left behind. After four or five days of travel, we reached the second level of the cave. Along the way, we encountered mostly scorpions and bats, with a few skeletal creatures wielding wooden clubs, but we quickly took care of them.

Upon entering the second level, I immediately noticed that there were far more skeletal monsters than when we were here last time. Every few steps, there would be a group of skeletons clustered together—some wielding clubs, some carrying axes like Skeletal Warriors, and some even wielding scythes like Skeletal Knights. But the most annoying ones were the Throwing Axe Skeletons, lurking in the shadows and hurling axes at us.

Thanks to our improved strength, deeper understanding of swordsmanship, and the Power Infusion Technique we learned from Uncle Huang, three to five skeletons at a time weren't a match for us. We fought and rested along the way. The monsters here weren't too powerful, but they were all skeletons, which made them particularly hard on our weapons. Fortunately, we had brought plenty of Perfect Restoration Oil.

This Perfect Restoration Oil was truly incredible. Whether it was weapons or armor, applying some to any cracks or damage would restore them to their original state almost instantly, as if they had never been damaged at all.

We also sustained some minor injuries in battle. Unfortunately, we didn't have a Taoist with us to use the Healing Technique, so we had to rely on Golden Wound Medicine to treat ourselves. However, this had its benefits too—once our wounds healed, the scarred areas always felt tougher than before.

On the fifth day of fighting in the second level, we discovered an opening that led even deeper into the cave. So, we descended to the third level. Compared to the previous two levels, this area was made up of several open spaces connected by wooden bridges, spanning deep chasms that seemed bottomless.

After battling in the third level for another three days, I unleashed my first Sword Energy Released attack during combat.

A burst of white light enveloped my Pioneer's Blade as I slashed at a Skeletal Knight, illuminating the dark cave in an instant. The skeletal warrior's bones scattered all over the ground.

Three days after I mastered the Offensive and Killing Fencing, we encountered another Blood-Red Skeleton. Compared to our previous battle against one, my strength and swordsmanship had drastically improved. This time, I no longer felt that its power was overwhelmingly unstoppable. During the fight, Gu Bing also unleashed his first Sword Energy Released attack, successfully comprehending Offensive and Killing Fencing as well.

"Haha!" Gu Bing let out his signature hearty laugh.

"In celebration of your mastery of Offensive and Killing Fencing, look—the Blood-Red Skeleton even left you a gift." I looked down at the scattered remains and discovered a pair of large yellow bracelets. Their material seemed neither like wood nor bamboo, making it hard to identify, but I was almost certain they were Magic Equipment.

"Huh?" Gu Bing was seeing Magic Equipment for the first time, though he had heard me mention them before.

"Go ahead and wear them."

"How about we each take one?" Gu Bing suggested, reluctant to take them all for himself but also unwilling to give up his first Magic Equipment.

"No way! These things are a set. Just put them on—hurry up and see how they feel!" I urged him.

Gu Bing didn't refuse any further and quickly put on the Golden Big Bracelets. As soon as he did, his whole body shuddered, and the bracelets clung tightly to his forearms, looking incredibly sturdy.

"How does it feel?" I asked curiously.

"I feel like my skin, muscles, and bones have all become tougher," Gu Bing replied, touching the bracelets. "And my wrists and forearms are really well protected."

"Seems like a Magic Equipment that enhances defense," I remarked.

"We've finally both mastered Offensive and Killing Fencing. As long as we keep practicing and accumulating combat experience, we'll always be able to find the best moment to unleash a devastating strike." The "Offensive" aspect was something we had broken through, while the "Killing" aspect relied on timing. Mastering the right timing required analyzing each battle carefully, and that depended heavily on experience.

"Should we head back now?" Gu Bing asked.