Chapter 5

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nTranslator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

nAfter a full meal, the apprentices saw Master Lin back to his home. It was already midnight.

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nZhou Heng bade farewell to Yu He and the others. He headed toward the outskirts of the city.

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nHis rented residence was located on the outskirts.

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nIt was a much cheaper option.

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nNot many street lights lit the outskirts of the city. The moonlight struck the pathway, and there were a lot of weeds growing at the sides of the road. They were almost half as tall as a human.

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nAs he came to a secluded area, Zhou Heng’s ears suddenly twitched.

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nSwish!

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nThe wind broke apart, revealing a sword that glimmered in the moonlight. It rushed toward him.

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nA human burst out of the bushes.

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nHe was dressed in all black, had a mask, and held a long sword in his hand!

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n“Who are you?!”

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nZhou Heng exclaimed as he shifted his feet to allow the sword to pass harmlessly by his side.

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nIt was a paper-thin evasion!

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nThe tip of the sword nearly grazed his nose!

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nHe was fast!

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nWas he a ninth-class martial artist?!

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n“You’ve applied the Ninth Class Eight Flying Grass Steps to narrowly avoid an attack. The level of proficiency has increased by 3.”

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n“Sun Zhengfeng’s applying the Ninth Class Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords to attack you, and you’ve successfully evaded it. Your level of proficiency with the Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords increased by 0.04.”

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nThe notifications prompted in his mind.

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nSun Zhengfeng?

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nThirteen Autumn Rain Swords?

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nZhou Heng was stunned.

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nWhat was the relationship between this man with Sun Zhengpin?

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nWas this a night raid? Ugh! Or was it a midnight ambush?

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n“How interesting!”

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nSun Zhengfeng chuckled. He looked completely smug and calm, unaware that his identity had been exposed. The moment he realized that he had missed his target, he immediately turned and left. Soon, he vanished into the darkness.

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n“What was that all about?” Zhou Heng looked at where Sun Zhengfeng had vanished. Then, he touched his chin and asked doubtfully, “What was he doing here?

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n“To assess my ability on behalf of Sun Zhengpin? Was there more to it? Anyway, let’s go home first.”

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nOpening the Lucky Bag and exploring Solo Nine Swords should be his current priority!

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nThe encounter just now was shocking, but not dangerous. To Zhou Heng, it was just a trivial matter.

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nAll that occupied his thoughts now was to get back home and “draw lots” for his lucky draw.

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nHe would go around and get some information on Sun Zhengfeng tomorrow.

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nThe remainder of his journey was smooth and uneventful. Soon, Zhou Heng reached his rented place on the outskirts of the city.

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nIt was an old hut. The floor was not particularly big, and weeds grew in abundance. There were only one larger main room and two rooms by the sides. The rafters were somewhat decayed.

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nClearly, it was an old, rundown house.

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nIt was not in a good condition, but the rental was dirt cheap. It was only one tael of silver annually.

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nZhou Heng climbed over the wall carefully and tiptoed back to his own rented room located by the side.

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nHe tried hard not to make any noise.

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nThe other room by the side was occupied. On top of that, the landlord himself stayed in the main room.

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nThe landlord went to bed early.

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nHe usually fell asleep as soon as the day turned dark and was easily awakened. If anything woke him up, he would cuss and swear.

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nAs such, when Zhou Heng returned home every night, he tried his best not to make any noise.

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nThis was partly why he wanted to own a house by himself.

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nBy then, he could enter the house at his convenience, he could go in through the door, climb over the wall, or even dig a hole to go back from the underground…

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nNobody would care.

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nYes, if only he were qualified as Longevity Sect’s external disciple. Part of its perks was staying in Longevity Mansion.

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nAfter he returned home, Zhou Heng took a shower and changed his clothes. He washed his hands more than twenty times.

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nJust like back in those days on Earth, it was the same ritual he practiced while playing a gacha game.

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nAfter that, he called up the system interface.

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n“The Silver Lucky Bag is a bag equipped with literally everything. Once you open it, you’ll gain a reward you will not expect.”

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nThe exciting moment had come!

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nWould it be a surprise, or something delightful?!

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n“Open it!”

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nA flash of silver light glimpsed before Zhou Heng’s eyes. He could vaguely see that a Lucky Bag was being opened.

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nThe way it opened up was in total silence and completely different from the Bronze Lucky Bag!

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nObviously, this was of a much higher standard!

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n“Congratulations! You’ve gained 3 distributable points for your level of proficiency with ninth-class martial arts!”

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nWhat was that?

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nWhat were distributable points for the level of proficiency with martial arts?

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nDid it truly mean what it meant?

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nAs Zhou Heng’s mind raced, various levels of proficiency with his martial arts skills passed through.

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nNinth-Class Prosperity Inner Strength Stance Technique. High Level: 2651

/3000.

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nNinth-Class Eight Flying Grass Steps. High Level: 2222

/3000.

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nNinth-Class Twelve Mountain Splitting Saber Techniques. Perfection: 125

/5000.

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nNinth-Class Eighteen Divine Power Styles. Average Level: 36

/2000.

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nNinth-Class Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords. Not learned yet: 0.04

/1000.

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nUnranked Zhou Family Saber Technique. Perfection: 5000

/5000.

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nHe discovered that this was different from the previous one.

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nOriginally, there was no plus sign behind the number for the levels of proficiency.

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nThis had suggested that he could actually add the 3 distributable points to the level of proficiency of any martial arts!

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n“But I’ve only got three points. I can gain these points through self-learning, and it’s not time-consuming either.”

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nZhou Heng was slightly disappointed.

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nHowever, soon, he discovered the key point.

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n“Does that mean I can add the point for Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords too? I’ve not learned the skills and my level of proficiency is only 0.04…”

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nHe changed his mind, and one point was added to the level of proficiency for Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords.

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nAfter that, Zhou Heng felt his vision blur.

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nA greyish, translucent shadow was seen holding a longsword in his hand as he appeared out of thin air.

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nSoon afterwards, the shadow started to show the skills of the technique one by one at a time before him.

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nThat also came with explanations.

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n“You’re watching a sword phantom practice Ninth Class Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords. The level of proficiency increased by 0.02.”

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n“You’re listening to a sword phantom’s explanations for Ninth Class Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords, and you gained insights from it. The level of proficiency increased by 0.1.”

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n“You’re watching a sword phantom practice Ninth Class Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords. The level of proficiency increased by 0.03.”

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n“You’re listening to a sword phantom’s explanations for Ninth Class Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords, and you gained insights from it. The level of proficiency increased by 0.2.”

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n“Your level of proficiency with Ninth Class Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords has reached 1. You’ve officially acquired the martial art skills!”

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nA series of notifications prompted.

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nAt the same time, there were certain changes to the message on the panel of the martial arts.

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nNinth Class Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords. Novice Level: 1

/1000.

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nZhou Heng was dumbfounded.

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nThat fast? Excuse me?!

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nHe stepped out of his room and climbed over the wall carefully.

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nHe broke a branch as a substitution for a sword. He practiced the complete set of Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords smoothly for several times.

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nHe wanted to confirm the result of his learning.

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nAlso, he wanted to farm tens of points for his level of proficiency.

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nHe wanted to confirm his own understanding, as well as completely acquire the skills of the legendary Sun Family’s ninth class sword techniques!

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nAlthough his level of proficiency was not high and he could not apply in practical combat yet, it was because he still lacked practice.

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nProficiency was all that he needed for now.

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nIf a person attacked him by using this martial art skill, the resulting impacts would be greatly reduced!

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nSun Zhengpin, who excelled in Thirteen Autumn Rain Swords was in trouble now!

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nIt was Sun Zhengfeng who had started all this first by applying that sword technique to ambush him, which subsequently led him to current state.

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nSun Zhengfeng did it once only!

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nAll because of him, Zhou Heng had acquired the ninth class sword technique!

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nThe level of proficiency of the sword technique was actually gained from the sword phantom, but to the outsiders, the entire teaching process had been as swift as the blink of an eye!

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nIn other words, Zhou Heng had grasped his martial art skills in a blink!

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nThis also suggested that as long as he managed to defuse or avoid any attack from a ninth-class martial art successfully, he could apply the additional point method to learn a skill on the spot!

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nIndeed, this was a cheat code!

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nZhou Heng’s heart fluttered happily!

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n“Oh my, Sun Zhengfeng. I don’t know why you tested me, but I really have to thank you and your eight generations of ancestors for this!”

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n“Let’s see if I can draw the lot for Solo Nine Swords next!”

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