Loyal Heart Roaming the Skies

In Zhao Rucheng's mansion, which covered nearly ten acres of land, two figures moved swiftly in the sword light.

Clang!

Zhao Rucheng's sword shook and flew out of his hand. Meanwhile, Jiang Wang's sword had stopped at his neck, and he looked at him with a smile.

"Amazing!" Zhao Rucheng exclaimed, "What sword technique is this?"

Although there was some gap in their swordsmanship, Jiang Wang and Zhao Rucheng were not too far apart. In the past, they sparred with swords, and he could win three to five out of ten matches. However, today, after twenty matches, he had not won a single one!

Jiang Wang smiled and put away his sword. This sword technique was indeed a profound method that combined martial arts and Dao. It had nine styles for cultivation and five styles for killing. He had only mastered four styles for cultivation and one style for killing, but his understanding of swordsmanship had far surpassed before.

He believed that his combat power was now at the product level. If he encountered the demon who attacked him that night again, he would have the power to fight back.

"This sword technique is something I obtained by chance, and it doesn't have any name. Rucheng, you are knowledgeable in both literature and martial arts, what should we call it?"

Zhao Rucheng pondered for a moment and said, "It should be called 'Purple Qi Coming from the East,' the emperor of all swordsmanship."

Just now, he seemed to have seen a kind of grandeur on Zhao Rucheng that he had never seen before. But it was probably an illusion, as Zhao Rucheng picked up his fallen sword and jumped in front of Jiang Wang with a playful look on his face, saying, "Teach me, Third Brother!"

"Okay." Jiang Wang smiled brightly.

Both of them were experts in swordsmanship in the mundane world, and they understood the value of the Purple Qi Coming from the East sword technique. It was completely different from the martial arts techniques that circulated in the mundane world, and it was a superhuman sword scripture that could enter Dao through martial arts.

Those powerful sword cultivators were no less inferior to the experts in Dao arts.

Such a sword scripture could cause a bloodbath in the martial world. However, these two people were calmly learning and teaching it, making it seem unimportant.

...

When Jiang Wang returned to the Taoist temple, it was already late in the day.

Except for when he had classes, Zhao Rucheng generally did not stay in the Taoist temple. He was a complete playboy.

Thinking about the mysteries of the Purple Qi Coming from the East sword technique, Jiang Wang did not see Li Jianqiu standing with his sword until he reached the door of the inner courtyard dormitory.

"What are you thinking about so deeply?" Li Jianqiu smiled.

"Some problems with swordsmanship," Jiang Wang replied frankly and asked, "Why did Brother Li come here?"

"No wonder Brother Jiang's swordsmanship is amazing," Li Jianqiu praised him casually before saying, "Master Dong asked you to visit him tomorrow morning after class. I saw that you were not in the dormitory, so I waited for a while."

"Ah, I was at Rucheng's mansion all afternoon." Jiang Wang was a little embarrassed. "How dare I make Brother Li wait? You could have left a message for the attendant."

Inner disciples had dedicated servants who took care of their daily needs, including food and clothing, so that these Taoist disciples could concentrate on their cultivation.

"Since Master Dong asked me to notify you, I cannot delegate it to someone else. I am not a nobleman from a famous family who is too proud to even wait for someone." Li Jianqiu lowered his head slightly. "I'm sorry if I made Brother Jiang uneasy."He was indeed nervous. After all, Li Jianqiu was two grades higher than him and was one of the outstanding talents in that batch. It was a sure thing that he would go to Qinghe County Academy for further studies, and he was one of the most promising talents in the entire city academy.

And yet, such a person was waiting for him in front of the dormitory, without any impatience.

Li Jianqiu patted Jiang Wang's shoulder. "I think Junior Brother Jiang has an unlimited future. Don't be so restrained."

After speaking, he turned and left.

...

There was no conversation that night. The next day, after the morning class, Jiang Wang went to Dong A's residence.

Apart from Li Jianqiu, there were two other people in the small courtyard. One of them was also a senior brother named Zhang Linchuan. He came from one of the three major families in Fenglin City, the Zhang family, and was one of the strongest disciples in the city academy, with a notable reputation.

He wasn't particularly handsome, but he was tall and had his own style. His clothes were exquisite and neat.

At the moment, he was standing in the courtyard, listening to someone next to him.

The other person left in the courtyard was surprisingly Fang Heling.

When he saw Jiang Wang come in, he deliberately raised his voice. "Brother Zhang, the hunter from my village sent a pair of bear paws yesterday. Tomorrow, I will ask the chef from Wangyue Tower to prepare them properly. Let's taste them together."

Zhang Linchuan nodded with a smile.

Fang Heling turned his head and invited, "Brother Li, would you like to come too?"

Li Jianqiu didn't want to offend him and just smiled. "I'll go if I have time."

Before Fang Heling could continue flattering him, Li Jianqiu took a few steps towards the courtyard door. "Has Junior Brother Jiang arrived?"

He even greeted him specifically.

Jiang Wang hurriedly took a few steps and greeted, "Sorry, I'm late."

He walked up to Li Jianqiu and bowed to Zhang Linchuan. "Hello, Senior Brother Zhang."

But he ignored Fang Heling completely.

"Hello to you too." Zhang Linchuan smiled faintly and nodded, seemingly unaware of the undercurrents between Jiang Wang and Fang Heling.

But there are always people who want to stand out.

"Hmph." Fang Heling suddenly snorted and said in a strange tone, "Master Dong has given orders, and even Brother Zhang and Brother Li came early. I didn't even have time to attend morning class and rushed over. I wonder what kind of merit some people have to make Master Dong and the two senior brothers wait for him?"

Jiang Wang still ignored him and just bowed to Li Jianqiu and Zhang Linchuan. "I just finished the morning class and rushed over. I didn't neglect Master's order. It's just that there are morning classes and evening classes, chanting and meditation. The morning bell and evening drum must not be slackened."

Li Jianqiu patted Jiang Wang's shoulder again to show his closeness. "It's okay, we came early, not that you came late. The path of cultivation indeed cannot tolerate negligence. Although Brother Zhang and I don't have to go to the scripture hall to chant with Junior Brothers, we also did our morning practice in our rooms."

Fang Heling was even more annoyed, but with Li Jianqiu's statement, he didn't dare to stir up trouble again.

At this moment, there was a creak, and Dong A pushed the door out.

"Everyone is here?" He looked around with a commanding presence.

The four of them bowed in unison. "Master Dong!"Dong Abai waved his hand decisively and said, "I have called you here today to assign a task. You should all know about the incident where a demon attacked the outer courtyard and killed a disciple. The Criminal Investigation Department has been investigating for so long without any results. We don't have to wait for them to handle the matter for us. I'm assigning you to investigate this matter with the standard of an eighth-grade task."

Unlike outer courtyard tasks, inner courtyard tasks are classified by grade, usually determined by the strongest force encountered in the task. The reward unit is no longer contribution points, but Dao merit.

The difficulty is vastly different, and the rewards are naturally abundant. Take the Open Meridian Pill as an example. It requires a large amount of contribution points to exchange for it in the outer courtyard, but only one hundred Dao merit points are needed.

Of course, one hundred Dao merit points are not easy to obtain.

In this case, the strength of the demon shown was only within the ninth-grade range. Dong Abai classified it as eighth-grade, which was obviously encouraging.

"Jiang Wang and Fang Heling are the only two disciples whose Dao veins are externally manifested in this class. They need to be well trained. Linchuan and Jianqiu, you have been practicing for a longer time, so you can take the two disciples to investigate separately. The task reward is divided into nineteen parts, and whoever finds the answer first gets ninety percent."

Zhang Linchuan and Li Jianqiu both bowed, "We obey the order."

Dong Abai waved his sleeves and left, apparently not intending to get involved in the upcoming matter.

Zhang Linchuan obviously came prepared and said after a moment of contemplation, "I have a friend in the Criminal Investigation Department. There are two most useful clues in the demon attack incident this time. One is that the demon stayed at the Fulai Inn for three days before the attack, and there should be some clues left behind. The other is that a family in Tangshe Town was wiped out, and there was residual death energy at the scene, which is somewhat similar to the demon that attacked our outer courtyard. Li Junior Brother, which route do you choose?"

Li Jianqiu said, "This is Zhang Senior Brother's intelligence, so I will follow Zhang Senior Brother's arrangement."

Zhang Linchuan was not surprised. Li Jianqiu would not compete with him at this time if he had some brains. He only said these things to go through the motions. He nodded, "In that case, I will go to Tangshe Town, and Li Junior Brother will go to Fulai Inn."

Fang Heling, who was standing next to Zhang Linchuan, had bright eyes. "With Senior Brother Zhang's help, how can a mere demon escape?"

After speaking, she glanced at Jiang Wang with a sense of pride.

Everyone could see that Tangshe Town was more suitable for a demon to lurk, and the clues were clearer. In Fang Heling's view, he would take the lion's share of this first eighth-grade task.

At this time, Zhang Linchuan said to Li Jianqiu, "How about I take Jiang Wang with me?"

Li Jianqiu remained calm and said, "Sure."

In fact, the position of everyone had already tacitly agreed to split up. Jiang Wang was more familiar with Li Jianqiu, while Zhang Linchuan and Fang Heling were both from the three major families.

Although Jiang Wang didn't understand why Zhang Linchuan didn't choose Fang Heling, who was closer and more familiar in terms of family background, he didn't have the right to choose. He just politely said, "Then I'll trouble Senior Brother Zhang."Zhang Linchuan and Li Jianqiu were both experienced and quickly assigned tasks and prepared supplies that might be needed for the mission. Jiang Wang also willingly helped with the preparations.

Only Fang Heling stood there, his face alternating between pale and green.

He had a lot of opinions he wanted to express, but he couldn't say a word.