Inside the inn room.

After returning from the Liu Mansion, Chu Qing changed out of his Night Clothes and washed his hands.

He sat cross-legged on the bed.

With a thought, he opened the system interface.

[An unopened Martial Arts Treasure Chest detected. Would you like to open it?]

Chu Qing looked at the prompt, feeling a bit complicated.

Primarily because this mission was completed too quickly... Even during the time of the Iron Horse Seven Thieves, it involved traveling to several places before the task was completed.

But this time, after hearing Shen Hongye’s story, he immediately locked on to the target and completed the mission.

Chu Qing let out a slow breath:

"Open!"

[Successfully opened. Acquired Claw Skill: Dragon Claw Hand!]

"Dragon Claw Hand? Not bad!"

Chu Qing tilted his head slightly, feeling it was quite satisfactory.

Although Guo Wang wasn’t a particularly powerful expert, acquiring one of the Seventy-Two Techniques, Dragon Claw Hand, was already quite lucky.

Moreover, this martial art was exceptionally remarkable, far from an ordinary skill.

With a thought, an unusual sensation arose in his body, especially noticeable in his ten fingers and palms.

At the same time, the techniques and Qi Circulation Techniques were all infused into his mind.

Chu Qing closed his eyes to receive them. Moments later, he opened his eyes and leapt up from the bed. With one hand raised and five fingers like a dragon’s claw, he performed the skill in the room.

Although the room was not large, the Dragon Claw Hand was essentially a grappling and striking art, effective even in confined spaces.

There are a total of thirty-six forms in the complete martial art, focusing not on complexity but on ferocity and swiftness.

After completing a full set of Dragon Claw Hand, Chu Qing stood still and was quite pleased in his heart:

"This martial art is fierce and aggressive. Once it grips, it results in death or injury. Truly an exceptional Secret Technique!"

Having given his assessment, he lay back on the bed.

Earlier, he had asked Liu Yulai to do three things.

The first was to have Liu Yulai investigate the background of the Zhou Mansion for him.

Since the Contact Person of Mirror of Sin was hiding in the Zhou Mansion, it couldn’t be treated as ordinary.

Chu Qing could investigate himself, but since he knew he could trust Liu Yulai, there was no need to do everything personally.

The second thing was to have Liu Yulai recruit Shen Hongye into Iron Blood Hall.

This girl, much like Zhou Yi at the time, had lost all hope in the world.

If Chu Qing didn’t help her, a girl in such a state, having lost the will to live, wouldn’t have much to look forward to.

However, Chu Qing didn’t have the time to look after children... so for now, she would be fostered in Iron Blood Hall until he could teach her some martial arts later.

If she succeeds in the future, she might even become a valuable ally.

If not... it would at least provide her with a place to live and settle down.

The last thing was more of a transaction than an instruction.

Chu Qing and Liu Yulai agreed that someone from Mirror of Sin would come to assassinate him again, and in return for Chu Qing taking out those assassins, Liu would pay him Patterned Silver Thousand Taels as a reward.

Liu Yulai agreed.

What puzzled Chu Qing was that the prompt for triggering this commission was strange.

Only half appeared.

[Trigger Commission: ???]

[Accept?]

How could Chu Qing accept something like this... not knowing what it was about, how could he accept it?

Though he wasn’t sure what was wrong with the system, he still needed to do what must be done.

Chu Qing had Liu Yulai prepare a courtyard for him, where he would bring someone disguised as his subordinate the next day.

This way, he could better handle the Mirror of Sin.

As for those Jianghu People recruited by Liu Yulai... Chu Qing did ask about them.

Liu Yulai’s thoughts were quite straightforward.

He knew well that recruiting Jianghu People like this posed significant risks.

However, given the current situation, with the Iron Blood Hall facing tough times and manpower short, he had no choice.

This move was out of necessity...

He would naturally keep his guard up against them; if any had ulterior motives, their power would be borrowed temporarily, and plans would be made once Dingxing City was safe.

If they were sincere in their intent, merits would be rewarded accordingly afterward.

Chu Qing thought for a moment and understood Liu Yulai’s dilemma.

Among Lu Zhiwei’s three subordinates, there was a traitor.

Whether Jiang Chunhua accepted Liu Yulai was uncertain... Though it seemed like the three worked together, in reality, Liu Yulai was the one striving hard; the benefits were significant, but so was the pressure.

In such situations, unusual methods were necessary.

Therefore, Chu Qing merely reminded Liu Yulai with a few words and did not dwell on it.

He then asked about why the Blazing Hall suddenly acted out.

However, Liu Yulai was equally puzzled about this.

He explained that for a long time, Blazing Hall and Iron Blood Hall had coexisted peacefully. Though there had been minor frictions, they never escalated.

Especially since Iron Blood Hall was so powerful that if a real fight broke out, Blazing Hall, although one of the Three Halls, would have no advantage.

In fact, it could even result in Blazing Hall being annexed by Iron Blood Hall.

This rivalry was indeed baseless.

Chu Qing recalled when the Valley of Myriad Nights suddenly targeted Celestial Dance City, which also seemed baseless from Celestial Dance City’s perspective.

He felt there was some hidden secret behind it all.

However, it must be different from the Valley of Myriad Nights’ attack on Celestial Dance City.

After all, Blazing Hall hadn’t lost any inherited Secret Techniques...

Curious, Chu Qing casually asked a couple of questions about these matters. Without getting an answer, he didn’t pursue it further.

Now feeling drowsy, he closed his eyes and slept until dawn.

The next morning, after breakfast, Chu Qing took Gentle to the Liu Mansion.

He had informed them beforehand, so when he reported ’Han San and Han Si’s names, the Iron Blood Hall disciples guarding the Liu Mansion led them inside.