[Commission: Unknown on the List! (Eliminate all Evil Extermination List guests!)]

[Current Phase: One.]

[Current Progress: Three (Completed)]

[Task Reward: Select one from the available Martial Arts Treasure Chests.]

[Phase Reward: One random clue treasure chest.]

[Full Phase Reward: One self-selected category Martial Arts Treasure Chest.]

[Currently available treasure chests: Sword Treasure Chest, Staff Treasure Chest, Spear Treasure Chest.]

The closed-off place was chosen quite randomly, just on a rooftop two streets away from Zhou Mansion.

From here, one could overlook the entire Zhou Mansion.

The reason for choosing such a casual place for ’retreat’ was mainly because the reward this time was quite arbitrary.

Apart from the Separation Sword providing a Sword Treasure Chest, where did the remaining Staff and Spear Treasure Chests come from?

The remaining two people, one obviously good at killing with Silver Needles, the other skilled in Palm Technique.

What do they have to do with Staff Technique or Spear Technique?

Chu Qing didn’t understand and felt he had no suitable choices.

Anyway, without Inner Power, receiving the reward anywhere was the same.

He asked Gentle to keep watch for him, while she sat on the roof edge, arms crossed, looking at the distant Zhou Mansion.

Chu Qing summoned the system and made his choice.

"Sword Treasure Chest!"

Until now, Chu Qing only had Ah Fei’s Swift Sword as his Sword Technique.

It was time to enrich his skills.

[One unopened Sword Treasure Chest. Open it?]

"Open it!"

[Opened successfully. Obtained Sword Technique: Tai Chi Swordsmanship!]

Chu Qing was inexplicably stunned.

It’s not that Tai Chi Swordsmanship is bad, it’s just unexpected.

So far, he had only acquired two sword techniques: Ah Fei’s Swift Sword, famous for its unparalleled speed, and now Tai Chi Swordsmanship.

This Sword Technique has nothing to do with ’fast’; they are completely two extremes.

With this thought, the sword techniques’ mysteries had been fully passed into his heart.

He closed his eyes, feeling the details.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and gently exhaled.

Gentle looked back at him:

"Finished retreating?"

"...Yes."

Chu Qing nodded.

"That was quick."

Gentle smiled.

"..."

Chu Qing had the uncanny feeling that Gentle was mocking him...

And the mockery was quite discourteous.

He shook his head, no longer thinking about trivial matters, and started organizing this sword technique in his mind.

Tai Chi Swordsmanship and Ah Fei’s Swift Sword are different.

Ah Fei’s Swift Sword takes the word ’fast’ to the extreme.

Tai Chi Swordsmanship emphasizes ’spirit leading the sword, continuous and unbroken’, prioritizing meaning over form; prioritizing form would lead to mediocrity.

If Ah Fei’s Swift Sword represents the extreme of ’form’ speed, then Tai Chi Swordsmanship showcases the subtlety of ’meaning’ exquisitely.

Feeling the uniqueness of this sword technique, Chu Qing suddenly had the desire to achieve ’form and spirit unity’ between Tai Chi Swordsmanship and Ah Fei’s Swift Sword.

However, this thought barely sprouted before Chu Qing dismissed it.

Given his current foundation, achieving this was simply wishful thinking.

If he pursued it unattainably, he might end up confused and lost, possibly leading to a mental breakdown.

So he temporarily suppressed this thought, remembering there’s another reward to claim, and reopened the system interface.

Sure enough, a prompt appeared.

[One unopened clue treasure chest. Open it?]

"Open."

[Opened successfully. Obtained clue: Ghost God Gorge!]

"Just this?"

Chu Qing stroked his chin; Ghost God Gorge is a large canyon, marking the boundary between Blazing Hall and Iron Blood Hall.

Nowadays, both sides seemed to be clashing in Ghost God Gorge... In other words, masters on the Evil Extermination List might appear there?

Slightly contemplating, he looked up at Zhou Mansion and opened his mouth softly:

"Zhou Mansion is in chaos."

Gentle nodded, her ears twitching, and said:

"The shouting and killing outside seem to have quieted down."

Chu Qing pondered slightly and spoke softly:

"Can you do me a favor? Go find Liu Yu and have him lead people to storm Zhou Mansion and search."

Gentle didn’t ask for a reason, just nodded:

"Alright."

Watching Gentle fly away, Chu Qing sat here waiting patiently.

After a while, Gentle returned, and soon Liu Yulai, full of murderous intent, led a group entering Zhou Mansion, starting a massive search.

Stirring up Zhou Mansion into a complete mess.

The entire process took a full two hours before Liu Yulai brought people back.

By now, Chu Qing was waiting in Liu Mansion’s study.

Upon meeting Chu Qing, Liu Yulai briefly recounted the situation.

There wasn’t much to say about those four gangs in broad daylight; without Guo Wang collaborating internally and externally, they were a disorganized mob, easily manipulated.

Liu Yulai, with slight strategy, first struck them apart, resulting in some fleeing, some captured, some killed... a decisive victory in this battle.

Those four gang leaders cursed Guo Wang as they died, calling him a deceitful scoundrel for betraying them after promising collaboration.

And searching Zhou Mansion turned up some correspondence.

Liu Yulai handed these letters to Chu Qing, who glanced at them and discarded them:

"Merely distractions; Mirror of Sin wouldn’t leave such easy clues for tracking."

"Then... Han brother asked me to investigate Zhou Mansion because?"

Liu Yulai looked at Chu Qing in front of him, cautiously inquiring.

This caution was genuine now... The initial respectful attitude was partly because Chu Qing saved his life, and partly due to his close relationship with the young lady.

But seeing Chu Qing killing Separation Sword as easy as slaughtering a chicken.