The Eternal Heart

In midair.

The Wind Song Dagger Chen Yu held in his hands vigorously slashed down before he landed on the ground.

Plop, chi!

A person's arm followed in falling onto the ground soon after.

Tong Yuling's back was planted against a huge tree. Her small lips were slightly parted as a startled look rippled across her beautiful face.

The young man in the horizon was just like a callous God of Judgement. He descended from the sky and hacked off the Bald Bloody Hand's arm in a single slash.

"Ah!"

The Bald Bloody Hand let out a blood-curdling screech as he discovered a cruel reality.

He was deathly pale as he looked at his fallen arm in a state of fright and alarm.

"T-treasured weapon!"

The Bald Bloody Hand was choked up as he stared at the Wind Song Dagger in his hand.

Other than his unusual Inner Breath, his [Bloody Hand Technique] was equipped with a certain resistive efficacy. When he activated a pair of Bloody Hands, he could resist swords of the same rank.

Only a treasured weapon could hack his arm off so effortlessly.

At the same time, his heart went cold when he saw the corpses of his four subordinates scattered near the courtyard in the distance from the corner of his eyes.

This was what Chen Yu could do when he had his back turned a few times?

That young man actually exterminated his four subordinates continuously in a single breath and even crippled him with a single dagger like a celestial being descending on Earth.

"Even if this boy doesn't have a treasured weapon, his strength is not inferior to mine. The speed of his martial arts form is even above mine..."

The Bald Bloody Hand's heart sank to the valley floor.

The most terrifying thing was still Chen Yu's superiority in the speed of his martial arts form.

This meant that it was impossible for him to be able to run away, much less under the situation of losing an arm.

Run!

Nevertheless, the Bald Bloody Hand still chose to flee for his life. If he stubbornly chose to stake it all, his death would only be more tragic!

Whoosh!

Chen Yu's movements and footwork were closely associated with each other. In the time it took to breathe, he cut off the Bald Bloody Hand's way out.

This level of speed made the Bald Bloody Hand despair.

"Plop!"

The Bald Bloody Hand kneeled on the ground. "Young hero, spare my life! I have a few precious materials and treasured objects of the spiritual kind on me. I'll offer them all up to you!"

Chen Yu was stunned from such a scene lacking unyielding character.

Precious materials and treasured objects?

Chen Yu really was a little tempted in this aspect.

He had already used up the "Body Tempering Prescription" he gathered last time and was currently so poor that the sound of coins clanking could be heard.

"Yin Penetrative Bloody Hand!"

The Bald Bloody Head kneeling on the ground suddenly exploded as a surge of heatwave emerged from a dark red Bloody Hand, stabbing at Chen Yu's privates immediately.

Under such a close distance, the pinnacle of his speed erupted in this attack where he jumped with both legs from a squatting position.

"Careful!"

Tong Yuling cried out in alarm. The Bald Bloody Hand could still use such a vicious and dirty trick in desperate straits.

A hint of a sneer hung on the corner of Chen Yu's lips.

Bronze Leg!

He didn't dodge, but rather, he circulated his [Bronze Statue Technique] and lifted one of his legs that were now as heavy as bronze.

"Bang, Tong!"

It was as if the Bald Bloody Hand's attack struck a bronze wall as the sinister smile on his face froze up all of a sudden.

There was a painful heat coming from his entire claw while he felt a tremendous force surging over.

"Lie down!"

Once Chen Yu applied some force beneath his leg, he immediately stomped the Bald Bloody Hand to the ground.

Wah!

The Bald Bloody Hand spat out a mouthful of blood. All he felt was what resembled to be a bronze statue that was 500 kilograms stomping on his body.

Regardless of how he struggled, he couldn't move in the slightest.

After the [Bronze Statue Technique] ascended to the Bronze Muscle level, Chen Yu's strength increased substantially, making it difficult for those at the Connective Meridian stage to confront him.

"Younger Martial Brother Chen, let me kill this thief."

Tong Yuling had a look of resentment on her face.

Once her words fell, she flashed over and fished out a dagger as she cut the Bald Bloody Hand's head off with her own hands.

On the other hand, Chen Yu was deep in thought as he stood where he was.

His [Towering Cloud Step] had broken through to perfection just now, which could be considered to be an unexpected joy to him.

The only thing was that in the instant he pounced at the Bald Bloody Hand, a mysterious and vigorous energy sprung up in his heart as the speed that erupted from him was already beyond the level of perfection for the [Towering Cloud Step].

He couldn't understand this point.

...

After beheading the Bald Bloody Hand, the duo didn't leave immediately.

In many cases, these type of assassination targets had considerable worth. Sometimes, the spoils of war from the assassination target themselves might be even greater than the bounty.

In a short time, the duo found a rare [Bloody Hand Technique] book, two bottles of pill medicine, and a few dozen Substandard Metastones on the Bald Bloody Hand's person.

"The extermination of the bandits was all thanks to Younger Martial Brother Chen's efforts this time. Yuling even owes you her life. Other than one item belonging to my clan, I'll give all the remaining spoils of war to Younger Martial Brother Chen," Tong Yuling said.

Chen Yu didn't disagree with her. The deadline for the Great Outer Sect Tournament was getting closer and closer, taking all of the spoils of war from the Bald Bloody Hand away.

That [Bloody Hand Technique] should be a mid-ranked martial arts skill. If Yunyue Sect's Heavenly Martial Pavilion didn't accept it, he could exchange it for a few Contribution Points.

Soon after, they searched the Four Blood Children and only found ten to twenty Substandard Metastones on the bloody robed woman's person while the remaining only had commonplace objects.

"This little reward doesn't seem to tally with the military glory of the Bald Bloody Hand."

Chen Yu was a little disappointed.

The duo entered the courtyard where the Bald Bloody Hand had made their lodging.

Soon, they found a Blood Lingzhi Mushroom with impressive maturity on a fertile piece of soil.

"I heard that the Bald Bloody Hand exterminated a small declining clan and once obtained a few spirit materials. One of them is an 80-year Bloody Lingzhi Mushroom."

Tong Yuling's eyes shone.

Of course, based on the previous agreement, this Blood Lingzhi Mushroom belonged to Chen Yu as well.

Even though she was very tempted by this object, she didn't feel regretful. If Chen Yu hadn't been around, she didn't even know what the outcome would be like for her right now.

They searched the house for a while.

During a certain moment in time, Tong Yuling found that one side of the wall sounded weird when she reached out and knocked it.

Crack!

The sound of a mechanism echoed when a picture frame on the wall was pressed.

Soon, a movable door opened where the picture frame was at.

A secret room appeared before the two of them.

"Heh, this Bald Bloody Hand actually has a secret stash," Chen Yu clicked his tongue in a slight surprise.

There were a few Night Pearls in the secret room illuminating the dark.

The duo discovered more than 200 Substandard Metastones in the secret room, as well as a few rare books.

Other than that, there were a few precious materials and strange objects.

An odd stalagmite that was blood red in color and luster, a beast claw the size of a cattail-leaf fan, as well as two scales the size of an adult's palm.

"Found it."

Tong Yuling grabbed that bloody red stalagmite with a cheerful look on her face.

It may be assumed that this should be the item that belonged to her clan.

Regardless of whether it was or not, Chen Yu wouldn't take it to heart. He came over this time to provide proper assistance, yet he now obtained the remaining numerous spoils of war and that was already an unexpected delight to him.

"Congratulations, Younger Martial Brother Chen, that beast claw and scales ought to come from vicious beasts at the Visceral Tempering stage. The value of any one of them doesn't lose to the Barbaric Cow Marrow," Tong Yuling said with a smile.

It was already a great fortune to her that she obtained that Blood Stalagmite as she had completed her objective.

"This harvest really is pretty good. It's no wonder why the Murder List attracts so many people."

Chen Yu was beaming with joy.

He tidied the goods he got in a matter of minutes.

Rare martial arts technique books. He had obtained six in total with the [Bloody Hand Technique] as the main reward. After he handed it over to the sect, he should be able to exchange them for a few Contribution Points.

The precious materials he got were Bloody Lingzhi Mushroom, a beast claw and two scales. These were definitely fine items that were priceless.

Substandard Metastones amounting to 270 pieces.

Other than that, there were a few pill medicines that were commonly used Healing Pills and a Qi Revolving Pill which he could use.

These harvests might soon exceed the bounty coming from the Murder List.

After putting his harvests in order, the duo got up and left the villa.

"If we're returning to the sect, we can go through my clan on the way. If Younger Martial Brother Chen still needs the Barbaric Cow Marrow, you can trade the few other precious materials you obtained with my clan."

After this campaign, she saw Chen Yu in a different light.

She originally thought that Chen Yu had the strength of the outer sect's top ten at the most. But after watching his performance during this campaign, a conservative estimate was that Chen Yu could enter the top five at the very least. It wouldn't even be a problem for him to enter the top three.

"Barbaric Cow Marrow? That actually works out well."

Chen Yu was delighted in his mind.

He was currently pondering how to sell off the resources in his hands and the value of the Barbaric Cow Marrow was the highest in the Body Tempering Prescription. It was also the most difficult to obtain among the ingredients needed.

Two days later, Chen Yu accompanied Tong Yuling and reached Fengyang City, where her clan was at.

The Tong Clan Tong Yuling was at was one of the two influential clans in Fengyang City.

In terms of the strength of her clan, the Tong Clan surpassed Chen Yu's clan.

Tong Yuling received unanimous praises and admiration from the higher-ups in the Tong Clan when she returned with the Bald Bloody Hand's head.

Seeing how Tong Yuling was fully experiencing the praises of the clan, Chen Yu recalled how he was treated in his clan, not having a good feeling in his heart.

In terms of menace, Honghu's Three Fiends was very likely to be half a chip superior to the Bald Bloody Hand's posse. But for some reason, Chen Yu created a rift between himself and the clan from killing the Three Fiends instead.

That night, through Tong Yuling's connections, Chen Yu traded that beast claw and two scales to the Tong Clan.

The beast claw and scales at the Visceral Tempering stage naturally had considerable value and extremely vast uses, for example, to decoct medicinal herbs to nourish one's body, refining pill medicines, as well as making divine weapons and protective gear.

Chen Yu obtained four bottles of Barbaric Cow Marrow from the Tong Clan.

Both parties were naturally delighted and satisfied.

Chen Yu still had a Blood Lingzhi Mushroom left in his hands which the people in the Tong Clan were extremely tempted to trade with, but Chen Yu didn't hand it over.

The value of that Bloody Lingzhi Mushroom was extremely high, regardless if it was being ingested or used to refine medicine given that it was an 80-year worldly treasure.

Even if a martial artist at the Visceral Tempering stage took this lingzhi mushroom, their power could expand by a small amount as well.

The duo didn't stay in the Tong Clan for long as they set off very soon.

Three days later, in a side hall within the Sect Affairs Hall in Yunyue Sect.

"The Heavenly Martial Pavilion can accept three out of these few rare books. As a premium mid-ranked martial arts skill, the [Bloody Hand Technique] can be exchanged for 1,000 Contribution Points. The other two... Hmm. Three of them can be exchanged for a total of 2,000 Contribution Points."

An old man with a grizzled beard put the rare book away properly.

2,000 Contribution Points?

Chen Yu was extremely pleased with this reward.

He could easily gather the remaining supplementary spirit materials in very adequate quantities for the Body Tempering prescription with the 2,000 Contribution Points he would obtain, in addition to some of the Metastones he had on him.

Tong Yuling also completed the Bald Bloody Hand's assassination mission and obtained a reward of a few thousand Contribution Points, including a few Metastones.

To sum it out, it could be regarded that the duo had returned from a rewarding journey in their excursion this time with rich fruits of battle.

After they returned to the sect, Chen Yu and Tong Yuling found out a serious piece of news.

"The 'Great Outer Sect Tournament' is about to begin a month later. Everyone in the top ten will be rewarded. The champion will be rewarded with '30,000 Contribution Points, a treasured weapon, one Profound Qi Pill, and can even enter the third level of the Heavenly Martial Pavilion to choose a saint-ranked martial arts skill."

The news of the Great Tournament engulfed the entire outer sect.

A treasured weapon, a Profound Qi Pill, and a saint-ranked martial arts skill.

When Chen Yu heard these words, his heart pounded rapidly.

Not much needed to be said about the treasured weapon and the 30,000 Contribution Points. The former had formidable power whereas the latter had its uses in the sect. Everyone was clear about that and urgently needed them as well.

"Profound Qi Pill? Even those at the Visceral Tempering stage would be tempted by it. It's a spirit pill that can be used in preparation to break through to the Qi Transformation stage..."

Tong Yuling was incomparably amazed.

As for the saint-ranked martial arts skill, it transcended a peak-ranked martial arts skill. It was an extraordinary martial arts technique that could genuinely be established in the sect world and could be cultivated to the Qi Transformation stage, which was an even higher level.

The reward for getting first place was really tempting, enough to make inner sect disciples green with envy.