Three Gold Coins was not that much to the Azure Tide Clan, considering it was a middle-sized clan.

Hence, Lu Zheng was perplexed if the Azure Tide Clan really only had that much in the treasury.

However, considering that the treasury only treasured the most valuable things of the clan – the original copies of the internal and external techniques, records, member’s identity, legacy sword, and the Necklace of Inheritance – it was not difficult to assume that the three gold coins only served as pocket money in case something happened to the clan.

Lu Zheng was over the moon because of the three heavy gold coins in the leather pouch, hanging on his waist, on the opposite side of the scabbard.

When Lu Zheng searched for money from the external members, he did not bother collecting the copper coins since it would only add more weight to the leather pouch.

Furthermore, the leather pouch was only double the size of the fist.

Hence, he only stole silver coins, not hoping to see gold coins in any external members at all.

Out of the many external members he killed and stole their money, he only managed to take five silver coins.

He was not totally upset by the amount since five silver coins already equaled five hundred copper coins, which was not bad.

His value of money really changed after possessing three gold coins.

If other external members were to know he possessed five silver coins, they would puke blood from envy.

After all, five silver coins were a huge amount.

For external members who were provided by the clan with basic needs, if they worked for the clan, such as cleaning the bathroom or the internal members' residence, they would, at most, receive five copper coins per day.

Yet, in a single night, Lu Zheng has five silver coins.

It did not even include the staggering three gold coins.

Of course, they must acknowledge that Lu Zheng only got it through illegal means.

Lu Zheng was no imbecile to not recognize the amount of money he had, so he knew how to keep a secret about it.

With Jade Fang betraying him, it would be traumatizing to trust others, either.

He only trusted Ravyn due to the circumstances they were in.

Lu Zheng sheathed the sword after getting rid of the blood by swinging it in a fluid, swift motion.

He then went to search the headless body for any money.

He grabbed the leather pouch, and his eyes lit up when he saw two Qi Gathering Pills and three silver coins.

He was surprised by the three silver coins, but he was more astonished to see Qi Gathering Pills.

He quickly remembered the distribution of pills in his clan, as only the top ten external members would receive one Qi Gather Pill per month, while all the internal members received two Qi Gathering Pills per month.

Those top ten internal members received three Qi Gathering Pills, while the core members, who only consisted of five, received five Qi Gathering Pills per month.

Usually, core members were under the tutelage of the Clan Elders and would even receive teachings from the Clan Head.

Since they were valued by the clan, it would be natural that the clan would invest a lot from them, to prevent their potential from being wasted.

The treatment of the members was also the same for the internal members of the Scorching Blade Clan.

Since the person he killed before only possessed two QI Gathering Pills, he must not have belonged in the Top ten.

Who knows?

However, Lu Zheng was delighted to receive extra durability points from him, increasing his capability to withstand physical attack.

Whenever he remembered the sexual drive of the man seemed to be at the highest, it would make sense if he had the highest durability.

Lu Zheng did not hesitate to grab the Qi Gathering Pills, which were inside a single box.

Through the glass, he could see that the quality of the pills was only mid-grade, even though he was not a potion aspirant.

But, he was not disheartened, for it was within his expectations.

At the same time, he was a bit glad it was mid-grade, for it only has fewer side effects compared to low-grade pills.

After all, low-grade pills have mild impurities that may cause slight discomfort or slower absorption.

He would consume the pills later.

He had to take care of the remaining internal members, after all.

Even if he wanted to avoid having a direct confrontation with them, he could not afford to do so.

It was because the system finally provided him with a mission after he saw the internal members.

[Congratulations! You have initiated a mission!

Description: You have come across four Apprentice Rank Cultivators. Kill them all, and you will be rewarded with five extra points.

Note: You can ignore this mission if you want to.]

He felt it would be a waste to ignore the five extra points.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Fortunately, the internal members were completely drunk, saving him some energy to go all out with them.

He did not need to fight them directly either. Such a way of fighting was only suitable for those all brawn with no brain.

Since he had gotten rid of one internal member, he was left with three individuals to kill.

He did not even need to waste much energy in killing the first internal members, so he wanted to do the same with others.

Now, he was planning to wait for others to leave their guard down.

After he stored the pills and money in his leather pouch, he stood up and slowly made his way toward the other internal members.

He found a perfect place to hide while waiting for them to expose themselves.

He crouched behind the broken part of the wall, providing him a better vision of the remaining internal members.

At this moment, their guffawing and chatting cooled down, for their energy obviously had been depleted.

When he saw it, Lu Zheng grinned.

“Let’s kill them, shall we?”

***

“Where’s Lei Fang? What took him so long? *Hiccup*” The two huge upper teeth internal members asked out of the blue.

However, one of the internal members passed out while the average face internal members replied with drunken movement.

“You know him. *Hiccup!* He must be fantasizing about Yang Wei again. You want to help him?” He guffawed.

The two huge upper teeth creased his eyebrows, feeling annoyed by the average face’s jokes.

He went quiet as he wondered about Lei Fang, who spent five minutes peeing, appearing to suddenly vanish into thin air.

However, whenever he thought of how lecher Lei Fang was, his worries subsided.

Nevertheless, as seconds passed, he could feel something was wrong.

He could never ignore the uncomfortable feeling slowly consuming him.

His knees moved intensively, giving way of how anxious he felt.

Suddenly, he could not take it anymore and stood up.

He swept his eyes to the fellow internal members and one of them completely passed out, while the average face was closing and opening his eyes, fighting the urge to sleep.

Since he could not ask them for any help, he decided to look for Lei Fang by himself.

Nevertheless, he was instantly worried about leaving them behind, so he walked to the average face forward and grabbed the average face’s shoulder and tried to wake him up.

“WHAT?” The average face shouted in exasperation.

He calmly replied, sober enough to prevent being easily angered, “Don’t sleep. I have to check Lei Fang first. Take care of yourself.”

He received glare, hearing the average face saying, “Who can still kill us? Have you grown stupid just by drinking five cups?”

He was enraged, being called stupid.

However, the huge upper teeth internal members knew how to hold back himself, knowing that it was only an insult, not something he should treat it as a big deal.

He replied, “Alright. Take care. I’ll check Lei Fang.”

“Go ahead, scaredy-cat.” The average face snorted.

He could only cluck his tongue in annoyance as he slowly left them, disappearing soon in the shadows.

Seconds passed and another individual materialized from the shadow.

His appearance was completely shown by the moonlight, highlighting his shabby clothes, leather pouch, an unordinary necklace on his neck, and a scabbard that seemed to be too expensive for his status.

He slowly walked to the remaining two internal members, at the back of the average face, as his oceanic eyes flashed with coldness.

He did not bother hiding his footsteps, making it loud enough for the average face internal member to hear it.

“Have you come back already?” He asked, not bothering to look behind him, as he continued to hear the footsteps nearing him.

A second passed and heard no reply but the noise of the footsteps, causing him to frown.

At the same time, his expression loosened when he recalled insulting his fellow internal members.

He said, “Alright. I’m sorry for calling you stupid, okay? I thought Kong Feng was still awake. I just want us to laugh to ease your worries. There’s no way something happens to Lei Fang? Who in this city can still kill us?”

The moment he finished his statement, the footsteps also halted.

He could barely remember the noise of the footsteps as he was talking but he realized it stopped near his back.

His hair stood on ends, hearing no response but a quiet surroundings.

He suddenly stood up and faced what was behind his back if it was not his fellow internal members, and what he saw was a chilling oceanic eyes, raising an azure sword, aiming to split his throat.

“Who-”

“You talked a lot of bullshit.”

Slash!

A severed limb flew upward, spurting blood in mid-air.

His expression turned horrified, watching his right arm, aiming to block the sword as he leaped backward, soared in the air, disconnecting from his body.

His mind turned blank, trying to understand what was happening.

If he did not leapt his neck on time, it would have been completely severed.

He only received a lacerated wound on his neck, but even then, it caused the blood to burst out.

He would still die from the blood loss.

He was still in the confused state, when suddenly the searing pain jolted him awake.

It was so painful that it made him shriek in pain.

However, before he could even produce a noise, his mouth was pierced by a sharp sword.

“Serenity Strike.” He heard a teen voice, echoing in front of him.

He lowered his eyes and saw a person below his age, probably sixteen, staring at him with a frigid expression, as though killing him was as easy as stepping on an ant.

His chilling ocean eyes made his body tremble in terror.

He could not fathom how it happened, for he was sure no one in the Ebonshade City dared to kill him, who represented the only middle-sized Clan, after killing the Azure Tide Clan.

His confidence was now shattered when he realized that death would always appear no matter how safe he felt.

When he realized he had gotten careless, he recalled his fellow internal members, warning him in danger.

He thought he was stupid, but it appeared it was the other way around.

Now, he was the only person who could save him, but he disappeared and went to check Lei Fang.

That was then, he realized that even Lei Fang must have been the first victim of the person in front of him.

Such realization terrified him, feeling no hope to fight against the person in front of him.

He tried to identify him, but the oceanic-eyed young man pulled the sword from his opened mouth as he attacked.

At this moment, he was completely paralyzed, leaving no room for him to defend or dodge his attack at all.

He helplessly saw him performing a simple movement, slashing horizontally, with a stance that seemed to be as calm as the ocean.

He knew death had arrived.

There was no escape.

Slash!

The last thing he saw was a beautiful moon appearing in his vision before he lost consciousness and died.

***

[Congratulations! You have successfully killed an Apprentice Rank Cultivator!

You have obtained 1 agility point!]

Hearing from the system that he received an agility point, Lu Zheng was not surprised.

After all, the man in front of him, seemingly taller than him, managed to react to his swift attack on time, completely denying the possibility of severing his head.

He was momentarily surprised, but acknowledging that he was an Apprentice Rank, he felt it made sense.

Furthermore, if it was not because he was completely drunk and took him by surprise, he might have a long duration of duel against him.

Of course, it was a situation that Lu Zheng patiently waited for.

After all, it was satisfying to kill the enemy by surprise, at the situation that they did not expect the least to die.

Whenever Lu Zheng thought about it, he grinned.