The shark was quickly dispatched after Yin Long punctured one of its lungs, its wound-ridden body staining the earth with blood as it lay there. Yin Long spat out a pleased breath with a small smile and put away his sword while giving his arms a good stretch, using sword-shapes he wasn't familiar with strained muscles that he hadn't trained too much so his arms were a touch sore and weary. He picked up the shark by the tail and flexed his muscles, the wounds on his back spurting forth a gush of blood as he threw the corpse at the large golden cat lazily waiting at the side.
"Here you go, Jin Wang, it ought to make for a decent snack right now."
The shark was nearly four meters long, almost four times as long as Jin Wang, but that didn't stop it from vanishing into Jin Wang's stomach within a few seconds. Jin Wang licked his maw contently and then sauntered over to Yin Long's side in a lazy manner. His body hadn't even expanded in the slightest despite eating such a large beast, and Yin Long was well aware that such a large corpse was just what he said, no more than a decent snack for the small Jin Wang.
The two walked over to Lan Yun and the Deshi clan group, one looking at Yin Long with a somewhat wistful and pondering expression while the others looked at him with undisguised awe. The brown-haired and green-eyed Deshi Jiu stepped forward and gave Yin Long's back, the unwounded side, a heavy slap while raising his thumb.
"Hot damn, that was awesome! Tell me, aren't you a little scary, asking me to teach you how to use a rapier when you're already plenty strong? But that's just good, just good, the stronger you get the better our clan's position will end up being, we might even stand a chance in the Three-fold Territory Clash. Fuck, we might even find a place in one of the future Province Championships if we wait a decade or so for you! But for now, you should take this, can't let those wounds get infected just because you wanted to look cool."
Deshi Jiu moved his hand into a pouch hanging at his waist and pulled out an apple-sized waterskin, opening it to reveal that it was filled with a slightly viscous orange liquid. He poured the liquid on Yin Long's wound, the liquid hardening almost instantly and stopping the bleeding. A faint stream of energy flowed into his body from the liquid, speeding up the natural healing process of his body.
Yin Long thanked Deshi Jiu for the medicine, Deshi Jiu waving his hand in a nonchalant manner and ordering the group to start travelling again. They were only half a day's march away from Bloodgrass Village and Yin Long was slightly wounded, not willing to use the Netherworld Energy in front of the Deshi clan group, so he and Deshi Jiu stopped training with the rapier.
Lan Yun made her way to his side and the two started talking about his performance with the greatsword. Lan Yun helped point out a few flaws he still had, bad habits that still lingered in his mind due to his normal weapon, and gave him a few tips on what he could do to make those bad habits act in his favour.
While they were walking and talking, Yin Long was also thinking about the competitions Deshi Jiu had mentioned. The Three-fold Territory Clash was simply that, a competition between the three territories that the Sunsong Province was split into. Each clan or strong organization within the three territories would send out a group of their strongest fighters to compete, the winner acquiring unimaginable wealth.
Once the clash was over, the strongest people from the various groups would be put together into a single group and sent off to the Province Championship, a grand competition where each province sent out their strongest team to compete for supremacy. Due to the nature of Yin Long's previous occupation, he hadn't given any thought to these competitions as they had nothing to do with him.
But now that he could be considered free, there was nothing stopping him from trying to take part in the competitions, there was no telling how many strong swordsmen he could encounter and learn from while taking part in the competitions. Of course, as his plan was to leave the Sunsong Province, he would be fighting in the Three-fold Territory clash of a different province so he didn't really have to worry about being discovered.
And if he reached the Province Championship he would be so strong that he wouldn't need to care about the Lang clan discovering him anymore, the clansmen who previously cursed him would thank the graves of their ancestors that Yin Long had been born into the Lang clan. Yin Long didn't have any grand goals or ambitions right now, he just wanted to sharpen his sword as much as he could, only when it was peerless and unmatched would he be pleased with it. As such it was quite fitting for him to take these competitions as a temporary goal, by the time they were done he would also probably have found a more proper ambition for himself.
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The group didn't encounter any more strong Demonic beasts on the last stretch of savannah that separated them from Bloodgrass Village, and any weak beast they encountered was swiftly killed and eaten by Jin Wang. The group easily entered Bloodgrass Village, which was shaped like a large circle split into four different sections where the various types of Bloodgrass were being grown.
The buildings in the village were rather similar to the buildings in Wolfsoul city, square and sturdy while focusing on practicality and being easy to rebuild. Deshi Jiu had the three other clansmen following him escort the 10 villagers to their respective sections, waving at Yin Long and Lan Yun with a somewhat crafty smile.
"We've gotta stay here for at least a month or two longer to keep an eye on things but I imagine that you guys want to return to the city straight away. Come, I'll take you to the transmission station, just gotta make a quick detour first, don't tell anyone."
Deshi Jiu placed a finger in front of his mouth in a shushing motion while speaking, quickly leading Yin Long and Lan Yun to the seven-storied square pagoda that served as the main building of the Deshi clan within this village. He didn't enter through the main entrance, which had two guards keeping tabs on those who entered or left, he went around to the back and pulled on one of the yellow flowers that grew behind the pagoda.
A section of the earth actually rose up to reveal that a trapdoor had been installed right there, it was probably meant to serve as an emergency exit or a hidden entrance for shadier business. Deshi Jiu motioned for them to remain outside while he himself entered the trapdoor and closed it behind him, Yin Long and Lan Yun quietly entering a state of heightened vigilance while preparing themselves to flee should there be a need.
But the trapdoor opened again after only a short two minutes, Deshi Jiu sneaking out while carrying a leather pouch that clinked slightly as it moved. He opened the bag and revealed that three jade slips had been stuffed into it, handing the entire bag to Yin Long while once again making a shushing motion with his finger.
"This can be considered me getting into your good graces before you rise to prominence, just don't forget about little old me when you're big and fancy. These three jade slips are weapon manuals belonging to Elder Chau's faction, we aren't supposed to hand them to the other factions so don't show them to anyone. One is for the rapier, the second is for greatswords, and the third one is for a more peculiar type of sword that acts as a whip, you might learn something while studying them."
Yin Long couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he accepted the pouch, sinking his mind into the jade slips and discovering that they were exactly what Deshi Jiu had described them as. This could be considered one of the last things he had expected to happen while he made his way through the Deshi clan's territory but he wasn't about to reject it, he should indeed be able to learn quite a bit from studying them. He fastened the pouch to his waistband and cupped his hands in thanks, Deshi Jiu dismissively waving his hand while closing the trapdoor again.
Having handed over the gift that should make Yin Long remember him, Deshi Jiu stopped tarrying and led the two over to the closest transmission station, which was located a short two hour walk away. Yin Long and Lan Yun stepped onto the spatial array that led to the city of the Deshi clan, Crownguard city, bidding Deshi Jiu farewell as the white light of the array surrounded them.
The light vanished after a short moment and the scenery around the two had changed, gone were the square houses of Bloodgrass Village, larger and more diversely shaped buildings replacing them. Crownguard city was different from Wolfsoul city, there were no Demonic beast habitats around it so the buildings could afford to be more varied and decadent, quite a few of them engraved with images or decorated with various materials.
From the transmission station where they were standing, they could see all the way to the centrepiece of the city, the Deshi clan mansion. The mansion was circular in shape and had nine white spires rising up at certain parts of the building, resulting in the entire building resembling a crown and spawning the name of the city, a dwelling created to guard the crown of the Deshi clan.
The city was the grandest sight within the territory of the Deshi clan, but Yin Long and Lan Yun didn't even bother checking out any of the sights and instead headed directly for the Deshi clan mansion. They walked along the walls of the estate until they reached the back and then walked for two more hours until they reached a transmission station that only contained a single spatial array yet still managed to be almost twice as large as the normal ones.
This was a spatial array that every city within the Bluelord Territory had, each city even had it placed at the same location close to the main estate, the spatial array leading to Bluelord city. They didn't have Deshi Jiu to guarantee their identity here so they didn't pretend to be Deshi clan disciples, choosing to instead name themselves as normal citizens that wanted to go to Bluelord city.
This meant that they had to fork over a fair bit of Spirit Stones, but at least they wouldn't have to show any identification that proved they were Deshi clan disciples. They paid the appropriate price, a third of their funds vanishing just like that, and then stepped into the array, a soft blue light rising from it as the guards activated it. Their bodies turned weightless as the array activated, the two people and one cat vanishing from the Deshi clan territory and heading directly for the central city of the Bluelord Territory.