I don't know if these ninjas are considered cannon fodder or if its because the people who command them don't want their stuff to get stolen (like I did to that sword, which made a large difference to the few fights I used it in.) but the guy that I killed didn't have anything important on him. I picked up his club, the weapon is exactly as simple as it looked, the club is just that, a club. It's made of metal, sure, but what else?

Well, the sword earlier also looked pretty simple so... I channeled Qi into the weapon and watched in fascination as it accepted the energy. When I saw ice starting to grow on the surface, my mind went back to the sight of that 12 foot long ice sword that I accidentally made and I suddenly had an idea. I pushed more Qi into the club and thick ice started to grow, turning the simple shape rounder, making it more like a modern bat rather than some club that a caveman would own.

When it was done, I started swinging it around, it felt pretty light and when I hit a large rock with it, the ice survived but the rock fell apart. And if the ice does break, then I can always regrow it. I thought with a grin.

Whatever these ninjas are, they have weapons that are clearly way superior to the standard invader weapon. I thought about it for a moment and considered that they're probably an elite unit of sorts for the invaders but the Poison Sect bandit that I killed talked about them as if they're a separate force.

It's too bad that I didn't get him to finish his sentence because I'm actually curious if he would've asked me to join the Poison Sect bandit themselves or the "Death creeps", as he called them. Whatever.

"I'm taking this," I said to the corpse, "You can keep the dagger- wait, no," I bent down and picked up the weapon that I used against him then tied it around my stomach using one of my shirts. I tore it apart and turned also turned it into a makeshift sheath by wrapping it around the blade of the knife. Now it won't damage me. I thought with a satisfied nod.

I looked at the sharp tip of the dagger and then the flat shape of the bat. I wonder if I can add spikes to it?

There was really only one way to find out so I pushed my Qi into the bat and tried to manipulate it. Well, I didn't exactly manipulate it, more of like attempting to command the Qi to grow sharp spikes. The end result is that the bat now has these small, sharp teeth that pop out of the ice's surface,I thought they looked cool rather than dangerous.

Status

User: Yu Song

Qi: 2659/3000

Realm: 5th Stage (Body Refinement)

Techniques:

- Punch

- Run

- Throw

- Palm Strike

*First to Sixth form

- Fist of Danger

* First to Second form

Quests:

*Reach Body Refinement Realm - Completed! Rewards Ready!

*Reach Foundation Establishment Realm - (5/15)

*Help the Sect Defend from the Invaders - (Side Chosen- Deep Running Rivers and Oceans Sect 74% / Invaders 27%)

*Find out what's wrong with the Dogs and the source of the Parasites.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

*Find out more about the Ninjas.

*Kill the invading Poison Bandits - (1/???)

Four new quests. I sighed. So I need to investigate the ninjas, the dogs, help the Sect and what? Kill the bandits? Well, it's not like I wasn't planning on doing it anyway.

Also, I think the quests just gave me a clue as for who the actual invaders are. It's pretty obvious now that I think about it too, the other group is called Poison Bandits for fucks sake. Of course they're not the actual invaders.

The Bandits probably think they are though. Feels like something that the commander of the Ninjas would do to motivate them into giving their all into attacking the Sect. I started mentally counting. So, the Sect has to deal with the Poison Bandits, the Death creeps, and then the traitors inside the Sect...

I actually forgot about that last part... I bit my lips and crossed my fingers. Here's to hoping that the little girl I helped isn't an invader, then.

The question is though, what do the Ninjas want with the Sect? They shouldn't want anything else since according to Xie Wen, they already stole the Sword of the Blood Moon or whatever it's called from the Sect. So the question is, what else do they want? I frowned at the possible reason that popped in my head, So if there's a sword, then there should also be a user for it right?

Did the Sect imprison the leader of the Death creeps? The people at the top couldn't be that stupid could they? I mean, these Death creeps are just way too serious. Feels like it should be something that should be taken care of immediately unless you want a pest that's growing out of control.

I shook my head, no, that's probably not the only reason why they're attacking. After all, if there's one treasure, then potentially, there could be more, right?

But then why does the Sect keep Demonic treasures inside it?

I probably won't get an answer until all of this is over. With that thought in mind, I started stripping the Ninja that I just killed and swapped my own clothes with his. Pretending to be one of them sounds like a good idea but it's probably pretty useless since chances are, the Ninjas would know that none of them carries an ice bat but hey, it's worth a shot and I don't lose anything from disguising myself.

I quickly left the dead body after I secured the dagger on my hip using, again, a sash made from rags. I really need to find something that can hold this.

The headband I'm wearing briefly passed through my mind and I thought it was a good idea until I realized that the headband can't really stretch far enough to go around my hips. As to not compromise my disguise, I decided to put it around my leg instead.

I left the area and started hunting again.

I felt pretty confident in the weapon I was holding so I wasn't really trying to hide anymore, I saw what happened to that dog and after fighting my second Ninja for the night, I realized that I'm gonna fight around regardless and it's completely useless to act sneaky. Especially since I've been found by them so easily the last two times.

After a bit of running, I found one of the bandits.

The guy wore the same robe that these cultivators seemed to be fond of. On his hand is a curved sword, it had markings on it and looked dangerous but that just got me more curious if my modified weapon can go against it. Since he didn't notice me, I crouched down and started sneaking- "WHAT?!" he yelled when I suddenly appeared right next to him with my bat already swung, "you're supposed to be one of us!"

He blocked my weapon with his sword and I swung harder. Clang. Small pieces of ice flew when our weapons met and I had to regrow them again, I kept pushing Qi into my weapon even when it was already fully repaired.

"HA!" the cultivator yelled and was about to mock me but I was already swinging towards him. He blocked it again with his sword and our weapons met for the second time but he was pushed back this time around, "what?" his voice got lower and he looked at me as if I've grown a second head, "h-"

I swung and he tried to block but I simply pushed Qi into both my arms and swung harder. Clang. The sword flew out of the bandit's hand, "h-how?" I swung again and even in his shocked state, he tried to block with his hand but that was a mistake.

He screamed as blood pooled out of his mangled right hand, "YOU INSIGNIFICANT ANT!" he yelled and enhanced his body with his Qi, he started glowing golden before springing up from his kneeling position with his fist already outstretched.

I took the punch with my bat and winced from the vibrations climbing down my arm. I looked down and saw lines eating up more than half my fingers. Pushing Qi into my arm is a bad idea. I mentally noted before jumping away and recovering my position

"OH NOW YOU'RE RUNNING AWAY!" the bandit yelled before rushing me. We met and he punched me, and I blocked. He punched again, I blocked. I looked at his hand and saw that it wasn't even bleeding, "I should've known that you were a traitor!"

He continued releasing a flurry of punches that I was starting to have a hard time blocking, "YOU-" he threw out a fist and I blocked while staring at his feet with my peripheral vision, "-THINK-" he punched again and I positioned myself slightly to his left, "-THAT-" he punched and twisted his body while his feet remained in place.

I swiped him by the ankle and he fell down with a yelp, "You talk too much." I said before crushing his head with my bat.