Chapter 6: Chapter 5: Unskilled Infighting
"Become someone who can influence Yang City, with no specific methods or limits on how you can influence it?"
"Yes."
Qing Yu seemed to hear a satisfying answer, smiled, and slowly followed the crowd into the city.
After entering the city, his first stop was at a pharmacy. Ultimately, Qing Yu was alone, and there weren't any decent herbs on Beicang Mountain; the medicine he had made on the mountain was never very effective.
However, halfway there, Qing Yu remembered his pockets were still empty; he had spent all his money from selling Lingzhi on women's clothing. It seemed that Qing Yu's first priority was still to make money.
"I have no capital and no channels, and if I go to work, I don't know when I'll have enough money. It looks like I can only do some business without any initial investment."
While there was still daylight, Qing Yu quickly went to scout locations. As for how to scout, with no experience, Qing Yu could only choose the least conspicuous method—being a beggar, his old trade. There was one advantage to being a beggar—no need to prepare any clothes. The advantage of traveling with the Golden Wild Goose Skill was its speed; the downside became apparent now, as taking unconventional paths meant his clothes were tattered and his face dusty, all from being snagged by branches off the mountain paths.
Then, just as Qing Yu had found a decent spot to squat, he saw a group of beggars approaching fiercely. Sensing trouble, Qing Yu did not want to cause a scene and took off running. To avoid showing off his martial arts, Qing Yu did not use the Golden Wild Goose Skill; he ran quite fast relying solely on his legs. The beggars, seeing his fleeing figure, weighed the pros and cons, calculating that the calories burned would require begging for half a day to replenish, and so they dispersed, cursing under their breath.
There, Qing Yu ran all the way to a remote alley and sat down on the ground, catching his breath: "Damn, after years out of this line of work, I'd forgotten—beggars are the most territorial. It's not easy being a beggar."
By then, the sun was already setting, making the alley even dimmer. A few figures approached from the other end of the alley. Qing Yu looked up, and in his dim vision, he could only see that the newcomers were burly, and he heard a few sinister laughs.
"Kid, hand over the money quietly, and avoid some unnecessary pain," said one of the figures, who seemed to be somewhat educated, even using idioms.
"Please, do I look like I have money?" Qing Yu said, shaking his sleeve that was already in tatters.
The newcomers were probably local hoodlums, and as they got closer and saw Qing Yu's ragged appearance, the leader cursed their bad luck and was about to beat Qing Yu to let off some steam, but he didn't notice the sinister smile curling on the lips of the beggar in front of him.
After a scuffle, Qing Yu changed into new clothes, holding several shriveled money bags. "Really poor, still had the nerve to say they were out to rob." Qing Yu shook his hand, feeling the weight in his hands.
On the ground lay several figures trembling slightly, one of them shirtless having contributed his clothes to Qing Yu. Hearing Qing Yu's comment, the hoodlums couldn't help but curse inwardly: 'Damn, it's this secluded alley, who would casually stroll in here? We finally find a small lamb, and damn it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black!'
"A talentless case of the pot calling the kettle black, but since it's your first time doing this, reward: 50 Villain Points." The System timely came out to make its presence felt.
"I've gotten Villain Points already, that came a bit too easily, didn't it?"
"According to faction alignment, the host isn't yet a villain, just leaning toward the villain faction. So, doing minor deeds can still garner Villain Points. Once fully shifted to the villain faction, such small acts like robbery won't earn Villain Points anymore. Even later, as more Villain Points are accumulated, common acts like murder and arson won't earn Villain Points either."
"So, I can only become worse and worse? What a tragedy," Qing Yu shrugged indifferently, envisioning his future.
After ending the conversation with the system, Qing Yu crouched down and flashed a meaningful smile at a few gangsters lying on the ground like dead fish: "Suddenly I remember, I might still have some things to ask."
Thirty minutes later, Qing Yu walked out of the dim alley, stretched his slightly stiff body, picked a direction, and strode off.
During the past thirty minutes, Qing Yu had thoroughly inquired about the situation in Yang City. These low-level gangsters didn't know much about major events, but they knew far more than the common folk. Through them, Qing Yu had roughly understood the power dynamics in Yang City. It's just that he had been a bit heavy-handed earlier, which made it hard for the gangsters to speak unless he crouched close to listen; Qing Yu had crouched for about thirty minutes until his legs were numb.
Two hundred years ago, Yang City was a border city of Daqian. Naturally, the border was a focal point of military defense, traditionally garrisoned by fifty thousand border troops. To accommodate these troops, along with logistics personnel, civilians, and some soldiers' families, Yang City had to be built sufficiently large.
Later, after Emperor Daqian conquered Qing Province, the border was pushed forward, and Yang City was no longer considered a border city. Although, to guard against any uprising in the newly conquered Qing Province, troops were not widely withdrawn. However, it gradually received less attention from the court.
Over time, as Qing Province stabilized, troops were either reassigned or disbanded to return to civilian life. Now, only about two thousand troops are stationed in Yang City, officially. After two hundred peaceful years, the actual count might not even reach fifteen hundred, but they probably could still take on an average adult in combat.
Although many border troops were withdrawn, some officers stayed behind. Now the Yang City Lord's Mansion and several other city families are descendants of those officers. As for the government offices, sorry, there are none. Yang City, with its remote location far from the Emperor and backed by military families within the city, is beyond the court's control. Consequently, the military dynasties in Yang got to act like kings of their own realms.
In recent years, as more merchants traveled to and from Qing Province, Yang City, being the sole hub on the route, flourished increasingly.
With the city's prosperity, the stakes also grew larger. Zhang Family, Li Family, Sun Family, and the City Lord's Mansion of the Song Family struggled fiercely in secret for a larger share of the pie, sword shadows flashing in and out. It only began stabilizing a few years ago, but undercurrents of strife never ceased. Today, Yang City's major gangs—Iron Saber Association, Qingshan Gang, Five Tigers Sect—are all backed by these families. As for which family backs which gang, these low-level henchmen aren't privy to such details, though they suspect that the Iron Saber Association might be supported by the Li Family because they once saw its members entering Chun Gui Pavilion with the third son of the Li Family. What happened afterward is unknown to them; these henchmen couldn't even afford to indulge themselves inside and had to satisfy themselves by merely watching from outside.
"It seems that the other two gangs must be backed by Zhang Family and Sun Family, just not sure which belongs to whom. These three families squabble among themselves yet also unite against the Song Family, who controls the City Guard Army. Establishing a dominant position in Yang City means starting with these three families. The City Lord's Mansion has its guards and doesn't lack people. These families, on the other hand, recruit members through the gangs to challenge the City Lord's Mansion, with all sorts from Three Sects mingling in there, an ideal entry point," Qing Yu pondered to himself, considering his next moves. After all, there was only a year for the mission, not too long nor too short, reminiscent of his student years that flew by only to end in unemployment.
Lost in thought, Qing Yu was interrupted by several cries of pain—it turned out that the gangsters couldn't hold back their suffering any longer.
"Eh, why haven't you left yet?" Qing Yu asked.
"Boss, if you have things to do, please go ahead; we'd like to sit here a bit longer, hehe, just sitting," spoke up the henchman with a bit of smarts, who seemed to be the gang leader. Qing Yu, though he had only been testing his skills, had never fought before and hardly knew his own strength, leaving these still unknown extras unable to even stand up. Seeing Qing Yu engrossed in thought, these streetwise henchmen had remained silent in pain, not wanting to disturb this fierce expert, lest they receive another harsh beating. However, as time passed, a few with less willpower couldn't help but cry out in pain; the sharp-witted gang leader cleverly said they wanted to lie down a bit longer. At the moment, the gang leader mentally applauded his own cleverness.
Little did Qing Yu know that these people still had the mood to play mind games while lying on the ground.
"Then just keep lying there," Qing Yu said indifferently, not bothering to uncover their thoughts, and picking up a few not-so-full money bags, he walked towards the inn he had learned about earlier.
Chapter 7: Chapter 6 Overnight in an Inn
"Sigh," Qing Yu leaned against the inner wall of the bathing tub, savoring the rare leisure he had after a day of hustling. After giving away the last bit of money from his purse, Qing Yu managed to get the innkeeper to offer him a bath, and even that took quite some effort to haggle for. He was thankful for the harrowing job-hunting days after college, which had honed his ability to speak to all kinds of people, even though just thinking about that time often made his clothes soggy with tears.
After reflecting, Qing Yu took a short rest, experiencing the different atmosphere from the one up in the mountains. Beicang Mountain's air was fresh, rarely trodden by humans, making it a great place for a peaceful hermit life, where one could perhaps live happily ever after. But Qing Yu wasn't there to retire. Setting aside the fact that he wasn't old, a knife could fall on his head at any moment, leaving no room for a comfortable life.
Of course, after obtaining the villain's legacy system, Qing Yu had thought about nesting in the mountains for a decade or so. Once his Divine Skill had reached great success, he would emerge to overwhelm the world. After all, which distinguished villain wasn't invincible the moment they appeared, spreading bento boxes all over the world? Leveling up by fighting monsters was the main character's privilege, after all. Even though protagonists start as weaklings and wander everywhere, they always encounter benefactors who help them out, meeting the seemingly mad and always goofy old men of the human world over a meal. Qing Yu, on the other hand, had nothing but enemies from the entire True Martial Dao Sect—pots left behind by that deceased master.
So, Qing Yu's initial plan was to lay low in the mountains until he reached the level of the "Ten Miles Slope Sword God." Then, once his Divine Skill reached great success, he would step out of the mountains, proclaiming, "The human world has become filthy again," and proceed to flatten everything. Yes, Qing Yu's goal was to be like Emperor Qi Tian, Lord Qi, nicknamed the "Bento Emperor."
In Qing Yu's heart, Emperor Qi Tian was the epitome of villainy. He was full of style from beginning to end, and even his exit was done with grace—a far cry from other villains whose idea of an exit was to face-plant, making him the ceiling of all villains.
Regrettably, Qing Yu had no Divine Skill to practice, nor did he have the resources to speed up his training. Beicang Mountain was also a godforsaken place where no old man would fall from the sky to pass on his skills, let alone offer a beautiful granddaughter as a gift. Even though this type of event with an old man falling from the sky, severely injured and near death, usually happened in godforsaken places. ╮(─▽─)╭
Qing Yu gathered his thoughts, which had wandered far off, and began to think about how to complete the task given by the system—to gain the power to determine the future of Yang City within a year.
"Although Yang City no longer has the splendor it did three hundred years ago, with countless experts stationed in its military, only four squabbling small families remain. However, the Li and Sun families must have backers in the Daqian Military's upper echelons; otherwise, Yang City wouldn't be left without a single official from the court. Thus, overt displays of force or even slight indications of an attempt to take over the discourse in Yang City are out of the question. If these attempts are too slight, they won't shake the four families' rule over Yang City; if they're too ambitious, they might draw the attention of the powerful military backers. After all, it's been three hundred years—there must be a significant motive for those big shots to have supported the four families for so long."
"Therefore, I have to take an unconventional approach—that is, to tread a wild path."
"But, the most crucial thing right now is to improve my own martial strength. With my current weak arms and legs, even the simplest and crudest attempts at seizing power through force are delusional. In these three hundred years, the four families of Yang City have undoubtedly declined, but there must still be experts at the Innate Realm. More certainly, there are experts at the Postnatal Ninth Layer—and not just one. After all, the Postnatal Realm mainly involves cultivating one's Inner Strength, and with Yang City being a commercial hub connected to Qing Province, it's hard to believe they haven't stacked enough resources to produce several Postnatal Ninth Layer experts."
Qing Yu touched his smooth chin, silently contemplating.
Determined on his next steps, Qing Yu relaxed his body and thoroughly enjoyed this rare bathing experience, something he couldn't have on Beicang Mountain, where a shower was the norm.
After soaking for quite some time and the bath water starting to cool, devoid of comfort, Qing Yu finally stood up, dried off his body, put on clean clothes, and opened the door to call for the attendants to take away the bathing tub.
Two attendants, hearing the call, came upstairs and entered the room to remove the tub.
Qing Yu took out Ping Yizhi's Medical Book from his bundle and started to study it carefully under the dim candlelight. In martial arts, medicine was not separated from the practice, understanding medical skills not only allowed for timely treatment after injuries but also acquainted a person with the meridian acupoints and the functioning of various organs of the body, thereby bettering their martial arts training. Any expert would have self-awareness not inferior to some physicians.
Moreover, Ping Yizhi was involved in the underworld, and naturally, he wasn't a rule-abiding good person to have earned the moniker "Murder Doctor." For his research into medical texts, Ping Yizhi sometimes resorted to stealing corpses and exhuming them for dissection and the study of the human body.
One should know that the rapid development of Western medicine in the last few centuries, to the extent of its current widespread acceptance over Chinese medicine, owed much to anatomy.
And these very human experiment data were all recorded in Ping Yizhi's Medical Book.
Qing Yu, who came from an era of information explosion in his previous life, naturally wouldn't consider corpse dissection as something wicked, and besides, he wasn't much of a good person himself. Although the medical book's descriptions of human dissection were quite nauseating, to become stronger, Qing Yu felt this was all bearable.
In the blink of an eye, four hours had passed. Qing Yu set down the medical book and rubbed his aching brow. Although Ping Yizhi's book was very detailed in its descriptions, Qing Yu came from an unschooled background. Having relied solely on self-study over the past three years and even considering his past life's exposure to medicine, it was quite straining to read such a lofty medical text.
After summarizing the gains of the past four hours, Qing Yu recorded his own understanding into another notebook, his study notes.
After finishing his entry, Qing Yu slipped off his boots, crossed his legs on the bed, and after circulating the Quanzhen Heart Method for one Grand Circulation, he lay down and fell asleep. The Quanzhen Heart Method continued to operate slowly in his sleep—it was the beauty of this mental method. As long as one maintained tranquility, the method could be practiced while walking or during other activities, and though the progress was slower compared to active cultivation, it would accumulate over time into something substantial. Unfortunately, Wang Chongyang and the others, including the Quanzhen Seven Sons, had turned to the Dao halfway through their lives. With their temperamental nature, despite forcibly advancing through years of Daoist Skill, their innate characteristics barely changed, rendering the subtle improvements of this method nearly non-existent. Of the two most outstanding disciples that followed, Dragon Knight and Zhao Zhijing, one was filled with infatuated thoughts, and the other was downright crafty; it would be a surprise if they could keep their minds undisturbed.
As midnight approached, a soft sound came from the roof of the room where Qing Yu was staying. He immediately got up and listened intently.
"Can it be, is this some rapist's tactic? This familiar feeling, could it be I'm not the villain, but the protagonist, and the villainous legacy system got the wrong person?" Qing Yu silently ridiculed in his mind. (System: You chose your own path.)
The person who had passed over Qing Yu's roof didn't excel in Qinggong, causing the noise, and since Qing Yu's state of tranquil sleep made him even more sensitive to external disturbances, he woke up immediately at the sound.
However, with such low-level Qinggong, attempting to commit a burglary could get one beaten to death.
As Qing Yu hesitated over whether to chase after them and confirm whether he was the protagonist, footsteps were heard on the street outside the inn. Qing Yu cracked the window slightly and saw several dark figures dashing westward.
Qing Yu hesitated even more. After a while, a few more shadows came down the street. They seemed to be talking, not in the hurried pace of the previous group. Qing Yu strained his ears and faintly thought he could hear words like "market" and "purchase."
"There's something going on." Without further hesitation and dressed in the new black clothes he had just changed into, Qing Yu climbed out of the window and followed the figures heading west.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
9 Power
stone 
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