Chapter 122: Heavy Gifts

After a while, the carriage came to a stop. Chen Ming said, "I’ll be right back, at most the time of one incense stick."

Su Zhi Ning lifted her eyelids to glance at him, then slightly nodded to indicate she understood.

Once he got off the carriage, she closed her eyes again.

Moments later, her brows suddenly furrowed slightly.

She had mastered a secret art called "Ground Listening". As long as she used this technique, within ten li, even the sound of a mosquito flying could be heard clearly.

She had just closed her eyes to activate this technique. It wasn’t that she intentionally wanted to pry into Chen Ming’s privacy—she had no interest in that man’s personal matters.

She did it to ensure his safety.

As a result, she heard Chen Ming insist on sparring with the owner of the house. Judging by the sound, the opponent was already quite elderly.

Su Zhi Ning could sense that Chen Ming cultivated a Pure Yang technique.

Last night, when he circulated his true qi, in her eyes, he was like a blazing furnace.

The technique he cultivated must be extraordinary, yet now he wanted to challenge an old man—wasn’t that bullying?

That elder dared not refuse and had no choice but to agree.

After exchanging a dozen moves or so, he admitted defeat.

Then, she heard Chen Ming bid farewell and leave without making things difficult.

Soon after, Chen Ming returned to the carriage. It was clear he was in a cheerful mood and instructed the coachman to head to the next destination.

Su Zhi Ning suddenly said, "Do you need to bully the weak to keep your spirits high?"

"??"

Chen Ming froze for a moment, unable to resist wondering if she had secretly followed him earlier.

He said, "You’re a disciple of a great sect, how could you understand the struggles of us grassroots folks? I want to gather the strengths of many schools, but sword and saber manuals don’t just fall from the sky. What can I do? I can only seek sparring matches to experience different martial arts. Unfortunately, some people are stuck in the past and unwilling to share their martial techniques. They don’t realize that by doing so, they’re just becoming stagnant, leading each generation to be worse than the last."

"He didn’t want to spar with you. Forcing him was wrong."

Chen Ming looked at her and asked with interest, "Is this what you people from Heaven's Path Alliance call fairness?"

Su Zhi Ning looked him in the eye and said solemnly, "Yes. So don’t do it again next time."

Chen Ming praised, "Worthy of being the leader of the righteous path in today’s world. I admire you."

Then he added, "Just right, I recently encountered a difficult matter and wish to consult the young lady."

Su Zhi Ning said, "Speak."

"Once, while passing through a village, I found that a villain had poisoned everyone in the village. They needed to take the antidote within one incense stick’s time to survive. Then, that villain wrapped the antidote in oil paper and had a villager swallow it. Only by cutting open his stomach could the antidote be retrieved. The antidote was too large. Cutting open his stomach would certainly kill him."

After finishing the story, Chen Ming looked at her with a deep gaze. "Tell me, should I cut open that villager’s stomach—kill one to save the rest of the village? Or should I avoid killing and watch dozens of villagers die from the poison?"

Su Zhi Ning’s delicate brows furrowed tightly, and her once clear and bright eyes fell into a conflict and entanglement, unable to speak for a long while.

Chen Ming sat by, enjoying the sight of her inner struggle.

This was a classic trolley problem, an ethical dilemma.

It was perfect for stumping a Saintly Woman like her.

……

Not until Chen Ming had finished challenging three Sixth Grade Martial Artists did Su Zhi Ning finally remember to ask him. Her brows were still tangled as she asked somewhat hastily, "What did you do then?"

Chen Ming smiled and said, "I did nothing. Because that story was made up."

"What?"

A trace of daze flickered in Su Zhi Ning’s eyes.

Chen Ming retracted his smile and said, "The story may be fake, but such situations will definitely occur, and you will definitely face them one day."

A flash of anger appeared in Su Zhi Ning’s eyes, her eyebrows rose, and her ears—white as jade—turned red, as if she was about to strike.

At that moment, she was no longer an otherworldly fairy untouched by worldly dust, but had a trace of human emotion.

Still, she ultimately did not act.

After a while, she adjusted herself and returned to her original appearance.

One had to admit, her emotional control was quite strong.

Chen Ming, knowing to stop at the right moment, didn’t provoke her further.

That day, he challenged every Sixth Grade Martial Artist in Qingfeng City who had no background.

Most of these people didn’t dare to refuse.

A few with tougher tempers were met with politeness first, and when they still wouldn’t agree, Chen Ming struck directly, showing no need for courtesy.

He knocked them flat, collected the experience points, and turned away.

As his strength grew stronger, his actions were no longer as constrained as before.

As a martial artist, if one couldn't be assertive even when facing someone weaker, then one deserved to be looked down upon.

……

As dusk approached, Chen Ming returned home.

When he got off the carriage, he glanced at Su Zhi Ning and saw her sitting there motionless, showing no intention of getting out.

If it were another woman, he would have assumed she was angry. But this one was the extremely emotionally stable heir of the Heaven's Path Alliance—she wouldn’t be so petty.

She probably just didn’t want to enter with him.

The gatekeeper Old Li saw him and hurried over to report, "Second Master, someone is waiting for you, claiming they’re here to deliver something and must hand it to you personally."

"Oh?"

Chen Ming was a little curious. He went over and saw a young man, who looked like an assistant from some store. He looked young, but his demeanor was quite composed.

The young man spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Second Master Chen, this is something my master sent me to deliver. My master instructed that I can only give it to you upon seeing the token."

Token?

Chen Ming’s heart stirred. He took out the token with the character "袁" on one side and asked, "Is it this one?"

The young man saw the token, his expression turned solemn. He gave a respectful bow and handed over the wooden box in his hands, "Please accept it. I shall take my leave."

After saying that, he left.

Chen Ming put away the token and opened the box. Inside were several books, and on the cover of the topmost book were the words 《Seven Stars Sword Technique》.

"Could it be..."

No way, right?

He flipped through it—there were also 《Falling Leaf Saber Technique》, 《Phantom Step》, 《Jade Shattering Art》……

All were martial arts manuals, and not the common ones either—they were all second-tier techniques.

There were saber techniques, sword techniques, fist techniques, movement techniques, and more.

A total of thirteen books.

"Hiss——"

For the first time, Chen Ming understood what it meant to be rich and extravagant.

These were the kinds of treasures money couldn’t buy.

Back then, Guan Peng signed a life contract to serve the Four Seas Trading Company just to obtain a third-tier technique.

Even the ten-plus Sixth Grade Martial Artists today, after struggling for half their lives, at best had acquired a single, very ordinary second-tier technique.

These thirteen manuals—any one of them was enough to make many Seventh Grade Martial Artists sell their lives to him.

Such a grand gesture!

Chen Ming felt deeply moved. However, to be fair, these techniques and martial arts didn’t hold much personal value to him.

Martial techniques were about quality, not quantity. Mastering ten skills wasn’t as good as perfecting one sword technique.

As someone who leveled up through points, did he really need to collect the strengths of a hundred schools? It was just an excuse.

Learning these martial arts would only waste time and precious experience points.

Of course, they weren’t entirely useless. He could pass them to those around him—like the two maids, Wu Bofu and Liu Zhongda, or the guard Gu Junrong.

With these manuals, in eight to ten years, the Chen Residence would grow into a formidable force.

……

After dinner, Chen Ming sat indoors flipping through one of the manuals when suddenly he heard Su Zhi Ning’s voice. "Now that you have these techniques, you don’t need to seek out others to spar anymore."

So these techniques were indeed sent by her.

Chen Ming disagreed with her and said, "Techniques are dead, people are alive. Only through fighting others can one truly sense what sword and saber moves are like. Still, I can promise you I won’t challenge those old men anymore."

He had received a favor, so he had to honor her request.

One shouldn’t gain benefits and then act difficult.

Anyway, he was about to break through to Fifth Grade soon, and naturally had no need to find those Sixth Grades anymore.

Su Zhi Ning didn’t respond again.

Chen Ming thought she had left, but unexpectedly she suddenly said, "If that story were real, what would you have done?"

He chuckled inwardly.

She was still stuck on that trolley problem.

He said, "According to the creed of your Heaven's Path Alliance, naturally, I would kill one to save the dozens. Isn’t that obvious?"

Su Zhi Ning softly said, "But that person was innocent too."

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