From bone collectors to the supreme ruler of humanity

Chapter 27 Mysterious Blade Technique

"Xiong Kuo, you said your life is mine, so what about this village...?"

"You're stronger than me; now you're the boss of Chicken Cry Village!"

"Alright," Lin Yan said, "from today onwards, everything in the stronghold will remain the same, but the rules will be changed. First, do not rob the poor. Second, do not kill women and children. Third, two-thirds of the loot will be given to the poor households at the foot of the mountain."

Xiong Kuo's eyes widened. "Twenty percent? Do you know how many mouths there are in the village to feed? The brothers are already starving, and we still have to share with those poor people..."

"Tell me the breakdown, and I'll make up the difference," Lin Yan interrupted Xiong Kuo.

Xiong Kuo was silent for a moment, then nodded, "Okay, you decide."

Lin Yan turned around and looked at the dozen or so bandits.

The eyes of these people held a mixture of defiance, curiosity, and fear.

Lin Yan's gaze swept across everyone's faces, then he pulled out the broken blade and stuck it into the mud in front of him.

"My name is Lin Yan. From today onwards, I'm in charge of this village. Anyone who disagrees, step forward now."

No one moved.

They can't beat someone Xiong Kuo couldn't beat, let alone them.

"Nothing?" Lin Yan drew his knife. "Then let's get to work."

Life in the mountain stronghold was much more peaceful than in Black Wind Ridge.

Chen moved into the cleanest wooden house in the village, which had sunshine and hot water, and she could drink two hot porridges every day.

Lin Yan used medicinal herbs from the village to create a new prescription for her.

His cough gradually improved, and his face regained color.

Lin Xiu put on the clothes that the women in the village had altered to a smaller size; the sleeves were just the right length.

She learned to write every day from an old accountant in the village who could read.

Lin Yan was not idle.

He gathered the twelve bandits from the village and they practiced martial arts on the flat ground every afternoon.

"You're all using unorthodox methods."

Lin Yan stood at the front of the line and said, "Xiong Kuo taught you military swordsmanship, but your foundation was too weak to learn it. Now I will teach you the footwork of bodyguards. Practice your footwork first, then your swordsmanship."

He extracted five basic footwork patterns from the bodyguard's footwork and taught them one by one.

Xiong Kuo stood by and watched, growing increasingly alarmed.

These footwork techniques may seem simple, but each step contains hidden power generation techniques, making them more flexible than the military footwork techniques he had learned.

"Where did you learn that from?" Xiong Kuo asked.

"I learned it from a bodyguard while traveling," Lin Yan said.

Xiong Kuo paused for a moment, then asked, "How long have you been following us?"

"Three miles away."

Xiong Kuo fell silent.

Besides training the bandits, Lin Yan also continued his own cultivation.

He gets up at four in the morning every day to practice basic body training for two hours, and then practices the military sword technique [Xuan Dao Jue], which he learned from Xiong Kuo, for another hour.

【Mysterious Blade Technique (Beginner) (3/500)】

[Effect: The seven-layered sword strikes flow continuously, capable of slaying hundreds and causing thousands of troops to flee.]

Besides learning martial arts techniques, Lin Yan also disassembled and reassembled all the martial arts he had accumulated over the past few days, testing and modifying them one by one, and his skill proficiency improved rapidly.

[Basic Body Training (Beginner) (487/500)]

[Rough Sketching (Basic Understanding) (489/800)]

【Mountain Viewing (Beginner) (78/500)】

【Micro-Step (Beginner) (62/500)】

【Firewood Chopper (Beginner) (75/500)】

Ten days later, at dusk, Lin Yan was practicing his sword by the mountain spring behind the village when Lin Xiu ran over.

"elder brother!"

Lin Yan sheathed his sword, wiped his sweat, and asked curiously, "What's the rush?"

"The old accountant said that the village is running out of usable medicinal herbs."

Lin Xiu said breathlessly, "Da Dang... Xiong Kuo said that they used to buy medicinal herbs by going down the mountain, but now several nearby towns are checking them, so they dare not go down."

Lin Yan sheathed the knife at his waist. "How many ingredients are missing from Mother's new recipe?"

"All three ingredients are for treating coughs."

"Take me there."

The medicine storage room in the village was a small wooden house with several burlap sacks and bamboo baskets piled up. The medicinal herbs inside were scattered and most of them were almost gone.

The old accountant's surname was Qian. He was in his forties, as thin as a bamboo pole, but in good spirits.

"Chieftain," the accountant bowed, "the checks down the mountain are getting stricter and stricter. We were even checked three times when we went to the county town to buy salt. Several brothers almost didn't make it back."

Lin Yan glanced at the list of medicinal herbs and frowned, asking, "How much is missing?"

"We still have some external liniment for bruises and sprains, but the oral medications are almost gone. Your mother's cough medicine will only last for three more days at most."

Lin Yan put down the list and looked out the window. The sky was darkening, and the outlines of distant mountains were faintly visible in the twilight.

"Which direction is the nearest town?"

"Go east for twenty li, there is a place called Shiqiao Town, where there is a pharmacy."

Xiong Kuo walked in at some point and leaned against the door, saying, "But Shiqiao Town is Qingfengxiang's territory, and many of their people are stationed there year-round. I sent people to investigate, and it seems that all the outposts around the town are manned by Qingfengxiang."

Lin Yan remained silent for a while.

"I'll take some men with me."

He said, "Xiong Kuo, pick the three smartest ones and send them down the mountain first thing tomorrow morning."

After hesitating for a moment, Xiong Kuo said, "Chief, the risk is too great."

"The risk of running out of medicine is even greater." Lin Yan glanced at Xiong Kuo. "My mother's medicine cannot be interrupted."

The next morning, before dawn.

Lin Yan led Xiong Kuo and three bandits away from the mountain stronghold and headed east along the mountain road.

All three changed into civilian clothes and disguised themselves as migrants on the road.

Lin Yan carried an empty bamboo basket, Xiong Kuo carried a load of firewood, and the other two each carried a load of mountain goods.

After walking twenty li, the outline of Shiqiao Town appeared in the morning mist.

The town is small, even smaller than Qingyuan County, but it has a great location.

Located at the intersection of two official roads running east-west and north-south, it is the busiest market town for dozens of miles around.

The town is surrounded by earthen walls on all four sides.

There were sentry posts in all four directions, and each sentry post was manned by two men wearing Qingfengxiang uniforms.

"Chief, how do we get in?" Xiong Kuo asked in a low voice.

Lin Yan stood by the roadside, spreading out the [Viewing the Mountain] tool and scanning the layout of the entire town.

"Go in separately," he said. "The four of you blend into the crowd at the market, one by one. I'll stay on the outside and provide backup. Remember, only buy medicine, don't cause any trouble."

Xiong Kuo nodded and led the three into the crowd at the market. Lin Yan went around to the earthen wall on the east side of the town, found an inconspicuous spot, and climbed over the wall into the town.

Shiqiao Town was much more bustling than Qingyuan County, with stalls lining both sides of the street selling grains, cloth, and mountain products, their calls echoing throughout the town. Lin Yan walked with his head down in the crowd, his straw hat pulled low.

He found the only pharmacy in town, Huichuntang.

The shop was small, with an old plaque hanging at the entrance, most of the gold paint on it had peeled off.

Lin Yan didn't rush in. Instead, he sat in the teahouse across the street for half an hour, observing the customers coming and going and the shop assistants.

After observing for a while, Lin Yan immediately understood the situation.

He got up and went into Huichuntang.

"Shopkeeper, prepare the medicine." He placed a prescription on the counter. "Prepare it according to the prescription, and hurry up."

The shopkeeper was an old man in his fifties, wearing brass-rimmed glasses. He picked up the prescription, glanced at it, nodded, and said, "Please wait a moment."

The medicine was quickly prepared and placed on the table.

Lin Yan paid the money, stuffed the medicine packet into his basket, covered it with dry grass, and turned to leave the shop.

Just as I reached the alley entrance, I ran into two men wearing Qingfengxiang uniforms.

The two men were holding a portrait and stopping passersby one by one to compare it with their own.