Chapter 52: I am Wu Tiande

In the blink of an eye, two of the three unidentified pugilists were dead and the remaining one was heavily wounded!

Everything happened at lightning speed!

The only survivors left in the entire tea shed were Chen Xuan and the bamboo-hatted man from before.

"Damn it, did you really have to force my hand?"

Chen Xuan muttered to himself.

They always talk about wandering the pugilistic world, but what exactly is this pugilistic world?

Could it be nothing more than endless grudges and ruthless killing?

He turned and walked toward the bamboo-hatted man, wearing a beaming smile on his face as he squatted down to look at the man's agonizing expression.

The bamboo-hatted man had first been drained of over a decade of internal energy by the Soul-Draining Art, and then had his wrists shattered by a poisonous palm strike. With the lethal venom invading his body, he was truly experiencing a fate worse than death, suffering beyond measure.

"Do you know who I am?"

Chen Xuan smiled.

"You... are you from the Five Poisons Sect?"

The bamboo-hatted man asked in agony.

"Bah, I am no member of the Five Poisons Sect. This young master is Chen Xuan, the carefree公子; remember that—the carefree公子!"

Chen Xuan twirled a lock of hair by his temple and said indifferently.

"It's you! You are Chen Xuan, the Lineage-Extinguisher!"

The bamboo-hatted man cried out in terror.

Bang!

Chen Xuan struck him dead with a single palm blow, his face as dark as the bottom of a wok.

Damn it, you're the lineage-extinguisher!

I am clearly the carefree公子!

Yet, why on earth did these three bamboo-hatted men suddenly launch a murderous ambush?

Chen Xuan began searching the bamboo-hatted man's body and suddenly felt a bulky bundle. Drawing it out from the man's bosom, he found a roll wrapped in silk cloth. Unfolding it gently, he revealed several sealed envelopes inside.

He opened the envelopes one by one.

The first contained an 'Appointment Warrant.'

*'Wu Tiande is hereby appointed as the thirteenth ninth-rank black-clad constable of Qingfeng City, to report for duty immediately. Issued by the Six Fan School on the eleventh day of the ninth month in the first year of Huanglong of the Great Qian Empire.'*

Inside the second envelope was a piece of animal skin map. It appeared to be only half a map, densely covered in writing. The characters were not modern scripts, but rather an ancient seal script.

Along with the animal skin map, there was a folded letter beneath it.

Chen Xuan unfolded it and immediately caught his breath.

There is a mole in the Five Poisons Sect?

This animal skin map was stolen from the Five Poisons Sect by someone?

The general content of the letter stated that this animal skin map was of utmost importance, tied to the first stroke of fortune amidst the resurgence of heaven and earth anomalies. Taking advantage of the great chaos within the Five Poisons Sect, the author had stolen it through untold hardships and was hereby submitting it to the imperial court. The location of the fortuitous encounter had been preliminarily confirmed as Qingfeng Mountain in northern Yunzhou, and it was hoped that the imperial court would thoroughly investigate... and so on.

However, the letter did not contain a single word regarding the contents of the animal skin map itself.

Chen Xuan felt a jolt of astonishment in his heart.

The location of the fortuitous encounter has been confirmed?

Qingfeng Mountain?

Truly, flowers planted intentionally refuse to bloom, while willows planted unintentionally grow to provide shade.

He had originally intended to extract the location from Charitable Man Liu, but Charitable Man Liu refused to spill the beans no matter what, and even deceived him by claiming it was impossible to determine.

Now, look at this.

The letter explicitly wrote down Qingfeng Mountain.

"No matter how crafty and cunning you are, you can't match this old man's profound fortune."

Chen Xuan thought to himself, his opinion of Charitable Man Liu plummeting even further.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a cyan light screen popped up before his eyes.

【Quest One completed!】

【System tallying in progress!】

【Reward: 140 Experience Points!】

【Reward: 200 Stamina Points!】

【Reward: 3 Luck Points!】

A series of characters shifted continuously, and soon the light screen vanished.

Immediately afterwards, a new light screen popped up before his eyes.

【The fortune at Qingfeng Mountain is about to manifest, drawing heroes from all directions. Masters will gather like clouds, with both righteous and evil factions appearing.】

【Quest One: Disguise yourself as Wu Tiande and proceed to Qingfeng City to assume office. Qingfeng City is located in a remote area with decayed law and order, and various factions are intricately intertwined. The imperial court's grip is gradually weakening. Before your identity is exposed, restore law and order in Qingfeng City.】

【Quest Two: Investigate the secret of the Qingfeng Mountain fortune.】

Chen Xuan's eyes flashed.

Well, now the quests have arrived.

Even without a quest, he would have wanted to go join the fun if he encountered such a thing—what if he stumbled upon a stroke of fortune?

Not to mention that he now had quests!

And it actually required him to impersonate a constable.

Ha, he had never been a constable before.

This was going to be fun.

He quickly walked over to Wu Tiande's side, stripped off his constable's uniform, and put it on himself before pausing mid-action.

Wait!

If he impersonated Wu Tiande, would he be recognized by anyone?

He thought about it carefully.

Most people over at Qingfeng Mountain had probably never laid eyes on the real Wu Tiande, so if he assumed the identity, they wouldn't know whether it was genuine or false. Besides, this world lacked electronic information and photographs; even if drawings existed, they were mere brush sketches, and most drawn figures looked pretty much the same.

Who was going to compare them in minute detail anyway?

To take a step back, even if he were exposed, it wouldn't be a big deal—he could just run away at any time.

Chen Xuan immediately got to work, dressing completely in the constable's attire and straightening his hat, feeling exceptionally mighty. After a moment of thought, he squatted back down, cut off a generous amount of thick beard from Wu Tiande's face, and glued it onto his own face using adhesive.

Although this era had closed information channels and relied only on brush sketches, Wu Tiande's prominent, bushy beard would definitely feature in those sketches, so this detail could not be omitted under any circumstances.

Soon, Chen Xuan had everything prepared and broke into a smile.

This constable outfit fit him exceptionally well!

Suddenly, another question crossed his mind.

Where had this Wu Tiande served previously?

According to the letter, he seemed to have been dispatched to Qingfeng City, but whom was he planning to hand the ancient animal skin map over to?

The Five Poisons Sect mole giving the ancient animal skin map to Wu Tiande must have intended for him to pass it on to someone higher up.

Pity that somehow the news leaked, and Wu Tiande was ambushed and killed right here.

So, now that he was impersonating Wu Tiande, should he still continue to deliver this ancient animal skin map? What if the person behind the scenes recognized that he wasn't Wu Tiande?

"They might not necessarily recognize me, and even if they do, it's no big deal. At worst, I'll just run."

Chen Xuan thought to himself.

Anyway, he had already adopted a carefree attitude.

The quests on his panel were growing in number, and none of them were mandatory.

In other words, from now on he could choose whichever ones he liked. As long as he kept his life, did he need to worry about lacking quests?

Whoosh!

Suddenly, the light screen before his eyes dissipated and another new light screen popped up.

【The Righteous Alliance has suffered heavy losses and is about to disband. The original Quest Two is cancelled.】

After the light screen emerged, it gradually faded.

"Huh? The quest to poison the ten elders was forcibly cancelled?"

Chen Xuan's eyes flashed.

Quests could be cancelled? They weren't always hanging there permanently?

He opened the panel to look. There were still four quests, but two of them had completely changed compared to before.

1. Disguise as Wu Tiande and proceed to Qingfeng City to assume office.
2. Investigate the secret of the Qingfeng Mountain fortune.
3. Rapidly improve personal strength to reach the lower tier of the Human Rankings.
4. Serial quest (Not yet unlocked)
...

Chen Xuan nodded lightly.

Aside from the last one, which looked difficult to handle, the other quests all seemed achievable!

"Grandmother's bear, I am Wu Tiande, the dignified ninth-rank black-clad constable of the imperial court! Who dares to act presumptuously? Who dares to act presumptuously?"

Chen Xuan suddenly drew his official saber, imitated Wu Tiande's Sichuan accent, and shouted aloud.

Since he was going to play the role of Wu Tiande, he could not afford to drop his authentic Sichuan accent under any circumstances.

The yamen in Qingfeng City might not recognize Wu Tiande personally, but they would definitely have Wu Tiande's records on file and know that his speech carried a Sichuan accent, so this flaw could not be exposed.

Chen Xuan sheathed his official saber and used the Five Poisons Liquid to destroy all traces of the constables' corpses.

With this, his supply of Five Poisons Liquid was finally exhausted.

He felt a secret pang of regret; had he known earlier, he would have asked Qian Dachai for a larger quantity.

Chen Xuan stepped out of the tea shed, mounted his horse, and rode away.

...

Northern Yunzhou.

The Qingfeng Mountain ranges stretched endlessly, spanning three prefectures in the southwest: Yun州 (Yunzhou), 桂州 (Guizhou), and 荒州 (Huangzhou). It was a truly desolate region belonging to no man's land, and Qingfeng City was an ancient city located in the northern part of Yunzhou.

However, due to its remote location where the imperial court's reach could not extend, great bandits often committed crimes and then hid themselves there, while various aristocratic families and sects within fought openly and covertly without end.

Along the journey, Chen Xuan heard a multitude of bizarre tales.

Among them, quite a few were about him.

Various families and sects in Yunzhou were placing frantic bounties on him, and various versions of rumors had spread, exaggerating him almost into a demon. The more he listened, the darker his expression grew and the more depressed he became.

Aside from that, a few other pieces of news had also spread.

The first piece of news was that the new edition of the Human Rankings had been released and was already circulating among ancient cities, prefectures, and counties.

The second piece of news was that a mysterious and unfathomable strange fragrance had drifted out from the depths of Qingfeng Mountain, spreading across a range of over thirty miles.

Many major aristocratic families in the three southwestern prefectures seemed to have caught wind of something beforehand and had already dispatched a large number of powerful experts to secretly head deep into Qingfeng Mountain to investigate.

On horseback, Chen Xuan stroked his chin.

The second piece of news was within his expectations, but the first one took him quite by surprise.

A new issue of the Human Rankings was out?

Then no matter what, he had to go take a look.

He accelerated his pace and rode toward the ancient city ahead.

Qingfeng City was close at hand!