Chapter 80: The Blade of Vitality

Xin Lang blocked Gu Fatty and Qian Baidu, saying, “This money belongs to everyone on Cangqiong Mountain; we can’t just use it as we please!”

“What?” Gu Fatty and Qian Baidu were dumbfounded by Xin Lang’s words.

Without paying any mind to the two frozen men, Xin Lang turned to Lin San and said, “Lin San, take a hundred thousand gold coins and distribute them among the brothers on the mountain as half a year’s bonus. The rest is yours.”

“Ah… this… this… so much!” Lin San had been on Cangqiong Mountain for five or six years and had never seen any leader give out such a generous bonus. Whenever they pulled off a big job, the small fry like him might get some wine or a decent meal, but all the real benefits went to the three bosses. Unless someone was injured, they could get some reward money, or if someone died, their family might receive a bit of compensation.

Such generosity from Xin Lang was unprecedented, and Lin San wasn’t sure if he should accept the money.

“What’s wrong? Too little?” Xin Lang asked.

Before saying this, Xin Lang had already learned about the situation on the mountain. A hundred thousand gold coins was more than enough; after distributing it among the men, Lin San would still have at least eight or ten thousand coins left.

Xin Lang wanted Lin San to be the fourth boss, and he had to give him some real benefits so Lin San would be loyal and work hard for him.

“No, no, no… it’s not too little, it’s too much!” Lin San said, moved. “I’ve been here so many years, and I’ve never seen so much bonus money!”

Xin Lang laughed. “Work hard, and in the future, everyone will get even more!”

After Lin San left, Gu Fatty wailed in anguish, “Boss, are we really going to give all that money to those bandits?”

“Of course not!” Xin Lang laughed. “This money is ours! Not only that, the whole Cangqiong Mountain is ours! Spending a hundred thousand gold coins to win people’s loyalty here—isn’t it worth it?”

“Boss, you’re truly wise! My admiration for you is like…” Gu Fatty didn’t finish his sentence before Xin Lang kicked him aside. “Go flatter me somewhere else.”

Xin Lang said, “Cangqiong Mountain is good—dangerous terrain, easy to defend and hard to attack. Since we’ve taken it, we can’t just abandon it, so we can’t take all the money away. Altogether, there are over two million gold coins here. Each of us gets five hundred thousand, and the rest stays on the mountain for daily expenses!”

Five hundred thousand gold coins filled more than a dozen chests, and Gu Fatty and Qian Baidu had no way to carry them. Xin Lang stored them in his upgrading device’s storage compartments. Now, Xin Lang had opened fourteen storage slots in total, and with the ones he’d already used, they were nearly full.

Gu Fatty had long known that Xin Lang possessed a special storage treasure. Qian Baidu was also trustworthy, but Xin Lang didn’t tell them it was the power of the upgrading device; he used the same explanation he’d given Gu Fatty before, saying it was a storage treasure obtained from an immortal.

This trip to Cangqiong Mountain had been very fruitful for Xin Lang. He’d not only gained hundreds of thousands of gold coins, but also completed a seven-diamond side quest, earning 350 experience points as a reward! Moreover, his super weapon, the Sky Halberd, had upgraded to the second level.

With no outsiders present, Xin Lang’s consciousness entered the upgrading device. He checked the attributes of the Sky Halberd, wanting to study the “Expansion” function.

In the Halberd’s attributes, Xin Lang saw that its level had reached “Level Two,” and below it was a grayed-out second-level expansion function—Vital Energy Blade.

“Vital Energy Blade?”

Xin Lang didn’t understand what that was, so he clicked the button to activate the second-level expansion function. The Halberd immediately prompted: “Activating the Sky Halberd’s second-level expansion function, Vital Energy Blade, requires 200 experience points! Activate?”

“Damn, activating a second-level expansion function actually needs 200 experience points! Hell, I only spent 100 experience points to buy this Sky Halberd!” Xin Lang cried out in pain.

But Xin Lang knew the upgrading device was fair: the more experience you spent, the stronger the function you gained.

Luckily, Xin Lang had plenty of experience points now, especially since he’d just completed a seven-diamond side quest and received 350 points. Gritting his teeth, he finally activated the Sky Halberd’s second-level expansion function.

Once activated, a hemispherical device appeared on the back of the Halberd glove, resembling a crystal embedded in it. Within the crystal, a faint vortex slowly spun. As it rotated, the Halberd generated a mysterious suction, drawing bits of white light from the sky, earth, air, flowers, grasses, and trees. These white lights were absorbed into the Halberd and finally entered the crystal on the glove’s back, making the white vortex inside more and more dense.

However, this process was very slow; in an hour, the Halberd couldn’t absorb much white light.

Xin Lang focused his senses, his mind seeming to connect with the Halberd. With a thought, the vortex in the crystal began spinning rapidly in the opposite direction!

Xin Lang flicked his hand, and with a soft sound, a crescent-shaped Vital Energy Blade shot from his palm. The blade, swift as lightning, sliced a teacup on the table cleanly in half and embedded itself in the wall.

Looking at the cut surface of the teacup, it was perfectly smooth and natural, showing no sign of being sliced!

“Haha, two hundred experience points—totally worth it! Releasing vital energy externally, that’s a realm only martial saints reach!” Xin Lang rejoiced. “If I accumulate enough vital energy, even a grandmaster won’t scare me!”

Although the Vital Energy Blade was mighty, Xin Lang wouldn’t neglect his own cultivation. He knew clearly that only by training his own strength to the utmost could he truly reign supreme.

After activating the Sky Halberd’s second-level expansion function, Xin Lang took Gu Fatty and Qian Baidu to patrol Cangqiong Mountain.

Now, the three of them had become the new masters of Cangqiong Mountain! When they came up, they’d only killed Huang Tianqi and his two companions, sparing the small bandits. With Xin Lang’s generous distribution, the bandits had wholly accepted the three as their new leaders. Especially Xin Lang, who’d killed the tenth-level martial artist Huang Tianqi with two punches, was now regarded as a near-divine figure.

“Boss, there’s a big deal down the mountain. What should we do? Should I gather the men?” As Xin Lang, Gu Fatty, and Qian Baidu were familiarizing themselves with the lay of the land, Lin San rushed over to find Xin Lang.