A monk?
Yang Ling felt a slight chill.
The man had come fast!
This had to be a monk from Bitter Enlightenment Temple!
He opened the man's attribute panel and took a look:
Name: Huineng
Class: Martial Artist
Strength: 18
Agility: 12
Spirit: 6
Martial Arts: Stele-Splitting Palm (Proficient), Gale Step (Proficient), Bitter Enlightenment Heart Sutra (second-rate, First Glimpse)
Affiliation: Bitter Enlightenment Temple
"Three martial arts on him!?"
"So this is the depth of a great sect..."
Yang Ling marveled inwardly.
But he noticed the Bitter Enlightenment Heart Sutra Huineng cultivated was only second-rate.
"His standing in Bitter Enlightenment Temple can't be high. And with his Spirit, he hasn't reached the level to cultivate the Vajra Wisdom King Art."
Yang Ling mused.
"You say the Prisoner Butcher was caught right here?"
The monk said mildly.
"Just so."
Overseer Wu nodded carefully.
Every miner was dumbstruck.
It was the first time they'd ever seen such 'carefulness' on Overseer Wu's face.
Their hearts pounded — who on earth was this monk?
"On the Prisoner Butcher's person, there was nothing but a few taels of broken silver?"
The monk pressed.
A bitter smile crossed Overseer Wu's face:
"By then the Prisoner Butcher had already been taken away by Constable Chief Lin; I never searched him..."
He stole a glance at Constable Chief Lin, a vague guess forming in his heart.
Constable Chief Lin frowned: "Master Huineng, when the Prisoner Butcher was captured his identity was verified, and he truly had nothing else on him."
At that, he grew thoughtful:
"There was a rumor in the jianghu that the Prisoner Butcher stole a Buddhist scripture from Bitter Enlightenment Temple. Could the rumor be true? Is Master Huineng searching for that scripture?"
Huineng glanced at Constable Chief Lin, then smiled:
"The Prisoner Butcher did indeed steal a Buddhist classic from Bitter Enlightenment Temple, for it was the original copy, containing profound dharma, and it cannot be lost. So Bitter Enlightenment Temple sent me to recover the tome. Yet there is no Buddhist classic of ours on his person now, which means he has hidden it somewhere."
Overseer Wu's expression stirred: "Master Huineng, do you mean to say..."
"This Fire Crystal Ore vein is well suited to hiding things."
Huineng pressed his palms together: "Benefactor Wu, might you assist in the search? If the dharma tome can be found, this humble monk would be deeply grateful."
"Brother Wu, we can lend a hand with this. I've brought a few dozen men this time — let them help look too."
Constable Chief Lin said.
Naturally Overseer Wu wouldn't refuse; he ordered Steward Niu at once to set every miner to searching for the Buddhist tome.
Facing the thousand-odd miners, Huineng suddenly said aloud:
"Whoever finds Bitter Enlightenment Temple's dharma tome, this humble monk will teach a fist-and-foot technique, and grant fifty taels of fine silver."
"Hss—"
"A martial art! Fifty taels of silver!?"
"Is he serious!?"
"A master of Bitter Enlightenment Temple surely keeps his word — find it and you're rich!"
In the crowd, Zhang Wei, Lin Guoliang, and the others grew unusually worked up.
To them, this was a game quest!
"Mengmeng, Chen Xu — if we find the quest target, we split the reward!"
Lin Guoliang said excitedly.
Wu Meng nodded happily.
A grave look crossed Chen Xu's face:
"I'm afraid it won't be so easy..."
To keep anyone from secretly pocketing the find and offending Bitter Enlightenment Temple, Overseer Wu had the vein guards and Constable Chief Lin's men supervise.
Together they numbered close to a hundred.
One man overseeing ten-odd miners was no problem.
The miners were also set to watch one another.
If someone pocketed the find, a successful report earned a reward of a hundred taels!
That was even higher than Huineng's reward!
Whether by chance or not.
Yang Ling was grouped with Zhang Wei, along with Lin Guoliang and the others.
Chen Xu was rather pleased, and stepped up to greet Yang Ling.
"What are you muttering about!? Get searching!"
The one supervising them was a constable, who had no kindly face for these vagrant miners.
Chen Xu didn't dare say more and quickly began searching about.
Not only was the vein being searched — the miners' village was too.
"You two, I'll go search as well."
Huineng suddenly cupped his hands and headed for the vein.
Once he'd gone some distance.
Overseer Wu suddenly said in a low voice:
"Brother Lin, is what Bitter Enlightenment Temple lost really a dharma tome? Not a martial art?"
"It's certainly a martial art."
Constable Chief Lin's expression was grave:
"And the grade won't be low — a second-rate art at the very least."
"This is a huge matter!"
Overseer Wu murmured: "Even a power as strong as the Shanhe Sect holds only two third-rate martial arts..."
He suddenly caught himself:
"What did the Prisoner Butcher say? Didn't your men capture him — did you get anything out of him?"
"The Prisoner Butcher..."
Constable Chief Lin glanced at Huineng's retreating back:
"Master Huineng spoke a few words with him alone, and then the Prisoner Butcher died."
"Died...?"
Overseer Wu felt a slight chill:
"Your yamen isn't looking into it?"
"Looking into what? No sense offending Bitter Enlightenment Temple over it. How many of the Kingdom of Zhao's dignitaries are patrons of Bitter Enlightenment Temple?"
Constable Chief Lin said mildly:
"Besides, they're the injured party."
Overseer Wu nodded thoughtfully.
He was certain what Bitter Enlightenment Temple had lost was a martial art — a second-rate one at least.
Otherwise Huineng wouldn't have needed to silence the man, to keep word from spreading and drawing the covetous eyes of other great sects.
***
Time slipped by.
Even the five caves were assigned miners to search.
Yang Ling pretended to search in earnest, while secretly keeping tabs on Huineng.
Seeing Huineng head into Cave No. 5, his heart gave a lurch.
Had the man already wrung the hiding place of the Vajra Wisdom King Art from the Prisoner Butcher?
"No — if he knew, there'd be no need for all this fuss."
Yang Ling breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
"Yang Ling, aren't you almost done scraping together your five taels of silver?"
Zhang Wei, nearby, spoke up as he searched the various corners.
"Any of your business?"
Yang Ling shot him a glance.
And took a look at Zhang Wei's attribute panel in passing.
Name: Zhang Wei
Class: Martial Artist
Level: 3
Strength: 4
Agility: 2
Spirit: 1
Martial Art: Zhang Family Leg Art (Beginner)
HP: 40
Yang Ling kept his composure, not a flicker of anything on his face.
The man's class had changed from Miner to Martial Artist.
This fellow had had contact with Zhang Hao?
Why would Zhang Hao teach him the Zhang Family Leg Art?
Zhang Wei hadn't expected his secret to be seen through so easily, and went on:
"You mine fast; five taels of silver won't be hard for you. I want to make a deal with you."
"What could you possibly have to trade with me?"
Yang Ling said idly.
A flash of anger crossed Zhang Wei's eyes, but he held his temper, edged closer to Yang Ling, and said in a low voice:
"A martial art."
"A martial art? You have a martial art?"
Yang Ling's step faltered.
Zhang Wei: "Keep your voice down. If you want to cultivate it, bring silver and buy it!"
Yang Ling's mind stirred.
Could this fellow really have a spare martial art?
Got from Zhang Hao?
If it was true, then it seemed the man could only make the deal with him.
Go to anyone else, and it'd be certain death!