Martial Saint with Passives

”Greetings, Master Wu!” Jiang Che said, cupping his fist.

Master Wu slowly rose and came to a stop in front of Jiang Che.

The man was about seven and a half feet tall; by comparison, Jiang Che only reached his chest.

Suddenly, a vicious glint appeared in Master Wu’s eyes. He whipped out his Curved Saber and slashed at Jiang Che!

But Jiang Che was utterly unafraid. He decisively drew the saber he carried—the one that had belonged to Hu Bugui—and met the attack head-on.

The Omen didn’t trigger. ’This means Master Wu just wants to test my Martial Arts; he doesn’t actually want to kill me.’

Jiang Che suppressed the urge to fight with his full strength. He used only a sliver of power greater than the Mid Stage of the Iron Skin Realm and unleashed the Gale Saber Technique he had gotten from Hu Bugui, clashing with Master Wu.

After twenty exchanges, Jiang Che’s [Stacking Force] and [Fury] were both fully stacked.

He had to lower his strength again, using only about ten percent of his total Power. The fight was incredibly stifling.

Fortunately, Master Wu also retracted his saber in time and stopped the exchange.

Jiang Che breathed a sigh of relief. ’I was worried I’d get carried away and slash straight at that red line on Master Wu’s neck. If that happened, I’d have no hope of getting out of here alive.’

Instead, Master Wu let out a great laugh and said, ”Not bad, not bad! Your Saber Technique is truly impressive!”

Jiang Che cupped his fists. ”You flatter me, Master Wu! It’s nothing compared to you!”

Master Wu was clearly pleased by this. He clapped Jiang Che on the shoulder and said, ”Alright, Hu Bugui. From now on, you’re with me!”

Afterwards, Master Wu had the burly man who had brought Jiang Che show him around the stronghold and take him to his new quarters.

After Jiang Che left, the smile on Master Wu’s face vanished abruptly.

”Men! Go investigate this Hu Bugui. See if he’s really a man wanted by the Government Office with nowhere else to turn, just as he claims!”

”Yes, sir!”

...

The burly man took Jiang Che to get his Identity Token and register his information, then led him to a house on the mountainside.

”Hu Bugui, you’ll be living here from now on.”

”Thank you, Brother Zhang!”

Jiang Che took out a gold leaf and handed it to him.

The burly man’s name was Zhang Wei, a minor leader under Master Wu.

He accepted the gold leaf without hesitation, a smile spreading across his face.

”If there’s anything else you don’t understand, feel free to ask me!”

Jiang Che then asked about the stronghold’s power structure and the nature of the daily work.

Zhang Wei explained everything in detail.

As it turned out, the Chieftain of the stronghold was, of course, Tuoba Lie, but he was rarely seen.

He didn’t know exactly how strong Tuoba Lie was, but even the third-in-command, who had reached Great Success in Force Integration, was utterly respectful in his presence.

He was rumored to be beyond the realm of Force Integration, but no one knew what that next realm was, only that it existed.

The second-in-command was the strategist, Mr. Yuan.

At the mention of Mr. Yuan, Zhang Wei’s expression grew solemn, full of apparent respect.

According to him, although Mr. Yuan didn’t know any Martial Arts, he was incredibly resourceful and had devised numerous strategies for the stronghold, allowing them to grow from a band of Horse Bandits who only knew how to pillage into the force they were today.

The stronghold’s present success was all thanks to Mr. Yuan.

As for the third-in-command, he was the first among Tuoba Lie’s eight adopted sons, known as Master Hu.

Master Hu was the top fighter in the stronghold after Chieftain Tuoba Lie. He was primarily responsible for leading troops on campaigns and was a key figure in conquering several of Lin Yuan City’s Earth Castles.

After him came the other seven adopted sons.

Below them were minor leaders like himself.

A minor leader was in charge of about twenty regular members.

The requirement to become a minor leader was to reach the Iron Skin Realm, a condition Jiang Che already met. But since he was new, he still needed to accumulate merits.

As for how to accumulate merits, there were five main avenues: sieges, hunting, raiding, patrols, and internal affairs.

”Sieges, hunting, and raiding are the fastest ways to accumulate merits. I’d suggest you pick one of those three,” Zhang Wei said.

”Thank you for the information, Brother Zhang!” Jiang Che said, cupping his fist.

’But I’d rather do internal affairs,’ he thought.

’After all, I’m not really here to be a Horse Bandit; I’m here to find my parents.’

Internal affairs mostly involved administrative work, including the job of managing the people they had abducted to use as laborers.

’If I’m assigned a job like that, it’ll be much easier to ask about my parents’ whereabouts.’

After Zhang Wei left, Jiang Che went into the house, set down his things, and began to meditate and cultivate.

As night fell, people began to trickle back to the surrounding houses.

Jiang Che went outside to greet his new neighbors.

Most of them were regular members of average strength, and they were all very enthusiastic when they saw that their new neighbor was an expert in the Iron Skin Realm.

After all, anyone at the Iron Skin Realm was basically guaranteed a promotion to minor leader after spending just a few days in the stronghold.

Building a good relationship with him now meant they might have a powerful connection to rely on later.

Jiang Che, for his part, handed out silver to everyone he met, leaving them all stunned and flattered.

He also took the opportunity to ask for more information about the stronghold.

”Brother Hu, you really want to work in internal affairs? There’s no merit to be earned there!” a pockmarked man said with a frown.

’An expert from the Iron Skin Realm wanting to do internal affairs... what a waste.’

”You can’t look at it that way,” Jiang Che said with a smile. ”Think about it. When the brothers who are out fighting come back, isn’t it just as important for them to have a hot meal, a hot bath, and timely treatment for their wounds?”

”Well, when you put it like that...” The pockmarked man still didn’t quite understand Jiang Che’s reasoning.

Still, he gave him the general rundown on the different jobs in internal affairs.

”...As for carpentry, that’s managed by the Work Hall. You should go ask about it tomorrow,” the pockmarked man said, his tone no longer as enthusiastic as before.

’If Jiang Che went to the Work Hall, it would basically mean he had no future, and there’d be no point in trying to curry favor with him anymore.’