In the mountains and forests, under Lin Ce's watchful eye, Li Qingshan revealed everything.
"When the hidden weapon attacked, I had no choice but to use the sect's protective martial art, 'Azure Rock Robe,' which greatly increased my defense and left me unharmed from the attack."
"What does this have to do with you lying down and not helping?"
“Using the ‘Azure Rock Robe’ is equivalent to turning the skin on the body into a hard azure rock, which will make the body stiff and unable to move for a period of time.”
"It turns out to be a weak martial art with a huge disadvantage."
Lin Ce pursed his lips.
At first, he was somewhat interested in the "Azure Rock Robe," but once he heard that it was the type with such prominent weaknesses, he completely lost interest.
"Who said it's a weak martial art!"
Li Qingshan became excited, "That's because my skills aren't up to par yet. Once you master the 'Azure Rock Robe,' it won't affect your movements. In fact, you can even cultivate my sect's famous 'Mountain Fighting Body,' a powerful martial art that can sweep away everything."
Is that so?
Lin Ce's interest was piqued again. "In that case, could you teach us how to do it?"
"snort!"
Li Qingshan raised his head high, his pride returning. "Impossible. Sect martial arts cannot be passed on to outsiders without permission. Unless you become my disciple, it's not that I can't consider it."
Lin Ce's smile vanished instantly.
"Little Li, hurry up, pack your bags and get going. We've been delayed quite a bit because of burying you."
The caravan then continued on its journey.
Li Qingshan, with a stern face, still walked at the front.
His previous behavior clearly made him feel very uncomfortable.
The young hero, who was destined to compete for the position of chief镖头 (chief镖头 is a Chinese idiom meaning "chief镖师" or "chief镖师"), died without achieving anything, which made him feel frustrated.
He had decided that he would perform seriously from now on, to show Lin Ce what a true young hero he was, and to make everyone present look at him with new respect.
As the person in charge of this caravan, Lin Ce was looking at his "martial arts panel" at the moment.
That's right, after the "King of Escorts" system was activated, he had his own "Martial Arts Panel".
At that moment, a semi-transparent information box appeared in his mind.
[Mountain-Breaking Fist (After-Day Initiation)]: Second Level
This is the only martial art he currently possesses.
The acquired martial arts, from the worst to the best, are divided into nine levels.
The Mountain-Breaking Fist isn't the worst; it's said to have three levels, corresponding to the upper, middle, and lower stages of a ninth-rank martial artist.
With his current level of the second tier, his strength is roughly equivalent to a mid-stage ninth-rank martial artist.
In a small place like Erhe County, this is already considered quite good.
They would be more than capable of serving as guards for wealthy families.
If you're even a little more shameless, you could open a martial arts school and teach students.
At this moment, on the "Martial Arts Panel," below the "Mountain Breaking Fist" martial art, there is also an experience bar.
From left to right, there are four nodes: "Initial Practice", "Minor Success", "Major Success", and "Perfection".
At this moment, the experience bar has gone from being close to "Mastery" to completely surpassing the "Mastery" milestone.
It was in that battle with the thieves that he gained considerable experience and directly achieved a breakthrough.
It was just a difference of one battle, but he is now clearly stronger than before he encountered the thieves.
Lin Ce didn't dwell on why using a knife to cut people could increase his fist technique experience points.
If he were to encounter the thieves again at this time, he would obviously be able to perform even better.
What followed was a smooth journey.
They did not encounter any more bandits until it got dark.
This is only natural. If you could encounter robberies every few steps, there wouldn't be many people willing to run a security escort business.
We still have a day's journey to Heishan Temple, so we can't let our guard down.
"Let's find a place to settle down and continue our journey tomorrow morning."
There weren't many suitable places to settle in the mountains and forests, and Lin Ce was exploring the area when Li Qingshan came over.
“Let’s go to the bandits’ stronghold. It’s definitely a good place. I found traces of their escape.”
A strange flame flickered in Li Qingshan's eyes, clearly indicating that his previous setback still left him feeling resentful.
"Is it possible that we are just a caravan, and our primary task is to escort the goods safely? That's the most important thing?"
Because of the existence of the "King of Escorts" system, Lin Ce clearly did not intend to cause any unforeseen complications before successfully completing the escort mission.
Although the bandits didn't seem very strong, and their leader seemed to have been killed by me, who knows what kind of traps were hidden in their stronghold?
If the people who led the team earlier were just the seventh or eighth leaders of the stronghold, and there was a large group of powerful leaders in the stronghold, then the problem would be much bigger.
Lin Ce wasn't that stupid to hand over his goods and his life to someone else.
"Go by yourself, don't drag us along. Also, if you leave now, you'll have absolutely nothing to do with the escort agency."
"If you don't want to go, then don't go. It's no big deal."
Li Qingshan abandoned this idea.
The caravan eventually found a cave to settle down in.
After a peaceful night, the caravan set off again.
Along the way, they encountered nothing else; not only were there no highway robbers, but they didn't even see a single wild beast.
It seems the legend of the Black Mountain being teeming with ferocious beasts is just a fabricated story.
The caravan arrived at its destination, Black Mountain Temple, without incident.
Despite being located deep in the mountains, the temple is surprisingly popular with worshippers.
Many mountain people came to offer incense and pay their respects.
"Did you all travel safely and encounter no ferocious beasts on your journey?"
The mountain people were very hospitable, and Lin Ce and the others couldn't be cold to them, so they simply smiled and nodded in response.
"Indeed, we did not encounter any ferocious beasts, which contradicts the legends."
The villagers then laughed, chattering amongst themselves, their faces showing the pride that Li Qingshan often displayed.
"Thanks to the immortal masters in the temple, who used their divine skills to punish the evil beasts in the mountains, there have been no reports of beasts harming people in the mountains for the past month."
“That’s right. In my opinion, Black Mountain is different from before. We can rest and recuperate there from now on. It’s laughable that some young people have such a short-sighted view. They’ve been traveling so far this month.”
"Hey, let them go down the mountain to make a living. It'll be better if fewer people compete with us. Then we can go deeper into the mountains to dig for herbs. Won't life be much better than before?"
"Yes, we should light more incense to ask the immortal master for more protection."
Lin Ce nodded slightly at the words of these mountain people, but remained indifferent to them.
He did not believe in the existence of supernatural powers.
In fact, this is a world of demons and martial arts, and there are indeed beasts that cultivate into demons, but the human race's martial arts are flourishing and they are not afraid of the former.
When martial arts are practiced to an extremely high level, they are capable of moving mountains and filling seas, and their methods are no less than those of the so-called immortals mentioned by these mountain people.
Perhaps it was just that a powerful martial artist from the Black Mountain Temple intervened and eliminated the ferocious beasts in the mountains.
Just like him, although he is only a mid-level ninth-rank martial artist now, some newly initiated little demons may not be able to withstand his single-handed slash.
"The abbot invites you all to come and meet him."
A young Taoist priest came out and led Lin Ce and the others.
The members of the escort team were all very excited.
The first shipment after the escort agency reopened is almost complete, and the future looks promising.
Lin Ce's excitement surpassed that of others.
He's a man with the "King of Escorts" system. What kind of reward will he get after completing this first escort mission?
No matter what, it can't be worse than the newbie gift pack, right?
Inside the Taoist temple, Lin Ce met the person who was supposed to deliver the goods, the abbot of Black Mountain Temple.
The abbot, dressed in a black Taoist robe, turned around and looked at us. His face, slightly weathered, was handsome and refined, and in terms of beauty, he was in no way inferior to the always self-satisfied Li Qingshan.
"The chief镖头 (chief镖头) has come all this way for these medicinal herbs for alchemy within the temple; you've worked hard."
Her voice was gentle and soothing, giving one a feeling of being bathed in a spring breeze.
The young men in the entire caravan felt a surge of relief, realizing that the journey hadn't been so arduous after all.
Lin Ce, however, only stared intently at the Black Mountain Abbot before him and asked:
"Master, is it sufficient to simply hand over this shipment to you?"
"That's right, thank you all for your hard work."
"Master, just to confirm, is the escort mission considered complete once the goods are handed over to you?"
"Yes, thank you for your hard work, Chief Escort."
"Clang!"
With a single sword drawn, Lin Ce slashed straight at the Black Mountain Abbot in front of him.
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