Chapter 164: The Second Ten-Roll

Ning Xiu sat on a flatbed wagon at the back of the procession, holding a meat pie, taking a bite with an easygoing expression.

The wagons mentioned by the middle-aged man were all flatbed carts pulled by camels, with specially treated wheels. Even so, they could only be used near the edge of the desert.

However, for Lin Mubai and his companions, they had never intended to venture deep into the Dead Desert.

Merchants chase profit, which is not wrong, but they cherish their lives even more.

"Brother Ding, did you walk out from the great desert?" Lin Mubai asked, his eyes shining.

Ning Xiu nodded and slowly recited a prepared explanation.

This was not the first time he had done this, so he was quite proficient.

Only this time, Ning Xiu's persona was that of someone who, driven by the desire to avenge his master, ventured deep into the desert regardless of the danger and ultimately succeeded in slaying his enemy.

"I see. Brother Ding, your life is truly exciting." Lin Mubai looked at him with undisguised admiration, untied the water skin from his back, and handed it to Ning Xiu. "Brother Ding, have some water!"

"Thank you." Ning Xiu took the water skin and tilted his head back for a drink.

"Has everyone rested enough? Let's get moving again and try to get back to Ancient Maple City before dark. I, Lin Shanzhan, will treat everyone to a meal at the Golden Wind Tower!" At this moment, a loud voice suddenly boomed, and several people who had been sitting on the ground resting quickly stood up.

Soon, the caravan resumed its journey, setting off on the road toward Ancient Maple City.

Along this endless, desolate ancient road of the wilderness, the caravan of several hundred people was not moving very fast, even though everyone wished they could return early to feast at the Golden Wind Tower.

Yet they were well aware of the dangers of this trade route, and the guards within the formation kept a cautious watch all around, guarding against sudden raids by sand bandits.

"Creek, croak..."

The flatbed wagon made a very rhythmic sound as it moved forward. Countless small spikes embedded in the wheels prevented the cart from easily sinking into the sandy terrain.

Ning Xiu sat on the wagon, appearing to rest with his eyes closed, while actually operating the "Martial God" system.

Three masters at the fifth level of the Mortal Shedding realm, plus eight divine envoys generally at the Mortal Shedding realm, had provided Ning Xiu with a total of 4,328 ingots—considerably less than he had originally imagined.

He frowned. The amount was not even half of what was required for the twelfth tier of the Golden Bell Shield, and upgrading the Holy Spirit Sword Technique required related fragmentary pages.

Ning Xiu had checked the system; completing the final star-upgrade task required fifty 4-star martial art fragments. Knowing that synthesizing an entirely new 4-star martial art only required ninety martial art fragments.

Besides, Ning Xiu currently possessed zero 4-star fragments.

The situation with Sword Thirteen was much the same as the Holy Spirit Sword Technique. Given Ning Xiu's current status, he could at best upgrade it to Sword Fourteen; learning the fifteenth sword was still completely out of the question.

The remaining martial arts in his possession were even less worthy of upgrading.

The current environment was not as perilous as it had been back in Lingnan. After hesitating for a moment, Ning Xiu decided to try his luck with a ten-consecutive draw.

Speaking of which, this was only his second ten-consecutive draw.

A flash of golden light swept past, and the familiar scene finally appeared before him once again.

Treasure chests of unclear tiers lined up in two rows before Ning Xiu, and then opened sequentially in order.

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: White Jade Sword x1."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Three-Star Martial Art - Nine Yin True Scripture."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: One-Star Blade Technique - Five Tigers Soul-Breaking Blade."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Dust-Repelling Bead x1."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Heaven-Ensnaring Net x1."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Ice Soul Divine Needle x1."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: One-Star Blade Technique - Eighty-One Styles of the Five Tigers Blade."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Two-Star Martial Art - Sunflower Acupoint-Sealing Hand."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Heavenly Mandate Four-Image Formula Fragment x1."

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining: Xuanwu Sword x1."

...

The Martial God treasure chests opened one after another, and dazzling rays of light continuously illuminated the space. Since it was a ten-consecutive draw using ingots after all, some good items were bound to come out.

"Item: Nine Yin True Scripture."

"Type: Martial Art."

"Tier: Three-Star, Mortal-Grade Martial Art."

"Annotation: An encyclopedia of martial arts; regardless of the style, one can find corresponding principles within the True Scripture. It encompasses inner cultivation, lightness skills, fists, palms, legs, blade techniques, sword techniques, staff techniques, whip techniques, finger and claw techniques, acupoint-sealing secret techniques, healing methods, breath-holding divine arts, soul-shifting grand magic, and much more, lacking nothing."

The formidable nature of the Nine Yang Divine Skill lay in the single word "refined." Although the entire text consisted only of inner cultivation mental formulas, once the divine skill reached completion, it practically achieved the pinnacle of the mortal grade, surpassing over ninety percent of the martial arts in the pugilistic world.

If the characteristic of the Nine Yang Divine Skill lay in "refined," then the Nine Yin True Scripture boiled down entirely to "vast." Just as the system annotation stated, it was practically an encyclopedia of martial arts.

Back in the day, Mei Chaofeng had dominated the pugilistic world relying solely on a single technique from it—the Nine Yin White Bone Claw.

Now, with Ning Xiu combining both Nine Yin and Nine Yang within himself, his overall martial cultivation could truly be described as both "vast and profound."

The other two one-star blade techniques were of no use to Ning Xiu now, aside from broadening his perspective. However, the Sunflower Acupoint-Sealing Hand did catch Ning Xiu's attention; after looking at it, he cursed under his breath in a low voice.

As it turned out, sealing acupoints and releasing acupoints were two distinct supreme arts, and there was another martial art called the Sunflower Acupoint-Releasing Hand.

Beyond that, what Ning Xiu wanted to complain about most was that this ten-consecutive draw had unexpectedly yielded two treasured swords at the same time.

"Item: White Jade Sword."

"Type: Weapon."

"Tier: Three-Star, Sharp Weapon Grade."

"Annotation: Forged entirely from flawless white jade, this is one of the guardian divine swords of the Renjian Sword Manor."

"Item: Xuanwu Sword."

"Type: Weapon."

"Tier: Three-Star, Sharp Weapon Grade."

"Annotation: Forged from millennium-old dark iron, the sword body is exceptionally heavy, making it one of the guardian divine swords of the Renjian Sword Manor."

"So it was them..." Ning Xiu murmured softly. Seeing the system annotation, he finally recalled the origin of these two treasured swords.

If things were truly as he suspected, then this ten-consecutive draw could be considered brimming with sheer good fortune.

One had to know that these two treasured swords also came with two high-level sword techniques attached, which was practically a free bonus.

Thinking that his luck today was exceptionally good, Ning Xiu directly initiated a second ten-consecutive draw.

This ten-consecutive draw completely brought him back down to earth, yielding almost nothing of worth. Looking at the pile of "useless" items before him, reality once again rudely awakened Ning Xiu.

However, this draw also yielded a treasured sword originating from the Renjian Sword Manor: the Breeze Sword.

It was a slender, long sword.

"Brother Ding?"

Hearing the sound, Ning Xiu slowly opened his eyes, looked at Lin Mubai beside him, and asked, "What is it?"

Lin Mubai's expression appeared somewhat hesitant, but he finally mustered up his courage and said, "Brother Ding was able to travel alone into the desert to avenge his master, so your martial arts must be very high. Can you teach me a couple of moves?"

Perhaps fearing that Ning Xiu would misunderstand, Lin Mubai added, "They don't have to be any profound martial arts; just teaching me a random move or two will do."