Chapter 104: Harvest (Steering Master Extra Update 1)

The Shi Family guards at the secret base were all martial artists, the lowest being ninth grade. This was good news for Su Jingxing, who had just wiped out a base.

Previously, during the Yunhai Plaza incident, he had picked up several hundred cards that unlocked into either Strength Pills or Essence Pills. Now, what he most lacked were True Qi cards, or at best Internal Strength cards.

The Shi Family base guards were all martial artists, so the odds of obtaining these two card types were overwhelmingly high. And that proved true.

After reading every card's details, Su Jingxing's gains were solid. The four Bloodline cards came from Shi Jinchuan, Shi Jinzhou, and the other two men. Unlocking them yielded the special bloodline Three Yin Candle Blood.

Three True Qi cards listed six, ten, and seven years of cultivation.

Three Skill cards included two knife techniques, which the Shi Family had issued to guards for training but only provided in half form. Su Jingxing set them aside.

The key was the third Skill card, a Secret Technique.

It belonged to the fourth-grade offering Tang Wulin. The old man's high-frequency sonic waves were devastatingly powerful. Had Su Jingxing's body not already reached its physical limit, this operation's outcome would have suffered badly.

Envy of the Secret Technique was inevitable, though claiming otherwise would be a lie.

Stealing or faking its acquisition was never realistic.

Now, however, his golden finger had delivered exactly this Secret Technique, filling Su Jingxing with delight.

The remaining Internal Strength cards totaled over two hundred and ten years of cultivation when combined. Converted to True Qi, that equaled two years.

Not bad.

Su Jingxing refrained from unlocking and converting immediately. Instead, he first circulated Nine Steps to Heaven to replenish the True Qi spent en route.

During the earlier clash with Tang Wulin, he had consumed two True Qi cards—eight and seven years of cultivation. Normally, unlocking and absorbing them into Stepping Heaven True Qi would have raised his own cultivation by fifteen years. Yet, to offset the spent energy, absorption had only increased it by ten years, the lost five years erased by supplementation.

That moment demanded haste, leaving no choice. Now, with no urgency, Su Jingxing refused further loss.

Restoring True Qi took over an hour. If Nine Steps to Heaven had reached its seventh or eighth layer, the time would have been shorter still.

True Qi restored, Su Jingxing unlocked the Internal Strength cards sequentially, accumulating one hundred years to convert into one year of Stepping Heaven True Qi.

The leftover cards, two hundred years of Internal Strength, converted to two years of Stepping Heaven True Qi.

Su Jingxing's True Qi cultivation now stood at seventy-two years.

He kept the three True Qi cards as reserves.

The four Three Yin Candle Blood Bloodline cards were all unlocked, yielding four blood pearls fed to Startling Thunder.

Each pearl fed brightened one pattern on Startling Thunder's surface.

"This fellow... how many more do I need to feed before he revives completely?" Su Jingxing murmured while turning Startling Thunder in his hands.

Spiritual weapons possess immense power, long acknowledged since ancient times.

Take this base raid, for instance: had Startling Thunder joined the fight against Tang Wulin, Su Jingxing would never have suffered such humiliation.

Yet the time until Startling Thunder fully revived remained uncertain.

If the entire Shi Family was annihilated, every bloodline card opened into Three Yin Candle Blood fed to Startling Thunder, complete revival still could not be guaranteed.

Startling Thunder had lain dormant far too long.

Before Grandpa Zhang Shanfu extracted it from the fish's belly, no one knew how long it had drifted—whether a hundred years or a thousand.

Su Jingxing had no answer. What he could do was feed it continuously.

This Shi Family martial clan, driven by madness and malice, deserved no pity in death. Their blood nourished Startling Thunder, a mere waste of resources.

Of course, the Shi Family could only be opposed from the shadows.

He operated as a lone avenger. Any further rash move would see this sixth-grade realm, fourth-grade combat powerhouse Su Jingxing eliminated halfway by Shi Family agents.

The Shi Family's influence ran too deep; fourth-grade strength was not limited to Tang Wulin alone. Within each realm, power varied.

Could Tang Wulin rival Li Linzhou at the same fourth-grade level?

No.

If no one in the Shi Family surpassed Tang Wulin's strength, why would he guard their outer base?

That logic failed.

Tang Wulin was no fool.

Thus the Shi Family fielded multiple fourth-grade experts, some far stronger.

The Shi Family required patient handling.

One approach was to ignite a public opinion storm.

A ready case already existed: the girl born in Yin year, Yin month, Yin day, and Yin hour.

Before acting, Su Jingxing confirmed every girl had returned home.

Until then, movement was impossible; the Shi Family might lash out and ambush them returning to the city.

The wait proved short.

The following afternoon, at the crematorium where Su Jingxing routinely carried corpses, noisy voices suddenly erupted outside.

"What's this commotion now?"

Kong Dabao clicked his tongue.

"Seems like good news." Su Jingxing listened intently a moment and said, "Dabao brother, deliver this corpse first, then we can step outside and check?"

"Not yet."

Kong Dabao set the trolley aside and spoke gravely. "Corpses can be handled anytime. The crematorium's safety, however, cannot be compromised even an instant. As part of the crematorium, our duty is to neutralize any threat to it at the earliest moment!"

"Does that sound right to you, little Su?" Kong Dabao winked.

"Precisely. Dabao brother is spot on." Su Jingxing matched his tone.

"Then why stand around?"

Kong Dabao waved and marched out.

Su Jingxing swallowed laughter and trailed behind.

As a formal employee, slipping away during work hours to slack off was acceptable.

Although Su Jingxing already knew the cause.

Cough, cough~

The voices belonged to Gu Bo, and Gu Duoduo had returned.

Grateful for the crematorium staff's prior aid, however minor, Gu Bo valued their kindness and invited everyone to dinner at the hotel that evening. The on-duty workers packed portions for the dormitory.

Everyone rejoiced at Gu Duoduo's homecoming, so the meal was skipped.

Su Jingxing refused too, then casually inquired about the others' situations.

Most girls had been escorted back to their home cities; the distant ones were temporarily housed at Tinghe Town Martial Arts Headquarters.

Relief washed over Su Jingxing.

With the rear secured, a public opinion assault on the Shi Family could begin that night.

Exact proof was lacking, yet guiding such narratives was routine on Earth. Moreover, Gu Duoduo and the others supplied authentic accounts.

Su Jingxing posted two articles with striking headlines, then infiltrated Tinghe City's forums, social platforms, and communication networks, steering them gently until the entire city exploded.