Chapter 16: Battle Assessment

Stunned for a long time, Kai Xin still found it hard to believe. He looked down at his dirt-stained hands, unable to accept that a master martial artist from the Exit-Entry Organization had died at his hands unjustly. After all, that person was from the Exit-Entry Organization… With internal energy exceeding 40 points, their martial skills saw a 10% boost in lethality, defense, and speed once their combat state was activated. And he was just a newcomer who had only learned Shaolin Long Fist for a few days.
“Killed the tomb raider ‘Lao San’—10 points in martial righteousness!”
“Killed an Exit-Entry Organization martial artist beyond one’s rank—50 points in reputation!”
“Battle danger assessment: Level A. You’ve gained a deeper understanding of the flexible application of Shaolin Long Fist; your combat state has risen from the 9th level to the 10th!”
The continuous system alerts finally snapped Kai Xin out of his daze. Yet what concerned and excited him the most wasn’t the martial righteousness or reputation points—the former could be earned by killing any harmful or evil individuals, while the latter, though harder to obtain, wasn’t very useful at the moment… It was the battle danger assessment!
The system’s recognition of this fight after it ended filled Kai Xin with joy. This was a distinctive feature of “Jianghu”—when the enemy was clearly stronger, it assessed the danger level based on the gap in strength, ranging from the lowest “even strength”—Level E, “slight pressure”—Level D, “at a disadvantage”—Level C, “fighting against all odds”—Level B, “no chance of winning”—Level A, to “determined to die”—Level S.
Not all battles were necessarily judged after assessment! Only in life-or-death duels, where one side died… would such alerts appear… And if the weaker side managed to win by killing their enemy, it was akin to achieving a breakthrough; the system would recognize this and grant some unexpected rewards. The higher the danger assessment level, the greater the rewards!
Level A!
It was quite normal for the system to rate the tomb raider as having no chance of winning—on one side was a ruthless martial artist from the Exit-Entry Organization, while on the other was a newcomer without even light-footwork skills; the disparity was indeed enormous! Yet Kai Xin’s unexpected kick, which required considerable skill, earned both the system’s recognition and approval.
Shaolin Long Fist had reached Level 90… Just 9.99 more levels left before achieving perfection and entering the master realm.
Eager, Kai Xin threw a few punches casually—swift and decisive, with a whooshing sound—as the soil two meters ahead trembled slightly. Amazing!

Just one more level to reach the masterly realm of supreme skill! His internal energy also increased from 2.27 to 4.57 due to this advancement (any lower-level martial art reaching the 80th level, the “Ninth Realm,” automatically increases internal energy by 1 point; mental techniques can slowly increase internal energy, with no more than 0.15 per day in the world of “Jianghu”). What a pleasant surprise! While feeling overjoyed, he didn’t forget another benefit of killing someone from the martial arts world. “You can search the body of the grave robber ‘Lao San’ to obtain the belongings he left behind…” The system gave another reminder. He quickly rushed to Lao San’s body. Although “Jianghu” had a high degree of virtuality, it still had some restrictions—there were no overly bloody or unbearable scenes. The face and wounds on the body were very blurred. After searching around Lao San for a while, he pulled out a small black cloth bag, his eyes lighting up. A Qiankun Bag. A storage item unique to Tianji Valley, it could expand and contract freely, holding many items—perfect for storing weapons, pills, and more. Usually, newcomers had to reach a certain level or complete a task before being given one. What was inside? He emptied its contents and his expression turned joyful. A good haul! Besides twelve gold ingots, several jade pendants, a secret manual of “Willow Leaf Flying Daggers,” and thirty-six such daggers, there were also some gold wound medicines. One hundred and twenty taels of gold equaled twelve hundred taels of silver. Adding the jade pendants and jewels that could be sold in shops, it was almost worth that much. He grinned broadly—he had made a fortune. Although the “Willow Leaf Flying Daggers” manual came from a minor sect, it was exactly what Happy needed at that moment. And then there was this “Battle-Tested Sword” beside the body—hey, not bad at all. Happy packed everything up, fastened the Qiankun Bag to his waist, and searched further but found nothing more. Then, the butler of the Murong family arrived, along with a group of imposing men. “Where’s the grave robber?” The butler glanced at the bodies scattered around the Sword Tomb, frowned, and only relaxed slightly when he looked at Happy. “Yes,” Happy replied. Noticing the high cultivation levels and impressive aura of the people behind the butler, he didn’t dare neglect them and recounted everything that had happened. As the butler listened, his surprise grew deeper.

In just one night, the Sword Tomb was visited by two groups of tomb robbers. The first group of greedy villagers all died, and even one of the second group of martial artists was killed—by his own disciple. Even the group of Murong family servants standing behind the butler showed expressions of admiration and disbelief. One of them stepped forward to examine the hand and bones of the third tomb robber, then nodded at the butler: “His strength is quite considerable.” “Hmph! Those who dare to target the Murong family deserve to die!” As the butler spoke angrily, a hint of smile flashed in his eyes. He said to Kai Xin, “You did well. When we return to the mansion, I’ll tell the young lady, and she’ll reward you personally!” “It’s my duty,” Kai Xin replied humbly, though he was secretly overjoyed. This time, he had likely exceeded his tasks, so the reward would surely be generous… He was thrilled! The butler gave a few more instructions, noted the appearances of the other two tomb robbers, and left the Sword Tomb with his men and the piles of corpses. Surely by tomorrow morning, the Six Gates would post portraits of the two escaped tomb robbers on all four city gates. Back at the mansion, Kai Xin met Miss Murong in the backyard. With a warm smile, she hugged Xiao Bai and came over kindly: “I was right about you after all.” “The butler has already told me that not only did you protect the Sword Tomb successfully, but you also captured a tomb robber, bringing honor to our Murong family. This proves my judgment was correct, and the family head is very pleased.” “It’s all thanks to your guidance and cultivation.” “Well, this is the Wudang sword technique the butler intended to reward you— the ‘Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Sword Art’…” Miss Murong handed him a brand-new secret manual. Then, with a flick of her hand, she produced an ancient and elegant sword with a purple tassel: “If there’s a sword technique, there must be a sword! As a disciple of the Murong family, one needs a good sword to practice sword arts—and it must match the family’s status and temperament!” Her gaze shifted to the sword in her hand, and she said meaningfully, “This is the Gentleman’s Sword, which belonged to my brother when he was young. Now I grant it to you. I hope you won’t fail to uphold its dignity.” Kai Xin, who was in need of a good sword, immediately lit up. He quickly thanked her and took the sword to admire it. Miss Murong smiled slightly and left quietly.