Scarlet District Mistress pried a small white bone from the mud and lifted it toward the light, studying every contour with clinical focus. A foul odor seeped from it. Fine white hairs clung to its surface, and thin, darkened veins still traced across what remained of the flesh.
“This is… the remains of the Six-Vein Level Bai Jiang.” She frowned as she turned the bone between her fingers. “It’s a miracle it hasn’t disintegrated.” The idea that a Six-Vein expert could leave behind even a fragment unsettled her.
“It is unusual indeed. Experts like us truly disintegrate after death. Even if he were a Zombie, there is no reason he should have left anything behind. Whoever killed him would have consumed the remnants or reduced them to dust.”
“Unusual… indeed…” The umbrella girl muttered, just as perplexed.
“Search the area. I’ll track the aura from this piece and examine further ahead,” Scarlet District Mistress instructed.
“Alright.”
She watched the Mistress stride off in the opposite direction, bone in hand. Only then did she step toward the base of a nearby tree. With a soft sweep of her arm, pale ghosts streamed out from her sleeve, drifting like scattered ash in every direction.
Under her quiet command, they dispersed and sifted through the forest—not for tracks or debris, but for traces of lingering aura.
Sunbeams pierced the canopy in slender shafts, casting shifting lattices of light across her figure as she wandered through the woodland, mind somewhere far beyond the trees.
A soft swish broke the stillness.
One of the ghosts drifted back to her, whispering hastily.
The umbrella girl tilted her head, listening intently. As the murmured report continued, a slow shock unfurled across her face.
It had been so long since Lu Sheng killed the Ashoka Manor Emissaries here. Countless searches had yielded nothing. Yet now, of all times, something new had surfaced.
The ghost had found another soul—one eerily similar to itself.
Although the soul had no true intelligence and moved only through instinct, something faint yet intriguing lingered in its fractured memories.
“Take me… there…” Umbrella girl murmured, thinking of Lu Sheng, her sister, and the web coiled deep within her.
The ghost rushed ahead, guiding her to a shallow ditch. A skeleton lay twisted inside it, and beside it stood a translucent figure. His neck bent at an unnatural angle, frozen in the moment of a violent death.
Several pale ghosts circled him, barring his escape.
Umbrella girl stepped forward and placed her hand on the soul’s wavering form.
A storm of images burst across her mind.
A guttural roar shook the vision. A savage face—one she knew all too well—lunged out of the memory.
“AHH!!”
She stumbled back, breath hitching even though she no longer needed air. Old habits from a body long gone tightened around her like a phantom reflex.
‘It’s Lu Sheng.’
‘It’s him.’
Her thoughts spiraled. The face in the soul’s memories was undeniably his. This ghost had witnessed Lu Sheng’s slaughter of the Ashoka Manor Emissaries.
Umbrella girl stood motionless, the silence around her thickening.
“All of you… go somewhere else first… keep looking. I’ll… take it over… from here.”
The ghosts drifted away without question, leaving her alone in the muted forest.
She fixed her gaze on the lingering soul. Then, with a sudden, decisive motion, she seized it.
A sharp splat echoed as the soul burst apart under her grip, scattering into fading motes of light.
Umbrella girl lowered her red umbrella, shadowing her face.
‘I can’t let sis find out… that man… that man…’ A cold tremor ran through her. ‘Isn’t it better to go on living quietly like this? As if nothing happened… just like before.’
She pressed a hand lightly against her chest, eyes closing for a moment. When she opened them again, she turned and walked back the way she came.
…………
A sharp ka-cha cracked through the underbrush as a leather shoe crushed a brittle twig.
Xu Chui moved ahead in dark green athletic robes, Lu Sheng following closely behind. The dense forest wrapped around them like a living labyrinth.
“After passing through this, we’ll reach Martial League’s base.” Lu Sheng paused before a tree as wide as a man’s embrace, lifting his gaze to the canopy that swallowed the sky.
Above them, red-eyed monkeys hung upside down from the branches, glaring with feral hostility.
“My Lord, do we need to make direct contact?” Xu Chui stepped forward without emotion, positioning himself as a shield.
“Of course. We’ve come here for more than just one reason.” Lu Sheng’s grin curved, tongue brushing his lips.
A thin hiss threaded through the air as Xu Chui gripped his sword hilt. The blade slid free, its exposed length gleaming colder and sharper with every inch.
In that instant, the troop of red-eyed monkeys launched themselves downward. Their claws glinted. Their movements were swift and precise, far from ordinary beasts... more like trained assassins storming from the trees.
Dozens descended at once, a rain of snarling bodies.
Swish!
A storm of silver erupted from Xu Chui’s hands. Sword gleams burst outward like a sphere of fractured moonlight, ripping through the dim forest.
In a single instant, it was over.
The monkeys hit the earth in a heavy downpour, lifeless and still. Blood seeped into the soil in narrow, dark streams.
Xu Chui sheathed his sword with the same calm he wore from the beginning.
Ever since receiving his master’s personal impartation, his sword speed had soared to terrifying heights. With such overwhelming power, the oddities in his physique hardly mattered anymore.
“Let’s go.” Lu Sheng stepped forward without a hint of surprise. Xu Chui had already cut down plenty of ferocious beasts on their journey here.
Back when Lu Sheng transferred the Yin Yang Jade Crane Aquarius Qi to him, he had noticed the issue: Xu Chui’s mortal body simply could not withstand the frigid Yin essence. His flesh had begun to freeze under it, inch by inch.
Left with no other option, Lu Sheng had attempted to transfer the Ultimate Crimson Nine Furies Skill into Xu Chui’s body, hoping it would neutralize the Aquarius Qi he had previously injected.
Against all expectations, it worked flawlessly.
The crimson inner Qi slipped into Xu Chui’s meridians, merging with the Aquarius Qi and weaving a brand-new Yin Crane Web within him. Once formed, the web immediately redirected Xu Chui’s inner Qi through its channels, amplifying his explosive strength and dramatically accelerating his rate of replenishment.
The most terrifying aspect of the Yin Crane Web was its complete lack of bottlenecks. One could cultivate as much inner force as their body could bear.
This was how Xu Chui’s power had soared in such a short time. Lu Sheng hadn’t merely empowered him—he had reconstructed his very foundation, reshaping his constitution from within.
The Yin Crane Web was, in essence, an entirely new meridian network sculpted for Xu Chui. Yet it remained tethered to the mother web inside Lu Sheng. He could feel it clearly: if the mother web within him were ever damaged, all daughter webs would suffer the backlash.
Lu Sheng’s thoughts drifted back to the present. His eyes settled on Xu Chui’s steady figure walking ahead.
The impartation had cost him nearly fifty years’ worth of inner Qi, but the result was undeniable. Xu Chui’s strength had already exceeded Intent Proficiency and now bordered on Spirit Focus caliber.
It proved something crucial. Lu Sheng could mass-produce Divine Prime experts using this method. Of course, inner Qi was precious. He couldn’t squander it on just anyone. He needed worthy candidates.
As for whatever Qi he spent, he could always refill it from other experts.
They continued their march for another hour before the forest finally thinned and vanished. The world opened before them atop a high cliff.
Lu Sheng stepped to the edge and looked down at the vast scene below.
Below them stretched a serene paradise: a jade-green lake cradled by mountains, white waterfalls threading down its sides like countless silk strands. At the lake’s center stood an elegant silver tower, rising with quiet majesty from the water.
“What a fine place hidden from the world!” Lu Sheng breathed.
“If my Lord likes it, we can build a branch just like this,” Xu Chui replied with respectful calm.
“Well, liking it is one thing. But if we really lived in it, our clothes would never dry, would they?” Lu Sheng shook his head with a faint smile.
Before the humor had faded, several figures ascended swiftly from the base of the cliff. They were dressed in uniform pale-green garments, unmistakably belonging to an organized faction.
“Who’s there!?” A clear, steady voice echoed beside Lu Sheng and Xu Chui.
Lu Sheng’s smile deepened. He stepped back with Xu Chui, and their forms flickered out of sight. Moments later, they reappeared at another location at the foot of the cliff, slipping past the incoming patrol and entering the Martial League grounds without effort.
…………
Zhang Wuya sat with a manual in hand, eyes tracing the lines yet unable to focus. Ever since Li Shunxi’s incident, unease had seeped into every corner of Martial League, thick as stale smoke.
He exhaled heavily and set the manual aside.
“The League Master is in solitary confinement, leaving the League to suffer in this mess…” Liu Qin’s words echoed in his mind. She had aided Li Shunxi’s escape, and this had been her judgment of their leader.
“What’s the situation now?”
An elderly woman with long white hair stepped into the room, a saber resting across her back. Despite her age, Zhang Minggu’s features remained youthful, her frail posture the only concession to time. “I’ve just made a round through the League. All those Noblemen look uneasy, almost panicked. Have they heard something?”
“What else could have happened?” Zhang Wuya rubbed his temples. “Since Brother Shunxi was framed and escaped, the League Master locked himself away. Now Zhong Yunxiu and Guan Nian have each gathered their own factions. The infighting never stops. Under this atmosphere, of course everyone’s unsettled.”
“What exactly happened that night during the transaction? Why is everyone who returned refusing to speak?” Zhang Minggu pressed.
“Can’t speak of it. I made a promise.” Zhang Wuya waved her off. “Let it lie. We should focus on the future of us old relics instead. If this keeps up, Martial League will fall apart. Without the League Master, no one can rein in those Noblemen.”
“What about Guan Nian’s Green Squad?”
“Disbanded, after they found a mole among them.” Zhang Wuya shook his head.
“Disbanded? How can that be!” A third voice called out from outside the room.
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