“Swish.” The precious herbs map unfurled, and densely packed pinpricks of light immediately flooded Lu Sheng’s vision.
Before long, his gaze settled on the marked location of a particular herb. His fingers brushed lightly across the surface of the map, movements slow and contemplative.
Umbrella girl can help maintain my cover for the time being. But sooner or later, I’ll be exposed…
His brows knit tightly. Ye Moling… Scarlet District Mistress… what a thorny problem. Scarlet District Mistress’ strength had far exceeded his expectations. At his current level, even three of him combined would not be enough to contend with her.
From umbrella girl’s account, not even Ye Moling could stand his ground before her. That alone spoke volumes of how terrifying her power truly was.
“Are you thinking that the problem’s a thorny one?” Without warning, a sharp male voice rang out within the study.
“Who’s that!!”
Lu Sheng’s eyes turned frigid. In an instant, the blood web erupted from his body, surging outward in all directions and sweeping through every nook and cranny of the room.
“We mean no harm,” the sharp voice continued, entirely unaffected by the raging blood web. “Like you, we’re enemies of Scarlet District Mistress.”
Lu Sheng quickly probed his surroundings. To his astonishment, he could not detect the source of the voice at all. His heart tightened as he spoke slowly, “Who are you, then?”
“We… we are called the Wandering Heart Society. You may never have heard of our name. But all you need to know is this: we have come for the sole purpose of killing Scarlet District Mistress.” The voice grew sharper with each word.
“Kill Scarlet District Mistress?” Lu Sheng’s expression remained unreadable. He was naturally not about to take such words at face value.
“You don’t need to know why,” the voice replied curtly. “You only need to know that we share a death feud with her. I came to you in the hope of gaining your cooperation. Together, we can kill her.”
Lu Sheng’s heart skipped a beat. Clearly, the other party knew that umbrella girl was now under his control. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to seek him out.
Their methods were unfathomably obscure. Even now, Lu Sheng could not sense where the speaker was hiding at all.
Rapidly, Lu Sheng retracted all the blood web back into his body.
“Why should I trust you?” His voice was low and steady.
“Whether you trust us or not, we will act,” the voice replied after a brief pause. “Let me put it plainly. That woman killed two of our Guardian Kings and ten Sky Soarers. In the end, even our Deputy Society Leader personally intercepted her, yet she still managed to escape.”
“Didn’t she go to seize the Scarlet Dragon Tribulation?” Lu Sheng cut in abruptly.
“Scarlet Dragon Tribulation!! Yes!! That was her!” The sharp voice erupted into an enraged roar. “We had already succeeded! But at the critical moment, that woman snatched away the main portion of the Divine Weapon!”
The man clearly was not in a calm state of mind. To Lu Sheng, it sounded like a rival faction that had clashed with Scarlet District Mistress over the Scarlet Dragon Tribulation.
Lu Sheng’s heart leapt, yet his expression remained unmoved.
“Since you want to work with me, you need to show some sincerity.”
“Mm… you may have gained control over that bitch’s confidante, but that’s not enough. Far from enough!” the sharp voice scoffed. “You have no idea how powerful she truly is. Ever since she obtained the Scarlet Dragon Tribulation shard, she’s been growing stronger by the day. If we want to kill that little bitch for certain, we must make preparations beforehand. Some… slight preparations!”
“What preparations?” Lu Sheng replied calmly. “You still haven’t shown me any sincerity. Our Shangyang Family doesn’t share any death feud with Scarlet District Mistress. It’s entirely possible for us to resolve our conflict through compensation.”
“Sincerity…” The voice paused briefly. “Don’t you like martial arts? Then take this.”
Swish!
An intricate gray box suddenly shot through the window.
“Rip!”
The box tore straight through the paper window, spun several times in mid-air, and landed squarely on Lu Sheng’s desk.
“Cloud Snake Rolling Heart Pill. An unparalleled tonic in the eyes of mortal martial artists. Consider it a welcome gift,” the voice chuckled softly. “As for the truly big gift, how about the blood of a complete Cloud Snake? The lethal poison within it is more than sufficient for tempering your black membrane. Stepping into the Four-Vein Level will be only a matter of time.”
Lu Sheng picked up the box and opened it with measured care. A pearly white pill lay quietly inside.
The other party had offered such a precious pill without hesitation. But would he truly dare consume something given by an entirely unknown force?
“Are you worried there might be something wrong with the pill?” The voice let out a soft chuckle. “Just test it on someone. Simple enough. That’s all for now. Hopefully, by the next time we seek you out, you’ll have made up your mind.”
The voice faded away, little by little.
Even at the very end, Lu Sheng could not determine how the other party had spoken to him at all.
He stared at the pill resting on his desk in silence. The sudden appearance of the Wandering Heart Society had thoroughly disrupted his plans.
After sitting alone in his study for a brief while, he suddenly called out, “Men!”
“Here!”
A guard hurried in through the doorway and dropped to one knee.
“Prepare the carriage. I’m going to the dungeon.”
“Yes, sir!”
Crimson Whale Sect’s dungeon was, in truth, a water prison.
All inmates were divided across four levels. The uppermost level, the first story, housed ordinary prisoners such as non-homicidal offenders.
The second level was reserved for stronger pugilists and murderers, including pirates and bandits.
The third story held severe offenders, powerful martial artists, and individuals of considerable influence.
The fourth story was the darkest and most merciless place in the entire Crimson Whale Sect. Those confined there were either heinous criminals or top-tier experts of formidable power.
“Clang.”
The iron doors of the water dungeon were hauled open, revealing yet another massive iron door beyond.
Lu Sheng entered with his hands clasped behind his back. Dungeon soldiers stood guard on either side as a warden guided him downward to the fourth story.
The space was dark and suffocating, thick with the foul stench of rot and mould.
Even the bearing of the soldiers on sentry appeared warped, as though prolonged exposure to such an environment had begun to erode them as well.
“Sect Master, this fourth story holds pinnacle experts that even the former Sect Master was unable to deal with. Back then, they were captured and thrown in here only with the help of those from the upper levels. As for the innermost section… I don’t even dare to step inside,” the old warden said, standing before the iron door.
This was the final barrier. They had already passed through thirteen iron doors in succession. The fourteenth, the most dangerous of them all, was the last line separating them from the darkest and most terrifying maximum-security water dungeon.
“It’s fine. I’ll go in alone,” Lu Sheng replied calmly.
“In that case, Sect Master, if you wish to come out, just call for me from inside the door,” the old man whispered, swallowing hard.
“Mm. Open it.” Lu Sheng nodded.
The warden looked helpless as he finally unlocked the last iron door, his fingers fumbling and trembling the entire time.
Creak…
The heavy, square iron door slowly swung open, releasing a shrill, grating sound.
On either side, the dungeon guards tightened their grips on their sabers, eyes fixed on the darkness beyond, as though a deadly foe might surge out at any moment.
Lu Sheng peered inside and saw nothing but pitch-black darkness. Without hesitation, he stepped forward.
After his eyes adjusted, a narrow corridor emerged from the gloom. The floor was formed by rows of cubic cells, faint ripples of water echoing from within them.
The entire fourth story was deathly silent, like a graveyard. It made one wonder whether the prisoners here were already long dead.
Lu Sheng’s eyes narrowed as he advanced slowly down the corridor. Behind him, the door slammed shut and locked.
He did not look back. His gaze remained lowered as he continued forward.
One cell after another passed him by, yet to his disappointment, they were all empty. Murky, filthy water filled each cell to nearly a third of its height. Even if someone had once been alive inside, they would have long since rotted away after soaking in such water for so long.
Lu Sheng frowned. The stench was unbearable, and there was no ventilation at all. It was difficult to imagine that anyone could survive in conditions like these.
Thankfully, the fourth story was vast, lined with several dozen cells.
Step by step, Lu Sheng advanced at an unhurried pace, examining each cell with care.
Time slipped by unnoticed. After an indeterminate while, he finally spotted someone within one of the cells.
He halted and looked closer. Moments later, he shook his head in disappointment and moved on.
The figure floated face down on the water’s surface like a bloated sack, the body grotesquely swollen and tinged a purplish white. Even from a distance, Lu Sheng could smell the foul, nauseating stench wafting from the corpse.
“Young man. What have you come looking for?”
The sudden sound of an old voice stopped Lu Sheng in his tracks.
He turned toward the source and saw a figure two cells ahead. An elderly man clung to the bars of his cell, suspending himself high above the murky water below.
“Who are you?” Lu Sheng asked, frowning.
“I… you tell me first. What are you doing here?” The old man’s lips curled into a sly smile as he returned the question.
“I’m here to find a test subject for a pill.” Lu Sheng did not bother to conceal the truth.
“A pill tester?” The old man’s eyes widened in surprise. “Then how about this old man?”
“You?”
Lu Sheng immediately sensed the sheer depth of the old man’s inner Qi. It was vast, overwhelming.
Not even Zhang Wuya could compare to the volume of inner Qi contained within this man. Lu Sheng had never felt such a keen sense of danger from anyone before. The old man’s body was like a tightly compressed spring, power coiled within, ready to erupt at any moment.
Lu Sheng glanced at the cell’s iron door. He then retrieved the key, crouched down, and slid it into the lock.
“Ka-cha.”
The iron door swung open. In that instant, the old man’s eyes flared, gleaming in the darkness like those of a prowling beast.
SWISH!
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