Lu Sheng set down the bowl and fell into thought.
He had a feeling that his father, Lu Quan'an, was troubled by something—something serious enough to want him sent far away, somewhere safer.
Still, if Duanmu Wan truly never returned, then Jiulian City wouldn’t be a place he could grow in. Compared to it, the bustling Yanshan City might be a better option.
"Okay, I'll go and come back quickly. If I really learn something useful from that prestigious family, I'll send a letter back," Lu Sheng finally said after some deliberation.
Yanshan City lies very, very far from Jiulian City—even farther than the distance to two Zihua Cities combined. Even traveling at full gallop, it would take two days and a night to reach. A carriage would take even longer.
After agreeing to leave, Lu Sheng spent the following days lying low at home, practicing martial arts and preserving his strength.
Lu Qingqing, on the other hand, continued going out as usual. Word often came back that she had caught someone again. Lu Sheng couldn’t control her, and no one else in the household could either. Even Second Mother had tried saying a few words to her, but it had no effect—so in the end, they simply let her be.
Once he had recovered a bit, Lu Sheng turned to refining the few martial arts techniques he had picked up recently.
Thanks to his solid foundation in the Black Tiger Saber and the Jade Crane Art, he quickly grasped the Heart-Rending Palm. With the help of his modifier, he pushed it straight to the peak of the third level.
As for the other techniques, he chose to hold off for now, planning to revisit them once his blood and qi were fully restored.
There was also the Eighty-Four Swallow Chasing Wind Blade. That one, he decided, he would practice slowly and analyze on his own.
Time passed in this way. But just as his departure drew near, something strange happened in the city.
Several hunters living on the outskirts mysteriously vanished on the day of the Wanqing Festival.
A few days earlier, someone had seen the hunters bringing wild animals—foxes, among others—into the city to sell.
Then they vanished.
All of them disappeared within Jiulian City. The matter only came to light after their families reported them missing to the authorities.
What made the case impossible to suppress was that one of the missing hunters had a cousin who served as a head constable in the city’s administrative office.
At first, no one knew what had happened. But once the investigation began, odd details quickly surfaced.
The hunters had taken the same route into the city, and the last place they were seen was a street near the Goldfish Restaurant. Witnesses had seen them along the way, right up until that point.
Naturally, the constables headed to that street to investigate. But when they arrived, they found the area had been scorched by a recent fire—and it was completely deserted.
It didn’t make sense. Why would the hunters go there to sell wild animals?
Just as Lu Sheng was puzzling over the situation, Xiaoqiao came running toward him in a panic.
"Young Master Lu! Miss Qingqing went to that same street near the Goldfish Restaurant last night—alone!"
Lu Sheng’s heart sank. She hadn't returned. Something was wrong.
“When did Qingqing go there?” he asked, his tone urgent.
"I'm not sure, but... but it should’ve been around midnight," Xiaoqiao stammered. "Normally, Second Young Lady comes back before dawn, but this time, she didn’t. Her maid, Xiaohong, said the young lady told her to wait in the room with hot water ready for a bath. But she waited all night and still didn’t see her return. She’s panicking!"
Lu Sheng had been resting in the garden, taking a short break before sword practice. He hadn’t expected something like this to happen so suddenly.
"Go tell Uncle Zhao and the head of the family right away. I’ll go check it out first!"
"Xiao Ba already took some people to investigate! He’s the one who brought back the news about Miss Qingqing!" Xiaoqiao added quickly.
"Xiao Ba..." Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes, recalling that he was one of the household guards. "Got it."
Without wasting another second, he threw on a coat, strapped the family’s standard longsword to his waist, led a horse out of the stable, and galloped off toward the Goldfish Restaurant.
The entire Lu family was thrown into alarm. Lu Quan’an immediately ordered Uncle Zhao to lead a group to the Goldfish Restaurant and also dispatched men to report the matter to the prefectural office.
Human resources and connections were mobilized at once.
First, they needed to confirm whether Lu Qingqing was truly missing—or simply out of contact temporarily.
“Go!”
Lu Sheng urged his horse forward, galloping down the near-empty streets. It was still early morning, and few people were out, which made travel quicker and less conspicuous.
Under normal circumstances, even he would be reprimanded for racing through the city center.
But this wasn’t a normal time.
Xiao Ba’s message about Lu Qingqing’s disappearance had set him on edge—but what truly unsettled him was the strange incident he had once encountered near the Goldfish Restaurant.
His yellow horse soon arrived at the restaurant's entrance.
The front door was locked. Dawn had barely broken, and the sky was still steeped in gray.
To the side of the restaurant, the street was scorched and littered with debris.
The fire hadn’t completely leveled the wooden houses—only half had been torn down. The remaining structures were partially collapsed, their ruins heaped with charred timber and broken tiles. The scene was bleak and desolate.
Lu Sheng dismounted, landing lightly, and stepped into the blackened street.
Crack…
His leather boots crunched over fallen debris, making sharp noises in the silence.
He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. With two battles behind him, he was far calmer now than before.
His eyes scanned the area, alert and focused.
Then, he noticed something.
In the middle of the burnt street, carved into the charred doorpost of a ruined house, was a deep sword mark.
Beneath it, the ground bore the traces of a struggle—scattered footprints, some deep and hurried. Fresh black soil was still visible in the indentations.
Lu Sheng reached out and ran his fingers along the sword mark carved into the pillar. Though the surface of the wood was blackened by fire, the inside was still a pale yellow—it hadn't burned through completely.
The sword strike had cut just deep enough to expose the unburnt wood beneath.
"It should be around here," he muttered.
He slowly drew his blade, gripping it in a reverse hold, and stepped into the charred wooden house ahead.
The roof had been almost entirely consumed by fire. Inside, the room was a mess—burnt furniture strewn across the floor, scraps of scorched cloth, and half-melted, unrecognizable items lying in the ashes.
Just a few steps in, Lu Sheng spotted a second clue.
A collapsed wooden table lay nearby, its edge split by two deep sword gashes. Nestled in the cracks were a few fragments of fine steel.
"Such powerful force," Lu Sheng murmured.
He bent down and picked up the shards, recognizing them at once—they looked like pieces from Lu Qingqing’s fine steel longsword.
Glancing at the scattered footprints in the ash-covered floor, he quickened his pace and headed toward the rear of the house.
Exiting through a side doorway, Lu Sheng entered the backyard.
There, crouched beside a broken section of the outer wall, was a one-eyed man clad in worn brown leather armor. His hair was wild and unkempt, and in his hand he gripped a heavy-backed broadsword, blood-stained and gleaming faintly in the dawn light. He was muttering curses while pinning a piece of paper onto the wall.
The moment Lu Sheng stepped into the yard, the man spun around, sharp-eyed and hostile.
"Who’s there?" the man barked, eyes narrowing.
"That’s my question. Who are you?" Lu Sheng shot back, quickly sizing him up.
The man was massive—easily 1.89 meters tall, with muscles like coiled ropes bulging beneath his armor. His weapon looked savage, its silver edge still stained with blood. He radiated the wild, brutal aura of a beast.
"Me?" The brute let out a laugh and casually tossed aside the paper he’d been pinning.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJT0oMIljE
"You must be that little girl’s relative, huh? She dared to kill two of my disciples. My brother and I decided to capture her—but you’re too late. My brother’s already taken her back to the village. He’s going to enjoy her... slowly."
"Girl?" Lu Sheng’s voice turned cold, and a dark light gathered in his eyes.
"Judging by your attitude, you’re no stranger, right? In Jiulian City, you must’ve heard about the reputation of my Lu family. Why don’t you give me your name and number, so we can settle this properly?"
"Fuck negotiating! Did the Lu’s just send a lone whelp to die?" The man sneered, his eyes locking onto Lu Sheng with disdain.
"Everyone else is behind me," Lu Sheng replied calmly. There was no point in hiding the truth—this man was experienced, and lies wouldn’t fool him.
"You’re the only one brave enough to catch up. Not bad," the man laughed darkly.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYb5GXfjZO
"Ertou, Santou, take him down! Make the Lu family pay for his life!"
At his command, two more men emerged from another gap in the backyard. Both were burly, clad in brown leather armor—one wielding a long-handled axe, the other gripping a heavy stick.
"It’s just a kid. I can handle this myself. Godfather, why did you call us both out?" one grumbled.
"Whoever catches him first gets the credit!" the man replied with a wicked grin.
The two men chuckled and narrowed their eyes at Lu Sheng, their intentions clear and cruel.
"Hehehe, what a handsome little brother," santou leered. "It’ll be fun catching him and bringing him back with the girl. Enjoying him every night in new ways."
His gaze drifted lasciviously downward.
"Enjoy him? Let the godfather go first!" ertou spat on his palm with a cruel smile.
"Break his legs, but don’t let him bleed too much. Too much blood ruins the mood. Last time, you chopped off his right hand with the axe, and the blood sprayed everywhere—it killed the mood completely!"
"That’s not my problem! Didn’t you hit that guy on the back with the stick so hard he was almost dead before it was even our turn?" ertou snapped back.
The two were twin brothers, born with hulking physiques. By chance, they became disciples under the Lin brothers of Jiulian City’s Blackwind Ridge—masters of the infamous Ghost Head Guillotine Blade.
Guillotined Blade Lin Hongshui was the man wielding the thick-backed machete.
More than ten years ago, Ghost-headed Blade Lin Shuanghuo and Guillotined Blade Lin Hongshui became wanted murderers in Jiulian City. One night, they slaughtered two caravans, looted vast amounts of silver, money, and jewelry, then vanished without a trace.
Each brother mastered a unique skill: wielding two heavy machetes with incredible power, combined with fierce, wind-splashing blade techniques.
The leader, Ghost-headed Blade Lin Shuanghuo, once set a twisted record by killing a man with a single strike while fleeing from the constables.
This was Lu Sheng’s first time facing enemies head-on—and he was up against three at once.
He raised his long blade and calmly sized up the twin brothers advancing toward him.
"Try to cut him down first. There are many of us. If it doesn’t work, retreat and regroup," one of them ordered.
Lu Sheng felt a flicker of unease. He didn’t yet know his true strength—there was no benchmark for comparison.
With that thought, Lu Sheng decided not to use the Black Tiger Saber Techniques Technique or the Heart-Breaking Palm.
Instead, he relied on the Eighty-Four Swallow Chasing Wind Blade that he had practiced alone—he couldn’t risk revealing his true skills right away.
He held the hilt half-tight, half-loose, eyes locked on the Twins.
"Come on!" ertou grinned, swinging his great axe before pointing it at his own forehead.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡij9sdYl5ng
"Look at the little whelp, acting all serious! Chop here—right here!"
"Your grandpa will stand still right here and let you..."
Chi!
In an instant, a silver streak flashed by.
Lu Sheng’s long blade transformed into a swift swallow, darting several meters and slicing cleanly across ertou’s body.
Puff!
A severed head flew through the air.
Blood splattered across the ground.
The entire yard fell into stunned silence.
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