Mountain-Edge City.
The Scarlet District Mistress drove a translucent long saber into the ground and sat beside a well within the manor courtyard.
Across from her, the umbrella girl, Yingying, perched on the well’s edge, quietly flipping through the pages of a book.
“Just a little more…”
The Scarlet District Mistress drew a deep breath and gently stroked the hilt of the saber at her side.
The blade was called Full Prime. It had accompanied her for as long as she could remember. A hundred years? Two hundred? Even she no longer knew.
She had not liked the saber at first. Yet after growing accustomed to it, she had never bothered to replace it. It was durable, unyielding, and had never failed her. Over time, it had become an extension of herself.
She exhaled slowly, fingers brushing over a crimson shard embedded between the hilt and blade.
Beneath the gray evening sky, the shard glimmered faintly.
A seductive scarlet gleam. Beautiful, and deadly.
“The book… says… nothing about it…”
Umbrella girl lowered the book carefully, her brows knitting together.
“It doesn’t matter… as long as I can feel its power.”
The Scarlet District Mistress licked her lips.
“I can feel an endless stream of power flowing into me.”
Her grip tightened around the hilt. Threads of crimson light spread from the shard and seeped into her body. In that instant, the courtyard was drenched in red, as though all other colors had been erased.
It was the Scarlet Dragon Tribulation shard. A hard-won prize, wrested from the hands of numerous formidable foes.
Only after a long while did the scarlet radiance recede from the saber.
The Scarlet District Mistress drew out Full Prime and let it fade from her grasp until it vanished completely.
She rose to her feet.
“Alright. Next, let’s go pay a visit to another sect. What was it called? The Gong Qu Clan?”
“Yes… but… are you alright?”
Umbrella girl looked at her with open worry.
She had only recently learned that the Scarlet Dragon Tribulation was continuously feeding her sister with power. Yet such power never came without a price.
“I can still take it…”
The Scarlet District Mistress laughed softly. A terrifying resolve flashed through her eyes. As long as the saber remained in her hand, she feared no enemy.
Even if it was the Wandering Heart Society.
But Yingying’s unease only deepened.
She understood all too well that Divine Weapons and Devil Blades could bestow power far beyond ordinary limits, reaching heights that were impossible to measure.
But such power always demanded a price.
These artifacts were sustained by power drawn from Ritual Offerings. A single offering could feed them for a decade. That was the standard cadence observed by noble families, no different from how a bonfire needed fresh wood from time to time to keep burning.
Her sister, however, was different.
She was not using offerings at all. She was burning her own vigor, her own life force, feeding it directly to the shard in exchange for strength. The lives she had slaughtered were nowhere near sufficient to serve as proper sacrifices.
“To think Baifeng would dare incite me into provoking the Shangyang Family… he deserves to die.”
The Scarlet District Mistress rose to her feet and stretched. Thick muscles rippled beneath her skin, every movement brimming with raw strength.
“Oh right, Yingying. Have you found any leads?”
Umbrella girl lifted the black jade pendant in her hand and hung it quietly on her clothes.
“No… no new… discoveries at all…”
“Alright. If you do find anything, let me know immediately.”
The Scarlet District Mistress cracked her neck, then rubbed her chest with a faint frown.
“I really wish I could go back to Scarlet District. The well there is still the most comfortable place to rest… after being around so many humans, my chest is starting to feel uncomfortable.”
“When… it’s rebuilt… we’ll go back…”
Umbrella girl giggled softly.
The Scarlet District Mistress lowered her voice.
“Yingying, don’t you think it would be nice if it were just the two of us like this? Traveling together, doing whatever we want… wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
“Yea…”
Yingying bowed her head. A gentle expression surfaced on her face.
“Yingying… likes… sis the most…”
Subconsciously, her fingers brushed against the jade pendant resting against her chest.
Lu Sheng had told her to wear it, without explaining why. She had not dared to ask. After examining it for some time and finding no harm to her body, she had complied.
She did not notice the thin black thread that flickered briefly across the surface of the jade pendant.
…………
Night fell.
Lu Sheng slipped into tight-fitting black athletic robes, pulled on a mountain goat mask, and pushed open the window of the Crimson Whale Sect Master’s bedroom.
Cypress Pine Lake lay hushed beneath the night sky. Waves lapped rhythmically against the hull of the Crimson Whale, steady and unhurried. A cold gust swept in, lifting Lu Sheng’s long hair into a silent dance.
He leaned out and scanned his surroundings.
Several guards stood watch on the deck below, faces impassive as they stifled their yawns. Farther out on the lake, patrol boats traced slow circles around the Crimson Whale, lanterns swaying gently as they kept vigil.
“Dang… dang… dang…”
The sound of the night watch echoed across the water. The third watch.
Lu Sheng smoothed the creases in his robes. Planting one palm against the windowsill, he drew in a deep breath.
“Boom!”
Power surged through him as he launched himself forward in an instant. He shot through the window like a phantom, streaking more than ten meters through the inky night. In midair, he resembled a great bat, silent and swift, before landing lightly upon the lake’s surface.
With a faint tap, he kicked off the water and burst forward once more.
Lu Sheng knew no qinggong. In fact, no truly powerful qinggong existed in this world. Most movement techniques were merely practical tools for combat, not methods of flight.
Yet within Yin Extreme Mode, something extraordinary was occurring inside his body. Yin and Yang inner Qi collided and intertwined, triggering a subtle transformation.
The friction of movement diminished drastically. Despite his immense weight, he could unleash explosive bursts of speed through sheer force, aided by the harmonized surge of Yin and Yang.
It was no different from a broad jump. With enough strength, one could cross vast distances.
Like a feather skimming the surface of the lake, Lu Sheng leapt again into the air, his figure shooting off into the distance.
If anyone had passed beneath him at that moment, they would have felt invisible waves of heat surging downward.
It was precisely that intense thermal force that allowed his otherwise heavy body to glide through the air in utter silence, light as drifting cotton.
In simple terms, Lu Sheng was using his vast inner Qi like a jet pack, blasting himself forward. To an onlooker, it would appear no different from some profound qinggong.
Such expenditure of inner Qi was negligible to him. Yin Extreme Mode replenished his Qi faster than he could possibly expend it.
Within a few breaths, Lu Sheng skimmed across the lake and touched down on the far shore. Without a sound, he vanished into the pitch-black night.
His speed was terrifying. At peak acceleration, he became a living gale. In the span of two blinks, he crossed several hundred meters.
Faint moonlight filtered through layers of cloud and spilled onto the ground. Like a wisp of black smoke, his figure streaked across the land without pause.
Yet his destination was not Mountain-Edge City.
He was heading north, toward Donglin Manor.
“Ka-cha.”
A thin bolt of lightning tore through the clouds, illuminating heaven and earth for a fleeting instant.
…………
“Hahahahaha! Drink up, everyone! Don’t stand on ceremony! Drink as much as you can!!”
Jie Long City, Donglin Manor.
At the summit of an extravagantly adorned pagoda, the Sect Master of Green Star Sect, known as Meat Dragon, held a greasy beef leg in one hand and the slender waist of a beautiful woman in the other. He laughed boisterously as he played host to the banquet.
“Crimson Whale Sect may be the strongest in the Northern Lands, but that’s only because we’re avoiding the brunt of their blow for now. That Lu lad might be powerful, but there’s no way his hand can reach so far into my Jie Long City.”
He raised his voice, brimming with confidence.
“Relax, everyone. This is Donglin Manor. As long as I, Meat Dragon, am here, I’ll never let Crimson Whale Sect stretch its claws into this place.”
“Sect Master Meat Dragon is the number one expert in Jie Long City. Naturally, we trust your words,” said the leader of another local sect, his tone still laced with unease. “But Crimson Whale Sect has grown far too strong and has recently summoned many sects. Who’s to say they don’t harbor ambitions of their own…”
These were the top experts of Donglin Manor.
Strictly speaking, this place was no longer part of the Northern Lands. Though it lay close to Mountain-Edge City, it sat farther east, facing the sea. From here, one could gaze out upon an endless expanse of frozen ocean.
If pressed to the brink, they could simply abandon the land altogether. In the worst case, they would board their ships and resettle elsewhere. Jie Long City possessed no shortage of vessels.
The Green Star Sect was one of the two strongest sects in the region. Its Sect Master, Meat Dragon, was both plump and powerfully built. His physical strength was unmatched. If an ordinary person were to strike him, their bones would shatter from the rebounding force alone.
“This place is remote and isolated. We’ve seized control of the eastern islands and the waterways,” another sect leader declared while stuffing himself with food and wine, utterly unconcerned. “At worst, if things truly turn sour, we can always set sail for the open seas. I couldn’t care less about their ambitions.”
In such a frigid, frozen land, the mere act of feasting on cooked beef was already an extravagant luxury.
“What’s the point of all this talk? Come, drink!” Meat Dragon roared, hoisting an entire barrel of wine. “Let’s celebrate today’s harvest. It’s been ages since we hauled in so much seafood. This voyage alone has brought back enough to last us more than half a year!”
“That’s right! Drink up!”
“For Jie Long City!”
“Bottoms up!”
“Bottoms up!”
One after another, the red-faced sect leaders raised their bowls and cups, draining them in great gulps.
“Creak…”
Without warning, the doors of the banquet hall swung open on their own, as if wrenched apart by a violent gust.
Two guards rushed over at once, palms slamming against the doors as they tried to force them shut.
The instant their hands made contact, a crushing force surged outward.
BAM!!!
Both guards were hurled backward, smashing into the walls. No one could tell if they were still alive.
Beneath the cold, merciless moonlight, a man stood framed in the doorway. His hair fell to his waist, and a long saber rested in his hand.
His facial features were swallowed by the dim light. All that could be seen was his disheveled black hair, billowing to the left in the cold wind.
“What a party… so many people…”
His voice fell over the hall like a heavy weight, instantly smothering the laughter and chatter.
“Hoo…”
A blast of frigid air rushed in through the gaping doors, snapping everyone awake from their drunken stupor.
“Who are you!?”
“Szzz…”
Several people leapt to their feet, hands flying to their sabers as they fixed him with hostile glares. Others slipped out through the side doors, not to flee, but to circle around and cut off his retreat.
“Bam!”
Meat Dragon flung the wine tub aside. It slammed into the stone wall and rolled across the floor, its remaining contents splashing onto the ground.
He rose slowly to his full height. A bizarre, cruel grin spread across his fleshy face.
“I didn’t expect an intruder to barge into this place…”
Meat Dragon’s massive frame towered at nearly two meters tall. As he stood, he resembled a walking mountain of flesh. Each step of his thick legs sent dull tremors rippling through the banquet hall.
“Heheheh!!” He laughed savagely.
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