“So quickly?” Lu Sheng’s voice was soft as he received the bag.
“Early bird gets the worm. In a while, things may get a little messy in the city… but don’t worry, I’ve got everything arranged.” Lu Quanan flashed him a reassuring smile.
Lu Sheng only nodded. Without another word, he gathered some clothes, took Little Qiao with him, and slipped out through the manor’s side gate to a waiting carriage.
Inside, he watched the Lu Manor shrink into the distance. A weight pressed against his chest, heavy and inexplicable.
“Young Master, are we really going to Mountain Edge City? It’s so far… When will we be able to come back?” Little Qiao asked anxiously.
Lu Sheng returned a faint smile but stayed silent.
The black carriage was a worn, ordinary thing—no crests, no markings to betray its origin. As it rolled toward the main gate, patrols intercepted and questioned them more than once.
Lu Sheng lifted the curtain a fraction. Squads of guards were herding last-minute farmer conscripts onto the streets, forcing them into the defense lines. His gaze drifted toward a sharp-roofed building as their carriage rolled past.
PAH!
His palm struck the carriage wall.
The driver immediately veered left, steering them into a narrow alley where the wheels slowed and then halted.
Lu Sheng stepped down with Little Qiao in tow, the carriage curtain swaying closed behind them.
“Brother Sheng, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
A familiar round face popped into view—Zheng Xiangui beaming at them.
“Ai!?”
Little Qiao’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Let’s go. This isn’t the place to talk. I’ve already prepared the location you need,” Zheng Xiangui murmured.
The carriage they had arrived in rolled quietly out of the alley—this time without them. Lu Sheng and Little Qiao slipped into another carriage waiting in the shadows and made their silent departure from the city.
Beyond the walls, the landscape shifted into a rugged terrain. A chaotic stretch of rocky hills loomed ahead, only a few miles from Black Winds Ridge. Nestled at the base of the stones was a sliver of green—an unassuming forest where the soft murmur of a brook drifted through the trees.
The carriage came to a halt at the forest’s edge.
Zheng Xiangui hopped down first, scanning the quiet surroundings.
“This is the place—a secret hideout I spent a bit of money on in the past. Use it for now,” he said.
Lu Sheng helped Little Qiao alight. “Thanks, Fatso.”
“We’re brothers—why even say that?” Zheng Xiangui replied with a firm sincerity. “No one lives nearby. The closest is one of my family’s villas. I’ve arranged for food to be dropped off at the edge of the forest every day—you can collect it yourselves.”
Lu Sheng nodded in acknowledgment.
Zheng Xiangui exhaled lightly. “You should stay alert. Black Winds Ridge isn’t far from here. The main path has soldiers guarding it, so that won’t be a big issue… but wild wolves and stray beasts wander through sometimes.”
“Don’t worry. And remember—any news from the city, send it here with the food deliveries,” Lu Sheng reminded him.
“Got it.”
The three of them made their way deeper into the forest. Before long, a sparkling brook revealed itself, running along the foot of the mountain like a ribbon of silver. The water was clear enough to see every pebble beneath its surface. The air was alive with birdsong, untouched by human presence—a pristine sanctuary of green.
Crossing the gentle stream, Lu Sheng spotted a wooden hut ahead, tucked close to the mountain wall. White logs were laid neatly atop one another, giving the place a simple yet refined appearance. A narrow garden path curved around its side, adding an unexpected charm.
“This is as far as I’ll see you off,” Zheng Xiangui said quietly.
Two loyal bodyguards stood behind him—men trained since childhood. There was no concern that they would leak anything.
“You’ve done well. Head back,” Lu Sheng nodded.
With a brisk gesture, Zheng Xiangui and his escorts departed.
Lu Sheng turned his attention to the hut and began directing Little Qiao to tidy up. Inside, shelves were already stocked—grains, dried meat, even fresh vegetables and fruits recently delivered.
“Young Master, are we really staying here? I thought we were going to Mountain Edge City…” Little Qiao asked hesitantly.
“We will—later. For now, we’re staying here,” Lu Sheng replied without much concern.
They cleaned for hours, working until dusk draped the forest in darkness. Little Qiao lit an oil lamp—the golden flame flickering faintly against the wooden walls, chasing away just enough of the night.
Lu Sheng stepped outside, standing in the quiet courtyard, his gaze lifting to the darkening sky above.
Darkness swallowed the sky. Clouds smothered both moon and stars, leaving not a single glimmer of light above.
Inside the hut, the oil lamp glowed faintly—its warm yellow light spilling into the courtyard and making it the brightest point in the entire forest.
Lu Sheng stood alone in the yard, peering past the fence into the abyss beyond. The forest was a sea of shadows. Every so often, an unknown rustle or flicker of movement cut through the silence, stirring the night.
His hand tightened on the saber at his waist, gripping it in a backhand hold.
Zheng Xiangui had offered to station guards here, but Lu Sheng declined. Fewer people knowing his whereabouts meant greater safety.
He glanced once more at the darkened treeline, then shut the courtyard gate. Moving inside, he secured the windows one by one. The hut’s windows were double-layered—paper on the inside, solid wood on the outside. When the outer shutters closed, the lamplight was reduced to thin slivers glowing through tiny seams.
Lu Sheng pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Little Qiao was arranging the bedding—one single bed made of wooden planks layered with dried leaves, a straw mat, and finally a cotton mattress.
“Young Master…” Her eyes glistened, her cheeks flushed red as she bowed her head.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDrCvaZQ4L
“If you’d like to rest… let Little Qiao warm your bed for you.”
Lu Sheng paused, at a loss for words. “…There’s a small bed in the back. Go sleep there.”
She was barely like a girl of twelve or thirteen—anything else felt indecent.
“Alright…” Little Qiao’s voice was a whisper, her face burning with embarrassment.
Out here in the wild—just the Young Master and a young maid in a cramped wooden hut—there was no avoiding each other when changing clothes, washing up, or simply moving about. If anything were to happen, it wouldn’t be unexpected at all.
Yet Lu Sheng never entertained such thoughts.
After they washed separately, Little Qiao went to bed first at Lu Sheng’s insistence.
The so-called “small bed” was still inside the same hut—only separated by a thin wooden partition no wider than a palm. A tiny door draped with a curtain connected the two sides. One stray thought was all it would take for boundaries to crumble.
But Lu Sheng’s mind remained steady.
He practiced the Black Fury Skill for a while, then turned in early.
At dawn the next day, Little Qiao went out to retrieve the meal box left at the courtyard gate. After breakfast, Lu Sheng trained—first the Heart-Shattering Palm, then back to the Black Fury Skill.
Aside from Little Qiao occasionally strolling the yard, the morning passed in tranquil silence. Lu Sheng spent every moment absorbed in cultivation.
After lunch came Black Tiger Saber practice.
Before dusk, Lu Sheng found a note tucked into the meal box—nothing noteworthy in the city. He slept early again, but not before another four hours of Black Fury Skill practice.
Day after day, the routine repeated.
Half a month slipped by like that—quiet, disciplined, unchanging.
Yet there was still no sign of progress in the Black Fury Skill.
By conventional martial understanding, anyone else would have given up after two weeks without even sensing inner Qi. A skill truly compatible with one’s body should reveal Qi sense within days.
But Black Fury Skill was no ordinary inner force art. It was incomplete—its overview diagram long lost. Duanmu Wan had warned him of that from the start.
Still, even with patience and determination, Lu Sheng never expected progress to remain so elusive.
Then, just as he finally began to waver—on the brink of abandoning his efforts—an unfamiliar current stirred within his body. A faint, unmistakable trace of Qi sense emerged during his Black Fury Skill practice.
............
The sky hung low and oppressive. Even at midday, a biting chill lingered in the air.
Shadows swallowed the forest, and even the birds seemed drained of vigor—only an occasional, lonely chirp broke the silence.
In the courtyard, Lu Sheng wielded his long saber, moving through the forms of the Eighty-Four Swallows Pursuing the Wind Blade. His pace was unhurried—each motion focused on perfect accuracy.
Outwardly, it looked like saber practice. But in truth, most of his attention remained fixed inward… on the Black Fury Skill.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
Three clean diagonal cuts swept through the air. Lu Sheng slid the saber back into its sheath, ready to head inside for lunch like every other day.
But in that final moment of movement—A sudden flare of scorching Qi surged at the base of his spine, between his kidneys, before flickering out.
Lu Sheng halted on the spot, holding his breath as he replayed the sensation in his mind.
He slowly activated the Black Fury Skill, guiding his awareness through his meridians.
There—again. That same brief, burning pulse.
“This is… Qi sense!”
For a heartbeat, joy crashed over him like a wave.
After so many days of struggle, he had begun doubting whether the Black Fury Skill was even a genuine inner force method. But now, this unmistakable sign of inner Qi—however faint—finally eased the heavy doubt weighing on his heart.
I must strengthen it while the Qi sense is still here!
Without hesitation, Lu Sheng seized the momentum.
Deep Blue, he urged silently.
In an instant, the familiar blue interface of the Modifier shimmered into view before his eyes.
He tapped the Modification button—The frame flickered sharply.
This time, the display changed. At the bottom of his martial arts list appeared a new line:
Black Fury Skill: Uninitiated.
Just a few plain words—yet joy surged uncontrollably in his chest.
With no better path to advance himself, the Black Fury Skill had become his final lifeline—his only hope of facing the hidden threats awaiting beyond this forest.
Modify Black Fury Skill. Upgrade one level!
The moment he formed the thought, the status shifted abruptly:
Uninitiated → Initiated
“BOOM!!!”
A violent eruption churned through his core. His five viscera and six bowels seemed to ignite all at once.
Heat—vast and furious—flooded his body, rampaging through more than ten meridians like molten fire. His face flushed and swelled as his skin reddened, turning the shade of a boiled prawn.
Sweat burst from every pore, vaporizing the instant it surfaced—white steam spiraling upward into the chilling air.
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and then Add to home screen.