“Red Decks pleasure boat…”
That name streaked through Lu Sheng’s mind like a bolt of lightning. He tugged on the reins, slowing his horse to a halt. A shadow crossed his face. Only when he noticed several members of the entourage turning toward him did he continue forward, guiding the horse with steady, deliberate steps.
As he approached, Lu Quanan quickly led a group of men out to receive him.
“Sheng’er! Why have you come? Your hair?” The sight of Lu Sheng’s current appearance left him stunned.
Lu Sheng swung himself off the saddle in one fluid motion.
“It’s a long story. Let’s not talk about the hair first. Dad, Second Mother, Uncle Zhao—I came from Mountain-Edge City. Why have you stopped here? And who hung those red lanterns?”165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMN8Lp9KsAH
He pointed casually at the crimson lanterns swaying from the carriages.
“No idea. We’re checking it out now. Previously, they were the ordinary yellow hide lanterns. Only when we were on the road did someone notice that they had suddenly been switched,” Lu Quanan said gravely, worry etched clearly across his features. “It’s good you’re here, Sheng’er. Help us take a look.”
Lu Sheng swept his gaze over the gathered crowd. Everyone from back home had come: Second Mother, Third Mother, Uncle Zhao… and from afar, he could see Fourth Mother, Fifth Mother, and Little Aunt hurrying over. Beyond his own household, there were many more—extended relatives, distant kin, even those from his biological mother’s family. Just the Lu clan alone numbered more than twenty.
Third Mother, Wang Yanyu, pushed through the crowd. Her face was pale, her eyes swollen from tears.
“Brother Sheng, thank goodness you’re here. Chenxin has disappeared—you must help me search for him, you must find him!”
“Don’t worry, Third Mother. I’ll try my best.” Lu Sheng gave a firm nod.
Though his disheveled appearance shocked them, no one spared it more than a passing glance under such dire circumstances. With Lu Sheng here, a sense of safety spread through the group. After all, in Nine Links City it was Brother Sheng who resolved the crisis. Now too, Brother Sheng would surely find a way. Every gaze that fell upon him carried anticipation—and trust.
Lu Sheng strode toward the carriage team, stopping beside the now-vacant coach. Several soldiers stood guard nearby. One of them—a slightly rotund, dark-skinned man—was staring at the carriage with tense, unblinking eyes, one hand gripping the hilt of his waist-blade.
“So it’s Brother Sheng! You’ve come! That’s good news for us. Here, take a look—the scratch on the original lantern is still here, and the markings are exactly the same,” the man said. This fatso was none other than Brother Song, whose sour mood had only worsened after losing three brothers, and now this situation had erupted on top of it.
Lu Sheng nodded, studying the red lanterns hanging from the carriage, his gaze sharp and methodical.
“Who sat in this carriage previously?” he asked in a low voice.
“It was Third Young Master Lu Chenxin and Fourth Young Master Lu Tianyang, as well as Zhang Xiuxiu’s family,” Brother Song whispered back.
“When did Chenxin go missing?” Lu Sheng murmured, eyes narrowing the longer he observed the lantern—its style eerily similar to those he had seen on the pleasure boats.
“He went missing back at the abandoned village,” Brother Song answered swiftly.
“Abandoned village…” Lu Sheng swept his gaze across the surroundings, his eyes cooling with dawning clarity. “Continue forward toward Mountain-Edge City. No more stops. I want to see which trifling deity dares to meddle with my Lu Family.” He raised his voice toward his father.
Lu Quanan nodded at once, vigorously. “Go! Everyone board the carriages—and take those red lanterns down. Move ahead!”
“Wait. Leave this carriage behind. Don’t use it,” Lu Sheng said, stopping Zhang Xiuxiu’s family and Lu Tianyang just as they were about to climb aboard.
Their faces drained of color; they clearly sensed the danger implied by those lanterns.
Lu Tianyang edged closer to Lu Sheng, voice trembling. “Big Bro… will anything happen to us…?”
“Not if you listen to my instructions,” Lu Sheng shot him a cold glare.
He had never thought highly of the Three Bachelors of the Lu Family. Even answering him was already giving him more face than usual.
Lu Tianyang climbed onto another carriage, sulking.
The carriage team resumed their journey, though every person remained tense, eyes sweeping the road and the wilderness beyond. The wheels rumbled dully over the uneven ground, each jolt sending a muted thud through the stillness.
Lu Sheng kept his senses sharp, observing every detail around them. As they moved along, a subtle wrongness brushed against his instincts.
“STOP!” He thrust his hand up abruptly.
Lu Quanan immediately signaled for the entire group to halt.
Lu Sheng slowly turned his head. The abandoned carriage with the red lanterns—left behind minutes ago—was trailing closely behind them once more. The lanterns glowed a vivid, almost garish crimson, yet the horses pulling it made not a single sound. It was as though an unseen coachman guided them.
Before long, the others noticed it too. A startled scream tore from someone’s throat, only to be quickly muffled as another reprimanded him. A wave of panic crept through the team, tightening the air.
“What are you scared of!” Lu Sheng scoffed, his voice cold. “Tie this carriage to that big tree over there. We’ll keep going. Likely this old horse is too used to humans—it won’t leave us alone.”
“Yes, such things do happen. I’ve seen it myself in the pugilistic world,” Uncle Zhao added quickly, forcing a smile.
The soldiers hesitated, fear plain on their faces. But under Brother Song’s stern prodding, they stepped forward and secured the red-lantern carriage to a gnarled, withered tree at the roadside.
The convoy pressed onward.
They traveled for about the time needed for tea leaves to steep. This time, almost everyone kept glancing backward, half expecting the eerie carriage to be following once again.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡecLKTpqh26
The earlier sight had shaken them deeply.
After nearly an hour on the road, their vigilance began to ease.
“Look in front!” a soldier suddenly shouted.
All eyes snapped forward.
There—on the left side of the road—stood the same abandoned carriage they had tied down earlier, still and silent. The red lanterns glowed softly, casting a quiet, unsettling light into the surrounding gloom.
The entire carriage team froze instinctively. Breaths tightened, eyes widened—every gaze locked in disbelief on the red-lantern carriage standing silently before them.
Lu Quanan took out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from his brow. Fear tinged his face, yet he forced himself to remain composed for the sake of those around him, who were already close to panic.
Lu Sheng’s glare hardened, ice-cold, fixed on the eerie carriage.
Clang!165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TfILnFvzc
He drew his saber in one smooth motion and stepped forward.
“All of you leave first. I’ll catch up.”
“Sheng’er!” Lu Quanan called out. “Be careful!”
“Mm.” Lu Sheng didn’t even turn his head. He simply waved them on, commanding them to leave immediately while he remained behind alone, eyes never straying from the crimson-lit carriage.
The wheels creaked to life as the convoy rolled away, leaving Lu Sheng standing motionless on the main path, unmoving as a stone pillar.
He licked his lips, tightened his grip on the saber, and advanced slowly.
“Aren’t you looking for me? I’ve come. Right here,” he said with a low chuckle. “Aren’t you seeking revenge for that female ghost on the pleasure boat?” He clucked his tongue. “Tsk, tsk… what a pity you didn’t see how I skinned her alive. Gouged out her eyes. Cut off her nose and ears.”
Lu Sheng let out an eerie laugh.
“She actually dared to scold me. So I sliced her clean in half—top to bottom. Thought she couldn’t die? All it took was a flick of my inner Qi to set her ablaze. A few seconds, and she was gone. HAHAHAHA…”
His laughter had barely faded when the carriage jolted violently, as though something inside had slammed its door open with force.
Lu Sheng sneered.
“What now? Angry? After that, I even planned to bring her head back to use as a piss pot. But she couldn’t even withstand the last strike—just exploded.”
Inside the carriage, a young woman dressed entirely in red sat motionless. Her face was pale as bleached paper, bloodless and still. She held a large red lantern in her hand, unmoving, staring ahead without the slightest twitch.
Ka… ka…
Her neck began to turn, joints grinding with an unnatural scraping sound.
Her head completed its unnatural turn until her blank, lifeless eyes faced Lu Sheng, who continued laughing in his eerie, mocking tone.
“You knew that woman, didn’t you?” Lu Sheng tightened both hands around his saber hilt, lowering his stance. His gaze darkened into a cold, predatory focus. “So you’ve come to avenge her death?”
CHI!
The lady in red vanished from the carriage in an instant—her form flickering out like a dying flame.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYo4kUY5NT6
She reappeared behind Lu Sheng without a sound.
With a subtle flick of her wrist, the red lantern swung toward the back of his neck, silent as a shadow.
Lu Sheng reacted immediately with a swift backhand slash.
SLASH!
A wave of searing heat burst from the silver arc of his blade. The Ultimate Crimson Mantra surged to its limit, inner Qi flooding violently into the saber as it carved through the air toward the lady in red.
To his shock, the strike met nothing.
The blade cut through her form without the slightest resistance—like slicing through mist.
‘What’s going on!?’ Before he could process it, the lantern struck his chest.
BOOM!
It felt as if a massive weight had slammed into him at full force. Lu Sheng was hurled backward more than ten paces, his boots gouging twin furrows through the dirt until he nearly crashed into a horse carriage. His face reddened from the impact.
Gripping the carriage edge, he forced inner Qi into his saber and swung forward in a fierce counterattack.
SLASH!
Again, the blade passed cleanly through the lantern woman’s form—unimpeded, unreal.
Her lantern smashed into his left shoulder.
The blow threw him off balance, staggering him several steps. Before he could stabilize, her silhouette shimmered once more—appearing right before him.
BOOM!
This time, he barely managed to catch the blow on the flat of his saber. Even so, the sheer force knocked him off his feet and sent him crashing onto the ground.
‘Teleportation? No… she’s just moving so fast it looks like teleportation!’
A burning sting erupted at both points where the lantern had struck him. The pain quickly spread, tinged with a faint numbness and itch.
He recognized the signs immediately.
He had been poisoned.
Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill surged instantly toward his wounds, suppressing the invading toxin and stabilizing his breath.
With a swift motion, Lu Sheng flipped upright and scanned the surroundings. The lady in red had completely vanished. He couldn’t sense the slightest ripple of movement.
‘She’s incredibly fast… but she still makes sound.’ He strained his ears, every nerve taut. Despite the two hits, his hardened body and inner Qi activation had prevented serious injury.
His gaze swept around him—the carriage stood beside him, empty and silent. Only the two red lanterns hung from it, swaying faintly in the still air.
‘Where did she go?’
His eyes narrowed.
CHI!
Without warning, two red silk ribbons lashed out from the carriage, whipping around his neck with crushing force, trying to twist it clean off.
Lu Sheng’s face reddened violently. He grabbed the ribbons with both hands and summoned his inner Qi. The blazing heat of the Ultimate Crimson Mantra rushed outward, scorching the silk.
RIP.
The ribbons tore apart. Lu Sheng rolled forward, widening the distance between himself and the carriage.
He had barely risen to his feet when another red lantern hurled itself at him.
“BANG!”
A mouthful of foul blood surged up his throat, spilling from the corners of his mouth as he staggered back several steps. His entire body felt aflame, inner Qi boiling and spiraling violently along his saber and arms.
He spun his head left, then right—still no trace of her.
“What? That’s it?” he taunted, tapping a finger against his forehead. “Come on, hit here.”
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