The carriage rolled steadily through four or five winding turns, crossed a small plaza, and at last stopped before a quiet, secluded street.
Lu Sheng paid the fare and stepped down, his gaze lifting toward a tall stone signboard planted at the corner. The gray-white monolith stood like a giant finger pointing toward the sky, its surface carved with bold red characters: Fine Treasures Hall.
“Master Lu! Aiyo, why didn’t you tell us in advance you were coming? We would have sent a welcome team to greet you!”
The store owner burst out from within the hall, bowing and apologizing the moment he recognized Lu Sheng. In Mountain-Edge City, few failed to know of External Head Lu—the man who had beaten Sect Master Gongsun to death. After that battle, he had carved an unforgettable image into their minds: powerful, ruthless, untouchable.
“Please enter! Please enter!” The rotund store owner hurriedly ushered him inside, his small eyes widening as much as they could while he repeatedly wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve.
“Where’s the stuff?” Lu Sheng asked without slowing his pace. He had no time to admire the hall’s decor. With the Zhen Family and the ghost faction locked in fierce conflict, every moment he wasted was another moment lost in strengthening himself.
“Here! The stuff’s all here!” the store owner replied anxiously.
He guided Lu Sheng through the outer hall and into the rear chamber, where two massive crates sat in a corner, still flecked with dried earth.
“These were just unearthed. We haven’t even had time to clean off the smell of soil. Please excuse the mess,” he said with an apologetic smile.
“You two. Open these crates!”
At his command, two muscular employees stepped forward. They unlatched the heavy locks and threw open the lids.
Clang.
The lids slammed against the wall with a dull reverberation, revealing heaps of assorted artifacts piled within.
“No problem—they’re fresh, just like I wanted,” Lu Sheng said casually.
He crouched beside the nearest crate and lifted a bronze sword.
No Yin Qi.
He set it down, picked up a bronze candlestick.
Still no Yin Qi.
The third item he lifted was a short iron sword.
Nothing again.
“I’ll look through them on my own. No need to mind me—go busy yourselves,” Lu Sheng said, his tone indifferent.
But the store owner didn’t dare leave. He wasn’t even the true proprietor of Fine Treasures Hall—merely the appointed general steward. Earlier that day, he had received a sudden message from above: Crimson Whale Sect’s External Head Lu would be coming to this branch to select items. In a panic, he had rushed over from home to personally welcome him.
Quietly, he gestured for the two employees to step back. He himself retreated several paces, remaining close enough to answer any command.
One by one, Lu Sheng sifted through the items, tossing each aside. In no time, he had emptied the first crate—over a dozen artifacts, none containing even a trace of Yin Qi.
It was expected. Yin Qi could be stored in objects, but it dissipated swiftly; items capable of preserving it were exceedingly rare.
Lu Sheng moved to the second crate, crouched down, and began examining its contents. Again, artifacts were lifted, inspected, and discarded.
Halfway through, his hand suddenly stopped.
In his palm lay a gold-threaded red jade bangle. He ignored the dark soil still clinging to it and lifted it close to his eye.
Cold Yin Qi trickled steadily from the bangle into his hand.
Turning it over, he noticed a delicate inscription carved along its inner curve:
‘Where art thou, Nine Phoenixes of the clear stream?’
“Where did this bangle come from?” he asked without looking up.
“In reply to Master’s question,” the store owner said cautiously, “all these items were collected from independent contractors. We aren’t sure which one provided that specific piece.”
“Fine. That’ll do.”
Lu Sheng set the jade bangle beside him and checked the rest of the crate, but his luck had run out; none of the remaining objects contained any Yin Qi.
He picked up the gold-threaded bangle again and rose to his feet.
“I’ll take this bangle. Name a price.”
The owner accepted the bangle and gave it a quick look.
“Since Master Lu is willing to patronize us, we’ll only charge the base price—twenty taels.”
Lu Sheng handed over silver notes totaling twenty taels, retrieved the bangle, and stepped out of the rear hall.
“If new stock arrives in the future, make sure to notify me,” he said before leaving.
“Rest assured, I will, I will!” the store owner replied, forcing a broad and eager smile.
Carrying the jade bangle, Lu Sheng hailed a carriage and returned straight to the greenhouse. Throughout the journey, Yin Qi continued to flow steadily from the bangle into his body.
Back at the greenhouse, he retreated to his room. After instructing those outside not to disturb him, he closed the door behind him.
He sat down, poured tea from the pot over the bangle to wash it clean, then wiped it dry with a handkerchief. At once, the jade gleamed, spotless and vivid. Under the lamplight, the red jade glowed with the deep, rich hue of fresh blood.
By now, almost all of the Yin Qi within it had already been absorbed.
“Deep Blue!”
The Modifier shimmered into view before his eyes. Lu Sheng shifted his focus to the rows of martial arts boxes. To his relief, most now displayed supplemental selections—every one of them, except Yin-Yang Jade Crane Skill.
He turned his attention to Ultimate Crimson Mantra. A new button glowed beside Level Six. Clearly, the Yin Qi he had absorbed was enough to elevate it further.
“Begin martial arts extrapolation?”The Modifier’s prompt appeared.
“Yes,” Lu Sheng answered after a brief consideration. The prompt vanished, and he zoomed in on Ultimate Crimson Mantra. The upgrade button remained.
‘To counteract Bind poison, I need pure Yang inner force. Ultimate Crimson Mantra must take priority—it’s also my strongest edge against the supernatural.’
Resolved, he focused and pressed the button beside Ultimate Crimson Mantra.
Swish.
The Modifier interface blurred, then snapped back into clarity. New text appeared:
Ultimate Crimson Mantra: Level Seven. Special Effect(s): Blood Web, Intensified Fire Poison, Six-Fold Tremor, Intensified Incendiary.
‘Blood web… as expected.’ A thrill surged through Lu Sheng’s chest.
According to the manual, once Ultimate Crimson Mantra reached its pinnacle, all inner Qi within the body would circulate endlessly, maximizing its explosive force. At that point, the Qi would naturally weave itself into a thin, seamless layer covering the entire surface of the skin.
That layer was the blood web.
As for how powerful it truly was, Lu Sheng could only guess. Though he felt his cultivation force swelling, expanding with every breath, the finer transformations remained elusive.
He opened the white box once more and retrieved a porcelain vial. Removing the stopper, he let a drop of black liquid fall onto his palm.
Szzzz…
White smoke curled upward, carrying a stench like rotting flesh.82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dOzfaoHyO
The black liquid writhed in his palm, quivering as though it had fallen onto a boiling cauldron. It shrank quickly, bubbled, then vanished entirely.
‘One drop is nothing now. Only three breaths to neutralize it,’ Lu Sheng noted, gauging the Qi expenditure. ‘The quality of my Ultimate Crimson Qi has risen. It only took twenty percent of my inner force to produce the same effect as before. So even if it feels like the volume didn't increase much, my true cultivation base has expanded nearly fourfold. As expected of the pinnacle realm of the Ultimate Crimson Mantra.’
‘Let’s try the blood web.’
Lu Sheng stood and activated all his inner force.
At once, he sensed a thin, invisible layer spreading across his skin—an intricate Qi web shielding every inch of his body.
‘Interesting.’
He extended his index finger toward the tabletop. When it reached an inch away, he felt a soft resistance blocking the tip of his finger, preventing it from making contact.
It felt like densely packed cotton—springy, pliant. He could push into it slightly, but never enough to touch the table.
Szzzz…
Without warning, flames burst to life across the tabletop, racing swiftly across the fabric.
‘Although it offers some defense and carries fire poison within it, the temperature is too low… it burns too slowly. I had to keep my hand there for several breaths before the tablecloth ignited…’82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEDFsshaG0
Lu Sheng lifted the teapot and poured its contents across the tabletop, snuffing out the last flickers of flame.
‘Against mortals and ordinary experts, this blood web is extremely effective. With a layer of animal hide armor and this web as a buffer, any attack—no matter how fierce—would be slowed and weakened. But against ghosts, it won’t be enough. I need to push it further. Right… Changing the Heavens in Seven Days Saber Technique also creates a web-like Qi force. Maybe the two could stack?’
He flipped through the Ultimate Crimson Mantra manual. Unfortunately, it confirmed what he feared: Changing the Heavens in Seven Days only imitated the Level Seven special effect, producing a far weaker duplicate. Now that he had reached the genuine pinnacle realm, the saber technique no longer held much value.
‘I still have that Grade A, Third Class contribution merit. I can choose any martial art I want. Grade A should be enough to pick one of the top-tier inner force mantras, shouldn’t it?’ A helpless sigh pressed into his thoughts.
Even with pinnacle mastery of the Ultimate Crimson Mantra—matching the heights once reached by former Crimson Sun Sect Chiefs—his strength was only sufficient to resist roughly half the Bind poison contained in the sample vials.
Lu Sheng concluded that the difficulty of resisting the Bind poison was directly proportional to its tremendous defensive potency.
If that was true, then even if he unleashed all his inner force at full power, he would still need at least double his current strength to pierce through Bind’s defense.
“External Head! Sect Master has ordered the entire upper management to assemble on the Crimson Whale!” Jade Lotus’s voice suddenly rang from outside.
“The entire upper management?” Lu Sheng’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Did he say why?”
“No, sir,” Jade Lotus answered, clearly frustrated. He wasn’t considered part of upper management yet—he had the talent, but his cultivation lagged behind, leaving him out of the loop at moments like this.
“I understand. I’m coming out now. I needed to make a trip to headquarters anyway.”
Lu Sheng slipped the porcelain vial back into its box, tucked it beneath his bed, straightened his robes, and opened the door.
“The horse has been prepared. External Head, please take better care of it this time. A good horse costs a hefty sum… nobody can afford the losses if you keep losing your mounts,” Jade Lotus reminded him helplessly. Every horse Lu Sheng rode out somehow vanished without a trace, leaving the Mountain-Edge City branch short of quality steeds.
“Got it,” Lu Sheng chuckled.
He stepped outside, where a disciple led forward a robust maroon horse.
“Oh, and tonight you can retrieve Lu Chenxin’s corpse. It’s about time, isn’t it?” Lu Sheng asked suddenly as the thought resurfaced.
“It is,” Jade Lotus replied with a nod. For some reason, the Lu Sheng standing before him felt different—calmer, heavier, as though a dangerous beast had settled into the steadiness of a mountain.
“Have it sent here first. I’ll deliver it back personally,” Lu Sheng said. His family deserved closure, one way or another.82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cAQAQFhfN
82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpuovKkT1S
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