Chapter 95: Killing a Chicken to Scare the Monkey! (Part 1)

  Wu Tie has now passed the Fire Yuan Tribulation and entered the Sword Master stage. Not only has his sword energy been refined and completely evolved into a pure attribute of sword energy, but his state of mind has also undergone a great transformation. Having experienced the heavenly tribulation, he now possesses an ethereal quality that was not present before, and his gaze towards others seems to have become even more gentle.

  "Thank you, Brother Gu, for your protection, and to all of you who have come to witness this, Wu Mou is deeply grateful." Wu Tie turned around and bowed slightly to Gu Jianfeng and Lu Qing.

  "Brother Wu, no need to be polite, you and I will travel together, this is something Gu Mou should do with sincerity." Gu Jianfeng shook his head and said, the two of them looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  While the forces of Luoshen City behind Lu Qing and others changed color slightly upon hearing the conversation between the two, no one spoke up. That night, in the city lord's mansion, Gujian Feng set up a banquet and ordered the best chef in Luoshen City to cook, treating all the invited representatives of Luoshen City's forces. He publicly announced his retirement together with Wutie.

  Although it had already been heard, at this moment, hearing the two people say it in person still made many people's hearts shake, because as a result, it would inevitably cause the power of Luoshi City to be turbulent due to the new city master and the master of the Sword God Temple. The interests involved were not something that could be clearly stated all at once.

  "Lord Gu, under your and Lord Wu's leadership, the people of Luoshan City have been united as one. Whether it is stability or the livelihoods of the people, there has been significant improvement. We all need both of you, and the entire city needs both of you." A few weak forces that had not yet given up spoke out during the banquet.

  A faint smile, Gujian Feng opened his mouth and said: "At the beginning, I didn't step down because Master Xuanfeng trusted me. Moreover, with the Beast Ruins riot imminent, suddenly having an outsider as the city master would likely make it difficult to control such a large Luori City for a while, which would lead to great casualties and losses."

  The tone changed, Gu Jianfeng continued: "But now it's different, the source of the beast ruins' crisis has been solved by the sect master and the four peak masters. I no longer need to worry about the threat of the beast ruins for my Lu Ri City, and I can finally put down the burden on my shoulders and focus on pursuing the ultimate sword path. I think you should be able to understand the mind of a swordsman like me."

  In this way, the people of Luoshen City no longer spoke out to stop them. They knew that Gujian Feng's two hearts were already determined. Now what they needed to do was to make good preparations for the arrival of the new city master and the Sword God Temple master, so as to protect their family business from being engulfed by the turbulent forces.

  It was late at night, and Lu Qingduan sat cross-legged in the side room, circulating the Zihuang Sword Body Scripture. He didn't go to cultivate the Xuanyi Heart Scripture. According to Ye Lao's words, after another half month of time, he would be able to fully adapt and consolidate the first layer of the Zihuang Sword Body Scripture, and then rely on swallowing the Blood Slashing Sword Yuan Liquid in his body to increase his cultivation.

  According to his mental state and spiritual cultivation, Ye Lao said that he can directly advance to the Sword Guest Great Heaven position without any worries, and of course, his physical body is even more unproblematic. A fleshly body that can withstand the slashing of a fifth-grade sword instrument is something that even a Sword Master cannot match.

  This also made Lu Qing re-recognize the reversal of heaven in the Zi Huang Sword Body Technique, and Ye Lao also told him that this Zi Huang Sword Body Technique was actually a set of royal-level sword yuan gong. This did not exceed Lu Qing's expectations. The six layers of human rank, the nine layers of earth rank, the twelve layers of heavenly rank, and the thirteen layers of royal rank were common knowledge that every swordsman had to know before practicing sword yuan gong.

  However, according to Ye Lao's words, this set of Zi Huang sword body method is too against the heaven, so the cultivation of Jing Yuan Ling Wu's absorption has reached a huge level, and almost no one can cultivate above the tenth layer. Therefore, in many cases, it is only used as a auxiliary sword yuan gong to improve physical fitness.

  It's precisely because it's difficult to practice that once a swordsman reaches the sixth level or higher, their strength will far surpass that of same-level swordsmen, no matter how many heavenly ranks apart they are, and can even defeat those of higher levels.

  So Lu Qing has now completely abandoned the practice of the Rising Sun Heart Sutra and instead began to cultivate the Zi Huang Sword Body Sutra, the Blood Slashing Sword Yuan liquid stored in his body is enough for him to cultivate up to the sixth layer.

  The next morning, Lu Qing woke up from his meditation. Tomorrow, they would be returning to Chaoyang Peak and it was almost time to start preparing for the Mid-Year Grand Competition. This competition held extraordinary significance as entering the top twenty would grant them the opportunity to enter the Sword Pool for cultivation. As for Lu Qing, although he already had a vast amount of Blood Slashing Sword Essence in his body which provided nourishment for the Purple Emperor Sword Body, he would never let go of any power that could enhance his cultivation.

  After leaving the city master's mansion, Lu Qing did not go to disturb Duan Qingyun and others. Today was the last day in Luoshen City, he wanted to go to Fangshi Street to take a look at his family's shops. Originally, all of these were taken care of by Yi Lao, but since he was now in Luoshen City, it was necessary for him to take a look.

  Moreover, he had also heard that fascinating conversation yesterday, and if he didn't go to understand it, his heart would be uneasy.

  The Lu family's shops were all sword shops, mainly selling the swords forged by the Lu family's trained swordsmiths, as well as some rare materials, sword-making tools, and fuels. Due to the Lu family's great reputation in sword-making, combined with their high-quality swords made from the same materials as other swordsmiths of the same level, business was extremely good.

  The market in Luojing City was very large, located in the northeast corner of Luojing City. The market was surrounded by a three-zhang-high white stone wall, and outside the gate, six city guards wearing beast skin armor stood guard, scanning the crowd coming and going with their eyes. What surprised Lu Qing was that these six people were exactly the same group of people who followed him to patrol the ordinary Zongmin district before. The other few people Lu Qing looked around also patrolled back and forth in the market.

  Upon seeing Lu Qing arrive, the six city guards all showed respectful expressions. The leader stepped forward and bowed, saying: "Sir, are you here to buy something? I can have someone escort you, so those merchants won't dare to quote you a random price." After finishing speaking, he glanced at a young city guard beside him, who hastily came over to wait in attendance.

  Showing a faint smile, Lu Qing said: "You have your responsibilities, just tell me where the Lu family's sword shop is and I'll go there myself."

  The leader of the city guard was taken aback, and then a look of difficulty appeared on his face. Lu Qing saw this and frowned, saying: "What's wrong, is there a problem?"

  "That... " The city guard looked around and walked with Lu Qing to a corner, saying: "Now you can speak."

  The city guard hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Sir, you don't know this, but the Lu family's store has been having some trouble lately."

  Lu Qing heard this and his heart tightened, indeed something had happened. His expression unchanged, he asked: "Why can't you go?"

  "Grown-ups don't know that the Situ family has been wanting to acquire the two sword shops of the Lu family recently, so now no one goes to the Lu family's sword shop anymore."

  "Seize him!" Lu Qing's gaze was like a cold blade, and the city guard felt an intangible pressure piercing his heart, beads of sweat bursting forth on his face, his legs trembling as he nearly knelt down.

  But Lu Qing immediately withdrew his gaze, composed himself and continued: "What does this acquisition have to do with the Lu family sword shop? Has it already been acquired?"

  "This, actually the Lu family swordsmiths did not agree to be acquired, but the Situ family's influence is great. Now that the head of the Lu family has passed away and the Lu family's power is weak, this fat meat was already eyed by the Situ family many years ago, and now it's just the right opportunity."

  Lu Qing heard this and snorted coldly, saying: "Does the Situ family think that the Lu family is so easy to bully? They actually stoop to such depths."

  That city guard also sighed and said, "Who made the Lu family not have a swordmaster to shake the mansion now? Now that they are short of strength but own such a prosperous business, the Situ family is not a thrifty lamp, and being able to wait until now to take action has already been very patient."

  "What strength?" Lu Qing coldly laughed twice. "A good 'strength is supreme', I'd like to see, today I'll go to the Lu family's sword shop, who dares to stop me!"

  Cheng Wei saw Lu Qingyu reveal a cold intention, and secretly thought to himself that this was not good. This young master of the inner sect was not very old, but his temper was quite big. However, he still kindly reminded him: "Sir, you are unaware that the Situ family has been trying to monopolize the Lu family's business. Every day, a Sword Guest elder is stationed at the Situ family sword shop opposite the Lu family sword shop, and anyone who dares to enter and purchase swords will be challenged by him."

  He paused, Cheng Wei looked up at Lu Qing and said in a low voice: "Now, including the swordsmen of the Lu family's Falling Sun City Sword Shop, there are already four top-notch swordsmen, more than ten sword attendants were injured by him. Now, no one dares to go to the Lu family sword shop anymore. It's better for you to change to another sword shop, it's not necessary to make an enemy of the Situ family just to go to the Lu family sword shop."

  But at this moment, Lu Qing's eyes flashed with cold light, obviously, what the city guard just said had touched the taboo in his heart. He recalled the memory of yesterday's Wuti Duojie, where he saw the great elder of the Situ family, Situ Chong. Since you, Situ family, are spying on my Lu family business, don't blame me, Lu Qing, for not giving you face.

  Shaking his head, Lu Qing said: "Tell me the location of the Lu family's sword pavilion."

  "Why adults"

  "Location!" Lu Qing's voice grew heavier.

  That castle guard only felt that the current Lu Qing seemed to have changed into a different person from before, and although his overall demeanor hadn't revealed anything out of the ordinary, standing in front of him brought about an inexplicable oppressive feeling that made the sword servant's mental state tremble violently.

  "The two most prosperous sunset streets in Nanjiao are just these." Unable to bear the heavy air, the city guard hastily spoke up, and instantly, the pressure on his body disappeared. He looked up to see that Lu Qing had already turned around and entered the market.

  At the same time, a sentence came from afar, "Because I am Lu Qing."