Being a Sneaky Bastard to the Bitter End

At the Heavenly Martial Sect's Martial Hall in Li Zhou City, Peak Master Cao Dawu, who was responsible for overseeing the affairs of Li Zhou City, was discussing with his subordinates how to carry out the sect's orders.

"According to the Elders' Council, Li Zhou City, Yu Zhou City, and Han Zhou City must step up our harassment of the three cities across from us. That way, we can tie down more Divine Water Sect experts and indirectly reduce the number of their experts deployed on the main battlefield.

"However, we must not go too far. The sect needs to develop, and we need to survive as well. Otherwise, if we truly draw out higher-level experts from the Divine Water Sect, wouldn't we all become cannon fodder for the sect?"

The moment he finished speaking, a thunderous explosion suddenly erupted from the wall behind them.

Everyone in the room felt their hairs stand on end. Before they could react, several cold flashes swept past them, and in an instant, several heads flew into the air.

"So strong!"

The Condensing Truth Realm cultivator felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head. He could not even keep up with the speed of the enemy's attacks. The opponent was at least a Transforming Sea Realm expert!

The Divine Water Sect had no sense of martial honor, actually deploying an expert of this level on such a remote front line!

He could not fight head-on. Run!

Almost the instant that thought arose, another cold flash swept past him, severing his body cleanly in two at the waist.

"Ah—!"

The heart-rending pain forced a miserable scream from him. Immediately afterward, a treasured sword pierced straight through his shoulder, pinning his upper body firmly to the ground.

"Y-you're from the Divine Water Sect?"

"Too much nonsense. I ask, you answer."

As Lu Wangchuan rummaged through him and pulled out three Storage Bags of considerable weight, he questioned him coldly.

"Where are all the resources you collected from Li Zhou City?"

"You can forget about getting that out of me. The other fellow disciples in Li Zhou City will take those resources away. You won't get a single spirit stone—not even one copper coin."

"Don't worry about them. They're all dead already."

Cao Dawu's heart trembled. This guy... had silently slaughtered all the Heavenly Martial Sect disciples?

"Even so, I won't tell you."

Lu Wangchuan did not get angry. He slowly twisted the sword hilt. The pain of the blade tearing through flesh and bone made Cao Dawu howl in agony, the veins on his forehead bulging as sweat poured down like rain.

"You can torture me to death if you want, but I still won't tell you!"

"Don't worry. As long as you don't speak, I won't let you die."

With that, Lu Wangchuan circulated the Azure Emperor Longevity Art and swiftly healed the injuries on Cao Dawu's body. Before Cao Dawu could understand why his wounds were rapidly closing, Lu Wangchuan twisted the sword hilt once more.

"Ah—!"

Cao Dawu was once again wracked by heart-rending pain.

Yet compared to the pain in his body, the terror in his heart was even greater.

This guy was practically a demon. He had even cultivated the Life Nurturing Art. Only a life-nurturing internal art could achieve something like this.

At this rate, he truly would be unable to live or die.

"I'll talk, I'll talk... The resources we plundered from Li Zhou City are in the secret chamber beneath the Martial Hall."

Lu Wangchuan pulled out the sword, lifted Cao Dawu with one hand, and slashed toward the ground.

Sword Qi burst forth, tearing apart the stone floor a meter away in an instant with an unstoppable force. Beneath it shone a dazzling light—gold, silver, jewelry, banknotes, and all manner of rare materials for refining pills, even some low- and mid-grade spirit stones.

Its value was impossible to estimate at a glance. After all, this was the accumulation of a city over a thousand years, all plundered and gathered here.

Lu Wangchuan did not stand on ceremony. With a grasp through the air, vast spiritual energy condensed into an invisible giant hand, collecting every treasure and resource into the Storage Bags one by one.

"You've gotten what you wanted. Give me a quick death."

Grinding his teeth, Cao Dawu made the humblest plea of his life.

But Lu Wangchuan did not grant his wish. Instead, he spoke again.

"What are the deployments in Yu Zhou City and Han Zhou City?"

Cao Dawu froze, then immediately broke into furious curses.

"You still want me to betray my fellow disciples? You son of a bitch, don't go too far!"

Lu Wangchuan exerted a slight force with his hand and instantly crushed his shoulder.

"You have no room to choose."

Cao Dawu gritted his teeth so hard they were nearly shattered. But when he sensed this man circulating his cultivation art to repair his body, he knew that Lu Wangchuan was going to do it again. And if he still refused to speak, he might have to endure it several more times.

"You're already a dead man. Is there any need to care about swearing loyalty unto death to the sect? Wouldn't a quick death be better than anything?"

Those words completely shattered Cao Dawu's resolve. This guy was simply a demon.

"Yu Zhou City has two more Condensing Truth Realm experts than Li Zhou City. Han Zhou City is relatively weaker."

"Thank you."

Having heard that, Lu Wangchuan wasted no more words and sent him straight to the afterlife.

Over the next day, Yu Zhou City and Han Zhou City quietly fell in succession.

Lu Wangchuan repeated the same method, destroying both cities without causing any large-scale alarm.

The higher a martial artist's cultivation, the fewer their numbers. Those at the Condensed Truth Realm could already guard an entire city. Transforming Sea Realm experts were almost all on the front lines and would not appear here lightly. As for those at even higher levels, they were even less likely to show themselves.

By this point, all the resources Heavenly Martial Sect had plundered from these three cities, before they could even be transported back to the sect, had been intercepted by Lu Wangchuan.

Resources from the secular world naturally could not compare to those of a sect. But these were the resources of three entire cities. When quantity accumulated to the point of qualitative change, their value was naturally far from insignificant.

Lu Wangchuan reckoned that he was already at the late Transforming Sea Realm. With these resources, they should be enough for him to break through to the third level of the Celestial Human Realm—the World-Suppressing Level.

It seemed he should find a place to enter seclusion and break through to the World-Suppressing Level first.

After all, no matter how much money one had, if it could not be converted into cultivation, it was merely something external. Only when it became cultivation did it truly belong to oneself.

With that thought in mind, he returned to Chen Zhou City the following night.

His elder sister and brother-in-law had not yet gone to sleep. When they saw Lu Wangchuan return, they could not help letting out a sigh of relief.

"Wangchuan, where did you go for the past day and night?"

"Nowhere. I just went out for a walk."

"It's a mess outside right now. Heavenly Martial Sect disciples launch sneak attacks from time to time. You need to be careful."

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

Chen Haoming could not help asking cautiously, "Wangchuan, are you very powerful in Divine Water Sect now?"

"I'm all right. Why ask that all of a sudden?"

"People from the Qin and Liu families, as well as your Divine Water Sect, all came here. We figured it must have been you who made a move."

Lu Wangchuan nodded.

"It was a trivial matter, not worth mentioning."

The couple's hearts lurched even more at those words.

The Chen Family had built up its estate over a hundred years, with a grand household and vast holdings, yet they had still been crushed beneath the pressure of those few Divine Water Sect members, unable even to raise their heads. Now, Lu Wangchuan had casually acted and completely reversed the situation, yet he called it a trivial matter.

Just how high must his standing in Divine Water Sect be now?

"Wangchuan, may I ask... what level has your cultivation reached now? Have you already broken through into the legendary Celestial Human Realm?"

Today's word count is almost at one hundred thousand. I'll add another chapter shortly and reach one hundred thousand words ahead of schedule.