Pursuit

Hearing Old Man Zhao's question, Lu Ming subconsciously raised the long saber in his hand and glanced at it.

Over the past few days, aside from the weapons shop owner who had come to gift him the saber, many others had also come by from time to time.

Some had come to befriend him, while others had come to invite him to join their forces.

For instance, the Yang Family, one of the three great families, had sent someone to offer him the position of an elder with an outside surname.

The stipend they offered was quite generous as well.

But Lu Ming had refused them all.

Still, those people could at least be considered friendly. The unfriendly ones were likely still watching from the sidelines, with no telling what schemes they might be harboring against him.

Of course, he knew that Old Man Zhao could shield him from them, but he did not want to trouble him because of it.

So he planned to join a sect.

That way, he would not only have protection, but also be able to learn many cultivation techniques and martial skills.

Furthermore, there were many gifted youths his age within a sect. Competing against one another would be even more beneficial to improving his strength.

Now that Old Man Zhao had asked, Lu Ming laid out his thoughts in full, without hiding anything.

Old Man Zhao did not seem surprised by his choice. He said, "There are quite a few sects in the Zhao Kingdom. More than ten have reached the ninth rank, six are eighth-rank, and three are seventh-rank. Have you decided which one you want to join?"

Lu Ming answered without hesitation, "If I'm going, naturally I'll go to the strongest."

"Ambitious."

Old Man Zhao nodded and analyzed it for him. "The three seventh-rank sects are the Nine Heavens Sect, the Jade Luo Sect, and the Wuji Sect."

"Of the three, the Nine Heavens Sect is the strongest overall, followed by the Jade Luo Sect, with the Wuji Sect in third place."

"Then I'll go to the Nine Heavens Sect. With my talent, I'll surely be able to join it."

Lu Ming said directly.

Old Man Zhao burst into laughter. "If you can't get in, it can only mean the Nine Heavens Sect is blind. One day, they might regret it to death."

"Then you, old man..."

Lu Ming hesitated. To be honest, although he had not known Old Man Zhao for long, the thought of suddenly leaving still made him somewhat reluctant.

Perhaps sensing the emotion Lu Ming revealed, Old Man Zhao was both gratified and moved. "I'm leaving too."

"Leaving?"

Lu Ming was somewhat surprised. Then he remembered the man's mystery and asked, "You still can't tell me your identity?"

Old Man Zhao shook his head. "It's not time yet. But with your talent, I believe we'll meet again very soon. When that time comes..."

He did not continue.

Lu Ming said instead, "When the time comes, whatever favor you need from me, I won't refuse."

"Haha..."

Old Man Zhao laughed heartily at that. "Then this trip of mine was worth it. Here, take this."

After laughing, Old Man Zhao suddenly tossed something to Lu Ming.

"A storage ring?"

Lu Ming caught it in confusion. When he saw that it was the very thing he had longed for day and night, he was astonished. "This..."

"Take it. This thing is nothing to me. Oh, and all the books I've collected over the years are inside as well. I'm giving them to you too."

Hearing that, Lu Ming could only accept it.

Afterward, Old Man Zhao did not leave immediately, nor would Lu Ming set off at once. He planned to wait until he broke through to the ninth layer of Inner Qi before leaving.

That would make traveling far from home safer.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. One night, inside the room.

Lu Ming sat cross-legged, his eyes closed in meditation. Everything around him was silent, but within his body, it was anything but quiet. It was as though the roar of a great river surging forth could be heard.

This was the sound produced as Inner Qi circulated through his meridians in a complete cycle.

But the sound of others' Inner Qi circulation was nowhere near so thunderous. From this alone, one could see just how fast Lu Ming's Inner Qi was moving within him.

Finally, as though rushing water had smashed through a dam blocking its path, a series of cracking sounds rang out, and the roar of the surging river gradually faded away.

This was because the flowing water had gained greater space, causing its currents to become calmer.

It also meant that Lu Ming had broken through and reached a new realm.

Only after a while did he open his eyes.

"The ninth layer of Inner Qi. I've finally made it."

After testing the strength he had gained from this breakthrough, Lu Ming felt that if he faced Li Chonghu again, he could definitely finish him within ten moves.

And if he paired it with his nascent Saber Intent, he could kill him in a single strike.

But there was no longer any chance. Lu Ming had heard that after Li Chonghu escaped last time, he had not returned to the Black Tiger Gang, but had vanished without a trace.

This directly caused the Black Tiger Gang to fall apart.

Lu Ming had always found the matter somewhat suspicious. By all rights, Li Chonghu should not have been frightened that badly.

He must have encountered something else, or perhaps he feared that after being injured, other enemies would seize the chance to come knocking.

So he went into hiding.

But Lu Ming did not care too much. After keeping an eye out for it, he put it out of his mind.

After finishing his cultivation and going to sleep, Lu Ming packed up the next day and formally bid Old Man Zhao farewell.

The old man said that he would leave only after Lu Ming had gone first.

"Go on, go on."

Old Man Zhao waved his hand.

Thus, Lu Ming tucked away his lingering sentimentality, placed a veiled bamboo hat draped in black gauze over his head, then turned and left without hesitation.

"Old man, until we meet again."

The voice was close, but the figure was growing ever farther away.

"Brat, still trying to be so sentimental when you're leaving. Fine. There have been quite a few petty rats lurking nearby lately, so this old man will protect you a little farther."

Old Man Zhao had been rocking in his reclining chair, then suddenly vanished.

Shuofeng City lay in the northwest of the Zhao Kingdom, not far from the border with its neighboring nations.

Thus, to reach the sects within the Zhao Kingdom, one had to travel east or south.

The Nine Heavens Sect lay due south, so Lu Ming left through the southern gate. Since he wore a bamboo hat, no one recognized him, sparing him much trouble.

But some troubles could not be avoided. Someone seemed to be watching him specifically.

They had been watching him ever since he crossed the single-plank bridge.

"Hmph. I hope you can keep up."

Lu Ming's senses were sharp, so he naturally noticed something amiss. He did not feel afraid; after glancing back, he suddenly accelerated.

"We've been discovered. What do we do?"

Three people wearing similar bamboo hats stepped out from the crowd.

"Once we reach the wilderness, where there's no cover, we'll be discovered sooner or later. Chase him directly!"

"Understood."

The three then rapidly pursued Lu Ming's figure.

Thus, one group fled while the other gave chase, and they soon arrived in an uninhabited place.

After accelerating like this, Lu Ming had finally lured out everyone behind the scenes and roughly judged their strength as well—two at the Early True Qi Realm and one at the Mid True Qi Realm.

He simply did not know why these three were pursuing him so relentlessly.

But there was no doubt that those who came meant ill.

He was considering whether to ignore them and continue on his own way, or stop and fight them.

If he fought, now that he had comprehended the Saber Intent embryonic form, he was confident that even if he could not defeat them, he could at least escape.

If he ignored them, they would catch up sooner or later. After all, when it came to endurance, he could not compare with True Qi Realm cultivators.

Though he had Qi Recovery Pills, there was no guarantee that they did not have them as well.

So it was better to stop and fight them directly. At the very least, he had to dampen their arrogance.

Having made his decision, Lu Ming no longer wasted his inner qi. He found a place to stop, then swallowed a Qi Recovery Pill to replenish the inner qi he had expended.

After thinking it over, he took out another pill and held it in his mouth.

Just in case he had no time to swallow one during the battle.

To be honest, the Qi Recovery Pills Dugu Mingri had given him were of quite high quality. A single pill could restore sixty percent of his inner qi at once.

The ones he had bought from shops himself could not achieve that effect.

The three people chasing him were also fast. Lu Ming had only stopped for a dozen breaths before they arrived nearby.

"You're not running anymore?"

To be honest, the three were rather surprised that Lu Ming had stopped specifically to wait for them.

So the person on the far right could not help asking as soon as they approached.

"I don't feel like running anymore," Lu Ming said indifferently.

"Looks like you've accepted your fate."

This time, the one who spoke was the man in the middle, the strongest among them, at the Mid True Qi Realm.

"I won't accept my fate."

Lu Ming shook his head, then asked, "We should never have met before. Why are you pursuing me so relentlessly?"

The three suddenly fell silent, seeming to consider how to answer him.

But at that moment, a voice came from the distance. It turned out there was another person following behind the three—a sword-bearing youth.

"I can answer that question for them!"