Chasing

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

In the past few days, besides the weapons shop owner who came to gift him the saber, many other people had also visited from time to time.

Some came to make friends, while others came to invite him to join their factions.

For example, the Yang Family, one of the three great families, had sent someone to offer him a position as an elder with an external surname.

The salary they offered was also very tempting.

However, he had rejected them all.

Still, these people had all been relatively friendly. Those who weren't might still be observing him, harboring unknown intentions.

Of course, he knew Old Man Zhao could protect him, but he didn't want to trouble him because of it.

So, he decided to join a sect.

This way, he would have protection and could also learn many Cultivation Methods and Martial Skills.

Furthermore, sects had many geniuses of the same age, and mutual competition would be more conducive to improving his strength.

Now that Old Man Zhao had asked, he explained his thoughts to him in detail.

Old Man Zhao didn't seem surprised by his choice and said:

"There are quite a few sects in Zhao Country. More than ten have reached the ninth grade, six have reached the eighth grade, and three have reached the seventh grade. Have you decided which one you want to go to?"

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

"Ambitious."

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

"Among these three sects, the Nine Heavens Sect is the strongest overall, followed by the Jade Luo Sect, and then the Wuji Sect."

"Then I'll go to the Nine Heavens Sect. I'm sure with my talent, I'll be able to join successfully."

Lu Ming said directly.

Old Man Zhao chuckled, "If you can't succeed, it can only mean the Nine Heavens Sect is blind, and they'll probably regret it to death in the future."

"Then, old man, you..."

Lu Ming hesitated for a moment. To be honest, although he hadn't spent much time with Old Man Zhao, he felt a pang of reluctance to leave so suddenly.

Seemingly sensing the emotion in Lu Ming's words, Old Man Zhao felt both gratified and touched. "I'm leaving too."

"Leaving?"

Lu Ming was a little surprised, then thinking of the other's mysterious nature, he asked, "You still can't tell me your identity?"

Old Man Zhao shook his head. "It's not time yet, but I believe with your talent, we will meet again soon. By then..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

Lu Ming said, "When that time comes, if you need my help with anything, I won't refuse."

"Haha..."

Old Man Zhao laughed heartily upon hearing this. "Then this trip of mine was worth it. Take this, catch."

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

"Is this a Storage Ring?"

Lu Ming caught it in confusion and, upon seeing the item he had longed for, was astonished. "This..."

"Take it. This thing is nothing to me. Oh, right, all the books I've collected over the years are in there. I'll give them to you as well."

Lu Ming could only accept it.

Afterward, Old Man Zhao didn't leave immediately, and Lu Ming wouldn't depart right away either. He wanted to wait until he broke through to the ninth level of Inner Qi before leaving.

This would be safer for a long journey.

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

Lu Ming sat cross-legged, his eyes closed in meditation. The surroundings were silent, but within Lu Ming's body, it was bustling, like the sound of a great river surging.

This was the sound produced by Inner Qi circulating through the meridians.

However, others' sounds were not nearly as loud, indicating how fast Lu Ming's Inner Qi was circulating within his body at this moment.

Finally, as if a dam had been breached by flowing water, accompanied by creaking sounds, the sound of the great river gradually faded.

This was because the water had gained more space, and its flow had become calmer.

This meant Lu Ming had broken through and reached a new realm.

After a while longer, he finally opened his eyes.

"Ninth level of Inner Qi, I finally made it."

After sensing his strength after this breakthrough, Lu Ming felt that if he faced Li Chonghu again, he could definitely resolve the fight within ten moves.

And if he combined it with his nascent Saber Intent, he could kill him in one move.

However, there would be no opportunity. He heard that after Li Chonghu escaped last time, he didn't return to the Black Tiger Gang but simply vanished without a trace.

This directly led to the Black Tiger Gang's complete disintegration.

Regarding this matter, Lu Ming always felt something was strange. Logically, Li Chonghu shouldn't have been scared so badly.

He must have encountered something else, or perhaps he was afraid that after he got injured, other enemies would take the opportunity to find him.

So he went into hiding.

However, Lu Ming didn't pay it much mind. After keeping it in the back of his mind, he stopped thinking about it.

He finished his cultivation and went to sleep. The next day, after tidying up, Lu Ming formally bid farewell to Old Man Zhao.

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

"Go on, go on."

Old Man Zhao waved his hand.

Thus, Lu Ming put aside his lingering sentimentality, donned a black veil-covered conical hat, and turned to leave resolutely.

"Old man, we'll meet again next time."

His voice was close, but his figure grew increasingly distant.

"Brat, being so sentimental when leaving. Fine, there have been quite a few petty thieves lurking around recently, so I'll escort you a little further."

Old Man Zhao, who had been lounging on his rocking chair, suddenly vanished.

Shuofeng City is located in the northwestern part of the Zhao Kingdom, not far from the border with a neighboring country.

Therefore, to reach the sects within the Zhao Kingdom, one needed to travel east or south.

The Nine Heavens Sect was located directly south. Lu Ming exited the south gate. Because he wore a conical hat, no one recognized him, which saved him a lot of trouble.

However, some trouble couldn't be avoided. It seemed someone was specifically watching him.

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

"Hmph, I hope you can keep up."

Lu Ming's senses were sharp, and he naturally noticed the anomaly. He wasn't scared. After glancing back, he suddenly accelerated.

"We've been discovered, what do we do?"

Three people, all wearing conical hats, emerged from the crowd.

"We'll be discovered eventually when we reach the wilderness with no cover. Just chase him!"

"Understood."

The three then rapidly pursued Lu Ming's retreating figure.

Thus, the two groups, one chasing and one fleeing, soon arrived in a desolate, uninhabited area.

With this acceleration, Lu Ming had finally lured out all the people behind the scenes and roughly assessed their strength: two at the early Zhen Qi Realm, and one at the middle stage.

He just didn't know why these three were pursuing him so relentlessly.

Of course, their intentions were definitely not good.

He pondered whether to ignore them and continue on his way, or to stop and fight them.

If he fought, now that he had grasped the nascent form of Saber Intent, he was confident that even if he couldn't win, he could at least escape.

If he ignored them, he would eventually be caught, as he couldn't match the Zhen Qi Realm in terms of endurance.

Even though he had Qi Replenishing Pills, there was no guarantee the opponents didn't have them as well.

Therefore, it was better to stop and engage them directly, at least to curb their arrogance.

Having made his decision, Lu Ming stopped wasting Inner Qi and found a spot to halt, simultaneously taking a Qi Replenishing Pill to restore his depleted Inner Qi.

After thinking for a moment, he took another one and held it in his mouth.

This was in case he didn't have time to swallow it during the fight.

To be honest, the Qi Replenishing Pills Dugu Mingri had given him were of high quality. One pill could restore about sixty percent of his Inner Qi.

The ones he bought himself at the shops weren't nearly as effective.

The three pursuers were also fast. Lu Ming had only stopped for about ten breaths before they arrived nearby.

"You're not running anymore?"

Honestly, the three were somewhat surprised that Lu Ming had stopped to wait for them.

So, as soon as they got close, the person on the far right couldn't help but ask.

"I don't want to run anymore," Lu Ming replied calmly.

"It seems you've accepted your fate."

This time, the speaker was the person in the middle, the one with the highest cultivation, at the middle stage of the Zhen Qi Realm.

"I will not accept my fate."

Lu Ming shook his head, then asked, "We haven't met before, have we? Why are you pursuing me so relentlessly?"

The three fell silent for a moment, seemingly considering how to answer him.

However, a voice suddenly came from the distance. It turned out there was someone else following behind the three – a young man carrying a sword.

"I can answer that question for them!"