Change II

Change II

Lu Sheng set down his bowl and thought for a moment.

He had a feeling that his father, Lu Quan'an, seemed to be worried about something. That was why he wanted to send him somewhere farther away, where it would be safer.

But if Duanmu Wan truly never appeared, Nine Links City indeed had no soil left for him to grow in. Going to Yan Mountain City, which was far more prosperous than Nine Links City, was not necessarily a bad idea.

"Fine. I'll go quickly and return quickly. If I can truly learn something from a renowned master, I'll send someone back with a letter."

After a brief consideration, Lu Sheng agreed.

Yan Mountain City was very, very far from Nine Links City—farther than two Purple Splendor Cities.

Even riding at full speed, it would take two days and one night to arrive, much less traveling by carriage.

After Lu Sheng agreed,

the following days were spent staying hidden at home, practicing martial arts every day and conserving his strength.

Lu Qingqing still went out every day as usual, and he often heard that she had captured someone else and brought them back.

Lu Sheng could not control her, and no one in the estate could control her either. Second Mother tried saying a few words to her, but it was useless, so she could only let Lu Qingqing do as she pleased.

After resting for several days, Lu Sheng prepared to begin improving the martial arts he had acquired later on.

Among those techniques, with the foundation of the Black Tiger Saber and Jade Crane Skill, he easily mastered the Heart Piercing Palm through the Modifier and raised it to the peak of major mastery at the Third Layer.

He did not touch the other techniques for now, intending to modify them only after his qi and blood had fully recovered.

There was also the Eighty-Four Swallow Chasing Wind Saber, which he merely intended to practice slowly himself for comparison.

As this continued day after day, just as he was nearing his departure, another strange incident occurred in the city.

Several hunter households living near the outskirts of the city mysteriously vanished on the day of the Wanqing Festival.

Only a few days earlier, people had seen them bringing fox pelts and other wild game into the city to sell.

Afterward, they disappeared without a trace.

They had all vanished within Nine Links City. Only when their families reported it to the authorities did the matter begin to stir up trouble.

More importantly, one of the hunters had a cousin who served as a constable captain in the Prefectural Office. That was why the case had not simply been brushed aside.

Yet if they had not investigated, they would not have known. Once they did, they immediately discovered something suspicious.

From beginning to end, those hunters had traveled along only one road, and they had vanished on the street near the Goldfish Wine Shop.

People had seen them all along the way.

So the constables went to inspect that street near the Goldfish Wine Shop.

But a great fire had only recently swept through that place, leaving it deserted and devoid of human life. Why would those hunters have gone there to sell wild game? Just as doubt rose in Lu Sheng's heart, Xiao Qiao hurried over and told him that Lu Qingqing had gone alone to the street near the Goldfish Wine Shop in the middle of the night.

By daylight, she still had not returned.

Lu Sheng's heart dropped with a thud. He knew something had happened.

"When did Qingqing go there?" he hurriedly asked.

"I'm not sure, but... but it should have been around the Chou Hour in the middle of the night. Second Miss usually returns before dawn, but she didn't come back this time. Her maid, Xiao Hong, told me that Miss had ordered her to wait in her room and prepare hot water for her bath.

"But Xiao Hong waited for a long time and still didn't see Miss return, so she panicked!"

Lu Sheng had been relaxing in the garden, taking a break before practicing his saber.

He had not expected such a matter to suddenly arise.

"Go notify Uncle Zhao and the family head at once. I'll go take a look first!"

"Xiao Ba already took people to investigate. He was the one who sent back word that Miss had disappeared!" Xiao Qiao quickly said.

"Xiao Ba." Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes. He remembered that he was one of the estate guards. "I understand."

He swiftly threw on an outer robe, took the standard long saber from the estate, led a horse from the stable, and hurried toward the Goldfish Wine Shop.

The entire Lu Estate was alarmed. Lu Quan'an immediately ordered Uncle Zhao to take men to the Goldfish Wine Shop, while also sending someone to the Prefectural Office to report the case.

A great deal of manpower and connections swiftly sprang into action.

They first had to determine whether Lu Qingqing had truly gone missing, rather than merely disappearing temporarily.

"Hyah!"

Lu Sheng rode swiftly through the quiet streets. It was still early in the morning, and there were few people on the road, making it easier for him to hurry onward.

Racing on horseback through the bustling streets would normally have earned even him criticism.

But these were extraordinary times.

Xiao Ba's message that Lu Qingqing had disappeared was merely the trigger for Lu Sheng's anxiety. What truly made his heart burn with urgency was the strange incident he had previously encountered on the street near the Goldfish Wine Shop.

The Yellow Horse soon arrived before the Goldfish Wine Shop's main entrance.

The shop's doors were tightly shut. Dawn had only just begun to break, and daylight had not yet fully arrived. The street beside the shop was charred black and in disarray.

The wooden houses ruined by the fire had not yet been fully demolished. Only half had been torn down, while the remaining halves stood amid piles of construction debris, making the place look exceptionally desolate.

Lu Sheng swung down from his horse and entered the blackened street.

Crack. His leather boot stepped on some unknown fragment on the ground, producing a crisp sound.

Lu Sheng reached out and gripped his saber hilt. Having experienced two fights already, he felt much steadier.

His eyes gleamed sharply as he continuously scanned his surroundings.

Very soon, he discovered something unusual.

In the middle of this black street burned into charcoal, there were deep sword marks on a wooden pillar outside one house.

There were also scattered footprints on the ground, with fresh black soil still visible inside them.

Lu Sheng reached out and touched the sword marks on the pillar. The exterior of the wooden pillar was blackened, but its interior was still pale yellow, not burned through.

That sword mark had cut straight through and exposed the pale yellow wood within.

"It should be around here."

He slowly drew his saber, held it reversed at his side, and walked toward the wooden house before him.

The roof had been burned through until light shone straight in. Upon entering, he found chaos everywhere: charred furniture, cloth strips burned into clumps, and miscellaneous objects of unknown origin that had melted.

After only a few steps inside, Lu Sheng discovered a second trace.

A charred wooden table had fallen to the ground. Two deep sword marks ran along its edge, along with tiny fragments of refined steel.

"What tremendous strength."

Lu Sheng pinched up a fragment, guessing it was from the refined steel longsword carried by his second sister, Lu Qingqing.

He lowered his head to inspect the footprints on the ground, then quickened his pace toward the rear courtyard.

He passed through the small house and entered the household's backyard.

At a gap in the rear wall stood a burly one-eyed man in brown leather armor, his hair a tangled mess. He carried a thick-backed saber and cursed under his breath as he pasted something onto the wall.

"Who goes there!?"

The moment Lu Sheng entered the backyard, the man noticed him. His eyes turned fierce as he stared at Lu Sheng.

"Who am I? I should be asking who you are."

Lu Sheng gave the other man a quick appraisal.

The man was about six feet two, roughly eight chi tall.

His muscles bulged everywhere like little mice beneath his skin. He held a silver-bright heavy saber still stained with blood, and an aura of savage ferocity like that of a wild beast faintly surrounded him.

"Me?" The big man chuckled and tossed away the paper in his hand.

"Looks like you're family of that little girl? That brat dared to kill two of my disciples. My elder brother and I captured her, but you came one step too late. My elder brother already sent the little girl back to the mountain stronghold to enjoy at leisure."

"Little girl?"

Lu Sheng's expression gradually darkened.

"Judging by your bearing, you shouldn't be some nobody. In Nine Links City, you must have heard of my Lu Family's reputation. Why don't you name a price? We can talk things over."

"Talk my ass! Is the Lu Family sending only one brat like you?"

The man sneered as he stared at Lu Sheng.

"Everyone else is behind me." Lu Sheng did not bother hiding it. The other party was an old hand; lies would probably be useless.

He might as well tell the truth.

"You came after us alone? You've got guts!"

The man grinned.

"Er Tou, San Tou, take him down. Make the Lu Family pay to buy back his life too!"

The moment his words fell, two more burly men leaped in through another gap in the backyard wall. Both wore brown leather armor. One carried a long-handled axe, while the other held an Eyebrow-Level Staff.

"It's just one little brat. I can handle him by myself. Godfather, why did you call both of us out?" one of them complained.

"Whoever catches him first gets the credit!"

The man laughed loudly.

The two men both smiled at those words, their eyes turning malicious as they looked at Lu Sheng.

"Hehehe, what a handsome little brother. Catch him and bring him back with that little girl—it won't be bad at all."

Er Tou stared at Lu Sheng with lecherous eyes.

"Enjoy your ass. Godfather gets him first!"

San Tou spat fiercely into his palm.

"Break both his legs. Don't spill too much blood. If he looks too ugly, it'll ruin the mood. Last time, you chopped off that one's right hand with an axe. Blood sprayed everywhere, and his whole body went limp!"

"What the hell does that have to do with me? Didn't you smash your staff into that man's back? By the time it was our turn, he was nearly out of breath!"

Er Tou argued.

The two were twin brothers, born with sturdy, powerful physiques. Later, through an accident, they became disciples of the Lin Family brothers of Black Wind Ridge in Nine Links City—the Ghost Head Saber and Head Severing Saber.

Head Chopping Saber Lin Hongshui was the man holding the thick-backed heavy saber.

Ghost Head Saber Lin Shuanghuo and Head Chopping Saber Lin Hongshui were murderers wanted in Nine Links City more than ten years ago. One night, the two had slaughtered two merchant caravans, seized a great deal of silver, money, and jewels, then fled.

Their respective unique arts were two astonishingly heavy great sabers and two sets of ferocious Splashing Wind Saber Techniques.

The eldest, Ghost Head Saber Lin Shuanghuo, had once achieved the monstrous feat of chopping a man alive into two pieces with one stroke while being pursued by constables.

This was Lu Sheng's first time directly fighting someone face-to-face, and he was fighting three people at once.

He raised his long saber and slowly looked toward Er Tou and San Tou as they approached him.

I'll try one slash first. There are a lot of them. If I can't handle it, I'll withdraw.

His heart was somewhat uneasy. After all, he did not know exactly how strong he was now. He had no point of comparison.

With that thought in mind,

Lu Sheng did not use the Black Tiger Saber Technique, nor did he use the Heart Piercing Palm.

Instead, he used the Eighty-Four Swallow Chasing Wind Saber that he practiced in ordinary times. He could not let them see through his true abilities from the very beginning.

He held the hilt neither too tightly nor too loosely, his gaze fixed on Er Tou.

"Come!" Er Tou grinned and waved his great axe, pointing at his own forehead.

"Little brat, you're putting on quite a show. Chop right here! Here!"

"Your grandpa will stand right here without moving and let you strike!"

Whoosh!!

In an instant, a streak of silver lightning flashed past.

The longsword in Lu Sheng's hand transformed into a nimble swallow, suddenly crossing several meters and slicing horizontally through Er Tou.

Pfft! A head suddenly flew into the air.

Blood splashed across the ground.

The entire courtyard fell silent.