Perception II

Lu Sheng rose to his feet, bought a jug of wine, and left the tavern. He strolled slowly through the town.

The warning to Clear King Residence had already been delivered, and his goal had been achieved. At this point, he had never intended to launch an all-out war against Clear King Residence.

He merely needed to buy time and gather strength. To prevent Clear King from making any more underhanded moves during this period, he had sent Xiao Zhen over to display her strength.

"It seemed Clear King Residence had some capability after all." Lu Sheng walked slowly beneath the eaves. Rainwater occasionally dripped from their edges, but he paid it no mind.

At the mouth of the alley ahead, a young girl with a ponytail was carefully tugging her younger brother closer as she crouched down to straighten his clothes.

Inside the doorway of a candle shop on the right, a clerk was using a knife to shave candles one by one into smooth, rounded shapes, then polishing them with special paper.

Faint bursts of an old man's coughing drifted from a nearby residence.

Two well-dressed young women carrying cloth bags full of newly bought clothes brushed past Lu Sheng, smiles on their faces.

A somewhat worn carriage slowly approached him along the street. Through its cloth curtains, he could vaguely see a scholar speaking gently to a beautiful, heavily pregnant woman.

Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes and walked onward at an unhurried pace, intending to leave the city and return directly to the manor.

Suddenly, a mournful wail rang out.

The old man's coughing in the residence abruptly worsened. After no more than seven or eight coughs, it ceased forever.

The young people's cries immediately rose, mixed with the soft sobbing of children.

"This is...!?" Lu Sheng