People Stumble, Horses Slip

Jinling City.

Monster Potion Company.

At the round-table conference, the light curtain illuminated pair after pair of eyes brimming with qi and blood in the darkness.

They were heatedly discussing something.

Suddenly,

Beep beep beep—!

The detector let out a piercing shriek. The supervising martial artist slid his chair forward and quickly leaned over the broad electronic screen.

"Is there a monster riot?"

A cool, clear voice questioned from the shadows.

The others seated around the round table, hidden in the darkness, all turned to look.

The supervising martial artist shook his head. "It isn't a monster-riot signal. It's a signal emitted by a locator, but it's very weak. One of our company's martial artists has been killed."

"Death is unavoidable."

The people around the table paid it little mind.

The supervising martial artist tapped the screen. The signal's identity popped up, instantly putting him on alert. "Boss, it seems the person who got into trouble is the Second Miss. This is her locator signal."

Whoosh!

Everyone around the table turned to look at the person seated at the head.

"Pull up the signal's last location." The man at the head propped his chin up with both hands, his voice grave.

The supervising martial artist's fingers flew across the screen as he reported rapidly, "The signal last appeared somewhere in the city, but we don't know what kind of energy interfered with its transmission. It shows the entire western district, only a few kilometers from us. It nearly covered the headquarters building, too."

"No precise location?"

"No!"

Bang!

The man at the head waved lightly, and the supervising martial artist was sent flying. He slammed into the wall and continued twitching.

"You useless piece of trash!" he snorted. "Investigate. Whoever he is, since he's in Jinling City, he may escape the monk, but not the temple. He must have family. Investigate every household in the western district, especially those with martial artists."

The round-table conference fell into an eerie silence.

Ding!

Just then,

A panel appeared before the man at the head. A communications device was connecting. After hesitating for a moment, he tapped to accept, and the figure of a woman in leather clothing was projected into view.

Seeing her, everyone froze. "Ying'er, weren't you attacked?"

"I was attacked indeed." The woman in leather nodded, a trace of relief appearing on her face. "Thankfully, I had the means Grandpa left me. The one who attacked our team was the Ghost Face Martial Artist. He doesn't seem to be a local martial artist from Jinling City; he seems more like a martial artist from another base city. His abilities are extremely bizarre, too. He can control matter from a distance, killing us before we could defend ourselves..."

She recounted in detail what had happened when she encountered Lu Xuan.

After hearing everything, everyone around the table could not help but knit their brows tightly.

Control matter from a distance?

A superpower?

Even a martial artist would find it extremely difficult to control matter from a distance, wouldn't they?

Unless he had reached a realm above the Heaven and Earth Martial Saint level, one they could not come into contact with. But how could an existence like that act for the sake of a mere few high-grade spirit herbs?

"No!"

The man at the head slapped the table and rejected it, his eyes like a galaxy that saw through everything. "He isn't a powerful martial artist, much less a martial artist from another base city. He's merely a rat who wears a ghost mask and hides his head and tail!"

"Brother, how could that be?" the woman in leather asked, puzzled.

The man tapped his fingers against the table. "Because the final signal transmitted by your locator was within Jinling City. That proves the Ghost Face Martial Artist belongs here... He dared to ambush the company? What audacity! Even if we have to turn the earth upside down, we'll find him!"

"Brother, the Ghost Face Martial Artist destroyed my martial foundation!"

The woman in leather spoke furiously. "I want to torture him! I want him to live a fate worse than death!"

People stumble, horses slip.

No matter what one did, there would always be moments when a hundred precautions still left one oversight. If you schemed against others, others would scheme against you.

No one was a fool.

Lu Xuan had to admit that he had ultimately been carried away by excitement. His pride had nearly caused a grave mistake.

No, it should be said that the mistake had already happened.

When the woman in leather escaped, he should have anticipated this outcome.

He could only blame his own bad luck.

He had happened to rob a young lady from a powerful family.

People with such heaven-shaking backgrounds were the hardest to kill. If he encountered one again, he had to make every preparation before acting and ensure a single strike would kill.

"My experience is still too lacking."

Lu Xuan picked up the Storage Ring from the Monster Potion Company, his face as heavy as water. "Although I used Psychic Power to interfere with and block the signal, with the Monster Potion Company's influence, they definitely received the signal immediately."

Even if they could not pinpoint his exact location, they could locate him within a certain area.

For example, a residential compound.

For example, the western district.

Or Jinling City.

In any case, this was absolutely bad news for Lu Xuan.

The Monster Potion Company would definitely conduct a carpet search. When that happened, they would certainly investigate him.

"Damn it." Lu Xuan clenched his fists, confusion gathering in his eyes. "Could the future still be impossible to change? Even if I'm not killed by the Xu Family, will I still be hunted down by the Pharmaceutical Company?"

Was it the final judgment of cause and effect, or fate woven from the start?

"No!"

Lu Xuan crushed a qi-and-blood pill, a cunning glint appearing in the depths of his eyes. "Heaven never bars every path!"

"Before I receive the next Future Mail, none of my choices will be wrong. Even if I'm wrong, I'll still do it!"

He would rather make a mistake than do nothing at all.

What should he do?

Lu Xuan's thoughts raced.

After his Mental Power increased, his mind had become even sharper.

In only a few minutes, he thought of several methods.

Register as a martial artist and preserve his life at a critical moment.

There was also Xu Xin, the Ming Dao Si Ming.

Most importantly, there was the Xu Family, that colossal Buddha. Since the flood had already reached Jinshan, he should drown them first.

Lu Xuan rubbed his chin. "Right. Spread the news that the Xu Family's Martial Dao Grandmaster is on the verge of death, divert the Monster Potion Company's attention so they won't have time to concern themselves with me. Then take the opportunity to register as a martial artist, cultivate a Martial Art Manual, and increase my strength. No matter how things turn out for the Xu Family, by then I'll already be a different person."

His plan became clear in his mind.

That was what he would do.

After making up his mind, the tension in Lu Xuan's heart relaxed.

"Gain wisdom from a painful experience." He picked up the Storage Rings belonging to Xu Long and the others, locked onto them with his Mental Power, and blocked the surrounding senses.

The rings flashed.

The next second, a huge pile of things appeared before him: cash, gold, spirit herbs, pills, Martial Art Manuals, Martial Skills...

The dazzling array made Lu Xuan's eyelids twitch.

"As expected of a direct descendant of the Xu Family. This treatment is what ordinary people would need three lifetimes to attain."

Lu Xuan picked up a piece of gold. "So twenty-four-karat pure gold is this smooth. No wonder it's so pleasing to the eye. It makes the blood surge even more than a young girl's skin. Wonderful!"

He could not resist rubbing his face against it.

But as he rubbed, he felt his cheek touch five rough fingers, which jolted him awake.

He lowered his head.

The gold was gone!

And it was not only the gold in his hand. All the other gold on the ground had disappeared as well.

"Huh?" Lu Xuan looked left and right, then stood up. There was no trace of anything in the bedroom. He knocked on his head. "Knock on your door, where's my gold?"

Lu Xuan was dumbfounded.

He had clearly been holding the gold just now. How had it vanished in the blink of an eye?

He probed with his Psychic Power and found no gold. Instead, he sensed that the Bronze Gourd beside him was undergoing a strange change.

Puzzled, he reached out and picked up the Bronze Gourd.

After examining it carefully, Lu Xuan saw a drop of spirit liquid inside the Bronze Gourd. It was a circle larger than the spirit liquid he had swallowed earlier.

"Wait!"

Lu Xuan suddenly came to himself. His gaze moved back and forth between the ground and the Bronze Gourd, and a bold guess appeared in his mind.

He took out a small piece of gold again and placed it by the gourd's mouth.

Buzz!

The gold vanished.

"No wonder..." Lu Xuan rubbed the Bronze Gourd, gritting his teeth. "Knock on your door, so you were the one who swallowed my gold!"

He exerted force with both hands, wishing he could strangle the Bronze Gourd to death.

A bronze gourd swallowing gold—is that reasonable?

That had been gold worth a million! The broken gourd had swallowed all of it?

Lu Xuan truly had no recourse. He pointed at the Bronze Gourd. "You'd better secrete more spirit liquid. Otherwise, I'll throw you into the latrine and make you eat shit!"

Now, the Bronze Gourd's food was clear, too.

It could be considered a blessing and a disaster intertwined.

After feeling dejected for a moment, Lu Xuan began calculating how to deal with these spoils.

"Martial Art Manuals and Martial Skills definitely can't be cultivated."

These distinctive Martial Art Manuals and Martial Skills would expose his identity the moment someone noticed them.

Then he could only exchange them for money, and use that money to obtain resources suitable for his cultivation. Raising his strength as quickly as possible was the right path.

His parents' treatment had to proceed step by step.

His younger sister's cultivation could not be delayed.

He also needed to raise his own strength as quickly as possible, in case his identity as the Ghost Face Martial Artist was exposed.

"It's time to register as a martial artist and cultivate a Martial Art Manual to advance further."