Parting Ways

"What happened in Qingzhu County Town? The Five Yang Sect was still weaker than the Thunder Blade Sect, so why did they dare lay hands on them?" After bringing Zhou Lie, Shi Qingshan, and the others to safety, Lu Xiaotian asked.

"It is a long story, and it probably begins with the martial arts assembly in Pingwu County Town half a year ago. I heard that the Black Iron Token's holy envoy vanished while pursuing an enemy and never returned. The people behind the Black Iron Token flew into a rage and reprimanded every sect that had entered Pingwu County Town at the time. They mobilized all the martial arts factions to search for suspicious individuals, but never found anyone. Then, two months ago, the Four Seas Gang and even the mighty Iron Palm Sect were successively bathed in blood. Rumor had it that the immortals behind the Black Iron Token were manipulating the situation. Now it was the Thunder Blade Sect's turn."

"The Thunder Blade Sect had thousands of disciples, most of whom died tragically under the joint siege of the Five Yang Sect, Seven Poison Sect, and several other factions. I fought desperately to lead these people out of the encirclement. Had you not lent us a hand, I fear even we would not have escaped disaster. But we are merely lingering on in miserable existence. Now everyone in the martial world is hunting us down."

Zhou Lie's face turned bleak. The Thunder Blade Sect's bloody tragedy, along with the rumored cultivators behind the Black Iron Token, weighed upon their chests like an insurmountable mountain, leaving them unable to breathe.

Situ Yong had actually vented his rage on these mortal martial artists. Truly shameless. The Thunder Blade Sect alone had several thousand disciples; in this bloody purge, more than a hundred thousand people would likely die amid this chaotic slaughter.

"This matter will be resolved. But your situation is dangerous. Go hide in the deep mountains for a while. Shi Qingshan, come with me." Lu Xiaotian had little else to say. After speaking to Shi Qingshan, he walked off alone to one side.

"Senior Brother Shi!" The girl in white anxiously tugged at Shi Qingshan.

"It is nothing. If he meant us harm, we would have already been separated from our heads." Shi Qingshan patted the girl in white, covered his wound, and hurried after Lu Xiaotian.

"May I ask what instructions you have, Senior?" Once they reached an empty place, the black-clad man ahead stopped. Enduring the pain from his injuries, Shi Qingshan bowed to Lu Xiaotian.

"Brother Shi, you call me Senior, but I cannot bear that." Lu Xiaotian removed the disguise from his face and turned around.

"X-Xiaotian, why is it you? Back then, I thought you had been eaten by wild beasts in the back mountain. Where have you been these past two years?" Shi Qingshan first looked utterly incredulous, then his face filled with wild delight.

"A great many things happened in between; they cannot be explained in a sentence or two. I will soon be leaving Liang Province. Take this bottle of medicine for treating injuries—it works quite well. I do not know whether I will ever have the chance to return, so use it sparingly. Once it is gone, there will be no more."

Lu Xiaotian took out a bottle of injury medicine from his storage pouch and tossed it to Shi Qingshan. He had used this medicine before. Even injuries caused by spells could heal rapidly under its effects, so it should work even better on the sword and saber wounds of mortal martial artists. This time, as he headed to Moonwatch Immortal City, he truly had no confidence that he could return. Yet no matter how perilous the road of cultivation was, he would continue down it with unwavering resolve.

"What? Where are you going? With your current skills, could anyone still threaten you?" Shi Qingshan asked in utter confusion. He had personally seen the one-eyed burly man who had wounded his master get slain by Lu Xiaotian in less than a single move. Such strength had already surpassed his imagination. Shi Qingshan could not think of anyone capable of killing Lu Xiaotian. Lu Xiaotian had only disappeared for a little over two years, yet he had become powerful to such an unbelievable extent.

"A peerless martial artist is not the limit of what a person can become. The hidden people behind the Black Iron Token far surpass peerless martial artists." Lu Xiaotian shook his head.

Shi Qingshan's eyes instantly widened round as saucers. "Y-you mean cultivators?"

"It is enough that you know this. You must not speak of it, or it will bring disaster upon you," Lu Xiaotian warned.

"Senior Brother Shi!" After a long while, Zhou Lie, the girl in white, and the others came looking for Shi Qingshan, worried about him. Upon seeing him, they immediately heaved sighs of relief.

"Where did that expert who saved us go?" Zhou Lie could not help asking.

"He had other matters to attend to and has already left." Shi Qingshan sighed, praying inwardly that Lu Xiaotian would return someday. Though Lu Xiaotian's martial skills had already reached an incomprehensible realm in his eyes, Shi Qingshan could still sense Lu Xiaotian's helplessness from his expression. Perhaps battles among cultivators were even more brutal.

"Master, this is the injury medicine he left behind. Its effects are excellent. Let me apply some for you to try."

Shi Qingshan pulled Zhou Lie aside and smeared a small amount of ointment over his wound. Wherever the pale yellow ointment touched, wounds that had been cut open by blades began healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.

An explosive force seeped from the ointment into his body. After battle upon battle, Zhou Lie had long been exhausted in both body and spirit, but after the ointment was applied, an even stronger force filled his body.

Unable to restrain himself, Zhou Lie let out a delighted long howl. Afterwards, he stared at Shi Qingshan in boundless shock. "Th-this, what medicine is this? Its effects are actually so miraculous."

"I do not know either. That Senior gave it to me." Shi Qingshan had promised Lu Xiaotian to keep his lips sealed, so he could not tell even his master.

Zhou Lie let out a long sigh. "I never imagined that there truly existed in this world a sacred healing medicine capable of reviving the dead and growing flesh upon white bones. Let us go. That expert was right—this is no place to linger long. We must find somewhere even more secluded and avoid this great calamity in the martial world."

"The Thunder Blade Sect's remnants are over there! Kill them!"

"Stop! You dare run? Watch this master chop you down!"

"You scum of the Black Horse Gang, all of you will die today!"

At this time, all of Qingzhu County was in complete chaos. Gangs from nearby county towns had also rushed into Qingzhu County to seize territory. Once the Thunder Blade Sect fell, Qingzhu County had been left vacant. The bloody slaughter between martial artists was so fierce that even the several thousand government troops stationed in Qingzhu County did not dare interfere, afraid of being dragged into it.

Many gang members, as well as hooligans and ruffians, took advantage of the unprecedented chaos to loot homes, murder, set fires, and commit rape. Lu Xiaotian galloped through Qingzhu County Town on horseback. Whenever he encountered such people, he killed them with a single stroke of his sword. Along the way, he slew no fewer than two hundred people.

Boom! A massive fireball flew out, blasting more than half the thugs in an entire courtyard to death. The dozen or so survivors were set ablaze, but no matter what they did, they could not extinguish the flames. One after another, they screamed and rolled across the ground before being burned to death.

Immediately afterward, a vine burst from the ground out of thin air and wrapped several evildoing martial artists to death on the spot.

"Monster! There is a monster!"

The strange flames that could not be extinguished, along with the grass demon that suddenly emerged to devour people, instantly plunged the county town into panic.

Lu Xiaotian removed the disguise from his face. "Those holding Black Iron Tokens, listen well! Go back and tell Situ Yong that I killed Situ Jing. If he has the skill, let him come find me in Moonwatch City! Giddyup!"

With an angry shout, Lu Xiaotian and Lü Bifeng spurred their horses and charged out through the city gates at full speed. A great calamity in the martial world had arisen because of Situ Jing alone. Yet Situ Yong was a Fourth Layer of Qi Refining cultivator. Though he appeared to be only two layers above Lu Xiaotian, the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining was already the Qi Refining Middle Stage, possessing a qualitative advantage over cultivators in the Qi Refining Early Stage. Situ Jing alone had carried several spirit talismans; as the clan head, Situ Yong likely possessed even more magical treasures. Against someone like that in a spell battle, Lu Xiaotian did not have the slightest confidence.

"You are courting death! Is this really worth it for a few mortal commoners?" Lü Bifeng had been startled by Lu Xiaotian's actions. After leaving the city, she said with a dark expression, "You have been young but cautious all along. I do not understand why you would suddenly become so foolish this time. You are practically pushing the two of us into a pit of fire."

"I have reasons I must do this. Whether you continue with me or part ways, decide for yourself." Lu Xiaotian's face showed neither sorrow nor joy, giving nothing away.

"I had intended to accompany you to Moonwatch City, but you have brought trouble upon yourself. I have met Situ Yong once. He is unfathomable. A Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivator is not someone the two of us can withstand. I cannot risk my life with you. Let us part here." Lü Bifeng's expression shifted uncertainly. After weighing the pros and cons, she quickly made her decision, tugged her reins, and galloped away down the other side of the official road. In moments, she was no more than a tiny black dot, vanishing into the distance.

Perhaps this was for the best. Now that he knew the direction of Moonwatch City, he could go by himself. As for the exact route, once he reached the Great Liang Kingdom, he should be able to ask around. Lü Bifeng knew that he possessed Origin Qi Pills, a considerable fortune for a Qi Refining Early Stage cultivator. He had never fully trusted her. Parting ways would spare him some worry in the future.

Lu Xiaotian abandoned his horse, turned back, and blended into the chaotic crowd. He slipped into a private home, changed into the blue-green long robe of an ordinary merchant, took the household's donkey cart, and left behind a few pieces of broken silver.

A moment later, a simple-looking young man of about twenty, his face carrying a trace of panic, drove the donkey cart as though fleeing disaster. Following the other people escaping the martial world's strife, he headed west all the way.