Water and Land Elders, Lu Family Manor, Lake Heart Pavilion

After returning to the small courtyard of the temple from the back mountain.

Zhang Chu could not wait to begin cultivating the Bitter Gourd Palm.

The matter with the Boat Gang had delayed him before, preventing him from getting started with the palm technique.

Now that he had ample time and Merit Points, it was enough to bring the palm technique onto the panel and enhance it!

"With my current realm, if I go back and cultivate this palm technique, one day will be enough to bring it to the beginner stage."

With his powerful realm supporting him, returning to cultivate the palm technique would surely yield twice the result with half the effort.

"Stop! No troublemaking in True Martial Temple!"

At that moment, a rebuke suddenly rang out from the front courtyard.

Judging by the voice, it seemed to be Senior Brother.

"What's going on? Someone's causing trouble?" Zhang Chu frowned instinctively and could only stop cultivating.

Though puzzled, Zhang Chu did not hesitate. He tidied himself up and decided to go take a look at the front courtyard.

Ever since news of the Boat Gang incident spread.

True Martial Temple's reputation in Linjiang had grown greater and greater.

Many sects and great families had hurried over to pay their respects, hoping to build a connection with Zhang Chu.

An eighteen-year-old Dark Strength Realm expert! What astonishing talent! No one would pass up the chance to cling to such a thigh.

Even prominent families from nearby counties had dispatched people to visit as soon as they heard the news.

Whether they knew him or not, they first had to make themselves familiar.

At the front gate of True Martial Temple, voices clamored in a chaotic din as two groups faced off!

Senior Brother Li Minghuai looked at the men dressed in Lu Family Manor attire and said, "Insolence! This is True Martial Temple, not your Lu Family Manor. Where did you get the nerve to stop worshippers from coming in to offer incense?"

It turned out that after Zhang Chu returned, Lu Family Manor had sent people to blockade the gates of True Martial Temple.

Those who had come to offer incense and pay visits.

Were all stopped outside the mountain gate.

"What fucking True Martial Temple! After today, there won't be any such temple in Linjiang County!"

The leading man drew the precious blade at his waist and pointed it straight at Li Minghuai, as though he would charge in and kill at any moment.

The surrounding crowd hurriedly backed away at the sight.

"What's going on? Why would Lu Family Manor come after True Martial Temple? I never heard there was any grudge between them."

"Your news is too slow!"

"I heard that this morning, Young Master Lu offended Daoist Priest Zhang and was killed by a single palm strike aboard a boat. His corpse is still lying back at the manor."

The crowd sucked in a cold breath upon hearing this.

"I'd long heard that Daoist Priest Zhang could not tolerate even a grain of sand in his eye, but I didn't expect him to act so decisively. Lu Family Manor's ancestor, Lu Chengfeng, is of the same generation as True Martial Temple's Old Temple Master, and his strength reached the Dark Strength Realm long ago!"

"And unlike True Martial Temple, which walks alone, Lu Family Manor has been friends with Lake Heart Pavilion in the south of the city for generations."

"Lu Chengfeng and the master of Lake Heart Pavilion are known as the Water and Land Elders. Both are Dark Strength Realm experts!"

"By offending Lu Family Manor, True Martial Temple has effectively provoked two forces with Dark Strength Realm experts at once!"

These words drew agreement from many people.

Everyone knew that Lu Family Manor and Lake Heart Pavilion were bound together like branches from the same tree. Offending one meant offending both.

"True Martial Temple only just regained its former glory, and now it's about to face decline once more..."

"No, it may even vanish as a sect entirely!"

This gave those who had come to visit other thoughts, and they quietly put away their gifts.

A sect that could be destroyed at any moment was not worth continuing to associate with. It would be too easy to get dragged down with it.

Just as the crowd began to retreat.

A powerfully built man stepped forward.

It was Hong Shijie, master of the Hong Family Martial Arts School!

"Hero Lu, it is better to dissolve enmity than deepen it. I witnessed everything that happened today. Could Lu Family Manor give Hong a little face and put away the weapons for now so we can talk?"

Hong Shijie owed Zhang Chu an enormous debt of gratitude for being alive today. He could not simply stand by and watch.

"Bullshit! The evidence that True Martial Temple killed Young Master Lu is conclusive. A life for a life is the law of heaven and earth!"

After hearing Hong Shijie's words, Lu Fang, Lu Family Manor's chief steward and the leading man, immediately cursed him without courtesy.

Hong Shijie's face could not help but darken.

He said coldly, "The rights and wrongs of this matter were not witnessed by Hong alone. Everyone on that boat can testify that Young Master Lu was the one who first harbored killing intent. Even if he died miserably in the end, the blame should not all fall upon Daoist Priest Zhang."

The moment Hong Shijie finished speaking.

Another person stepped out.

"That's right. I, Situ Ying of the Tiger Blade Sect, can testify that Daoist Priest Zhang had no choice but to act at the time."

After returning from the Boat Gang, Situ Ying and Hong Shijie had not even tended to their wounds before coming to thank Zhang Chu.

They had not expected to encounter this the moment they arrived.

"Haha, Gang Leader Situ is right. Lu Family Manor really has some nerve. You were clearly the ones who developed killing intent, yet you blame others in the end. Could it be that only Lu Family Manor is allowed to kill, while others are forbidden from resisting?"

Another figure hurried over.

It was the master of Jade Fan Hall, jade fan in hand!

The three arrived one after another.

And publicly revealed the truth of what had happened.

Making the people of Lu Family Manor look grim.

A warrior from Lu Family Manor shouted angrily, "Hong Shijie, Situ Ying, Yu Mantang, let me remind you: Lu Family Manor did not come here to reason things out. We came for revenge!"

"You are all people with families and livelihoods in Linjiang County. Do you truly intend to involve yourselves in this?"

Chief Steward Lu Fang glared at the three and threatened them.

"We wouldn't dare. We merely wish to prevent a bloody battle. Could Chief Steward Lu give us some face?"

Lu Fang's face turned ashen at those words, and just as he was about to speak.

A furious roar suddenly came from the distance.

"What the hell are you?!"

"Lu Family Manor has to give you face? Get lost!"

The single word "lost" crashed down like thunder from the heavens. Hong Shijie and the others, all First-rate Realm experts, staggered backward from the shock and nearly passed out.

"This is... a Lesser Grandmaster of Dark Strength?" The onlookers on both sides retreated, and everyone's expressions changed.

To shake several First-rate Realm warriors into such a state, this was unquestionably the power of a Dark Strength Realm Lesser Grandmaster!

"It's Lu Family Manor's ancestor—Lu Chengfeng has arrived!"

A knowledgeable warrior immediately cried out, recognizing the identity of the person approaching from afar.

Hong Shijie, Situ Ying, and the others felt their hearts sink.

In Linjiang, Lu Chengfeng's great name was as deafening as thunder. How could gang leaders like them not know of him?

As early as ten years ago, Lu Chengfeng had already reached the Dark Strength Realm. Together with the master of Lake Heart Pavilion, he was known as one of the Water and Land Heroes.

By seniority, Lu Chengfeng belonged to the same generation as Huang Xugu, True Martial Temple's Old Temple Master.

He was likewise a Lesser Grandmaster of Dark Strength!

And if the master of Lake Heart Pavilion were added to the equation, Daoist Priest Zhang might have to face two old monsters of Dark Strength this time!

Cold sweat beaded Hong Shijie and the others' foreheads in anxiety.

After all, a single Lu Chengfeng already far surpassed Jin Kui. This old monster had broken through ten years ago!

After speaking, Lu Chengfeng arrived before them.

Dressed in the Lu Family's white robes, with white hair and the complexion of a child, he carried the air of an immortal sage, far beyond Jin Kui's compare.

His cold gaze swept across them as he said icily, "I emerged from seclusion today to eliminate the Demonic Path of True Martial Temple. Those unrelated to this matter should leave at once. If anyone wishes to meddle, I do not mind paying each of you a visit another day!"

The moment these words fell.

Everyone's expressions changed as they retreated again and again, not daring to come near.

Even Hong Shijie and the others did not dare speak further.

Before such an old monster, everyone had to weigh whether their strength was enough to even be worth looking at!

Then Lu Chengfeng faced the mountain gate and said, "A place that harbors filth and corruption has no need to exist any longer. And you Demonic Cult vermin must all die!"

As he spoke, Lu Chengfeng was about to strike out with a palm at Senior Brother Li Minghuai and Junior Brother Wang Yuan!

But before he could act.

Someone swaggered out from inside the temple.

Seeing the newcomer, especially the extraordinary Gang Qi around him, Lu Chengfeng had already guessed who he was.

He said coldly, "You are Zhang Chu? Shouldn't you give me an explanation for what happened to my grandson?"

As Lu Chengfeng questioned him, Gang Qi surged throughout the scene, a sight so terrifying from afar that it made hearts tremble.

Hong Shijie and the others were forced back again and again by that Gang Qi, hurriedly circulating their Internal Skill to resist it.

Senior Brother and the others did the same.

They swiftly circulated their Internal Skill.

Though the Gang Qi was not deliberately targeting them, the slightest carelessness could still leave them injured by it.

Yet in the face of that Gang Qi, Zhang Chu revealed a trace of disdain, without the slightest hint of panic.

"Heh, an explanation?"

"What explanation do you want from me?"

With a disdainful smile on his face, Zhang Chu looked at him contemptuously, as though he were looking at an ant.

Sensing Zhang Chu's gaze, Lu Chengfeng's expression changed drastically, and a powerful surge of Internal Skill immediately rose in his hand!

"You brat with yellow hair! Even if Huang Xugu were still alive, he would not dare speak to me like this. Do you think defeating a Jin Kui who cultivated an evil art means you can oppose me?!"

Lu Chengfeng's Gang Qi swelled.

His enormous palm was already poised to strike!

Yet Zhang Chu turned a blind eye to it. Then, looking down below, he spoke indifferently.

"So..."

"Do you think you can kill me?!"