Everyone Is a Flower

After focusing on resolving his own combat capability issue, Lu Bai headed toward the manor.

From time to time, a couple of dog barks rang out from the enormous manor. Clearly, Hundred Flower Grave had the best ancient anti-theft tool as well.

The difficulty of infiltrating a manor like this rose by who knew how much. One careless move, and he would be discovered.

Lu Bai wandered around the perimeter, searching for an opportunity, only to discover that there was no need to look for one at all.

More and more people gathered at the manor. Some wore matching uniforms and clustered together, while others had weapons slung across their backs and chatted in groups of two or three.

"Fellow comrades of the Martial Forest, I am deeply honored that you have gathered at my Hundred Flower Grave today. Please, come in and drink a couple bowls of humble wine to warm yourselves, then let us discuss the great affairs of the Martial Forest together."

The manor gates were thrown wide open. A flamboyantly dressed middle-aged man stood at the entrance, shouting loudly and earning cheers from martial heroes of every stripe.

"Good!!" Lu Bai blended into the crowd, wrapping his bald head with his clothes and clapping with all his might. Anyone who did not know better would have thought he was a planted supporter.

Once inside the manor, he spoke to people as people required and to ghosts as ghosts required. Before long, Lu Bai had figured out what was going on here.

"Brother Lu Bai, let me tell you, that Holy Land really isn't human!" Beside Lu Bai, a scholar-looking man who did not seem to possess much fighting ability grabbed him and said.

"Every year, we have to hand people over. Once they go there, they're never seen returning."

"Those Phoenix Flying Ladies are seductive as hell, but when I go looking for them in private, they just tell me to get lost."

"Sigh, an evil organization like this should be abolished, and then all their stockings should be snatched... destroyed."

Lu Bai's initial guess about the so-called Holy Land had not been wrong. Its full name was Tianwu Holy Land, and it was likely a force Tianwu Group had supported in this dimension.

It was said to possess the finest Martial Arts, a holy land of Martial Arts for everyone under heaven.

When the Holy Land first emerged, it fought every sect in succession and evaluated all their Martial Arts.

Then it belittled their Martial Arts until they were worth less than a single coin. For example, Hundred Flower Grave had originally been called Hundred Flower Valley, famed for its Hundred Flower Fist and Flower Piercing Leg.

Yet it had been crushed in a single blow, and its Martial Arts had been branded Flowery Fists and Embroidered Legs.

The people of Hundred Flower Valley simply renamed their Martial Arts Flowery Fists and Embroidered Legs, even changing Hundred Flower Valley's name to Hundred Flower Grave.

Through this act of beating the whole world into submission, the Holy Land established itself above the Martial Forest.

Then, half by coercion and half by temptation, under the banner of studying superior Martial Arts together, it forced every sect to send people to the Holy Land at regular intervals.

Yet once those people went to the Holy Land, they vanished without a trace.

On top of that, huge amounts of wealth and profit had to be ceded. Before this, the Holy Land's name had been exceptionally useful.

Any Martial Forest sect that refused to give the Holy Land face would face extermination.

Under such circumstances, it could be said that the world had suffered under the Holy Land for a long time.

Hundred Flower Grave had such rallying power because it had once tried to resist the Holy Land and had not yet been wiped out.

Those gathered here were all opponents of the Holy Land, though their resistance had naturally been carried out in secret.

The reason they now dared to bring it into the open was that Hundred Flower Grave had long since contacted them in secret and produced evidence that the Holy Land could not last.

And, as proof, they had killed the Holy Land's representative, Phoenix Flying Lady, last night. Only then had these people dared send representatives here to drink today.

If Hundred Flower Grave had failed yesterday, then even if these people would not have leaped forth as righteous heroes of the Martial Forest to help its Holy Land maintain order, this place would not have been so lively.

"There's actually evidence?" Watching the dishes being served, Lu Bai swiftly grabbed a bone and began gnawing on it, thinking as he ate.

"It seems that massive explosion before entering the dimension was probably not just a simple theft."

"Rather, some enemy of comparable scale was plotting against Tianwu Group."

"Tianwu Group's main business is selling modules related to wuxia elements."

"The Holy Land was what they supported to harvest modules. Even if they failed to steal the Dimension Key, crippling the Holy Land they supported would still reduce their output for a period of time."

"There might even be an insider in this dimension working with them."

A whole series of corporate war conspiracies took shape in Lu Bai's mind—commercial spies, betrayals by company executives, and the like.

But none of that had much to do with Lu Bai.

He had entered this dimension by accident, and his goal was to make a huge haul.

"Looking at it this way, Hundred Flower Grave must be a force supported by another company. No wonder they have modules and corresponding methods of using them."

Before entering the dimension, Lu Bai had investigated relevant information.

Though his status meant that he had not found much, he knew that the best way to use modules was through the Skill Bar.

However, not everyone could have a Skill Bar, nor was everyone willing to enter a dimension.

If such people wanted to use modules, they had to rely on certain special methods.

As far as Lu Bai knew, one relatively common method was using modules to make weapons.

Such weapons could easily sell for high prices. Even if they had no specific function, as long as a module was embedded in them, they counted as luxury goods.

Blending into the crowd, Lu Bai used the universal excuse of going to the toilet and slipped toward another part of the manor.

He had come to find Secret Manuals, not to attend a pledge rally for the campaign against the Holy Land.

Using the excuse that he could not find the toilet, Lu Bai called over a servant, then swapped identities like one plum tree replacing another.

"From today onward, my codename will be 9527!" Putting on the hat, Lu Bai adjusted himself, snapped the neck of the servant he had stripped bare, and threw him into a cesspit.

Lu Bai then walked out, with an expression and manner much like the servant's.

He had even specifically studied acting and disguise.

Lacking martial virtue was not merely about things like lime powder and Groin Kicks.

You had to use every means possible to weaken the enemy while strengthening yourself.

Sometimes, preparation beforehand was even more exhausting than Combat.

Combat began the moment hostility was confirmed.

At times, acting could ensure that an entire series of one's methods achieved good results.

Once Lu Bai infiltrated deep enough, he saw some "men in black."

Though they were not dressed in black as they had been last night, the aura of Sworn Followers around them was rather obvious.

The place they guarded contained a flower field, where countless flowers Lu Bai could not name bloomed.

"It's already winter. Why are these flowers still blooming so vividly?" Lu Bai watched from afar and spotted the suspicious point as well.

The number of Sworn Followers guarding the area alone showed that they valued this sea of flowers far more than any other building.

Lu Bai was just about to leave when he saw a flower in the sea of blossoms suddenly sway, then rapidly wither and condense into a fruit.

A Sworn Follower immediately came over, collected the fruit, and rushed deeper into the manor.

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