Northward, Iron Lotus's Flying Stone

The matter at Shangguan Residence soon came to an end. There had originally been around thirty Iron Sword Sect disciples traveling north together, but after Black Face Snake's ambush, only five remained.

Cui Xuan led these five. They were all of the same generation as the sect master, and their strengths varied considerably. Only Cui Xuan was a First-Rate Expert; the rest were merely second-rate.

Of course, the one leading the group back was someone of little renown, whose strength was only slightly below Cui Xuan's. He had previously protected the disciples as they escaped.

Meng Hu, Shangguan Ru, and the others were also taken back to the Iron Sword Sect. As for the remaining matters concerning Shangguan Residence, the Iron Sword Sect would send people to assist in handling them.

There were few people left, but producing a First-Rate Expert had never been easy.

Take the Iron Sword Sect, for example. Aside from the sect master, who was a grandmaster, there were only around a dozen First-Rate Experts in the sect—at most, fewer than twenty.

The same was true of other sects. Only Imperial Awakening Palace had more; the rest were all more or less alike.

This time, they no longer traveled on foot, but rode north on horseback.

Lu Xingshi possessed the Riding skill, and he had modified it to its maximum value of 1,000 points. Though he had never ridden a horse before, he had read books on it—otherwise, how could he have activated the skill?

He had learned it back then without ever having the chance to put it into practice. Now, he was finally giving it a try.

Once he mounted up, the effect of his 2,500 points, combined with 100 points of Comprehension, quickly brought his Riding skill into play. In just ten seconds, he had become an experienced rider.

Along the way, Lu Xingshi learned quite a bit about the martial world from Cui Xuan. He also cautiously probed for information about his master, Murong Xuan.

Cui Xuan did not know much. By the time he entered the martial world, Murong Xuan had already faded from prominence for nearly ten years, and no news of him had emerged since.

Murong Xuan was known in the martial world as the Star Plucking Rogue. He had once taken first place in the Tianshan Sword Debate. Most people knew little of the Langya Pavilion behind him, and there were only scant traces to follow. It was a Hidden Sect.

It was not unusual for disciples of Hidden Sects to enter the world. Such people were usually sole heirs, and their strength was often extraordinary.

However, most disciples of Hidden Sects kept a low profile. People like Murong Xuan were ultimately rare.

Lu Xingshi suspected that his master had drawn too much attention, which was why the Imperial Court had noticed him and then forcibly conscripted him.

Otherwise, if he had quietly cultivated within Langya Pavilion, who would have known how strong he was? People might not even have known whether Langya Pavilion had anyone in it at all.

Still, that was normal enough. Murong Xuan had helped raise his reputation to Just Starting Out. Being high-profile, showing off, and displaying his holiness before others were probably simply part of his master's nature.

Lu Xingshi was also puzzled. With that sort of temperament, how had he been willing to live under a false name?

Could it be because he was old? Murong Xuan was already eighty-five, but his profound Inner Force meant he showed no signs of age at all.

Whoosh—while Lu Xingshi was talking with Cui Xuan and the others, an iron pellet suddenly whistled toward him. Judging by its trajectory, it should have grazed past his ear and struck Cui Xuan.

Instead, he caught it barehanded, leaving not even a white mark on his palm, then casually flung it back.

He knew Hidden Weapons too. Not only was the skill value maxed out, but he also possessed quite a few perfected Hidden Weapon techniques.

Bang! A corpse fell from above. The iron pellet had pierced through the man's glabella, killing him on the spot.

"What a formidable Locust Stone." Cui Xuan could not help but praise him before dismounting to inspect the corpse.

He found a pile of iron pellets on the body, each engraved with a lotus pattern.

"It's Iron Lotus. Why would he come here to strike?" Cui Xuan quickly recognized the man.

"Does he have some sort of background?" Lu Xingshi walked over and began searching the body as well, hoping to find a martial art manual, but came up empty-handed.

"His background is clean. He's an outstanding chivalrous hero. How could someone like him possibly be driven by the rebel army?"

"Could his wife, children, or elderly relatives have fallen into the rebels' hands?" Cui Xuan guessed. Otherwise, why would he have come to ambush them?

Iron Lotus was usually known for his lotus-patterned flying stones, but every time he used Hidden Weapons, he did so openly and honorably. He did not seem like the type to join the rebel army.

"Oh, and? Do you have any leads?" Lu Xingshi did not care who Iron Lotus was. All he knew was that this guy had lain in ambush for him.

He was willing to help the weak, but he had no pity for anyone who wanted to harm him.

"No. It seems news of Black Face Snake's death has spread." Cui Xuan felt that was the only possibility. Otherwise, they would not have encountered a second ambush.

"Then how much longer until we reach our destination?" Lu Xingshi asked.

Saibei was vast. When he had first set out, he had only intended to do what he could. Later, he followed Cui Xuan because his master was likely with the Iron Sword Sect's sect master. At the very least, he could ask the sect master of the Iron Sword Sect, or use the man's connections to help investigate.

That was better than searching slowly on his own.

Cui Xuan took out a map, compared it with their surroundings, and said, "If all goes smoothly, we can arrive in Five Days at our current pace."

"We should enter Saibei tomorrow."

"Alright. What about this corpse?" Lu Xingshi asked. Did they intend to bury him, or leave him exposed in the wilderness?

He naturally preferred the latter. It would save time. The dead owed no debts, true, but he had no obligation to help. He was no saint; the man had tried to kill him, and now he was supposed to dig him a grave?

"Leave him by the roadside," Cui Xuan said, showing no fondness for the man either.

He did not know Iron Lotus personally; he had merely heard of his reputation. Not to mention that Iron Lotus had ambushed them, making him their enemy.

The great righteous sects were not the kind to endure beatings and insults without striking back. On the contrary, every one of them was fiercely martial, and they struck without mercy.

Everyone mounted their horses and continued north, though the mood was clearly far more somber than before.

"Young Friend Lu, I intend to take a side route," Cui Xuan suddenly said.

One poisoning attempt and one ambush had given Cui Xuan pause.

They had avoided them both, but if they had failed to do so, they would already be corpses.

The best approach was naturally to avoid danger whenever possible, rather than meet it head-on.

"Though the narrow path is rugged, it's faster. At most, we'll arrive in three days, and we can also avoid assassination attempts from those unorthodox factions." Cui Xuan knew Lu Xingshi was in a hurry.

"A narrow path? We probably can't ride horses on it, can we?" Lu Xingshi was no fool. A narrow path would inevitably mean crossing mountains and ridges, terrain unsuitable for horses.

"That is indeed the case. We'll be more tired, but we'll definitely be faster," Cui Xuan said.

"Fine, we'll take the narrow path." Lu Xingshi agreed. He could run far faster than a horse anyway, and the horses were troublesome. While he did not need to shovel manure, they still needed fodder and fresh water every day, and they could not run for too long or they would be ruined. To him, they brought more drawbacks than benefits.

Of course, they were quite practical for Cui Xuan and the others, since their strength was nowhere near Lu Xingshi's.