First Pacify Within, Empty Clarity Fist

[You learned the imperial court's intentions from Wang Yang, and when you examined him again, you already saw through him: he, too, had the resolve to go to his death.]

[He had placed life and death beyond consideration. What he guarded in his heart was only one thought: if the city stood, the men lived; if the city fell, the men died.]

[In your father's eyes, in those eyes weathered by wind and frost, you saw the same radiance. It was love for home and nation.]

[You made your decision. For your father's sake as well, you had to hold Hulao Pass fast.]

[If you only defended blindly, with no reinforcements from the imperial court, the result was easy to imagine. By the strength of the defenders alone, it would be all but impossible to resist.]

[Only by taking the initiative to attack was there a thread of life.]

[When the two armies clashed, you would inevitably have to face the Iron Pagoda Cavalry head-on. Without a good strategy to break the enemy, defeat was already decided.]

[Thus, under the strategy you had written down earlier, the Lu Family Army cut horse legs, scattered formations, selected elite soldiers... and began targeted training against the Iron Pagoda Cavalry.]

[The Lu Family Army's four thousand troops were still insufficient, so you decided to absorb militia.]

[Your father transferred more than two thousand men from Wang Yang's garrison, and borrowed several hundred more from familiar righteous armies.]

[In this way, the Lu Family Army's strength finally expanded to six thousand men.]

[The leaders of the various righteous armies also came to attend the banquet. You swept your eyes over the heroes, and relying on your innate Insight into People, keenly sensed that each of them harbored his own thoughts.]

[Clearly, the righteous armies were not a single sheet of iron.]

[Among them, Zhao Pu, leader of the Zhao Clan in the south, drew particular attention. His conduct and manner seemed exceedingly strange in your eyes.]

[You took up this man's life record and read through it, sensing that Zhao Pu's mind was hard to fathom, and that he might harbor suspicions of turning traitor.]

[Half a month later, the siege battle was on the verge of breaking out, like a sharp sword hanging over your head.]

[If you allowed someone like Zhao Pu, whose heart hid unfathomable designs, to continue on, the city might well be impossible to preserve.]

[Thus, you summoned your father and Lu Yu to discuss countermeasures together.]

[Faced with this critical situation, then...]

1. Let Zhao Pu be and allow him to develop freely.

2. Act decisively, kill Zhao Pu, and eliminate the hidden danger.

3. Participate personally. (1/3)

Yu Ke chose 2 without the slightest hesitation.

With war imminent, this kind of timed explosive could not be left alone.

Only by pacifying within first could one drive off enemies without.

[When your father heard your decision, he hesitated and urged you to think it over, worried that Zhao Pu's death might trigger turmoil within the righteous armies.]

[After all, Zhao Pu still had five thousand troops under him. Though most were scattered soldiers and wandering braves, among the righteous armies, that was already quite rare.]

[Lu Yu, however, had complete faith in your decision. Zhao Pu oppressed the common people on ordinary days and was notorious for his evil name; this act was truly one of justice.]

[Thus, you decided...]

1. Persuade your father and seek consensus.

2. Pretend to agree while secretly planning.

3. Participate personally. (1/3)

Yu Ke was not a pedantic man.

In chaotic times, under crisis, acting with swift decision allowed not the slightest soft-hearted mercy.

He knew Lu Jiaxuan was a scholarly Confucian general, bearing the air of a great clan, upright and righteous.

He would never, because of a moment's suspicion, wrongly kill a leader of the righteous armies.

Because of one suspicion, how could he wrongly kill a future pillar?

But the human heart was unfathomable. If later there came a spear thrust from behind, that would be a disaster that drowned the crown of the head.

Since that was so!

Yu Ke chose 2. Pretend to agree while secretly planning.

Lu Jiaxuan was the face of the Lu Family Army, so he would become the lining of the Lu Family Army.

The Lu Family Army's face could not be stained with even a trace of blood.

[You followed your father's thoughts, and your father was very pleased.]

[At night, you found Lu Yu and prepared to assassinate Zhao Pu together.]

[Zhao Pu's martial arts were formidable. His body-tempering kung fu was no small matter, and he also had many guards protecting him.]

[To get rid of him would by no means be easy.]

[The corners of Lu Yu's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a confident smile. He said softly, "For tonight's matter, I alone will be enough."]

[Only then did you learn that Lu Yu's Innate Skill had already reached the seventh layer, and that on the army's killing fields, he had actually broken through again and again.]

[You knew your own martial arts were ordinary, so you did not show off. You only instructed Lu Yu to pay attention to his safety.]

[You also wanted to know exactly what the seventh layer of Innate Skill was like.]

[You watched from the side.]

[Lu Yu leapt lightly, more than ten feet in a single bound, then drifted down like a feather, landing silently in the south gate camp.]

[After finding where Zhao Pu was, he kicked open the main door without hesitation and strode straight inside.]

[He had only stepped a few paces in when, upon the great bed, a black-faced big man woke with a start like thunder suddenly erupting. His plump body was like a mountain of flesh, while in those bean-sized little eyes, fierce light was laid bare.]

[On the great bed, when the woman in red saw the sudden assassin, she panicked and hurriedly hid behind Zhao Pu.]

["Who are you?"]

[Zhao Pu asked in a deep voice, summoning the guards at the same time, his torch-bright gaze fixed tightly on Lu Yu.]

[Lu Yu gave a low laugh, his voice full of wild arrogance. "A man already dead has no need to know my name."]

[The guards moved at the sound. Several dozen men came surrounding him with blades in hand, encircling Lu Yu layer upon layer.]

[You could not help feeling puzzled. This was Lu Yu's assassination?]

[Lu Yu had long since made preparations. His face was covered with a black cloth, and his figure had been slightly altered; those unfamiliar with him would find it difficult to recognize him.]

[In an instant, Lu Yu was already close to Zhao Pu. He casually put on a boxing frame, and with one glance you recognized it. This was the Three Truths Sect's Empty Clarity Fist.]

[You knew this school of fist techniques too, but when Lu Yu displayed it, it was different.]

[Empty Clarity Fist emphasized intent, not form.]

[After Lu Yu set out his fist frame, it was as if an invisible fist intent enveloped the entire tent, making people feel a hard-to-describe pressure.]

[Black lines could not help appearing all over your head. This Three Truths Sect fist technique was far too easy to recognize.]

[Even Zhao Pu could not help saying in a low voice, "Three Truths Sect?"]

[In your view, little brother was somewhat unreliable.]

[But there was no surprise in the outcome. Several guards were simply no match for Lu Yu in a single exchange.]

[During this, a small accident occurred.]

[Zhao Pu had actually trained the Indestructible Golden Buddha Body to great completion, stepping into the ranks of first-rate masters in the martial world.]

[This skill was a kind of hard qigong similar to the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Shirt. Blades and swords found it hard to injure, and its user was as strong as an ox.]

[Zhao Pu laughed smugly. "Your father here has long been impervious to blades and spears, and you still want to kill me? Kid, your fists are too light. They're just like a woman's."]

[The ending naturally held no surprise at all.]

[After exchanging more than ten moves, Lu Yu punched Zhao Pu into the wall, then drove another fist through his heart.]

[Before Zhao Pu died, his eyes were full of disbelief.]

[The youth before him was actually a grandmaster-level expert in the martial world.]

[You saw through the secret within it. What Lu Yu displayed was precisely the innate astral qi within Innate Skill, unmatched in might.]

[Lu Yu looked toward the woman in red on the bed. Just as he was hesitating, the woman was already streaming with tears and knelt to the ground, saying, "Many thanks, benefactor, for the grace of saving me and letting my great vengeance be repaid."]

[Lu Yu did not kill ruthlessly. He merely glanced faintly at the woman in red, then his figure flashed, and after several flying leaps across the eaves, he vanished into the night.]

[Outside the small courtyard, more than a hundred guards hurried over and surrounded the courtyard tightly. All they saw was the blood-drenched corpse on the wall, and a woman in red whose expression could not be told as crying or laughing.]

["There's an assassin! Heavenly King Zhao is dead!"]

[Heavenly King Zhao was dead!]

[For a time, the south gate Zhao Clan camp fell into chaos. Firelight soared to the sky, men shouted and horses neighed, and everything became a tangled mess.]

[You reunited with Lu Yu.]

[You asked about his current martial arts realm.]

[Lu Yu clasped his hands behind his back, wearing the air of an expert, and said indifferently, "Nothing much. Just the realm of a martial-world grandmaster."]

[You were greatly astonished. In the martial world of Great Qing, there were only eight grandmasters, all towering elders of the martial world, already forty or fifty years old.]

[Lu Yu was only twenty years old, yet he had already reached his current realm.]