What You Want, Say It Yourself

The two immediately summoned a carriage.

They raced all the way to the morgue set up by the Martial Dao Bureau in the west of the city. The moment they entered, they saw a distraught Qi Haifeng standing guard outside the autopsy room.

At the sight of them, Young Master Qi pounced over like he had seen his saviors, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Second Master, Manager Liu's death truly had nothing to do with me!"

Over the past few days, Red Elegance Manor had already executed more than a dozen gang martial artists. Even his Grade-Eight father had nearly had his head chopped off.

That was why their family had been willing to offer up a treasured Grade-Eight True Art, having Lü Chenggong and the others test the strength of White Ape Martial Academy's upper ranks.

And, while they were at it, see whether there were any martial artists who used spears.

But who could have imagined that the very night they left, both of their close partners would perish? It did not matter much whether Lü Chenggong lived or died, but Manager Liu's involvement was far too significant.

He had heard that the last time Red Elegance Manor lost just one maid, a whole crowd of Grade Martial Artists had been buried alongside her.

This time, not only had he failed his mission, he had lost the lady and his troops as well. If he did not quickly find a powerful patron to cling to, the fate awaiting him would be anything but good.

Lu Zhengquan had no time to spare for the insignificant supervisor of a small Fishermen's Gang.

Without a word, he led his nephew hurriedly into the autopsy room.

Though they had already received certain news, the sight of Liu Jin's headless corpse still made their backs tighten.

Those Head-Chopping Bandits again!

Over the past several decades, no fewer than a hundred members of Lin County's Lu Family had died at the hands of those thieves.

Frowning tightly, he instructed Lu Xuanlin, "Find someone to bring the body. We're going to Red Elegance Manor."

Then he looked at Qi Haifeng, who was watching the two of them pitifully from the side.

"You there, come with us too!"

The moment he heard that he had to go as well, Qi Haifeng nearly wet himself. He had come to cling to a powerful patron and seek protection, not to rush headlong into death.

But at this point, whether he stretched out his head or pulled it back, the blade would still fall.

He might as well obey. That way, he might yet have a chance to live.

Red Elegance Manor.

When the three were led by guards into the main hall, Qi Haifeng spotted a familiar back.

But that person seemed to be in a bad state now, kneeling on the ground and being savagely lashed with a whip.

Crack! Crack crack!

"I've raised a whole herd of useless pigs, and after more than twenty days, you still can't find so much as a ghost."

"Go into the city tomorrow. If you can't find him, don't bother coming back!"

Ever since her attempt to chop someone up had been thwarted last time, Hongxiu had realized that Third Master Lu was rather protective of his own.

She had no choice but to change methods.

She used the whip to lash these good-for-nothings, who ruined more than they accomplished.

"Second Brother, what wind has blown such a busy man as you here?"

Lu Zhengkun, who had been fiddling with a jadeite bead bracelet nearby, suddenly rose and strode toward the entrance.

"Third Brother!"

Lu Zhengquan had matters weighing on his heart and offered only a brief greeting.

"What happened?"

The smile on Lu Zhengkun's face slowly faded as he turned a grave gaze toward his son, who had come with them.

"Father, Uncle Liu is dead."

Liu Jin had served the Lu Family's third branch for more than thirty years and had watched him grow up.

Now that he had met disaster for the Lu Family, calling him Uncle was only fitting.

With a crack.

A green gemstone bead the size of a longan in Lu Zhengkun's hand was instantly crushed into powder across the floor. The remaining beads, freed from their cord, clattered down one after another.

Liu Jin might have only been a dog he kept, but this dog was useful. To sustain a Grandmaster's cultivation, the Lu Family needed a great number of obedient subordinates to dig deep and spread wide throughout Lin County.

Manager Liu had been handy to use, and even when beaten, he never made a sound.

"What happened?"

Lu Zhengquan pointed behind him.

"He may know something."

Thud!

Qi Haifeng's legs went limp, and he dropped to his knees.

Up ahead, Qi Rui'an caught sight of his own son kneeling from the corner of his eye, and his wailing grew even more piercing.

A quarter of an hour later, in the study of Listening Rain Pavilion at the manor.

Qi Haifeng gave a detailed account of the recent events the three of them had undertaken against White Ape Martial Academy.

Lu Zhengkun was silent for a long while before finally turning to the other two.

"Three punches to kill an Upper Ninth Rank martial artist, and a quarter of an hour to wipe out Fierce Tiger Martial Hall."

"You suspect that old bastard Xie Guang?"

Lu Zhengquan hesitated briefly, then nodded in the end.

"If he still retains Grade-Eight combat strength, then only three people in our Lu Family can deal with that old immortal."

Lu Zhengkun spoke slowly.

To forcibly kill a Grade-Eight martial artist in the city, in the other party's own lair, with another four or five Ninth Rank martial artists protecting him nearby—if they wanted a swift battle, they could only deploy a Seventh Rank Force Transformation martial master.

"It isn't convenient for me to act..."

Lu Zhengquan shook his head.

As Lin County's Grade-Eight county commandant, he truly could not act within the city.

He also had access to certain secrets of the Zhou Martial Sage Dynasty, such as the alien Sky-Patrolling Ravens that were everywhere within the city.

"Then that leaves only Eldest Brother and Second Uncle..."

"Second Uncle is getting on in years. We shouldn't trouble the old man with something so risky."

"Eldest Brother's birthday banquet is coming up soon..."

"I've got it!"

Lu Zhengkun suddenly slapped the table.

He did not want to risk making a huge commotion in the city over one old Grade-Eight martial artist either.

"The Zhou Family has a mine outside the city. We can use it to set a trap."

"That iron mine is registered with the Martial Dao Bureau and protected by the Bandit Suppression Bureau."

"We're not going to directly seize the mine. We only need to lure White Ape Martial Academy's people out of the city."

"Congratulations!"

Looking at Su Xinghe, now dressed in the robes of an Inner Disciple, Zhou Hao spoke with a stern and earnest expression.

He had watched this new disciple grow.

From stumbling along in the backyard of the Brokerage Guild to leaving everyone in the dust among White Ape Martial Academy's outer disciples, the other had taken only a month and a half.

Though he was a little older.

That was already terrifying.

After all, Zhou Hao himself had been a young genius hidden away by the Zhou Family for more than a decade. Back then, it had taken him about this long to go from entering the school to Inner Tempering.

In another three to five years, Su Xinghe would certainly become his right-hand man.

"Thank you for the Martial Arts School's cultivation. Otherwise, I'd still be a little gang hoodlum."

Su Xinghe cupped his fists.

This was the first conversation between the two. It was clear that this young master was under immense pressure. At only eighteen, he already carried himself with the air of an old man.

"Mm. Train your fists well and break through to become a martial artist as soon as possible."

After speaking, Zhou Hao gave the Inner Disciple before him a deep look, then left the warehouse with Wu Yingcai.

Since the hall master was absent, Elder Xie had assigned him this task just now. It was also the first official matter he had taken over from his father, and he felt that he had completed it fairly well.

Mm... money is a little tight right now...

In a few days, I'll reward him with a few bottles of Qi-Replenishing Pills and cultivate some sense of belonging.

"Haha..."

Xie Guang suddenly burst into hearty laughter from the side.

"Elder Xie..."

Su Xinghe looked at him blankly.

"Can't I laugh because White Ape Martial Academy has found a treasure?"

"In just a month and a half, you've become an Inner Tempering apprentice. At the latest, within a year, our Martial Arts School will gain another Grade Martial Artist."

Xie Guang sighed inwardly.

They had initially agreed on three months, yet he had never expected the other's talent to be even more monstrous than he had imagined. If not for his own cultivation having declined so severely, he truly would have wanted to take him under his wing as a final disciple.

But it was not too late even now. He decided that he would certainly increase his "investment" in the future.

"Now that you've become an Inner Disciple, this old man doesn't have much that I can offer."

Xie Guang considered giving him something suitable for an Inner Tempering apprentice from his years of collected treasures.

In the end, he felt it would be better to let the other make his own request.

"How about this? Tell me what you want."