Knife-Clasping Hand-Wrestling: First Blood Loses!

"Was he really badly injured?"

Everyone present, Li Xiang included, watched with their hearts in their throats.

The newspapers had been flooded with reports that Lu Changsheng had been badly injured at Blackwater Pool, but most people had taken them with a grain of salt.

After all, the old monster had lived for three hundred years, and his thoughts ran as deep as the sea. Who knew whether the Lu Family had planted the story as bait to lure people into a trap?

But now it seemed the Local Emperor of Riverside truly had been weakened. His face was as pale as gold paper, and he could not stop coughing blood. None of it looked like an act.

Could he really be on his last legs?

If so, the skies over Linjiang County might truly be about to change.

For a moment, undercurrents stirred through the Training Ground, and quite a few eyes began to dart about.

"It's nothing."

Lu Changsheng remained composed. He took out another spotless white handkerchief, leisurely wiped the blood from his lips, folded the stained cloth, and tucked it back into his robe.

He raised his head. That faint smile still rested on his face, though he had grown a few shades paler.

"Looks like I'm getting old. My body can't bear rich tonics anymore." Lu Changsheng swept his gaze over the crowd's varied expressions and gave a self-mocking smile.

"I took too many potent medicines to heal my wounds. I overdid it, and my blood and qi spilled over instead. I've only weakened myself."

"Sorry to make a spectacle of myself."

His explanation was seamless, yet it left plenty to the imagination.

Was this a show of force?

Was Lu Changsheng telling them all that the tiger might be old and sick, but it