Pine Grave Outside the City

Old Ancestor Tianyan suddenly looked at Lu Chen and said in a deep voice, "What are you trying to do?"

"N-No, nothing. Just asking!"

Old Ancestor Tianyan shot him a glare. "Stop setting your sights on the imperial mausoleum. It's not something you can target just because you want to. Be careful you don't get yourself killed!"

Lu Chen curled his lip.

He could even get ancient demons killed. Who in the imperial mausoleum could kill him?

Still, he said nothing more and took out another Blood Marrow, stuffing it into Old Ancestor Tianyan's hand.

The New Year martial exhibition would begin tomorrow, and celebrations were being held throughout Yanjing. After eating, Lu Chen went down the mountain.

Xiong Yao and Fang Jiuding had originally planned to go down and enjoy the festivities as well, but Old Ancestor Tianyan tossed them into the field of will statues to awaken their bloodlines.

From the mountain, Yanjing was draped in red. Multicolored lanterns adorned the night sky in a dazzling blaze of color.

Celebrations were everywhere, with seas of people packed shoulder to shoulder.

The moment he descended the mountain, Lu Chen's ears twitched slightly, and his gaze turned cold.

Someone had actually planted hidden sentries at the foot of the mountain to keep watch.

Yet he paid them no heed. After pausing briefly, he flashed onto the main street.

The streets roared with voices.

Brilliant red lanterns hung beneath the eaves of every home, covered in runes. Their red light condensed in the air into words such as "Peace Year After Year" and "May Martial Arts Flourish."

The words that fell onto the ground sent children chasing after their shadows, laughing and jumping.

At the street corner, paper cranes flew from the old sugar-painting vendor's sleeves. With every beat of their wings, they drew out threads of silver sugar, sketching azure luans and fiery phoenixes in midair.

The young men watching all leaped up to catch them, only for the sugar paintings to suddenly come alive, transforming into palm-sized spirit beasts that circled the crowd before landing in the children's hands, filling the air with sweet fragrance.

"Look! The spirit lamps at the martial arena are lit!" someone shouted, and everyone on the street looked up.

Thirty-six enormous glazed lamps soared from the martial arena, each as large as a millstone.

Beast battle souls were sealed within the lamps. Awakened by spiritual power, they transformed into phantoms that fought amid the flames. The scattered sparks trailed streams of light as they fell to the mortal world, like heavenly maidens scattering flowers.

A thunderous cheer erupted from the crowd. Children were lifted above their parents' heads, elders trembled as they stroked their beards, and young martial artists clenched their fists, their eyes brimming with longing.

Lu Chen lingered among them, watching with great relish.

Though he had seen such things in his previous life, even displays more brilliant than this, the celebrations of this different world still differed greatly from those of his former world.

He truly felt the splendor of martial civilization.

As the night deepened, Yanjing's long streets remained bright as day.

Lu Chen leaned against a carved railing, lightly tapping a glazed cup with his fingertip. Ripples spread through the spirit wine within, reflecting the lanterns that filled the sky like drifting fireflies.

On a distant platform, the thirty-six beast battle soul lamps suddenly burst into fireworks, transforming into crimson flame flood dragons that spiraled through the air and drew earth-shaking cheers from the crowd.

He narrowed his eyes as a faint fragrant breeze brushed past his nose.

When he turned around, a plain handkerchief had appeared on the bluestone road. Half an ice-crystal snow lotus was embroidered on one corner.

He unfolded it and examined it closely. "At the third quarter of the Hour of the Rat, Peerless Princess invites you to meet at the pine grave outside the city."

"Outside the city?" Lu Chen chuckled, flames rising in his palm as he burned the handkerchief to ash.

As a princess of Yan, did she have to sneak around even to meet someone?

Clearly, this trip would not be simple.

He wanted to see just what sort of being was behind it.

Perhaps he could obtain some Golden Core fragments, or even Nascent Soul fragments.

His plans required a great many such scraps.

Lu Chen drained the wine in his cup in one gulp and flashed into the crowd.

The moon hung high overhead, and the pine forest rustled.

Lu Chen walked slowly over the carpet of pine needles. The three great furnaces trembled faintly, while his three clones turned into phantoms and moved stealthily through the surroundings.

Graves lay scattered ahead. Beneath the thickest ancient pine stood four figures, all dressed in black.

"Young Master Lu truly possesses great skill and even greater courage!" The leading Nascent Soul Cultivator spoke in a hoarse voice like grinding glass, a section of bone mask visible beneath his hood.

"Her Highness the Princess was delayed by urgent matters and ordered us to await you here!"

Lu Chen smiled faintly. "Stop hiding things. That excuse is far too lousy!"

Mockery covered Lu Chen's face as his hand rubbed the hilt of the Soul Severing Saber.

From the left clone's perspective, three crimson wolf fangs were buried beneath a pile of dead branches thirty meters away. Blood-red poisonous light flickered indistinctly beneath the soil.

The Nascent Soul Cultivator snorted coldly, and nine drops of blood suddenly shot from his sleeve.

The blood droplets swelled wildly in the wind, turning into crimson lightning that came shrieking toward him.

At almost the same instant, three figures burst from the ground, their sharp blades aimed straight at Lu Chen's dantian!

"Rise!"

Lu Chen retreated three steps in a flash as his three clones shot out from the darkness.

The left clone raised a hand and threw out the Asura Furnace. Eerie light flared from its mouth, swallowing the crimson lightning that filled the sky.

The right clone pressed both palms to the ground. A furnace phantom inverted like a bell, forcibly suppressing the three figures beneath the earth.

The central clone slashed with his saber, its blade force driving directly at the Nascent Soul Cultivator's brow.

"Good boy!" The Nascent Soul Cultivator was slightly startled. He pressed his palms together, and a hundred-zhang-tall crimson dharma image emerged behind him.

The dharma image's six arms swung in unison, pouring down countless bolts of crimson lightning like a torrential rain.

But Lu Chen's true body smiled at that moment—this was precisely the instant he had been waiting for, when the dharma image appeared!

The Earth Shattering Collapse Fist blasted out without a trace of flourish, warping space wherever the fist passed.

The bone dharma image exploded with a deafening crash, and the backlash made the Nascent Soul Cultivator spit out a mouthful of black blood.

The three clones seized the chance to form an array. Furnace chains wove into a net, binding the three Golden Core cultivators tightly.

The Bone Warrior shot out from the Bone Furnace and fired three consecutive spears, killing the three Golden Core cultivators on the spot.

"Who sent you?" Lu Chen crushed the Nascent Soul Cultivator's breastbone beneath his foot. The Devouring Furnace hovered over the man's crown. "Talk!"

"It was Qiu Mo. He incited the Little Wolf King to make a move against you."

Before the cultivator had finished speaking, his head was swallowed by the furnace.

Lu Chen seized the struggling Nascent Soul. Seeing it tremble like a leaf, he could not help sneering. "Qiu Mo, you truly don't know whether you're dead or alive!"

Had Qiu Mo been enraged because Lu Chen had not accepted his invitation?

Where did he get such a temper?

He suppressed the man's Nascent Soul within the Devouring Furnace.

He could not kill him yet.

Otherwise, he might alert the Little Wolf King.

He found a small pouch on the corpse, then had the Myriad Manifestations Furnace refine it directly.

He obtained a Nascent Soul fragment.

When he examined the pouch's contents, Lu Chen grinned.

There was something he needed: Blood Thunder Seeds.

Three of them.

Naturally, there were spirit stones as well—one hundred middle-grade spirit stones.

They were equivalent to ten thousand low-grade spirit stones. It was a colossal fortune.

Not to mention the Nascent Soul fragment and Golden Core fragments obtained through fusion-refinement.

"Qiu Mo, heh... he really is a shit-stirring rod!"

Lu Chen smiled coldly, flickered twice, and vanished.

The night wind swept over the flying eaves as Lu Chen moved silently across the blue tiles.

In the distance, the three-story pavilion of Drunken Immortal Residence was brilliantly lit. Two figures could be vaguely seen through the carved windows—Qiu Mo and the Little Wolf King, Di Kun.

Lu Chen formed a hand seal. The Myriad Manifestations Furnace released a wisp of blood mist that enveloped him, blending his aura completely into the night.

He slipped over the eaves and into the corridor, the crisp clink of cups reaching his ears.

"Lu Chen should have been captured by now, right?"

Qiu Mo's voice was cold and sinister. "Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit—I'll make him wail beneath my feet. Heh heh..."

"Let me torment him first. I want to eat his flesh raw!" Di Kun's pale face was filled with malice and fury.

Lu Chen had nearly killed him, making him lose all face. He had even less nerve to bring up the matter of a marriage alliance.

It could be said that Lu Chen had thrown all his plans into disarray.