Shock and Bounty

Li Changge frowned. "Why are you in such a panic?"

The scout dropped to his knees, gasping for breath. "Re... reporting to the Gang Leader, Tiger Roar City... Tiger Roar City's Black Tiger Hall... it's... it's gone!"

"What?" Li Changge and Wei Tuo were both startled.

Wei Tuo rushed to question him first. "What do you mean, gone? Explain it clearly!" A vague premonition stirred in his heart, yet he did not dare believe it.

The scout swallowed and struggled to steady his breathing. "Black Tiger Hall... was uprooted completely! The entire branch... has turned into ruins!"

"Ac... according to the lackeys who escaped... a young man did it... with one punch... one punch, and the main building was gone!"

"One punch... and the main building was gone?" Wei Tuo turned those words over in his mind, finding them utterly absurd. Yet the scout's horrified expression did not seem feigned.

"A young man? Could it really be him... counting the time..." Wei Tuo's thoughts raced, his eyes filled with shock.

Li Changge looked at Wei Tuo. "The man you recommended?"

Wei Tuo's mouth went dry. Though he found it hard to believe, he still nodded with difficulty. "Other than him, I can't think of a second person."

He recalled Lu Shaoyou's decisive slaughter at Dragon Snake Crossing, along with his unfathomable strength. His heart churned like storm-tossed seas. "This man... this man acted so swiftly, so... without leaving any room behind!"

Li Changge paced back and forth through the hall.

After a long while, he stopped and let out a long breath. "To collapse an entire main building with one punch, this man has likely entered the Xiantian Realm. And his methods are ruthless to such an extent. The Blood Saber Sect is probably about to go completely mad."

"The Xiantian Realm?"

Hearing this, Wei Tuo's face changed drastically. He asked in disbelief, "Gang Leader, are you saying Young Hero Lu is in the Xiantian Realm?"

"How is that possible? Young Hero Lu was clearly only Super First-rate!"

Li Changge snapped irritably, "Are you telling this Gang Leader that he used less than a day to rise from Super First-rate to the Xiantian Realm?"

He himself was in the Xiantian Realm. How could he not know the entire process of breaking through from Super First-rate to the Xiantian Realm?

Even if beaten to death, he would not believe that anyone could accomplish such a feat—especially while traveling.

Wei Tuo opened his mouth, but no words came out. Inwardly, he admitted that Li Changge had a point.

Before he knew it, a layer of sweat had seeped across his forehead. He thought of how he had even threatened the other party back at the inn.

Now, it only seemed laughable.

Wei Tuo wiped the sweat from his brow, grateful that he had not resorted to force back then.

Otherwise, Black Tiger Hall's fate would have been a mirror of his own.

"Gang Leader, then what should we do now?"

Li Changge looked at Wei Tuo. "Pass down the order. Everyone in the Giant Whale Gang is to watch and wait. Before the situation becomes clear, no one may make contact with this man without authorization, much less get dragged into his conflict with the Blood Saber Sect."

"Yes, Gang Leader." Wei Tuo bowed to accept the order, but he understood in his heart that the skies over Azure Province were truly about to change.

Just as Li Changge had expected.

The news that Black Tiger Hall had been uprooted, and that Hall Master Xiong Tai, Deputy Hall Master Qian Tong, and Xiong Jiaojiao had all been killed, swept through the martial world of Azure Province like the fiercest hurricane before finally reaching the core of the Blood Saber Sect.

Blood Saber Sect, Main Discussion Hall.

"Bastard! Worthless trash!" A handsome young man in luxurious purple robes, his face carrying a trace of sinister evil, viciously smashed the teacup in his hand onto the floor. It shattered with a piercing crack.

He was Blood Saber Ancestor's second son, the Blood Saber Sect's Young Sect Master, Xue Yugang, known as the "Blood Young Master."

Below the hall, the Blood Saber Sect's upper ranks stood silent as cicadas in winter.

"The entire Black Tiger Hall was actually uprooted in a single day! That fool Xiong Tai deserved to die! But where does that leave the face of the Blood Saber Sect?"

Xue Yugang's voice was icy, carrying undisguised killing intent. "Has it been investigated? Who exactly did this?"

An elder stepped forward with a bow and replied cautiously, "Reporting to Young Sect Master, according to reports from various sources and intelligence gathered by our scouts, the one who acted was a young man named Lu Shaoyou."

He paused, then continued, "This man is extremely strong and is suspected to be a Xiantian expert. He is connected to the destruction of Black Wind Village, and he bears... some grudge against our sect's Li Mo."

"Lu Shaoyou? Xiantian?" Xue Yugang narrowed his eyes. "Li Mo? That kid who just joined the Blood Shadow Guard?"

The elder hurriedly confirmed it.

Xue Yugang snorted coldly. "I don't care who he is. If he dared touch someone from my Blood Saber Sect, then even if he is in the Xiantian Realm, he must be prepared to die!"

He rose to his feet and slowly paced. "Xiong Tai may have been trash, but he was still a hall master of my Blood Saber Sect. If this man does not die, how will the Blood Saber Sect establish itself in Azure Province?"

A flash of bloody light flickered through his eyes. "Also, Xiong Tai died on Giant Whale Gang territory. Send men to Lingshui City. If Li Changge does not give an explanation, then don't blame me for going there in person."

After pondering for a moment, Xue Yugang gave the order decisively. "Pass down my command! Issue the Blood Kill Order at once! Offer a bounty of ten thousand taels of silver for Lu Shaoyou's head!"

"Anyone who provides an accurate clue to his whereabouts will receive one thousand taels of silver! I want the entire martial world of Azure Province to know the consequences of offending my Blood Saber Sect!"

"Yes, Young Sect Master!"

The moment the Blood Kill Order was issued, the entire martial world of Azure Province was shaken. Countless desperadoes and bounty hunters moved at the scent of the wind, while undercurrents surged throughout Azure Province.

Yet Lu Shaoyou, the instigator of all this, knew nothing about it.

A day later, he had arrived in Pingyang City, where Thunderclap Hall was located.

Pingyang City was not as prosperous as Tiger Roar City, but there were noticeably more martial artists coming and going through its streets, and even the air seemed steeped in a grim killing aura.

Lu Shaoyou did not linger. After learning the location of Thunderclap Hall's headquarters, he rode straight there.

Thunderclap Hall headquarters had a towering gatehouse, where two sharp and capable guards stood with hands resting on their sabers.

Lu Shaoyou swung down from his horse and walked forward at an unhurried pace.

"Who goes there... urgh!" One guard had barely begun to shout his challenge when an afterimage flashed past. His throat turned cold, and he could no longer utter a word.

The other guard was horrified beyond measure. Just as he was about to draw his saber and sound the alarm, Lu Shaoyou had already closed in. He raised two fingers like a sword and tapped the man between the brows.

Slaughter Value +10 points.

Slaughter Value +10 points.

Without even looking at the two fallen corpses, Lu Shaoyou raised his foot and, with a BANG, kicked Thunderclap Hall's heavy gates wide open.

The tremendous noise alarmed everyone inside the hall.

Dozens of gazes turned toward the entrance in unison. They saw a tall, straight-backed young man standing with his hands behind his back. Sunlight streamed in from behind him, casting a long shadow at his feet.

Lu Shaoyou swept his gaze over the stunned crowd in the hall. His cold voice rang clearly in every ear:

"Where is Lei Xiaotian?"

"And where is Li Mo?"