The Zhang Family

"Slash!"

In the flash of a spark, Bai Zishan made his decision and pointed at the little azure sword from afar.

With his strength, abducting Lu Mingyue would have been effortless, but-

The City Patrol Office stood in the center of Taiping City, and the courtyard residence Lu Mingyue rented was only a few hundred meters away. Moreover, she carried an Identity Token issued by the City Patrol Office!

So, although he could easily subdue Lu Mingyue, he had no absolute confidence that he could leave Taiping City.

Steward Deng of the City Patrol Office was no pushover!

Most importantly, once he left Taiping City, finding another place so suitable for cultivation would not be easy.

By Bai Zishan's own reckoning, even his cave abode fell far short of Taiping City.

What it lacked was not the rich Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi here, but the pills he could receive each month after becoming a disciple of the Taiping City Lord...

Thus, if he forcibly took Lu Mingyue away, he would end up on Taiping City's kill list, for one, and slow her cultivation, for another. Those two points alone were enough to make Bai Zishan extinguish the anger that had briefly flared in his heart.

Clang!

Under his control, the little azure sword instantly reached the Mighty Warrior. After clashing dozens of times with the greatsword in the soldier's hands, it took advantage of the interference from Lu Mingyue's spells and plunged into his exposed eye.

Bang!

The azure sword light sank into the Mighty Warrior's eye socket. Then, with a pulse of Origin Power, it blasted his head into a cloud of bloody mist.

Boom!

Clatter!

The Mighty Warrior, who had still been fighting desperately and trying to break out, promptly fell to the ground.

Whoosh!

As Bai Zishan beckoned, the little azure sword that had slain the man returned to his sleeve.

What a powerful sword-control technique!

Lu Mingyue watched in alarm, but showed none of it on her face. She merely addressed Bai Zishan with a faint smile:

"Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Bai. It's late at night already. Let me invite you over for a chat tomorrow!"

As for repaying him, Lu Mingyue never brought it up at all.

She could no longer be bothered to keep up a pretense of courtesy with Bai Zishan.

Leaving aside how she had already learned from the memories of Guo Yang and his wife that Bai Zishan had approached them of his own accord, with far from innocent intentions.

She had shaken him off after entering Taiping City, yet now, only ten days later, this fellow had appeared before her again.

And in the dead of night, at that!

Right when two Mighty Warriors had inexplicably burst into her courtyard, looking determined to kill her!

No matter how she looked at it, this man was suspicious!

As the saying went, "When every coincidence happens to you, they are no longer coincidences."

Lu Mingyue was now eight hundred percent on her guard against Bai Zishan. Naturally, she would no longer maintain even superficial courtesy with him.

Of course, this was also because Lu Mingyue was essentially certain that Bai Zishan had not come to kill her.

At least for now, Bai Zishan would not kill her!

With the City Patrol Office's Identity Token as well, Lu Mingyue believed that Bai Zishan would not attack her at this time.

"...All right. Until tomorrow, then!"

Sure enough, after Lu Mingyue told him to leave, Bai Zishan nodded at her despite looking "utterly aggrieved," then walked toward the corpse of the Mighty Warrior he had just killed.

"Let's not leave these two corpses here to disturb you, Miss Lu. I'll take them out and dispose of them while I'm at it."

"You needn't trouble yourself with that, Fellow Daoist Bai!"

Lu Mingyue flashed forward and blocked his way to the Mighty Warrior's corpse. At the same time, she secretly formed a hand seal, causing strands of wild grass to grow and bind the corpse of the other Mighty Warrior she had burned to death earlier.

"I now work as a corpse collector at the City Patrol Office. These two Mighty Warriors are of unknown origin, so I happen to need to process them. Tomorrow, I'll hand them over to Steward Deng of the City Patrol Office and find out exactly who wants me dead!"

As she spoke, Lu Mingyue stared into Bai Zishan's eyes, hoping to see whether he would show a guilty conscience.

Perhaps Bai Zishan concealed it too well, however, for she could not detect the slightest trace of panic in his eyes.

"...Very well!"

Bai Zishan merely paused, cupped his fist at Lu Mingyue, then turned and leaped out of the courtyard.

This time, it was Lu Mingyue's turn to be somewhat surprised.

This man had appeared abruptly and left with equal decisiveness.

Could these two Mighty Warriors truly have nothing to do with him?

At that thought, Lu Mingyue extended her Divine Sense. Only after confirming that Bai Zishan had gone far away did she take out the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth wound around her waist and wrap up the corpse on the ground.

The Corpse-Wrapping Cloth was Lu Mingyue's greatest trump card.

Even if Bai Zishan released his Divine Sense right now, Lu Mingyue was certain he would not discover the secret hidden within the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth.

Still, she remained sufficiently cautious. Only after carrying the corpse into an empty room did she open the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth and look.

Mortal

Consumed Body Tempering Pills

Two lines of writing appeared on the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth, confirming the Mighty Warrior's identity. He was indeed a mortal.

However, the Body Tempering Pills they had taken were clearly pills of the immortal path.

Otherwise, the Corpse-Wrapping Cloth would not have specifically revealed them.

Were they pills refined by the Taiping City Lord?

Hum!

As Lu Mingyue pondered, a mass of memories poured into her mind, and she experienced this Mighty Warrior's life.

This Mighty Warrior's name was Tian Youfu, a very ordinary name. He had merely been a country farmer's son from the Great Qian Dynasty, a neighboring nation of the Great Ye Dynasty.

When Tian Youfu was very young, he had witnessed the deaths of his relatives. Afterward, a human trafficker had brought him to Taiping City.

Many other boys and girls had been brought to Taiping City with him. One buyer after another had then come, inspected them, and bought them.

Tian Youfu had been purchased by the Zhang Family of Taiping City. Three other companions, two boys and a girl, had been bought along with him.

The Zhang Family was a major Lineage within Taiping City. That was Tian Youfu's childhood understanding. Only after growing up did he learn that the Zhang Family was one of the handful of cultivation Aristocratic Clans in Taiping City, with a legacy spanning over a hundred years.

The head of the Zhang Family even possessed cultivation at the eleventh level of the Qi Refining Stage!

After the four youngsters were brought to the Zhang Family, they underwent hellish training.

They also had to soak in medicinal baths every day and take pills to temper their muscles and bones, strengthen their bodies, and continually increase their power.

When they were eighteen, a final contest took place. The four companions selected to enter the Zhang Family at the same time fought one another to the death.

The head of the Zhang Family said he needed only two people.

In the end, Tian Youfu and one other survived.

They had killed their own companions.

From that day onward, they became the Zhang Family's Mighty Warriors, disposing of cultivators whom the Zhang Family could not conveniently deal with in person.

Until today, when the Zhang Family's young master ordered them to assassinate Lu Mingyue...

Thank you to the sweethearts who cast recommendation votes~

I've been tied up with worldly troubles lately, but I've finally found a temporary solution. This year hasn't gone smoothly for me, so I sincerely wish all you sweethearts smooth sailing, peace, and safety!