All-out assault

Only Lu Zhao and Zhou Kang remained in the stone house. For a time, the air hung heavy, and it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. In the end, Lu Zhao broke the suffocating silence. "Uncle Kang... it's only been a little over a year since we last met. How have you... aged so much?"

Zhou Kang drew a deep breath. His hoarse, weary voice seemed to exhaust the last of his strength. "I... already have one foot in the grave. Why should I care about this stinking sack of flesh? But you, fellow Daoist..." He looked up at Lu Zhao, a glimmer of light finally appearing in his clouded eyes. "In a mere year apart, you've already reached the Qi Refining sixth layer. I truly must congratulate you."

Before his words had faded, Lu Zhao sprang to his feet and stared into Zhou Kang's eyes, his tone carrying a trace of urgency and understanding. "Uncle Kang! Have you been... sent somewhere dangerous?"

Zhou Kang asked in mild surprise, "Oh? What makes you say that, Fellow Daoist Lu?"

"Ever since Zhou Hua walked through the door, he's treated you as though you weren't there! If this mission weren't fraught with danger, how would a newly appointed shopkeeper like him dare act so arrogantly toward someone with your decades of seniority and connections in the Zhou Household?"

Lu Zhao suppressed his anger and left the deeper implication unspoken-in Zhou Hua's eyes, Zhou Kang was already as good as dead!

"Hahaha... just what I'd expect of Fellow Daoist Lu!"

At those words, Zhou Kang suddenly burst into laughter, but his laughter brimmed with boundless sorrow and regret. "To think that I, Zhou Kang, had only a middle-grade spiritual root, yet began Qi Refining at sixteen, reached the middle stage of Qi Refining at twenty-five, and reached late Qi Refining at forty! Though I was only a collateral descendant, with no highly cultivated elders in my direct line to back me, I still ranked among the best of my generation! Laughable. Truly laughable!"

His voice grew increasingly agitated, thick with bitterness and pain. "But what happened after I reached the late stage? Without enough resources, I struggled for thirteen years before barely climbing to the eighth layer of Qi Refining. Seeing no hope of Foundation Establishment, I grew lax. I thought I might as well marry, have children, and enjoy all the happiness of family life, entrusting my hopes of Foundation Establishment to my descendants...

"And so I neglected my cultivation. At first, I still practiced every other day, but later, it became once every seven days! Day after day, year after year, my blood and vitality declined with age. It was already a stroke of luck that my cultivation didn't regress. The ninth layer of Qi Refining remained a moon in the water, a flower in the mirror..."

Tears of despair and regret slid down his deep wrinkles, his voice nearly choking with sobs. "If I... had persisted in bitter cultivation back then... even after my blood and vitality began to decline... if I'd endured... I could have endured my way to the ninth layer of Qi Refining!

"If I were at the ninth layer of Qi Refining... even if I couldn't become a prospective elder... I would never have ended up... having to pit these old bones... against the Market District's great formation!"

"Ha... ha... ha... ha..."

Those broken sounds of "ha" were more heartrending than bitter weeping. Lu Zhao silently watched Shopkeeper Zhou beat his chest and stamp his feet, his heart torn to pieces, while the knuckles of Lu Zhao's clenched fists turned white.

A profound sense of helplessness before fate seized him. Within his chest, nothing remained but an unprecedented, blazing hunger for cultivation and strength.

A quarter of an hour later, Shopkeeper Zhou steadied himself and said, "I lost my composure just now. Forgive the embarrassing display, Fellow Daoist Lu."

"Fellow Daoist Lu, I must still say this: though Zhou Hua is arrogant and does indeed covet your Puppet Art,"

"he has, after all, acted openly rather than resorting to underhanded tricks."

"If you turn to Zhou Ming's faction, they will certainly employ vicious, despicable methods."

At this, Lu Zhao solemnly bowed to the shopkeeper. "Please advise me, Uncle Kang."

Zhou Kang did not immediately offer a solution. Instead, he began telling Lu Zhao about the factional struggles within the Zhou Household.

"Zhou Hua and I both serve under Prospective Elder Zhou Qiling. Elder Qiling is one of the lineage's nine prospective elders."

"I've followed Elder Qiling for many years and know well that he still has lines he will not cross. Even if he takes an interest in your Puppet Art, he would disdain using despicable methods."

"Zhou Ming serves another prospective elder, Zhou Qilan. This Elder Qilan is vicious and ruthless, and habitually uses methods that cannot bear the light of day."

"If you still have a choice, I would advise you to remain on Elder Qiling's side."

"As for how to deal with those coveting it... I recall that the Puppet Art is profound and difficult to learn. Without talent, even ten years of hard work might not be enough to... grasp the basics, correct?"

Shopkeeper Zhou deliberately emphasized "grasp the basics." Understanding immediately dawned on Lu Zhao.

"I have just one word for you-stall. Stall until you break through to the seventh layer of Qi Refining. Then the seas will be wide for fish to leap, and the skies high for birds to fly. As for how to strike the right balance, I doubt this old man needs to say more."

After hearing this, Lu Zhao bowed deeply to Shopkeeper Zhou once more.

Shopkeeper Zhou stepped aside to avoid the bow and returned it instead. "With your intelligence, fellow Daoist, even without my reminder, you would likely have thought of this method soon enough."

"Only... I have a favor to ask. I would like a promise from you." Lu Zhao raised his eyes to the shopkeeper and remained silent, clearly inviting him to speak plainly.

"Fellow Daoist, at my age, even dying on the battlefield would be no great pity. My only worry is that good-for-nothing grandson of mine back home."

"He has a weak disposition. Even with the lineage's protection, without someone reliable to look after him, I fear he would not last long in this perilous cultivation world..."

"I once asked an old friend to look after him a little. Unfortunately, he is getting on in years too. I fear he won't be able to care for him for much longer."

"Judging by your bearing, fellow Daoist, you are no creature destined to remain in a pond. Should the right opportunity come one day, even Foundation Establishment is not beyond hope."

"One day, if you are fortunate enough to reach Foundation Establishment... might you mention me to the Zhou Household? Just say... that you once had an old friend like me, and that my grandson is still here, the descendant of an old friend." With that, Shopkeeper Zhou bowed deeply once more.

After hearing those words, what else could Lu Zhao say? "Thank you for thinking so highly of me, Uncle Kang." He bowed gravely and solemnly promised, "I will do everything I can!"

As he watched Shopkeeper Zhou leave the stone chamber, countless feelings mingled in Lu Zhao's heart.

The month passed in a flash. A new military order struck the Hundred Arts Battalion like a thunderclap: "Two thousand Qi Refining cultivators, divide into ten teams! All forces, attack! Objective-break the formation!"

Lu Zhao surged toward the front with the Hundred Arts Battalion's cultivators. As soon as he arrived, he saw the house-sized Mountain-Splitting Ballistas he had seen before. They now stood in menacing ranks, numbering more than thirty-over three times as many as before!

The battle formation was stern and imposing. The Cloud-Pattern Cavalry, their iron armor gleaming coldly, and the forbidding figures of the Enforcement Team stood on either flank, an air of bloodshed hanging over them.

Even more alarming was the sight in the sky-the enormous Flowing Cloud Ship, which had lain dormant for over a year, once again tore through the clouds. Its towering hull hovered in the air, casting a suffocating shadow.

Lu Zhao's keen gaze pierced the tumult and caught sight of an inconspicuous group on the army's outer edge. They numbered only a dozen or so, yet all were late Qi Refining cultivators. Frost and snow stained every man's temples, wrinkles lay embedded in their faces like knife cuts, and a heavy air of life's twilight clung to them. One of those figures was Shopkeeper Zhou.