Master Chai?
The Eight-Armed Heavenly King with that imposing title?
The carriage curtain was lifted, and Lu Sui looked outside.
A driver sat on the shaft, wearing a coarse short jacket and a felt hat. Nothing about him looked formidable.
"Right you are, boss."
The driver put down his whip, turned, and smiled.
"Been a while since I last fought. I'll use them to loosen up these old bones."
With that, the driver jumped down and walked toward the residence across the street.
Only then did Lu Sui get a clear look at "Master Chai." Dark-faced, skinny, short, and stooped, he looked no different from an old farmhand on an ordinary estate.
If anything stood out, it was his hands.
His arms hung past his knees, and his knuckles were exceptionally thick.
The Eight-Armed Heavenly King, the Lu residence's strongest fighter on the surface?
Lu Sui mulled it over. The gap between that title and the actual man was far too wide.
Uncle Wen at least had bright eyes and a tall frame. Put him in the right clothes, and he looked the part.
Master Chai was so utterly unremarkable that he would be hard to pick out in a crowd.
"Master Chai received a kindness from your mother. That's why he agreed to stay at the Lu residence. With his abilities, he could claim a place even among the Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains beyond Shaqing Pass."
Lu Yulin said softly:
"During those years when the Dacheng Trading Firm expanded into Guandong, rivals often paid to have me killed. Master Chai stopped them all for me.
"Of the five great trades, commerce and martial arts support one another. Without a first-rate fighter holding the fort, you can't hold on to even the best business;
"Without a wealthy backer, opening a martial arts school, taking disciples, treating injuries, and paying for food and supplies all burn through money like flowing water. How could you keep going?"
I get it. Local guns and blades need gangs to help guard their turf too!
Lu Sui had thought the Ganzi Gang's "double-flower red pole" was Dou Xiaowen. He hadn't expected it to be Master Chai.
"Uncle Wen is getting on in years. He's staying with the Lu family to enjoy his retirement. Leave the fighting and killing to Master Chai."
As Lu Yulin spoke, Master Chai had already crossed the street.
Lu Sui's earlobes twitched. He faintly heard a crackling like beans frying, fierce and rapid as a downpour, making his eardrums ache.
Then.
That short, skinny, stooped figure rose inch by inch like growing bamboo, his body swelling rapidly like an inflated fish bladder.
In almost the blink of an eye, Master Chai became a burly man nearly two meters tall.
"What level is this?!"
Lu Sui's eyes widened.
This "transformation," which completely defied common sense, was truly overwhelming to witness.
Could martial arts really be this miraculous?
Lu Yulin said:
"Master Chai has reached full perfection in external arts. He's at Half-Step Fetus Embracing.
"Unfortunately, he lacks the crucial Qigong inheritance needed to refine his Qi and Blood into Outer Gang that can shift between hardness and softness."
Master Chai follows the same body-tempering path as Uncle Wen?
Dou Xiaowen said he practiced the Iron Cloth Shirt.
Could Master Chai practice the Golden Bell Shield?
Lu Sui's thoughts stirred. Just as he was about to ask what Qigong was, fierce battle cries erupted from the residence.
Several thunderous booms rang out like thunder from a clear sky, shaking the roof tiles nearby.
Sitting in a carriage, watching other people fight and kill-is this the young master treatment? Seems pretty good.
Lu Sui suppressed the death-seeking urge to watch the battle up close.
Having been given another life, he would firmly adhere to the following sixteen-character policy.
-Seek strength through stability, secure stability through strength, combine stability and strength, and put stability first.
How fierce could Half-Step Fetus Embracing be?
Lu Sui put aside his stray thoughts and fixed his bright eyes on the residence across the street, activating the Earthly Hearing Chapter to sketch out the "battlefield."
First came a woman's shocked voice.
"Chai Sanjin! Didn't you say he went to the west of the city with Lu Yulin?!"
Then came Luo Dongsheng's voice, filled with terror.
"Lu Yulin... could he still be alive?! All that gunpowder couldn't kill him?!"
Next came a jumble of footsteps interwoven with the ringing of drawn blades.
"Don't be afraid, Miss Yu! We'll protect you even at the cost of our lives!"
"That's right! Run, Miss Yu!"
"As long as Miss Yu is safe, our deaths will be worth-"
Lu Sui's mouth twitched. Just how many simps did this Miss Yu keep?
Judging by the sounds, at least a dozen capable fighters had surrounded Master Chai.
Steel blades whistled through the air one after another, followed by a stream of crisp metallic clangs reaching Lu Sui's ears.
Then came the sounds of snapping and shattering.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang-
Like heavy hammers slamming into sacks.
Even from across the street, Lu Sui could see the residence's white wall bulging outward.
Then, with a series of cracks, great spiderweb patterns spread across the entire wall.
Rumble!
As the sounds of heavy hammers striking cloth sacks ceased, the whole wall collapsed!
Several more figures flew out through the billowing dust.
So ferocious! He's practically a human tank!
Lu Sui burned with excitement. The martial path really could lead to the heavens!
In just eight or nine breaths, the battle had become an overwhelming rout against Master Chai, whose copper skin and iron bones seemed impervious to blades and spears.
Miss Yu's "simp squad" didn't seem particularly useful.
"Eight-Armed Heavenly King! How very imposing!"
The woman cried out sharply, then suddenly recited a string of obscure, tongue-twisting syllables.
"Strike!"
Oh no!
Lu Sui grew tense, as though he were there himself:
If a high-defense warrior like Master Chai gets crowd-controlled, won't he be in danger...
The thought had barely formed before it was dispelled.
The woman screamed like a hen seized by the neck:
"Black dog blood! And you call yourself a martial arts master, Chai Sanjin!"
"The boss's orders. Nothing to do with me."
Master Chai's voice was deep and muffled.
"Ask the boss to spare me! Please, Master Chai! That sorceress deceived me! She killed my father! She forced me..."
Luo Dongsheng seemed clearheaded now.
"The boss said only she gets to live."
Master Chai spoke, followed by the crisp snap of a neck breaking.
Worthy of a double-flower red pole. Clean and decisive, killing people like chickens!
Lu Sui silently praised him.
It seemed he couldn't just lavish gifts on Uncle Wen from now on. He needed to visit Master Chai more often too, and become a familiar face.
A moment later.
With the last dull thud, silence settled over the long street.
Master Chai strode out of the broken walls, now almost reduced to rubble, and tossed a woman beside the carriage.
"Boss, I brought her."
Whoa!
She really has been drenched head to toe in dog blood!
Lu Sui lowered his eyes. The woman, who should have been casting seductive glances and moving alluringly, was now on her hands and knees, dark dog blood sticking to her face in streaks. She looked utterly bedraggled.
She even gave off a foul, bloody stench. No matter how fine her figure was, it would be hard for her to bewitch a man now.
"Lu Yulin!"
The woman looked up at the carriage and ground her teeth:
"Well played, Lu Yulin! After all my calculations, I still fell into your trap!"
Lu Yulin paused in fingering his eighteen-bead bracelet and said mildly:
"I'm a man who cherishes beauties. Tell me where the surviving remnants of the Yu family are, and you can live."
But the woman seemed obstinate beyond reason and snapped:
"Throughout the Land Beyond the Pass, everyone bows to the Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains! You're a mere mortal. Don't think a few connections and the luck to become chairman of the merchants' association put you above all laws!
"Even with ten thousand times your courage, would you dare kill me?!"
Lu Yulin ignored her shouting and turned to Lu Sui:
"Zhan'ao, remember this. What the Land Beyond the Pass has no shortage of is rogue cultivators with a few unorthodox sorceries at their command. Most use tricks like 'bewitching souls,' 'seizing wealth,' 'insect gu,' and 'corpse driving.'"
"But you needn't fear them too much. Every sixty years, the Nine Ridges and Ten Mountains overturn their altars and tear down their temples, rooting out rogue cultivators. They've never amounted to much."
"For something like this, all talk and no ability, splash on some black dog blood or rooster blood to break the sorcery and dispel Baleful Intent, then stuff her mouth with uncooked glutinous rice. She won't be able to stir up any waves."
So the "mage lords" in this world are this weak?
No, this is more like a "warlock" with a rather sparse skill tree.
"Lu Yulin! I'm an 'insider' who has lit incense! I'm also going to pay homage at the mountain..."
Resentment filled the woman's eyes, as though she wished she could bite a chunk of flesh off Lu Yulin.
"Master Chai, dislocate her jaw."
Lu Yulin continued fingering his eighteen-bead bracelet and said softly:
"She won't shed tears until she sees the coffin. Since she won't give an honest account, handle her the way we handle sorcerers. Throw her into a cesspit for three days first, then strip her naked and hang her from a flagpole."
At those words, the woman's eyes abruptly widened, and terror appeared on her face.
"You wouldn't dare..."
Crack!
Unbothered by the black dog blood dirtying his hands, Master Chai gripped her jaw and gave it a deft wrench. The woman could no longer speak.
"Father..."
Lu Sui called hesitantly.
"What is it, Zhan'ao? Do you think I've gone too far? That I shouldn't treat a 'helpless woman' this way?"
Lu Yulin frowned slightly and said earnestly:
"You haven't seen much of the world. You don't know how outrageously evil these rogue cultivators can be. Relying on a few occult tricks, they sell incense ash as immortal pills and holy water, deceiving ignorant countrywomen into believing it can cure every illness, draining their savings and making off with their money;
"There's no shortage of people who play at gods and ghosts either, claiming to deliver the world's people while demanding that believers hand over their property, even offer up their wives and daughters.
"The previous dynasty's laws were clear: anyone who used unorthodox sorcery to delude the masses was to be beheaded.
"Before execution, they were doused in sewage, covering them in filth so they couldn't cast spells or perform their arts.
"The men had the tendons in their hands and feet severed. The women were also stripped naked and paraded through the streets on a wooden donkey..."
Lu Sui cut him off:
"What I meant was, she has accomplices.
"Just throwing her into a cesspit might not be secure enough. Why not drive nails through her shoulder blades to prevent anyone from rescuing her and helping her escape?"
Lu Yulin couldn't help freezing.
The woman called "Yuniang" stared wide-eyed too.
She fixed her eyes on Lu Sui, full of disbelief.
Three generations of the Lu family were all tigers, yet Yulin alone was a vicious tiger cub!
Lu Yulin's vicious reputation was widespread. She had heard of it long ago.
But damn it, wasn't the Lu family's eldest young master a useless good-for-nothing who only listened to songs and sang opera?!
How could he say something so vicious?!
Just as Junior Brother said, everyone in the Lu family was ruthless!