When Lu Ming and his entourage arrived at the city gate of Fangcheng, they found a long queue forming and strict checks by the Fangcheng guards. The atmosphere was noticeably more tense than when they had left.
" Commander Fu."
Lu Ming even spotted a familiar figure – it was none other than the Commander Fu from the local government office. This Divine Ability Master was personally leading troops to maintain order at the city gate.
At this moment, Commander Fu also saw Lu Ming and his group, and stepped forward, smiling, " Lu Ming, you're finally back."
His attitude towards Lu Ming was quite friendly. After all, the Thunderfire Hall was not what it used to be. Of course, more importantly, the pavilion owner's niece clearly treated this kid differently, so Commander Fu also thought highly of him.
"Who is this...?"
Commander Fu turned his gaze to Zhong Taiyue, a look of solemnity and apprehension appearing in his eyes. He clearly sensed a heavy pressure of Primordial Qi emanating from the other party. He was personally guarding the city gate to keep an eye on these Divine Ability Master of supernatural powers.
"This is my maternal grandfather, Zhong Taiyue, who is also the head of the Golden Bell Mystic Gang Hall in the prefectural city," Lu Ming introduced.
"Your maternal grandfather? The head of the Golden Bell Mystic Gang Hall?"
Commander Fu was visibly shocked, clearly unaware of this information before. However, this was to be expected, as very few people knew about this connection within the Lu Clan. After all, since Zhong Ying married into the family, the two families had developed conflicts, making it impossible to publicize this relationship.
Qingyuan Market was a ward under Fengyang Prefecture. Commander Fu had naturally heard of Zhong Taiyue's great name, and he also knew that Zhong was a Nether Spirit Master. His expression immediately became respectful, and he quickly clasped his hands in a salute.
Zhong Taiyue smiled and nodded.
"Hehe, Lu Ming, now that your grandfather is here, the little troubles that Thunderfire Hall has been causing these past few days should finally come to an end," Commander Fu with a smile.
Upon hearing this, both Lu Ming and Lu Qingyan's expressions changed, and they hurriedly asked, "Is Thunderfire Hall in trouble? What happened?!"
Commander Fu said, "Recently, Qingyuan Market has become a gathering place for all sorts of powerful figures, causing a lot of trouble. The Third-Tier Divine Ability Hall from the neighboring wards of Qingyuan Market have also come here after hearing the news. In order to overpower the local Third-Tier Divine Ability Hall, these Divine Ability Hall have temporarily formed a ' Five Halls Association,' which is actually just five Level Third-Tier Divine Ability Hall from other wards."
"Upon hearing that Qingyuan Market now only has three Third-Tier Divine Ability Hall, they conceived the idea of establishing a branch hall here, using their own brand. Naturally, the Red Sand Hall and Mountain Moving Hall of Qingyuan Market strongly opposed this, so they approached Elder Lu of your Thunderfire Hall and asked him to intervene to protect the reputation and interests of the Divine Ability Hall of Qingyuan Market."
"There has been considerable conflict between these two sides recently. I have even intervened several times, but with little effect. It is said that the Five Halls Association jointly visit the Thunderfire Hall today, presumably to force this matter to be completed. There will likely be some fighting in the process."
"What?!" Lu Qingyan was furious upon hearing this. These Third-Tier Divine Ability Hall from other towns were too unruly. Such domineering overstepping of boundaries showed that they completely disregarded the local Third-Tier Divine Ability Hall of Qingyuan Market.
Lu Ming frowned slightly. There was an unwritten rule among the Divine Ability Hall that such a matter of establishing a branch hall in another city required the approval of the local Divine Ability Hall. However, this " Five Halls Association " clearly wanted to take advantage of the decline of the Golden Gang Sword Hall to use its power to intimidate others and seize the cake of Qingyuan Market.
"You should go back quickly. Perhaps you can still resolve the conflict. I've been extremely busy lately and don't have time to mediate between these Divine Ability Hall." Commander Fu waved his hand, ordering the guards to withdraw and let Lu Ming and his group pass first.
"Thank you, Commander Fu."
Lu Ming and Lu Qingyan dared not delay, thanked them, and hurriedly entered through the city gate before rushing towards the Thunderfire Hall at full speed.
Thunderfire Hall, Divine Dao Temple.
The spacious dojo could easily accommodate hundreds of people, but at this moment it was overflowing with people, and the atmosphere was extremely tense and oppressive.
Within the training ground, there were many young figures. They were not all disciples of the Thunderfire Hall, but also disciples of the Red Sand Hall and the Mountain Moving Hall, two other Third-Tier Divine Ability Hall in Qingyuan Market.
However, at this moment, they put aside their past grievances and looked angrily at the center of the dojo.
There was a group of people there, numbering only a dozen or so, far fewer than the disciples of the Three Halls. Yet, their aura seemed stronger than that of the thousands of disciples present. Wherever their sharp gazes were directed, the disciples of the Three Halls showed fear.
Because, at the very front of this group of people stood five figures.
The four men and one woman were all middle-aged, and their bodies emanated an undisguised and powerful aura of Primordial Qi. The Primordial Qi pressure belonging to Divine Ability Master dominated the entire scene, intimidating the thousands of disciples from the three halls into not daring to utter a word.
These are five Divine Ability Master!
And the most formidable of them all were the two in the middle. One was a short, stout middle-aged man with his eyes narrowed to slits, making them almost invisible. He wore a blue robe embroidered with wind and cloud patterns. His name was Jiang Yun, and he was the owner of the Wind Summoning Hall from Dejiang Market.
The other man, a middle-aged man who appeared slightly younger, was tall and had a fair complexion. He looked gentle and refined. His name was Li Guanyi, and he was the owner of the Jingshui Market Great Spirit Seal Hall.
Of the five Divine Ability Master, these two were clearly the leaders, simply because both of them were True Qi Master.
In front of the nearly one thousand disciples from the three halls, three figures stood in confrontation with this group.
Those were Lu Jin, Shi Tong, the owner of the Red Sand Hall, and Shen Tai, the owner of the Mountain Moving Hall.
Although the Thunderfire Hall and the Red Sand Hall had a long history of grudges and intense competition in the past, with the recent destruction of the Golden Gang Sword Hall, the Red Sand Hall suddenly became more peaceful and stopped giving the Thunderfire Hall the cold shoulder. They now greeted each other amicably whenever they met.
This so-called " Five Halls Association " wants to interfere in Qingyuan Market, and has put forward many domineering reasons. It is clear that they want to take advantage of the fact that Qingyuan Market only has three level -Third-Tier Divine Ability Hall and intend to forcefully suppress others.
This naturally aroused the shared hatred of the three museums, and they have now formed an alliance to fight against the foreign enemy.
"Three masters, we have given you enough time to discuss this. If you still cannot come up with a satisfactory answer today, then don't blame us for being disrespectful." At this moment, the short, stout middle-aged man who led the " Five Halls Association " spoke with a smile. Although his words were gentle, the coldness contained within them was chilling.
" Jiang Yun, you've gone too far! Not only do you want to interfere in my Qingyuan Market, but you also want the three of us to fund the establishment of a branch for you. You've gone too far!" Shi Tong, the head of the Red Sand Hall, had a gloomy face and his eyes were full of anger.
"Ah, it's just a small amount of money. I'm sure the three owners won't mind," Jiang Yun said with a smile.
Master Shen Tai of the Mountain Moving Hall sneered, "You don't want small sums of money; you want to establish yourselves in Qingyuan Market by stepping on the names of our three halls!"
If the three academies really did this, wouldn't that be telling everyone in Qingyuan Market that they've been bullied by outsiders and can only swallow their anger, even funding the establishment of a school for someone else? How spineless would they be? Who would dare to become a disciple of the three academies in the future?
Therefore, the conditions proposed by these Five Halls Association, though seemingly simple, are actually extremely malicious.
"If Masters Shi Tong and Shen Tai don't want to contribute, then Thunderfire Hall can do it. They just swallowed up Golden Gang Sword Hall and made a fortune. They probably won't care about this loss. What do you say?" Li Guanyi of the Great Spirit Seal Hall suddenly pointed his gaze at the silent Lu Jin and said with a faint smile.
Of the three establishments in Qingyuan Market, Lu Jin of the Thunderfire Hall is clearly the leader right now. So as long as Lu Jin is suppressed, the other side's momentum will naturally weaken.
Moreover, his move was extremely ruthless. While it seemed like he was letting the Red Sand Hall and the Mountain Moving Hall go, he actually wanted to break up the alliance between the three halls.
"Bullshit! Do you really think we're idiots?"
Upon hearing this, Shi Tong, the head of the Red Sand Hall, immediately cursed. As the head of a Third-Tier Divine Ability Hall, how could he not see through the other party's methods? At this time, their only chance to resist the other party was to unite. Once they were divided internally, they would only be defeated one by one.
Shen Tai of the Mountain Moving Hall also revealed a cold glint in his eyes, saying, "Our three pavilions will advance and retreat together!"
If they truly believe that these Five Halls Association establish themselves in Qingyuan Market and then live peacefully with their two establishments, then all their years of fighting and struggling have truly been for nothing.
At this moment, Lu Jin looked at the five people in front of him and finally spoke calmly, "An answer? What kind of answer do you want? My Thunderfire Hall will not agree to a single one of your conditions."
"Haha, good, Master Lu is truly a tough nut to crack!"
Jiang Yun burst into laughter, a cold glint in his narrowed eyes. He wasn't surprised by Lu Jin's answer, but his laughter subsided and turned cold. "Since you refuse to listen to reason, then don't blame us."
"Perfect timing! We'd also like to see what's so special about the supernatural abilities of the Qingyuan Market Divine Ability Hall."
"Three masters, please enlighten us?"
boom!
As Jiang Yun finished speaking, a powerful and formidable surge of True Qi rose from Jiang Yun body, instantly transforming into a blue wind of True Qi above his head. The True Qi roared and flowed endlessly.
Li Guanyi chuckled lightly, and gray True Qi rose from the top of his head, condensing into a gray spiritual seal about ten feet in size. The seal was engraved with countless patterns on all four sides, revealing an extremely domineering aura.
The other three Divine Ability Master from the Five Halls Association also unhesitatingly activated their own Primordial Qi, transforming it into Divine Ability Feather Robe that covered their bodies, their oppressive aura sweeping across the entire arena.
Two True Qi Master and three Feather Robe Master simultaneously released their Primordial Qi pressure, instantly causing the disciples of the three halls in the arena to lose their color and turn pale.
Seeing this, Lu Jin exchanged glances with Shi Tong and Shen Tai. All three of them had somewhat heavy expressions. It seemed that they would have to fight today after all. However, their opponents were superior to them in both quality and quantity, so if they fought, they would probably be in a very difficult position.
But now that things have come to this, there is no turning back, because retreating would severely damage the reputation of these three museums.
Just as Lu Jin was about to step forward to meet the challenge, a loud laugh, like the roar of a giant bell, rolled in from outside the Thunderfire Hall with overwhelming force, accompanied by an extremely terrifying pressure.
"Haha, who wants some pointers? Want me to keep you company?"
The giant bell roared, causing the Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi to vibrate.