Heading to the Fire Saber Sect

"Won't you invite me in to sit for a while?" Xiaolian tilted her head, a hint of an almost-smile at the corners of her mouth.

Lu Feng glanced at her, pushed open the door, and stepped aside to let her through. "Of course. Please come in, Miss Xiaolian. The room is a little messy. I hope you don't mind."

Xiaolian walked in without hesitation. Lu Feng followed her and closed the door behind them.

As soon as the door shut, Xiaolian turned around, the smile on her face fading somewhat.

"Do you know why Deputy Commandant Qin sent you on this mission with those four?"

Lu Feng was taken aback. "Wasn't it because there weren't enough people?"

"Of course not." Xiaolian shook her head. "Su Prefecture has more than a hundred demon slayers alone. There's certainly no shortage of people for a small mission team."

Lu Feng fell silent for a moment, then cupped his hands. "Please enlighten me, Miss Xiaolian."

Xiaolian didn't answer immediately. She walked over to the table and tapped the surface twice with her fingertips, as if weighing her words.

Then she raised her head, looked Lu Feng straight in the eye, and spoke three words.

"Zhao An is dead."

Lu Feng's expression didn't change at all. Not even his gaze wavered.

"Zhao An is dead. What does that have to do with me?"

His voice was as calm as if he really were hearing about it for the first time.

Xiaolian stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly smiled. Rather than respond, she continued on her own.

"Zhao An had an uncle named Zhao Long. He's a commandant in Zhao Commandant Prefecture, with Grandmaster cultivation."

She paused, lowering her voice a little.

"The place you're going this time is under Su Prefecture's jurisdiction. No matter how long Zhao Long's reach is, he can't stick his hand in there."

Having said that, she turned and walked toward the door without looking at Lu Feng's reaction. When she reached it, she paused and added, as if speaking to herself:

"Handle the Fire Saber Sect matter well."

The door opened, then closed.

Lu Feng was alone in the room.

He stood where he was, without moving.

Xiaolian hadn't come to say those things of her own accord. Qin Shuang had sent her.

Qin Shuang knew he had killed Zhao An. Not only did she know, she had chosen a mission location where Zhao Long couldn't interfere, letting him leave the Demon-Slaying Bureau for a while until the storm passed.

She was protecting him.

But why?

Lu Feng frowned, unable to puzzle it out for the moment.

Qin Shuang had no personal ties with him to speak of, and the favor represented by the Demon-Catching Token Su Ying had given him was nowhere near enough for a Grandmaster-level deputy commandant to shield him from another Grandmaster.

Lu Feng thought no further about it. Whatever Qin Shuang's intentions were, one thing was certain.

Zhao Long had Grandmaster cultivation.

A Grandmaster had set his sights on him.

He sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes again.

There was no use thinking about it. The only thing he could do now was grow stronger.

Strong enough that even a Grandmaster couldn't kill him, strong enough that he wouldn't need anyone to take a blade for him.

In the secret chamber, his inner force began circulating again.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking.

When Lu Feng arrived outside the main hall, no one was there. He leaned against a stone pillar to one side and closed his eyes to rest.

About a quarter of an hour later, footsteps sounded one after another.

The four had arrived.

The round-faced woman, Zhou Si, glanced over the group. Seeing that everyone was present, she said, "The Fire Saber Sect is in Nanxi City, south of Jinguan City. At our usual speed, it should take about a day."

As soon as she finished, Liu Yong chuckled, a teasing note in his voice. "That was our speed before. Now, it might not be the same."

As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward Lu Feng, seemingly by chance. His meaning couldn't have been clearer-with a demon guard in tow, how fast could they possibly go?

Lu Feng's expression remained unchanged. He merely cupped his hands. "Could I have a map? If I can't keep up, at least I won't get lost."

"I happen to have one." The shapely woman beside him took a neatly folded parchment map from her storage bag and handed it over.

Lu Feng accepted it with both hands. "Thank you."

"Don't worry. We can just run a little slower." Zhou Si smiled and took the lead. "Let's go."

As her words fell, five figures shot out of the Demon-Slaying Bureau at once, racing south.

Liu Yong took the lead, his figure flashing repeatedly as he surged to the front in the blink of an eye. The corners of his mouth rose as he secretly gloated.

Let that demon guard see what a real gap looks like.

But the moment the thought arose, he heard an exceedingly faint rush of wind behind him.

Soft, extraordinarily soft. So soft it was almost nonexistent.

He instinctively looked back.

A figure swept past him at an incredible speed, his steps utterly silent, not disturbing even a single fallen leaf.

It was Lu Feng.

Liu Yong's pupils contracted sharply.

A movement technique at the perfect stage?!

Before he could react, Lu Feng was already two body lengths ahead of him, and the distance was still growing.

"How is that possible..."

Liu Yong's face turned extremely ugly in an instant.

Who would cultivate a lightness skill to perfection? With that time and effort, wouldn't it be better to practice a couple more killing techniques? Liu Yong's own lightness skill had only reached minor accomplishment, and among all the demon slayers in Su Prefecture, only a handful had trained their movement techniques to major accomplishment.

Was this man crazy?

He gritted his teeth and drove his inner force to its limit, increasing his speed once more.

But the figure ahead stayed firmly in front of him, moving at an unhurried pace, as if he still hadn't used his full strength.

Behind them, Zhou Si and the other two caught up as well.

Zhu Lin watched the figure growing more distant ahead, a trace of surprise flashing in her eyes. "A movement technique at the perfect stage... He's a demon guard, yet he's actually trained his lightness skill to that level."

Luo Fang said nothing, but her pace noticeably quickened.

Zhou Si gave Lu Feng's retreating figure a thoughtful look, then sped up to pursue him as well.

The group of five raced along the official road, traveling nearly twice as fast as originally planned.

A journey that should have taken a full day was forcibly shortened to half a day.

Outside Nanxi City.

Lu Feng came to a stop before the city gate and surveyed the city before him.

Its walls weren't as tall as Jinguan City's, but they were far more imposing than Lin'an City's.

Within the city, crisscrossing streets and dense crowds could be dimly seen.

Behind him, four figures arrived one after another.

Zhou Si bent over, bracing both hands on her knees as she gasped for breath.

Zhu Lin and Luo Fang were little better off, their chests heaving and a fine layer of sweat beading on their foreheads.

Liu Yong was in even worse shape. His face was pale, and he stumbled as he landed, nearly losing his footing.

The four of them panted for quite a while before recovering.

Zhou Si straightened up and looked at Lu Feng with a touch of genuine admiration. "Lu Feng, impressive. I'm Zhou Si, and these two are Zhu Lin and Luo Fang."

She gestured to the two women beside her, then lifted her chin toward Liu Yong. "That's Liu Yong. I never imagined you'd actually cultivated your lightness skill to the perfect stage."

Lu Feng smiled, his tone even. "Back when I was in Lin'an City, there weren't many cultivation methods, and I didn't have much to practice. All I could do was keep practicing my lightness skill."

That wasn't exactly a lie. Back then, he had held tens of thousands of Demon Points, but had been troubled by the lack of cultivation methods to improve.