Thinking about the consequences of their failed mission, the four men abruptly quickened their pace, chasing in the direction Lu Xuan had gone.
However, just as they were about to catch up to Lu Xuan, who had slowed down,
a streak of invisible, formless True Gang energy flashed through the air, shooting straight toward their faces.
The four mysterious martial artists chasing Lu Xuan had absolutely no time to dodge.
Their physical bodies directly collided with that invisible, formless streak of True Gang energy.
Boom!
Facing this powerful force, the four martial artists were struck as if by a horrific, heavy blow.
Their four bodies flew stiffly backward, crashing into and knocking over several innocent bystanders along the way.
“Who the hell did that? You dare bump into me?!”
“Watch where you’re going, you four bastards!”
“Ouch!”
“I knew those four were off somehow; they’ve been sneaking around the whole time.”
Faced with the curses of these unlucky pedestrians, the four martial artists lying on the ground offered no rebuttal.
Because they were all completely unconscious.
Sensing that no one was following him anymore, Lu Xuan quickened his pace and, without stopping once along the way, left Qingling Prefecture City.
“What’s going on with the Luo residence?”
“That direction… that’s the Luo family estate!”
“The Luo family seems to be on fire!”
“Someone, hurry!”
As the fire continued to spread, the abnormality at the Luo residence also caught the attention of passersby.
Before these onlookers could watch for long, many figures appeared behind them—approximately a hundred men dressed in the uniform of prefectural yamen runners.
Among them, at the very front of these yamen runners, were three men.
The middle-aged man on the far right, around forty or fifty years old, shouted loudly at the crowd of onlookers.
“Move aside, move aside! Don’t block the way here.”
“The authorities are handling a case. All unrelated persons, disperse immediately!”
Upon seeing the man who spoke, the crowd of onlookers immediately cleared a pathway.
Because the man who spoke was none other than the Chief Constable of Qingling Prefecture.
And the two men beside the Chief Constable were respectively the Prefect of Qingling Prefecture and the Assistant Prefect of Qingling Prefecture!
The man standing in the very center was the Prefect of Qingling Prefecture.
But at this moment, he was looking at the mansion before him, being devoured by raging flames, with a complex expression.
“The Luo family really did meet with disaster!”
“This has truly blown up now!”
“Just which brazen, heaven-daring scoundrel did this? This is a capital crime, tantamount to treason!”
A few of the Luo family servants had run to the yamen earlier to report the crime.
They claimed the Luo family had met with disaster, and Luo family guard Wu Hui had led a rebellion, murdering all members of the Luo bloodline.
Faced with these utterly preposterous claims, the yamen hadn’t believed them at all.
They even thought these people were imposters pretending to be Luo family servants, causing trouble and making a mockery of them.
So, they locked up all those claiming to be Luo family servants.
It was only after some time had passed, and more people came claiming the Luo family was in trouble, that the yamen staff realized it was true.
The Luo family was in trouble!
The Chief Constable, standing by, also spoke up at this time.
“Prefect, those surviving Luo family members claim a man named Wu Hui did this.”
“This Wu Hui is one of the Luo family’s head guards, seemingly a martial artist at the Blood Refining realm.”
“However, in this subordinate’s opinion, it is absolutely not the doing of this Wu Hui; the true culprit must be someone else.”
“Alright. Regarding the Luo family matter, this Prefect has already made a decision. You two first have the fire at the Luo residence extinguished.”
“This Prefect now must personally go inform His Excellency the Provincial Governor!”
“Also, immediately have the city gates sealed. No one is allowed to enter or leave!”
Since the Luo residence had ended up like this, Luo Jin, the Luo family head, must surely have perished within it.
Luo Jin, the Surveillance Commissioner of Anzhou and His Highness the Prince of An’s martial arts teacher—dead!
Even the Prefect of Qingling Prefecture couldn’t help but tremble slightly at this enormous matter.
For now, the best course of action was still to first find His Excellency the Provincial Governor; only he, an elder statesman, could step forward to handle this.
The Prince of An’s Mansion!
Three men on swift horses arrived at the gates of the Prince of An’s mansion. Dismounting in one fluid motion, they walked directly inside.
The guards stationed at the mansion’s gates, upon seeing the waist tokens in the three men’s hands, offered no obstruction whatsoever.
In a quiet courtyard within the Prince of An’s mansion.
Inside the main house, facing Prince of An Xia Mingqing, sat a man around seventy years old.
The man was dressed in a plain grey robe, his entire body tightly wrapped up, his face half-covered, making his true features impossible to discern.
Of course, Prince of An Xia Mingqing was well aware of this man’s identity.
He was Lu Haodong, the Mysterious Bird Envoy of Qingling Prefecture!
“Your Highness, I heard that trouble has arisen over in Mingzhou. That group from the Pure World White Lotus Sect has reappeared.”
“That bunch of heretics, without the threat of the Celestial Monitoring Agency, have completely spiraled out of control.”
“According to the information I received, they’ve blood-sacrificed several counties and one prefectural city.”
“Already, an entire prefecture’s worth of Mysterious Bird Guards have been completely annihilated by the Pure World White Lotus Sect.”
“Upon learning of this news, Tiantao has dispatched two Earth Envoys to personally head over there.”
Lu Haodong’s tone was calm, as if he harbored no particular emotion towards the heinous, heaven-defying methods of the Pure World White Lotus Sect.
“Mingzhou, hmm?”
“Hmph, that trash from the Pure World White Lotus Sect, hiding for so long, still dares to show their faces.”
Upon learning it was the Pure World White Lotus Sect, Prince An Xia Mingqing’s eyes flashed with disdain.
Just a bunch of rats scurrying across the street; they couldn’t possibly turn the world upside down!
“However, that trash from the Pure World White Lotus Sect appearing at this time can still cause that woman a bit of trouble.”
“Hehehe!”
“Stir it up, stir it up! Once they’ve thrown the Great Xia Empire into chaos, only then can this Prince seize the opportunity to profit!”
“What’s the death of a few commoners? As long as it enables this Prince to ascend the imperial throne, then it will all have been worth it.”
Seeing this, Lu Haodong quickly chimed in, flattering Prince An Xia Mingqing.
“Your Highness is brilliant. I think so too.”
“Ah, Your Highness, there’s one more thing. A letter arrived from the family.”
“According to them, that one’s strength is now less than a tenth of what it once was. This is our best opportunity.”
“As long as Your Highness breaks through to the Divine Mansion realm, then our Lü family will dedicate all our efforts to assist you!”
The ‘that one’ Lu Haodong referred to was, naturally, the current Great Xia Emperor, Xia Mingyue.
“The Divine Mansion realm, is it?”
“Soon. At most, another year, and this Prince will be able to break through to that realm.”
“Once this Prince achieves the great undertaking, I will certainly not treat your Lü family poorly.”
Lu Haodong remained in his posture of fawning deference, completely shedding any airs of a Mysterious Bird Envoy.
“Then this old man will take the liberty of congratulating Your Highness in advance.”
Xia Mingqing was quite receptive to Lu Haodong’s demeanor and nodded in satisfaction.
“Mmm.”
Although the Lu Haodong before him was a martial artist at the Perfected Inner Breath stage, he was still nothing more than an ant in his presence.
The sole reason Lu Haodong was qualified to appear in this room was because he was a member of the Lü family—one of the Eight Great Clans.
