At that moment, time seemed to stand still, and the air around them became solid.
The greed on Wu Jiu’s face vanished in an instant, replaced by endless fear.
He felt as if he had suffered an unprecedented blow, completely immersed in deep shock.
No!
Didn’t Mingqing say that this Lu Xuan was a martial artist at the Outer Gang Grandmaster achievement level?
But the power Lu Xuan was displaying now was clearly the Heaven and Earth power of a Divine Mansion True Person!
Wu Jiu looked up at the sky-encompassing giant hand hovering just above his head. His eyes were filled with the bitterness of defeat.
“Wu God Curse!”
The moment Wu Jiu shouted this, gripping his cane, the staff in his hand instantly emitted a blinding purple light.
Then, one fierce, howling scream after another rose up, echoing and swirling through the surrounding space.
Countless purple afterimages frantically shot out from the cane, like vengeful ghosts escaping hell, rushing towards that giant hand in the sky.
But before that unstoppable giant hand, these purple phantom souls were as fragile as candle flames in a gale.
The purple giant hand didn’t pause for a moment. When those terrifying purple afterimages collided with it…
They began to dissipate one after another, like paper burned by raging fire, instantly turning to nothing, leaving not a single trace behind.
In the blink of an eye, the purple giant hand was directly above Wu Jiu’s head.
At the same time, the mysterious light in its palm grew even more dazzling, mercilessly pressing down towards where Wu Jiu stood.
Boom!
This deafening sound was like the thunder of the nine heavens, causing the ground to shake violently.
Wu Jiu’s figure, along with the people in that carriage, was finally engulfed in the overwhelming torrent of purple energy.
Dust billowed, smoke filled the air!
When everything finally settled, all that remained in the spot was a massive pit, dozens of meters deep.
After dealing with these two people, Lu Xuan didn’t turn and leave immediately. Instead, he walked towards the deep pit.
If his perception hadn’t been wrong, that cane the old man had been holding should be a ritual weapon.
Because the final attack that old man had unleashed contained a massive amount of primordial Heaven and Earth power.
Under the influence of this strong, primordial Heaven and Earth power, the old man, right before his death, had displayed strength comparable to the Outer Gang Grandmaster Perfection realm.
Down in the deep pit, Lu Xuan walked up to a boulder five or six meters high and casually brushed his hand over it.
The huge boulder rose into the air at his command, shot like a cannonball towards the pit wall beside it, and ended up embedded deep into the earth.
With the boulder moved aside, a pool of mangled flesh and blood was revealed on the ground, with the cane underneath it.
Lu Xuan’s brow furrowed slightly. He gently clenched his palm, and the pile of pulpy flesh seemed to be pushed aside by an invisible giant hand.
The bronze cane on the ground slowly rose up and stopped before Lu Xuan’s eyes.
The next second, a flash of purple light swept over it, and the entire cane was cleaned, becoming neat and spotless.
Seeing this, Lu Xuan didn’t hesitate. He reached out his right hand and took the bronze cane.
The moment Lu Xuan touched the cane, he immediately brought up the system panel.
Host: Lu Xuan
Realm: Divine Mansion True Person
Techniques: Burning Heaven Blade Technique 3/9, So Near Yet Worlds Away 0/9, Undying and Indestructible 2/9
Points: 26600
Host, please confirm. Consume 16000 system points to deduce Undying and Indestructible?
Host, please confirm. Consume 20000 system points to deduce So Near Yet Worlds Away?
Primordial Heaven and Earth power detected. Would you like to extract it?
“So it really is a ritual weapon.”
Lu Xuan put the cane away and then used his divine sense to scan the surrounding area again.
After confirming there were no other items that seemed like ritual weapons here, the space around him began to ripple.
Lu Xuan then took a single, light step and, in an instant, vanished from the world.
However, not long after Lu Xuan left, that pool of mangled flesh and blood on the ground began to change abnormally.
With no one around, the pool of flesh slowly started to gather from all directions. Only after all the pieces had come together…
Strange, dark purple beams of light began to project from the center of the gathered, pulpy mass.
If anyone had been there, they would have clearly heard a hollow, ghostly sound.
Within that mysterious, eerie dark purple light, there was an odd chanting sound, as if reciting an extremely profound spell.
An hour later, on the surface of that pulpy mass, a large number of purple lines began to appear, along with dense, tiny purple symbols and characters.
At the very top of the mass, the distinct outline of a face started to form.
Then, as time went on, the facial outline became clearer and clearer.
It was the face of Wu Jiu, the man who had died by Lu Xuan’s hands not long ago!
Back from the dead!
Lu Xuan probably never would have imagined that such a mysterious power existed in this world, a power that could bring a dead person back to life.
However, the first thing Wu Jiu did after reviving was look down at his left thigh.
The flesh on that thigh slowly began to wither and rot, turning to dust in the wind.
Because of this, Wu Jiu could only use his remaining right leg to support his entire body.
After glancing around, the fear in Wu Jiu’s eyes gradually faded.
“Thank goodness for the protection of the ancestral artifact. That’s the only reason I was able to survive that monster, Lu Xuan.”
Among the eight great families, each possessed a legendary, flawless Sun-level ritual weapon.
The Wu family’s ancestral artifact was that flawless Sun-level ritual weapon, holding power beyond imagination in this world!
As one of the Wu family’s Supreme Elders, Wu Jiu was fortunate enough to have the right to leave his own power imprint within the ancestral artifact.
And after leaving his power within the ancestral artifact, he would be protected by the artifact’s power, thereby gaining an incredible ability.
Wu Jiu’s resurrection was achieved through the power of the ancestral artifact, working through a mysterious connection.
However, this resurrection wasn’t without cost. The leg he had just lost was the price he paid for coming back to life.
Rather than calling it a true resurrection, it was more like the ancestral artifact’s power had re-formed and healed his body, which had been smashed into a pulp.
But there were limits to using this power.
A martial artist had to be at least at the Outer Gang Grandmaster achievement level to physically withstand the terrifying power of the ancestral artifact.
Furthermore, one’s own flesh couldn’t be too severely damaged. A large amount of intact flesh was necessary for the ancestral artifact to resurrect you.
If someone completely annihilated your flesh, then forget an ancestral artifact – even a god wouldn’t be able to save you.
After examining his body, Wu Jiu recalled the scene of utter despair from moments ago.
“This Lu Xuan is actually a martial artist at the Divine Mansion realm!”
He could barely believe it. Lu Xuan was a Divine Mansion True Person!
Unacceptable!
He couldn’t accept it!
Wu Jiu truly couldn’t accept this fact!
“Still, for me, Wu Jiu, to survive an encounter with a Divine Mansion realm martial artist… that must be a first in history, right?”
“This Lu Xuan, although he is a Divine Mansion True Person, clearly isn’t from one of those major powers.”
“Otherwise, he should know the capabilities of the eight great families.”
“My own flesh would have been completely obliterated by this Divine Mansion True Person, Lu Xuan, and I would have lost the ability to come back to life.”
After his resurrection, Wu Jiu’s courage had been utterly shattered by Lu Xuan.
The power of a Divine Mansion True Person was not something a mere ant like him, an Outer Gang Grandmaster, could challenge.
Wu Jiu’s first thought was to immediately leave Fuzhou and return to the capital.
He had to report Lu Xuan’s true martial arts realm to the ancestor masters of the family.
Only the few ancestor masters in the family could deal with a Divine Mansion realm Lu Xuan.
“Well, this is a bit of a problem. How did Mingqing provoke someone like Lu Xuan? He’s far too reckless.”
“If he ever ascends that imperial throne, how will he rule the entire Great Xia Dynasty?”
At this moment, Wu Jiu was actually blaming his own nephew – the nephew who had nearly gotten him killed!
He didn’t mention, even slightly, his own greedy desire for the secret on Lu Xuan’s body just moments ago.
Meanwhile, Lu Xuan, who had left, arrived at a hidden cave, preparing to refine this ritual weapon in his hand!
“Extraction failed!”
This notification echoed in Lu Xuan’s mind. His eyes snapped open, filled with nothing but cold indifference.
“Failed?”
Lu Xuan gripped the bronze cane tightly in his right hand. Because he was squeezing so hard, the knuckles of his five fingers let out a series of cracking sounds.
“What does this mean?”
“Could it be that the owner of this ritual weapon isn’t dead yet?”
Lu Xuan suddenly raised his head, looking out of the cave. He remembered what Ye Qingshan had told him before.
If your own power can’t enter the ritual weapon, it proves the owner isn’t dead yet – the ritual weapon’s imprint is still there!
The next instant, Lu Xuan, who had been sitting cross-legged, narrowed his eyes and silently vanished from the cave.
When Lu Xuan reappeared, he had already gone and returned, standing back at the place where the fight had happened.
He stood at the bottom of the deep pit, looking at the spot where the ritual weapon had been buried.
That pool of mangled flesh and blood was truly gone, leaving behind only some dried, dark red bloodstains!
???
For the first time, Lu Xuan felt such confusion. In this world, besides himself…
Was there someone else who had trained a body-tempering martial art to such a degree?
In Lu Xuan’s case, with that pool of pulpy flesh, he could have relied on his Undying and Indestructible body-tempering technique to recover to a completely uninjured state.
But that was a power he had only achieved after cultivating that body-tempering technique to its absolute limit.
Could this person from the Wu family also have cultivated some body-tempering martial art to its peak?
It seemed he had underestimated the people from these eight great families.
Lu Xuan’s eyes gleamed with a dazzling purple light, and in his heart, he silently made a decision.
Wu Jiu never would have imagined that this unexpected move on his part…
Would make Lu Xuan fully understand the truth and bring great disaster to those who would come after him.
It seemed that when you kill someone, you had to do it completely cleanly, leaving behind no trace.
From this day on, Lu Xuan would never make a mistake like this again!
Furthermore, he needed to thoroughly investigate these eight great families of the capital.
Feihe Prefecture, Mingzhou!
At Bifeng Valley in Feihe Prefecture, a group of people dressed in pure white robes were sitting cross-legged. In front of them sat two old men.
The two old men, wearing long robes, one white and one red, sat quietly on white lotus platforms with their eyes closed, constantly mumbling mysterious incantations.
The next moment, the old man in the red robe suddenly opened his eyes.
The shadows of countless pure white lotuses flashed through his pupils. Strange white rays spilled from his eye sockets and shot towards the distant sky.
“Li Chengxing, you people from the Black Bird Guard just won’t give up, will you?”
As soon as he said this, the white-robed old man sitting beside him slowly opened one eye as well, staring at the valley entrance ahead.
This white-robed old man was the same one-eyed elder who had appeared in the Laolong Mountains – the Supreme Protector of the Pure World White Lotus Cult!
At the entrance to Bifeng Valley, over a dozen figures suddenly appeared at the valley mouth like ghosts.
The four figures standing at the very front were all wearing striking red robes.
Embroidered on the red robes were lifelike black “black bird” patterns.
And the old man standing at the lead was none other than Li Chengxing, the Deputy Commander of the Black Bird Guard!
After appearing, Li Chengxing’s eyes remained fixed on the two old men sitting up high.
Upon seeing the red-robed old man, a flicker of surprise crossed Li Chengxing’s eyes, as if he was very surprised by this old man’s appearance.
“Heh heh!”
“Hong Ying, I didn’t expect you, you old bastard, to still be alive.”
“It just proves that saying, ‘good people die young, but calamities live for a thousand years,’ doesn’t it?”
“Two Supreme Protectors of the Pure World White Lotus Cult. Your cult is certainly putting on quite a show.”
For over a month now, Li Chengxing had been leading the Black Bird Guard through Mingzhou, wiping out large numbers of cultists from the Pure World White Lotus Cult.
But as the cultists were continuously eliminated, Li Chengxing always felt something was strange, though he couldn’t quite figure out what.
Those two old fellows hadn’t shown their faces while he and his people were wiping out the cultists.
Now, the only cultists left in all of Mingzhou were the ones here in Bifeng Valley.
Suddenly, a small black dot in the distant sky quickly cut through the clouds, diving down from the heavens.
In just a few breaths, the small black dot was revealed to everyone: it was a little black bird!
“A Black Mystery Bird?”
Right under Li Chengxing’s nose, the little black bird slowly landed on the shoulder of an old man from the Black Bird Guard standing behind him!
The old man from the Black Bird Guard was quick. He took the rolled-up little note from the bird’s foot and rapidly unfolded it.
After scanning the contents of the note, the old man’s face dramatically changed. He didn’t try to hide his reaction and shouted out loud.
“Deputy Commander, this is bad! A large number of White Lotus Nightmare Flowers have appeared in the main city of Feihe Prefecture! We’ve been tricked!”
Hearing this, before Li Chengxing could even react, the white-robed old man across from him threw his head back and roared with laughter.
“Hehehe!”
“Old Hong, it seems our Holy Cult’s scheme has finally succeeded.”
“All the White Lotus Nightmare Flower needs to do is devour all the people in the entire city of Feihe Prefecture, then it will bloom and summon a horde of Sacred Nightmare Ghosts!”
