Chapter 21

“You’re seeking death!”

Feeling their murderous intent, Lu Qingfeng raised the Nine-ringed Blade abruptly.

His feet unleashed the Shifting Steps.

In an instant, Lu Qingfeng’s body became as elusive as a phantom!

Seeing only the flickering light of his sword, the five figures who were sprinting toward him fell as in a trance to the ground with their tendons maimed, rendering them powerless to perform any sort of retaliation.

“Phhsss!”

“Ouch!”

“Ow! How is this possible?”

Yan Zhang and the others were in so much pain that their eyes felt as if they were popping out of their heads. They simply couldn’t believe that, with the five of them teamed up against him, they hadn’t been able to survive even one round of an encounter with Lu Qingfeng.

Initially, they had thought of Lu Qingfeng and his siblings as sheep for the slaughter. They had thought that they could use them as bait to help them attract the black bear’s attention. Little did they know that the sheep would reveal a mouthful of ferocious teeth and turn them into the sheep instead.

That sword technique…

Was genuinely terrifying!

“D*mn it!”

Yan Zhang fell to the ground with his body in excruciating pain. His mind was running wildly trying to figure out a way to survive.

Thud, thud, thud!

With all the delay, the black bear had been able to catch up and was currently charging toward Lu Qingfeng and all the others.

“Cursed beast!”

“Learn your place!”

After Lu Qingfeng had started to cultivate in the Authentic-grade Verdant Sword Art, his Chi Control had once again been doubled from when he was cultivating in the Lateral-grade version of the same technique.

Although he was only in Level 3 of the Fetal Phase, the profoundness of his inner Chi was above that of cultivators in Level 9 of the Fetal Phase who cultivated in an ordinary technique. This, combined with the Mantle Sword Style, gave him the power to truly mow down literally all the hindrances before him.

As powerful as the black bear was, it couldn’t ward off his blade.

Bam!

Lu Qingfeng slashed the blade down at a peculiar angle as if he was a skilled butcher dismembering an ox. In a straightforward manner, the black bear’s coat was slit open. Along the gaps between its bones, the blade hacked it in half.

The black bear dropped dead immediately!

“My powers now could very much rival cultivators in the Genuine Chi Phase!”

Lu Qingfeng glanced at the black bear that had fallen to the ground and roughly determined his combat prowess. Subsequently, he returned to Lu Qingshan and Qingyu.

The five men who had been brought down by him had had all the tendons of their limbs maimed. All they could do now was to roll around on the ground while screaming miserably. They had absolutely no ability to maneuver.

“Who are you?”

Enduring agonizing pain, Yan Zhang glared at Lu Qingfeng and yelled a question at him while grimacing with pain.

Lu Qingfeng paid no attention to him. He looked at the other four and said, “We, siblings, have descended from the mountain to cultivate by our master’s order. We have no intention to cause any unnecessary deaths. If you cooperate with us, I can treat the injuries on your limbs. But, if you don’t want to, I can only give you my apologies.”

Lu Qingfeng had no experience in interrogation and thus could only resort to this simple and violent method.

When the other four heard him, a glimmer of hope arose in their eyes. They said hurriedly, “We are willing to cooperate, please spare our lives, young hero!”

Regardless of whether Lu Qingfeng was telling them the truth, an unwillingness to cooperate would definitely spell death. However, if they chose to cooperate, they might just be able to keep their lives.

“You don’t need to speak such fine words. I, Yan Zhang, will not be fooled!” Yan Zhang sneered coldly, not believing even a word that Lu Qingfeng had uttered.

“Fine. My apologies then.”

When Lu Qingfeng had finished listening to Yan Zhang, he harnessed his inner Chi and compressed it to a very high degree.

In a flash, a glimmering Sword Gust shot out from his fingertips, and, under Yan Zhang’s horrified gaze, it slit his neck and ended his misery.

Perhaps Yan Zhang had been just pretending to be strong, but Lu Qingfeng had no intention of getting entangled with him. By killing the leader, maybe his interrogation would go smoother now.

Yan Zhang was dead, and his four subordinates were wimps.

Half an hour later, Lu Qingfeng and his siblings continued on their journey.

“Asuka Hall!”

“Sapphire Gate!”

Lu Qingshan recalled the information that had been revealed by two of Yan Zhang’s subordinates and frowned, “Qingfeng, we offended the Truth Sect, and now we’ve killed people from the Sapphire Gate. What are our plans now?”

“If those two weren’t lying just now, the Sapphire Gate overlooks two counties: Yushan and Shuwang. These counties have four inner halls and four outer halls. The Asuka Hall is one of their outer halls. Those five were just insignificant small potatoes of the Asuka Hall. No one will pay any attention to their disappearance in the depths of a mountain, let alone incite turmoil within the Sapphire Gate.”

After explaining what he was thinking, Lu Qingfeng added, “The only thing I didn’t expect is that the Truth Sect controls not only Jiuzhai County. In the entire Guangyuan Commandery, aside from Yushan and Shuwang, which are occupied by Sapphire Gate and the Commandery City, which is divided among several major sects, all the three other counties belong to the Truth Sect.”

From the mouths of those two subordinates of Yan Zhang, Lu Qingfeng had gained a general understanding of the surrounding environment.

These three siblings have fled blindly from the Truth Sect’s pursuit for more than five months. That journey, combined with the miles they’ve traveled on foot for the past ten days or so, has turned out to have led them near the border of the Guangyuan Commandery.

If they headed farther east, they would cross a different boundary and step into the Dangyang Commandery.

In the meantime, this place where they were located was at the junction of the three counties of Yushan, Hengshan, and Lanjiang.

The Chengyang River was to the south.

Yushan County was to the northwest, Hengshan County was to the east, and Lanjiang County was to the northeast.

Among the three, Yushan County belonged to the Guangyuan Commandery, while Hengshan County and Lanjiang County were under the jurisdiction of the Dangyang Commandery.

“Sapphire Gate is in a double confrontation, facing against the Truth Sect in the west and the overlord of the Dangyang Commandery, the Wargod Assembly, in the east. If we wish to cross the border and enter the Dangyang Commandery, I’m afraid that they’ll treat us as Sapphire Gate’s spies and arrest us.”

Lu Qingfeng recollected the information he had coerced from Yan Zhang’s subordinates, and his gaze fell to the north. “To the northeast of Yushan County lies Miaoyin City. It is located at the very edge of Yushan County and spans both the Guangyuan and the Dangyang Commanderies. They have superb powerhouses guarding the city. Whether Sapphire Gate or the Wargod Assembly, they wouldn’t dare to act wantonly toward the city.”

“Miaoyin City!”

“It would be a good place to be.”

Lu Qingfeng had a plan in mind.

According to the information he knew:

There were a total of five counties, a Commandery City, and a border town in the Guangyuan Commandery.

Among them, the five counties were divided among the Truth Sect and the Sapphire Gate.

The Truth Sect occupied the three counties of Jiuzhai, Shouwang, and Huaihu, while the Sapphire Gate occupied the two counties of Yushan and Shuwang.

Originally, Lu Qingfeng and the entire Blackwood Village thought of the Truth Sect as the overlord of merely Jiuzhai County. He didn’t expect that besides Jiuzhai County, the two counties of Shouwang and Huaihu were likewise under the Truth Sect’s control.

Their influence was not at all minor.

Within the Guangyuan Commandery, there were two other forces that could go up against the Truth Sect.

First, there was the Sapphire Gate.

The five men who they’d encountered earlier were the disciples of the Asuka Hall, one of the four outer halls of the Sapphire Gate. From the looks of those men, the Sapphire Gate was probably not made up of good people.

However, compared to the Truth Sect, the way the Sapphire Gate governed the two counties of Yushan and Shuwang was based more on conciliation than force. Thus, for this reason, they had attracted many fugitives who’d fled the rule of the Truth Sect.

“The Sapphire Gate and the Truth Sect had a large-scale conflict six months ago, and now it has developed into an all-out war. They have also always had disputes with the Dangyang Commandery’s Wargod Assembly. The Asuka Hall is responsible for gathering intelligence and scouting. The reason Yan Zhang and the others had shown up where we found them is because they were about to sneak into the Dangyang Commandery to spy on the enemy.”

Lu Qingfeng’s eyes flickered.

It was precisely because the Sapphire Gate had drawn the Truth Sect’s attention that the three of them had been able to escape safely. One should consider that the siblings had scored a lucky hit.

Second, there was Commandery City.

The Commandery City harbored a few sects that were working together to fight off the Truth Sect and the Sapphire Gate.

Truth Sect!

Sapphire Gate!

Commandery City!

These were the three major forces in the Guangyuan Commandery.

However, beyond these three major forces, there was another place called Miaoyin City, which was even more unique and vaguely detached from everywhere else.

The destination that Lu Qingfeng decided on was Miaoyin City.

…