Dead!
Li Ji, the Blade-Trailing Heavenly King—a terrifying martial artist at the peak of Refining Organs—was dead.
He had died at the hands of an unfamiliar man clad in black.
Inside the ruined temple, little more than a dozen bandits remained.
All of them stared at Lu Changsheng in trembling terror, panic written plain across their faces.
They could hardly believe that their mighty leader had actually fallen.
Yet a few among them were ruthless thugs who, sensing they could not escape death, were driven by sheer desperation into a feral frenzy. Brandishing their weapons, they lunged at Lu Changsheng.
Lu Changsheng's gaze was frigid.
His principle had always been to eradicate evil to the root—to weed it out, stem and leaf!
Every single one of Li Ji's lackeys had hands steeped in blood; not one was innocent.
*Swish!*
The next instant, Lu Changsheng's figure blurred. The dagger in his hand flicked in a light, effortless arc.
*Spurt!*
One bandit after another crumpled to the stone, clutching at their slashed throats.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of bandits were down.
Inside the ruined temple, corpses littered the ground.
A thick, nauseating stench of blood choked the air.
Every bandit under Li Ji's command was dead; not a single one managed to escape.
After all, with Lu Changsheng's speed, fleeing before his eyes was practically impossible.
Lu Changsheng stood quietly within the ruined temple. Bizarrely, despite having butchered so many men, barely a drop of blood had stained his clothes.
In the temple's dark corner, a crowd of people from Miaoshou Garden still cowered.
When Lu Changsheng's gaze drifted over to them, Zheng Renxin and the others instantly blanched.
Some even began to shake uncontrollably from head to toe.
In their eyes at this moment, Lu Changsheng was far more terrifying than the Blade-Trailing Heavenly King ever was.
They had no idea whether Lu Changsheng intended to slaughter them to silence witnesses.
In the end, however, Lu Changsheng simply turned around and began searching the corpses of Li Ji and his men.
"What is he doing?"
"Is he searching for something?"
Zheng Renxin and the other Refining Organs martial artists exchanged glances, holding a silent conversation with their eyes.
Yet no matter what Lu Changsheng was doing, none of them dared make a sudden move, terrified of provoking this mysterious figure.
Lu Changsheng was indeed looting the corpses.
It was a good habit to keep.
From the bodies, he retrieved a thick stack of banknotes.
Most of these banknotes had been plundered from Miaoshou Garden, but Lu Changsheng had no intention of returning them.
In truth, there was far more actual silver.
However, Lu Changsheng had no plans to leave Nanyang City. He could not possibly haul away several cartloads of silver, so he had no choice but to leave them behind.
"Hmm? This is... a martial arts manual?"
Suddenly, Lu Changsheng retrieved an enigmatic martial arts manual from Li Ji's body.
The manual did not appear to belong to the Divine Strength Realm, yet neither did it seem to be an ordinary Refining Organs manual; it felt extraordinarily mysterious.
Still, with Li Ji already dead, Lu Changsheng had no way to ask.
From the other corpses, Lu Changsheng subsequently turned up a few more martial methods and techniques.
*Rumble...*
Outside the ruined temple, thunder rolled in waves. Inside, blood bathed the stone idol.
Having finished looting the bodies, Lu Changsheng rose to his feet.
As he walked past the group from Miaoshou Garden, he did not spare them so much as a glance.
*Whoosh!*
Lu Changsheng's figure melted into the rainy night, vanishing without a trace in a mere heartbeat.
"Phew..."
Zheng Renxin finally let out a long breath.
"Quick, untie the ropes!"
They had all been bound tightly.
Now that Li Ji's men were dead and no one guarded them, a few ropes naturally posed no problem.
Before long, the people of Miaoshou Garden were free.
Looking upon the floor strewn with bodies, they could not suppress a lingering shudder of dread.
"What ruthless methods that masked man has. Weeding out the roots, leaving no one alive."
A few of the Miaoshou Garden martial artists murmured in hushed voices.
"Humph!"
"Leaving no one alive? Then what do you call us?"
Zheng Renxin gave a cold snort, sweeping his eyes over the crowd. The men could only hang their heads.
Zheng Renxin was right. If the masked man truly spared no one, how were they still breathing?
By all rights, he should have silenced them all.
"Could it be... this person has ties to our Miaoshou Garden?"
"Yet how could our Nanyang Zheng clan have such a formidable friend?"
"Even the Blade-Trailing Heavenly King Li Ji fell by his hand. Below the Divine Strength Realm, you couldn't find someone like that in the entire city of Nanyang..."
While the crowd murmured in speculation, the creak and rattle of wagon wheels suddenly drifted in from outside the ruined temple.
Zheng Renxin's expression flickered as a realization struck him.
"It must be Yifeng returning!"
"Since Li Ji is dead, we must root out every last trace of evil. These bandits all deserve death!"
"Everyone, make sure none of them leave here alive..."
Zheng Renxin quickly gave out orders and made preparations, waiting in tense silence.
Moments later, a band of bandits arrived outside the ruined temple.
They had escorted over a dozen carts of plundered goods back, every face beaming with greedy smiles. Before even stepping inside, one of them boomed with laughter: "Heavenly King, we struck a massive haul this time! More than a dozen full cartloads of gold and silver—"
The moment the bandits stepped through the entrance, a heavy stench of blood assailed their noses.
At the same time, their eyes fell on the ground carpeted with the corpses of their comrades.
Among them, they even caught sight of the body of the Blade-Trailing Heavenly King, Li Ji.
"The Heavenly King!"
The bandits cried out in horror.
They were quick-witted enough to spin on their heels and bolt instantly, but it was already too late.
"Die, villainous scum!"
Zheng Renxin struck first, driving his blade straight through a bandit's back until the point emerged from his chest.
Blood mingled with rainwater, washing across the stone.
"Kill!"
At Zheng Renxin's command, the numerous martial artists of Miaoshou Garden surged forth, pouncing upon the dozen or so bandits.
Moments later, the slaughter was over.
Miaoshou Garden had held an overwhelming advantage.
Even so, Zheng Renxin's face looked somewhat sullen.
"Four great Refining Organs experts, accompanied by dozens of martial artists, ambushing a mere dozen or so Strengthening Blood and Tempering Bone bandits—and one actually managed to get away?"
Zheng Renxin was infuriated, yet a sense of helplessness washed over him.
The Nanyang Zheng clan had lived in wealth and ease for too long, growing lax and unfamiliar with bloody warfare. Seldom engaging in life-and-death combat, they had somehow let someone slip through their fingers despite holding absolute superiority.
Fortunately, only one had escaped—a mere Tempering Bone Realm martial artist.
Besides, with their leader, Li Ji the Blade-Trailing Heavenly King, already dead, a lone Tempering Bone fighter could hardly stir up any great storm.
It was no serious matter!
"Patriarch, disposing of so many corpses will take considerable effort. Why not report this to the authorities and hand everything over to the yamen to handle?" someone suggested.
"Report to the authorities?"
Zheng Renxin's expression darkened instantly, and he snapped in rebuke, "Out of the question! We must never report this."
"These bandits, particularly the Blade-Trailing Heavenly King Li Ji, were already declared slain by the imperial army in an official court proclamation."
"Not long ago, a whole batch of officials received promotions on the back of that very victory. If you report to the yamen now and claim Li Ji was still alive, what do you think those promoted officials will say?"
"Heh, the imperial army falsified military merits—perhaps even slaughtered innocent commoners to claim the bounties. I don't know whether those officials would ever be punished, but if we report this, Miaoshou Garden will certainly suffer for it!"
"Therefore, take your men and dispose of the bandits' corpses immediately. Remember, keep your lips sealed to the outside world. Say only that a band of ordinary thieves attacked us, and do not breathe a single word about Li Ji, the Blade-Trailing Heavenly King."
A chill ran through the Miaoshou Garden martial artists as they realized the gravity of the situation.
Li Ji had long been 'dead.' They could not possibly 'kill' him a second time.
Their only choice was to act as though they knew nothing at all.
"Right, that mysterious masked man... he might truly have some connection to our Miaoshou Garden..." one of the Refining Organs martial artists murmured softly.
None of them were fools. The masked man had slaughtered only Li Ji and his band while leaving them entirely unharmed; that alone spoke volumes.
"Do not look into the mystery man's identity any further,"
Zheng Renxin commanded. "Pretend we never saw him. Remember: tonight, there was no mysterious man, nor was there a Blade-Trailing Heavenly King. Only a band of ordinary thieves routed by our Miaoshou Garden."
"Understood, Patriarch."
The men set to work without delay, burying the bodies and cleaning the ruined temple.
***
Lu Changsheng changed out of his night-travel clothes and returned to his small courtyard.
He poured a cup of wine and, facing the direction of Old Wen's resting place, tipped the liquor onto the ground.
"Old Wen, I have avenged you..."
Lu Changsheng murmured under his breath.
Having slain Li Ji, his mind finally regained its calm.
When the mind was calm, it was time to practice!
His qi and blood surged as Lu Changsheng began tempering his bones.
Once, twice, thrice...
Outside, thunder crashed and rain poured in torrents, yet an absolute tranquility reigned within Lu Changsheng's heart. Under this profound calm, his cultivation efficiency seemed to improve by leaps and bounds.
*Boom!*
Suddenly, accompanied by a clap of thunder, Lu Changsheng's entire body jolted.
Immediately after, a small line of text floated before his eyes.
*Barbarian Bull Tempering Bone Technique perfected. Comprehension increased by 4.*
Chapter 20