"This is no place to talk."
"I have another hidden retreat in Nanyang City."
With that, Li Hongzhuang turned and took her leave, and Lu Changsheng followed close behind her.
Before long, the two arrived at a courtyard in the west of the city.
Lu Changsheng cast a glance across the courtyard and said calmly, "They say a wily hare keeps three burrows, but Miss Li must have far more than three, I imagine?"
Li Hongzhuang clutched her wound as she sat down, then swallowed a few medicinal pills. Breathing a long sigh of relief, she said, "The jianghu is fraught with danger. If a woman like me doesn't take ample precautions, I would have been swallowed whole long ago without so much as scraps left behind."
That was indeed the truth.
The jianghu was treacherous, and for a woman wandering the martial world, survival was even harder.
"By the way, I wonder if Miss Li possesses any Divine Strength Realm martial arts?" Lu Changsheng asked bluntly.
His purpose in tracking down Li Hongzhuang—and even rescuing her—was solely for a Divine Strength Realm technique.
"A Divine Strength Realm martial art?"
Li Hongzhuang looked up at Lu Changsheng.
Their gazes met.
After a long silence, Li Hongzhuang gritted her teeth and said in a grave voice, "I do have a Divine Strength Realm martial art!"
A sharp gleam flashed through Lu Changsheng's eyes. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Name your price. How much silver?"
Lu Changsheng currently had over ten thousand taels of silver.
Even if a Divine Strength Realm martial art cost ten thousand taels, he would consider it worth every copper!
Yet Li Hongzhuang shook her head. "I don't want silver."
"In fact, I can give you this Divine Strength Realm martial art for free."
Hearing her words, Lu Changsheng did not feel the least bit pleased.
He knew all too well that what came free was often the most expensive!
For her to give him a Divine Strength Realm martial art for nothing meant he would inevitably have to pay a steep price.
"Speak, then. What do you want me to do?" Lu Changsheng asked frankly.
Li Hongzhuang smiled. She removed her veil, revealing a fair and delicate face.
Her smile, bathed in the dim candlelight, seemed to brighten the entire room.
"Speaking of which, we've dealt with each other quite a few times now, yet I still don't know how to address you."
"You may call me Thirteen."
Lu Changsheng used a code name.
Wandering the jianghu naturally required an alias.
"Thirteen" also held a special meaning for him.
Back when he was still a beggar, he had been the thirteenth apprentice recruited into Miaoshou Garden.
"Brother Thirteen, the truth is, my return to Nanyang Prefecture this time was made specifically to seek you out."
"Seek me out?"
"Yes, to ask for Brother Thirteen's help. I have drifted across the jianghu for ten years, yet I cannot find even a single trustworthy friend."
"When trouble struck, the first person who crossed my mind was actually you, Brother Thirteen."
Clearly, Li Hongzhuang placed a fair amount of trust in Lu Changsheng.
When cornered by trouble, she had even thought of Lu Changsheng, who was effectively a stranger.
Lu Changsheng was unmoved.
Between him and Li Hongzhuang lay nothing more than a purely transactional relationship.
He had bought a few martial arts from her, plain and simple.
"What matter did Miss Li seek me out for?" Lu Changsheng asked.
Although he yearned to obtain a Divine Strength Realm martial art, he would refuse if the price asked of him proved too great.
Li Hongzhuang took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and said, "Brother Thirteen, you must be quite curious about why I possess so many martial arts and techniques—even a Divine Strength Realm martial art."
Lu Changsheng nodded. He was indeed curious.
"It is because my Li family was once a martial arts clan that had been passed down for several centuries."
"With hundreds of years of foundation, our accumulation of martial arts was naturally extraordinary. In fact, a Divine Strength Realm powerhouse once emerged among the Li family's ancestors."
"That ancestor of my Li family left behind not only a Divine Strength Realm martial art, but also a marrow transformation secret method and a Marrow Transformation Pill recipe."
"However, a traitor appeared in our clan, leaking the secret of the Li family's marrow transformation secret method and pill recipe to the Cui clan of Jubei City."
"The Cui clan schemed for years, and by a stroke of fortune, they managed to latch onto Elder Lu Tong of Suspended Sword Villa."
"Lu Tong is a martial artist of the Divine Strength Realm. With a single move from him, our Li family was wiped out in an instant. More than two hundred members of the Li clan were slaughtered to the last."
"Only I was fortunate enough to escape, after which I concealed my name and drifted through the jianghu."
Lu Changsheng understood now.
So Li Hongzhuang carried the deep, bloody vengeance of her fallen clan.
Yet this was hardly uncommon.
In the jianghu, such tragedies happened all the time.
"You want me to avenge you?" Lu Changsheng asked.
"No, I want to take vengeance with my own hands!"
"I only wish to ask Brother Thirteen to act with me, to accompany me on a trip to the Cui clan and seize the Marrow Transformation Pills from their hands!"
"With my aptitude, under normal circumstances, aspiring to reach the Divine Strength Realm would be nothing more than a fool's dream. But if I can successfully transform my marrow, I might still have a glimmer of hope to attain Divine Strength."
"That is why I need the Marrow Transformation Pills!"
A stir went through Lu Changsheng's heart.
A Marrow Transformation Pill—he wanted one as well!
"Are you certain the Cui clan has Marrow Transformation Pills?" Lu Changsheng stared directly into Li Hongzhuang's eyes.
"Back then, my father had me memorize the Divine Strength Realm martial art, the marrow transformation secret method, and the Marrow Transformation Pill recipe. But the various raw ingredients in that recipe are extraordinarily difficult to find. A wandering, ordinary martial artist like me could never gather all the materials."
"However, the Cui clan could!"
"I have been keeping a close watch on the Cui clan all these years, and I noticed they were constantly searching for the ingredients on that recipe. Finally, several months ago, I discovered that the Cui clan had obtained the single most vital medicinal herb in the recipe. I knew then that they were very likely to brew the Marrow Transformation Pills."
"It just so happened that I had also reached Refining Organs, so I wanted to infiltrate the Cui clan and steal the pills. In the end, I failed."
"Yet, although my attempt to steal them failed, it allowed me to learn that the Cui clan did indeed successfully refine a furnace of Marrow Transformation Pills—a full thirteen of them!"
"If Brother Thirteen can help me seize those pills, I will not only present the Divine Strength Realm martial art to you with both hands, but I will also grant you the marrow transformation secret method."
"With your cultivation in Refining Organs, once you use the Marrow Transformation Pill and the secret method to successfully transform your marrow, your hopes of ascending to the Divine Strength Realm will also vastly increase!"
After finishing her words, Li Hongzhuang looked toward Lu Changsheng.
A faint glimmer of anticipation lingered in her eyes.
This was an earth-shattering secret belonging to her, yet she had revealed it.
And she had revealed it to Lu Changsheng, a man with whom she shared nothing more than a transactional relationship.
Perhaps this indirectly proved that she was at the end of her rope.
She had no other choice.
"Brother Thirteen, the ingredients for the Marrow Transformation Pill are exceedingly rare, things one might encounter by luck but never demand by force."
"Even with the Cui clan's resources, it took ten full years of searching with all their might just to gather the materials and refine a single batch of pills."
"If we delay, the Cui clan might use them up or give them away."
Lu Changsheng weighed the matter in his mind.
The marrow transformation secret method and a Divine Strength Realm martial art were precisely what he urgently needed.
If he could obtain the Marrow Transformation Pill and achieve marrow transformation, he would complete a cycle of marrow transformation and blood exchange before breaking through the life-and-death gateway.
Not only would his success rate in advancing to the Divine Strength Realm rise drastically, but once he attained it, he would immediately sweep through opponents of the same rank with astonishing combat power.
It had to be said that the offer Li Hongzhuang laid before him was difficult to refuse.
Nor did he want to refuse!
After a long pause, Lu Changsheng opened his eyes and said coldly, "The Cui clan has no Divine Strength Realm martial artists, correct?"
"Naturally not."
"What is the relationship between Lu Tong of Suspended Sword Villa and the Cui clan?"
"Hmph, the Cui clan merely clings to Lu Tong's coattails. Lu Tong won't casually lift a finger on their behalf."
Lu Changsheng understood.
Even so, Lu Tong was tied to the Cui clan after all.
If the Cui clan managed to summon Lu Tong, Lu Changsheng could find himself in tremendous trouble.
However, once he obtained the marrow transformation secret method and the Divine Strength Realm martial art and advanced to Divine Strength, why should he fear Lu Tong?
"I want the Divine Strength Realm martial art and the marrow transformation secret method upfront!"
"If you trust me, hand them over."
"If you don't, we can pretend this conversation never took place."
Having said his piece, Lu Changsheng waited in silence.
Without laying eyes on the Divine Strength Realm martial art and the marrow transformation secret method, he would not risk himself so lightly.
Chapter 52