One Man, One Sword!

*Bang!* With a swift kick, Lu Changsheng kicked open the doors of the pill furnace room. "Miss Li, come in," Lu Changsheng said to Li Hongzhuang. Following closely behind him, Li Hongzhuang hurried inside. "Yes, this is the place." "Last time, I searched the pill furnace room for ages and still couldn't find the Marrow Transformation Pills." Li Hongzhuang cast her gaze across the room, finally fixing it upon the last remaining elder among the Three Elders of the Cui Clan. "Speak. Where have you hidden the Marrow Transformation Pills?" Li Hongzhuang demanded. A wretched sneer curled onto the Cui elder's lips. He glanced at the two corpses lying outside the door, cold malice gleaming in his eyes. "You want the Marrow Transformation Pills? Hahaha, not a chance!" "My Cui clan spent ten years of bitter effort and exhausted countless manpower and resources just to gather the ingredients for a single batch of Marrow Transformation Pills and refine them!" "And now you want to reap what we sowed and snatch the pills away? In your dreams!" The Cui elder's look of indignant grief made fire blaze in Li Hongzhuang's eyes. She scolded harshly, "Old bastard, that Marrow Transformation Pill formula was stolen from my Li clan by you Cuis! Over two hundred wronged souls from my Li clan are still waiting to settle the score with you!" The Cui elder adopted an expression of cold indifference, simply refusing to utter another word. "You're stalling for time, waiting for the Cui clan's other experts to come rescue you?" Lu Changsheng spoke up abruptly. "Heh heh, not completely stupid, are you?" "Though knowing won't do you any good—because they're already here," the Cui elder sneered. Sure enough, no sooner had the words left his mouth than a flurry of footsteps echoed outside the pill furnace room. Evidently, the Cui clan's guard team had arrived. Judging by the sound, there had to be hundreds of people, and many were martial artists. In all likelihood, the Cui clan's other Refining Organs martial artists had arrived as well. "Brother Thirteen, what should we do?" Li Hongzhuang's expression changed, genuine panic creeping into her voice. Yet Lu Changsheng remained impassive. "Miss Li," he said calmly, "with the Marrow Transformation Pills hidden inside the pill furnace room, you didn't think finding them would be that easy, did you?" "Since the Cuis refuse to talk, you'll have to search for them yourself." "There's no need to rush, however. The Marrow Transformation Pills are definitely here! Not only did Master Luotian say so, but the Three Elders of the Cui Clan were guarding this very place. What else could possibly be worth having the three of them stand watch?" "Take your time searching. As for the Cui clan's people—with me here, not a single one will step half a foot into this room!" Absolute confidence rang through Lu Changsheng's voice. "What?" "Brother Thirteen, you intend to take on all the Cui clan's martial artists on your own?" Li Hongzhuang was stunned! Refining Organs martial artists were not Divine Strength Realm experts; they were still mortal flesh and blood, susceptible to injury and death beneath cold steel. In theory, as long as there were enough martial artists, even a Refining Organs master could certainly be brought down. Just how vast was the Cui clan's power and influence? How many martial artists did they possess? Moreover, the Cui clan had bows, crossbows, and other deadly weapons. Could "Thirteen" truly hold the pill furnace room all by himself? "Search with peace of mind, Miss Li." "Though there is still one minor nuisance inside this room. Let me deal with it first." Lu Changsheng could not be bothered to interrogate the Cui elder any further. With a flicker of movement, he appeared right before the old man in an instant. The Cui elder erupted with qi and blood, thrusting his sword forward in a desperate strike. *Slash.* In the next breath, the Cui elder shuddered violently. A thin line of blood had already appeared across his throat. "You..." The Cui elder clutched his throat tightly, glaring wide-eyed at Lu Changsheng. From start to finish, Lu Changsheng had never regarded him as a serious threat. A dignified peak Refining Organs martial artist was barely any different from an ordinary martial artist in Lu Changsheng's eyes. All it took was a single stroke of his sword! *Thud.* The Cui elder collapsed, dead. With that, all Three Elders of the Cui Clan had perished. These were the Cui clan's only three peak Refining Organs martial artists! Yet every last one of them had died by Lu Changsheng's hand. "Miss Li, I leave the search for the Marrow Transformation Pills to you." Having said his piece, Lu Changsheng walked straight out of the pill furnace room. Li Hongzhuang's eyes reddened, but she said nothing. Gritting her teeth, she immediately began ransacking the room in search of the pills. She knew full well that the sooner she found the Marrow Transformation Pills, the sooner "Thirteen" would no longer have to risk his life holding off so many members of the Cui clan. Meanwhile, Lu Changsheng had already exited the building. One man, one sword, he stood there alone before the entrance. "Hurry, keep up!" "Crossbowmen, ready!" "Surround all sides—don't let a single thief escape!" A massive swarm of martial artists and guards rapidly converged from all directions, numbering in the hundreds. Many of the martial artists and guards held crossbows at the ready. Crossbows and armor were contraband strictly outlawed by the imperial court. Nowadays, however, which powerful clan or local despot did not possess crossbows and even armor? Just like Gao Family Fort back then, or Xu Family Manor, or now the Cui clan. The realm had long since fallen into rot and decay! At that moment, the Cui Clan Patriarch was leading a contingent of experts, rushing toward the pill furnace room in frantic haste. The sight of corpses littering the ground along the way filled the hearts of the Cui clan's retainers with trepidation. The Cui Clan Patriarch, however, felt no real panic inside. He knew the Marrow Transformation Pills were in the pill furnace room, which was why three clan elders had been stationed there to guard it. The Three Elders of the Cui Clan were peak Refining Organs martial artists, the clan's bedrock pillars! As long as the Three Elders were present, no crisis could befall the Cui clan that could not be averted. Yet when the Cui contingent reached the pill furnace room and saw the two corpses on the ground, everyone's faces turned pale with disbelief. "Elder Cui?" "The two bodies on the ground belong to two of the Three Elders!" "How can this be?" "There's another body lying inside the pill furnace room—it's the last of the Three Elders!" "How could the Three Elders be dead?" The Cui Clan Patriarch's heart jolted violently. The Three Elders of the Cui Clan were dead! The bedrock pillars of the Cui clan were gone. Without the Three Elders holding sway over Jubei City, other factions would likely start getting restless. Even the two peak Refining Organs consecrated elders serving the Cui clan would almost certainly harbor disloyal thoughts. The deaths of the Three Elders struck the Cui clan like a bolt from the blue. *No, there is still hope.* *As long as the Marrow Transformation Pills remain, my Cui clan still has the chance to produce a Divine Strength Realm expert.* *Even if no Divine Strength Realm expert emerges, once someone successfully undergoes marrow transformation, they will be stronger than an ordinary peak Refining Organs martial artist.* *The Marrow Transformation Pills cannot be lost!* The Cui Clan Patriarch steadied his resolve. He then turned his gaze toward the pill furnace room. To his surprise, standing outside was only a single martial artist. One man, one sword, standing before the pill furnace room. *One man with a single sword killed all three elders?* The Cui Clan Patriarch felt a chill run through him. This swordsman was clearly no simple opponent. Once the Three Elders joined hands to execute the Three Talents Formation, their strength was terrifying. For a single person to shatter their formation was virtually impossible. Unless he was a Divine Strength Realm expert! Yet the man could not possibly be in the Divine Strength Realm. If he truly were a Divine Strength Realm expert, the Three Elders would not have resisted at all. Whatever he demanded, the Cui clan would have readily yielded. Why would they ever provoke him into a slaughter? Since he wasn't a Divine Strength Realm expert, he had to be a Refining Organs martial artist. *A Refining Organs martial artist thinking he can hold off my Cui clan's guards with just one sword?* *When hundreds swarm him together, what kind of Refining Organs martial artist could possibly withstand it?* The Cui Clan Patriarch sneered inwardly. The intruder had slain the three elders yet had not fled; clearly, they were still searching for the Marrow Transformation Pills. Since the pills had not been found, he could rest easy. As long as they killed the thieves and protected the Marrow Transformation Pills, the Cui clan would remain the supreme hegemon of Jubei City!