Lu Chang’an knew his father placed great importance on the Mountain God plant, so he brought it up ahead of ti.
Lu Chang’sheng shook his head. "This Mountain God isn’t the sa as last ti. No need to take it."
The last Mountain God was his own, but this one was ant for exchange.
If he took these two Mountain Gods, things would fall back into the old ways—in fact, it would make cutting ties with the Martial Artist Council even harder in the future.
Lu Chang’sheng wasn’t blind to what happened outside. Wang Heihou, Niu Dazhuang, and the others still had plenty of channels in Black Mountain Prefecture. Sure, it couldn’t compare with the forr Martial Artist Council, but in Black Mountain Prefecture’s city, it was more than enough.
Right now, the Martial Artist Council was little more than an empty shell—even if he returned, he couldn’t reverse the situation.
"I understand, Father."
Lu Chang’an nodded.
He’d been an official for years and was no stranger to complicated relationships. Even without Lu Chang’sheng spelling it out, he got the ssage.
"It’s a sha," Lu Chang’sheng felt a pang of sorrow, "on the path of cultivation, Chang’an will have a hard road ahead."
He’d chosen not to marry or have children before precisely because of this.
His own root bone and talent would only keep improving, but his children wouldn’t have that luck.
His own flesh and blood, yet in the end, he’d likely endure the tragedy of sending them to the afterlife.
"No one is truly free in this world, are they?"
Lu Chang’sheng didn’t believe in karma, but there were tis when he couldn’t help but feel its workings were real.
"Do your best, and leave the rest to fate."
······
Outer courtyard, Lu Mansion.
A few n sat quietly in their seats, glancing out from ti to ti.
At that mont, a servant from the Lu family walked in.
"Sirs, my master is refining pills right now and can’t see you. Please, go back for now."
They were decked out in silk and fine clothes—not your everyday folks.
The servant wasn’t bold enough to speak for his master; he was just following proper protocol to send the guests off.
Yet, all their faces instantly looked much less pleasant.
One of them was, of course, Wei Feng.
He forced a smile, and said to the servant, "Any idea when Chang’sheng will finish refining pills?"
"Chang’sheng and I go way back. We worked together for years in Black Mountain Prefecture."
Even Wei Feng was helpless here.
He wasn’t stupid—just monts ago, it’d been the house steward who ca out, but now it was rely a regular servant.
That pretty much spelled out where Lu Chang’sheng stood on the matter.
Sha there was nothing he could do.
The servant shook his head. "Pill refinent can take months at best, half a year or more at worst. Gentlen, please, there’s really no point waiting."
At that, the group could only rise to leave.
Once outside, their faces looked even gloomier.
"Is Scholar Lu really just going to wash his hands of us completely?"
"Why shouldn’t he? Honestly, anyone would,"
"Old Zhao, what’s that supposed to an? Weren’t you for that course of action back then, too? You blaming now?"
"When did I say I was blaming you?"
"Enough! Can the bickering. Let’s think about how to make it up to Scholar Lu. It’s true, what we did before was pretty damn shaful."
"We racked our brains just to find those two Mountain Gods, and the Leader won’t even see us—how exactly are we supposed to pacify him now?"
Lu Chang’sheng didn’t lack anything as an Innate Martial Artist. If even Mountain Gods couldn’t settle things, they had no idea what would.
That thought left everyone silent again.
Especially Wei Feng, who wanted nothing more than to slap himself a few tis.
"How’s Lao Wu doing? He told us recently he’d step into the Innate stage any ti now."
One of the Martial Artist Council elders spoke in a low tone.
These years, they’d been building Lao Wu’s reputation behind the scenes, aiming to have him take Lu Chang’sheng’s place.
Otherwise, why would they have stirred up all that ss?
Lao Wu had trendous luck—during one trip, he had a fateful encounter and his cultivation soared, quickly reaching the True Qi peak.
After that, he’d kept to himself, focusing entirely on breaking through to Innate Martial Artist.
Last ti they plotted, Lao Wu wrote back—at most half a year, and he’d reach Innate.
The group didn’t think that was too long, so they struck while the iron was hot.
Who would have guessed Lu Chang’sheng would cut all ties with ruthless speed?
And as for Lao Wu, his breakthrough attempt failed.
So now things were simply out of control.
This ti, they weren’t hoping for Lu Chang’sheng to return. They just wanted the weight of his reputation to help steady the ss.
But he shot them down.
"Should be soon," said Wei Feng.
"Doesn’t matter if it’s much later—too late for us anyway."
The Martial Artist Council was almost gone—so what if he reached Innate?
But just then, soone ca running with a ssage.
"Leaders, news from Sun Wu—he’s done it."
"He did?"
At that, everyone lit up with joy.
Just when it seed there was no way out, a new path opened at the turn.
With Sun Wu reaching Innate, maybe the Martial Artist Council still had a chance.
The group rushed back to Black Mountain Prefecture to look for Sun Wu.
Days later, rumors of Sun Wu’s breakthrough as an Innate Martial Artist were sweeping the city, stirring up Black Mountain Prefecture.
And within days, the news was spreading fast to other cities as well.
······
"Ca to deliver invitations?"
That day, Lu Chang’sheng got word from Lu Chang’an that Wei Feng and the rest were at his door again—this ti, though, not to ask for anything, just to deliver a banquet invitation for Sun Wu’s ascension to Innate.
"Sun Wu’s really not afraid of showing off," Lu Chang’an said irritably. "Just stepped into Innate and he’s already throwing such a grand banquet."
Keep in mind, his father, an Innate Extre powerhouse, didn’t make a show of things back when he broke through.
For a newly ascended Innate to behave like this—the guy really doesn’t know his place.
Lu Chang’sheng just smiled. "Innate Martial Artists stand at the peak of power. It’s reasonable to want a celebration. Still, no need for us to show up. Just have soone send a gift."
"And make sure it’s nothing too valuable," he added.
Lu Chang’an nodded.
His father clearly didn’t want much to do with them. Sending a gift was just a matter of formality.
Lu Chang’sheng did recall quite a bit about Sun Wu.
Sun Wu used to be a core mber of the Martial Artist Council; Lu Chang’sheng had actually supported him, but only with True Qi Martial Arts techniques.
With those sorts of techniques, breaking through to Innate was a real challenge.
Sun Wu, also known as Lao Wu, had a natural knack for martial arts; when he joined the Council he was already a bit old, so Lu Chang’sheng hadn’t recomnded him for the Martial Artist Institute.
Who’d have thought he’d make the leap to Innate even before Zhuqing?
"Looks like he had so serious stroke of fortune."
Lu Chang’sheng found himself curious, tempted to go see for himself.
He’d been paying close attention to anything involving the Immortal Dao lately—any lead was worth checking out.
Still, he had pills to refine, so he decided to wait until after Sun Wu’s banquet.
Plus, it’s not like Sun Wu would just vanish. He had eyes planted in the Council to keep tabs on all key players.
But only a few days later, Lu Chang’sheng changed his mind.
Because in Black Mountain Prefecture’s city, an ’Immortal’ appeared.
"They say the Immortal is nad ng, background unknown. He showed up at Sun Wu’s Innate banquet a few days ago. At first, plenty at the banquet scoffed at him—then he casually made his move and sent Sun Wu, the man of the hour, flying."
Wang Heihou and Niu Dazhuang had just gotten the news and rushed to Lu Chang’sheng to discuss.
This was a hell of a shock—an Innate, even newly promoted, was leagues beyond just about any top True Qi Realm master.
But ng knocked him down with just one attack—and called himself an Immortal.
Sun Wu’s banquet had all the top families in Black Mountain Prefecture attending in person.
So plenty of people saw everything with their own eyes.
ng the Immortal struck in a flash, his whole body blazing with earthy yellow light as he grew from eight feet tall to twelve right there on the spot.
He threw a palm at Sun Wu, t Sun Wu’s fists head-on, and sent Sun Wu howling, flying backward, smashing down a wall in the process.
ng the Immortal said: If I hadn’t held back, that strike would’ve killed you on the spot.
"Then, Immortal ng told everyone he’d been cultivating in the deep mountains for centuries, but hit a bottleneck. He’d co to find sothing he needed. Hearing that the world had changed, he wanted to trade Immortal Techniques for what he sought."
Lu Chang’sheng’s heart gave a sudden, heavy thump.
Reviews
All reviews (0)