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On the second night, Lu Sheng returned to the Lotus Room—this time in broad daylight. Sword in hand, he meticulously inspected every corner. He took note of the layout, directions, and the precise position of every object in the room. Only after thoroughly surveying the space did he sit down and quietly wait for night to fall.
Since assuming control, Lu Sheng had the Lu family under strict lockdown—no one dared leave the premises. Jiulian City was small, and under his intense surveillance, any movement was risky. Unless someone fled all the way to Zihua City, there was nowhere to run. Fear of someone secretly informing Lu Sheng kept everyone on edge.
To tighten his grip further, Lu Sheng issued a reward.
"Anyone who reports an escapee will receive one hundred taels!"
One hundred taels—for many, that was a fortune beyond imagination. Reporting just ten people could net a thousand taels.
With the household stabilized for now, Lu Sheng’s uncle deployed soldiers to guard every entrance and exit. No one could leave without authorization. A wanted notice was also posted for those who had escaped earlier, with orders to capture and return them immediately.
As evening approached, dusk painted the sky in deepening shades of blue. A faint breeze drifted through the room.
Lu Sheng sat in Yu Jie’s usual seat, his long sword unsheathed and resting across his knees. Eyes closed, he appeared to nap—but it was a warrior’s rest, calm but alert.
He hadn’t slept the previous night, but the Jade Crane Art sustained him. Despite the exhaustion, his spirit remained unshaken.
As night fell, he left the room unlit. He wanted everything to remain natural, untouched by artificial light. Gradually, the darkness consumed the room, and he attuned himself to the subtle shifts in air currents and faintest sounds.
Time passed—quiet, slow, heavy.
Then, just after the last light faded from the sky, the room sank into complete darkness. So dark, he couldn’t even see his own fingers in front of his face.
Lu Sheng remained perfectly still.
Hiss...
A soft sound broke the silence—barely audible. It was the gentle rasp of cloth brushing against a wall, sliding along the wooden frame near the door.
Lu Sheng’s eyes snapped open.
Through the thick darkness, he glimpsed a pale white figure creeping into the room. Details were impossible to make out, but it was clearly a person—dressed in white, moving forward in deliberate, eerie steps.
Though he couldn’t clearly see the face, he felt the smile—the kind of cold, unsettling smile that stirred instinctive dread.
"You finally dared to come out."
Lu Sheng rose in an instant. His eyes gleamed with killing intent as the Black Fiend Art surged through his veins, making his blood boil with power.
Whoosh!
The white shadow pounced.
"Die for me!!"
Lu Sheng’s blade gleamed as he unleashed the Black Tiger Saber Techniques technique. The sword howled through the air and met the attacker’s strike head-on.
But in that instant—everything vanished.
His vision blurred, his ears rang with silence. The figure disappeared. His sword had cut nothing but empty space.
"What incredible speed!"
Without hesitation, Lu Sheng pivoted and swept his sword in a wide arc around him.
Chi!
The clothes rack blocking Lu Sheng’s path was cleaved in two with a single swift slash, crashing loudly to the ground. A nearby chair had its backrest severed cleanly by another strike.
He snorted coldly, preparing to sheath his sword and reassess the situation.
But just then, a chilling sensation swept across the back of his neck.
He spun around instantly—and there it was. The white-robed figure was right behind him, lunging forward, its body almost colliding with his.
“Looking for death!!”
Summoning the full might of the Black Fiend Art, Lu Sheng felt his blood surge violently. In an instant, his long sword released the third move of the Black Tiger Saber Techniques Technique—Tiger’s Roar.
“Ao!!!”
The blade let out a piercing roar, a blast of sound so fierce it shook the entire room.
The white figure shrieked—an eerie, high-pitched scream like a frightened little girl—then whirled around and dashed for the window.
Lu Sheng said nothing, steadying his blood as he chased after it.
Bang!
With a single strike, he shattered the wooden window blocking his way. Like a tiger leaping through a river, he vaulted out in pursuit.
The white shadow sprinted with astonishing speed, weaving nimbly around scattered debris in the narrow alley.
Lu Sheng followed without hesitation.
Bang! Bang!
Two mounds of rubble exploded under the weight of his sword strikes.
“There’s movement inside! But where’s the eldest master?” a nearby guard called out.
Lu Sheng’s heart clenched.
Several night guards appeared at the side door, weapons drawn. One of them spotted him, eyes wide with tension.
Before Lu Sheng could speak, the white figure flashed forward—so fast that it pierced straight through one of the guards like a phantom.
“Scatter!” Lu Sheng shouted, his voice sharp with urgency.
Once more, his blood surged. His blade roared like a tiger unleashed.
“Ao!”
He lunged forward without pause.
With one ferocious slash, he unleashed Tiger’s Wrath.
Clang!
To his shock, the wounded guard suddenly raised an arm—and blocked the attack.
Veins bulged unnaturally across the guard’s skin. His movements were rigid, his eyes pale white, devoid of pupils—soulless and vacant.
“Possessed?” Lu Sheng muttered under his breath.
He slashed again, aiming directly at the guard’s neck.
Ding!
Blocked once more.
The possessed guard had become far stronger than before, forcing Lu Sheng into a deadly sword duel. Steel rang out through the night as their blades collided in a flurry of rapid, ferocious strikes.
The two other guards by the side door, pale with fear, turned and fled without a word.
The noise quickly drew the attention of more guards and servants nearby. Empowered by the Black Fiend Art, Lu Sheng’s strength and speed surged dramatically. He launched relentless attacks, clashing with the possessed guard dozens of times in quick succession.
Bit by bit, the venomous energy of the Black Fiend Art seeped into the guard’s palm, weakening him gradually.
The second level of the Black Fiend Art was even more savage and potent than Lu Sheng had anticipated.
“Tell me! Who sent you?!” Lu Sheng roared, delivering a crushing strike that slammed into the guard’s blade.
The powerful blow reverberated through the possessed man’s body, numbing his limbs and disrupting his movements.
Bang!
In that split second, Lu Sheng thrust forward with his free hand, delivering a deadly palm strike to the guard’s chest—a lethal move he had prepared in advance.
“Ah!!”
The guard let out a shriek, blood gushing from his mouth as his body was hurled backward and collapsed limply to the ground.
From the guard’s broken body, a white shadow burst out violently. Without hesitation, it shot toward the nearest person who had come to investigate the commotion.
This time, its target was a maid.
Too close to Lu Sheng to escape, the spirit possessed her body in a blink.
Her skin flushed a dark red, her eyes turning vacant as the possession took hold.
Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes, grip tightening around his sword.
He didn’t hesitate.
With a sharp slash, he struck.
Chi!
The blade cut through with brutal force, sending the maid’s body flying. Blood sprayed across the cold stone floor as she collapsed in a heap.
“Everyone, run! Stay back!” Lu Sheng shouted urgently.
But it was too late. Several guards had already charged forward, swords raised high.
In a flash of white, the shadow streaked like lightning—and leapt straight into one of the guards.
“Ah!!!”
With a roar, Lu Sheng unleashed the full force of the Black Tiger Saber Techniques Technique. The Black Fiend Art surged through his veins, and the deafening roar of a giant tiger echoed beside him.
His long sword came crashing down, sweeping through the air like a mountain collapsing, generating a gale-force wind with its violent momentum.
The possessed guard turned and dashed toward the side wall of the courtyard, attempting to escape.
Boom!
Lu Sheng’s blade smashed through the wooden wall, sending splinters flying in all directions as he charged through after him.
In a blur, he lunged forward and slashed at the guard’s head—too fast for the man to even react.
Ahh…
A woman’s piercing scream tore through the night air.
Even as blood and brain matter burst from the guard’s cleaved skull, the body didn’t fall. Instead, it retaliated, launching a vicious palm strike at Lu Sheng’s abdomen.
Bang!
Lu Sheng staggered backward, breath ragged like a wounded beast. His body pulsed with killing intent, a strange red flush rising to his cheeks.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
He raised his sword again—but before he could act, a sharp crack split the air as the blade snapped in half and clattered to the ground.
Without pause, Lu Sheng tossed the broken weapon aside and charged, his hands erupting with two thunderous palm strikes.
Fueled by the Black Fiend Art, his palms turned dark, rimmed with a faint, ominous glow.
Bang! Bang!
Two brutal thuds echoed through the courtyard as the white shadow burst violently from the guard’s corpse once more.
It darted toward another escape route—but this time, Lu Sheng’s hand shot out and seized the fluttering fabric of her clothes.
His grip closed around what felt like frozen glass—bitingly cold and rigid.
But the storm of black energy and burning blood coursing through him drowned out the chill completely. He held on tight, unmoved by the icy resistance.
The second layer of Black Fiend energy surged violently through Lu Sheng’s palm, flooding into the white shadow’s clothing like a raging torrent.
“Die!!!”
With a desperate, savage roar, Lu Sheng poured every ounce of his remaining strength—and all the Black Fiend Art he had left—into a single devastating strike.
Bang!!!
“Ah!!!”
A piercing scream split the night as the white shadow was struck directly in the chest. Her body twisted grotesquely, and with a sound like silk being torn apart, she exploded into fragments—disappearing without a trace.
Lu Sheng’s eyes burned with intensity. Then, with a dull thud, he dropped to one knee.
A mouthful of thick black blood sprayed from his lips.
His hands trembled as he reached for the broken sword on the ground and stabbed it deep into the earth, using it to support his failing body.
Inside him, the Jade Crane Art and Black Fiend Art surged chaotically, trying to mend his wounds.
But the damage was too great. The palm strike from earlier, combined with the force he’d just unleashed, had shattered his meridians.
His blood and qi were in disarray—completely out of control. His body, drained and broken, could no longer hold itself upright.
A long, heavy silence settled over the scene.
Slowly, the guards and servants who had scattered earlier began creeping back, their steps cautious.
At that moment, Lu Quanan and the others finally arrived, breathless.
They froze in stunned silence, eyes widening at the chaos around them.
Lu Sheng knelt on the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and pooling beneath him—clear evidence of violent internal injury.
Lu Quanan rushed forward, panic overtaking his expression.
“Little Sheng! Are you okay? Someone get a doctor!” He reached out to steady Lu Sheng, then turned sharply toward the crowd.
“What are you all standing around for? Help him!”
Snapped from their daze, the others immediately rushed forward, lending their hands to support Lu Sheng.
Uncle Lu Anping’s gaze swept across the wreckage—the shattered wall, the corpse lying motionless, the broken blade. Then his eyes landed on Lu Sheng: his breath ragged, blood still fresh on his lips, his face twisted with lingering fury, like a beast not yet sated.
A chill gripped his spine.
Could this truly be the same boy from just days ago? The savage pressure Lu Sheng exuded now was overwhelming, almost inhuman.
The scene reminded Lu Anping of a patrol long ago—when a black bear had stormed a house and torn it to splinters. What he saw now was no different.
“No one is allowed to speak a word of what happened tonight! If I hear even a whisper...” His cold gaze swept over everyone present, his voice sharp and ominously unfinished, the threat hanging heavy in the air.
“You there. Clean this place up. I want no trace left behind.”
The guards and servants paled. With the corpse at their feet as a silent warning, fear rooted them in place. But no one dared disobey.
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