The hunchbacked old man was not foolish. On the contrary, Qin Moshang had sent him to seek revenge precisely because he was cautious. Everyone in the Qin clan referred to him as the hunchbacked old man, and he was known for his strange ideas and actions.
The hunchbacked old man flew past the Supreme Hall and the Political Announcement Hall. Along the way, there were many eunuchs and palace maids coming and going, conversing among themselves. Nevertheless, no one detected the presence of this mysterious expert.
“With so many members of the Evil Sky Pavilion guarding the royal palace, there’s no doubt it’s the safest place in the world.”
The hunchbacked old man flashed to the top of a roof and looked down at a group of eunuchs.
“I heard that Lan Xihe, the Tower Master of the White Tower Council, an expert with 13 Birth Charts, could hardly survive one move from Pavilion Master Lu. She only released half of her original attack before she fell to the ground.”
The hunchbacked old man frowned upon hearing these words. His breathing quickened as well as he thought to himself, ‘There’s such an expert here?!’
“I heard Pavilion Master Lu defeated hundreds of Thousand Realms Whirling experts, including Xia Zhengrong who has 12 Birth Charts. With just a move, he scared away the Tower Master of the Black Tower Council. Apparently, the scene was so shocking at that time; it was as though the entire world was turned upside down. Yin and Yang were… Yin and Yang were…”
“Yin and Yang were out of balance. If you don’t know it, you shouldn’t try to show off…”
“Well, in any case, Pavilion Master Lu is unimaginably powerful.”
The hunchbacked old man’s expression was solemn. His eyes shone with a strange green light at this moment as he carefully sensed the wind and the movement of the grass around him.
“Is there really such an expert?” The hunchbacked old man found it hard to believe. He brought the jade disk out again. The jade disk trembled slightly.
The aura of the Green Cicada Jade was weak here. The movements of the jade disk would grow stronger as he drew closer to the Green Cicada Jade.
After he put the jade disk away, he moved like the wind toward the Palace of Tranquility. He paused for a moment when he saw a green-robed swordsman walking along the high walls of the palace.
‘A swordsman?’
This was the royal palace. If the green-robed swordsman was a palace expert, he would not be dressed in such a manner. However, he did not look like a wandering or sectless cultivator at all.
The hunchbacked old man gently sensed the green-robed swordsman’s aura to avoid detection. The green light in his eyes brightened as a smile appeared on his face. “Only ten leaves…”
In his eyes, a Ten-leaf cultivator was no different from an ant. Normally, he would not pay attention to or kill someone like that; it would only be a waste of his energy. He had stopped because the swordsman’s bearing was rather extraordinary. His intuition there was something not quite right with the swordsman that he could not put his finger on, hence, his interest was piqued. He felt the ant in front of him was rather special and was filled with an urge to kill this unique little ant. Moreover, seeing a mere Ten-leaf cultivator walking so arrogantly irritated him. In his opinion, that ant-like existence should walk with his tail tucked between his legs.
The hunchbacked old man held the jade disk with one hand. Then, wisps of green smoke drifted out from the jade disk.
The green smoke drifted toward Yu Shangrong like a venomous snake before it brushed across Yu Shangrong’s well-defined face like a breeze.
Yu Shangrong suddenly stopped in his tracks. He looked to the left and the right. When he did not see anything out of the ordinary, he continued walking.
The hunchbacked old man frowned. ‘He’s not dead? Impossible! This doesn’t make sense!’
The green smoke was a strange and tricky killing witchcraft technique from the jade disk. It was almost impossible to detect. Once the green smoke made contact with the target, the target’s skin would begin to decay before being reduced to a skeleton.
The hunchbacked old man had taken into consideration that there might be experts in the royal palace so he had planned to use this kind of invisible killing technique. For sneak attacks, witchcraft techniques were undoubtedly the best.
Unresigned, the hunchbacked old man restrained all his aura, making him no different from an inanimate object, before he released the green smoke again.
This time, the green smoke was richer, and the breeze it turned into was stronger than before.
Just like earlier, it blew past Yu Shangrong harmlessly.
‘How is this possible?’ The hunchbacked old man was in shock and disbelief. His eyes were like that of a venomous snake as he looked at the green-robes swordsman.
The hunchbacked old man was just about to attack again when his eyes suddenly widened in shock and disbelief.
“I’m sorry; there won’t be a third time.”
Yu Shangrong flashed and flew toward the roof of a hall and arrived in front of the hunchbacked old man at lightning speed. He brandished his sword, shooting out energy swords that looked like a fireworks display.
Whoosh!
The hunchbacked old man turned into a gust of wind and fled into the distance. He could not afford to expose himself now.
Yu Shangrong rose high into the sky until the entire royal palace was in his sight. When he sensed the energy in the distance, he murmured, “An expert.”
Yu Shangrong did not chase after the intruder. He planned to hand this matter over to Si Wuya.
At this moment, the hunchbacked old man stopped and turned to have a look. When he realized Yu Shangrong did not chase after him, he could not help but frown. His intention was to lure Yu Shangrong over so he could silently kill Yu Shangrong to hide his presence. He did not expect Yu Shangrong would not give chase at all.
‘There’s no reason for him to not die from the green smoke… Why? He’s obviously a ridiculously weak Ten-leaf cultivator. However, his sword technique earlier was really formidable…’
Nevertheless, the hunchbacked old man was not intimidated. Once again, he turned into a gust of wind and flew back to where he had come from. Alas, Yu Shangrong was nowhere to be seen.
With this, the hunchbacked old man could only bring out the jade disk again before he rushed to the back of the royal palace at top speed. Soon after, he arrived above a palace.
He looked at the vibrating jade disk. “There’s no doubt the Green Cicada Jade is here…”
At this moment, he saw an elegant woman sitting gracefully in the backyard of the palace. An exquisite zither was placed in front of the woman. Every time the woman moved the jade disk would vibrate as well.
“So the Green Cicada Jade is with you…”
The hunchbacked old man discreetly sensed the woman’s aura. The result was the same as when he sensed the green-robed swordsman’s aura; her aura was weak! It was extremely weak! She was so weak that he felt his fighting spirit was dampened.
Nevertheless, the hunchbacked old man was still very cautious. After all, how could someone who was capable of destroying one of Qin Moshang’s nine Birth Charts be a weakling? In any case, his mission this time was to seek revenge for his Young Master; he had to kill the culprit.
The jade disk began to spin at this moment.
Green smoke billowed in the air looking like a giant venomous snake as it drifted toward its target.
Swoosh!
A gust of wind blew past the woman harmlessly. Not only was she alive, but she looked rather happy as well, judging by the faint smile on her face.
The hunchbacked old man. “???”
He felt as though he had seen a ghost. It was one thing for the green-robed swordsman to survive the green smoke, but even the young woman in front of him was fine! Was this not akin to a slap? Should the young woman not cooperate with him and fall dead? He felt as though his worldview had collapsed at this moment.
After a while, the hunchbacked finally concluded that the problem lay with the witchcraft technique not these ants.
“Being weak is a sin.”
The hunchbacked old man moved his hand.
A faint green seal appeared in the blue sky. Due to how faint it was, it was hardly noticeable. This was one of its advantages.
At this moment, the woman’s ten fingers descended on the zither, plucking its strings.
The melodious sound swept out in a huge soundwave like a tsunami.
‘An expert?!’ The hunchbacked old man shuddered and dispelled the green seal before he fled and hid behind one of the buildings. Then, he collected his thoughts. ‘There’s no rush; let’s wait a little longer. How can someone who withstand witchcraft techniques, even if the technique is faulty, be a weakling?’
Naturally, the hunchbacked old man no longer planned to use that witchcraft technique. He would wait for the perfect moment to deal a fatal blow.
He continued to hide. He was slightly impressed; he did not expect the tiny red lotus domain to be a place filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons. Nonetheless, they were still rather weak. Fortunately, he was cautious. He thought to himself that his Young Master did not lose one Birth Chart in vain.
…
Meanwhile, out of caution, Yu Shangrong had passed on the information to Si Wuya. His Seventh Junior Brother was smart so he was confident his Seventh Junior Brother would be able to deal with the matter.
One of the reasons Yu Shangrong had survived until now was due to his accurate judgment. His instinct told him the expert must be powerful to confidently infiltrate the royal palace. Moreover, based on what he could sense from that gust of wind, he could sense the intruder was stronger than he was. Therefore, he did not understand why the intruder fled without attacking at all. Since he could tell the intruder was very powerful, he would not be so foolish as to give chase.
…
After Si Wuya learned about the matter from Yu Shangrong, he went to look for Lu Zhou in the Preservation Hall immediately. He took the matter seriously after listening to Yu Shangrong.
He bowed in front of the hall before he said without beating around the bush, “Master, there’s an intruder in the royal palace. Please be careful.”
Lu Zhou was sitting cross-legged and cultivating with his eyes closed opened his eyes at this moment. Perhaps, he had been used to being old, his mannerism and speech were still that of an old man. However, this did not diminish his prestige at all.
“Alright.”
Lu Zhou stopped cultivating and looked at the Green Cicada Jade in front of him and thought about the runic passage at the peak of the snowy mountain.
The supreme mystic power flowed around his nose before the scents from all directions assaulted his nose.
Lu Zhou expanded the range of his sense of smell, searching for the vitality energy he had sensed from the peak of the snowy mountain that day.
He did not find anything within a radius of 100 meters; he did not find anything within a radius of 1,000 meters as well.
He continued to expand the range of his sense of smell, covering the Political Announcement Hall and the back palaces. Still, there was nothing.
‘Where could he be hiding?’ Lu Zhou wondered as he continued to search. Since the other party dared to come to the royal palace, his cultivation base had to be higher than Qin Moshang’s.
While he used the power of smell from the Heavenly Writing, he had to make sure to retain enough supreme mystic power to deal with the intruder as well.
Just as his power swept past one of the palace’s walls, he smelled a familiar scent. This scent was precisely the scent of the other vitality energy at the peak of the snowy mountain.
“Found you.”
Lu Zhou flashed out of the Preservation Hall immediately. His speed was so fast that the doors to the hall seemed to open and to close by themselves with a loud bang.
Even Si Wuya who was standing outside of the hall failed to capture Lu Zhou’s movement. He rubbed his eyes. “Master? Am I seeing things?”
Needless to say, it did not take long for Si Wuya to realize that was not the case. He quickly chased after his master.
…
At this moment, the hunchbacked old man was still hiding behind one of the buildings in the royal palace. After using the jade disk, he concluded the Green Cicada Jade was with the young woman who was playing the zither.
Being a cautious person, he sensed his surroundings again. He did not sense anyone approaching nor did he sense any powerful aura.
With that, his eyes began to glow green again. At the same time, killing intent rose from his body.
“No matter who you are, you have to die today. No one can save you!”
As soon as his voice fell, the sky suddenly flowed red. It was a wave of red energy so vast that it covered the sky. Following that, or swept out toward him.
The hunchbacked old man was slightly startled. “Girl, you managed to discover my presence?”
Conch’s senses were rather good. After a series of abnormalities, she had already discovered the presence of the enemy. She leaped you into the air and spun as the Nine String Zither exploded with a storm-like melody.
The rhythm of the melody was like the raging waves, stirring up the wind and the clouds.
The hunchbacked old man charged out and extended his hand that glowed with a green light. “Little girl, you dare to trick me?”
Although the hunchbacked old man’s cultivation base was quite high, he decided to kill Conch with one move after seeing the force of her sound technique that exceeded that of a Ten-leaf cultivator.
Conch flew backward.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The red soundwave energy converged, looking like a curved blade, before it shot toward the hunchbacked old man.
Conch frowned slightly. She could feel how strong her opponent was; he could easily crush her with his strength.
‘How can he be so strong?’ Conch realized her red energy only managed to slow her opponent down slightly. Since she did not know her opponent’s cultivation base, she did not know it was impressive enough that she was able to slow him down at all.
The hunchbacked old man arrived in front of Conch at lightning speed. His palm was like the mountain as he moved to strike her.
Conch quickly held the Nine String Zither up and plucked at the zither’s strings.
The melody was cacophonous and ear-piercing, distracting the hunchbacked old man for a moment.
This was one of the advantages of sound techniques. Even if a cultivator’s physique was strong and had a profound cultivation base, most of them were not deaf. Therefore, those with weak minds and will would still be distracted by factors in their environments regardless of how high their cultivation bases were.
The wave-like sound technique from the flood-grade Nine String Zither swept toward the hunchbacked old man.
The more the old man listened to the melody, the angrier he became. In the end, he decided to attack with all his strength.
Boom!
With just a palm strike, he destroyed the sound waves. The gap between their strengths was too big after all.
“This…” Conch fell to the ground from the impact. She saw the green palm seal shooting toward her and turned away instinctively even though she was not afraid.
Just as the palm seal was about to crush Conch into meaty pulp…
Bang!
The hunchbacked old man was sent flying by a blue light. He spun like a windmill for 100 meters before he suddenly vanished into thin air.
Conch opened her eyes. She blinked, in a daze, as she muttered, “I… I didn’t die?” She touched her face, her arms, and her legs. Everything was fine.
When Conch finally looked up, she saw a figure standing in front of her. Although she could only see the person’s back, the feeling it brought her was like that of Mount Tai; tall and unmoving. The person in front of her stood with his hands on his back, his gaze trained up ahead.
Conch was incredibly curious. She tilted her head slightly to the side to take a look. As it turned out, it was a young man. Then, she said politely, “Thank you for saving me, young sir.”
Lu Zhou ignored Conch and stared at the place where the hunchbacked old man had disappeared. Nevertheless, he thought to himself that it was fine to address him as mister, but was there a need to add the word ‘young’ in front?
Seeing that the person in front of her did not respond, Conch opened her mouth, ready to thank him again.
However, at this moment, a figure flew over from the roof nearby and said, “Junior sister, don’t be rude…”
“Second Senior Brother?”
“Why aren’t you paying respect to master?” Yu Shangrong asked.
Conch was baffled.
Lu Zhou naturally did not have time to explain to Conch. With a light tap of his toes, he flew into the air.
Conch stammered, “S-second Senior Brother, are you joking?”
Yu Shangrong smiled and said, “Do I look like someone who likes to joke?”
“T-that’s not what I meant… That… T-that’s really master?” Conch asked as she pointed into the distance.
Yu Shangrong nodded before he flew to stand next to Conch. “That’s right. Master found a sacred item that provided him with a lot of vitality energy.”
An expression of shock and disbelief appeared on Conch’s face. She found this hard to accept.
Meanwhile, Si Wuya had also arrived at this time and landed in front of his two fellow disciples. “Where’s master?”
Yu Shangrong pointed at the sky in the northern part of the royal palace.
Si Wuya turned around and glanced at the Conch. “I only knew the intruder had made a move when I heard the sound of the Nine String Zither.”
Conch asked, “Seventh Senior Brother, have you seen master’s appearance?”
Si Wuya said, “I don’t have time to explain to you now. Master’s identity is very special. Don’t tell anyone about this; it’s enough for us fellow disciples to know about it.”
Before the incident with the Lu clan, there was no real need to hide Lu Zhou’s youthful appearance. However, it seemed like not hiding it now would attract unnecessary trouble.
“Okay.” Conch nodded.
Following that, Si Wuya rushed into the distance as well.
Yu Shangrong did not make a move. Instead, he said tonelessly, “Little Junior Sister, you don’t look too happy.”
“Master seems to… dislike me slightly…” Conch muttered.
Yu Shangrong smiled slightly and said, “Don’t think too much. You entered the sect last so, among all of us, you understand master the least. This is how master treats everyone.”
“Is that so?”
“Even master’s favorite, Ninth Junior Sister, would get scolded sometimes. You just haven’t seen it yet…” Yu Shangrong said.
Bang!
A red dragon flew over at this moment.
Little Yuan’er flew over on the Nirvana Sash. After she landed on a rock, she said, “There’s no such thing! Second Senior Brother is spreading rumors again! Where’s master?”
Yu Shangrong. “???”
Yu Shangrong thought Conch would still be said. However, she seemed to have met a long-lost friend. She flew into the air and rushed over to Little Yuan’er and said in a conspiratorial tone, “Ninth Senior Sister, let me tell you a secret! Master has become younger! No, he has become young!”
Little Yuan ‘er scratched her head, unable to understand these words.
Yu Shangrong gently shook his head and said, “Both of you, be careful.”
Following that, Yu Shangrong flew into the air with movements as light as a swallow in search of the intruder.
…
After Lu Zhou rose high into the sky at the northernmost part of the royal palace, he observed his surroundings and sniffed the air. He followed the scent, flying to the left and sometimes to the right before he suddenly came to a halt.
The surroundings were quiet.
Lu Zhou was certain the rat was in the vicinity and could not have run far. The direction of the Political Announcement Hall was littered with experts while the Dao inscriptions on the palace walls had been activated. Most importantly, he knew the scent of the energy was the most intense here thanks to the power of smell from the Heavenly Writing.
Lu Zhou said in a low voice, “Do you think you can escape from me?”
