Chapter 2167.1: Seeing Dao
The southern quadrant of Dark City was the capital’s center of commerce. Filled with shops and vendors, it thronged with boisterous crowds. Nearly half of the capital’s shops were concentrated in the southern quadrant; it was also the commercial hub for Darklake Empire as a whole.
Apart from the Lu Clan, the other six major families all had storefronts in the quadrant.
Bam!
A muffled explosion rang from a magnificent pagoda that seemed more like an abode for fairies than a shop. Its lavish doors blew out in an explosion of shards as a person sailed through them, shocking the passersby on the streets.
“Ah, isn’t that the general manager of the Ouyang trading company? Who’s beat him up like this?” someone gasped when they recognized the man.
“As much as the Ouyangs have suffered over the past few days, they still possess deep foundations and are one of the seven great families of the empire. Who dares stir up trouble in their storefront and cripple their general manager?” A crowd gathered and registered the scene with shock and surprise.
They could clearly see a large hole in the general manager’s dantian. His golden core was broken and his cultivation of latter golden core was no more.
The demise of Ouyang Baitian and the others was no small blow to the family, but they were a massive entity in the empire at the end of the day. Their business ran back thousands of years and no one knew how many nascent soul powerhouses existed among the clan.
“This young master just wants to start a tab for a few million upper spirit rank stones. How dare you hem and haw and not jump to it? Have you had enough of living?!” A lordly voice echoed from the headquarters of the Ouyang trading company. “Damn you’re poor. How does the vaunted general manager of the Ouyang trading company have only two thousand paramount spirit stones in his storage ring?”
The crowd collectively shuddered when they heard the imperious voice.
“Lu Yun? Has he lost his mind? How dare he start things in the Ouyang headquarters? Is Marshal Lu Tianling declaring war on the Ouyang Clan?” Hard swallows could be heard throughout the assembly.
“What’s going on here?!” A contingent of soldiers dressed in black armor cut through the crowd. They were led by a handsome man in his early twenties; there was a swipe of blue in the center of his forehead.
Twenty-three soldiers followed behind him—the city guards of the southern quadrant. Their leader was Captain Ouyang Shenghe.
He flew into a rage to see his family’s own trading headquarters be smashed in and the general manager crippled. However, he didn’t rush into brash action. Ouyang Xuan, the general manager, had been latter golden core. If someone of that caliber had been crippled, this was no place or time for him to charge in without second thought.
“Lu Yun!” He found the scavenging Lu Yun in the center of the storefront when he swept it with his consciousness.
“Aiyoyo, I wondered who’d come! So it’s the honorable Master Ouyang Shenghe of the city guards! This young master has failed to welcome you properly, please don’t fault me for it,” Lu Yun responded jeeringly as he continued to search through the wreckage.
Formations and restrictions abounded in the building, but this level of deterrence was as good as nothing to Lu Yun. A few simple hand seals were sufficient to dismantle formations that could withstand a full strength blow from a latter golden core powerhouse.
“Oh? A Profound Exalted Stone? This is fifth rank material, nice!” Lu Yun waved aside a restriction and took out a jade-green stone the size of a fist. He grinned merrily at it.
“Go, stop them!” Ouyang Shenghe set aside caution when he saw that it was Lu Yun. He charged in with his men, fully on guard against the young man’s deathsworn. Both the Ouyangs and Yuwens knew that his bodyguard was playing the pig to eat the tiger—he was at least latter golden core!
Ouyang Shenghe rushed in to find almost pure rubble. The first floor had been decimated and some of the storage rooms had been blown out. If it wasn’t for a powerful formation protecting the entire building, the Ouyang trading headquarters might already be level ground by now.
It’d been Ouyang Baiyi holding down the fort at headquarters. With his demise a few days ago and the rest of the nascent soul Ouyang elders preoccupied elsewhere, the clan was yet to assign someone to take his place. Thus, Lu Yun sauntered in to take advantage of the opening.
More than thirty percent of the clan’s wealth was concentrated at these headquarters—and that was just in terms of spirit stones! Its stores of natural treasures, precious ores, weapons and equipment, talismans, and pills were too precious to be assessed.
Lu Yun rushed in like a starving wolf in a herd of sheep and plundered everything he set eyes on, leaving nothing behind.
“Good thing this young master brought enough storage rings today! Just one wouldn’t be enough to hold so much stuff!” Lu Yun gleefully strung a bunch of storage rings together and hung them around his neck.
Storage ring capacity was limited and his were the most premier of their kind in Darklake. They held nine meters worth of stuff at most, but how could nine meters contain all of the treasures and wealth at the Ouyang trading headquarters?
Ouyang Shenghe’s eyes spat fire. There were five floors to the building and three of them had been emptied out. Not even a feather was left on the ground! He finally saw Lu Yun when he raced to the fourth floor with his men. The Lu young master was dressed in white robes and directed six inscrutable cultivators dressed in black in destroying the restrictions on the fourth floor.
Lu Xuan stood behind his master, the hint of a smile playing on his aloof face.
“Stop!” Ouyang Shenghe was about to lose his mind. He was grinding his teeth so hard that his gums were nearly bleeding.
The family could recover the lost wealth if they took a stand. If they demanded justice from the imperial family, they could wrest it all back from the Lu Clan. But the formations and restrictions being destroyed were the product of thousands of years of painstaking work. The methods for some of their formations had been lost to time!
“Continue, ignore him,” Lu Yun waved at his men.
“You court death!” Enormous energy ripples burst out of Ouyang Shenghe and he pushed off both feet, barreling toward Lu Yun.
“Piss off!” Lu Yun snorted and slightly shifted to the side, adroitly evading his attacker. He kicked out his leg and stomped on Ouyang Shenghe’s face.
Pfft!
Ouyang Shenghe flew back just as swiftly as he came, nose bleeding and teeth broken.
“A puny latter foundation establishment dares throw his weight around this young master? That old fellow was right, Ouyang Shenghe is trash.” Lu Yun lifted his head proudly while the remaining twenty-three city guards looked on with shock.
Three months ago, Ouyang Shenghe had beaten young master Lu to the point of the latter being unable to get up. His life hung by a thread, but now he was able to send Ouyang Shenghe flying with one kick?
Ouyang Shenghe was latter foundation establishment, but Lu Yun was just qi refinement!
“There’s no need to be so surprised. If Ouyang Shengxiang can beat up a foundation establishment cultivator, there’s no reason why a stunning genius such as this young master cannot.” Lu Yun flipped his long hair and flicked out a talisman. It streaked into a ray of yang metal energy and smashed into a critical node of the wood attribute formation in front of him. The active formation shattered with a roar.
Dressed in black outfits and equipped with Transformation Jade, Yu Qianhua and the others curled their lips. Ouyang Shengxiang had been personally tutored by Bloodbath and hailed from an august clan. Of course she was no ordinary person.
The foundation establishment cultivator she’d beaten up was just a northern quadrant civilian. He’d been lucky enough to establish his foundations, but remained at initial foundation establishment without any cultivation methods. His usage of true origin was crude and he knew only the most basic of techniques. How was he a match for Ouyang Shengxiang?
Meanwhile, Lu Yun’s opponent was Ouyang Shenghe, a latter foundation establishment who’d received tempering in the army.
Yu Qianhua and the others understood that this seemingly useless wastrel was actually a genius who’d hidden himself well. They’d committed to memory Bloodbath’s assessment of Lu Yun.
After breaking the final formation of yi wood, the fourth floor was open to their plundering. All of the rooms were leveled and Lu Yun even located some hidden formations.
“Let’s go to the fifth floor.” Lu Yun peered down his nose at the bedraggled Ouyang Shenghe, struggling to crawl up from the ground.
Revenge? Of course he was going to have his revenge. But so what if he crippled the Ouyang young master or even killed him? Having him wish for death was the true revenge.
Plus, it was more useful to have him alive for the moment.
“Captain…” The twenty-three city guards didn’t know what to do as they watched their leader crumple into a heap on the ground.
“Stop them and kill the six in black. As bold as Lu Yun is, he doesn’t have the guts to attack the city guard!” A few more teeth fell out of Ouyang Shenghe’s mouth as he spoke.
The city guards looked at each other with rueful smiles. Didn’t dare attack the city guard? Then what was with the teeth that just fell out of your mouth, second young master Ouyang?
However, they didn’t dare defy direct orders. Shoving and pushing each other, they came to the fifth floor as well.
“I recommend that none of you stick your noses in this,” Lu Yun said coldly, casting sidelong glances at the twenty-three guards that’d just come upstairs.
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