Chapter 39: Chapter 36 Finally Got Rewards_1
Lu Yan began to ponder the truth of Fu Sheng’s words, eventually concluding that they should be true. Still, it wasn’t exactly a major secret concealed from the world. After all, the Wei Family had always wanted to annihilate the two feudal lords of Changfeng City, or at least weaken them significantly.
The Li’an County, where the Wei family has established its dominance, has numerous feudal lords of the Martial Marquis level. On the surface, it seemed that the Wei Family governed them, but in actuality, they were entirely independent.
They had the power to control life and death, establish laws in their jurisdiction, except owing annual tribute to the Wei Family.
The real number of Martial Marquis feudal lords who obeyed the Wei Family was not many.
The Liu Family and the Wu Family in Changfeng City were even more unique. Being two feudal lords in one city, they were mortal enemies on ordinary days, competing for resources and territories. They would love nothing more than to exterminate each other and monopolize Changfeng City and the two Blood Land Veins.
However, once an external enemy invaded, the two feudal lords would unite against their common foe.
Moreover, the power of the two feudal lords had grown stronger over the years, and it was perfectly normal for them to arouse the Wei Family’s vigilance. Lu Yan believed that the top brass of the Liu Family and the Wu Family were well aware of this.
However, it wouldn’t be easy for the Wei Family to wipe out the Liu Family and the Wu Family, because the Wei family also had their sworn enemies. If the Wei family squandered their forces in Changfeng City, their arch-enemy would surely seize the opportunity.
After understanding all this, Lu Yan stopped the brooding.
These days, wars and killings were happening everywhere, even if he left Changfeng City for other cities, he would still be confronted with warfare and crisis, which were simply inescapable.
The only thing he could do was to quickly raise his strength.
Under the cover of the dense night, Lu Yan carried the three bodies and found a remote, abandoned old house to dump them into a dry well, closing the case.
Returning home, he cleaned the bloodstains and continued to rest in his room.
The next day, Lu Yan went on his duty as a Red-clad Guard, acting as if nothing had happened.
Three days passed in a blink of an eye.
The deputy leader of the Linglan Chamber of Commerce’s guard team hadn’t been on duty or home for three days. Anyone would know there was something wrong.
The store manager of the Linglan Chamber of Commerce personally visited Fu Sheng’s home to inquire.
"When was the last time you saw Fu Sheng?"
The store manager asked Fu Sheng’s butler.
"Three evenings ago, the master said there was something he had to do, but he hasn’t returned since."
The butler sighed.
"Was there anything unusual before he left?"
The store manager asked.
"Unusual?"
The Butler recalled for a moment, adding, "If there’s anything unusual, it would be that the master left with the Xunxiang Sparrow, but later the Xunxiang Sparrow returned by itself; the master, however, didn’t."
"Xunxiang Sparrow, three days ago..."
An image flashed in the store manager’s mind. That figure had purchased a hundred pounds of Martial Food in one go.
With the store manager’s experience, he knew exactly what had happened.
"Fu Sheng got greedy and bit more than he could chew."
"Such audacity! If everyone behaves like this, can our Linglan Chamber of Commerce continue to operate?"
A murderous glint flashed in the store manager’s eyes. He summoned a subordinate and ordered, "Detain Fu Sheng’s family and gather all the guards. I want to execute him publicly to serve as a warning to others. Let’s see who dares to do anything like this."
"Yes, sir!"
Fu Sheng’s butler went pale and broke out in a cold sweat, not daring to move.
"Don’t worry, you’re not a member of Fu Sheng’s family, I won’t make things difficult for you. Where is the Xunxiang Sparrow?"
The store manager asked nonchalantly.
"I’ll take you to get it right away...I’ll take you to get it right away..."
The Butler started to lead the way, bowing and nodding. Very quickly, the Xunxiang Sparrow found itself in the hands of the Store Manager.
"While Fu Sheng is deserving of his fate, a person who treasured life and feared death might reveal something to preserve himself. So, it’s essential to find the person Fu Sheng was seeking."
A fierce glint flashed in the Store Manager’s eyes as he gently whistled, directing the Xunxiang Sparrow to show the way.
...
"Where exactly did things go wrong? Right, Dried Martial Food, why didn’t I think of Dried Martial Food?"
While patrolling the streets, Lu Yan, had a sudden streak of realization.
Over the past few days, he had been pondering how Fu Sheng managed to locate him, quite sure that he hadn’t been followed at that time.
After much thinking, he suddenly remembered the Dried Martial Food.
All this while, he had been focusing on being followed and overlooked the Dried Martial Food.
What if someone tampered with the Dried Martial Food and then tracked it?’
On Earth, in his previous life, they would simply install tracking devices for easy location. Although this world didn’t possess such high-tech equipment, it was, after all, an exceptional world of martial arts where certain special methods wouldn’t be unusual.
Lu Yan immediately found an excuse to ask Wang Lin for leave and hurried back home. He took out the remaining Dried Martial Food and began to examine it closely.
As expected, he found something unusual on a piece of Dried Martial Food.
There was a dried mark on the surface, which looked like it was formed by smearing some thick liquid onto it and then letting it dry.
When put under his nose, a faint scent was noticeable.
None of the other Dried Martial Food left such a trace.
"This is it."
Lu Yan concluded, took out a small knife, cut a small piece of the martial food along with the imprint, and then left his house to throw this piece into a smelly gutter.
Half an hour later, the Store Manager of the Linglan Chamber of Commerce was standing in front of the smelly drainage ditch in a daze.
.....
By the time he had finished eating one hundred catties of Dried Martial Food, two months had passed.
The progress of his Vajra Body was steady and fast, breaking through barriers and having achieved 92% mastery. He was not far from reaching the Peak of Perfection.
Without the Dried Martial Food, the amount he could gain from the Red-clad Guard every four days, and the Martial Food from his few visits to Wuke’s House, wasn’t enough.
But he had reservations about buying more Dried Martial Food from the Linglan Chamber of Commerce.
Fu Sheng’s disappearance definitely alarmed the big Store Manager of the Linglan Chamber of Commerce. This cunning person most likely inferred that Fu Sheng had succumbed to greed. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to guess.
If Lu Yan were to go again, wouldn’t he be easily watched?
Even with a disguise, he wouldn’t be safe.
But without the Dried Martial Food for cultivation, his progress would be as slow as a snail.
However, he came up with a solution very quickly.
He instructed the members of the Green Bamboo Gang to make several purchases from the Linglan Chamber of Commerce. Each person only bought one to two catties of Martial Food each time. It was unnoticeable and he didn’t have to worry about them embezzling more money.
Just like that, seven days later, the Vajra Body successfully broke through to the Peak of Perfection, unblocking all 288 meridians.
The positions of the meridians unblocked by the Vajra Body were different from those of Iron Thread Fist and Liuhe Kick.
The meridians unblocked by the Iron Thread Fist and Liuhe Kick were either concentrated in the hands or the feet.
The meridians unblocked by the Vajra Body were distributed evenly throughout the body.
As the unblocking of his meridians progressed, the speed at which he stored Qi-blood gradually and evenly increased, slowly nearing the peak of Limit Breaking.
However, after the Vajra Body had reached the Peak of Perfection, the speed of advancement slowed down considerably. A catty of fresh Martial Food, under the conditions of cultivation and Qi-blood accumulation, could only improve the progress by 0.3125%.
To reach the Transcendent state, he needed over 300 catties of fresh Martial Food and over 150 catties of Dried Martial Food.
So, two months later, when the silver tickets on Lu Yan were about to run out, the progress of the Vajra Body had only reached 70% of the Peak of Perfection.
There was still a long way to go before reaching the Transcendent state
And all that was left of his assets was less than 300 taels, even with the monthly salary from the Red-clad Guard.
Now, let alone the Dried Martial Food, he couldn’t even afford to go to Wuke’s House.
Lu Yan felt helpless and could only slow down his cultivation.
Luckily, in some time, the Green Bamboo Gang would gain some income which could support him a bit.
A little over ten days later, Li Quan sent him a dozen more antiques.
With no expectations, Lu Yan randomly picked something up for a look, but joy appeared on his face the next moment.
That’s because the Dao Book finally responded, flickering on and off.
Lu Yan picked up the dozen or so antiques to inspect one by one. Finally, he determined that a fist-sized, square bronze block had caused the abnormality in the Dao Book, revealing an appetite.
"After so long, I’ve finally found a piece of Dao Food."
Lu Yan was elated.
Ever since he took control of the Green Bamboo Gang, Li Quan had been bringing him a batch of collected antiques every month, but the Dao Book had never reacted.
He never thought that now he had finally found a piece.
"There really isn’t any particular pattern to it."
Lu Yan said, holding the bronze block in his hand for a close look.
The bronze block was engraved with primitive lines, resembling the image of a creature. However, because it had been exposed to the elements for so long, the image was somewhat blurred.
It bore no resemblance to the stone slabs or spheres he had acquired before.
When he concentrated, the illusion of the Dao Book emerged, swallowing the square bronze block and causing it to disappear.
The avatar of the Vajra Body then started to cultivate, with a strange glow surrounding it.
The progress started to rapidly increase, quickly reaching 100% of the Peak of Perfection and then break through to the Transcendent realm.
It remained at 12% of the Transcendent stage before stopping.
"The energy it contained was slightly more than the stone slab last time."
Lu Yan estimated internally.
This time, although the increase seemed less significant than the last, the former was only a third-rate martial art while this time it was a second-rate martial art that was advanced, requiring several times the energy.
