Chapter 69: Lu Xuanwu, Fisherman Lantern Festival

Speaking of this, Lu Xuanwu's expression became wary, even showing a hint of panic.

"That White Bone Army covered the mountains and plains. Just a rough estimate, there were at least several thousand of them. I used all my strength to barely make it back, but I don't know how County Lieutenant Long is doing now."

"County Lieutenant Long should be fine now. He returned to the Inner City once before, but left in a hurry again," Sun Qianzhao said.

After returning today, his servant told him that Long Yuesheng had come looking for him, but left directly after learning he wasn't there.

He had asked the servant, and at that time, County Lieutenant Long had no injuries on him, just looking a bit travel-worn.

Lu Xuanwu nodded, his hanging heart relaxing slightly.

"In any case, notify all parties to be prepared. I suspect this may be the precursor to the Weirdness Tide. I'm afraid it won't be long before the Weirdness Tide erupts."

Hearing this, everyone was shocked. Weirdness Tide!

This was truly a very distant name. Heishan City hadn't had a Weirdness Tide eruption for decades.

But according to records, every eruption of the Weirdness Tide was accompanied by a large number of casualties.

Especially for people in gangs like them, who usually acted like tyrants; once the Weirdness Tide erupted, they would definitely be on the front lines as cannon fodder.

Although most of those who died were ordinary gang members, they also needed to personally deal with some high-level weirdness.

And with so many weirdnesses in the Weirdness Tide, who knew if they would be surrounded and killed?

Lu Xuanwu wasn't surprised by everyone's reaction, but he was still somewhat disappointed.

Back in the day, when he was still in the Copper Bell Sect, he was just a small second-rate martial artist, yet he dared to go to the area where the Weirdness Tide erupted with his senior brothers. He didn't know how many times he had been through life and death! If it weren't for being limited by his talent, with the ruthlessness he had back then, he would never have settled here.

And even so, he still became a Grandmaster-level expert.

Among these people, almost everyone had higher talent than him, but not one had achieved the Grandmaster level.

Except for Qin Jiang.

He looked at Qin Jiang, seeing some worry in his eyes, but no shrinking back. This alone was stronger than he was now.

"According to the rules of the past, our Red Tiger Gang is responsible for the South City. You all assist Head of Hall Qin well and don't lose the face of the Red Tiger Gang."

Yes, he had never thought that Heishan City could keep the city walls from breaking under the attack of the Weirdness Tide.

He had experienced several Weirdness Tides, and without top-tier combat power, it was almost impossible to keep the city walls from breaking.

Every time, there would be a large number of civilian casualties.

It was precisely because the Great Xia had so many cities—nearly a thousand—and the Huai Kingdom and surrounding countries had always been eyeing them covetously, that the Weirdness Tide didn't seem like a major disaster.

"Subordinate understands! I will definitely do my best to assist Head of Hall!" Kong Hai spoke straightforwardly, without the slightest hesitation.

The others also expressed that they would do their best.

"Good. Since that's the case, please return, gentlemen. This old man needs to rest," Lu Xuanwu said.

After everyone left, he sat in the chair, his body relaxing slightly, as if all his energy and spirit had been drained in an instant, his complexion turning gray and defeated.

He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed gently, faintly seeing a touch of bright red.

He stood up and walked to the clothes rack on the side, where there was a black night-traveling garment. He had been wearing this when he blew the whistle earlier.

He came to the pillar beside the clothes rack, pressed his palm gently against it, and a burst of force instantly spread across the pillar.

A rustling sound of falling debris rang out, and the pillar in front of him gradually turned into sand and scattered on the ground, revealing what was inside.

It was a seven-meter great spear, black all over, engraved with tiger-shaped patterns.

He picked up the great spear, his fingertips stroking it gently, his eyes filled with memories, "Old partner, I don't know if there's still a chance to fight one more battle."

He carried the great spear back to the chair and sat down, laying it across his legs. Looking outside, the moonlight was gone, obscured by dark clouds, and the entire courtyard appeared dim.

"There will be... there should be one time..."

A few days later, Anxin Villa, Meng An directed the crowd to send the antiques and old items in.

These were the last batch he could buy with money. Heishan City hadn't been completely scavenged, but at most, only some items of particularly high value remained.

Plus, a large part of them had joined the Local Family Alliance, backed by big trees, so he couldn't rob them openly and could only wait for his boss to have time to make a trip personally.

*Creak~* The wooden door opened, and Qin Jiang walked out. The Black Gold Auspicious Cloud Robe covered his sturdy physique, making him look only somewhat tall.

His shoulder-length hair had also been trimmed to shoulder length, scattered casually, giving him the air of a refined young master, but with a hint of wildness hidden within.

"Boss, they are all here for now. These are the remaining handbooks, all in the hands of some families in the city."

Meng An handed over a booklet, and Qin Jiang took it to flip through.

It recorded the antiques and old items owned by each family. The quantity wasn't large, totaling only a hundred or so pieces.

After putting the booklet away, he looked at the three piles of antiques and old items in the courtyard. The one on the left was the largest, the middle one was slightly less, and the one on the right was the smallest, with only a dozen or so pieces.

Meng An pointed to them and said, "Boss, the one on the far left is what we collected ourselves. The pile in the middle was sent by the Xu family's eldest daughter, and the acquisition price was 70% lower than the market price.

As for the one on the far right, it's according to what you said—those with that kind of pattern, sixteen pieces in total."

Qin Jiang's eyes moved, "Yanran even sent some over specially?"

Meng An nodded, "Not just some, these are probably 90% of the Xu family's inventory!"

Qin Jiang smiled and didn't say anything more. He walked to the far right, picked one up—it was a curved bronze fragment, looking like part of a bronze jar.

Unfortunately, this one had no potential points.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. A relatively complete bronze beast-pattern mask caught his eye.

Picking up the mask, 【Potential points absorbing... 0.2, 0.3, 0.4】

【Potential Points: 318.6】

It was even more than the previous Nightmare Beast Pattern bronze mask! He carefully observed this beast pattern; it was somewhat different from the Nightmare Beast pattern he had seen before.

That Nightmare Beast pattern looked like a lion, while this mask looked more like a tiger.

Without thinking further, his palm brushed over the remaining pieces.

【Potential Points: 336.8】

Sure enough, these antiques from the Ancient Yu Kingdom contained more potential points than ordinary antiques and old items.

If he had time, he would have to learn more about this Ancient Yu Kingdom.

Without stopping, he touched the remaining two piles in turn.

【Potential Points: 398.2】

Qin Jiang's eyes couldn't help but feel excited. He was less than two points away from the four-hundred mark! Once he scavenged all these families in the city again, he should be able to gather five hundred potential points.

*Knock, knock, knock. *

A knock sounded. Qin Jiang turned his head to look and saw Xu Yanran standing beside the door. The hand knocking on the wooden door hadn't been put down yet, and a section of her arm was exposed, looking like mutton-fat jade.

Today, she seemed to have dressed up specially, wearing a pink skirt, her temperament gentle and refined, just like when they first met.

"Young Master Qin, you promised to come pick up Yanran, how could you forget? Could it be that you've even forgotten about accompanying Yanran to the Fisherman Lantern Festival?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 70 =====