Chapter 50

Lu Shaohui is dead!?

"Uncle Chen, are you sure it's this name?"

"If I remember it, there won't be a mistake, unless someone else recognized it wrong and the name told to me is also wrong. What's wrong, Ashui, you don't know him, do you?"

"I know him, but my relationship with him isn't very good, we could say there's a bit of a rift."

Liang Qu returned home, burdened with worries.

There are only three martial arts halls in town, and martial artists are a rarity; there definitely aren't so many that there would be people with the same name.

Lu Shaohui was not as responsible as Hu Qi, and in the conflict a few days ago, he did nothing at all, highlighting his dereliction of duty.

But as a "substitute," there was nothing that could be done to him, and he actually died just like that...

Did he die two days ago and was discovered today, or did he die just today?

Liang Qu thought of this question.

Lu Shaohui hadn't appeared at the martial arts hall for the past two days. The timing was right after the conflict broke out and he left that day. After it was over, Hu Qi wanted to find him but couldn't.

No, it's still early, I have to go see.

Thinking that the matter might be related to himself, Liang Qu went to Uncle Chen's house to borrow a wooden bucket, wrapped the great demon feather in a damp linen cloth, stuffed it into the bucket filled with water, and hurried toward Pingyang Town.

Whether it was the dinner party in the evening or finding his senior brothers to see what use the great demon feather had, he couldn't avoid going to town today.

The matter was urgent. The sixteen-li journey was completed by Liang Qu in just two and a half quarters of an hour. He pricked up his ears on the street.

"I heard that was a martial artist, actually dying in a dilapidated temple, too terrifying."

"That's not right, the news I heard said it was just a martial artist, but having broken through the three passes, he was about to become a martial artist."

"Anyway, it's not an ordinary person. Actually dying so miserably, the entire abdominal cavity was hollowed out. I heard the coroner say it might have been eaten by some monster, anyway, it wasn't done by a human."

"Monster, no way, then aren't we miserable? Will it eat us?"

"Just you, all skin and bones, even the monster would find you hard on the teeth."

Every teahouse and foot shop was talking about Lu Shaohui's death.

Liang Qu stopped a tea doctor: "Buddy, I want to ask, which dilapidated temple did the martial artist Lu you mentioned die in? Is it convenient to point the way?"

The tea doctor asked with a smile: "Guest, want a bowl of tea?"

"No need for tea, I'm in a hurry." Liang Qu handed out five coins.

"Thank you." The tea doctor laughed and put it into his money bag, pulled Liang Qu to the street, and pointed into the distance, "Look over there, do you see that Huang Family Cloth Shop?"

"Mm."

"Walk along the small path behind the Huang Family Cloth Shop, about two li, you can see a wide mud road. That was the bluestone road in front of the temple before, left behind after the bluestone slabs were dismantled. Follow the road for a quarter of an hour and you'll be there."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, come often for tea when you're free."

Liang Qu didn't go to the dilapidated temple. He turned and went to the third senior brother's shop. Cao Shixiong Lu's blacksmith shop happened to be on the road to the Huang Family Cloth Shop, so he happened to go ask what the great demon feather was for first.

"Cao Shixiong Lu!"

"Liang Shidi Liang? Why are you here now? You didn't change your mind about wanting to change the spearhead style, did you?"

"No, I found something while fishing on the boat last night, it's a bit hot to handle, so I thought I'd let Cao Shixiong Lu help me see what it is."

"Hot to handle?"

Lu Gang saw the linen cloth in Liang Qu's hand and got up from in front of the furnace: "Come, come inside with me."

Inside the quiet room.

Lu Gang closed the door and took the linen package Liang Qu handed over. When his palm could still feel the scorching heat through the damp linen, he looked surprised: "It really is quite hot to handle."

"Hehe."

Liang Qu helped lift the linen, and the high temperature emitted by the golden-red feather distorted the air.

Lu Gang's pupils shrank slightly: "Red Fire Mourning Feather?"

"Cao Shixiong Lu, you recognize it?"

Lu Gang looked back subconsciously, and after seeing the door was closed, asked in a low voice: "Where did you get this?"

Liang Qu told the process of the two demons fighting the night before last and discovering the bird feather the next day, except he changed the discovery of the two beasts to his own fishing discovery.

"Liang Shidi Liang, I don't know what to say about your luck." Lu Gang sighed, "Do you know how this Red Bird Mourning Feather came to be?"

"How did it come to be?"

"I can't determine what kind of monster that great demon in the water is, but that giant fire bird you mentioned must be a Red Fire Bird."

"Red Fire Birds have extremely tenacious vitality. Whenever they encounter fatal danger, they will inject their entire life essence into a part of their feathers and scatter them in all directions to escape."

"In that part of the feathers, there will be one with the most life essence. It will use this feather to complete its rebirth, somewhat similar to a gecko breaking its tail, except it breaks its entire body."

"Then this one of mine..." Liang Qu looked expectant.

Lu Gang laughed: "Naturally, it can't be the one that wants to achieve nirvana, otherwise you and I wouldn't be able to get close to this feather at all."

"Alright."

"Liang Shidi Liang, don't be ungrateful. A Red Fire Bird scatters a dozen or twenty feathers at a time. With its size, even if it's not the main one, it's still a quite astonishing part of its life essence."

"What can it be used for?"

"It can help with cultivation, but I estimate it's very difficult for you to absorb the energy inside. Life essence containing fire attributes is relatively violent. Unless you are now a martial artist who has broken through the three passes, I don't suggest trying."

"Moreover, if the energy in the feather isn't replenished, it will dissipate very quickly. So I suggest guiding its life energy out all at once to act as charcoal for forging weapons. I have an eighty percent certainty that I can add spirituality to the weapon."

Spiritual weapon?

This was the first time Liang Qu heard this term.

"Weapons with spirituality are extremely rare because materials like Red Fire Mourning Feathers are very difficult to obtain. An adult Red Fire Bird must at least be captured by a Perfected Form martial artist, and even then, it's not certain it can be caught because Red Fire Birds can fly, often requiring two or three Perfected Form martial artists to surround and capture it."

"The most important feature of a spiritual weapon is that it will self-repair and grow. As long as there are materials of the same origin around it, it can absorb them to repair itself. A gap the size of a fingernail can be healed in ten days or so."

"Even weapons forged from the best materials are inevitably worn down after long use. Most martial artists who can make you use weapons to fight are of the same level, and the ones they use aren't bad either. When the two collide, it's very easy to have gaps."

"Like your fourth senior brother, he has come to me to change I don't know how many swords, and every time he pays, he's stingy."

Lu Gang, who had always been steady in his speech, had a rare fluctuation in his tone.

"Then use it to forge my long spear."

Liang Qu made a prompt decision. It was difficult for him to hold this thing with his bare hands, let alone absorb the energy inside. Rather than leaving it to waste, it was better to strike while the iron was hot.

It was picked up by chance anyway, so he couldn't ask for too much. Changing to a spiritual weapon was worth more than the price.

"Alright, then I'll prepare as soon as possible, Liang Shidi Liang, sit down first."

"No, I still have things to do, I'll go out first and come back later."

"That's fine."

"By the way, Cao Shixiong Lu, do you know Lu Shaohui?"

"Lu Shaohui? Have a bit of an impression, from our martial arts hall? He's a two-pass martial artist, right?"

Lu Gang pondered for a while. He made a living by blacksmithing and basically didn't need to hold a position in the martial arts hall to earn money, so he didn't understand much, and his impression was vague.

"Yes, but since Cao Shixiong Lu isn't familiar, forget it."

"What happened?"

"He died."