Chapter 111

Qinghe City, a grand mansion.

The plaque in front of the gate had not yet been hung.

The Zhang family's businesses were spread across more than half of Anning Prefecture, and Qinghe was naturally no exception.

The neighbors near this mansion all knew it had been bought, but no one knew it was the famous Zhang family.

A gorgeous carriage stopped in front of the mansion.

The coachman called out a reminder:

"Master Zhang, we have arrived."

Lifting the carriage curtain.

Zhang Hao stepped down from the carriage, reeking of alcohol.

"Wei Ming, he is indeed a formidable character."

He had rushed to Qinghe precisely for the drinking party he had managed to arrange for tonight.

He had just met with Wei Ming.

That Garrison Commander of the Annan Army was also a straightforward character, and they were already calling each other brothers.

This was a good start.

Just as Zhang Hao stepped off the carriage, he saw the steward standing at the gate, pacing back and forth anxiously.

"Hmm?"

Zhang Hao's brows furrowed slightly.

He had previously told the steward to stay put and come to Qinghe to meet up after the carriage was repaired.

Now, the steward looked burdened with worries.

"Could it be that the goods were lost?"

Thinking of this, Zhang Hao stepped forward in two or three strides and snorted coldly: "What happened?"

Seeing it was Second Master Zhang, the steward hurriedly trotted forward: "Sec-Second Master."

Seeing his hesitant appearance.

Zhang Hao was even more displeased and said loudly: "Speak!"

The steward's legs went weak, and he almost knelt down directly, his face full of sorrow:

"It's... Third Young Master."

"Third Young Master took some people into the woods, saying he wanted to hunt, but he hasn't returned after a whole night."

"I'm afraid... I'm afraid something has happened."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Hao's brows actually relaxed: "The goods weren't lost?"

The steward was stunned, then nodded repeatedly as if grabbing a life-saving straw: "Not lost, not lost."

Zhang Hao nodded: "As long as they aren't lost, since the person is missing, then send people to find him."

"Trembling over such a small matter, it's truly shameful!"

"Alright, I'm going to rest."

After saying this, he passed the steward and walked into the mansion with long strides.

The steward's expression became complex.

"The Second Master is truly heartless."

Between fathers and sons in wealthy households, most of the time it is only superficial filial piety.

The Zhang family's Second Master, Zhang Hao, was even more so.

He was ruthless to his seven sons, beating and scolding them at every turn, and showing very little concern.

According to his own words, this was called raising wolves.

Zhang Hao had the nickname "Vicious Wolf" in the Jianghu; he actually liked this very much, believing it was an acknowledgment of his strength.

He was a vicious wolf, and his sons were naturally wolf cubs.

Zhang Hao never cared about infighting between brothers.

He only cared about whether one could kill their way out to become the wolf king.

If one couldn't become the wolf king, then one wasn't worthy of being his son; since they weren't his sons, there was no need to waste effort on them—Zhang He's safety wasn't even worth as much as a cart of goods.

Qinghe Branch.

Li Residence.

A candle flame lit up.

Li Rui had climbed over the wall to return; he threw the blood-stained clothes into a fire basin, and the flames rose, swallowing the clothes in a short while and turning them into ashes.

"They were Zhang family people."

When he was disposing of the corpses, he had conveniently searched the items on those people.

Among them were the Zhang family's waist tokens.

Only then did he know that these people were all Zhang family servants, and that arrogant young man was the son of the Zhang family's Second Master.

"I heard from Zhang Yang that the Zhang family has been quite active in Qinghe recently."

"It seems the Zhang family also wants to get a share of the spoils in Qinghe."

This was very normal.

It wasn't just the Zhang family.

Soon, Qinghe would gather one alliance, two gangs, and three families, and even many forces from Anning Prefecture would come, just a bit slower than these parties.

"Qinghe is becoming more and more lively." What is meant by crouching tigers and hidden dragons?

Qinghe was about to realize it.

As for the Zhang family seeking revenge?

Li Rui was not worried.

There was no human habitation for a hundred miles in the deep mountains, and he had been cautious in his actions; after tonight, the corpses would be gnawed clean by wolves, and even a divine investigator would be helpless.

Unless the Zhang family had the ability to tell fortunes.

Otherwise, it was impossible for them to find him.

Fortune telling?

Li Rui had even analyzed this; there were indeed people in the world who could divine heavenly secrets, but they were certainly not people a small Zhang family could afford to hire.

Therefore, he was very safe now.

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The Zhang family people died in vain.

Li Rui didn't delay either. After all, staying overnight wasn't safe.

He still had quite a bit of the medicine from Han Qin's formula left, which was almost enough to use.

He didn't have the stupid villain's habit of hiding treasure and waiting for people to come to his door.

That night.

He ground up the Spirit Soil, and to prevent the medicinal power from being too fierce and causing him to explode and die, he specifically took it in batches.

Only after ensuring he could withstand the next dose of medicinal power did he continue to take it.

Once, twice, three times...

By the time he had eaten all the Spirit Soil, it was already noon the next day.

Li Rui hadn't slept all night.

But his spirits were very high.

He was now at the Jade Bone Realm, one step away from Willow Sinew; according to the stories, it should be called Half-Step Willow Sinew Great Perfection.

And he had realized true qi in advance, and was even already attempting to condense qi into form.

These were things only Seventh-Rank Willow Sinew Realm experts could do.

Condensing qi into form was something only those martial artists with deep accumulation in the Willow Sinew Realm could do.

Li Rui was currently getting on the bus first and buying the ticket later.

What he lacked for Willow Sinew was just the accumulation of qi and blood; translated, it meant he hadn't practiced long enough and hadn't eaten enough medicine.

Others worried about nourishing qi when their qi and blood were sufficient; he was the opposite.

Perhaps this was the trouble of a genius?

After finishing everything, he pushed open the door with a refreshed mood.

Yang Yong and Wang Zhao were actually both standing outside the door.

Seeing Li Rui finally come out, Yang Yong smiled: "Old Li, you're getting on in years, you should still stay up late less often in the future."

He and Wang Zhao had seen the light in Li Rui's room on all night.

Generally speaking.

Li Rui would get up at the hour of the dragon and practice martial arts in the courtyard; they were long used to this, but today, the door had remained tightly closed for the first time ever.

He didn't even practice martial arts.

This made Yang Yong and Wang Zhao panic, fearing that Li Rui had passed away from old age.

Wang Zhao had almost crashed through the door to rush in several times.

In the end, he was stopped by Yang Yong.

Old Li was, after all, a person who practiced martial arts; he had heard that this situation was very likely a critical moment in closed-door cultivation, and rushing in rashly at this time would instead cause Li Rui to suffer qi deviation.

Wang Zhao was left stunned by Yang Yong's mysterious theory, so he had no choice but to patiently wait and see.

Thus, the two of them paced back and forth in front of Li Rui's door.

Finally.

Li Rui pushed open the door.

After hearing Yang Yong recount their mental journey, he smiled faintly.

Those were all stories made up by storytellers for the sake of plot twists.

A martial artist's strength exceeds a thousand jin, their qi and blood are as fierce as a bull, and they are incredibly robust.

How could they suffer qi deviation from being slightly startled?

Unless it were a sneak attack, that might be possible.

Li Rui shook his head, patted both of them on the shoulder to show comfort, and then strode out of the mansion.

"I ate too much Spirit Soil, I need to find a few herbs to aid digestion."

With that thought, he got to work.

He told Yang Yong and Wang Zhao he was going out for a walk.

Then he strode out of the courtyard and headed toward the black market.

(End of chapter)