Chapter 166

New Year's Eve, 9:50 PM, Toudao Ridge Station.

Lu Dongjun still maintained the appearance of a guard and entered the platform.

Since arriving in Haichi Ridge, Wan Jinxian had acquired over seventy businesses for him, and now he had sold all these seventy-plus businesses to others.

The owners of each business were different, but every business had news of Lu Dongjun personally transferring them, and every news item had a photo.

Lu Dongjun didn't know where these photos came from, but he knew one thing: he had nothing left in Haichi Ridge.

He couldn't withdraw the hundreds of thousands of silver dollars in the bank, at least not in Haichi Ridge.

He had brought some scattered cash from the residence, and in the past few days, he had scoured over a thousand silver dollars from various places; these were the assets he could currently use.

What was lost could be found, but reputation wasn't so easy to find.

In Haichi Ridge, Lu Dongjun was shouted at by everyone. He had caused Haichi Ridge to fall into famine again when they were caught off guard, and even the residence he once lived in had been burned down by angry people.

Lu Dongjun wasn't a meticulous person, but he knew danger was approaching. He had intended to write a few more articles in the newspaper to let himself hold on in Haichi Ridge for a while longer.

But now he realized a problem: he couldn't hold on anymore.

The newspapers were harming him, the major sects were harming him, the major families were harming him, and even the ordinary people wouldn't tolerate him.

Although he didn't bring enough money, there was one thing he never left behind.

It was an anonymous, indefinite road pass that allowed Lu Dongjun to travel to any place in Puluo Province under any identity.

This was a right granted to wealthy families by the outer states. Lu Dongjun took out this road pass, and the ticket seller didn't ask a single question, immediately helping Lu Dongjun buy a ticket.

Passing through the ticket gate, Lu Dongjun walked toward the platform.

He had never taken a train alone, nor was he used to looking at the road signs on the platform. The platform seemed further away than usual.

Sparse pedestrians were getting on and off the train on the platform.

Lu Dongjun didn't buy a single-person cabin; that would be too eye-catching.

He found a seat by the window in the hard-seat carriage and sat down, covered his face with his top hat, and in the sound of the steam train's whistle, tried to let himself slowly calm down.

The last time he took a hard-seat train was with Lu Dongliang.

At that time, Lu Dongjun was just thirteen, had a fight with his father, was afraid his father would beat him, and secretly ran out of the house.

Lu Dongliang found him and said that if he wanted to run, he should run further.

At that time, Lu Dongliang especially loved to walk and always carried a road pass. He bought two hard-seat train tickets and took Lu Dongjun to Kudai Kan.

Kudai Kan was really a good place...

Actually, Lu Dongliang had always been very good to him.

Speaking of being the head of the family, everyone wanted to be, but following Lu Dongliang, the days of being the Second Master at home weren't bad either.

Why did he make a move on Lu Dongliang?

He only dared to think about it before; how did I have the guts?

Because of Zhuo Yuling?

She was very pretty, and her skills were good too.

But it wasn't like I hadn't seen women before.

Because of Wan Jinxian?

Ever since this bastard gained importance by my side, my days hadn't been peaceful.

It definitely had something to do with him, but it wasn't entirely his fault.

Is Lu Dongliang still alive?

If I sincerely admit my mistake to him, could this matter be smoothed over?

Why am I thinking about this?

*Woo-ooh~*

*Huff~ huff~ huff~*

The train had already started.

Lu Dongjun felt somewhat stuffy and took the top hat off his face.

The scenery outside the window slowly receded: houses, farmland, forests.

Lu Dongjun wanted to open the window to get some air, but he couldn't find the latch to open the window.

His mood was somewhat bad; he really wanted to punch the window and break it!

No, can't mess around; this wasn't the Lu family's special train.

On this kind of train, you can't cause trouble, especially not offend the conductor.

Amidst the restlessness, he suddenly discovered that the carriage was somewhat strange.

He was the only passenger in the carriage.

Impossible; when he got on the train, at least one-third of the seats in the carriage had people.

Where did everyone go?

*Clatter! *

The carriage door was pushed open, and a man wearing a gray suit, holding a cigarette in his hand, sat down in the row of seats next to him, across an aisle.

"Second brother, it's been a while."

Old Three He?

Lu Dongjun put the top hat in his hand on his head and prepared for a fight: "You've recognized the wrong person."

He Haisheng smiled: "Why bother? I've already recognized you; it's meaningless to keep pretending like this."

After speaking, He Haisheng handed a cigarette to Lu Dongjun: "Have a smoke."

Lu Dongjun didn't take it; he kept staring at the cigarette He Haisheng was holding that was half-smoked.

He Haisheng was a smoke cultivator. Based on the situation Lu Dongjun grasped, He Haisheng had seventh-layer cultivation.

Lu Dongjun was eighth-layer, clearly occupying an advantage.

But Lu Dongjun wouldn't underestimate the enemy.

Comparing schemes, Lu Dongjun's brain wasn't very sharp.

Comparing management, Lu Dongjun was half a waste.

Comparing fighting for one's life, Lu Dongjun didn't fear anyone.

When Lu Dongliang and He Yuxiu fought, he could find an opportunity to seriously injure Lu Dongliang in one move. Although he took advantage of the sneak attack, this also relied on his talent for capturing combat opportunities.

Monkey Qiu was on guard, yet he was still beaten by Lu Dongjun until he had no power to fight back, because Lu Dongjun's response was very appropriate. Of course, Duan Shaoxia's means were truly too special.

Today, facing He Haisheng, Lu Dongjun still had a clear response.

"Old Three He, I've fallen on hard times and just want to return to Green Water City to find a meal. We grew up together, and we don't have any grudges against each other. You shouldn't make things difficult for me at this time, right?"

Lu Dongjun said while observing the position of He Haisheng's seat.

He Haisheng took a deep drag on his cigarette and then exhaled it rapidly, his whole body shrouded in smoke.

"Since you mentioned grudges, there is one thing I really want to ask you. When you invited my brother to dinner, he got sick after returning home, broke out in a rash, and almost lost his life. Do you remember this?"

Lu Dongjun looked at the direction of the smoke and judged the wind direction in the carriage: "I remember. Your family wanted to pin this on me at the time, and I even told your sister He Yuxiu to her face that I didn't do it. Your sister believed me at the time."

He Haisheng nodded: "Actually, even I believed you at the time, until I came to Haichi Ridge this time and discovered that something wasn't right. The strategist by your side, Wan Jinxian, should be a disease cultivator, right?"

Lu Dongjun didn't speak again; the matter had been exposed.

He Haisheng continued: "My brother's illness at the time was almost incurable, but later he was cured by a foreigner."

"I thought he was a divine doctor from a foreign country, but later I found out after checking that he was a disease cultivator. His means of curing illness was to remove the root of the disease from the patient."

"I've thoroughly investigated this matter. The root of the disease removed by that foreigner was created by another disease cultivator. Disease cultivators are almost extinct in the world; how could it be such a coincidence that you have one by your side?"

Lu Dongjun shook his head: "You're talking about Wan Jinxian? He's not a disease cultivator; he's a poison cultivator."

He Haisheng bit his cigarette and smiled: "Second brother, now that it's come to this, you're still hiding it from me."

"If you hadn't run to Haichi Ridge to kill mosquitoes, our He family would have been kept in the dark."

"The mosquitoes in Haichi Ridge died of illness, not poison. In Puluo Province, who could make mosquitoes sick? Now that things have reached this point, what else do you..."

Lu Dongjun had nothing to say.

He threw a punch directly at He Haisheng.

This punch didn't hit He Haisheng's body, but a cloud of smoke; it seemed to have missed.

But Lu Dongjun knew clearly in his heart that this punch hadn't missed.

The smoke scattered; this was the seventh-layer technique of a smoke cultivator, which could allow the body to disperse into smoke and dissolve part of the attack.

But only part of it.

He Haisheng took this punch from Lu Dongjun directly; it was really painful.

The smoke moved in the carriage and suddenly disappeared.

Lu Dongjun looked around, and the smoke suddenly gathered above his head. He Haisheng turned back into human form, and the cigarette in his mouth turned into a fire snake, stabbing rapidly at Lu Dongjun's head.

Lu Dongjun dodged the fire snake and reached out, grabbing He Haisheng from the carriage ceiling.

He had fought with smoke cultivators many times; he understood the habitual routes of smoke cultivators after turning into smoke, and also knew that the routes would be affected by the wind direction.

Relying on his previous combat experience, Lu Dongjun directly judged He Haisheng's attack position.

He Haisheng's body heated up rapidly, turning into flames, forcing Lu Dongjun to let go.

Lu Dongjun didn't intend to keep holding him either, and threw him directly into the corner of the carriage.

*Bang! Bang! Bang! *

A row of seats along the way was smashed to pieces. He Haisheng fell into the corner of the carriage, but Lu Dongjun didn't rush up to finish him off.

The seats were broken, the carriage wasn't damaged, but there were scorch marks, which proved that He Haisheng had turned into smoke when he landed.

Rushing up to finish him off at this time wouldn't seriously injure He Haisheng, but would instead put Lu Dongjun in a passive position.

Lu Dongjun swung a slap directly on the spot.

What was he trying to do?

Slapping him in the air?

Isn't it too childish?

He Haisheng also felt puzzled, and suddenly felt a gust of wild wind rising in the carriage.

He Haisheng was shocked, and only then realized something was wrong.

The intensity of this wild wind was extremely great and could blow He Haisheng away in a short time.

Wasn't his body originally able to disperse into smoke because he was a smoke cultivator?

Dispersing into smoke was indeed the advantage of a smoke cultivator, but it depended on the extent of the dispersion.

Lu Dongjun grasped the characteristics of the smoke cultivator, taking advantage of He Haisheng's body turning into smoke, to let He Haisheng be completely blown away, blown away until he was reduced to ashes.

He Haisheng tried his best to solidify his body, but Lu Dongjun's wild wind was too fierce, and He Haisheng couldn't handle it.

His cheeks cracked, green smoke surged in the wounds, the whole body constantly showed scars, and a large amount of smoke drifted outward from his body.

He Haisheng's body had reached the verge of collapse when the carriage door suddenly opened and He Haiqin walked in.

Lu Dongjun was stunned, not understanding why He Haiqin would appear in the carriage.

Had he been ambushing on the train all along?

Then why didn't he show up earlier?

Lu Dongjun swung his palms rapidly, wanting to finish He Haisheng off as soon as possible.

The wild wind struck, and He Haiqin opened his mouth, sucked the wild wind into his mouth, chewed it together with some smoke, and swallowed it.

Ninth-layer food cultivator technique, Swallowing Mountains and Rivers.

"Damn it!" He Haiqin cursed. "I rushed here all the way, and I even swallowed a bellyful of cold wind."

PS: This is a train.

Where did He Haiqin rush from?

Dear readers, Happy New Year!

(End of chapter)