Chapter 624: Poison Fangs are Terrifying, the World's Pinnacle

Very quickly, Lu Zhigang made those who had proposed these suggestions recall the terror of being dominated by Lao Duwu.

The head of a certain noble family woke up one morning feeling that his pillow was uncomfortable; he lifted it up to take a look, and—whoa—it was densely covered in crawling scorpions, poison snakes, and other venomous insects, scaring him into screaming with all the strength he could muster.

This fright caused blood to rush to his brain, and although he was treated in time, it still left behind sequelae.

From that day forward, no matter what he did, his hands would tremble incessantly.

A veteran elder of a certain martial arts guild was also one of the helpers who had been shouting and cheering; one day, upon returning home, he learned that his favorite concubine had died from poison.

She was just a plaything, so if she died, she died.

Fearing that the corpse would ruin the feng shui of his courtyard, he hurriedly sent men to call for the followers of the Release God Sect to haul her outside the city to be cremated.

Unexpectedly, that very night, he dreamed of the concubine's evil soul breaking in and tearing at him until he was covered in blood, waking him up in agony.

After waking, his entire body was covered in tooth marks; comparing the bite patterns, the owner of the marks was the concubine who had long since been burned to ashes.

It was too eerie!

Later, he invited a physician from the Medicine King Sect to diagnose him, only to discover he had been poisoned—a rare, hallucinogenic poison that only originated from the Wanli Zhaohai.

This poison was not fatal, so there was no cure for it; even the Medicine King Sect was helpless.

This veteran elder was plagued by nightmares day and night, and in a mere ten days, he had withered away to skin and bone, hovering on the brink of death.

Furthermore...

One by one, those who had proposed conscripting Lu Zhigang to the battlefield were all retaliated against, either poisoned or intimidated.

After the Ten Thousand Poisons Secret Workshop was destroyed, the spies and informants who had been outside were like kites with broken strings, ending up in a state of total collapse.

But Lu Zhigang had emerged suddenly and replaced Du Taiyue, naturally inheriting this hidden force as well.

If one wanted these people to charge head-on or perform assassinations, they were still lacking, but if it came to poisoning or intimidation, that was absolutely their area of expertise.

After a round of operations, the group that had originally spoken up was silenced, and no one dared to 'propose' letting Lu Zhigang face the Witch People again.

In fact, the place occupied by the Ten Thousand Poisons Secret Workshop, aside from producing rare poisons, could be considered a classic example of a desolate and treacherous land.

The goal of the Witch People's invasion was survival, and they occupied fertile and abundant lands; even if they needed to raise venomous insects or Gu Insects, there was plenty of wasteland, so why would they need this piece of land in the Wanli Zhaohai?

On the contrary, Dayin Mountain and Wanxiu Mountain occupied prime locations with good feng shui, bearing the brunt of the attacks.

Therefore, these two major sects had interests aligned with the noble families in resisting foreign enemies, and they were sure to provide men and resources in every battle.

These two families were large and wealthy with many people and much money, but Lu Zhigang could not compare to them and only thought of developing in obscurity.

Taking advantage of the time he had gained, he focused on practicing his fist and palm techniques and increasing his cultivation realm to gain more self-preservation power.

In the Fucheng, Zhou You himself also felt that he could no longer see through this world.

As the war situation escalated and various forces joined in, the level became increasingly high-end; sects entered the fray one after another, and martial arts halls had retreated to the second line.

Several major sects of this prefecture had entered, and sects from the other seventeen prefectures were also gathering toward Beixuan Zhou.

There were even martial artists from other Northern Six Prefectures, and even from prefectures outside the north, and as far as the direction of Dijing, who brought their own provisions to support the front lines and participate in this Great War of Humans and Witches.

In fact, the situation here in Beixuan Zhou was a battle for survival, while other places, such as the southern, eastern, and western prefectures, were relatively far away and had no need to participate.

However, the significance of the Witch People's invasion was profound; all who remembered the ancient glory remembered how the Martial Saint had originally conquered the world with his fists and feet, driving the Witch Tribe to the Beijing.

Now, times had changed, and this pack of losers had actually perked up—did they think our martial artists had no one? Just for this point, many spirited martial artists could not stand it and flocked to the Beixuan Zhou battlefield, among whom were many young talents with great backgrounds and origins.

"What, the relatives of the Prefecture Overseer passed through the Fucheng a few days ago, escorting Zhu Qinghua, who is number one on the Beauty Ranking." As the news spread, everyone was stirred; the relatives of the Prefecture Overseer, plus the head of the Beauty Ranking, were all great figures who stood high above in the eyes of ordinary people.

The Prefecture Overseer and the Prefecture Lord were from the same clan, members of the 'Beixuan Zhu', the number one noble family in the north.

According to the world's established rules, the Prefecture Lord was the Earth Sect, the Prefecture Overseer was the Heaven Sect, and the fifty prefectures of the world were fifty Earth Sects, which, together with the Prefecture Lords of the various prefectures, formed the foundation of the world's stability.

The relatives of the Prefecture Overseer were also the clansmen of the Prefecture Lord, the 'Beixuan Zhu', the number one noble family in the north.

The prestige of the Beixuan Zhu relied entirely on the current powerhouse, the wielder of the weapon ranked second on the Weapon Ranking, the 'North-Suppressing Halberd', Niu Gong.

The Beauty Ranking of the Thousand Faces Hall only listed the territory of a single local prefecture, while the Weapon Ranking, the Strange Insect Ranking, and so on, listed all fifty prefectures of the world.

Perhaps they also knew that beauty and ugliness were subjective and that aesthetics varied by region, making it difficult to unify the world, but strength was easy to distinguish.

The world's Weapon Ranking, ranked first, the Heavenly South Divine Sword, resided far away in Dijing, acting as an Enfeoffed Monarch patrolling the world, known for a single sword's cold light chilling forty prefectures.

Of the fifty prefectures in the world, the Heavenly South Divine Sword occupied eight parts, and the remaining ten prefectures were the north and its neighboring regions.

The origin of the title 'North-Suppressing Halberd' was because Niu Gong alone guarded the Northern Six Prefectures.

This south and this north, these two great Heaven Sects of one sword and one halberd, were the two top experts of the current age, the pillars supporting the sky of Zhong Yuan.

The Beixuan Zhu was the family line propagated by Niu Gong, which showed that its glory was infinite, ranking at the pinnacle of today's noble families.

If there were a ranking of noble families, the Beixuan Zhu would be at least in the top five.

Zhu Qinghua, born of the Beixuan Zhu, possessed beauty that was peerless in the human world; no matter which version of the Beauty Ranking it was, there was a cliff-like gap between her and the second place.

Zhou You was not biased and admitted that his own wives and concubines were not as beautiful as her, but for a beauty, the one who stayed by one's side and cared for one's warmth and cold was the intimate one, while the one far away like the moon hanging high was a goddess.

Zhu Qinghua's passing through the border this time caused a sensation, and the noble families of the eighteen prefectures of Beixuan all sent their most outstanding descendants to welcome her.

Marriage alliances were the eternal theme of noble families' maneuvering and cooperation.

Whoever could form a marriage alliance with the Beixuan Zhu and marry such an outstanding legitimate daughter would truly have a future more glorious and promising than winning the lottery.

It was said that even Liu Fengji was forcibly required by his family to go out and welcome her; he already had wives and concubines and had even fathered a son.

One could only say that the name of the Beixuan Zhu was too resounding.

"Zhu Qinghua is traveling this time, first stopping in Chongguang Cheng, where she purchased an improved heavy talisman at Su Dafu's auction house."

"She has come to the Fucheng now, ostensibly to visit her clan grand-uncle, the Prefecture Lord, but it is hard to guarantee she has no other motives."

The oily-faced youth said this and looked around; besides the strong woman Yu Fu'er, there was a burly middle-aged woman carefully plucking whiskers from the corners of her mouth in a bronze mirror, and a black, thin farmer sitting in a sedan chair with his long legs bent at three knees.

"The Shorty didn't come again; he is likely dead, and dead through and through."

The youth sighed, "I said back then that the name 'Not Five' was inauspicious; look at you all, five partners, now only four remain, just as the name 'Not Five' predicted."

His words did not elicit a response from anyone.

Yu Fu'er had a happy smile on her face, gently stroking her lower abdomen; her flat, lean belly already had a slightly protruding, soft curve.

This silly woman from the Human Seed Sect had a drop in IQ since getting pregnant; there was no counting on her.

The slick-haired, powdered-faced youth sighed, then looked at the old woman and the old farmer, a sense of "if not me, then who" heroism rising in his heart.

"The Golden Immortal Dao has sent an invitation; as long as we succeed in assassinating Zhu Qinghua, the reward is one Medicine Field per person. What do you think?"

(End of chapter)