Chapter 157: Too Arrogant

Late at night, Li Yuan decisively stopped waiting, settled the bill, and returned to the Weapon Forging Shop.

"Huff!"

After arranging Jin Siren and the others in the next room, Li Yuan went back to his room, shut the door, and only then, by the light of an oil lamp, began flipping through Wang Wang Peiyao's intelligence report.

In the past half year, many things had happened in Fucheng. Of the original six great families, only four remained. After the Zhao family, another great clan was wiped out for holding a blood sacrifice, and Duanmu Sheng had taken action personally.

"Even in Fucheng someone dares hold a blood sacrifice — the Xieshen Sect is truly reckless."

Li Yuan flipped through the report, shocked by the boldness of these Fucheng families, yet feeling that these families, including the Xieshen Sect, could hardly be called meticulous in their actions.

Still, thinking of the Divine Weapon Valley, he felt somewhat relieved.

"They're all shoddy outfits."

Li Yuan sighed inwardly.

No matter how large an organization, it is made up of people, and people have their own little schemes — this is uncontrollable.

"That tiger coming down the mountain this time probably has other matters to handle; the procurement is likely just an excuse."

Putting away the report, Li Yuan stretched his muscles and bones, took up the 'Spirit Ape Spear Art Fundamental Chart', used his hammer as a spear, and slowly began Xu Tui.

Even when being watched by Old Lei and the tiger to Craft superior grade famous weapon-grade inner armor during that busiest month-plus, he never forgot to modify his root bone.

Over half a month ago, he had already nurtured 'Tiger Might Strength', modified out Xiong Zhang and Tiger Tail, and his root bone had reached fifteen forms.

But he discovered that after modifying the Great Dragon form, adding two more form changes wasn't as pronounced as before — or rather, he hadn't reached the next node yet.

"Huff!"

"Huff!"

Li Yuan's movements were slow, the heavy hammer like a spear. Though he currently didn't have the "Lifting Heavy as Light" mastery blessing, he had already grasped the essence of lifting heavy as light.

Years of accumulated blessing had ultimately merged the mastery effect into himself — this was what he had been attempting, and had truly initially achieved.

"The division of Lesser Dragon form, Dragon form, and Great Dragon form is well-founded. Each time one crosses a node, one's own root bone talent undergoes a transformation. So, is the next node twenty forms? Or twenty-six?"

As he Xu Tui-ed the spear art, Li Yuan was also speculating in his heart.

Old Han's Root Bone Treatise didn't mention it, so he could only try to figure it out himself.

Hoo~

After a long while, Li Yuan put down the hammer, switched his mastery, and began Xu Tui-ing the Soldier Body Posture.

With the stacked blessing of numerous hammer art talents, his hammer art had also advanced by leaps and bounds. The Soldier Dao Combat Killing Hammer, this Cheng Wu Gong renowned as the hardest to practice among the five great secret transmissions, had already reached the threshold of Great Completion.

"Once the hammer art reaches Great Completion, I can use the superior killing move 'Combat Killing Hammer'!"

The Soldier Dao Combat Killing Hammer has eighty-one striking methods, but only one killing move. Among the dozens of disciples in Bingtang, no more than a third have mastered this one killing move.

And without exception, they are old disciples who have been initiated for fifteen or twenty-plus years.

Yet he had taken only a little over a year.

"Huff!"

After performing several sets of Soldier Body Posture, Li Yuan finally stopped. With a shake of his internal strength, he shook off the beads of sweat, casually wiped himself down, swallowed a few Zeng Xue Dan, and nurtured his blood qi.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, Li Yuan's heart stirred, and from San Yuan Wai came the sound of footsteps.

"This is?"

Li Yuan pushed open the door and saw that Jin Siren and the others had already drawn their blades and swords.

"There are shouts of killing in the city!"

Jin Siren lowered his voice, his single arm gripping a blade: "Young Li going down the mountain might attract assassins. We'll have to rough it tonight — don't sleep."

"Mm!"

"Good!"

The several old soldiers all nodded. Though there were shouts of killing in the city, none had the slightest intention of going to investigate.

"Many thanks to Old Jin, Old Fang, Wang Lao, Old Zhang."

Li Yuan cupped his fists in thanks. Naturally, he had no intention of investigating either, only suspecting this matter was related to Jing Jing Shuhu.

That tiger rarely came down the mountain; suddenly descending, he must have matters to handle.

"We'll keep watch outside. You just go ahead and sleep."

Jin Siren leaped onto the roof, surveyed the night surroundings, and his eyelids twitched slightly — the shouts of killing seemed to be coming from the direction of the government office?

"Many thanks to Old Jin."

Li Yuan thanked him again, without further pleasantries, turned around and went back into the room.

The news of him forging a superior grade famous weapon had caused a sensation for many days, and the changes it brought were many. Not to mention the numerous inner and outer sect disciples, the attitudes of the many Dharma Protectors, Old Zhang, and Jin Siren's group had also changed considerably.

"Divine Craftsman?"

Blowing out the lamp, Li Yuan lay down in his clothes, naturally knowing the reason in his heart.

For seven hundred years the Divine Weapon Valley had produced no Divine Craftsman, yet the importance of a Divine Craftsman was known to all. This could be seen from how the Wan Chuan branch had repeatedly entered and exited the Divine Weapon Valley.

Even though the previous generation's Elder of the Weapon Forging Valley had died of depression because of them, no one dared to truly take revenge.

Only...

"I need to first have a Divine Craftsman's hammer before I can possibly become a Divine Craftsman!"

Muttering to himself, Li Yuan slowly closed his eyes.

……

The night passed without incident. Li Yuan slept soundly, finding his sleep quality getting better and better — just four hours in total and he was wide awake, unable to sleep more.

However, unusually, he didn't get up, but lazily lay there until the sky was bright, only then rising.

"Rare to have lazed in bed."

Li Yuan lay there for a good while before getting up to stand in Soldier Body Posture for a while, then drew water and washed up.

In the courtyard, Yu Jin and the others were also squatting, brushing their teeth.

The toothbrushes in Fucheng were made of fine wolf hair, resembling writing brushes, and were used with refined salt and herbs.

Just the items for brushing teeth far surpassed those of the great families in the county town.

"Shopkeeper, a great calamity has occurred!"

Li Yuan was still rinsing his mouth when he heard hurried footsteps; a chief official from the weapon forge ran into the backyard, his face filled with panic and unease:

"The Prefect has been assassinated, assassinated!"

"Hmm?"

Yu Jin and the others exchanged glances, all rising to their feet: "Someone is assassinating the Prefect again? Has Wang Zhaozhi died?"

Li Yuan spat out the rinse water and stood up.

"Last night, the Prefect hosted guests; when everyone dispersed after the banquet, assassins suddenly emerged, their methods ruthlessly cruel..."

That chief official was somewhat incoherent, seemingly terrified by a great shock: "Fucheng is already under martial law; the Divine Guard Army is searching house by house."

"How many are dead?"

Li Yuan felt some surprise and doubt; after the massive crackdown by the Divine Weapon Valley recently, would assassins still dare to risk an attack?

And assassinate the Prefect?

Regarding the Prefect Wang Zhaozhi, Li Yuan's only impression was that he had visited the 'Thousand-Eyed Bodhisattva Temple' in Fucheng; beyond that, that Prefect truly had no presence.

"It is said the Prefect and the Deputy Hall Master Lin Jia of the Zhenwu Hall died on the spot, and several of Fucheng's chief constables suffered heavy casualties."

Sweat appeared on that chief official's forehead.

The previous Prefect died only two or three years ago, and now the new Prefect is dead; this is far too dangerous.

"Lin Jia is dead too?"

Yu Jin's face changed; Wang Zhaozhi was one thing, but Lin Jia was a master who had reached the peak of the Through-Vessel realm.

"This?"

Several veteran soldiers looked at each other, their expressions quite Solemn; the Prefect being killed at this time made it hard for them not to think of Sanyuan Wu.

"With Lin Jia's Wu Gong, he still couldn't escape?"

Li Yuan was also somewhat startled.

The Zhenwu Hall was nominally a violent organ of the imperial court monitoring the world; although not very conspicuous in Fucheng, in reality, it was an institution directly connected to the Great Yun imperial court.

As far as he knew, that Lin Jia was also a master who had reached the peak of the Through-Vessel realm; in the entire Zhelong Prefecture, there were only a few with higher Wu Gong.

"Little Li, let's go, return to Huishan!"

Yu Jin reacted quickly; sensing Fucheng was unsafe, he immediately prepared to take Li Yuan back to Huishan.

Before Li Yuan could reply, he heard a cough.

Jing Jing Shuhu, whom he hadn't seen all night, walked over slowly from outside, his face flushed, seemingly in a good mood.

"Elder."

Seeing Jing Jing Shuhu, Yu Jin and the others all bowed in greeting.

"A great calamity has occurred!"

Li Yuan's heart stirred; he repeated the report that chief official had given.

"Arrogant!"

Jing Jing Shuhu's face instantly changed; he flew into a rage: "Killing two successive Prefects of our Zhelong Prefecture within three years, too arrogant!"

It wasn't him?

Judging others by himself, Li Yuan was somewhat suspicious, but seeing his anger seemed genuine, his heart began to doubt again.

Could there be a Through-Vessel peak assassin hidden in Fucheng?

"Come, follow this old man to the Prefect's government office!"

Jing Jing Shuhu's face was as calm as water; he swept his sleeve and left.

Li Yuan and the others looked at each other, then all followed in turn.

Fucheng was already under martial law; city guards and the Divine Guard moved in groups of three or five, searching street by street.

The location of the Prefect's government office had long been sealed off.

When the current Ren Ren Jingfei rushed over, he cast a single glance, and his eyes nearly burst from their sockets, a buzzing sound ringing in his mind:

"The scoundrels deserve death!"

Among the bodies strewn everywhere, the six chief constables of Fucheng accounted for two and a half pairs!

"My lord!"

A group of government office Runners also had faces as pale as death.

"It pains me to death!"

Ren Ren Jingfei spat out a mouthful of rebellious blood; his whole body shook a bit. After a while, he looked sharply at the coroner:

"What Wu Gong did that scoundrel use?!"

"Re-rep... Report, Constable Ren."

That coroner was about fifty or sixty years old, also a veteran official of many years; though his face was pale, he still barely maintained calm:

"Blades and sickles; the killer used blades and sickles! It is suspected to be the Blade and Sickle Art of Sanyuan Wu!"

"Sanyuan Wu?"

A low voice came from outside the Prefect's government office; Ren Ren Jingfei's heart shook, and he quickly bowed: "Hall Master Meng!"

Meng Zhan, Wearing heavy armor, strode forward; his gaze was like a blade, scanning the bodies strewn everywhere, his face as calm as water.

"Hall Master, Deputy Hall Master Lin died too miserably! You must avenge him!"

"That thief struck too cruelly!"

"Prefect..."

The government office was in chaos.

Meng Zhan's face twitched as he swept his gaze over the corpses and the blood splattered everywhere.

"Last night during the prefect's grand banquet, the murderer took the opportunity to hide among the crowd. The weapon was likely a common sickle used by farmers..."

At this moment, a youth in gray clothes jumped down from the wall and pointed at Wang Zhao's bisected corpse:

"The assassin's first strike severed the prefect's head; turning back, the second strike killed Captain Fang..."

The gray-clad youth moved in and out of the main hall, recounting last night's battle as if he had been there himself.

Meng Zhan sat with a grim face, saying nothing.

Finally, the gray-clad youth concluded:

"Except for Vice Hall Master Lin, none of the seven Shape-Shifting experts, including the prefect, could withstand a single move!"

"That killer is at least at the Great Perfection of the Through-Vessel realm, extremely skilled in assassination, and knows everyone's Wu Gong inside out. Moreover, the sickle technique is likely not even the Wu Gong he is best at!"

At this point, he glanced at the witnesses being guarded by government office Runners in the corner:

"According to them, the perpetrator wore a cat-face mask and must be one of the Star-Gazing Tower's Gold-Ranked Assassins."

"Cat-face mask? Gold-Ranked Assassin?"

Meng Zhan remained noncommittal. Just as he was about to speak, a commotion suddenly came from outside the door.

Before long, Li Yuan followed Jing Jing Shuhu, whose face was full of rage, into the courtyard. A group of government office Runners wore bitter expressions; how could they possibly stop them?

"Arrogant! Too arrogant!"

Jing Jing Shuhu's beard and hair bristled. The sheer rage radiating from him made Li Yuan step back several paces, making one suspect he might have been a close friend of one of the deceased.

This emotion was simply too intense...

"Jing Jing Shuhu!"

Meng Zhan's face twitched again, then quickly returned to calm: "Killing the prefect and the Wutang Hall Master without authorization—no matter who this person is, once found, they must die!"

He swept a cold gaze over Jing Jing Shuhu, expressionless:

"If an assassin from the Star-Gazing Tower is caught, their entire family must die!"

"Sanyuan Wu is too bold!"

Jing Jing Shuhu scanned the corpses on the ground, his eyes cold and deadly:

"And those demons from the Xieshen Sect! They actually dared to mix within the government office. They deserve to die, all of them!"

Whoosh!

Amidst the corpses on the ground, the two men stared coldly at each other. Even Li Yuan felt the intense killing intent and his eyelid twitched.

He realized he might have overlooked the imperial court, which appeared to have no presence.

Judging by Meng Zhan's attitude, the relationship between the imperial court and the sects was far worse than he had imagined.

This was no longer merely a clash of opposing forces...

"I, Meng, will report this matter to the imperial court!"

A moment later, Meng Zhan lowered his eyelids, his tone returning to calm:

"Two prefects have died in three years. The high officials in the imperial court must be extremely furious!"

Having spoken, he did not even look at Jing Jing Shuhu and turned to leave.

Ren Ren Jingfei and the others came to their senses and were about to leave when Jing Jing Shuhu called them back.

"As the saying goes, the dead should be laid to rest."

Jing Jing Shuhu sighed: "Captain Ren, clean up and let the deceased be buried."

"The prefect's death will be investigated by the prefectural government office. Until then, they cannot be buried."

Ren Ren Jingfei bowed and retreated with a blank expression, feeling a bit of fear in his heart. If not for last night's sudden incident, he feared he would have been one of the many corpses.

"Pitiful!"

Jing Jing Shuhu gave Ren Ren Jingfei a deep look, then led Li Yuan and others to inspect the corpses in the courtyard.

"That assassin's sickle technique is likely at Great Perfection. Their Wu Gong is absolutely supreme, decisive in killing, and they care nothing for propriety. Lying in wait among the crowd, they strike with a killing move the moment they rise!"

Jing Jing Shuhu pointed at the corpses, his face heavy and solemn.

A true grand master!

The more Li Yuan looked, the more shocked he became.

Just from the traces on the ground, it was clear that the vast majority were killed without even having a chance to react.

Including those five captains who had long since achieved Shape-Shifting and were famous.

The true battlefield was in the rear courtyard. The Vice Hall Master of Wutang died there last. Yet, one could see the rockery shattered and pavilions and towers collapsed everywhere,

as if a violent wind had swept through, leaving a scene of utter chaos.

Lin Jia's corpse had already been taken away, but judging by the scattered bloodstains, his death must have been extremely gruesome.

Li Yuan saw un-dried brain matter, as well as fragments of internal organs and bones on the ground...

"Let's go."

After walking around with Li Yuan for a while, Jing Jing Shuhu finally swept his sleeve, turned around, and left as if suppressing his rage.

'Could it really be him who did this?'

Li Yuan's suspicion grew even stronger. This looked like guidance on the surface, but it also seemed like the perpetrator checking to see if they had missed anything...

As they were leaving, nearby government office Runners heard the angry rebuke from that Elder of the Divine Weapon Valley:

"Too arrogant!"