155 To Kill

Zhao Zilai went out of Sky Inn and strolled casually in Chong Ming Town.

People on the street came and went. The street was crowded with people and it was buzzing with activities. This let him experience a different kind of prosperity.

Fairy's Capital was also extremely prosperous but it was different compared to here. Fairy's Capital had less ruckus and was not as lively.

After he had become older, he found himself more inclined to liveliness and did not want to stay at home alone as if he was the only one left in the world, all alone.

One hundred years had passed and most of his friends had already passed away. His old friends that were still alive could be counted with both hands. As the High Official of the imperial house, his actions were beyond his control and he could not meet with his old friends as he pleased.

He strolled down the bustling street and let the noisy atmosphere wash away his loneliness.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" a little girl ran up to him. Her height was only to his waist and she was scrawny. There was a red flower on her head. She smiled and said, "Grandpa, a big brother asked me to give you a letter."

Her two little hands were holding up a letter.

"Little girl, which big brother?" Zhao Zilai squatted down while smiling. A Grandmaster had an intuition towards danger so he was not afraid of a trap.

The little girl said, "Big brother said that his surname is Lu and that grandpa will understand after hearing it."

"Surnamed Lu..." Zhao Zilai took the letter and smiled saying, "Well, thank you, little girl."

He gave the little girl some small change.

"Thank you, grandpa!" The little girl took the money and ran away jumping in joy. She disappeared into the crowd in the blink of an eye.

Zhao Zilai opened the envelope, took out the letter and read it. He frowned and pondered. He studied the special pattern at the bottom left of the letter carefully.

This was an old friend's unique pattern. It was only used by her and no one else knew it.

His expression was complicated, changing several times. He suddenly smiled. Using his hands, both the letter and envelope were crushed into powder and the powder slipped through his fingers.

He dusted and rubbed his hands, getting rid of the powder until his hands were clean. Then, he walked down the street again with his hands behind his back.

Chu Li at this time was practicing Sentient Menace. Practicing this skill after White Tiger Art enabled his advancement to become extremely fast. The fifth level focused on strengthening the bones, making his bones harder and denser.

A cool energy circulated between his bones. His strength increased immensely. Even a normal sword thrust executed by him now would be accompanied by a howling sound and its speed would be as fast as sound. If he added his inner energy, the sword stroke would be as fast as lightning.

With increased strength, the speed of his flying blade became even faster. Chu Li had a feeling that if this continued and he successfully mastered the fifth level, even a Grandmaster would not be able to dodge his attack.

Someone knocked on the courtyard's door from outside. Xue Ling opened the door and invited Xiao Qi and Su Ru to come in.

Xiao Qi was dressed in a white gown while Su Ru was in an apricot gown.

They came to the pagoda and sat down in front of Chu Li.

Chu Li gave a fist salute. "Master Xiao Tieying is back?"

"Mm." Xiao Qi frowned and said, "Zhao Zilai really can't be trusted. Big Brother won't use him."

"If so, what does Master Xiao Tieying plan to do now?" Chu Li asked. "Go and ask for the Empress's help again?"

Xiao Qi said plainly, "How should Big Brother tell the Empress? Say that something is suspicious with Zhao Zilai and we don't want to use him?"

Chu Li said, "So we're going to look for martial arts master somewhere else?"

In any case, Master Xiao Tieying will not trust him so he would rather find other martial arts masters.

He understood Master Xiao Tieying's way of thinking. He was still in the Innate Mastery's Boundary. Innate Masters and Grandmasters, after all, differed by a whole realm. Moreover, this involved the Second Lady's life so Master Xiao Tieying could not take the risk and believe in him.

"Big Brother's intention was to look for 'Thunder Guiding Blade'," Xiao Qi Said.

Chu Li searched his mind. "Feng Jiuyang? He's indeed a top-notch Grandmaster, but will we be able to find him?"

"Feng Jiuyang is father's close friend, but he has retreated for ten years already. It's estimated that it'll take quite a while to find him," Xiao Qi said. "It depends on our luck as well."

Chu Li frowned.

People who retired into the mountains often hid in a secluded place. If their hiding was not secluded enough, past grievances would find them and it was impossible to retire. Once one entered the Triad Underworld, a lot of things would be beyond one's control so how can one retire as one pleased?

Today's world was different from the world of his past life. There were lots of deep and vast forests around. Once someone hid in the forest, it would be difficult to find that person. If that person was a top-notch master of the martial arts world, it would be even more difficult to look for that person as they were not afraid of beasts. They would be able to live deep in the mountains, self-sufficient and self-contained, completely independent of the outside world and isolated from the outside world.

"My Lady, the Duke..." Chu Li asked cautiously.

If the Duke took up this matter personally, he could presumably solve this problem.

Xiao Qi shook her head. "It's useless. Nobody can find him. Finding him is harder than looking for 'Thunder Guiding Blade'."

"He's not in Isolated Cultivation?"

"No he's not cultivating in the Public House. He found himself a quieter place," Xiao Qi said emotionlessly. "He didn't tell anybody."

Su Ru kept winking at him.

Chu Li sighed. "So we can only find 'Thunder Guiding Blade'? Are there no other masters?"

"The most important thing is trustworthiness." Xiao Qi shook her head. "Besides, there aren't many in this world that are comparable to Elder Zhao Qingshan."

Chu Li said, "That Xi Wu is actually quite powerful."

"He's even more impossible!" Xiao Qi smiled.

Xi Wu's standing in the Ren Public House was similar to Zhao Qingshan's standing in the Yi Public House. They were both Chief High Official masters, the sharpest swords of their Public Houses.

Chu Li said, "Xi Wu often does his duties outside."

Xiao Qi said plainly, "Lu Yurong's conspiracies were mostly carried out by him. She doesn't trust others."

Chu Li pondered for a moment. "The Ren Public House most likely has another even more powerful master, they don't need Xi Wu to guard the safety of the Public House."

"Hmm—?" Xiao Qi frowned.

Chu Li said, "My Lady, do you think there's such possibility?"

Xiao Qi considered for a while and slowly nodded. "It's not impossible!"

"So we need to be on guard," Chu Li said. "Don't fall for Lu Yurong's trap... if there's only one option which is 'Thunder Guiding Blade', I fear that Lu Yurong is able to predict it."

Xue Ling served tea and withdrew quietly.

Chu Li opened the cover of the teacup and sipped a mouthful of tea lightly. "Since Lu Yurong's schemes are so ingenious, surely she will think of this 'Thunder Guiding Blade', right?"

Xiao Qi put down the white jade teacup and said slowly, "It's okay, 'Thunder Guiding Blade' isn't someone who they can touch just because they want to."

"Thunder Guiding Blade" became world famous because of his Thunder Blade so the thing he fears the least was a joint attack. His blade was fast and his body movement technique was quick too. Very few masters in this world could kill him.

Chu Li shook his head, "I'm not worried that they'll kill 'Thunder Guiding Blade'. If I was Lu Yurong, I would use 'Thunder Guiding Blade' as bait and set an ambush. Even if we knew that there was an ambush, we would still have to go, right?"

"You want to go?" Xiao Qi said plainly.

Chu Li smiled and said, "I can act as a pawn and scout ahead."

"This time, Big Brother prepared to go personally," Xiao Qi said.

"Master Xiao Tieying going personally..." Chu Li frowned but he did not say anything in the end.

It was not surprising that Master Xiao Tieying would go personally. As a Sun Junior and having a request for the other party's help, of course, he needed to show courtesy and sincerity.

However, Master Xiao Tieying was the supporting pillar as well as the person in charge of the Public House, how could he expose himself to danger? If something unfortunate were to happen to him, the Public House would really be in turmoil!

Xiao Qi said, "You need to make preparations...first, we need to mobilize manpower to find for the traces of 'Thunder Guiding Blade'."

"Yes." Chu Li nodded.

The two women left the courtyard.

Before long, Su Ru returned and said, "High Official of the imperial house asked you to be his guide. He wants to take a look around Chong Ming Town tomorrow."

Chu Li was surprised. "Me—?"

"He said that he liked young talents and would like to talk to you." Su Ru nodded and smiled. "Entertain him well tomorrow and don't be rude to him. Don't let him find any faults."

"…Yes." Chu Li agreed reluctantly.