Hunting Immortals and Demons

The six Liu’s Martial Marquises looked at each other.

The prospect of joining the Spirit Sect, thus embarking on the path of Martial Spirit, wrought hesitation in their hearts.

Who wouldn’t be aware of the malignant transformation of the Martial Spirit?

The Spirit Sect might be experienced, but could they completely resolve it?

Doubts lingered in their minds.

Nevertheless, they were bereft of alternatives.

According to the laws of Da Chu, if one person achieved Martial Spirit, nine generations of their family would be executed.

Furthermore, if they did not make a choice today, would Liu Zhenshuo spare them?

Knowing what they did, they could only cast their lot with Liu Zhenshuo until the bitter end.

"I swear to follow the Ancestor with my life."

One of the Martial Marquises promptly pledged his allegiance.

"As do I."

Seeing someone taking the lead, all the other Martial Marquises hurried to declare their allegiance too.

"Good, with your talents, if you follow Martial Spirit path, you might have a chance to challenge the Grandmaster in the future."

Liu Zhenshuo nodded in satisfaction.

"Ancestor, what about the other clansmen?"

Someone asked.

"There are three steps. First, with Liu Xingchao as a core, select a few young descendants with the best talents, disseminate them into the populace, to live under assumed names and in hiding, to perpetuate the lineage of the Liu Family."

"Second, the rest of the elites will join the Spirit Sect with us. Lastly, those with mediocre talent will continue to stay in Changfeng City to mislead others."

Liu Zhenshuo stated.

The others nodded; they had no other choice.

"Don’t worry, once the Spirit Sect unifies Lingdong, our Liu Family will become one of the overlords of Lingdong."

Liu Zhenshuo reassured them.

"Ancestor, what to do with Lu Yan? This man was originally our Liu Family’s dog, but now he is biting the hand that fed him; he should not be spared."

A Liu’s Martial Marquis suggested, his eyes aglow with a fierce light.

"That Lu Yan, under a guise and incognito, set up Sanjue Martial Arts Hall in Baicao City and defeated a Martial Marquis. He thinks we don’t know about it. Ancestor, let me infiltrate Baicao City and assassinate him."

Another Liu’s Martial Marquis proposed.

However, Liu Zhenshuo shook his head and said: "That’s not appropriate. As Lu Yan dared to expose the matter, he must be prepared. If you go to kill him, it would be like sheep walking into the tiger’s den. There would be a dead-end."

"So, we just let him go? It’s hard to accept."

One of them exclaimed through gritted teeth.

"Let him go? Hehe, absolutely not. I will kill him myself."

Liu Zhenshuo chuckled coldly, a stern murderous intent flashing in his eyes for the first time.

As long as Lu Yan did not expose the secret, Liu Zhenshuo was reluctant to act and hence he had not killed him yet, quietly building his strength.

But now that everything was out in the open, he no longer had any constraints.

Lu Yan, must die.

Otherwise, Liu Zhenshuo could not rest; he would be filled with a sense of unease.

If that happened, he would not be able to focus on his cultivation, leaving him vulnerable to the attack of the Martial Spirit and causing a malignant transformation.

To resist the malignant transformation, no hidden issues should be left unchecked.

Since Lu Yan dared to expose his secret at this time, he must have had strong backing and been prepared. If he attacked directly, he might fall into an ambush.

But would he be afraid?

"Lu Yan, your support must be the Li Family, right? Or some other people. But you underestimate the gap between a Martial Marquis and a Grandmaster. To kill you, it only takes one blow – a one-hit kill. Then I will escape immediately. What can your ambush do to this old man?"

Liu Zhenshuo mused to himself.

Killing a Martial Marquis is too easy. If he just hid in the dark and used a hidden weapon or a bow and arrow, he could easily kill him with a single shot.

Besides, he isn’t an ordinary Grandmaster – he is a Martial Spirit.

The Liu Family began to mobilize in secret.

When the Grandmasters joined together to investigate, they found that the Ancestor of the Liu Family and the Liu Family’s elites had disappeared, leaving only a shell behind.

This indirectly confirmed the rumour that the Ancestor of the Liu Family had achieved Martial Spirit.

...

In front of the gate of Sanjue Martial Arts Hall in Baicao City.

An old man with a stooped figure, wearing tattered clothes, passed by carrying a load of fresh vegetables, his eyes subtly sweeping over the martial arts hall a few times.

"There are fewer trainees now, and Lu Yan always has a man accompanying him, playing the role of a bodyguard. It seems that he is indeed prepared. I just don’t know the cultivation level of this bodyguard?"

The old man wondered to himself.

This old man was none other than the Ancestor of the Liu Family, Liu Zhenshuo.

He had been lurking in Baicao City for half a month.

Instead of acting hastily, he had disguised himself and was observing from afar.

Every few days, he would follow the crowd and pass by the Sanjue Martial Arts Hall.

The Sanjue Martial Arts Hall had become much quieter, with the number of trainees not matching the information he had gathered.

Moreover, a man shrouded in a black robe always accompanied Lu Yan. His appearance was not clear except for his large physique. His cultivation level was unknown.

He wondered if it could be a Grandmaster from the Li Family.

"This kid even occasionally goes to the nearby tavern for a drink. Is he using himself as bait to tempt this old man to act? Hehe, would this old man fall so easily into the trap?"

Liu Zhenshuo smirked to himself.

On two occasions, he crossed paths with Lu Yan on the street, but he managed to resist striking.

He was afraid that Grandmasters might be lying in ambush.

Launching an attack at such a close range would very easily result in being surrounded.

The current priority was to probe the cultivation level of the man in the black robe who escorted Lu Yan.

Soon, he had an idea.

The next day, he spent three thousand silver coins to hire an assassin.

In the six provinces of Lingdong, besides the Dark Moon organization, there were naturally other assassin organizations.

However, most of them were controlled from behind by the Grandmaster-level Feudal Lords.

This time, the task was not to kill, but to investigate.

The assassin’s deliberate collision with the man in black was to force the man in black to show his hand, hence completing the task.

This kind of task, without the danger to life, was something that the assassin’s organization was naturally happy to accept.

Three days later, Lu Yan once again took the man in black out for a drink, the assassin pretended to be drunk and charged at the man in black, who effortlessly sent him flying a dozen meters away with a single palm strike.

"A martial marquis level five’s cultivation level."

In the dark, Liu Zhenshuo was slightly moved, he had begun to see the situation clearly.

The tavern.

"Is it that old fox Liu Zhenshuo who sent someone to test me? This old man, careful enough, lurking for so long and still not making a move."

Lu Yan picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one go, pondering in his mind.

Liu Zhenshuo must be disguised and hidden in the shadows, as for who he was disguised as, he didn’t know.

But these past few days, he always felt an observant gaze on him, slicing through the darkness.

"This old man, he is wary of the strength of the avatar."

Lu Yan gave a faint smile.

The man in black was, of course, Lu Yan’s avatar trained in the Vajra Indestructible Skill, ostensibly there to protect him, as well as being there to show the Li family.

Otherwise, when Liu Zhenshuo really made a move, he would have to reveal his true strength.

"He should be making his move soon."

Gulping his wine at a leisurely pace, it wasn’t until two hours later that Lu Yan left the tavern and returned to Sanjue Martial Arts Hall.

The night was covered in dark clouds, the world was pitch black.

After practicing his martial arts in the practice room, Lu Yan stepped out with the man in black to clean up before heading back to his room to rest.

This was his daily compulsory routine, very regular.

Whiz! 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Just then, there was a sound of something piercing through the air from the sky.

A dark arrow, tearing through the void, seemed to have split the night in half.

The sound hadn’t reached him when the arrow did.

Lu Yan’s muscles tightened, almost instinctively preparing to swat it away, but he restrained himself.

At his side, the man in black leapt up and pushed Lu Yan aside, taking the blow himself and was pierced by the arrow, his body exploded into two pieces.

In the distance, the rooftops.

Liu Zhenshuo frowned.

He had failed to successfully assassinate Lu Yan, his arrow was blocked by the man in black.

He hadn’t expected that the man in black’s reaction would be so fast and he was fearless, standing in the line of fire for Lu Yan.

But at that moment, from a house not far away, a figure burst out, rushing towards Liu Zhenshuo at a very fast speed.

This figure was one of the grandmasters of the Li family, who had already locked onto Liu Zhenshuo’s position.

"He’s already lost his guard, another arrow, just one more arrow can kill him."

"One arrow, it won’t take much time. After one arrow kills him, it’s not too late to retreat."

An idea arose in Liu Zhenshuo’s mind, and like a wild weed, it grew uncontrollably.

"Just one more arrow, just one, and he will surely die..."

In the end, the urge to kill prevailed.

Liu Zhenshuo drew his bow and shot another arrow towards Lu Yan, channelling his inner strength into the arrow. After releasing the arrow, Liu Zhenshuo turned to leave, very decisively.

Whiz!

By the time Lu Yan heard the sound of the arrow piercing through the air, the arrow was already within close range.

For any other martial marquis, even those at level five, they might not be able to dodge this arrow.

But for Lu Yan, this arrow was nothing, he could easily dodge or block it.

But, he needed to make the ’difficult’ dodge look convincing.

Lu Yan’s muscles tightened as he rolled to one side, narrowly avoiding the arrow in a panicked manner. The arrow landed right next to his foot, barely missing him.

"Liu Zhenshuo, stop."

The grandmaster from Li family chased after Liu Zhenshuo, holding a short spear and throwing it with all his force.

The spear pierced through the air with an astonishing momentum, aiming straight for Liu Zhenshuo’s heart.

Faced with the grandmaster’s attack, Liu Zhenshuo couldn’t ignore it and had to turn around to block it with his iron bow.

With a bang, the iron bow exploded and the spear was sent flying away.

However, the Ancestor of Liu Family, Liu Zhenshuo, was impeded.

From the front, another figure rushed over, it was the second grandmaster from the Li family.

This grandmaster, leaping over two hundred meters like a large bird gliding in the sky, struck out with continuous palm strikes at Liu Zhenshuo.

"Get lost."

Liu Zhenshuo roared, both his arms began to swell budding red scales all over them.

It was the Tian Gang Red Scale Palm.

Clap! Clap!

Liu Zhenshuo also struck back with his palms, clashing with the blows from the Li family’s grandmaster, sending him flying backwards.

Taking advantage of the brief pause, Liu Zhenshuo darted to one side, quickly moving hundreds of meters away.

But in front of him, a glimmer of cold light appeared.

The next moment, the cold light exploded, transforming into a four-feet-long sword radiance, slashing down at Liu Zhenshuo.

"Li Xingyuan."

Liu Zhenshuo growled, his Tian Gang Red Scale Palm working at its peak, striking out repeatedly. In the blink of an eye, he had attacked eighteen times.

After the eighteen strikes, Liu Zhenshuo flew back, his face pale.

You could see slash wounds appearing on his hands and arms, where the hard and durable red scales had been torn, the skin and flesh were also torn.

The head of Li family, Li Xingyuan, stood in front of Liu Zhenshuo with his sword.

As for the other two grandmasters of Li family, they were speeding to the scene.

Liu Zhenshuo’s face was gloomy, he was beginning to regret firing that second arrow just now.

Because of that second arrow, which cost him a bit of time, he lost his best chance to escape and ended up being surrounded.

Without time to think, Liu Zhenshuo leap forward, not to the front, but to the back. As he sped away, a thick black mist began to emanate from his body.

The expression on his face began to become ferocious.