Zhao Donghan carried Luo Hong in his arms as he sprinted under the sunset.
Along the way, passersby who saw the scene spoke about how Zhao Donghan carried Luo Hong like a girl.
Luo Hong felt like he had lost his chastity to his bodyguard. With the injury on his shoulder that caused him to bleed excessively before they even reached the Luo Residence, Luo Hong passed out cold in his bodyguard’s robust arms.
Luo Feng, Magistrate Liu, and the caravan finally entered the county after they received Butler Chen’s ‘welcome gift’.
The elder in the crane robes walked slowly with the help of several young children.
It was then that the crowd became noisy. A buff figure ran rampant on the street with his overflowing vital energy.
“What impudence!” Magistrate Liu got angry at the scene.
The elder was the grand mentor of the Eastern Palace and the teacher of the crown prince, so Magistrate Liu ought to present himself better in front of such high authority.
“That’s Young Lord ‘Long Hoe’s bodyguard, Zhao Donghan, and he seems to be carrying the young lord himself,” said Fang Zheng with his signature blank look.
Xin Wei’s eyes glistened. “Young Lord ‘Long Hoe’? Where?!”
Magistrate Liu instantly shriveled when he heard the name. The King of the Northern Garrison’s family name was Luo, and Anping County’s Luo Residence was related to him.
As a puny magistrate, Magistrate Liu dared not get on the Luo Residence’s bad side either.
Zhao Donghan was anxious as he sprinted madly with Luo Hong in his arms. He did not even care about Luo Hong and company because he was only concerned about his young lord, whose life was hanging by a thread.
“What happened to Young Lord ‘Long Hoe? He’s seriously injured.”
“Fang Zheng, go have a look.”
Fang Zheng nodded and left right away.
The children beside the elder man grinned in a strange way. “Is that the young lord of the Luo Residence?”
“Yes, he is,” Luo Feng said nonchalantly and nodded.
“The boy’s yang energy is as bright as the sun. He’s got potential as a Ruism cultivator,” said the older man.
It was then that the older man suddenly thought of something. “Chen Tianxuan…Did he assume that I sent someone to hurt that boy? Is that why he welcomed me in such an ‘explosive’ way?”
Luo Feng was shocked. Magistrate Liu and the others looked at each other in confusion.
A while later, Fang Zheng came back.
“My lord, I’ve found out what happened.” Fang Zheng cupped his fists while his dull face looked rather weird when he came back.
“Speak,” said Luo Feng.
“Death has happened at Qinghua Theatre. An evil cultivator killed a dozen men and women, and he is none other than the great philanthropist of Anping County, Hu Zhishui. Fortunately, Young Lord ‘Long Hoe’ stepped in and stopped the man. Otherwise, more than a hundred people would’ve been dead at the literature gathering,” said Fang Zheng after a deep breath.
Magistrate Liu was shocked when he heard the news. ‘Hu Zhishui was an evil cultivator? I was so close to him in the past!”
Luo Feng was also stunned by the report. ‘Luo Hong stopped another evil cultivator? Why does he keep stealing our jobs from us?!’
More importantly, he picked up the scent of conspiracy. ‘Evil beings again…Luo Hong has run into two evil beings in such a short time. Is there something brewing in the dark?’
Luo Hong squinted his eyes and glanced at the elder who nonchalantly waved and said, “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not part of this.”
Nodding, Luo Feng believed the elder because the elder had no reason to lie.
The elder took the little incident seriously. “I’ve just arrived at Anping County and the young lord from the Luo Residence has already been attacked by an evil being? Is it a coincidence? Or is someone trying to frame me?”
…
At the Luo Residence, Zhao Donghan carried the unconscious man back to the residence.
Butler Chen, who was beside the lotus pond, sensed the commotion and his figure disappeared, leaving afterimages in his wake. He appeared before Zhao Donghan in a flash only to see Luo Hong looking pale and weak as the injury at his shoulder bled ceaselessly. The expression on his face turned cold.
“What’s wrong? Did you fail to protect the young lord again?” said Butler Chen. He sounded nonchalant, but his words almost put Zhao Donghan on his knees.
“I’ve failed my duty again,” Zhao Donghan said nervously.
Butler Chen ignored the man. He swung his sleeve and revealed a green bottle in his hand. Then, he took a pill out of the bottle and gave it to Luo Hong.
After swallowing the pill, the hole in Luo Hong’s shoulder stopped bleeding and recovered rapidly.
“The young lord has depleted his sword qi, and his meridians are a little damaged. He’s in much more danger than the last time.” Butler Chen looked even colder after he inspected Luo Hong’s injuries.
Zhao Donghan dared not utter a word.
“Bring the young lord inside to rest,” said Butler Chen with his stony expression.
Zhao Donghan nodded and ran towards Lu Hong’s courtyard.
Little Douhua was daydreaming in Luo Hong’s courtyard. When she saw Zhao Donghan come in with the unconscious Luo Hong, she squealed in shock. She got up and offered a helping hand immediately.
…
Butler Chen returned to his room.
The visitor, who had arrived in the county today, already put him in a bad mood.
If that man really wanted to kill his young lord, he might not be able to protect Luo Hong consistently.
A quick thought later, Butler Chen took out a paper and laid it on the table. He dipped the brush in ink, but his hand froze for quite a while. He had to think for a long time before he finally decided to write.
“Master Luo, the young lord is in danger. Return immediately!”
He then put it into an envelope and sealed it.
With a quick swing of his sleeve, a dagger slid out. The sword qi somehow bound the letter to the dagger.
Butler Chen rolled his sleeves up to open the window. He then fired the little dagger with the letter into the north.
It was a sword post rather than a pigeon post!
…
At the Qinghua Theatre, Luo Hong brought Xin Wei and Fang Zheng along for the investigation.
As the first crime scene, the constables from the yamen had sealed the place up.
Luo Feng glanced over the gory and bloody scene.
With more than a dozen having been killed, it was no longer a small matter. Unlike what happened in the Heiyun Stockade, where the dead ones were bandits, the scholars and courtesans were just normal people.
The dead bodies were accounted for and lined up neatly with a white cloth over them.
Luo Feng walked over to Hu Zhishui’s dead body.
“An Eighth Grade evil cultivator at his peak had his neck snapped by a martial cultivator at close range. The killing blow was the snapped neck,” said Luo Feng after his initial observation. “According to witnesses, Zhao Donghan wasn’t around that time, so it seems like the young lord still has another martial cultivator bodyguard who’s quite strong.”
Xin Wei swiftly recorded all the findings in her notebook.
Fang Zheng was looking at the survivors who were still unconscious. “They seemed to have been struck with some kind of spell.”
Luo Feng glanced at the unconscious scholars. “They’ll live, but their mental state has been heavily damaged. They’ll need to rest for a long time.”
Then, the mantle on Luo Feng fluttered as his vital energy surged. Behind his back was a projection of a veteran blood warrior. The bloody projection materialized and transformed into a bloody armor before it equipped itself onto Luo Feng.
He then drew his sword and plunged it into the ground.
Swoosh!
“Awaken!” bellowed Luo Feng. His shout was so loud that it sounded like the roar from the Gods.
The unconscious scholars and courtesans woke up immediately as if their souls had been shaken.
Fang Zheng was deeply in awe of Luo Feng’s powerful ability.
“Fifth Grade martial cultivator, Armor Morph, Evil Begone!”
…
Luo Hong was out cold for a whole night.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a tiny ember of the oil lamp dancing in front of his eyes. He touched the hole at this shoulder but realized that it had recovered and had scabbed over.
“Is my body this good? No, I must have taken some decent medicine.”
He leaned on his bed and tried turning his neck. All he heard was cracks from his bones.
“That fight was really dangerous. One little mistake and I might’ve been dead. The path of cultivation is really dangerous.”
Luo Hong was rather shaken now when he thought of what happened.
“I have to become stronger. This world is much more dangerous than I thought.” With a deep breath, he took out the Bronze Amulet and the human skin manual.
He had gained quite a lot from that fight with Hu Zhishui.
Firstly, he had absorbed Hu Zhishui’s energy and expanded his dantian once again.
Secondly, the Black Iron Amulet had ascended to Bronze level.
Lastly, he had managed to capture Hu Zhishui’s shadow.
The gains were not exactly huge but were definitely not something he could ignore either. He would be able to grow stronger with what he had gained.
However, Luo Hong looked forward to the result in the human skin manual.
He wrote Hu Zhishui’s name down on the diary page and set the man as a target. Even though things had gone out of control again, he had a feeling that he would gain a considerable amount of Sin Level from it.
After all, to Hu Zhishui, Luo Hong was an antagonist who had ruined his plan.
He caressed the human skin manual.
The moonlight was white as snow when it shone through the wooden window. It bestowed a layer of brilliance on Luo Hong who was leaning on his bed, making him look like a deity.
He sighed a breath of relief to suppress his excitement before he opened the human skin manual.