Chapter 78: Leader of the Black Knights
Lu Zhou opened the Heavenly Writing’s interface and prepared to study it again. He had connected his Brahman Sea’s eight meridians, but they were not true Brahman Sea’s eight meridians. All he had were drainages and not the water source. His avatar, the Mighty Four Quadrants, had restricted his intake of Primal Qi. Moreover, he had no other way to quickly earn merit points. He had no other choice but to study the Heavenly Writing.
After a while, Little Yuan’er’s voice rang from the other side of the door. “Master, I’ve written to Jiang Aijian.”
Lu Zhou did not reply. He was confident in leaving the investigation to Jiang Aijian. Suddenly, he remembered he had to give Jiang Aijian a sword or two as a reward. Thinking about this, he shook his head. It was not easy to find a sword that was not inferior to the male and female double swords.
Lu Zhou looked around his surroundings before his eyes fell on a saber that Unnamed had scratched previously.
“Hm? A hole?” Lu Zhou suddenly noticed a hole on the saber. He was shocked by this discovery. ‘Is this caused by Unnamed?’ He removed the saber from the rack and inspected it. The saber’s quality was good. Although it was a mediocre weapon, it was forged from good metal. It would not break easily.
Lu Zhou thought to himself in disbelief, ‘Unnamed is so powerful? Well, seeing is believing!’
Lu Zhou raised his right arm and Unnamed materialized in his hand. He wielded it and slashed at the saber without any hesitation. Then, he inspected Unnamed and discovered it was undamaged. However, the same could not be said for the saber. He discovered a fine crack on the saber where Unnamed had landed.
Lu Zhou was truly shocked. He did not think Unnamed was useless, but he did not think it was especially powerful as well. Who knew Unnamed would be able to damage the high-quality saber? He felt satisfied. ‘This isn’t junk, it’s a treasure!’ He quickly waved his arm again, and Unnamed disappeared into thin air.
Perhaps, Unnamed had improved along with his cultivation base. No matter how weak his Brahman Sea’s eight meridians were, they were still much more powerful compared to the Sense Condensing realm.
Lu Zhou continued his search for another sword.
Many weapons on the rack were covered with a layer of dust due to neglect.
Lu Zhou waved his arms slightly, using Primal Qi to clear the dust.
“What’s this…” Lu Zhou discovered a spear with strange designs. It was roughly thirteen feet long. Its tip and pole were forged from pure steel. A dragon wound around the pole.
Lu Zhou gripped the spear, shocked by its weight. Its weight was about 100 catties. Fortunately, this weight was nothing to a cultivator who had gone through Body Tempering.
“Ding! Recovered the weapon, the Overlord Spear. Recommended owner: Duanmu Sheng.”
Lu Zhou muttered skeptically, “Duanmu Sheng?”
The Overlord Spear was huge and heavy. It looked majestic and imposing. Indeed. It was not suited for Lu Zhou’s old bones. He much preferred Unnamed. Moreover, Unnamed could transform into various types of weapons. It was undoubtedly more useful.
After a while, Lu Zhou discovered a sword lying on the floor in a corner. Treasures usually appeared insignificant. He picked the sword up and pulled it out of its scabbard as the sound of metal against metal rang in the air.
“What a good sword!” Lu Zhou exclaimed. His words were still echoing in the room when…
Crack!
The sword broke.
Lu Zhou coughed in embarra.s.sment, and his face was flushed red as he tossed the ‘treasure’ aside. It was as brittle as gla.s.s. It shattered at the slightest touch. Why was a defective weapon stored in the hidden chamber?
Lu Zhou suddenly lost all interest in the weapons inside the room. He did not have the time to inspect every single weapon. He decided to get some of his disciples to sort the weapons out in the future. Jiang Aijian’s sword would have to wait.
Shortly after, Lu Zhou returned to his spot and sat cross-legged before he began to cultivate.
…
The next day, early in the morning.
Little Yuan’er skipped and hopped as she made her way to the Evil Sky Pavilion. “Master, that shameless person has replied.”
Lu Zhou looked at Little Yuan’er emotionlessly and said, “Read it for me.”
Little Yuan’er cleared her throat. She mimicked Jiang Aijian’s way of speech as she said, “First, nothing can be found from the cultivation world about the destruction of Fish Dragon Village at the Crossing Heaven River for now. However, there’s something in the palace’s archives and the local archives. Investigations show that the culprit is Ji Tiandao. That’s you. Second, there are signs that the records have been tampered with. The most suspicious person at the moment is an officer of the Black Knights, Fan Xiuwen. The Black Knights are under the emperor’s direct command. They’re a special squad of Imperial Guards. I’ll add two additional pieces of information here. First, n.o.body believed Zhao Shuo when he told them about your true ident.i.ty. Second, please don’t forget about my sword, old senior! Hahaha!” She even mimicked his laughter, sounding unnatural.
Jiang Aijian was truly talented. He managed to get to the heart of the matter in such a short time.
Lu Zhou muttered, “Black Knights… Fan Xiuwen?”
“Master… is this person powerful?”
Lu Zhou did not respond to Little Yuan’er’s question. He did not seem to have any memories of this person. Well, he must be a minor character. After a while, he said, “Bring Old Fourth here.”
“Oh.” Little Yuan’er was slightly puzzled, but she still obediently carried out her order.
A short while later, Mings.h.i.+ Yin ran over with an ingratiating smile on his face. Anything was better than having to stay in the Cave of Reflection. He did not want to spend a second longer in there. He respectfully saluted Lu Zhou. “Greetings, master!”
Lu Zhou said nonchalantly, “I have a mission for you.”
When Mings.h.i.+ Yin heard this, he was overjoyed. He quickly said, “All you need to do is ask, master!”
Lu Zhou asked, “Do you know the leader of the Black Knights, Fan Xiuwen?”
“Not really… He seems to come from a family of officials. He doesn’t have much to do with the cultivation world.”
“Inform him that I want to meet him.” Lu Zhou’s voice was light.
“Understood!” Mings.h.i.+ Yin accepted the order reverently. He seemed to be reinvigorated! ‘I like this! There’s nothing better than a simple mission like this!’ He descended the mountain like an arrow that had been shot out.
As soon as Mings.h.i.+ Yin left, Little Yuan’er saw a messenger bird above the Evil Sky Pavilion.
“A letter!” Little Yuan’er waved. The messenger bird dropped the letter and disappeared with amazing speed.
Little Yuan’er cried out, “Master! It’s another letter from Jiang Aijian!”
“Read it.”
Little Yuan’er began to read. “I’m sorry, I ran out of paper. Anyway, Fan Xiuwen’s actual name is Leng Luo. He’s known as the Grim Yama. He was ranked on the top of the blacklist 300 years ago. Old senior, I think you know this person better than I do so there’s no need for me to elaborate.”
Little Yuan’er clicked her tongue. She crumpled the paper scornfully, and it turned to dust in her fist. She scratched her head in confusion when she recalled the content of Jiang Aijian’s second letter. She was not even 16 years old. There was no way she was familiar with someone from 300 years ago. However, if that person had lived so long before becoming the leader of the Black Knights, his cultivation base had to be quite profound.
“Leng Luo…” Suddenly, memories of this person surfaced in Lu Zhou’s mind. “It’s him?”
“Master, who’s this person? We can’t trust Jiang Aijian’s words.”
Lu Zhou shook his head. These matters did not conflict with Jiang Aijian’s interests. There was no reason for Jiang Aijian to lie.
“Where’s Old Fourth now?”
“With Fourth Senior Brother’s speed, he should have gone beyond the barrier by now…”