Chapter 72: No Virtues
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the inner city.
The mansion in the center of the Yonghe District was where the county office of Blackrock City was located.
At this moment, the night was dark, but the entrance of the county office was still brightly lit. A stone lion nearly three meters tall stood majestically on both sides of the vermilion door. Two armored soldiers stood on both sides, their bodies standing like javelins.
Generally speaking, county magistrates could not raise private soldiers. At most, the guards guarding the county office were bailiffs.
Control of a county’s military was the power of a county lieutenant.
However, martial strength reigned supreme in this world. As the strongest expert in Blackrock City, County Magistrate Wu Di was comparable to a local emperor in the vicinity.
The county lieutenant of the county office was Wu Di l s eldest son, Wu Bi, who had broken through to the third Blood Qi Breakthrough at the age of 30.
In addition, the chief constable of the county office, Wu Feiyi, was also a disciple of the Wu family.
Under normal circumstances, Wu Di would not stay in the county office permanently. The person in charge was Wu Bi.
At this moment, Wu Feiyi, the usually steady chief constable of the county office, rushed into the county office without waiting for a report.
“YOung Master! Bad news!”
“Young Master! Something happened!”
Wu Feiyi ran to the backyard of the county office and shouted.
“Huh?!” In the bedroom of the main house, Wu Bi was sleeping soundly with his sixteen-year-old concubine in his arms. He was woken up from his dream by this sudden shout. li lt’s Feiyi i s voice? Something happened!” Hearing the familiar voice, Wu Bi l s expression changed.
With Wu Feiyi’s usually steady personality, for him to enter the residence late at night and shout like this, something big must have happened.
Wu Bi sat up from the bed and suddenly lifted the blanket. After putting on his shoes, he picked up the coat hanging on the rack and walked out.
“Creak! ‘I
Wu Bi opened the door and looked at the anxious Wu Feiyi in the courtyard. He went forvvard and said, “Feiyi, what happened?”
“Young Master, Zhang Tianwen and Meng Zhi have been killed! Theyre in the alley at the back door of the Drunken Moon Pavilion.”
Wu Feiyi lowered his voice.
“Two Blood Tempering Realm martial artists were killed in the inner city?! I ‘ Wu Bi l s pupils constricted. This was no small matter.
Zhang Tianwen broke through to the Blood Tempering Realm at the age of 22. He could be considered a genius, but it was not an exaggeration.
However, Meng Zhi was different.
A Blood Tempering Realm cultivator who was not even 20 years old had learned the most difficult spear technique. Even in the prefecture capital’s martial academy, he could be considered outstanding.
Most importantly, the Meng family was one of the five great families. On the surface, there was a Force Tempering Martial Master, but in the early years, there was another Martial Master who went to the prefecture capital to develop.
Such a situation was common in their large family clans. Their Wu family also had people in the prefecture capital. Wu Bi had also traveled in the prefecture capital during his early years.
Including the Martial Masters of the Martial Master Academy, many of them came from the prefecture’s Martial Academy.
Zhang Tianwen had just broken through in the past few days. Meng Zhi had broken through less than three months ago.
Two geniuses who had just broken through to the Blood Tempering Realm had died in the inner city. No matter how one looked at it, it looked like an enemy family had killed the genius.
Such a thing had happened in the early years, but later on, everyone did it, nearly crippling Blackrock City.
In the end, all the Martial Masters in the city agreed that all Martial Masters were not allowed to attack in the inner city, nor were they allowed to attack Blood Tempering Realm martial artists.
“What’s the exact situation?!” Wu Bi asked.
“I’m not too sure either. I heard that Meng Zhi was sent flying to the street and died on the spot! Zhang Tianwen even lost his head. He was killed in a few moves!” Wu Feiyi explained, “Now, the head of the Zhang family and the
Martial Master of the Meng family have brought the corpses to look for Eldest Master.”
“Follow me to my father’s place!” Wu Bi quickly walked out of the county office.
Wu Feiyi followed closely behind.
When the two of them rushed from Yonghe District to the Wu family’s mansion in Anye District, they saw a circle of people standing around the front courtyard. All of them were holding lanterns that illuminated the courtyard.
In the empty space in the middle of the courtyard, there were two stretchers covered with white cloth. Blood had already soaked a large portion of the white cloth.
Just by looking at the blood loss, it was obvious that he was dead.
“Young Master!
The Wu family disciples in the courtyard bowed one after another.
Wu Bi found a hunchbacked old man and asked in a deep voice, “Steward Wu, where’s my father?”
“Master went to the study with the heads of the Zhang family and the Meng family.” Steward Wu replied.
Wu Bi walked forward and lifted the white cloth covering the stretcher on the
Meng Zhi’s eyes were wide open, and his face was ferocious with unwillingness. His left arm was twisted and deformed, and the clothes on his chest had been torn open, revealing his dented chest.
Wu Bi looked at Meng Zhi’s chest and the steel short spear that was slightly bent from the beating. His expression could not help but change.
“It looks like he used a short spear to block it, but he didn’t manage to block it.
The huge force broke his left arm, ribs, and internal organs. He died. This power can only be Internal Force!
Through Meng Zhi’s death, Wu Bi roughly guessed what Meng Zhi looked like before he died.
“Hiss
“What a terrifying palm force?!
Wu Bi lifted the white cloth on the stretcher on the right and immediately gasped. It was not because of Zhang Tianwen i s tragic death, but because of the palm print on the top of his head.
A Force Tempering Martial Master who ignored the rules and did not care about martial ethics was a disaster for Blackrock City.
Even he would not dare to say that he would definitely be fine if he was ambushed by a Force Tempering Martial Master.
“The only people in the nearby generation who have such terrifying palm power are the Li Familys Patriarch, Li Fenglei, and the Chen Family Fort’s Fort Master, Chen Xuan. However, they shouldn’t have attacked these two people…
Wu Bi covered the white cloth with a solemn expression.
“Second Brother Wu, if you don’t give our Meng family a satisfactory explanation, I wont let you off! Don’t blame me for not following the rules when the time comes!”
A robust old man with muscles all over his body walked out from the backyard. He waved angrily at the Meng family disciples in the courtyard and strode out of the Wu residence.
This person was the Force Tempering Martial Master of the Meng family, Meng Jue. Otherwise, ordinary people would not dare to call him Wu Di.
Immediately after, a potbellied middle-aged man in luxurious clothes walked out. He looked a little dispirited. It was the head of the Zhang family, Zhang Shuangquan.
His eldest son was crippled, and his second son had just broken through to the Blood Tempering Realm. It was only the fifth day today, but he had been killed for no reason.
The other children were not talented. Even if they spent another 20 years, they would not be able to reach the Blood Tempering Realm. They would probably not be able to nurture them in time even if they gave birth again.
Why was this happening?
After the Zhang family and Meng family disciples left, Wu Bi rushed to the study.
The next day, Han Zhao woke up early to cultivate the Life Nurturing Technique as usual and train his stamina.
“It’s about time.” After calculating the time, Han Zhao left home and rushed towards Yejiang District.
As soon as he entered the martial arts school, he saw the apprentices gathered in the outer courtyard. It was noisy, and no one was practicing martial arts.
As usual, the recliner was placed in the corridor between the inner and outer courtyards. ‘l’nere was a large nandtul ot melon seeds on tne wooden snelt beside it, but Lu Yi was not around.
“Have you heard? Senior Brother Zhang is dead! And that Meng Zhi too!”
“F*ck! You don’t know, Senior Brother Zhangs head was sent flying by someone!”
“Too terrifying! It seems to be done by a Force Tempering Martial Master. He was killed in one move!”
“I know. I heard that Senior Brother Zhang and Meng Zhi committed adultery with the concubine of a Force Tempering Martial Master and were caught on the spot.”
“If you ask me, I’ll die!”
“That’s right. You usually have eyes as big as the sky. Serves you right!” “What nonsense are you talking about? Senior Brother Zhang…
Han Zhao walked forward, and a few apprentices who usually had a good relationship with him walked up.
“Senior Brother Han, have you heard? Senior Brother Zhang is dead!”
“What? Zhang Tianwen is dead?!” Han Zhao looked shocked, but he did not show any sadness.
His relationship with Zhang Tianwen was average. The apprentices in the martial arts school basically knew about it.
Among the apprentices present, some were indifferent, some were crying like cats, and some were secretly pleased.
After a while, a few bailiffs arrived at the martial arts school and shouted, “Han Zhao, Zhu Kang, Si Jing, and Gou Chengli, are these four here?”
“I’m Han Zhao.” Han Zhao walked forward.
The other three also walked out of the crowd.
“Come with us to the county office for a routine inquiry.” The bailiff nodded and gestured for the four of them to leave with them.
Han Zhao and the others arrived at the inner courtyard of the county office. Lu
Yi was sitting on a chair in the courtyard.
“Master Lu.” Han Zhao and the other three went forward and bowed. “Yes.” Lu Yi nodded. “Don’t be nervous. Just go in and tell the truth.”
“Yes,” the four of them replied at the same time.
Soon, Xu Ling, Su Yun, and Li Fei walked out of the study.
Then, it was Han Zhao and the others’ turn.
After the four of them entered, they saw a middle-aged man with a mustache sitting upright in an armchair. His appearance was ordinary and could even be said to be a little wretched. He was probably less than 1.7 meters tall and his figure was not strong.
[Wu Di—Greater Mastery of Force Tempering. Internal Force covers the entire body and begins to fuse with the five internal organs. It’s in the high-speed improvement stage.]
Just based on the stereotype, he looked like a shrewd businessman or an advisor who advised the county magistrate, not the number one expert of Blackrock City.
“One by one.”
Wu Di l s energetic voice sounded. He reached out and pointed at one of them.
Soon, after the three people in front finished asking, Wu Di waved his hand and gestured for them to leave first.
After the three of them left, Wu Di said, “You’re Han Zhao?” “I’m Han Zhao.” Han Zhao cupped his fists.
“You’re not bad,” Wu Di suddenly said without rhyme or reason.
Han Zhao looked “confused”.
“A certain lord asked me to take care of you.”
Wu Di hinted.
Han Zhao’s heart skipped a beat, but he immediately relaxed.
With the Ji familys strength, this was nothing.
Moreover, the strength he displayed in front of Ji Zhuling was only at the ordinary Blood Tempering Realm. She probably couldn’t be bothered to mention it.
“Thank you.” Seeing his attitude, Han Zhao did not point it out. “Go.” Wu Di smiled gently, indicating that he could leave.
“I’ll take my leave.”
After leaving the county office, Han Zhao went straight home.
As he walked, he checked the system interface.
[40 Notification Fragments have been collected. Do you want to synthesize the Trait?]
[Each synthesis will consume 40 Notification Fragments and 30 taels of gold.]
The first effect of [Late Bloomer]’s Trait was at 20 years old, and he would be 20 years old in three months.
If his aptitude doubled, he would no longer have a low-grade trash foundation in reality.
With a decent aptitude, his cultivation speed would be much faster.
At that time, he could use the Vajra Technique to increase his basic aptitude. It would be much easier in the simulation. Otherwise, it would be useless even if he died.
In theory, the foundation that he had improved after birth should be considered the basic aptitude, right?
As long as the Vajra Technique could raise one’s foundation to an intermediate level, it should be enough after the Trait’s amplification.
He vvas already satisfied with the standard of ordinary geniuses.
After all, no matter how good his foundation was, he had to rely on his own ‘hard work’.
“After killing Zhang Tianwen and Meng Zhi, there’s still half a year of buffer time. I don’t have to rush to kill Qi Xing.”
“I’ll add some points first!”