Chapter 51 - 48 Goodbye to the Scapegoat Woman (Please follow the reading)_1

In the end, the manager inevitably compromised.

To save himself, he had no choice.

He fetched a brush and inkstone and wrote in detail how he came to know the assassin, how he poisoned Zhou Hezhen, and how he used the assassin to kill Zhou Hezhen.

He wrote his own name at the end: Zhou Zhengkong.

He finally stamped the document with his handprint.

Lu Yan smilingly collected the ’evidence’, saying, "Five thousand pieces of silver - hand them over."

Zhou Zhengkong had nothing to do but offer his life’s savings to Lu Yan.

"And this female assassin is worth thirty thousand pieces. I believe you can claim the reward. After three days, give it to me along with the martial arts secret book."

"I warn you, don’t play tricks, and don’t think of hiring someone to deal with me. As soon as something happens to me, this letter will soon reach Zhou Hejian’s hands."

Lu Yan asserted solemnly.

"Rest assured."

Zhou Zhengkong, full of helplessness, was forced to succumb to Lu Yan’s demand as his life was in Lu Yan’s hands.

"Looking forward to meeting you in three days."

After Lu Yan finished speaking, he left briskly.

This trip was admittedly fraught, but the outcome was better than expected.

Managing to control Zhou Zhengkong, he didn’t have to show himself to claim the reward, which lessened the risk of exposure.

He was initially worried about the force behind the female assassin. Now that he didn’t have to confront them directly, nobody knew that the assassin was killed by him.

Zhou Zhengkong surely wouldn’t dare to call him out.

After Lu Yan left, the guard of the Management Mansion quickly came to Zhou Zhengkong.

This time, there was an additional old man, with white hair and beard.

This person, like Zhou Zhengde, was a trusted aide of Zhou Zhengkong. Also a powerful expert who had broken the limit four times, he was an elder to Zhou Zhengkong – Zhou Hemu.

"Uncle Six stays, everyone else leaves."

Zhou Zhengkong ordered.

"Did that man leave? What conditions did he set?"

Zhou Hemu asked.

Zhou Zhengkong recounted the entire incident.

Zhou Hemu’s face was haggard, he lamented, "Doesn’t this mean you’ll be kept under his control, at his mercy for your entire life?"

"This incident isn’t entirely without its merits."

As Zhou Zhengkong said this, he pushed his broken ribs into place, then mobilized his Qi-blood for recovery.

"How so?"

Zhou Hemu asked while helping Zhou Zhengkong mend his broken leg bone.

As before, Lu Yan had held back and not killed Zhou Zhengkong, only leaving him with multiple broken bones which could be reconnected.

With the strong vitality of five-time limit breaking, combined with some martial food, recovery was not difficult.

A healthy and alive Zhou Zhengkong would continuously benefit him in the long run.

"This man, despite his young age, possesses terrifying power. After fighting with him earlier, I found he has immense strength and bountiful Qi-blood, and is unmistakably an Innate Martial Body."

Zhou Zhengkong analyzed.

"Innate Martial Body?" Zhou Hemu’s face changed.

"Not only that, his proficiency in martial arts is extraordinary as well. Even though he cultivates second-rate martial arts, he has reached an extremely high level in both. He’s a naturally talented martial artist. Given time, if he were to learn first-rate martial arts, he will surely skyrocket."

"If we maintain good relations with him now, we might benefit from his future rise."

Zhou Zhengkong revealed a cunning expression.

...

When Lu Yan returned home, he found that the others had not returned yet. He quickly cleaned up the traces of the fight and went to bed.

The next day, news spread throughout the city.

The female assassin who attempted to kill Zhou Hezhen was executed.

The person who captured her was not revealed.

Many people sighed out of disappointment as the duck that was just about to go in their mouths flew away.

"That was quick."

Upon hearing the news, Lu Yan smiled subtly.

Soon, news was sent from the Zhou Clan again. As Zhou Hezhen was assassinated, the other members of his clan decided it was too risky to try and cook the Mutated Nine-headed Heart Meat. Therefore, they decided to sell the meat to all feudal lords in an auction.

Ten Mutated Heart Meats were available, of which the Zhou Clan kept three for themselves and decided to sell the remaining seven. The auction would be held three days later.

All the great feudal lords were rubbing their hands, getting excited.

If they could not get the Mutated Nine-headed Heart Meat, they could directly buy the main ingredient. They planned to get martial chefs to cook it together later. Although the success rate was low, there was still a chance of success.

In a blink of an eye, the day Lu Yan and Zhou Zhengkong agreed upon arrived. Lu Yan saw Zhou Zhengkong again and successfully received a reward of thirty thousand pieces of silver and four martial arts manuals.

Two second-rate martial arts and two third-rate martial arts.

"Looking forward to our next cooperation."

Lu Yan smiled.

"Looking forward, indeed." Zhou Zhengkong said with a smile all over his face.

Tucking the martial arts scripts into his chest, Lu Yan returned to his dwellings and started to read.

The two third-rate martial arts were the Star-picking Finger and Antelope Kick.

The Star-picking Finger was decent, a typical offensive martial arts without any specialties. But Lu Yan had his eyes on Antelope Kick immediately.

The script introduced that the Antelope Kick was created by imitating alien beasts called flying antelopes.

Flying antelopes have extremely strong leg strength, capable of leaping over tens of meters in a single bound and running faster than a cheetah.

Therefore, the main strength of Antelope Kick is speed.

Unlike the Liuhe Kick, which has a balanced attack and speed, Antelope Kick focuses entirely on speed and is a pursuit and escape martial arts.

It is especially favored by scouts in the army.

Of course, Lu Yan also loved it and decided to focus on cultivating the Antelope Kick.

The two second-rate martial arts were Broken Sky Blade, a knife-oriented martial art whose every strike could break the sky and kill in one hit.

Lu Yan had always practiced fist and kick techniques and hadn’t trained in weaponry except for some common archery before. So he was naturally interested in Broken Sky Blade.

But he was even more interested in the other second-rate martial arts - the Shape-shifting Technique.

To be precise, the Shape-shifting Technique is a special martial arts. It was categorized as second-rate because the techniques used were similar to those of second-rate martial arts.

Lu Yan had some understanding of special martial arts; most of them didn’t contain combat power, and their functions were more auxiliary.

For example, some could enhance eyesight, hearing, or smell after cultivation.

But after mastering the Shape-shifting Technique, one could control their body bones and muscles to change their appearance.

Unlike the Vajra Body that compresses height in a blunt manner, the Shape-shifting Technique allows for fine control of minute muscle and tissue, such as those in the face.

In Lu Yan’s view, this was simply a disguise technique. Although it lacked combat power, if used properly, it could be more useful than first-rate martial arts.

Lu Yan immediately decided to start with the Shape-shifting Technique and Antelope Kick.

The Broken Sky Blade, Star-picking Finger, and the Savage Tiger Fist along with the Iron Sand Palm would be practiced later.

Picking up the script of Antelope Kick, he began to read it carefully.

The next day, the auction for the mutated heart meat began, and competition among the feudal lords was fierce.

The mutated heart meat, which originally cost ten thousand silver per kilogram, all soared to over fifteen thousand.

In the end, the seven pieces of Mutated Heart Meat were auctioned off to seven different feudal lords.

The Liu Family and the Wu Family each won a piece.

"Let’s go, back to Changfeng City."

Liu Yuansong ordered.

The mutated heart meat was placed in a specially-made food box and carried on Yuansong’s back.

There was a thunderous sound as the cavalry galloped, the ground in Qingyang city shook, and squads of knights emerged from three city gates and disappeared into the mountains.

Every feudal lord who won the auction did not dare to stay long, fearing they would be targeted.

People of the Liu Family galloped all the way and relaxed as Changfeng City approached.

Just then, a huge rock appeared in front of the road. A young girl was sitting on it, her long legs swinging in the air.

Behind her, she carried a pitch-black pot, which was quite striking.

"It’s her, the pot-bearing girl."

Lu Yan thought to himself; he had a strong impression of this girl.

He saw her on the fifth floor of Zhou’s Martial Food when he first went to Qingyang City. Two men from the Ge Family tried to trouble her but were dealt with by the man who was bored of ’following the routine’.

It was said those two men from the Situ Family ended up crippled and couldn’t recover, becoming eunuchs.

The Situ Family searched for the girl throughout the city, but they couldn’t find even a trace of her.

He didn’t expect her to appear here, blocking the road with a huge rock. She was obviously up to no good.

"Get out of the way."

One member of the Liu Family rode out and roared like a rumble of thunder.

"The road isn’t yours. Why should I move? I will not."

The girl pouted and jumped down from the stone, slowly approached them.

"It seems that you are intentionally looking for trouble?"

The Liu Family member narrowed his eyes, revealing a sharp light, and looked around.

He feared an ambush, otherwise, how could a girl be so audacious?