Nighttime, 9:50 PM, First Ridge Train Station.
Lu Dongjun, still maintaining his façade of Support, entered the platform.
Ever since arriving at Hai Chi Ridge, Wan Jinxian had purchased over seventy businesses on his behalf, and now he had sold all of those businesses to others. The owner of each business was different, but every news report about Lu Dongjun personally transferring a business included his photograph.
Lu Dongjun didn’t know how these photographs had surfaced, but he knew one thing: in Hai Chi Ridge, he was left with nothing.
The several hundred thousand Ocean Dollars in the bank were inaccessible—certainly, in Hai Chi Ridge, they were impossible to withdraw. He had taken some petty cash from his mansion, and in the past few days, he had gathered over a thousand more Ocean Dollars; this was all the assets he could currently utilize.
In Hai Chi Ridge, Lu Dongjun was a public enemy. He had unexpectedly plunged Hai Chi Ridge into famine once again, and even the mansion he once lived in had been torched by the furious masses.
Lu Dongjun was not a meticulous person, but he knew danger was nearing. He had intended to write a few more articles for the newspapers, hoping to sustain himself in Hai Chi Ridge for a while longer. But now he realized a problem: he couldn’t hold on anymore.
The newspapers were harming him, the major Gangs wanted to harm him, the great families wanted to harm him, and even the commoners would not tolerate him.
Although he hadn’t brought enough money, there was something he never left behind. It was an anonymous, indefinite Guide Token that would allow Lu Dongjun to travel to any place in Puluo State under any identity. This was a privilege granted to the nobility by the Outside Provinces. When Lu Dongjun took out this Guide Token, the ticket seller didn’t ask any further questions and immediately helped him purchase a ticket.
After passing through the ticket checkpoint, Lu Dongjun walked towards the platform. He had never taken a train alone before and wasn’t accustomed to looking at the platform’s signs. The platform seemed farther than usual.
Sparse passengers on the platform were boarding and alighting.
Lu Dongjun hadn’t bought a ticket for a private carriage; that would attract too much attention. He found a window seat in the hard-seat carriage, sat down, and placed his top hat over his face. Amidst the steam train’s whistle, he tried to gradually calm himself.
The last time he had taken a hard seat on a train was with Lu Dongliang. Back then, Lu Dongjun was just thirteen. Having quarreled with his father and fearing a beating, he had secretly fled home. Lu Dongliang found him and said that if he wanted to run, he should run far. Lu Dongliang had loved to travel at that time and always carried a Guide Token with him. He bought two hard-seat train tickets and took Lu Dongjun with him to Pants Belt Pit.
WOO—
HUFF. HUFF. HUFF.
The train had already departed.
Lu Dongjun felt somewhat stuffy and took the top hat off his face. The scenery outside the window slowly receded: residences, farmlands, and forests.
Lu Dongjun wanted to open the window for some fresh air, but he couldn’t find the latch. He was in a particularly foul mood, really wanting to smash the window open with a punch!
Amidst his irritation, he suddenly realized something strange about the carriage. He was the only passenger.
CLANK!
The carriage door was pushed open. A man in a gray suit, a cigarette between his fingers, sat down in an adjacent seat across the aisle.
"Second Bro, long time no see."
Lu Dongjun placed the top hat back on his head, preparing for a fight. "You’ve mistaken me for someone else."
He Haisheng smiled. "Why bother? I’ve already recognized you; it’s meaningless to keep pretending."
After speaking, He Haisheng offered Lu Dongjun a cigarette, "Take a puff."
Lu Dongjun didn’t accept it; he kept his eyes fixed on the half-smoked cigarette in He Haisheng’s hand.
He Haisheng was a Smoke Cultivator, and according to the information Lu Dongjun possessed, He Haisheng had a Seventh Layer of cultivation. Lu Dongjun himself was at the Eighth Layer, clearly holding the advantage. But Lu Dongjun wouldn’t be careless.
In strategy, Lu Dongjun’s brain wasn’t the sharpest. In management, Lu Dongjun was considered half a waste. But when it came to fighting an enemy with his life on the line, Lu Dongjun feared no one.
When Lu Dongliang and He Yuxiu clashed, he had found an opportunity to severely injure Lu Dongliang with one move. Even though he had the advantage of a surprise attack, it was also due to his innate talent for seizing opportune moments in battle. Monkey Qiu had been on guard, yet Lu Dongjun had rendered him powerless to fight back, precisely because Lu Dongjun’s responses were spot on—though, of course, Duan Shaoxia’s methods were indeed exceptionally unique.
Today, facing He Haisheng, Lu Dongjun still had a clear plan of action.
"He Laosan, I’m down and out, just trying to get back to Greenwater City to find a meal. We grew up together, and there are no real grudges between us. You shouldn’t make things difficult for me at a time like this, right?" While speaking, Lu Dongjun observed He Haisheng’s seating position.
He Haisheng took a deep drag of his cigarette, then quickly exhaled, his entire body becoming enveloped in smoke.
"Since you brought up grudges, there is something I really want to ask you. Back when you invited my brother to dinner, he got sick after returning home. He broke out in a rash and nearly died. You remember that, don’t you?"
Lu Dongjun watched the direction of the smoke, judging the airflow inside the carriage. "I remember. Your He Family wanted to pin that on me at the time. I even told your sister, He Yuxiu, to her face that I didn’t do it. Your sister believed me then."
He Haisheng nodded. "Actually, even I believed you back then. It wasn’t until this trip to Hai Chi Ridge that I realized something was off. That strategist by your side, Wan Jinxian, he must be a Disease Cultivator, right?"
Lu Dongjun said nothing further; his secret was uncovered.
He Haisheng continued, "The illness my brother had was nearly incurable. Later, a Foreigner cured him. At first, we thought he was some divine doctor from a foreign land, but after investigating, we discovered he was a Disease Cultivator. His method of curing was to remove the root of the illness from the patient. I’ve thoroughly investigated this matter. The root of the illness that the Foreigner removed was created by another Disease Cultivator. Disease Cultivators are almost extinct in the world. How could it be such a coincidence that you have one by your side too?"
Lu Dongjun shook his head. "The Wan Jinxian you’re talking about? He’s not a Disease Cultivator; he’s a Poison Cultivator."
He Haisheng, biting his cigarette, chuckled. "Second Bro, it’s come to this, and you’re still hiding things from me. If you hadn’t gone to Hai Chi Ridge to kill mosquitoes, our He Family would probably still be in the dark. The mosquitoes at Hai Chi Ridge died of illness, not poison. In Puluo State, who could make mosquitoes sick? Now that things have reached this point, what else do you have to say..."
Lu Dongjun had nothing more to say.
He threw a punch directly at He Haisheng.
The punch didn’t land on He Haisheng’s body but on a cloud of smoke, as if it had hit nothing. But Lu Dongjun knew in his heart that his punch hadn’t missed.
Smoke Scattered Like Stars—this was a Seventh Layer Technique of a Smoke Cultivator, allowing the body to disperse into smoke and negate part of an attack. But only part of it.
He Haisheng truly felt the pain from Lu Dongjun’s punch. It genuinely hurt.
The smoke moved within the carriage, then suddenly vanished.
Lu Dongjun looked around. The smoke abruptly converged above his head, and He Haisheng reformed. The cigarette in his mouth transformed into a Fire Snake, stabbing swiftly towards Lu Dongjun’s crown.
Lu Dongjun dodged the Fire Snake, reached out, and yanked He Haisheng down from the train’s ceiling. He had fought Smoke Cultivators many times; he understood their habitual paths after turning to smoke and knew how wind direction would influence them. Relying on past combat experience, Lu Dongjun had instantly pinpointed He Haisheng’s attack position.
He Haisheng’s body rapidly heated up, turning into blazing fire, forcing Lu Dongjun to release his grip. Lu Dongjun hadn’t intended to hold him for long anyway and slammed him into a corner of the carriage.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A row of seats splintered. He Haisheng crashed into the corner, but Lu Dongjun didn’t rush forward to follow up. The seats were broken, but the carriage itself was undamaged, though there were scorch marks. This proved He Haisheng had already turned into smoke upon landing. Rushing in to attack now wouldn’t severely injure He Haisheng; instead, it would put Lu Dongjun at a disadvantage.
Lu Dongjun slapped his palm outwards from where he stood.
He Haisheng also found it baffling, then suddenly felt a fierce gale rise within the carriage.
He Haisheng’s face paled in shock, only then realizing the danger. The intensity of this gale was immense, capable of dispersing him completely in a short time.
He was a Smoke Cultivator; couldn’t his body naturally disperse into smoke? Dispersing into smoke was indeed an advantage for Smoke Cultivators, but it depended on the degree of dispersal. Lu Dongjun had seized upon this characteristic of Smoke Cultivators. While He Haisheng’s body was smoke, Lu Dongjun intended to have him utterly blown apart, scattered until he was nothing but dust and smoke.
He Haisheng desperately tried to solidify his body, but Lu Dongjun’s gale was too ferocious; He Haisheng couldn’t withstand it. His cheeks cracked, blue smoke billowing from the wounds. Lacerations continuously appeared all over his body, and large amounts of smoke drifted outwards from him.
Just as He Haisheng’s body was on the verge of collapse, the carriage door suddenly opened, and He Haiqin walked in.
Lu Dongjun was stunned, not understanding why He Haiqin would appear in the carriage.
Lu Dongjun rapidly waved his palm, trying to finish off He Haisheng as quickly as possible.
The raging wind swept over. He Haiqin opened his mouth, sucked the gale in, along with some of the smoke, chewed it a bit, and swallowed it down.
The Ninth Layer Technique of a Food Cultivator: Swallowing Mountains and Rivers.
"Damn it!" He Haiqin cursed. "I rushed all the way here, and I still got a bellyful of cold air."
Where did He Haiqin rush from?