Lu Maoxian had no idea who had ambushed him. He initially planned to call for help, but as the Tang Sword turned its blade, another strike landed.
Ever since the Portable Residence changed its nature, Li Banfeng could go wherever he thought just by stepping out the door.
This had brought Li Banfeng quite a bit of trouble, but this time, he truly took advantage of the Portable Residence.
Before leaving, he had repeatedly observed Lu Maoxian’s bedroom, fixing its appearance in his mind. When he stepped out, he indeed arrived in Lu Maoxian’s bedroom.
A Home Cultivation novice who had just stepped out was easily overlooked. Moreover, Lu Maoxian was weak and had already been struck by the Tang Sword.
Lu Maoxian shouted, "To attack without declaring war is unrighteous—"
Li Banfeng suddenly appeared and slashed Lu Maoxian’s throat.
He had wanted to drag Lu Maoxian back to the Portable Residence to interrogate him at length, but he could not return there now; the key was still in Black Stone City.
Lu Maoxian, Old Master Lu, could be considered a remarkable figure of his generation. Clutching his neck, he struggled for a moment before dying.
Such a pity.
A waste of the meal his wife had prepared.
Li Banfeng did not linger; this was Lu Maoxian’s residence, and he had to leave quickly.
Carrying a plethora of Magical Treasures, he had expected a fierce battle. He hadn’t anticipated that Lu Maoxian would be so gravely injured and virtually incapable of resistance.
With the household members dispatched elsewhere, Li Banfeng left without difficulty.
But there was one thing Li Banfeng still couldn’t figure out.
Leaving the residence, Li Banfeng first headed back to Xiaoyao Lodge. He guessed Lu Maoxian had detained him, likely intending to eliminate Ma Wu.
Approaching Xiaoyao Lodge, Li Banfeng stopped.
It was just past eight o’clock in the evening.
The gaslight sign at the entrance of Xiaoyao Lodge was lit. The place was bustling with patrons, and business was thriving.
On the east side of Xiaoyao Lodge was Baiyang Teahouse, which should also be busy at this time.
But the teahouse was closed.
Xiaoyao Lodge’s normal operation indicated that nothing had happened to Ma Wu.
A closed teahouse wasn’t uncommon; perhaps it was for cleaning or renovations.
However, considering all that had happened today, Li Banfeng suspected another possibility: someone had booked the entire teahouse and was surveilling Xiaoyao Lodge.
Li Banfeng asked his Gloves, "Who do you think it could be?"
The Gloves panted for a moment and replied, "Who? Not me! Catch the thief and seize the loot!"
"Why are you panting like that?"
"Panting? Maybe because I ran too hard just now!"
"Asking you is pointless. I might as well go ask them."
Li Banfeng silently arrived near the teahouse, took out the Music Box, and wound it up.
「Inside Lu Chunying’s residence」
Lu Maoxian’s daughter, Lu Dongchun, and son, Lu Dongtang, had already led assassins into the living room.
Lu Chunying wasn’t in the living room. Only one person was seated on the sofa: Lu Dongliang’s lawful wife, Duan Shaoxia.
Lu Dongtang hesitated for a moment.
Lu Dongchun, however, did not waste the opportunity for battle and ordered an immediate attack.
In Lu Dongtang’s mind, Duan Shaoxia was nothing but a White Lamb, not difficult to kill.
Duan Shaoxia lifted her head, sweeping her gaze over every person, her eyes shimmering with tears.
Everyone hesitated for a moment, feeling it wasn’t right to harm this pitiable woman.
Only Lu Dongchun did not hesitate. She flung a dozen sewing needles from her hand, aiming them at Duan Shaoxia.
Duan Shaoxia didn’t dodge. She just sat there, fear, grievance, and a forcibly mustered determination etched on her face.
The sewing needles didn’t hit Duan Shaoxia. From the second-floor staircase, two vases fell as if they were guards, blocking all the needles.
As the vases shattered, porcelain shards flew, injuring several of their subordinates at the forefront.
It was Zuo Wugang! He was behind the second-floor railing.
This scenario was beyond Lu Dongtang’s comprehension.
As more vases fell, the subordinates retreated one after another.
Lu Dongchun didn’t retreat. A shard of broken porcelain struck her face, seemingly embedding itself in her flesh.
Lu Dongchun removed the shard from her face. The wound on her cheek didn’t bleed a single drop, and her exquisite features showed no sign of pain.
Lu Dongtang leaped to the second floor to deal with Zuo Wugang.
Lu Dongchun continued her attack on Duan Shaoxia. Duan Shaoxia pulled out a pistol, her hands shaking as she held the grip, aiming tremulously at Lu Dongchun. From her expression, she wanted to shoot but seemingly lacked the courage.
To others, this seemed like the final resistance of a woman driven into a corner.
All the assassins hesitated, unsure whether to attack Duan Shaoxia.
Only Lu Dongchun did not hesitate, and she was not afraid of bullets.
However, when Duan Shaoxia fired the gun, Lu Dongchun regretted it.
What came out of Duan Shaoxia’s gun weren’t bullets, but oil. The pistol, resembling a water gun, sprayed out a jet of oil.
Oil was very rare in Puluo State because it was difficult to preserve.
This terrified Lu Dongchun. She tried to strip off her clothes as Duan Shaoxia, tears in her eyes, tossed a candlestick at her.
A helpless woman, pushed to desperation, throwing whatever she could grab—that was perfectly reasonable.
When the candlestick struck, Lu Dongchun’s oil-drenched clothes caught fire.
Being on fire wasn’t an issue; Lu Dongchun had ways to handle it.
She took off her outer robe, but the oil had seeped onto her shirt, which was still burning. She removed that shirt, but the oil had reached the next layer, still aflame.
Lu Dongchun stripped off over a dozen shirts, and the fire was finally out.
The oil couldn’t have seeped through so quickly. Even with special additives, it shouldn’t have penetrated Lu Dongchun’s clothes that fast.
Lu Dongchun looked at Duan Shaoxia, her face expressionless. "You have a cultivation level. This is your Technique."
Duan Shaoxia, tears streaming down her face, shook her head repeatedly.
Hiding on the second floor, Lu Chunying watched Duan Shaoxia and asked her mother in a subdued voice, "Mom, what kind of cultivation level does *she* have?"
Xiao Yeci also shook her head, completely baffled. She couldn’t understand today’s Lady Duan at all.
The fight on the second floor was fierce. Lu Dongtang led a group of subordinates, clashing violently with Zuo Wugang and his band of Supports, creating chaos that seemed to blot out the sky and earth.
On the first floor, the situation was simpler. Lu Dongchun was engaged in one-on-one combat with Duan Shaoxia, and surprisingly, none of her own subordinates stepped forward to help.
It wasn’t just them; even Lu Dongjun couldn’t bring himself to strike when Duan Shaoxia used her Technique.
Lu Dongchun, however, had no such qualms, and her attacks were exceptionally ruthless. Her sleeves and lapels lengthened and shortened unpredictably, nearly strangling Duan Shaoxia several times.
Duan Shaoxia barely managed to defend herself. Wielding a pair of scissors with her eyes closed, she seemed to be stabbing wildly, but in truth, each blow aimed for a vital point.
Lu Dongchun was covered in wounds, but they didn’t hinder her movements. Neither blades nor fists seemed to truly injure her.
She soon cornered Duan Shaoxia. The pistol still had a little oil left. Duan Shaoxia, tears streaming, fired it but missed.
Having been caught off-guard by Duan Shaoxia’s sneak attack before, Lu Dongchun wouldn’t fall for the same trick a second time.
Shivering, Duan Shaoxia had nowhere to run. Lu Dongchun unwound a piece of her own clothing. It flew through the air as if alive and wrapped around Duan Shaoxia’s head.
"AHH—" Duan Shaoxia screamed, flailing her arms in a desperate, helpless struggle.
Two threads shot out from the garment, landing in Lu Dongchun’s hands. She pulled fiercely, intending to tighten it.
If she managed to do so, Duan Shaoxia’s head would be crushed into pulp.
RIP! The garment tore apart. Duan Shaoxia struggled free!
Lu Dongchun’s face was expressionless, but her eyes widened in shock. She was astonished; her clothing shouldn’t have torn so easily.
Gazing at the fluttering scraps of fabric, Lu Dongchun spotted several black holes.
Lu Dongchun’s pupils constricted as she quickly glanced down at her own clothing.
She hastily retreated several steps, her reaction as if she had caught fire.
To Lu Dongchun, the situation was even more dangerous than being on fire.
Many small black holes had appeared on her clothes, and something wriggled within them. Clothes Moths! Her garment had disintegrated because it was infested by Clothes Moths.
Lu Dongchun frantically shed several layers of clothing, to no avail. The moths had burrowed too deep.
Lu Yuanxin, an Insect Cultivation practitioner at the Third Layer, was hiding on the second floor, controlling them.
From the moment he saw Lu Dongchun, he had been summoning nearby Clothes Moths.
These Clothes Moths ate quickly but moved slowly. Duan Shaoxia’s engagement with Lu Dongchun was intended to draw her near them.
The moths, spurred by the Insect Cultivator’s Inspiration, were frenziedly devouring Lu Dongchun’s clothes.
Lu Dongchun held on for a moment, then leaped out the window and fled. For her, the damage sustained was potentially lethal.
Once Lu Dongchun left, Lu Dongtang became somewhat frantic.
According to the battle strategy devised earlier, Lu Dongchun was responsible for handling all the variables in the fight.
Lu Dongchun dealing with Duan Shaoxia was supposed to result in an easy victory, but she had not won.
Her sudden escape now left Lu Dongtang and Zuo Wugang locked in a direct, brutal confrontation.
A direct clash was the best scenario for Zuo Wugang, as it required no decision-making on his part.
Lu Dongtang and Zuo Wugang had comparable cultivation levels. However, Zuo Wugang had spent a lifetime fighting on the razor’s edge. Both Zhen Jincheng and Cao Zhida had also earned their reputations through brutal combat, giving Zuo Wugang’s side the advantage in experience.
The battle reached a stalemate, and Lu Dongtang found himself under increasing pressure.
Duan Shaoxia cried out to the assassins on the first floor, "How could you? How dare you?"
The assassins were bewildered. Suddenly, they saw Duan Shaoxia’s gaze intensify, as if a shadow had flitted past.
Indeed, a shadow had passed; Duan Shaoxia saw it, but most of the assassins did not.
After the shadow disappeared, a series of sickening sounds erupted in the hall as several bodies exploded into mangled flesh and blood. It was the Passing Glance Technique. Li Banfeng had arrived.
After dealing with the ruffians at the Baiyang Teahouse, Li Banfeng learned the truth. He first informed Ma Wu to gather helpers, then immediately rushed to Lu Chunying’s residence.
He quickly went up to the second floor, led Xiao Yeci and Lu Chunying into the bedroom, and approached the window.
Xiao Yeci exclaimed with joy, "Benefactor, you’ve come! My daughter and I truly owe you so much."
Li Banfeng signaled them to be quiet. He kept watch outside the window, ready to use the Path-breaking Technique.
The situation still held variables, significant ones at that.
Dealing with these assassins wasn’t difficult. However, some much harder-to-handle individuals had already arrived outside the courtyard.
「The assassins on the first floor」
The assassins on the first floor were terrified at the sight of the exploded corpses.
Some among them had seen the Traveling Cultivator’s Fifth Layer Technique and recognized it as the Passing Glance.
But the Traveling Cultivator’s Fifth Layer Technique was extremely taxing. The fact that their opponent dared to use it proved their cultivation level was far above their own.
Faced with this, the assassins had no desire to continue fighting and scrambled out of the residence.
They got out of the house, but they couldn’t leave the courtyard.
Zhang Xiuling, the Sect Leader of the Hundred Flowers Gate, had her subordinates surround the residence.
Zhang Xiuling ordered that anyone coming out of the house be killed without question.
Not a single assassin who fled the house escaped; Zhang Xiuling dealt with them all cleanly.
Zhang Xiuling shouted at the entrance, "Sister, I’m here. Should I come in now? Say something!"
Duan Shaoxia shouted, "Sister, come in quickly! These beasts want to kill me!"
Li Banfeng furrowed his brows.
Watching Zhang Xiuling lead her people into the residence, Lu Dongtang was petrified. The situation was already not in his favor, and now even their numbers were inferior.
Lu Dongtang wanted to escape, but escaping was not so easy.
Zuo Wugang seized the moment and kicked Lu Dongtang over, pinning him beneath his foot.
The other assassins stopped fighting and dared not move rashly.
Duan Shaoxia called out, "Chunying, come out. I want to speak with you."
Zuo Wugang was taken aback. The house was now filled with people from the Hundred Flowers Gate. He had no idea.
Xiao Yeci held onto Lu Chunying. "Nannan, you can’t go out."
Lu Chunying looked at Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng asked, "Do you dare to go out?"
Lu Chunying was silent for a moment, then lifted her head. "If we fight, we fight this once. If we flee, we flee for a lifetime. With Brother Seven here, I dare!"
Li Banfeng pulled down his hat brim. "Go ahead."
PS: At the residence of Lu Maoxian, Lu Yuanxin had once suffered humiliation at the hands of Lu Dongtang.