Chapter 69: Instructing Zhou Bin, Leaving the Zhou Family Marketplace
Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Instructing Zhou Bin, Leaving the Zhou Family Marketplace
After leaving the Wang Family, Lu Zhao strolled through the streets of the Marketplace. The sky was saturated with an inky blackness, and only the scattered lamps of the Marketplace outlined the contours of the path. The recent scene replayed in his mind; his heart churned with the melancholy of parting, yet it was also wrapped in a faint warmth.
Wang Yun’s family had been the kindest people to Lu Zhao since his arrival in the Zhou Family Marketplace. He feared that after this departure, they would likely never meet again in this life. Though he felt a deep reluctance to part, there was nothing to be done.
The image of Wang Yun when they first met, compared to the man he was now, surfaced in his mind, and he couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. ’Having your path forward cut off... it truly is an abyss that grinds away a person’s Dao Heart.’ The Wang Yun of old had a relatively firm Dao Heart; otherwise, he would never have chosen the path of a Demon Hunter, battling Demon Beasts to the death. But the man he was now? At most, he was just a good, competent father.
With a soft sigh, Lu Zhao reined in his thoughts and quickened his pace, heading toward his final destination in the Marketplace: the home of his student of convenience, Zhou Bin.
His purpose for this visit was to complete one last task before leaving for good: to see Zhou Bin and hand over a few items.
A young man of about twenty opened the door to greet him when he arrived at Zhou Bin’s residence. Six years had passed, and Zhou Bin’s features hadn’t changed much, only gaining a certain maturity. The most noticeable change was in his demeanor and overall aura. His former awkwardness had faded. Although he remained a man of few words, he could now express himself clearly and precisely.
This progress, it had to be said, was thanks to Lu Zhao’s meticulous tutelage. Otherwise, under Zhou Hua’s discipline—which consisted of either beatings or curses—Zhou Bin would likely still be a slow-witted boy.
"Teacher," Zhou Bin asked, greeting him with a respectful bow, "what are your instructions for me?"
Looking at the disciple before him, Lu Zhao was filled with a mix of emotions. ’The difference between this father and son is truly vast.’
When they first met, Zhou Hua had been arrogant and conceited, but his attitude had shifted to one of fawning reverence upon hearing that Lu Zhao would accept his son as a disciple. This sycophancy became even more pronounced after Lu Zhao advanced to become a Tier One Middle-Grade Puppet Master. In recent years, however, his attitude had cooled again. The reason was simple: Zhou Bin was still stuck at the threshold, unable to break through and become an Entry Tier Puppet Master.
In truth, Lu Zhao could hardly be blamed. He had intended to teach methodically, but after beginning the lessons, he discovered it was unnecessary. Even with him holding nothing back and providing an endless supply of materials, Zhou Bin remained firmly locked by that bottleneck. It forced Lu Zhao to lament how vast the gulf in talent could be when it came to Puppetry. ’Thinking about it, my own Talent as a Puppet Master must be pretty good.’
Once Zhou Bin had completed his bow, Lu Zhao gave a slight nod. "I need to enter seclusion to cultivate for a while. Come to my residence in half a month to pick some things up."
"Yes, Teacher. I understand," Zhou Bin responded, as respectful as ever.
His instructions given, Lu Zhao departed from Zhou Bin’s home.
As he stepped back into the alleys of the Marketplace, a gratified smile touched Lu Zhao’s lips. This student of convenience had, for six years, consistently treated him with utmost respect. It was this unwavering sincerity that made him finally decide to leave something for Zhou Bin. He had prepared a Jade Scroll at his residence, and within it, he had sealed two Puppet Inheritances—the Refining Techniques for the Ice Mouse Puppet and the Flowing Cloud Sparrow.
As for the Refining Technique for the Cyan-striped Mouse Puppet, Lu Zhao had already passed that on to Zhou Bin six years ago when he moved into his new residence. In the years that followed, seeing Zhou Bin’s steady conduct and respectful nature, Lu Zhao had also taught him the Refining Technique for the Puppet Guard.
However, Lu Zhao had never taught Zhou Bin the Refining Techniques for the Ice Mouse Puppet and the Flowing Cloud Sparrow, no matter how much Zhou Hua hinted or prodded. He would always politely decline, using the excuse that Zhou Bin had not yet officially become an Entry Tier Puppet Master. Now that he was about to leave, his heart softened, and he decided to entrust them to Zhou Bin. After all, this was the first disciple he had ever taken.
He considered it a final inheritance from master to disciple, a worthy reward for Zhou Bin’s years of respect and service.
Besides, for the current Lu Zhao, his focus for earning Spirit Stones had long since shifted away from these two types of Puppets. Nowadays, an Ice Mouse Puppet sold for a mere eight Spirit Stones, and while a Flowing Cloud Sparrow was better, it only fetched twenty. The profit from a single Ironwood Guard was now enough to match four Flowing Cloud Sparrows, and it was more than ten times the profit from an Ice Mouse Puppet.
At this thought, his eagerness to head to Bixia Marketplace grew. Even setting aside the future of his cultivation path, the vastly larger market for Puppets was reason enough to go. ’Surely,’ he mused, ’the Bixia Marketplace won’t be like the Zhou Family Marketplace, where selling just a few more Puppets causes the market price to crash.’
Once he was completely outside the jurisdiction of the Zhou Family Marketplace, Lu Zhao felt a sense of liberation. A gentle mountain breeze caressed his cheeks, and his ears filled with a symphony of chirping insects and roaring beasts from the forest. With his strength enhanced, his state of mind was truly different.
In the past, when would he ever have had the leisure for such feelings? Traveling in the wilderness meant being on constant alert, not daring to relax for a single moment. After traveling for an hour, he took a map from his Storage Bag for a quick confirmation, then formed a hand seal to activate the Wind Manipulation Technique. With a light tap of his feet, he shot forward fifty or sixty feet like an arrow from a bow.
His goal was to completely leave Changfeng County within half a month and reach the Lin Family Marketplace in the neighboring Biyun County to the south. There, he would join a merchant caravan bound for Bixia Marketplace. Time was tight; he had to hurry.
This half-month deadline was also the latest point at which Lu Zhao estimated the Zhou Family might discover his disappearance. In theory, Honored Guest Elders were free to leave as they pleased, and it was the Zhou Family’s custom not to interfere, but Lu Zhao didn’t dare to take that chance.
If he were just an ordinary Honored Guest Elder, the Zhou Family wouldn’t have cared. But the Puppet Inheritance he possessed was something even the Zhou Family coveted. In the past, they likely believed they could obtain it slowly through legitimate means and thus hadn’t tried anything crooked. If the Zhou Family were to find out he intended to leave, however, Lu Zhao had no way of predicting what might happen.
Therefore, he resolved to act first and report later. By presenting them with a fait accompli—by successfully escaping the confines of Changfeng County—the Zhou Family would no longer be a threat to him.
The Zhou Family’s influence was too short to reach into the territories of other Counties. Every County’s Foundation Establishment Clan would instinctively reject infiltration by an outside power of the same tier. Even if the Zhou Family had hidden agents in other Counties, they would be reluctant to activate them for a mere Independent Puppet Master like him.
After all, his Puppet Inheritance was niche, with a limited market in Changfeng County and even the northern Counties of Chen Country. It might be of extraordinary value to certain Cultivators or factions within the Zhou Family, but to the family as a whole, the inheritance was not important enough to warrant a massive mobilization.
「Seven days later.」
Behind a cliff that offered shelter from the wind, the embers of a bonfire still glowed. A young Cultivator in a green robe sat cross-legged, a crystalline Lower Grade Spirit Stone rotating in his hand. As he performed his breathing exercises, the Spiritual Qi contained within was drawn out strand by strand, and the stone’s luster visibly dimmed.
This person was none other than Lu Zhao, who had been traveling for days on end. For seven days he had braved the elements, sleeping in the wild, needing to avoid not only the Demon Beasts of the mountains but also watch out for lurking Tribulation Cultivators. Fortunately, despite a few close calls and tense, long-distance standoffs, he had managed to avoid any actual conflict.
Tribulation Cultivators made their own calculations. They mostly picked on easy targets. A Cultivator like Lu Zhao, who exuded the aura of Late-stage Qi Cultivation, was already considered a minor expert in the Cultivation Realm. Not many would be willing to engage him in a life-or-death struggle without a compelling reason. At the end of the day, truly powerful experts rarely made robbery their life’s profession; even if they did attack, it was usually a fleeting impulse, a momentary dalliance with the role.