Chapter 145: Murder
Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Murder
"The greater good..."
Within Zhu Ge, the Heart of Martial Arts Origin beat with a growing heaviness, its sound like muffled thunder.
"Is your ’greater good’ having this First Realm punk secretly leak my location to the Sword and Axe Mantis?"
"If I weren’t a Body Refining Martial Artist, I would have been slaughtered by that Sword and Axe Mantis long ago!"
"This is a blood feud! Who dares to stop me?"
Zhu Ge’s words were heavy and cold, yet they carried for dozens of miles.
His voice was laced with five parts sorrow, three parts pain, two parts disbelief...
...and ninety parts rage.
To be honest, after his time with the Raincoat Fisherman, Zhu Ge had become a consummate actor.
"What? That Young Master Yu actually colluded with outsiders? No, with the Demon Race?"
"Unbelievable! My own uncle just died a horrible death at the claws of the Demon Race, and this Yu Rui dares to conspire with them?"
"It’s a good thing this warrior is so powerful, or he’d be dead!"
"It’s because this warrior is so powerful. A normal person would have been dead long ago."
"Heh, why would he need to collude with the Demon Race to deal with a normal person? Young Master Yu is a tyrant. For ordinary folks like you and me, it’d just take a single slash of his blade."
"But you’re no ordinary person, you’re a First Realm Martial Artist!"
"To Hall Master Yu, wouldn’t that also just be a single slash?"
"True."
A clamor of discussion erupted from the crowd as people put their heads together, whispering about what Zhu Ge had just said.
Listening to the surrounding chatter, Zhu Ge couldn’t help but shake his head inwardly.
Zhu Ge was born in Jianshan Village and had never been to Jianshui City or Yuan Yang City.
But having heard so much, how could he not understand the state of Jianshui City?
’Life-and-death battles rage outside Jianshui City, while inside, it’s all just struggles for power and scrambles for resources. It was a miracle, really, that the Da Sheng Dynasty could remain on the brink of collapse for so long after such extended internal strife, never quite dying completely. But this miracle was propped up by people like True Monarch Minmian, Yu the Scholar, his teacher, and the True Monarch of the Lantern. So, at a time like this, the first thing that came to Zhu Ge’s mind wasn’t reform, but revolution. Change from the top down is reform. Change from the bottom up must naturally be called revolution. Should he try to revive a dead tree until it bloomed again in spring? Or should he just pull the firewood out from under the cauldron?’
Clearly, Zhu Ge wanted to revolutionize the Da Sheng Dynasty. Only then could the Human Race truly prosper.
And the first step, naturally, was to start small. For instance... by starting with Jianshui City.
Zhu Ge gave Mazhu’s body a light kick, then vaulted into the Fish Scale Martial Arts Hall.
He beckoned with his hand, and the Purgatory Star Rod, which had been knocked aside and embedded in the ground, flew back into his grasp.
He had nourished the Purgatory Star Rod for a long time, and it already moved like an extension of his own arm. With a bit more time, it would evolve into a Spiritual Artifact.
Although it wasn’t a Spiritual Artifact yet, he could already send it out and recall it at will.
"Well? Anyone else want to stop me?" Zhu Ge swept his gaze over the surroundings, Purgatory Star Rod in hand.
Once inside the Fish Scale Martial Arts Hall, its internal layout became perfectly clear.
There was a large training ground, and beyond it, another gate. He guessed that the true interior of the Fish Scale Martial Arts Hall lay behind that gate.
On the training ground, many people clad in standard-issue, silver-scale armor were staring over with expressions of shock and uncertainty.
These were the disciples of the Fish Scale Martial Arts Hall.
But they were all ordinary people; not a single one was in the First Realm.
"Young friend, I am now aware of the cause of this incident..."
Just then, the Jianshui City Lord drifted down from the sky, his face a mask of affability.
Seeing this, Zhu Ge tightened his grip on the rod.
In truth, from the moment the Jianshui City Lord had appeared, Zhu Ge had felt a prickling on his back, as if being watched by a predator.
It was a feeling he hadn’t even had when facing the Sword and Axe Mantis.
’This City Lord... is strong!’
However, what Zhu Ge couldn’t figure out was the City Lord’s attitude.
’Does he want to help the Fish Scale Martial Arts Hall, or does he want to help me?’
Although the Jianshui City Lord spoke of prioritizing the so-called "greater good," it was obvious that this "greater good" was the City Lord himself.
Whoever was stronger *was* the greater good!
Therefore, Zhu Ge had to probe his attitude.
"City Lord, what is your meaning?" Zhu Ge asked, looking at the Jianshui City Lord with a calm expression.
The Jianshui City Lord was powerful, but that was because he was in the Third Realm.
And while Zhu Ge would find it difficult to defeat an opponent a realm above him, he could at least fight one.
It was well known that the further one progressed in cultivation, the more unimaginable the gap between each realm became.
Killing an opponent a level higher was still possible between the First and Second Realms.
But now, Zhu Ge was naturally aware of the gap between himself and the Third Realm.
To say nothing of those even higher than the Third Realm.
However, as a Body Refining Martial Artist with a formidable Martial Arts Heart, Zhu Ge wasn’t afraid of the Jianshui City Lord.
"My meaning is, shouldn’t we first get a clear account of what happened before we proceed?" the Jianshui City Lord said, his expression gentle and reassuring.
"What more is there to say?" Zhu Ge said coolly.
"I was in secluded cultivation in a valley dozens of miles outside the city. When I learned Jianshui City was in grave danger, I rushed over to lure away the Demon Beasts."
"After leading them away, I was gravely injured and on the verge of death. I fought with everything I had just to escape back to my valley, where I was fortunate enough to break through to the Second Realm."
"Later, I came to Tongfu Restaurant to sell some meat, only for this Yu Rui to cause trouble and try to kill me. Considering his father is from the Fish Scale Martial Arts Hall and has contributed to Jianshui City, I let him off the hook."
"Who knew he would then leak my location to that Sword and Axe Mantis."
"It was during our fight that the Sword and Axe Mantis mocked me, revealing that a person named Yu Rui had set me up."
Was this the truth?
No.
The Sword and Axe Mantis didn’t actually know who it was, only that it was a servant.
But that didn’t matter.
After all, no one was going to go confront the Sword and Axe Mantis about it.
And Zhu Ge hadn’t actually come into contact with many people in Jianshui City.
He’d had dealings with Shihu Pavilion, the Zhu Family Bookstore, and Tongfu Restaurant.
But who would benefit from his death?
No one.
No one except Yu Rui.
What benefit?
Zhu Ge could figure it out just by thinking. Why was the Young Master of the Fish Scale Martial Arts Hall always pestering the Shopkeeper of Tongfu Restaurant?
Obviously, there were business interests between the two.
And when Yu Rui saw Zhu Ge selling Demon Beast Flesh, he would naturally want to eliminate him.
In other words, Zhu Ge’s death would benefit the Fish Scale Martial Arts Hall!
"Impossible! How could the Sword and Axe Mantis know my name?!" Yu Rui blurted out in a panic. "I sent a death-sworn agent! He would never have revealed my identity!"
The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere instantly dropped to a freezing point.
"City Lord, do you have anything else to say?"
Zhu Ge looked nonchalantly at the Jianshui City Lord.
Yu Rui instantly realized his mistake and tried to cover his mouth, but he couldn’t move, bound as he was.
"No, no, that’s not it! There was no death-sworn agent, no agent!"
"Save me, Father, save me! I’m the Yu Family’s only son! I can’t die!"
"City Lord, City Lord! When I was a child, I even brought you..."
Yu Rui was frantic, but before he could finish his last sentence, his head exploded like a watermelon dropped from ten thousand meters.
BANG!!!
"Anyone who would harm a Mountain Shattering Martial Artist of our Human Race deserves to die!"
The amiable expression on the City Lord’s face didn’t change. He was still beaming, like a god of longevity.
He looked at Zhu Ge and nodded with a slight smile. "And so... is my young friend satisfied?"