“Thief, how dare you!” Xu Yihong waved his hand to recall his flying sword, stepped onto the rooftop, and hurried over. “Release that girl!”
“Eh?”
At that moment, the blue-robed youth also spotted Lu Zheng and the other two.
A refined young gentleman from the mundane world, accompanied by two peerless beauties, standing on a rooftop deep in the night. They clearly were not to be trifled with.
A glint flashed in the blue-robed youth’s eyes. He paused mid-step, instantly changed direction, and leapt away towards another side.
Lu Zheng reached out. A large white cloud hand seal formed out of thin air, descending from the sky straight towards the blue-robed youth to seize him.
The blue-robed youth’s pupils contracted sharply.
Xu Yihong, following behind, also saw Lu Zheng and Liu Qingyan. He cried out joyfully, “Brother Lu! Miss Liu!”
Qin Huilian, still conscious, caught sight of Lu Zheng and the two women. Though startled by their true identities, hope lit up in her eyes.
The next instant, the white cloud hand seal reached the top of the blue-robed youth’s head. Surrounding clouds gathered and spread, already restraining him in advance.
A mere cultivator with a hundred-odd years of practice was not even worth one of Lu Zheng’s hands.
However, a burst of black qi suddenly rose from the blue-robed youth’s body.
“Demonic qi?” Lu Zheng turned sharply. He saw the blue-robed youth’s aura surge dramatically. Black mist enveloped him, his face twisted ferociously, his pure black pupils tinged with a hint of red.
“Mindless True Desire demonic qi!”
Lu Zheng confirmed the nature of this demonic qi at once. He was all too familiar with it!
The blue-robed youth waved his banner. Colourful clouds mixed with black qi formed a sharp cone that protected him as he broke through. Though most of it dissipated instantly, it pierced the white cloud hand seal. He shot Lu Zheng a threatening glare while reaching out to clutch Qin Huilian’s throat.
Lu Zheng’s eyes widened in anger. This fellow dared to threaten him?
Without waiting for Xu Yihong to speak again, Lu Zheng flashed forward and appeared right in front of the blue-robed youth.
“Freeze!”
The body-freezing divine curse made its return to the jianghu.
“Ga!”
The blue-robed youth’s ferocious expression froze on his face. The threatening look in his eyes remained unchanged.
Yet the shock deep in his gaze could not be concealed.
Lu Zheng uttered the word “Freeze”, then waved his hand. Qin Huilian was lifted by white clouds and floated in mid-air. As for the blue-robed youth, Lu Zheng slapped him hard, sending him crashing down from a height of two zhang.
“Bang!”
Several cracks appeared in the ground, and more than a dozen of the blue-robed youth’s bones broke.
Lu Zheng landed on the ground and waved to release the seals on Qin Huilian.
Qin Huilian’s legs gave way, but she quickly steadied herself and knelt down. “Many thanks to the immortal elder for saving my life!”
The next moment, Liu Qingyan, Shen Ying, and Xu Yihong appeared at the same time.
“Mindless True Desire demonic qi?” Shen Ying asked.
Lu Zheng nodded, his expression grave. “And it merges extremely well with the colourful cloud techniques.”
Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying frowned.
This was definitely not something an ordinary disciple of the Flower Between Colourful Clouds Sect could achieve.
The situation was clear. A high-ranking member of the Flower Between Colourful Clouds Sect had surrendered to the Mindless True Desire Demon Ancestor, entered the demonic path, obtained demonic arts, fused them with the sect’s own techniques, and passed them to disciples.
The question now was…
Was this the private action of a certain high-ranking member, or had the entire Flower Between Colourful Clouds Sect fallen to the demonic path?
“This is demonic qi?”
Xu Yihong clearly had never encountered a true demonic cultivator before. “This man has fallen to the demons?”
Only then did he react and hurriedly cup his hands in greeting to the three. “Greetings, Brother Lu, Miss Liu, and this madam. Many thanks to Brother Lu for saving my life again!”
Xu Yihong could not have defeated this blue-robed youth after he revealed his demonic form.
Lu Zheng waved it off. “No need. He only wanted to abduct this girl and escape. Since you could not catch him, you would not have died.”
“But Huilian would surely have met with disaster!” Qin Huilian kowtowed again beside them. “Many thanks to the two immortal elders for saving my life!”
“Please rise quickly!”
Lu Zheng lifted his hand, and Qin Huilian stood up involuntarily. “No need for thanks. We merely happened to be here. The main credit goes to Brother Xu.”
Xu Yihong waved his hands, not daring to take the merit. “I dare not. If Brother Lu had not been present, I could not have saved you.”
Qin Huilian could naturally see that Lu Zheng was far more powerful than Xu Yihong, but Xu Yihong was still someone she had to look up to.
“Many thanks to Immortal Elder Xu and Immortal Elder Lu. This afternoon, this humble girl was rude. Thank you, Immortal Elder Lu, for not holding a grudge and lending aid.”
Lu Zheng nodded. He had been waiting for these words. “So, may I buy ten jin of February Fragrance from your merchant house?”
Qin Huilian was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly.
“Of course, of course. I will pack the tea for you as soon as I return!”
“Good!” Lu Zheng agreed, then said to Xu Yihong, “I intend to hand this fellow over to the Anomaly Suppression Department. Will you come?”
Xu Yihong shook his head. “I will not go. Where are you staying, Brother Lu? Yihong will visit tomorrow.”
“We still need to collect the tea from Shuntai Merchant House tomorrow,” Lu Zheng said.
Xu Yihong cupped his hands. “Then I will await you all at Shuntai Merchant House.”
Lu Zheng nodded. A mass of white cloud formed beneath the blue-robed youth, lifting him up.
Lu Zheng did not fly on clouds. His feet moved as if carried by wind, speeding away with the captive.
Liu Qingyan and Shen Ying exchanged smiles and followed Lu Zheng.
…
As soon as they turned into a small alley, Lu Zheng cupped his hands towards a certain corner. “Baiyun Temple outer lay disciple Lu Zheng greets the lord.”
The next moment, a middle-aged man in black official robes with a square, upright face stepped out from the dark corner.
The middle-aged man also cupped his hands. “Yongzhou Anomaly Suppression Department, Lu Zhi, greets the dao friend.”
This was Yongzhou city. The earlier fight had not been loud enough to truly alert him. To investigate, sending any expert from the department would suffice.
But when the blue-robed youth used demonic qi, things changed.
He had keenly sensed this demonic qi and personally left seclusion. Arriving, he witnessed Lu Zheng freezing the man.
However, Lu Zhi had not revealed himself before ordinary people like Qin Huilian. Seeing Lu Zheng preparing to deliver the captive to the department, he planned to follow and receive the prisoner.
He had not expected to be discovered by Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng looked Lu Zhi up and down. Unexpectedly, another with the surname Lu.
Moreover, once this man appeared, the surging Buddhist power within him far exceeded that of Chu Jin, the prefect of Yizhou’s Anomaly Suppression Department.
Lu Zheng pointed at the blue-robed youth. “This is a disciple of the Flower Between Colourful Clouds Sect. He was attempting to abduct a civilian girl when blocked by a disciple from Huilong Mountain in Junzhou. I happened to arrive and discovered he had cultivated demonic arts.”
Lu Zhi nodded. “I saw. Unfortunately, the Flower Between Colourful Clouds Sect is deep in the Southern Border, outside the Great Jing’s jurisdiction, so we do not know the exact situation.
However… for a sect like this, falling to the demons might be for the best. The various forces in the Southern Border will naturally uproot them.”
Seeing Lu Zheng’s curiosity, Lu Zhi’s eyes shifted. He understood and invited, “If the dao friend is interested, you may return with me to the Anomaly Suppression Department to see how much information we can extract.”
Lu Zheng cupped his hands. “I will trouble you then.”
