Chapter 81: Martial Disciple Fourth Realm

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Martial Disciple Fourth Realm

Seeing no hope in Li Xingchao, Fang Xu turned his gaze to Yun Jin.

"Your Highness, I think you should still step forward and restrain these Martial Artists," Yun Jin said after a moment of hesitation.

Fenglin Town was located within the borders of Huangzhou Prefecture, and the common people under its jurisdiction belonged to the prefecture. It was ultimately inappropriate for them to be slaughtered and humiliated at will.

"They are merely a few lowly peasants," Li Xingchao replied, completely indifferent as expected.

Hearing this, Yun Jin wanted to say more, but after a second thought, she understood Li Xingchao’s intentions. His struggle for power with the Eldest Prince had reached a fever pitch, and both sides were desperately trying to win over factions of all sizes within the Yu Kingdom. People from some of the major factions naturally viewed the common people as nothing more than pigs and dogs, killing them for sport at the slightest disagreement. If Li Xingchao stepped forward to restrain them, it would undoubtedly push those unaligned factions toward the Eldest Prince. After all, no faction liked following a master with too many rules.

As for the hearts of the people, that was a joke. The Martial Dao of the Yu Kingdom was prosperous, and the royal family ruled the world alongside Martial Artists, not the common people. As long as they could control the Noble Families that possessed Martial Artists and maintain an absolute advantage in military force, the common people of the Seven States wouldn’t even have a chance to rebel.

"Your Highness."

Xu Liang, who had been observing Fang Xu from the side for a long time, suddenly stood up and approached Li Xingchao. He leaned in and whispered something.

Li Xingchao looked a little surprised. He turned to Xu Liang and asked, "Taibu, is this true?"

Xu Liang gave a slight nod.

Seeing this, Li Xingchao carefully scrutinized Fang Xu again before speaking indifferently, "I heard Xun’Er say that you are a clever person. Since Yun Wan chose to give you her personal Jade Pendant before she left, allowing the Yun Family to protect you, it shows that you have caught her eye.

"I cherish talent and am more than willing to give you young people a chance.

"Xun’Er, release the news. This person is under my wing. Anyone who dares to provoke him is going against me."

He had no intention of caring about the ordinary common people of Fenglin Town, but after hearing Xu Liang’s words, he was willing to spare Fang Xu’s life.

Li Xun cupped his hands slightly. "Yes, Father."

Fang Xu knew that being able to keep himself and his senior sister safe at a time like this was already rare enough. As for the others... he could only look after his own.

"Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you, Your Highness!" Fang Xu bowed to Li Xingchao in gratitude.

"Cultivate well. I have high hopes for you," Li Xingchao said with a faint smile, waving his hand. "Go."

Stepping out of the Government Office, Fang Xu breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn’t know what Xu Liang had whispered to Li Xingchao, but it was undoubtedly his words that had changed the prince’s mind. Otherwise, given Li Xingchao’s apathy toward ordinary people, he definitely wouldn’t care about the life or death of an unknown nobody like him. Never mind! As long as his safety was guaranteed for now, that was enough.

Upon returning to Zhiyuan Hall, Fang Xu told Lu Qingluo about Li Xingchao’s promise to protect him. He saw a trace of faint anger, sorrow, and helplessness on her face.

It made sense. According to the words he had coaxed out of Tongtong at the time, there was a high probability that Lu Qingluo was the Saintess of the Dusk Cloud Kingdom. He didn’t know what the Saintess represented in the Dusk Cloud Kingdom, but undoubtedly, their greatest enemies were the Yu Kingdom Royal Family and the Human Slaughter Zhao Wuji. As the Saintess of the Dusk Cloud Kingdom, she now had to rely on her enemy’s protection to survive. Lu Qingluo’s heart must have been in turmoil.

"Senior Sister..." Fang Xu wanted to offer a few words of comfort.

Lu Qingluo forced a smile and shook her head. "I know this isn’t the time to be willful.

"Only by surviving will there be a chance for everything else. Don’t worry, I know what to do."

Having endured the destruction of her country and family, Lu Qingluo was much more tolerant and resilient than he had imagined. This put Fang Xu at ease.

Guarding the three women, and with their safety guaranteed, Fang Xu seized every moment to cultivate.

During this period, apart from regularly visiting the outskirts of Tilan Mountain to make some "friends" and keeping his friend list full at all times, Fang Xu rarely went out. With a sufficient supply of Blood Food and Qi Blood Pills, his cultivation was slowly improving.

In just ten days, he reached the Fourth Realm of the Martial Disciple stage.

All of this was thanks to the Divination God Treasure altering his Acupoint Secret Treasure, leaving him with almost no bottlenecks in his breakthroughs. As long as he finished refining the Qi of Chaos in the previous Acupoint Secret Treasure, the next one could be easily opened.

After absorbing the power of four Acupoint Secret Treasures, Fang Xu could clearly feel that his strength had grown significantly. When he was at the Third Realm of the Martial Disciple stage, he already possessed the strength to kill most Martial Artists below the Martial Master realm. Now that he had broken through to the Fourth Realm, Fang Xu really wanted to test whether his current self could exchange a few blows with a Martial Artist in the Initial Realm of the Martial Master stage.

Looking at the fourth Acupoint Secret Treasure that was about to be completely refined, Fang Xu fell into deep thought.

Life Weapon!

Every Acupoint Secret Treasure could nurture a Life Weapon, which would be used in the future to blast open that Stone Sect within the Acupoint Secret Treasure. But where was he supposed to find so many Life Weapons now? His first Life Weapon was the bizarre wooden staff gifted by Lu Zhiyuan; his second and third were two ferocious beast scales suspected to be Dragon Scales. Now, he still had no lead on a fourth Life Weapon.

Hmm?

While he was fretting over this, Fang Xu caught sight of the Golden Silk Armor hanging nearby. He had obtained this item after killing a Martial Artist at Tilan Mountain who had planned to exchange his head for bounty money. He didn’t know the exact quality of the Soft Armor, but its protective capabilities seemed quite good. Could the Acupoint Space nurture this Soft Armor?

An idea popping into his mind, Fang Xu immediately made a mental note of it. Once the Qi of Chaos in the fourth Acupoint Secret Treasure was completely refined, he definitely had to test out this Soft Armor.

As the morning sun rose, Fang Xu had just gotten up and was preparing to head to the Martial Arts Arena to practice the Nine Ape Staff, when a familiar figure appeared outside the door.

"Fang, forgive my sudden intrusion."

At the entrance of Zhiyuan Hall, a plump woman greeted him with a smile. Fang Xu was slightly taken aback before realizing that this woman was the Shopkeeper of Xing’s Blood Food Shop in Qinghe County. The last time he went to Qinghe County to purchase flesh and blood, he had mentioned to this Shopkeeper that he planned to transfer Lu Zhiyuan’s Blood Food Shop to Xing’s. The woman had merely said she would come and take a look after some time.

"Ah, Miss, please come in," Fang Xu greeted her politely.

Having a sweet tongue never hurt. The woman was in her fifties, so flattering her with a youthful address wasn’t wrong.

The woman smiled faintly and walked into Zhiyuan Hall with eight accompanying Martial Artists.

"Please forgive me, Fang. Fenglin Town hasn’t been peaceful lately. I had no choice but to bring some extra hands," the woman said apologetically, seeing Fang Xu staring at the Martial Artists behind her.

"No matter, no matter." Fang Xu waved his hand with a smile. "We parted in such a hurry last time that I didn’t even get to ask for your fair name."

The woman bowed slightly. "I am old and my beauty has faded, I hardly have a fair name. If Young Master Fang doesn’t mind, just call me Rong."

Her real name was Xing Rong, a member of a branch lineage of Xing’s. She was in charge of Xing’s Blood Food business throughout Qinghe County. After arriving in Fenglin Town, Xing Rong had received news that Fang Xu was now a man under the current Seventh Prince. Previously in Qinghe County, Fang Xu had appeared as a friend of Yun Qing, the heir of the Yun Family’s Direct Lineage. Now, he was someone backed by the Seventh Prince. Astonished by Fang Xu’s identity, Xing Rong naturally developed the desire to befriend him.

"Please wait a moment, Rong. I’ll go invite my senior sister over," Fang Xu said, ushering Xing Rong into a guest room to rest.

The Blood Food Shop belonged to Lu Zhiyuan. Since he wanted to transfer it, he naturally needed to get Lu Qingluo’s consent. After inviting Lu Qingluo over, Fang Xu gave a brief introduction and voiced his thoughts. Lu Qingluo straightforwardly stated that he could make all the decisions.

Having received her authorization, Fang Xu began to calculate in his mind whether he could reap more benefits from this transaction.