Chapter 127 - 94: Traces of Profound Fire, Facing the Scattering Tribulation

Xu Guang lit the incense with a calming effect beside him, then approached the desk. He took out the prepared potent medicines—centennial ginseng, Centennial Huang Jing, centennial He Shouwu, and so on—and carefully arranged them one by one.

Although the probability of an accident was low, having these life-saving medicines was enough to sustain him until Ji Xiaolu arrived to pass him her Essence of Life.

With everything ready, Xu Guang knelt on the cushion in front of the desk, calming his mind and steadying his breathing as the method of Dissipating Skill provided by the Searcher flashed through his mind.

Dissipating Skill was the exact opposite of Cultivation. It required him to first dissipate Power, meaning it started from the viscera and worked from the inside out.

Yuan City, Martial Arts Association Headquarters.

This place was a part of the Bao Ping Martial Arts Hall estate. It had always been incredibly mysterious and served as the regular meeting place for Martial Artists. Even among the disciples of Bao Ping Martial Arts Hall, very few had ever entered this area.

Within a small, lush bamboo forest, several exquisite and elegant bamboo pavilions exuded a unique, charming atmosphere.

At this moment, wealthy families from the Inner City and renowned Martial Artists from various Martial Arts Halls had gathered together in one of the pavilions, assembling to discuss how to capture a righteous thief. Among those who came this time, many were affluent individuals.

The Martial Association needed to survive. For experts in the Training Refining Viscera Realm, mere Cultivation consumed a massive amount of medicinal resources. The profits gained from recruiting disciples alone were far from enough, so they would establish certain deals with the city’s wealthy tycoons. These deals included paying extra to have a Martial Artist take care of their family’s younger generation, paying to cooperate with certain Martial Arts Halls to resolve matters in the Martial World, and so on.

Yixuan Martial Arts Hall hadn’t been open for long, but the strength Xu Guang displayed when establishing his faction was enough to make Yixuan Martial Arts Hall a rising star in the city.

The pavilion was packed with distinguished guests. Sitting in the seat of honor was the Liuli Martial Arts Hall Master, Zhao Fang. "Hahaha, the day for us to gather has arrived once more. Our Yuan City’s Martial Association is growing ever more prosperous! In the first half of the year, we not only gained a powerful resident master like Master Xu of Yixuan Martial Arts Hall, but we also welcomed wealthy tycoons like Chairman Wang. This is truly worth celebrating," he said.

Wang Ming sat at the round table. Speaking of which, this could be considered one of the benefits of the Martial Association, as well as a mutual selection process between the commerce guilds and the Martial Arts Halls. The commerce guilds could naturally choose to change their partner Martial Arts Hall, but they had to go through the Martial Association. Naturally, the larger the Martial Arts Hall, the stronger the financial power of the commerce guild it partnered with.

Zhao Ning stood in the corner, tightly holding a wooden token representing her commerce guild, her eyes filled with a trace of confusion.

This was her first time representing her family’s commerce guild at the Martial and Commerce Alliance. Ever since her father passed away from illness, Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall’s attitude had become rather ambiguous. They had repeatedly hinted, both overtly and covertly, that she should pay a higher regular protection fee.

After she refused, her family’s business ran into trouble. Several maliciously competitive rival merchants constantly undermined their products. Some despicable ones even hired thugs to harass their shop, leading to consecutive losses over the past few months. Forced into a corner, she had sought help from Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall, only to be rejected.

She came today with the intention of affiliating her business with a new Martial Arts Hall. This was her last hope. Her family was in the cosmetics business, which was only considered mid-tier among Yuan City’s major commerce guilds. Fortunately, due to some special secret recipes, their cosmetics had a large base of loyal customers in the city.

Zhao Ning’s eyes subconsciously swept across the faces of all the Masters present. She wanted to find a new Martial Arts Hall to affiliate with to resolve this trouble. However, the Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall Master was a Three Viscera Martial Artist. Any hall bold enough to take her on couldn’t be inferior to that level.

"Ning’Er, have you made your choice? If not, I’ll go back and beg my master," a veiled woman beside her asked softly, her voice crisp and cool.

The veiled woman was named Lin He, a disciple of the city’s Jingshou Hall. Zhao Ning politely declined her friend’s goodwill. Lin He had only been able to apprentice at Jingshou Hall because of her family’s past legacy. Her status within Jingshou Hall was already precarious, and Zhao Ning didn’t want to trouble her friend.

Zhao Ning carefully observed Wang Ming, who was sitting behind the sign for Yixuan Martial Arts Hall. "Hu, what do you think of Master Xu of Yixuan Martial Arts Hall?"

Lin He glanced at Wang Ming, then curled her lips. "His aura is leaking out. Although he is strong, he still cannot compare to Lei Laohu."

Just as the two were about to continue speaking, they heard the people around them seemingly addressing Wang Ming as ’Master Wang.’ A look of joy appeared on Zhao Ning’s face. Could it be that Yixuan Martial Arts Hall had two Refining Viscera Martial Artists? Because she had been overwhelmed by her family’s business troubles recently, she truly wasn’t clear about the background of this newly arrived Martial Arts Hall.

A moment later, Wang Ming held a wooden token with the words [Ruyi Square] written on it, a look of confusion on his face. He strictly followed Xu Guang’s instructions to only cooperate with medicine merchants and not actively reach out to anyone else. Xu Guang hadn’t even come today. Wang Ming hadn’t expected someone else to actively seek affiliation under Yixuan Martial Arts Hall’s name.

While Wang Ming was deep in thought, a gloomy voice sounded by his ear. "Master Wang, sometimes it’s best not to be too greedy!"

He turned around to see the Martial Artist known as Lei Laohu staring at him with a dark, sinister gaze. Wang Ming immediately flared up in anger.

"Does Master Lei have an objection?"

BANG!

Lei Laohu slammed his hand forcefully onto the table. "Who in the city doesn’t know that Ruyi Square has always been affiliated with my Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall? It has been over ten years now! When the old square master died, it was my Fierce Tiger Martial Arts Hall that arranged his burial! Could it be that Master Wang used a honey trap and bewitched that little girl!?"

Wang Ming rested his hand on the table, his fingers tapping lightly. "So what do you intend to do, Master Lei?"

"Hand over the Ruyi Square token to me!" Lei Laohu stood up, his imposing aura terrifying like a fierce tiger.

Wang Ming naturally wouldn’t yield. After all, today’s Martial and Commerce Alliance was a display of the various Martial Arts Halls’ underlying strength. He absolutely could not back down. It was common knowledge that every year during the alliance, Martial Artists would challenge each other to fights, sometimes even resulting in death or severe injury.

"It seems Master Lei thinks he can walk all over me?"

Lei Laohu tilted his head back and snorted coldly.

"Heh heh, I am injured right now. Just wait for my family’s Erlang to finish his seclusion, and we shall fight!" Wang Ming said this without even blinking.

Throughout their journey east, he had already figured out Xu Guang’s temperament. If you encounter trouble, just kill it. If Xu Guang had come today, Lei Laohu would probably be a dead man the moment he stepped out the door. As Wang Ming thought of this, the gaze he directed at Lei Laohu couldn’t help but carry a hint of pity.

Standing in the corner, Zhao Ning watched the farce she had caused, unease filling her eyes. She hadn’t expected Lei Laohu to be unwilling to let her go. Could he know her family’s secret?

Lin He whispered from the side, "His aura is far inferior. I feel like you lost your mind choosing Yixuan Martial Arts Hall."

Zhao Ning remained silent. She had just found out a bit about the background of Yixuan Martial Arts Hall’s Xu Yixuan. For someone to bring his family all the way from the Central Plains and dare to establish a faction on the very first day of his arrival, he must possess extraordinary methods. The most crucial point was that not only did he bring his family, but he also had loyal subordinates. Judging from his actions, they had stuck together through thick and thin along the journey, never abandoning anyone when facing crises. This was enough to show that he was a man who deeply valued relationships and loyalty.

Moreover, the two words ’Yixuan’ seemed to be his courtesy name. In the Central Plains, many people liked to adopt courtesy names. This Xu Yixuan was not a simple figure. Taking ’Yi’—meaning righteousness—as his courtesy name was an indirect reflection of his moral character. She didn’t want to encounter another Lei Laohu.

On the other side, the head-to-head confrontation between Wang Ming and Lei Laohu was eventually stopped by the old master of Liuli Martial Arts Hall, Zhao Fang, though his tone carried a sense of ambiguity.

"You two, today is not the place for fighting. If you wish to spar, do it another day. Do not frighten the various chairmen," Zhao Fang said.

Wang Ming remained noncommittal to this, while Lei Laohu was still fuming with indignation.

Yue Liuchuan whispered from the side, "Brother Wang, you were a bit impulsive. They are just selling cosmetics; you could have just let it go. This Lei Laohu is very good at networking and has close relationships with many Martial Arts Hall Masters."

Wang Ming sneered. "Brother Yue, if I back down today, do you think I’ll have to back down again in the future?"

Yue Liuchuan said no more, but his evaluation of Yixuan Martial Arts Hall rose another level in his heart.