"Keep resting," Lu Qingshan said to Qin Ye, who was trying to get up. "Just stay here and keep watch. We need you to recover faster, not slower."

  "But..." Qin Ye's frustrated face almost made him laugh. Still, he kept himself together.

  "You're staying in bed." Lu Qingshan stared at the injuries lining Qin Ye's body. Bringing the flying sword to bear took a lot more than he expected. Torn muscles and skin made the healing process much slower, and it was only with the medical expertise of Liu Yingting and Wu Ruoling that Qin Ye could survive.

  "If only I had the sword a bit longer," Qin Ye bemoaned.

  It was about time for Lu Qingshan to head into the battlefield. Marquis Zhou's public appearance didn't draw much fanfare at first. Those in the know continued to stay low-profile, trying to avoid attracting his attention.

  Then chaos descended two days later when the general declared one of the five great sects, the Beast Fury Temple, a traitor to the kingdom. This sect had apparently always been ferocious and unreasonable — with few allies. The royal guards and the Five-headed Dragon Army had immediately descended onto the sect, aiming to wipe them out. They apparently succeeded.

  Lu Qingshan mourned their martial artists, whose entire upper leadership had been slaughtered in a single night. Even Viscera Tempering experts were cattle to be butchered, paraded around the city, while the kingdom's forces rummaged around their treasury. This move cast the shadow of doubt surrounding Marquis Zhou's purpose in the city. From an outside perspective, the kingdom was just looting their sects now.

  Thus, the other major powers fought back. Open conflict had swiftly sparked throughout the entire city between local powers and the kingdom's forces. The city was in chaos, and many civilians had shut the door in hiding.

  The Jade Skies Sect was still trying to bend with the tides. Instead of fighting at the forefront against the kingdom, they stayed in the back. Not a single one of their blows was life-threatening, and it appeared they were trying to maintain the peace. Meng Zhang had also seen them negotiating with the kingdom's army in secretive places.

  He could expose them, but that would only put the spotlight onto him. None of the major forces had the power to shift their attention away onto another major sect. This was where Miao Mei and Wu Ruoling would play an important role.

  Right as Lu Qingshan was about to leave, his flies caught a glimpse of movement near Miao Mei’s alley. He scanned the area again. Hidden in the alleyway's dark corners was a group of fierce martial artists from the Blade Shadow Valley, no longer bothering to mask themselves.

  Lu Qingshan sighed. He took a step forward, then stopped once again. On the other side of the alleyway was another group of martial artists. Their appearance was more subdued, but he could clearly tell they were from the fourth major sect, the Lower Mountain School. Lu Qingshan didn't know why so many sects were attacking Miao Mei, though he could tell it was probably for the painting.

  The painting had to have more significance than just the Soaring Crane Breathing Method for two entire large sects to attack a small store for it. He needed to extract that information from these martial artists. Unfortunately, Qin Ye hadn't recovered enough to befuddle their minds without possibly damaging his own future cultivation, though he could still tell when someone was lying through his spiritual senses.

  Lu Qingshan needed to get creative with what he asked once he took them prisoner. In an instant, before the two groups could meet up with one another, he attacked the first group. They slammed into the walls unconscious without putting up an ounce of resistance.

  The second group met the same fate. Lu Qingshan sighed at the fallen bodies scattered around the street. Too weak.

  All the nearby stores had boarded up their doors and windows, so they shouldn’t have seen what happened. Still, he made sure the area was clear with his Bloodseeker Flies. But as he went to pick up the bodies, he noticed their breathing had stopped.

  Blood seeped out from each corpse, all nine of them. Lu Qingshan paused to watch. He was unwilling to draw any closer. Instead, he habitually recited the Insect Harmony Mantra, catching a glimpse of something inside their bodies before the feeling faded away.

  Lu Qingshan frowned. That hadn't happened before when he was observing them. Either he was out of range, or their bodies had previously shielded the insects from hearing his mantra. After making sure the feeling had completely disappeared and that the corpses wouldn't suddenly jump up and attack him, Lu Qingshan prodded at them from afar with a stick.

  Their flesh peeled apart like sludge. It resembled Liu Yingting's poisons, but Lu Qingshan knew his Insect Harmony Mantra had resonated with an insect inside their bodies for the brief moment the thing was still alive. He wasn't sure if the insect was the cause of their deaths, though the people who sent them were definitely a problem.

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  That marked at least three large sects, one old family, and the kingdom itself Lu Qingshan that would have to eventually handle. The Seven Mysteries Gate could tackle one thing at a time, but it would take a long time. Not to mention reclaiming their old mountain gate, even this city was posing lots of problems.

  Lu Qingshan stopped thinking. At least currently, the Barbarian Bull Gang was the weakest link in his list of enemy forces. They needed to fall for the Seven Mysteries Gate to rise in their place. He disappeared from the area after his flies swept the streets clean of blood.

  ---

  Lu Qingshan appeared on a building, gazing down at the martial artists fighting. Three from Stone Axe Gang were evenly matched with three from the Barbarian Bull Gang. His eyes turned to see multiple similar scenes happening all over the city.

  With the royal guards distracted, martial artists reigned on these streets. Lu Qingshan swiftly appeared on another building. Somewhere down there, the Barbarian Bull Gang's leader was getting ready to repel the invasion. That was Lu Qingshan's target.

  For now, he sent his flies to roam the alleyways, devouring the lone corpses they found. Any Barbarian Bull Gang member who tried retreating found themselves beset by a swarm of Bloodseeker Flies. No one escaped, their entire bodies disappearing into the black tide.

  As the battles continued, Lu Qingshan's flies finally caught a glimpse of the gang's leader. The man was burly, true to his name. His ferocious face was only marked by more ferocious scars that wriggled when he smiled. And smile he did, even when he saw his own faction getting slaughtered underneath the Wang brothers' aggression.

  Flanking the leader were two equally-muscular experts looking down from the three-story building they were hiding in. Nearby the group was a serving maid, who looked incredibly frightened. She trembled as she brought in more food for the trio.

  Lu Qingshan crept quietly through the rooftops, aiming to reach the house before the Barbarian Bull's leader could attack. The Wang brothers were a little too close for his liking. He was a step too late - the gang leader's fist tore through the serving maid's throat.

  With a furious roar, the Viscera Tempering expert launched himself out of the building and crashed down into the streets. His speed when charging was almost as fast as Lu Qingshan's attacks without using the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique. It was impossible for him to intervene.

  But the Wang brothers were smarter than they looked. As soon as they heard the roar, they ducked into a building and leapt out the window. The Barbarian Bull Gang leader crashed through the walls only to find them running into another building. He continued chasing, and two Stone Axe Gang members lost their lives in the chaos.

  Blood-soaked rooms emerged in the wake of the Barbarian Bull Gang's leader. Those unlucky enough to be inside had been utterly obliterated by his charge. Such was the fate of a mortal in the face of a martial artist's rampage.

  Lu Qingshan emerged from the sky before he could catch up to the Wang brothers. He sent his twelve Marrow Tempering flies to besiege the other two experts, throwing out a claw towards the gang leader. The man tried to block with his left arm.

  It flew through the air, landing on a pile of rubble. Lu Qingshan had torn through the arm in an instant. His next attack aimed at severing the man's head, but the other two Marrow Tempering experts that were by his side threw themselves into his attack. Lu Qingshan killed them quickly, only to find the man had already fled far away, outpacing his Seven Steps Technique. Still, his escape path had been obvious from the start.

  Lu Qingshan whistled. Above one of the buildings, Liu Yingting tossed a vial of poison. It landed on top of the Barbarian Bull Gang leader's head, melting a large hole into it in a single breath. The man immediately stumbled and crashed into a nearby wall.

  Even with a hole in his head, the gang leader attempted to pull himself up. But it was as if all his strength had left his body. He collapsed once he reached the halfway point, choking out a sob. Liu Yingting descended the skies and inserted a knife into the Barbarian Bull's head.

  "It's done," he said to Lu Qingshan.

  "Let's go."

  Clouds of poison exploded across the streets. Liu Yingting had previously followed a similar strategy of cutting off the Barbarian Bull Gang's upcoming generation, and now it was time to retreat. The mission of trampling the gang's martial power had been accomplished. As long as Miao Mei and Wu Ruoling had also completed their mission, the Barbarian Bull Gang lived on borrowed time.

  Lu Qingshan had given them the Bloodsense Bug as a means of communication. Its spiritual connection grew fainter the further the distance between it and him, but now that his job was done, Lu Qingshan had the time to concentrate on strengthening that connection. He sat down and focused on chanting the mantra.

  Through the image seen by the bug, he saw Wu Ruoling ducking and dodging blows from a visibly stronger expert. Miao Mei had a festering cut in her side. Something had gone wrong.

  Lu Qingshan burst into motion, Liu Yingting following behind him. Smoke covered his movements as he carved his way into the toxic clouds and out into another set of streets. Anyone in his way met death without exception. There was no time to determine who was friend or foe.

  He emerged inside the largest warehouse held by the Barbarian Bull Gang - their main storage room. This place should've been manned by a few Marrow Tempering martial artists, not a Viscera Tempering expert. There had been a hidden expert who had never shown himself to the world.

  Lu Qingshan shattered the wall and stepped inside. Fallen torches illuminated the vast swathes of blood decorating the floors of the warehouse. Some wooden boxes were burning, the smoke preventing him from gaining much vision over the area, even with his flies.

  He immersed himself into the Bloodsense Bug's senses again. Miao Mei had disappeared, and Lu Qingshan saw a different expert fighting Wu Ruoling. There were two sudden Viscera Tempering martial artists appearing here.