Chapter 20: Diverting The Blame

After dinner and washing up, the two went to bed early.

Lu Xuan's philosophy these days was simple: practice makes perfect. When it came to cultivation, one simply couldn't skip a single day.

Late at night, Shen Yuyan, the little night fairy, had once again been thoroughly fed and exhausted had fallen into a deep sleep. She curled up against him like a kitten, breathing softly.

Lu Xuan was just about to close his eyes when his ears suddenly twitched.

Someone was outside.

Not at his own house. The footsteps were coming from the alley near the escort agency next door.

They were extremely faint and deliberately muffled, but they couldn't deceive Lu Xuan.

His eyes opened.

He carefully slipped out of bed without making the slightest sound.

After making sure Shen Yuyan was still sleeping peacefully, he quietly left the courtyard and disappeared into the darkness.

He pressed himself against the wall and followed the sound. At the end of the alley, a man dressed in black was squatting in the shadows, secretly watching the Iron Mountain Escort Agency.

Lu Xuan crouched ten paces behind him, completely still. The man had no idea he was being watched.

After a while, another figure quietly emerged from a different alley and approached.

"Have you found out the details?"

"Iron Mountain Escort Agency. Thirteen escort warriors. None of them stay overnight."

The spy glanced toward the agency. "There's also one trash who guards the door. Some useless young master who was kicked out of the Lu Family."

"What about the expert?"

"Couldn't find him."

The man shook his head.

"But it's definitely not someone from the agency. He might have just been a passerby they happened to encounter."

The second man's voice became colder. "The Fortress Master's orders are clear. No matter who it is, this grudge must be settled."

He paused. "First, find out their background. In a few days..."

His eyes flashed coldly. "Burn it all down."

"Understood. I'll report back."

The two men separated and disappeared into the darkness.

Lu Xuan remained where he was and allowed the messenger to leave. His eyes stayed fixed on the one who remained behind... the spy who had been left to keep watch on the escort agency.

The spy eventually found a hidden corner, settled down, and pulled out some dry rations. He took a bite.

That was enough.

Lu Xuan quietly circled around behind him.

The spy suddenly froze. Something was wrong. An instinctive sense of danger surged through him.

He whipped his head around...

A fist was already in front of his face.

Bear Form: Skull Crush.

BANG!

The impact was devastating. The spy's face caved inward, his eyes bulging from the force as his entire body went limp.

One punch.

Clean.

Over.

Lu Xuan crouched down and searched the body as usual. He found two silver pieces, a dagger, and a token engraved with the emblem of Flying Cloud Fortress.

He pocketed the silver and stared at the token for a moment.

A Flying Cloud Fortress spy.

If he killed this one, they would simply send another. Then another. Eventually, they would stop sending spies and come with torches.

He couldn't let the Iron Mountain Escort Agency become their target. He needed to redirect the arrow.

Lu Xuan reached into his robe and pulled out the jade pendant he had taken from Xu Zhong's body weeks ago. It wasn't an ordinary piece of jade. It was the identification token of a Lu Family steward, engraved with the Lu Family crest. Anyone familiar with the city would recognize it.

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Lu Xuan looked at the corpse, then at the pendant. An idea slowly formed in his mind.

He pried open the spy's stiffening fingers and pressed the jade pendant into his palm. Then he wiped the blood from the dagger, placed it back into the spy's other hand, and carefully arranged the scene.

A struggle.

A Flying Cloud Fortress spy had encountered someone from the Lu Family. The two had fought, and both sides had paid the price.

Lu Xuan stepped back several paces and examined his work. The corpse lay in the alley, its face destroyed, the Lu Family's jade pendant tightly clutched in its hand.

Good enough.

But he wasn't finished.

Lu Xuan didn't return home. Instead, he moved through the sleeping city like a ghost, heading toward the residential area near the Lu Family Martial Academy.

He quickly found what he was looking for: an apprentice from the academy walking home alone after a late-night drinking session.

Lu Xuan followed him from the shadows.

Once he found the right opportunity, he struck without hesitation, killing the apprentice, searching his body, planting the Flying Cloud Fortress token, and disappearing before anyone noticed.

It was simple and clean. By the time anyone discovered the bodies, Lu Xuan was already far away.

The next morning, the bodies were discovered at dawn.

"Murder!"

The news spread through Azure Sun City like wildfire.

Someone recognized the jade pendant on the first corpse.

"This is the Lu Family's jade pendant!"

"It belongs to one of their stewards!"

"The Lu Family killed this man?"

"I don't know... but this item definitely belongs to the Lu Family."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, the dead academy apprentice was discovered with a Flying Cloud Fortress token in his pocket.

The two stories collided almost immediately.

Teahouses, marketplaces, and streets were filled with whispers, and within an hour, everyone seemed to have heard some version of the same rumor.

Flying Cloud Fortress had killed a Lu Family man.

The Lu Family had killed a Flying Cloud Fortress spy.

The two sides had drawn blood.

And now...

It was war.

The news reached Flying Cloud Fortress before noon.

Inside the main hall, the Fortress Master, Huo Tianba, stood with a face dark enough to make the air itself feel heavy.

"The Lu Family?"

A lieutenant knelt before him with his head lowered.

"The jade pendant of a Lu Family steward was found on our scout's body."

He swallowed before continuing. "The steward's name was Xu Zhong. He was the brother-in-law of the Lu Family Patriarch, Lu Tianhe."

Huo Tianba's expression grew colder.

"And although this particular kill wasn't a heart-piercing strike like the ones on the mountain road, the raw strength, the efficiency..."

The lieutenant hesitated before finishing, "There wasn't much difference."

Silence filled the hall.

Huo Tianba slowly clenched his fist.

So the Lu Family had killed his people.

Not only had they killed them, but they had also left their mark behind.

His anger finally erupted.

His palm slammed down onto the table.

BANG!

The thick wooden table split cleanly in half.

"Lu Tianhe—!"