“Mother Ghost descends... ah!”
“Pass on my broken soul... ah!”
A dozen or so belonging to the Ghost Mother Cult, wielding gleaming pickaxes, shouted slogans as they charged at Lu Qi.
Lu Qi stuffed a rough cloth bundle into Ah Hu’s hands, then rushed forward at full speed.
From atop the wall, a long-legged young girl let out a surprised “Ah!”
Watching Lu Qi’s swift, unpredictable movements, an interested expression appeared on her face.
Both of Lu Qi’s palms emitted swirling blue flames as he struck again and again, each palm crashing down on the elbows and shoulders of those Ghost Mother Cult followers.
They looked sinister, as if very difficult to deal with.
But their actual strength? Quite careless, really.
Among them, only one was at the Pulse-Opening Realm, probably just Pulse-Opening first or second level, and his cultivation method was rather low-grade.
The rest were only at the Foundation Establishment Realm, utterly weak against Lu Qi.
Within just a few breaths, all the men had their arms broken, and their knees shattered by Lu Qi’s kicks.
One by one, they collapsed on the ground, twisted in pain, screaming and cursing.
They cursed Lu Qi’s ancestors up and down with the worst foul language one could hear in the marketplace.
“Are you all looking to die?”
Standing among them, Lu Qi crossed his hands behind his back and looked down at their writhing bodies on the ground.
They bared their teeth, glaring at Lu Qi, and shouted slogans like “Mother Ghost descends.”
Lu Qi was certain: these guys truly wanted to die!
Suddenly, he heard the whizz of arrows from the north.
Lu Qi’s face changed slightly; he called to Ah Hu and immediately dashed full speed toward the northern exit of the alley.
The alley was short; in the blink of an eye, Lu Qi burst out onto the street and saw a crowd of men and women, also wearing gray and black short shirts, holding pickaxes, Luoyang shovels, short knives, small axes, and other weapons, desperately attacking the Survey Office’s base.
There were around three to four hundred of them.
They wore no armor, no shields, no protective gear of any kind.
They carried no long or heavy weapons, no bows or crossbows.
They only relied on some ordinary close-combat weapons, shouting “Mother Ghost descends,” charging nonstop at the base.
On the base’s courtyard wall, dozens of prison guards stood in a line, expressionless as they drew bows and fired wave after wave of arrows.
The piercing whistle of those arrows rang out sharply, embedding deeply into the chests of the attackers.
When Lu Qi rushed out of the alley, over a hundred lay on the ground, some pierced with arrows, convulsing, vomiting blood, and wailing in pain.
Even so, those still able to speak called out “Mother Ghost descends” intermittently.
It was clear most of these people had only rudimentary boxing and kicking skills; their physiques were somewhat stronger than ordinary people, but not by much.
A very small number had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Only two or three possessed Pulse-Opening Realm strength.
Those two or three Pulse-Opening Cult members, along with a dozen or so Foundation Establishment “experts,” were on the main street near the gate, being pressed down by twenty small eunuchs wielding soft swords, moving like phantoms.
These eunuchs, dispatched from the Nine-Bend Yard by Lu Qi, had swift steps and delicate forms; their style was extremely yin and subtle.
Their sword swings sent quick flashes of cold light, yet emitted no breaking-the-air sound.
Their strength far exceeded that of the Ghost Mother Cult’s followers.
Each single eunuch dominated over three to five opponents at once.
Still, all twenty of them worked together against just over a dozen enemies.
Moreover, they formed a mysterious sword formation; shimmering streams of sword light formed an unbreakable circle around the “experts” of the Ghost Mother Cult.
Sword light rained down, carving lines of sword wounds across the bodies of these “experts.”
Blood splattered everywhere.
At first, those “experts” still shouted their slogans.
But as more and more flesh was sliced away and the wounds multiplied, their slogans gradually turned into pitiful wails.
Wave after wave, arrows rained down.
More than half of the Ghost Mother Cult followers attacking the main gate had already been shot dead by arrows.
The remaining hundred or so had slogans that grew weaker by the minute.
With a thundering crash, the vermilion main gate swung open.
A hundred-plus prison guards appeared, clad in dragon-scale armor, holding rhinoceros-hide beast-face steel shields, spears raised, marching in formation and charging outward.
Just one clash shattered the Ghost Mother Cult followers—hundreds were decimated, riddled with bloody holes, screaming madly and unable to resist.
The nearby mansions’ doormen and stewards peeked out nervously.
Guards armed with knives and swords showed themselves on several walls of neighboring estates.
Last night, the Bai family mansion had burned in a raging fire.
Early this morning, outside Lu Qi’s base, hundreds shouted and fought, turning the place into a river of blood.
Under the emperor’s feet, in the wealthiest district of Haojing City—splendid Yushun Ward—the scene was like a battlefield.
The wind even carried a scholar’s heavy sigh: “The eunuch faction forces the good people into rebellion. This Great Yin dynasty will surely perish sooner or later!”
Lu Qi said nothing.
He strode toward the blood-splattered gate with Ah Hu.
One small eunuch suddenly detached from the sword formation, blowing his nose and glaring toward the direction of the sigh: “Who’s talking nonsense like that? Good people? Good people would come out so early in the morning to kill? Who said that? If you’ve got the guts, step forward and say it to the Eunuch!”
No one responded.
Seeing Lu Qi’s men had taken control, the stewards and guards all withdrew into their compounds, shutting their gates hard.
For a while, except for Lu Qi’s subordinates and the slain Ghost Mother Cult followers on the street, not a single soul remained.
No, not entirely.
Lu Qi’s eyes gleamed with spiritual light as he saw crimson blood qi rising from the corpses, soaring into the sky.
Raising his head, he spotted a half-transparent red lantern quietly hovering hundreds of zhang above the ground beneath the thick black clouds.
Streams of blood qi flew like birds returning home into this translucent red lantern, which gradually solidified, becoming more tangible.
Lu Qi took a deep breath.
These Ghost Mother Cult followers had truly immersed themselves in the desire to die.
Once they died, their blood qi—and perhaps other strange, inexplicable things—would be drawn into this red lantern.
This red lantern, initially hazy and transparent, was slowly forming into a solid object.
Its aura steadily grew stronger.
Lu Qi felt a chilling and sinister coldness slowly descending from the sky.
“Don’t kill!” Lu Qi ordered sharply. “Capture them alive, as many as you can!”
Before Lu Qi spoke, those “experts” trapped within the eunuchs’ sword formation suddenly broke out in wild, desperate screams, throwing caution to the wind and charging fiercely at the small eunuchs.
Their faces twisted, eyes bloodshot, mouths open wide displaying pale teeth and bright red tongues, like frenzied specters swinging weapons wildly.
Regardless of their abilities, their ferocity was terrifying.
The eunuchs, trained inside the palace, had never seen such reckless, desperate fighters.
They trembled in fear, drawing their soft swords as they slashed.
With a ‘psst’ sound, a dozen or so “experts” thrust their heads forward, offering themselves willingly to the sword tips.
Dozens of huge heads flew through the air, blood adding a thick layer to the crimson ground.
Lu Qi stomped his foot in shock, then glanced up at the red lantern floating beneath the black clouds.
The small eunuchs followed his gaze, stunned.
They lacked Lu Qi’s sharp eyesight, unable to make out details on the lantern, but as elite cultivators, they faintly saw a hint of red light glimmering under the clouds.
A small eunuch in red robes bent over and quietly asked Lu Qi, “Sir, do you think what we did was wrong?”
Lu Qi sighed and patted the eunuch’s shoulder. “It’s fine. They sought death with all their hearts—don’t blame you. Anyone injured?”
“If anyone’s hurt, treat them quickly. Word is, their weapons were coated with corpse poison; they’re no ordinary enemies.”
Lu Qi’s gentle pat seemed to lighten the eunuch’s spirit.
He quickly smiled, saying, “Thank you, Sir, for your concern. We were careful; no one was hurt. I’d heard the people outside the palace were fierce, but didn’t expect they truly sought death like that.”
Lu Qi nodded, frowning, gazing helplessly at the red lantern.
Hundreds of zhang above the ground, Lu Qi had no way to deal with it at all.
Deciding to leave that matter for later, Lu Qi looked at the street and said gravely, “Notify the Yushun Ward Magistrate’s Office to collect the bodies. All survivors are to be sent under guard to the Secret Prison of the Palace Guard.”
Taking the rough cloth bundle from Ah Hu’s hands, Lu Qi said in a low voice, “Investigate their origins.”
A eunuch stooped by a severed head lying on the ground kicked it gently, turning the face skyward.
He suddenly exclaimed, “Oh! Sir, I recognize this man! Last night, six prison guard brothers’ coffins were purchased from his coffin shop.”
“Six identical six-inch thick panels of water birch coffins—still in our courtyard now,” the eunuch said in surprise. “He showed a friendly face delivering the goods last night but early this morning gathered his gang to come kill us!”
“Coffin shop?” Lu Qi’s eyes widened.
He stared at the eunuch in astonishment.
Yet another coffin shop?
Moreover, six-inch thick water birch coffin panels meant this shop clearly wasn’t selling cheap goods.
The wood alone cost a lot.
“Could it be that all the coffin shops in Haojing are run by Ghost Mother Cult members?”
Lu Qi almost laughed in frustration.
If that was true, this Ghost Mother Cult was... beyond description.
“Go. Inform the authorities immediately and conduct a full investigation of every coffin shop in Haojing.”
“We might even earn a major merit!”
Lu Qi looked once more toward the unmoving red lantern suspended high in the sky.
(End of this chapter)