Chapter 188: Chapter 172: Lu Zhao Attends the Appointment and Gains the Upper Hand

Bixia Sect, C-57 Cave Mansion.

At that moment, a concise message appeared directly within Lu Zhao’s Sea of Consciousness:

"Within four years. Bixia Marketplace Black Market. The alley behind Hundred Herbs Residence, third stone house. Do not use your original body...

—Li Xuerou

The message was brief, but its meaning was crystal clear.

"Li Xuerou..." He murmured her name, his mind flashing back to the woman in the Black Market years ago who had given him the lead on the Tier Two Strong Demon Ape corpse. To obtain that crucial corpse, he had indeed promised her a favor. ’Looks like it’s time to repay that debt,’ Lu Zhao thought.

’But why be so secretive? What is she up to?’ Lu Zhao wondered, his thoughts racing as his fingertips caressed the cool jade scroll.

’Such secrecy... whatever she wants must be complicated. Still, a promise is a promise, and that Demon Ape corpse was crucial for me back then. This debt has to be repaid one way or another.’ After a moment’s thought, a look of resolve flashed in Lu Zhao’s eyes. ’Fine. I’ll go meet her.’

「Three days passed in the blink of an eye.」

Late in the afternoon, the underground Black Market of Bixia Marketplace was a familiar mix of clamor and gloom. The air was thick with the damp smell of earth, the bitter aroma of low-quality pills, and the faint stench of blood from demon beast materials. The fluorite stones embedded in the tunnel walls still cast a sickly green glow, twisting the passing cultivators’ shadows into distorted shapes.

Lu Zhao no longer looked like an Outer Sect Steward of the Bixia Sect. He had used the Breath Concealment and Shapeshifting Skill to take on the guise of a haggard, middle-aged Wanderer. With a sallow complexion and an aura that suggested he was only at the Qi Cultivation Sixth Layer, he wore a faded, coarse-cloth tunic and blended seamlessly into the motley crowd, drawing no attention to himself.

Navigating the side tunnels with practiced ease, he arrived at the relatively secluded alley behind Hundred Herbs Residence. The light here was even dimmer. Cold beads of moisture clung to the stone walls, their dripping echoes sharp in the silence. The door to the third stone house was shut tight, not a sliver of light escaping from its seams.

Lu Zhao stepped forward and, following the secret code from the Jade Scroll, knocked lightly on the weathered wooden door three times in a specific rhythm.

KNOCK... KNOCK KNOCK...

After a moment of silence, the door slid open a crack without a sound. A pale, slender hand emerged and beckoned to him. Lu Zhao slipped inside, and the wooden door immediately closed silently behind him, shutting out the noise from outside.

The space inside was cramped, furnished with only a table and a chair. A single oil lamp with a bean-sized flame flickered on the tabletop, making the silhouette of the woman in the chair waver between light and shadow. It was none other than Li Xuerou.

Though years had passed, her face was as stunningly beautiful as ever, now graced with a touch of mature charm. Yet, her features were shrouded in an indescribable exhaustion and... a subtle, gloomy air.

What shocked Lu Zhao even more was the Spiritual Power fluctuating around her. It had somehow reached the Qi Cultivation Peak! But her aura was unstable, hinting at something unusual and sinister, something obscure, like a dark current churning beneath a calm sea.

Li Xuerou glanced up at the sallow-faced man Lu Zhao had become, her eyes flashing with suspicion and alarm. Her expression only relaxed when Lu Zhao lowered his voice and spoke in a gravelly tone, "An old acquaintance from the Bixia Sect, here to honor the promise made to a fellow Daoist three years ago."

Upon hearing this, Li Xuerou’s tense expression eased slightly, and a faint, meaningful smile touched her lips. "So, it’s Elder Lu. This is no place for a deep conversation. Please follow me, Elder." She stood up, walked to a corner of the stone room, and pressed her fingers against the moss-covered stone wall a few times in a seemingly random pattern.

With a soft CLICK, a stone slab on the floor slid open silently, revealing a dark hole just wide enough for one person to pass through. A thicker stench of mold and a chilling air washed over them.

Li Xuerou descended the steps first. Confident in his superior skill, Lu Zhao had already swept the area below with his Divine Sense. Only after confirming the absence of any powerful Restrictions or ambushes did he calmly follow her down.

The passage was narrow and steep, its stone steps slick with moisture. After a descent of about a hundred feet, it opened into a secret chamber roughly ten feet square. The walls were rough-hewn rock, the floor was cold and damp, and water stains were visible in the corners. The furnishings were sparse, consisting of only a stone bed and a stone table.

The sole source of light was a dim, blue Fluorite Lamp set into the wall, bathing the entire secret chamber in an eerie, ghostly glow.

Li Xuerou walked to the stone table, her fingertips forming a hand seal. A faint gray Spirit Light shot from her sleeve and sank into the four walls of the chamber. Instantly, a barely perceptible gray film of light flashed across the walls’ surfaces and vanished, isolating the room from all outside sound and Divine Sense probes.

Only after doing all this did Li Xuerou turn to face Lu Zhao. There were no pleasantries, no polite chatter. Her first words struck like a thunderclap in the small chamber, carrying an imperceptible tremor and... the finality of an all-or-nothing gamble:

"Elder Lu, the Northern Plains Zheng Family... you’re the one who destroyed them, aren’t you?"

BOOM—!

Lu Zhao felt as if something had exploded in his mind. A bone-chilling killing intent erupted from the depths of his being, surging through him like an uncaged beast! His pupils shrank to pinpricks. The Magical Power in his body instinctively began to churn with violence, and the hand hidden in his sleeve subconsciously formed the seal to summon his Tier Two Corpse Puppet!

With a single thought, the ferocious Strong Demon Ape Corpse Puppet would leave its Corpse Nurturing Bag and grind this secret chamber, along with the person before him, into dust!

The air in the secret chamber seemed to freeze. Even the faint blue light seemed to flicker violently, stirred by the frigid killing intent that had erupted from Lu Zhao. Shadows danced wildly across their faces, making Li Xuerou’s stunningly beautiful face look like that of a phantom.

However, at this critical moment, Li Xuerou seemed to have anticipated Lu Zhao’s reaction. She didn’t retreat, nor did she panic. Instead, facing the killing intent that threatened to tear her to shreds, she continued speaking, her words rapid yet exceptionally clear: "Calm your anger, Elder! I am the only one who knows of this!"

"This junior dared to invite you here, Elder, and dared to say such a thing because I have made thorough preparations! If I perish, this information will immediately spread throughout the Bixia Sect and even the Chen Country through pre-arranged channels! Even if you kill me, Elder, it will be useless!"

Her words were like ice water, instantly extinguishing the flames of killing intent raging in Lu Zhao’s heart. He forcibly suppressed the Tier Two Corpse Puppet that was about to emerge. Lu Zhao took a deep breath, the cold air filling his lungs and rapidly cooling the blood that had been boiling with shock and rage.

He stared intently at Li Xuerou, his gaze as sharp as a blade, as if he meant to dissect her very being—every inch of her skin, every flicker of her eyes.

After a long moment, Lu Zhao finally spoke, his voice low and hoarse, laced with a coldness born from immense restraint. "Fellow Daoist Li... Impressive tactics. You’ve gone to great lengths and seized the upper hand. So tell me, what do you want?" He deliberately stressed the four words "what do you want," his hostility and wariness unconcealed.

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