Lu Residence.
Returning home, Lu Zhenghai walked into his Cultivation room.
Closed-door Cultivation, it's damn closed-door Cultivation again.
If one's strength is weak, one must work hard!
Inside the Cultivation room, Lu Zhenghai first took out the manual for the Cloud Breaking Sword technique.
He examined it carefully, hoping to find One Sword Flying Immortal within.
At first, he was stumped, even considering burning or soaking the manual.
It wasn't until he suddenly realized that the Cloud Breaking Sword manual had 19 pages... each page was densely packed with sword technique text, and within the text on every page, it seemed... it seemed that the font of certain characters differed from the font of the other characters on that page.
It was a very subtle difference in font.
If it weren't for the [System Intelligence] prompt, he definitely would have overlooked this detail, merely thinking it was a clerical error made by the transcriber.
But as luck would have it, he had [System Intelligence].
"So that's how it is?"
Lu Zhenghai excitedly grabbed a pen and connected the characters with different fonts on each page.
This formed a series of diagrams.
Each diagram depicted a person practicing a sword technique.
There were 19 such practice diagrams in total.
Lu Zhenghai began studying these 19 diagrams, but his excitement slowly cooled down.
Because every practice diagram seemed very ordinary; he couldn't tell how amazing they were.
"Is my Comprehension Ability insufficient?"
Lu Zhenghai took a deep breath and swallowed a spirit gathering pill.
In an instant, he felt his mind clear, his vision seemed improved, and he had an indescribable feeling of enlightenment and understanding of the Dao.
He continued looking at the 19 practice diagrams.
Sure enough, they were different now.
"Holy crap, this is bizarre. Why do I feel like all 19 practice diagrams are moving?" Lu Zhenghai was utterly shocked.
That movement, of course, wasn't literal movement.
Rather, it was a sensation, a sudden inspiration, a visualization that inexplicably formed as he stared at the diagrams.
It was quite magical.
Lu Zhenghai then immersed himself in it.
Time flowed by.
Every now and then, he had to swallow a spirit gathering pill.
The next day.
Lu Zhenghai suddenly burst into loud laughter: "Hahahahaha..."
He looked like a madman.
He was overwhelmingly excited.
Looking at his eyes, they were bloodshot from staring at the 19 practice diagrams for over a day.
"System panel open."
He immediately saw that the Martial Skill section had changed.
[Martial Skill: One Sword Flying Immortal (heaven grade low rank) (Initiation), Tiger Form Fist (Yellow Grade Low Rank) (Minor Achievement), Thunderous Saber (Yellow Grade Medium Grade) (Minor Achievement), Cloud Ascending Steps (Yellow Grade Medium Grade) (Minor Achievement)]
Lu Zhenghai couldn't hold back; gripping his xiuchun saber, he suddenly erupted in movement.
In truth, the speed of his strike was quite slow, and there was huge room for improvement.
After all, he had just reached Initiation and was unfamiliar with it.
The sword technique circulated within his body, accompanied by True Essence, finally gathering and surging into the xiuchun saber.
"Shh..."
It was an extremely swift strike, with the saber glow spreading chillingly.
Lu Zhenghai himself didn't even see what the saber glow looked like.
But on the wall of the Cultivation room, there was already a three-inch deep mark.
"That's truly terrifying!"
The walls of this Cultivation room were made of refined iron material. For one strike to penetrate refined iron by three inches... Tsk... If he had used Thunderous Saber, leaving a one-centimeter deep mark on the wall would be considered an exceptional performance.
"However, the heaven grade low rank Martial Skill is too powerful, so the consumption is huge when I execute it."
See? Just one strike, and merely an initiation strike at that—not even Minor Achievement—drained half of the True Essence in his body.
In other words, with his current strength, he could only continuously use One Sword Flying Immortal twice.
"Therefore, One Sword Flying Immortal can only be used as a trump card for now and cannot be used casually."
Lu Zhenghai took a deep breath, rested for a moment, and continued to Cultivate.
It was time for the Supreme Primordial Cycle Technique.
"I have 4 spirit gathering pills left."
That should be enough.
After all, the Supreme Primordial Cycle Technique was only Earth Grade High Rank and had not reached Heaven-Grade.
Theoretically, it was slightly simpler than One Sword Flying Immortal.
Moreover, he only aimed for Initiation, not Minor Achievement, Major Achievement, or Perfection... Lu Zhenghai immersed himself in Cultivation.
However, something happened to Zhou Hu and Zhao Black Pillar.
Originally, the two of them came to check in early in the morning.
Since their boss, Lu Zhenghai, hadn't come—he was in closed-door Cultivation—the two of them checked in and then left to drink wine.
They were celebrating their Breakthrough.
The previous night, the two had entered closed-door Cultivation and consumed 30-year-old ginseng, both achieving a Breakthrough to the third layer of the Acquired Realm.
The restaurant they went to was called the Four Seasons Tower, a moderately famous mid-range establishment within the Imperial City.
As a result, they were happily drinking wine.
They saw Zheng Qu following Squad Leader Luo in a fawning manner as he entered the Four Seasons Tower.
Zhou Hu and Zhao Black Pillar naturally recognized Zheng Qu.
Zheng Qu was one of the ten lieutenants under their boss, Lu Zhenghai.
In fact, after Lu Zhenghai solved the case of Gao Shihan's death, and was subsequently rewarded 20,000 points and promoted to Banner Commander.
Almost everyone within the Embroidered Uniform Guard knew the name Lu Zhenghai.
The remaining eight of the ten lieutenants under Lu Zhenghai when he was a Squad Leader were also panicking.
Those eight had never taken Lu Zhenghai seriously, but they never expected Lu Zhenghai to suddenly become so impressive.
They were definitely afraid of Lu Zhenghai retaliating!
Yesterday, the vast majority of those eight lieutenants visited the Lu Residence one after another.
Although none of them managed to enter the Lu Residence gate, they were all turned away by the Lu Residence steward using the excuse that "the Young Master is in closed-door Cultivation."
However, after their anxiety and panic, they thought of another method.
Well, that was to visit Zhou Hu and Zhao Black Pillar; everyone knew these two were Lu Zhenghai's die-hard supporters.
Among the eight lieutenants, only one was the exception: Zheng Qu.
Zheng Qu had not shown his face from beginning to end.
Unexpectedly, they now saw him cozying up to Squad Leader Luo.
If Zheng Qu had cozied up to any other Squad Leader, Zhou Hu and Zhao Black Pillar would not have been so enraged.
It just had to be Squad Leader Luo, Luo Wang, a sworn enemy of their boss, Lu Zhenghai.
Although, in the Embroidered Uniform Guard System of the Great Yu Dynasty, the position of Squad Leader could indeed be obtained through an open, transparent, and legal method of purchasing an office.
But the price for buying the office was truly expensive—1,000 taels of silver!
A Squad Leader's annual salary was only 60 taels.
Therefore, among the several hundred Squad Leaders within the Embroidered Uniform Guard, not many truly obtained their positions by purchasing the office.
Lu Zhenghai thus became conspicuous.
Everyone thought he was weak but also wealthy.
Was Lu Zhenghai wealthy?
Not a damn bit!
That 1,000 taels of silver was only raised after he had sold almost all the family property left by his ancestors.
If he were truly wealthy, he wouldn't have been unable to afford any Cultivation resources over the years.
That was the truth, but it didn't stop others from thinking he was rich.
Perhaps most Squad Leaders in the Embroidered Uniform Guard were poorer than Lu Zhenghai.
Luo Wang had forced Lu Zhenghai to treat him at restaurants several times.
Using the excuse that colleagues should frequently connect and bond, the expense was never low.
Before the Awakening of his past life memories, Lu Zhenghai was weak and new to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Facing Luo Wang's humiliation, he endured it!
Seeing that Lu Zhenghai was easy to bully, Luo Wang became increasingly excessive.
Finally, there was one time when Lu Zhenghai could no longer tolerate it and fought with Luo Wang.
The result was obvious: Lu Zhenghai had to recuperate at home for more than ten days before his injuries healed.
From then on, the two were incompatible, becoming each other's greatest enemy.
Seeing Zheng Qu cozying up to Luo Wang, the relatively hot-tempered and impulsive Zhao Black Pillar couldn't restrain himself.
He immediately shouted in the restaurant, "Zheng Qu, don't forget your status!"
As a subordinate, openly associating with a superior's enemy was tantamount to betrayal.
Zheng Qu chuckled mockingly and retorted, "My status? I am now a lieutenant under Boss Luo."
Zhao Black Pillar and Zhou Hu were greatly shocked.
Although transfers of lieutenants between various Squad Leaders were not uncommon within the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
But how could Zheng Qu, an ordinary lieutenant, have the ability to transfer to another Squad Leader at will?
Following the shock came burning fury, and Zhao Black Pillar cursed loudly:
"Zheng Qu, the boss treated you well."
"You always requested leave and skipped missions, and the boss turned a blind eye, never reporting you."
"Also, last month, when your father was sick and you didn't have enough money for medicine."
"You asked the boss for money, and he lent you 10 taels of silver without hesitation."
"You ungrateful wretch!"
..."But that doesn't hide the fact that Lu Zhenghai is trash!!!"
Zheng Qu suddenly roared, his face becoming savage:
"Just because I followed a useless Squad Leader like Lu Zhenghai, I felt inferior whenever I encountered other lieutenants in the Garrison."
"They are both Squad Leaders, but Boss Luo could defeat ten Lu Zhenghai s with one hand!"
...Zhou Hu and Zhao Black Pillar's faces darkened, and their eyes were fixed fiercely on Zheng Qu.
Zheng Qu continued to sneer mockingly: "I don't know what kind of dog-shit luck he stumbled into that made Lu Zhenghai suddenly become amazing just by solving one case? Getting promoted and getting rich, huh... Banner Commander? Other Banner Commanders are in the Innate Realm. How dare a piece of trash at the fourth layer of the Acquired Realm accept the position of Banner Commander?! Damn it!"
"Go to hell!"
Zhao Black Pillar could no longer hold back; his eyes were slightly red.
He suddenly drew his xiuchun saber and charged toward Zheng Qu.
If the master is humiliated, the subordinate should die!
Although Lu Zhenghai was not his master, he was his brother and his superior.
If someone insulted Lu Zhenghai, Zhao Black Pillar had only one thought: fight.
Zhou Hu hesitated slightly, intimidated by Luo Wang's presence.
But seeing Zhao Black Pillar draw his xiuchun saber and charge forward, he no longer hesitated and followed closely behind.