High Martial: I Use Everything as Swords

The night in East Sea Fortress City had never felt so long.

While Han Feng was sound asleep in the basement of Lakefront No. 9 Villa.

However, within the city—a veritable steel behemoth—a single head hanging from the gate had unleashed a silent, force-12 typhoon.

The news seemed to grow wings, zipping through fiber-optic cables and encrypted channels into the sprawling mansions of every influential family.

The Inner City. The Lu Family Mansion.

The lights in the study were as bright as day. The Lu Family Patriarch, Lu Zhennan, clad in a bathrobe with an unlit cigar pinched between his fingers, had been standing before the holographic screen for a full ten minutes.

The image frozen on the screen was of the headless corpse and the back of Han Feng as he sheathed his sword.

Behind him, Lu Yunxiao stood ramrod straight, his expression somewhat stiff.

"Dad, you wanted to see me?"

Lu Yunxiao asked in a low voice.

Until now, the family’s stance had been crystal clear: Han Feng might have been his savior, but the man was a magnet for trouble.

Star Sea Technology, the Sun Family, and that pack of mad dogs from the Blood Feeding Sect—not one of them was to be trifled with.

The Lu Family could offer money and resources to repay the debt, but they absolutely could not chain themselves to Han Feng’s war chariot.

Lu Zhennan turned around. His usual composure—so steady he wouldn’t flinch if a mountain crumbled before him—was gone, replaced by what could only be described as a pained grimace.

"Yunxiao."

Lu Zhennan tossed the cigar onto the desk and pointed at the screen. "This photo... the Garrison Army confirmed it’s authentic?"

"Completely authentic."

Lu Yunxiao nodded. "Plenty of people were there. The First, Second, and Third Squadrons of the Garrison Army were all on site, along with a number of mercenaries just watching the spectacle."

"That head is still hanging above the East Gate. General Li Tiecheng gave the order himself."

Lu Zhennan rubbed his face and let out a long sigh.

"A Tier Four..."

"A Middle Stage Divine Containment Realm expert... In any second-tier Garrison City, that’s someone who could be the City Lord."

"And here in East Sea City, aside from those few old monsters, who could claim a guaranteed victory against him?"

"But he got his head lopped off with a single sword strike."

Lu Zhennan rounded the desk and walked over to his son. He clapped him on the shoulder, his tone suddenly grave and earnest.

"Yunxiao, do you still remember what I told you a couple of days ago?"

Lu Yunxiao froze. "I remember. You said that while Han Feng had potential, he’d made too many enemies. I was to remain polite, give him a gift to settle our debt, and under no circumstances get too involved, lest we be targeted by the Sun Family and the Blood Feeding Sect."

"Forget it!"

Lu Zhennan declared resolutely.

"Huh?"

"I said, forget all that nonsense!"

Lu Zhennan waved his hand dismissively, as if swatting at a fly. "Made too many enemies?"

"Trouble?"

"When you can cut down a Tier Four Grandmaster with a single strike, you don’t *have* trouble anymore. You *are* the trouble!"

A shrewd light, unique to merchants, glinted in Lu Zhennan’s eyes.

"I used to think he was a hot potato. That’s because he only had potential, not the power to back it up."

"It’s easy for the Sun Family to snuff out a genius. But to kill an expert capable of slaying a Grandmaster? They’d have to be willing to pay in blood!"

"The Sun Family has already been exiled, and Star Sea Technology has backed down."

"That kid, Han Feng... his rise is now inevitable."

Lu Zhennan pulled a black-and-gold card from a drawer and pressed it into Lu Yunxiao’s hand.

"First thing tomorrow morning, go to the Lakefront Villa."

"Don’t bring any tacky gifts. This card represents the mining rights to a small vein in the Lu Family’s West Mountain Mine Area. Transfer it into his name."

Lu Yunxiao’s eyes widened.

"Dad, isn’t this too valuable? The board of directors..."

"I’ll handle the board."

Lu Zhennan snorted. "Right now, Han Feng is like an initial stock offering—and one that’s already shot up in value post-IPO."

"We need to increase our stake before it hits the limit!"

"From now on, you’ll spend less time fooling around with that deadbeat crowd of yours and more time with Han Feng. Build a relationship with him!"

"Do you understand?"

Lu Yunxiao stared at the weighty card in his hand and nodded firmly. "I understand."

...

「At the same time, in the Su Family Manor.」

As one of East Sea City’s top financial oligarchs, the Su Family’s study was anything but calm.

The Su Family Patriarch, Su Zhen, sat upright in a grand armchair, cupping a long-cold cup of tea. His gaze was profound as he looked at his two granddaughters before him—Su Muxue and Su Yunxi.

"Is the news confirmed?" Su Zhen spoke slowly.

"It’s confirmed."

Su Muxue maintained her usual cool demeanor, but a hint of a smile she couldn’t quite suppress played at the corners of her eyes.

"The Garrison Army has already hung the head from the city gate."

"Word is spreading through all the upper circles of East Sea City that Han Feng is a monster in human skin."

Su Yunxi chimed in from the side.

"Grandpa, back on Core Floating Island G-01, I knew he was something special."

"A guy who can catch a missile with his bare hands... killing a Grandmaster... seems pretty reasonable, don’t you think?"

The corner of Su Zhen’s mouth twitched.

’Reasonable?’

’Reasonable, my ass!’

’This was taking the common sense of the Cultivation Realm and grinding it into the dust!’

"It seems our previous assessment was too conservative."

Su Zhen put down the teacup and sighed deeply.

"I originally thought he was a promising sapling. I never expected he was already a towering tree."

Previously, while the Su Family had invested in the "Night Falcon" project and even tacitly allowed Su Muxue to associate with Han Feng, their motives had been mostly business-related and a matter of repaying a debt.

As for the heap of trouble Han Feng had stirred up, there had always been dissenting voices within the Su Family. They argued it wasn’t worth making mortal enemies of the Sun Family and Star Sea Technology for the sake of an outsider.

But now, that one sword strike had severed all doubts.

A young man who could slay a Grandmaster while still in the Meridian Passage Realm... his future is boundless. Five years?

No, at this rate, perhaps in just three years, Han Feng would be able to stand at the very pinnacle of this world.