Chapter 52 - 50: Stumbling into the Celestial Family
After all the back and forth, by the time Lu Yun was far from the Wa Country Concession and walking the quiet streets back to the Lu Family’s Old Mansion, it was nearly midnight.
In the quiet of the dead of night, now that he was out of his combat state, Lu Yun felt the toll it had taken on his body.
It was a profound sense of exhaustion. The continuous battles tonight had consumed an absurd amount of his Qi.
In fact, back at Fu Jinmin’s villa, while fending off the combined assault of hidden weapons and bullets from those four Wa Country Ninjas—especially when he took that bullet head-on—
he had already used up nearly a tenth of his condensed Huajin!
And the lion’s share of that consumption, without a doubt, was from the *Hard Qi Skill* he had only just mastered to the first level!
’Dammit, using that iron-skin state to block a single bullet consumes more Qi than launching dozens of long-range Fist Forces!’
Lu Yun couldn’t help but be astonished at this realization.
As expected of a top-tier Horizontal Cultivation Technique capable of withstanding ordinary bullets! Its Defense Power was truly formidable.
However, the cost was equally astonishing. It was an absolute Qi-guzzler!
Without a vast reserve of Qi, he’d be completely drained after blocking just a few shots.
’I suppose it’s still acceptable. On a normal day, without infusing the Hardening Technique with Qi, these handguns and foreign rifles don’t pose much of a threat. At worst, they’d just leave a slightly bigger gash.’
’In essence, it’s like I’ve trained my skin to become like iron plating, and the strength of that plating can be reinforced with my Qi.’
Fortunately, on the way to Fu Jinqian’s villa, Lu Yun had decisively used his accumulated modification value to raise his Mountain-Breaking Inch Force Fist to the Second Level of mastery. He seized that opportunity to shatter his bottleneck and step into the realm of a Late-stage Grandmaster of Huajin!
The moment of the breakthrough wasn’t just a leap in power—it came with a complete refresh of his condition!
His Huajin True Qi, depleted from the fierce battles and the use of his "iron skin" ability, was instantly replenished upon his Realm breakthrough. The total amount was now even greater than before!
That was what allowed him, at Fu Jinqian’s villa, to strike like lightning from a near-peak state and instantly kill both the Wa Country Yin Yang Master and Fu Jinqian.
"Sigh..." Lu Yun let out a soft sigh.
’This is the reality of a mortal body. Even a Grandmaster of Huajin is ultimately not an Immortal who can live on air and dew alone.’
’Qi can be exhausted; one cannot truly become an army of one, capable of fending off thousands or tens of thousands of enemies.’
The words of a certain bald monk inexplicably surfaced in Lu Yun’s mind.
"Master Zhang cannot kill us all. When his True Qi is depleted, he too will be unable to escape his doom."
Crude words, but a sound principle.
No matter how god-like your martial arts, if you fall into an encirclement and are worn down by a relentless tide of enemies, gunfire, or insidious plots, you will eventually reach your limit.
Once your Qi is completely exhausted, your vitality will wane, and your reflexes, speed, strength, and defense will all plummet.
At that point, never mind a Grandmaster; even a warrior with a body of steel would be unable to escape the fate of being hacked to pieces or riddled with bullets.
Therefore, a Grandmaster of Huajin is not an invincible existence.
After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Lu Yun finally left the territory of the Wa Country Concession completely behind.
Outside the concession, it was as if it were a different world.
This area, bordering the concession, had begun to flourish in its own twisted way, thanks to the congregation of foreigners and wealthy merchants inside.
Neon lights flickered on both sides of the street, painting a scene of lavish indulgence.
Massive signs bore names like the "Paramount Dance Hall," the "Da Guangming Cinema," and the "Celestial Toad Stage."
Even late at night, the area was still bustling with people.
Drunken foreigners stumbled out of a dance hall, their arms wrapped around heavily made-up dance hall girls.
Men in suits or long gowns chatted and laughed as they entered the theaters, joined by plenty of young masters from wealthy local families who had clearly come to "see the sights" or simply to indulge themselves.
At the exits of these entertainment venues, throngs of rickshaws were parked in waiting.
Most of the pullers were dressed in thin, shabby clothes, their shoulders hunched against the evening wind. They wore cloth shoes worn white with use, with faded, tattered sweat towels draped around their necks. Their faces were etched with wrinkles—the very picture of dirt-poor laborers.
They watched with longing eyes as patrons emerged from that world of vice and luxury, hoping only to land a single fare to support their families.
Just as Lu Yun passed the entrance to a dance hall, a group of young masters staggered out, blocking his path. They were half-drunk, flanked by bodyguards in black, with their arms around glamorous women in high-slit cheongsams.
One of them, a slick-haired, powdered young man in a crisp suit, spotted Lu Yun through his drunken haze.
The sight of an old man with graying hair, common clothes, and a conspicuous hole in his trousers, walking so "incongruously" among their high-society, finely-dressed group, immediately struck the young master as a source of amusement. Emboldened by the alcohol, he pointed at Lu Yun and roared with laughter. "Hey! Everyone, look at this!"
"Where’d this old geezer come from? Can’t sleep in the middle of the night, so he comes out to wander around? And... and he’s even indecently exposing his thigh! HAHAHAHA! What a shameless old man!"
A companion beside him chimed in, his eyes landing on the hole in Lu Yun’s trousers. He doubled over with laughter. "He’s right! Take a look! The old guy really does have a hole in his pants!"
"What’s with that? Don’t tell me the old man’s still got some vigor in him and tried to have a little fun like us? Looks like he got his pants torn in the process! HAHAHAHA!"
His whole pack of cronies, along with the women in their arms, burst into roaring laughter. The bodyguards remained stone-faced, merely casting contemptuous glances at the shabby old man.
Lu Yun’s steps suddenly halted. He swept a glance over them, his face expressionless.
’They did have a point. The hole in his pants was from the earlier fight, and it did look a bit wretched.’
However, the mockery of these degenerate sons—their backbones softened by wine, women, and wealth, completely ignorant of the world’s vastness—failed to stir even the slightest ripple of emotion in Lu Yun.
He had lived two lifetimes, weathered countless storms, and witnessed mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Now a Grandmaster of Huajin, his mind was long past being moved by praise or insult, as tranquil as an ancient, undisturbed well.
’Argue with a bunch of snot-nosed kids who haven’t even finished puberty, who can only live in a drunken stupor under the protection of their fathers?’
’It’s not worth it, and it’s beneath me.’
Lu Yun couldn’t be bothered to waste a single word on them. Ignoring the noisy obstacles, he turned and walked toward the cluster of rickshaw pullers waiting for customers nearby.
However, his casual approach made one of the rickshaw pullers suddenly freeze.
He was a scrawny man of about forty, though his hair was already graying.
From pulling a rickshaw year-round, his back was slightly hunched, but his eyes were still clear.
Using the hazy light scattering from the dance hall entrance and the dim yellow streetlights, he slowly narrowed his eyes, carefully studying the approaching Lu Yun.
The moment he saw him, the man’s mind went completely blank with a loud BUZZ!
’That face... Although it was much older than he remembered, the wrinkles deeper, the white hair more plentiful, but that mountain-steady presence, those eyes so calm they could see through a person’s soul, and that faintly recognizable silhouette...’
’Is... isn’t this... the Martial Scholar I was fortunate enough to give a ride to twenty years ago?’
Twenty years ago, he had been just a reckless young puller in his early twenties. Once, while working in the old district, he had, by a stroke of luck, picked up a middle-aged customer with an extraordinary bearing. The destination was none other than the Lu Family’s Old Mansion, which was already renowned at the time.
Only later did he learn that his passenger was none other than Lu Yun—Lord Lu! A man whose stomp could shake all of Yun Port City!
This matter became the greatest talking point and honor of the middle-aged man’s life.
Whenever he drank and chatted with other pullers and neighbors, he would always bring up, "I once gave a ride to Lord Lu!"
Although many people didn’t believe him or just thought he was bragging, he knew in his heart it was true.
And recently, news had spread throughout all of Yun Port City!
After many years of silence, Lord Lu, at the venerable age of sixty, had broken through to become Yun Port City’s fourth Grandmaster of Huajin!
This news made him feel proud by association; he felt that the person he had carried back then was a future "living Immortal"!
But now, the middle-aged man could never have imagined that this legendary figure from his memories would appear in this place of vice and indulgence, looking just like an ordinary old man.
’And his pants... had a hole in them?’
A strange phrase, "Stumbling upon the Celestial Family," popped into the man’s mind like a lyric from an opera.
His mouth went dry and his heart pounded wildly. His hands and feet tingled with numbness. He didn’t know whether he should approach and acknowledge the man or just pretend he hadn’t seen anything.
Just as the middle-aged man stood there, stunned and dazed, Lu Yun had already walked up to the rickshaw pullers.
He ignored the several pullers next to him who immediately crowded over, faces wreathed in smiles, vying for his business. His gaze locked directly onto the middle-aged man who stood frozen in place.
"You. To the old district. The Lu Family’s place, not far from the City Affairs Bureau. Do you know the way?"
Hearing this, the middle-aged man shuddered as if waking from a dream.
’Lord Lu... Lord Lu was talking to him! And he specifically asked for his rickshaw!’
"I... I..."
He was so nervous his tongue felt tied and he could barely speak. He just nodded desperately, bowing so low his back was nearly parallel to the ground. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I know it! I know the way! L-Lord... Old Sir, please! Please, get in!"
The middle-aged man fumbled to lower the rickshaw’s shafts, using his own tattered sleeve to vigorously wipe the already-clean seat, terrified of showing any disrespect to the Martial Scholar.
The other pullers who weren’t chosen watched the middle-aged man’s sudden "good fortune" with a mixture of envy and jealousy.
"Damn, Wen San! What kind of dogshit luck did you stumble into tonight? After waiting half the night, you actually snagged such a big fare!" a familiar puller said, punching his shoulder.
"Yeah! The old district, near the City Affairs Bureau, and the Lu Family area at that! This one trip will be enough for you to take a few days off!" another said sourly.
"Wen San, you’d better treat us guys to a good drink when you get back! Don’t hog it all for yourself!" the crowd jeered good-naturedly.
They only thought Wen San got lucky and ran into a generous old man with a good bearing, who was headed to the wealthy area near the City Affairs Bureau.
Wen San had no time for his companions’ teasing. His heart was a storm of excitement and terror; all he could do was nod repeatedly. Once Lu Yun was seated, Wen San steadily lifted the shafts, took a deep breath, and set off at a run toward the old district.
The rickshaw gradually moved away from the noisy neon lights, entering a relatively quiet street.
Wen San ran with exceptional effort and remarkable smoothness, terrified of jostling the celestial personage he was so rarely privileged to carry.