It was noon on Southwest City Street, in the training hall of the Celestial Break Gang.

The door opened from the inside, and Li Lu walked out, his Qi and Blood Power surging and his body drenched in sweat.

He strode into the small courtyard with a powerful, confident gait, his eyes betraying his excitement.

After a full night of Body Forging Cultivation, aided by a Red Blood Pill, he had just successfully broken through to the Seventh Grade!

Upon entering the Seventh Grade, the medicinal essence in his body continued to be absorbed and converted into more Qi and Blood Power, replenishing what he had consumed during the breakthrough and increasing his overall limit.

His Qi and Blood Power was abundant, and a fighting spirit surged within him. He felt an urge to unleash this newfound power!

"Someone!" Reaching the main hall, Li Lu immediately summoned a gang member.

"Gang Leader," the member said with a cupped-fist salute as he entered.

"Have Hall Master Xiao come here. I have something for him to—"

BOOM!!

Suddenly, a tremendous crash from outside cut Li Lu off mid-sentence.

Li Lu immediately ran outside, his gaze fixed on the front courtyard.

"Gang Leader!! They’re breaking in!" Suddenly, a gang member covered in blood rushed toward him, his face a mask of terror.

"Who is it?!" Li Lu’s expression changed drastically.

"He Shujun!" the disciple stammered in panic. "It’s—it’s He Shujun! Hall Master Xiao is trying to hold him off!"

At that, Li Lu wasted no more time with questions and spun around, heading for his room.

’I can’t believe He Shujun would launch a surprise attack now! A Sixth Grade Martial Artist is no joke.’

’Xiao Bing is only a Ninth Grade Martial Artist. If he’s managing to hold off a Sixth Grade, he must be using the Geomagnetic Stone!’

His own Geomagnetic Stone and weapon were in his room; he hadn’t been carrying them because he had been focused on his cultivation breakthrough last night.

Quickly, he retrieved the Geomagnetic Stone and his purse from his room, then grabbed the Refined Long Blade Cheng Zongyang had given him and dashed toward the front courtyard.

But by the time he got there, Li Lu saw that He Shujun had already fought his way almost to the rear courtyard. Xiao Bing, however, was nowhere to be seen.

The ground was littered with gang members, their conditions unknown, while others clutched their heads, unable to move.

’Of course! How could I not have realized? Xiao Bing alone, even with a Geomagnetic Stone, couldn’t stop a Sixth Grade like He Shujun! Instead, the other disciples were caught in the effect! He was hoist by his own petard!’

"Quickly, everyone, evacuate the headquarters!" Li Lu roared, then continued toward the front courtyard.

He wasn’t looking for He Shujun—he was looking for Xiao Bing! He needed to retrieve the Geomagnetic Stone from him!

Soon, at the entrance to the front courtyard, he found Xiao Bing. He was grievously wounded, lying on the ground with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but he was still breathing.

Li Lu immediately used a box to contain the Geomagnetic Stone, leaving only a purse on Xiao Bing’s body. This also gave the other gang members a chance to escape.

Looking at the dying Xiao Bing, Li Lu gritted his teeth and vowed, "I will avenge you!"

’Xiao Bing’s chest was caved in. These internal and external injuries were even worse than what I suffered before. With Cheng Zongyang not here and no medicine, his fate is sealed!’

As if hearing those words, Xiao Bing struggled to turn his eyes toward Li Lu. He let out one final breath and then was gone.

Li Lu immediately rose to his feet. He took out both Geomagnetic Stones, activated them, and placed them inside his robes.

The ordinary, injured gang members who couldn’t escape were unable to withstand the effect. Retching, they collapsed and fell unconscious one after another.

Saber in hand, Li Lu charged toward the rear courtyard.

In the rear courtyard, He Shujun, a bloodthirsty madness on his face, was killing everyone he saw with his Fine Steel Fan. His body and face were splattered with blood. But for some reason, he felt a faint sense of dizziness.

It wasn’t intense, but it was enough to be unsettling. He couldn’t help but pause, circulating his internal True Qi and marshaling his Qi and Blood to regulate his body.

"He Shujun!!" Li Lu burst in. Seeing He Shujun standing motionless, he was consumed by a towering rage and charged forward with his saber!

Due to the two Geomagnetic Stones, everyone within a hundred-meter radius had fallen unconscious, unable to bear the influence—only Martial Artists could still move, and only just barely.

Meanwhile, outside the gang’s headquarters, Ye Shaoning, who had come looking for Li Xian, saw from a distance the bodies lying at the main gate and the blood flowing everywhere. Panicked, he didn’t dare get any closer and immediately turned and fled.

CLANG!

The sound of metal on metal rang out, and a grey-gold Fine Steel Fan was sliced in half by a single saber strike!

Seeing his weapon in two pieces, He Shujun suppressed the faint discomfort in his head and immediately retreated to put distance between himself and Li Lu.

He discovered, however, that the discomfort grew stronger the closer Li Lu got.

Li Lu showed no hesitation, nor did he waste a single word. Though he had just broken through, his Qi and Blood Power was still pent up. He channeled all of his fury into a relentless, frenzied assault on He Shujun.

He Shujun didn’t dare to block Li Lu’s saber, resorting to his Body Technique to evade. At the same time, he circulated True Qi to his palms and began closing the distance again, intending to disarm Li Lu with his bare hands and kill him in one move.

’Cheng Zongyang has infuriated me. I understand the agreement well enough, so today I’ll take it out on the Celestial Break Gang! I don’t care if the agreement is valid or not; I’ll destroy the Celestial Break Gang, who aren’t covered by it, and vent my rage first!’

’I’ve pretty much let off all my steam by slaughtering my way through this place. But I never expected Li Lu’s assault to be this ferocious. And that inexplicable discomfort has slowed my reactions by half a step.’

As a result, a fight where he should have held enough power to swiftly suppress and defeat Li Lu had become a battle of equals.

At the same time, he was gradually realizing that the discomfort weakened the farther he was from Li Lu. Therefore, he was already preparing to withdraw.

’Venting my anger by slaughtering my way through the Celestial Break Gang’s headquarters is enough. It will let Cheng Zongyang get a taste of what it feels like to have nowhere to direct his rage.’

’During the term of the agreement, I can’t move against Cheng Zongyang, but he can’t move against me either. That was a clause I insisted on adding back then.’