Starting as the young master of a medicine shop, he practiced swordsmanship for twenty years.

Chapter 357 I've been waiting for you for so long!
"Uu——"

With a clear neigh of a horse, the magnificent carriage, gilded and inlaid with jade, slowly came to a stop on a quiet, secluded cobblestone street.

Just then, from the depths of the alley next door, came the clanging sound of metal clashing.

Dozens of burly men dressed in black, wielding gleaming sabers, swarmed out and surrounded the carriage.

The burly man with a thick beard, his face full of menacing features, slammed the back of his knife heavily against the carriage shaft, making the curtains shake: "Who are you people, daring to trespass here?"

"Just say you don't want to live anymore!"

"Get the hell out of here right now!"

The coachman suddenly pulled on the reins, and the chestnut horse reared up high.

He wore a black iron helmet and chainmail, and the bronze beast head of the sword at his waist gleamed coldly in the sunlight.

The guard's eyes widened suddenly, the scar at the corner of his eye contorting with rage: "Damn it, are you all blind?!"

The guards and groomsmen abruptly dismounted, their chainmail making a crisp clanging sound as they moved.

He gripped the hilt of his sword with one hand, a cold light seeping from between his fingers. The murderous aura emanating from him forced the surrounding crowd to take a half-step back.

It was as if the ones trapped in the encirclement were not the carriage, but these burly men wielding knives.

"Who the hell are you? I don't know you. You think you're tired of living?"

"I see you're looking for..." The burly man with the thick beard, seeing this, roared and was about to swing his knife.

However, before he could utter the word "death," his deputy suddenly grabbed his wrist tightly.

The deputy's face was ashen, his Adam's apple bobbing violently as he pointed a trembling finger toward the carriage: "Boss! Wait! Something's not right!"

"Boss! This carriage..."

Under the blazing midday sun, the entire carriage resembled a mobile imperial palace.

The car body is made of rosewood, covered with gold-painted cloud patterns, and the pearls inlaid on the edges of the wheels shimmer brilliantly in the sunlight.

What's even more chilling is the dark purple embroidery on the carriage curtain, featuring a five-clawed dragon with its head held high and tail wagging—a design reserved for the crown prince of the Wenjing Dynasty.

"Purple Robe Five-Clawed Dragon!"

"What a joke!"

The burly man with the thick beard stared wide-eyed, the long knife in his hand clattered to the ground, and his back teeth chattered uncontrollably.

Someone behind them muttered "Your Highness the Crown Prince" in a low voice, startling the burly man and his deputy into kneeling down in unison.

They slammed their foreheads against the scorching stone pavement, not daring to even breathe.

There's nothing more to say, just kneel down!

During the Wenjing Dynasty, apart from the emperor, His Highness the Crown Prince was the most honored.

"Boom, boom—"

Two dull thuds echoed across the bluestone slabs.

The burly man with the thick beard at the head of the group had his muscles tense, his forehead pressed firmly against the cold ground.

In his line of sight, the dragon pattern on the pair of gold-threaded cloud-patterned shoes shimmered with tiny golden light under the sunlight, and the fine embroidery was extremely exquisite.

At that moment, large beads of sweat slid down the burly man's temples, leaving dark stains on the bluestone slab.

It's actually true!
Oh no! His Highness the Crown Prince is here! Does that mean my master's orders are going to be ruined?
Where is Mo Gui Lane?

The voice fell slowly and deliberately.

The burly man's Adam's apple bobbed violently a few times before he dared to slowly lift his sweaty face.

The midday sun made him squint. His vision first caught a glimpse of a dark purple robe embroidered with subtle patterns, and then a jade pendant hanging from his waist.

When he fully tilted his head back, he met Lu Xuan's eyes, which were looking down at him from above.

Those eyes were pure black, calm as a stagnant pool, indifferent as if looking at a dead object, without even a ripple of emotion.

"Your Highness... Your Highness, it's... it's over there!"

The burly man's voice sounded like it was being squeezed from his throat, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, "In...in the third alley on the west side..."

His calloused hands pressed firmly against the scorching hot stone slab.

As someone who came from the palace, he had once caught a glimpse of the crown prince's profile from afar during the sacrificial ceremony to Heaven. At this moment, his mind was blank, with only his master's instructions before his departure echoing in his ears.

The words seemed to come alive, spilling uncontrollably from his trembling lips: "There's a hundred-year-old locust tree at the alley entrance... behind the tree... behind the tree is..."

"Mo Gui Lane!"

As he spoke the last few words, his voice became barely audible, and his forehead slammed heavily against the ground again, kicking up tiny plumes of dust.

Lu Xuan followed the trembling finger of the big man and saw a towering ancient locust tree rising from the ground at the entrance of the alley, its thick trunk completely blocking the entire alley.

The bark is covered with grooves etched by time, and it gleams with an eerie bluish-gray luster in the sunlight.

In just a few breaths, Lu Xuan and Peng Lie arrived here.

Their gazes pierced through the narrow gaps between the tree trunks.

Inside was a straight alley paved with gray bricks, the ground so clean and fresh that not a single fallen leaf could be found.

There wasn't a speck of moss or weeds in the gaps between the stone bricks, as if someone had been carefully tending to them every day.

"Xuan'er, wait a moment."

Peng Lie suddenly grabbed Lu Xuan's shoulder, his white beard moving without wind.

His cloudy eyes were fixed on the depths of the alley. "There's a malevolent aura here..."

A faint gray mist was billowing deep within the alley.

The midday sun seemed to be blocked out by some invisible force.

As soon as the words "Yin Sha Qi" were uttered, Lu Xuan's eyes suddenly flashed with a fierce light, his gaze like that of a hungry wolf seeing its prey, and even his breathing became rapid.

"Grandfather, proceed according to plan!"

Peng Lie's white eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly, and a hint of confusion flashed in his cloudy eyes.

While in the carriage, this usually composed grandson had indeed given me some serious instructions.

If you encounter something sinister, be sure to spare its life and let it deal with you personally.

This strange request took even Peng Lie, a seasoned veteran who had seen it all, by surprise.

However, despite his many doubts, he noticed the unusual look in his grandson's eyes.

Peng Lie simply gave a deep "hmm".

After the golden cloud-patterned boots stepped through the gaps in the roots of the ancient locust tree, they left a fine mark on the moss.

Lu Xuan walked in without hesitation, and Peng Lie followed closely behind.

As the two figures completely disappeared into the alley, the branches and leaves of the century-old locust tree moved without wind, and the drooping aerial roots quietly closed like a curtain.

The guards and coachmen outside the alley only saw a blur before their eyes, and Lu Xuan and Peng Lie had vanished without a trace.

Even the burly, bearded man standing nearby was horrified to discover this.

The footprints that Lu Xuan and his companion left on the tree roots when they walked through them had mysteriously disappeared without a trace, as if no one had ever stepped into that deep alley.

"call--!"

A chilling gust of wind suddenly swept past Lu Xuan's ears, the cold penetrating to his very bones, as if countless tiny ice needles were piercing his skin.

But this chilling aura came and went quickly, vanishing in an instant.

Lu Xuan turned around abruptly and saw that Peng Lie was already enveloped in a crimson, blood-red aura.

The scorching heatwave distorted and warped the surrounding air.

In Peng Lie's right hand, which was enveloped in crimson qi, he was tightly gripping a hideous and terrifying ghost head.

The monster's face was distorted, black blood was flowing from its eye sockets, and strange "clucking" sounds were coming from its mouth with exposed fangs.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time!"

Lu Xuan's lips curled up slightly, and his eyes suddenly burst forth with dazzling golden light.

Behind him, twelve golden dragon phantoms burst forth from the sky, their scales gleaming with a sacred light, and their whiskers fluttering as they carried with them bursts of chanting.

(End of this chapter)