380: Grand Master!

Chapter 374: Great Grandmaster!

Eunuch Cao’s sinister face revealed a strange smile, and his figure, like a ghost, quietly approached Lin Qinghan from behind.

The blood-stained blade in his hand was still dripping with dazzling blood, blooming into striking red plum blossoms on the ground.

The palace maids sent by the Crown Prince to monitor and protect Lin Qinghan had died at Eunuch Cao’s hands.

“Miss Qinghan, please come with our family to the palace. His Majesty requests your presence…”

Eunuch Cao’s deliberately drawn-out tone carried an unpleasantly sticky sensation.

“You wouldn’t want…” As he spoke, he greedily inhaled deeply.

The orchid-like fragrance from Lin Qinghan’s hair, mixed with the scent of blood, permeated his nostrils.

A few steps away, Eunuch Cao’s eyes stared blankly, and his Adam’s apple unconsciously bobbed.

Even as a eunuch, he could not hide his infatuation at this moment.

Eunuch Cao stuck out his scarlet tongue and licked his lips, but he could only swallow his saliva in vain.

This incomplete body made even the most basic desires a luxury.

Facing such a peerless beauty, he could do nothing but drool all over her face.

What’s more… Eunuch Cao suddenly shivered.

This was a woman personally chosen by His Majesty!

Let alone a eunuch like him, what if he were a true man?

If he dared to harbor such thoughts towards Lin Qinghan, he feared that in His Majesty’s rage, he wouldn’t even be left with a complete corpse.

Thinking of the Eastern Depot’s bone-chilling tortures, Eunuch Cao’s feverish mind immediately sobered up considerably.

Lu Xuan’s indifferent gaze swept over Lin Qinghan, completely disregarding the beautiful eyes filled with deep-seated hatred.

To him, such hatred was merely the rage of an ant, not even worthy of a second glance.

“Send her into the palace.”

These four short words, however, conveyed Lu Xuan’s unquestionable authority.

Lu Xuan’s only thought at this moment was the System points that could help him Breakthrough his Martial Dao shackles.

Women? Hatred? These were all but fleeting clouds.

Upon hearing the command, Eunuch Cao immediately bowed respectfully, his posture so humble it was almost prostrate: “As adoptive father commands.”

His peripheral vision caught Lin Qinghan’s tightly clenched fists, and he chuckled inwardly—this thorny rose would eventually be placed in the Supreme’s vase.

However, how could Eunuch Cao have known that the lamb he saw as ready for slaughter would eventually become a harbinger of death?

Eunuch Cao didn’t care in the slightest; he saw his adoptive father and his group leave.

Only then did he lightly use the tip of his blade to lift Lin Qinghan’s chin, unaware of the surging Killing Intent beneath her lowered eyelashes.

It was like not seeing a venomous snake flick its tongue, while its fatal venom was already poised to strike.

“Miss Qinghan, please.”

Eunuch Cao sneered, completely oblivious that he was personally sending a beautiful snake into the Dragon Court.

Deep within the Eastern Depot, Lu Xuan’s secret chamber was filled with dozens of zitan wooden boxes, each emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.

Thousand-year ginseng, snow mountain ganoderma, South Sea pearls… These rare treasures, seldom seen by ordinary people, were now piled on the ground like common Sundries.

“Not enough… Far from enough…”

Lu Xuan’s pale fingers gently caressed a wooden box, his eyes gleaming with a fervent light.

With his command, the entire Eastern Depot, this massive killing machine, suddenly awoke, dragging the Imperial Guards, a trapped beast, along with it.

The century-old counters of pharmacies were violently dismantled, the secret rooms of aristocratic families were trampled by iron hooves, and the treasures of wealthy merchants were only surrendered when a Xiu Chun Dao was held to their throats…

“All highly nourishing items over fifty years old, bring them all to our family!”

This order spread like a plague.

Whether it was a thousand-year-old Polygonum multiflorum from a prestigious family, rare treasures offered as tribute from overseas foreign lands, or life-saving Spirit Medicine secretly stored in the Imperial Medical Office…

As long as it had the word “nourishing,” it could not escape the clutches of the Eastern Depot’s hounds.

Within just a few days, the sky above the capital was filled with wails and pleas for mercy.

Cao Jin and Cao Haosheng, leading the wolf-like Imperial Guards and Eastern Depot agents, surrounded the Feng Family, a century-old medical household in the capital, so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass.

The cold gleam of the Xiu Chun Dao reflected on the “Healing the World” plaque above the mansion gate, appearing particularly ironic.

Inside the main hall of the mansion, cries and shouts rose and fell.

“Old geezer, dare to play tricks on your Grandpa Jin?”

Cao Jin’s sinister voice echoed through the hall, and he kicked the old master of the Feng Family three zhang away.

The old man’s withered body crashed into the medicine cabinet in front, scattering countless rare medicinal materials like rain.

“Clang!”

Immediately after, a gleaming blade was pressed against the throat of the Feng Family’s only son, and Cao Haosheng grinned, drawing a bloody line: “I heard your Feng Family ancestors refined pills for various high-ranking officials? Just these broken goods?”

He flicked the tip of his blade, overturning a table full of ginseng that was only a few decades old.

“Last chance, if you don’t hand over good stuff…”

Cao Haosheng moved his blade down, pressing it against the young man’s crotch, “The Feng Family’s century-old Legacy will be cut off by your hands today!”

In the corner, a woman holding an infant fainted from fright, the child’s cries particularly piercing amidst the blood.

Beside him, Cao Jin suddenly kicked over the incense altar dedicated to the Medical Saint, and said grimly.

“If you delay adoptive father’s important business, our family will let you taste the eighteen tortures of the Eastern Depot… That is a torment worse than death.”

Feng Jiangming, the head of the Feng Family, although forced to kneel, still kept his back straight, his mouth overflowing with blood, yet he bit his teeth and remained silent.

This contemporary head of the medical family, at this moment, had a flame of unyielding defiance burning in his eyes.

“What a stubborn bone!”

Cao Jin’s eyes shone with evil light, and he suddenly kicked viciously with a sneer.

Feng Jingming flew out like a broken rag, crashing into the wooden chair in front, a mouthful of fresh blood splattering on the floor.

In an instant, Cao Jin had already swept to the Feng Family’s matriarch like a malevolent ghost.

His withered, claw-like fingers grabbed the woman’s coiled hair, forcing her to lift her still-charming face.

The white silk robe became disheveled during the struggle, revealing half of a snow-white arm.

“Mmm… So fragrant~” Cao Jin inhaled deeply, burying his face in the matriarch’s neck, his voice gradually becoming distorted with excitement.

“Madam Feng, tell me… Is your husband’s bone harder, or is your body tougher?”

As he spoke, Cao Jin’s other hand had already caressed the jade belt at the woman’s waist.

Below the hall, Feng Jiangming, who was held down, glared with bloodshot eyes and roared: “Beast! Let her go!”

However, his roar only earned him more forceful stomping from the Eastern Depot agents, his cheek brutally ground against the green bricks.

Cao Jin sneered and leaned closer to the Feng Family matriarch’s ear: “Last question… Where are all your Feng Family’s medicinal materials hidden?”

As he spoke, he lightly traced his fingertips across the woman’s trembling neck, “If you don’t tell… Our official will let the brothers… Serve madam well… In front of your husband…”

“You dog officials, you disregard the law! I will definitely go to the Jingzhaoyin Yamen to file an imperial complaint!” Feng Jingming roared hoarsely, his voice echoing through the hall.

“Law?”

Cao Jin suddenly burst into laughter, his laughter filled with a sense of madness.

He turned his head to look at Cao Haosheng behind him: “Thirteenth brother, did you hear? This Old Man actually wants to talk about the law with our Eastern Depot?”

No sooner had he spoken than Cao Jin abruptly restrained his smile, his eyes shooting out a cold light: “On the territory of this Great Yu Empire, what our Eastern Depot says—that is the law!”

With that, Cao Jin’s palm suddenly surged with Protective Aura, and a sharp Qi burst forth.

With a crisp ripping sound, the silk and satin on the Feng Family matriarch instantly turned into a sky full of scattered butterflies, her snow-white skin faintly visible between the tattered fabric.

“No!” Feng Jingming let out a heart-wrenching wail.

Cao Jin sneered and reached out to grab that patch of snow-white…

At the same time, similar tragedies were unfolding across the capital.

Whether it was the mansions of the Six Ministries’ ministers or the residences of aristocratic families, none escaped this catastrophe.

This was truly… equality for all.

Some commoners hid in the shadows, smiling bitterly.

But this “equality” was entirely built upon the tyranny of the Eastern Depot agents.

However, in the vicinity of the capital, there were still a few places that even these Eastern Depot hounds dared not easily set foot in.

In front of the bluestone steps of the Lingdao Temple, several Eastern Depot agents were about to break in but were sent flying several zhang by an invisible Qi wall.

Outside the gate of the Qingfeng Sect, the Imperial Guard’s Xiu Chun Dao had not even been unsheathed when a falling leaf, flying through the air, cut off the silk cord holding the blade.

And some even witnessed the old master of Broken Sword Villa merely letting out a cold snort, causing Cao Jiu of the Eastern Depot, who came to search, to vomit blood and retreat…

These Martial Forest sects, with hundreds of years of Legacy, had astonishingly deep foundations.

The bronze bell of Mingfo Temple rang as usual every day, as if mocking the ridiculous actions of the Eastern Depot.

No matter how great your power, in front of true Martial Dao experts, you are nothing but mere cannon fodder.

Three days later, in the main hall of the Eastern Depot.

Daylight streamed through the carved window lattices, casting mottled light and shadow on the bluestone floor.

Lu Xuan, dressed in a black python robe, sat with his eyes closed on the gilded main seat.

His pale, slender fingers gently tapped the armrest, emitting a regular “thump-thump” sound in the silent hall.

Below the hall, the thirteen adopted sons of the Eastern Depot stood in two rows.

Eunuch Cao was at the head, and the other twelve stood in order of seniority.

These adopted sons were uniformly dressed in black flying fish robes, with standard Eastern Depot broadswords hanging at their waists, controlling their breathing to be extremely light, fearing to disturb the person on the seat.

The air was filled with a faint scent of blood—traces left from the previous days’ scavenging of the capital.

The thirteen all carried more or less lingering Killing Intent, but in front of Lu Xuan, they were as obedient as house dogs.

Green smoke curled from the gilded incense burner, shrouding Lu Xuan’s face in a haze.

No one knew what this Eastern Depot Director, who struck fear into the hearts of the court and commoners, was pondering at this moment.

Host: Red Dust Immortal Lu Xuan (Fourth Life)

Realm: Great Grandmaster (Initial Entry)

Cultivation Technique: Extreme Cold Palm 8/9

Points: 100

Lu Xuan slowly opened his eyes, a hint of imperceptible disappointment flashing within them.

Over these three days, the so-called “Heaven And Earth Treasure” scoured by the Eastern Depot had piled up like mountains.

Thousand-year ginseng, snow mountain ganoderma, South Sea pearls… What were rare treasures in the eyes of mortals were merely a pile of barely usable mundane objects in his eyes.

After refining for a full three days, Lu Xuan only gained 3000 System points.

This number made a cold smile play on Lu Xuan’s lips.

Such a huge expenditure of manpower and resources only yielded such a meager profit.

Those so-called “highly nourishing items” were, after all, just Mortal World mundane objects; how could they compare to Heaven And Earth Treasure that truly absorbed Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi?

And those 3000 System points were just enough to deduce “Extreme Cold Palm” once, using up a full 2900 System points.

“Mundane objects are mundane objects after all…” Lu Xuan murmured, his voice so cold that the thirteen adopted sons below the hall shivered in unison.

If he relied on these mundane nourishing items, Lu Xuan would probably never Breakthrough to a Realm beyond this world’s limits, even until he died of old age.