Level Up in Martial World

Chapter 160: Attacking the Tavern

Boom!

As Lu Zhen collided with the white-haired man, an earthquake-like shockwave radiated through the tavern. The entire establishment quaked under the sheer force of Lu Zhen's impact, and dust billowed into the air, shrouding the scene in a murky haze.

The servant boy, who had previously rushed forward with a bad premonition, hesitated. Sweating profusely, he grappled with his fears. "No, I can't jump to conclusions until I see if it's true or not," he reasoned, mustering the courage to proceed. Determinedly, he stepped forward, attempting to disperse the dust cloud obstructing his view.

"Lu family brat, you dare," a cold voice echoed through the air. A chilling wind followed, sweeping away the dust and revealing Lu Zhen standing atop a gruesome pile of flesh and blood, with torn clothes and white fabric scattered around him.

The servant's eyes widened with sheer horror, freezing in place before collapsing to the ground. His breath became irregular, and his heart seemingly ceased all activity. After a moment of futile movements, he lay still, mouth foaming — a victim of a sudden heart attack induced by overwhelming shock and fear.

The surrounding crowd was initially shocked by the sudden death of the servant, a brief pause hanging in the air. However, their attention swiftly shifted to Lu Zhen, as the passing of a mere servant held little significance to those who could enter the Xia family; their status was at least enough to make them look down on common people.

No one is simple if they attain certain status through their own efforts. The harsh reality of the world's cruelty and ruthlessness was already a familiar concept to them.

Despite the crowd's lack of immediate reaction, it wasn't because of fear but rather a trust in the power of one of the major families of Phoenix City — the Xia family.

"What a powerful martial artist. Unfortunately, he messed with the wrong family."

Their eyes sparkled with curiosity as they anticipated the Xia family's response with a hint of mockery.

"Good, good. Lu family brat, are you declaring war against my Xia family by killing one of our elders?" The resonating roar of an old man echoed through the air. Lu Zhen, however, remained casually still, showing no signs of flinching or concern.

"Yes, I am declaring war against your Xia family," Lu Zhen's voice was tinged with mockery as he looked up, a glint in his eyes as if he were observing an idiot.

"You…" The voice seemed to pause for a moment before boiling with rage and anger.

"Why do people talk so much?" Lu Zhen thought to himself as he casually punched upwards, creating a wind pressure that broke the roof, revealing an old man who gracefully fell in a gravity-defying manner.

"Good, good," the old man seethed with rage, though he outwardly appeared calm and composed as he looked at Lu Zhen in front of him.

Since the tournament had ended just half an hour ago, no matter how fast the news spread of Lu Zhen killing a second-stage martial artist, it couldn't reach here so soon. The old man had no clue about it either.

As a grand elder of the Xia family, he was naturally accustomed to looking down on people, and nobody had disrespected him so boldly to his face. After all, as a second-stage martial artist, a pillar of the Xia family after their ancestor, even the patriarch had to show a certain degree of respect towards him.

"Junior, you are quite bold."

"Am I?" Lu Zhen sneered as he looked at the man. Suddenly, he vanished from his position, and the old man, too, seemed to have disappeared.

Boom!

A sharp boom occurred again, making the pharmacy shake like an earthquake. However, this time, a pillar was knocked out, causing the entire building to slowly collapse.

"Run."

Only one thought clouded the minds of the people as they ran as fast as they could. Chaos ensued in the building for the first time in a century, ever since the Xia family had started the pharmacy.

The people who left the building had eyes filled with utter disbelief, as if their worldview had collapsed, as they hurriedly ran as far as possible.

Seeing the building collapse, the people near the pharmacy were frightened as they looked at the others who were running as if their lives depended on it.

"Wait, what happened here, brother?"

Seeing a man blocking his way, his face filled with disdain, he ignored the man and sidestepped him reaching past without even a glance at him.

"How dare some commoner block my way?" he thought to himself as he looked back, only to see the man disappear from his sight.

"Eh, where did he go?"

Suddenly, he collided with something, causing his body to rebound and making him fall to the ground.

"Mother f…" His words stuck in his throat as he looked up, seeing a beautiful man with golden hair. However, this wasn't the reason for the man's words to be stuck in his throat. The man faintly emitted a terrifying aura, which made the man's instincts scream with danger. Seeing the weapon in the man's hand with the logo of a bird, the symbol of the Xia family, he had nothing more to say.

"Master, this old servant is blind; I hope you forgive me," the man chose the best option and bowed down to the man.

"Huh, get up. Just tell me what happened there?"

"There's an unknown man who suddenly came to the pharmacy and killed the elder, causing the grand elder to come out. The youth is now fighting the grand elder," he hurriedly explained with no pretence.

Although the Xia family building was destroyed, it was just one building. Their main power was still intact, and he was just a merchant with no power—a bug that could be crushed by a third-stage martial artist or higher if they wanted to like bug.

"I messed up big time." he thought terrified, however luckily the beautiful lady-like man seemed to be kind, which made him sigh in relief internally.

"Hmm…" Xia Cai frowned when he heard this as he shooed away the man. "You can go now," he said.

"Yes, master," the merchant said gratefully as he ran for his life.

"Who is daring enough to make trouble for the Xia family?" Xia Cai thought with a bitter expression on his face.

Initially, he had been wandering around for resources after leaving his home to improve himself. However, living in the forest was a hard life, with everyday searching for food. Fortunately, he found a city, and after gradually adapting to the city and improving himself with the help of his bloodline, he was able to reach the peak of the martial trainee realm.

With that, he fought a hard competition to get the title of a captain of ten units as the city guard. Initially, he was overjoyed, but he soon found that even with these resources, his cultivation was progressing at a snail's pace, making him sad and helpless at the same time.

But seeing Xia Yun'er falling in love with him opened another window of opportunity for him. He went to great lengths to rizz Xia Yun'er, and his efforts bore fruit as she gradually fell in love with him. However, everything seemed to go south after he met Lu Zhen. He had to give up his family name to marry into the Xia family as a son-in-law.

After that, his despair began anew. He faced internal struggles after marrying her, and although he had enough resources to not slow down his cultivation, he was confronted with countless conflicts and schemes against him.

Despite all the odds stacked against him, he was able to break through, constructing Qi-pathways for his body to be nurtured by Qi, officially marking his way to the third-stage martial realm and significantly enhancing his abilities by several times.

All protests and schemes against him stopped as Fe Cai had now entered the third-stage martial artist realm, making his status equivalent to an elder.

Life was going good again but lu zhen appeared in the tournament again killing his wife in the process making him develop a deep hate for lu zhen. Although he used the girl for gaining resources still as his first time he had a deep love for her hidden within.

And his position in the family also became awkward after Xia Yun'er died however the ancestor Xia seemed to defend him helping him to still gain a footing.

Luckily he was able to gain the easy task of guarding the pharmacy for some contribution point which he immediately set out for he knew a little about alchemy as well. However now he encountered such a thing in the first place he was about to get some contribution points to gain a foothold again.

"If I let whoever it is go, not mention resources. I might even be kicked out of the family." he tightened his fist as murderous intent oozed out of his entire being making the fleers terrified as fe cai ran towards the place.

However the instant he arrived his eyes widened.