....
Their eyes t.
The deity sat grandly upon the Divine Palace, full of majestic presence.
Dong, dong, dong, dong!
Four bold characters etched into the palace:
Great Black Heaven Tribulation!
This was Lu Ding’s true Si Ming form.
After understanding its function,
Lu Ding’s expression turned a little odd.
“Tsk... why does this feel... not quite right?”
A typical Si Ming First Layer only had a projection around ten ters tall.
Of course.
A super-sized spiritual sea combined with a full Divine Palace build—creating a manifestation ten tis larger than others—Lu Ding could understand that.
That much was within expectations.
But!!
After getting a full read on his own Si Ming manifestation, Lu Ding felt sothing was off—very off.
Whether it was Li Xuanlong, or Yu Chen who’d scraped his way to Heaven Observer, or even Elder Deng at Heaven Observer—
Their manifestations
were spiritual energy projections—able to move, attack, defend based on the user’s will.
A bit like Heavenly Form and Earthly Appearance.
Those were illusions.
But Lu Ding’s Si Ming?
Once used, he himself transford into the manifestation—becoming a hundred-ter-tall divine being, flesh and blood, fully ard.
This was Heaven-Taking, Earth-Manifesting!
The thing was real.
Exactly like what Sun Wukong and Yang Jian used in their legendary brawls.
As written in the text: The True Lord clashed with the Great Sage for over 300 rounds, neither side gaining the upper hand. The True Lord then summoned his divine might and transford, ten thousand zhang tall... blue face, fangs, crimson hair, fierce as can be—ca down with a chop aid at the Great Sage’s head.
Aside from not having a blue face or red hair—wasn’t this almost exactly like Lu Ding’s current Si Ming manifestation?
Lu Ding glanced around, eyes darting.
“This...”
“Did I just unlock a hidden edition?”
You had to know—Heavenly Form and Earthly Appearance vs. Heaven-Taking, Earth-Manifesting might sound similar,
But at the sa realm level, the latter utterly crushed the forr.
A fake body runs into a real body? It’d get beat like a grandkid.
At this mont—
Lu Ding deeply hoped so clueless fool would show up and pick a fight.
Didn’t matter who.
Didn’t matter their realm.
Even soone from the Linghai Realm would do.
At that mont, Lu Ding would just form the hand seal and call out—Heaven-Taking, Earth-Manifesting!
He’d have to shout it.
With the energy of “Drop the nuke or nah!?”
He’d go full Ultraman mode, descending at a hundred ters tall, real body in play.
“Do you believe in the light?”
Fcking aweso! Absolutely fcking aweso!
Just thinking about the scene made the corners of Lu Ding’s mouth twitch uncontrollably.
For any guy, the appeal of this was absolutely lethal.
He stood up.
Picked up his phone.
It had already been several days since he’d sunk into cultivation.
Lu Ding sent a ssage to Bai Hen and Yan Feifan.
【Hotpot ti!!】
Sothing this worth celebrating—had to be done with hotpot!
Sa place as last ti!
The two got the ssage and were soon standing at Lu Ding’s dorm door.
The three of them walked off with arrogant swagger, like they didn’t recognize a single relative, heading for hotpot.
.....
Switching over to the other side.
Luoyao City.
Outside the He Family estate.
Zhu Yixuan and Wen Ruchu were here for the third ti.
They had arrived in Luoyao the night they left the training grounds.
Not to delay their schedule the next day,
Zhu Yixuan had brought Wen Ruchu straight to the He family to state their purpose:
To reclaim the ancestral blade that had been loaned out generations ago.
Back then, his ancestor had said: **When the He family’s wealth could fill carts with gold and silver, and the surna alone held half the city—**then it was ti to reclaim the blade.
It was because of that blade
that the He Family’s forebear had beco a Cultivator of Qi, later joined the military. Sadly, the dynasty’s fate was nearing its end.
But the He family’s fortune remained, they settled in Luoyao and slowly rose to where they were now.
That ancestral blade had since beco a treasured heirloom of the He family.
Centuries had passed in a blink.
The blade remained unchanged—but human hearts had changed.
When Zhu Yixuan first ca to reclaim it, the He family pretended not to recognize it.
After he produced the original promissory note written by his ancestor,
The He family then said it was hard to verify,
Told Zhu Yixuan to return after a few days while they “investigated.”
With his own mission to complete, Zhu Yixuan could only go deal with that first.
After the task was done and he ca back—
The He family claid the blade was lost, and asked if they could offer so compensation.
But clearly, they didn’t know—
As a Borrowed Blade Heir, Zhu Yixuan could sense every blade his family ever loaned out.
At the mont, going in with force wouldn’t work—there were too many people, and so were strong. They couldn’t win.
Zhu Yixuan backed off the second ti and turned to the 749 Bureau administration in Luoyao.
He sought help from Luoyao 749.
But they turned him down, saying this was a personal matter between him as a Borrowed Blade Heir and the He family,
Not between him as a 749 Investigator and the He family.
If Luoyao 749 intervened—it would be a case of abusing public power for private matters.
Not in compliance.
Unless you report it up the chain, claiming the He family is forcibly occupying your belongings and refuses to return them.
As a 749 Investigator, if soone seizes your property, then it becos a 749 matter.
So, Zhu Yixuan could only return to the He family for the third ti, along with Wen Ruchu.
Either you return the blade, or you openly refuse—
Then the people from 749 will naturally co and talk reason with you.
After announcing their visit, the two of them were now waiting outside.
Inside the He family estate.
A group of He family mbers sat around a large table.
The head of the He family, He Xianxiong, stood and said: “The blade—we definitely can’t give it back. This is our He family’s heirloom.”
“But now that he has the written note, refusing would sound bad if word got out.”
“What do you all think we should do?”
His son He Yingfei spoke next:
“Dad, how about we snatch the note? If he has no evidence, it’s just his word. No one can confirm anything.”
“Growing in size but not brains—sit down.”
“You dare steal from a 749 Investigator? You trying to hand him an excuse to bring 749 down on us?”
He Xianxiong imdiately cursed him out.
He Yingfei sat back down awkwardly.
Soone else chid in:
“Offer him money—he won’t take it. Snatch the note—we get caught with leverage. We can’t go hard, can’t go soft. This... unless he gives it up himself.”
“But he’s co all this way, and it’s his third ti—no way he’d give up now.”
The group fell silent.
At that mont, a voice ca from the corner.
“I have an idea.”
Everyone turned to look—it was He Xianxiong’s youngest son, He Geng, who had spoken.
“That blade—sure, it’s from his family. But we’ve used it for so many years. It’s already beco our He family’s heirloom. Everyone outside knows this.”
“If we give it back—not only do we lose face, we lose the heirloom blade too.”
“But if we don’t, and he takes the note public, the story’ll be ugly.”
“We have to act within 749’s legal frawork.”
He Geng stroked his chin:
“So why not set a trap—create a loophole for him to walk into, make him break 749’s rules first. Then we make our move. He’ll have to fight back.”
“By then, how we move on him, how the note gets destroyed—that’ll be between us and him only.”
He Xianxiong stood up and asked, “But he’s got a law enforcent recorder. Investigators from 749 never take those off—it’ll record everything.”
He Geng shook his head:
“No need to take it off—it’s better if he keeps it on.”
“We’ve already left him waiting outside for hours. Let’s see if he’ll lose patience and barge into our estate. He’s not a local investigator.”
“And he’s got no local investigator with him—so he doesn’t have cross-district law enforcent authority.”
“As long as he enters uninvited—that’s illegal trespassing. This is the Great Han—we follow the law.”
“If he breaks in, we have the right to stop him. If a conflict breaks out and he accidentally kills soone—then we absolutely have to restrain and hand him over to 749.”
As he spoke, He Geng wore a smile—and emphasized the words “accidentally.”
“During the process of restraining him, if sothing else happens—that’s natural. We can’t predict if he’ll continue attacking.”
“Later, when 749 investigates and finds the death was caused by prior injuries or an old wound flaring up—we express understanding and issue a letter of forgiveness.”
“We show our generosity to the public and to 749.”
“All we want—is to destroy the note during the struggle.”
“Everything we do—reasonable, lawful, compliant. He enters without permission—that’s non-compliant.”
“And 749 Investigators must act lawfully and by the book. Unless it’s Lu Ding.”
A stranger’s na ca from He Geng’s mouth.
He Xianxiong blinked in confusion: “Who is Lu Ding?”
User Comments
0 comments from readers