novelraw Chapter 575: I’ll Break Through Once I Get Back — And When I Do, I’ll Come for You!
Chapter 575: I’ll Break Through Once I Get Back — And When I Do, I’ll Come for You!
......
Fu Xinghe stared for several more glances before silently nodding and offering a serious appraisal:
“Luxurious and dignified, breathtakingly exquisite—because if immortals in the heavens have it, how could mortals in this world possess such things?”
“Fine craftsmanship, unheard-of, unique, niche, elegant, beautiful.”
He was praising Lu Ding.
He couldn’t suppress the grin at the corner of his mouth.
But it was the truth. Even if others had similar techniques and even if their effects were roughly the same,
Lu Ding’s would definitely look better.
It was like the same fabric handled by different master tailors—based on individual taste, the finished garment would be different.
After all, the Chicken-Foot Lady was famously skillful with her hands, comparable to the heavenly weaver maiden.Anything that came from her would have an aesthetic level at least three or four floors higher.
While the two chatted,
Lu Ding felt his sleeve being gently stroked.
He looked back.
A little girl with dust-smudged cheeks stared with big, bright eyes fixed on the large display behind Lu Ding.
Admiration shone from her eyes.
The small hand that patted him was spotless, not a trace of dirt.
Her movements were gentle, as if she were touching a priceless treasure.
Polite, not crying or making a scene, not overstepping.
Lu Ding didn’t like children much,
but he could accept a child like this.
Fu Xinghe explained from the side: “Brother Lu, this is one of the little girls we just rescued.”
Lu Ding crouched and looked at the girl.
His tone slowed, imbued with tenderness, his Adam’s apple trembling, voice like shattered jade: “Good girl, where do you live?”
The little girl withdrew her hand, a little embarrassed.
“Brother, I’m sorry for touching your pretty clothes, but Yue’er’s hands aren’t dirty—I wiped them.”
She extended that clean little hand to show Lu Ding.
“We live at No. 1 Zhizi Street. My name is Zhan Xinyue. My father is Zhan Yuanliang. My brother is Zhan Tingzhou......”
No. 1 Zhizi Street.....
Lu Ding felt the name was familiar, as if he’d heard it somewhere.
While he was wondering, Fu Xinghe handed over his phone.
[No. 1 Zhizi Street, Zhan family, the pigment family recently moved in, householder Zhan Yuanliang, mid-level Four Prohibitions cultivation........]
After Lu Ding finished reading,
Fu Xinghe added: “No major faults, just small offenses.”
Lu Ding handed the phone back.
Small offenses were normal—after all, this New City was so rotten. An individual could remain unstained in the mud, but a whole family rarely could.
As long as there were no major crimes, it wasn’t a big deal.
Also, one more point: Lu Ding wanted the same color as the large display for the petal color.
A forger or ordinary craftsman definitely couldn’t reproduce that color. After all, each profession had its specialty—the multicolored black was a bit ridiculous.
But a pigment family...
It might actually be possible.
The instant Lu Ding thought that, he’d already rescued this little girl.
So this was a perfect opportunity to talk with the Zhan family.
“Yue’er, shall Brother take you home?”
Zhan Xinyue nodded: “Mm!”
Her gaze fell on Lu Ding’s shoulder insignia. “Brother, are you an investigator with the 749 Bureau?”
“Yes.”
At his answer, the girl’s voice rang clear: “Brother, I want to report a cult!”
A cult?
The Yellow Heaven Sect?
The little girl continued.
“When they locked me in the cellar, I heard and saw Rooster Sun Niangniang talking with a man.”
“They were saying something about collecting boys and girls to sell, and Rooster Sun Niangniang even asked that man if it was with Wu... Wutian......”
“But I remember it was an organization. They said the Big Rat in Xiankong Town was collecting boys and girls too. The Big Rat is part of that organization.”
Fu Xinghe’s brow tightened as he asked: “Was it Wuwang?”
The girl looked up, eyes brightening: “Yes, it was Wuwang.”
Wuwang—one of the sixty-four hexagrams, with meanings tied to truth and reality.
In New City, Wuwang was a chaotic, neutral demon organization!
Its members were elite among demons—each ferocious and powerful, acting on whims and hiding in New City’s shadows. In earlier years they liked to provoke the 749 Bureau.
Later, as the 749’s credibility and enforcement in New City declined,
Wuwang’s monsters lost interest in the 749.
They turned to squabble endlessly with the city’s noble houses, behaving like they had a sickness.
In the past, these guys had a terrible reputation—eating people, wanton slaughter, deliberately causing disasters.
But after they fought back against the noble houses, their reputation strangely improved, almost to the point of becoming folk heroes.
Some townsfolk even defended them, claiming things like:
“Wuwang is an organization with all kinds of people inside—it's not entirely bad;
some are good. They’re free-spirited......”
No idea what idiot would say that.
The New City 749 once mounted a large-scale purge against them, which could be considered the 749’s last glory in the district.
But unfortunately, that very purge revealed Wuwang’s unsparing trump card.
An ancient and powerful mysterious array.
It could teleport Wuwang’s members away to specific locations.
No matter how tight a siege, if you couldn’t find the anchor point of Wuwang’s array, you’d never be able to kill their demons.
They left when they wanted to.
If you couldn’t beat them, as soon as the array opened they vanished—there was nothing you could do, because you couldn’t penetrate from outside the array.
Because of that incident, which involved many forces, the ensuing battle was chaotic and unending.
You could say Wuwang was one of the starters of New City’s present state.
At first some speculated Wuwang was an overseas Great Han organization deliberately sabotaging New City’s order.
After the Great Han gradually half-abandoned New City, Wuwang kept doing whatever it pleased.
So another theory arose:
Wuwang was purely a group of troublemakers—wild and lawless—maybe not foreign, but certainly intent on provoking and destroying New City’s order.
Even now, the wanted notices for many Wuwang members still hang, yellowed, on New City 749 bulletin boards.
Originally, Wuwang hid very deep.
But now one had actually been exposed.
Well... Lu Ding was interested!
“The rat spirit of Xiankong Town......”
“Could it reveal the Child-Rat Spell?”
As New City’s situation gradually unfolded, the Yellow Heaven Sect, Wuwang—one organization after another—appeared before Lu Ding.
Each demon and each spell brimmed with value.
It was all but tempting him outright.
No one expected that the deeply hidden Wuwang would be exposed by a little girl.
This was what happened when you spoke without reservation.
Lu Ding bowed his head and looked at the girl: “Come on, Brother will take you home.”
Wuwang still needed confirmation and intelligence-gathering, aiming to capture that rat spirit in one sweep and then follow the trail.
So a bit more time was necessary.
That spare time would be perfect for Lu Ding to confirm the petal color, use the Mysterious Maiden Fragrant Rue to break through his realm, and activate the usage rights of the Proud Snow Defying Frost Tree.
How long had it been since his last breakthrough?
He was about to break through again.
One realm a day—fight to grow, snowballing—getting bigger and bigger. Lu Ding wondered how those demons expected to contend with him.
New City really was a land that favored him!