Chapter 13 The Second One

When morning arrived, Lu Tianzi slowly opened his eyes, gradually easing himself out of the Undulated Currents Breathing Technique. He did not sleep all night, but for martial artists, the state of deep meditation was almost just as good as sleep.

In fact, it was said that martial artists of a high enough cultivation realm could completely forgo sleep, simply meditating an hour a day to regain all their strength.

He did not dare to enter into such a deep state of meditation since he had to be aware of his surroundings, but he was still able to conserve quite a large part of his energy through light meditation.

Lu Tianzi did not dally.

He resolutely packed up his items and carried them all on his body. Thankfully he did not have many belongings, so even with all his items, his movements still did not feel restricted at all.

"Are you ready, Ah Zhan?" Uncle Ye's voice came from beyond the door after a gentle knock.

"Yes, I am coming now," Lu Tianzi answered before leaving the room.

Last night, Lu Tianzi had already told Uncle Ye that he would be joining him to pick herbs today. Hearing that, Uncle Ye had been overjoyed! Having company and someone to talk to about his favourite topic while working would definitely make the day's work seem much easier!

Uncle Ye was not surprised by the sword hanging by Lu Tianzi's belt either.

After all, they were about to leave the safety of the city walls, so many workers would bring along weapons to defend themselves if needed. Of course, Uncle Ye did not truly believe that Lu Tianzi would be able to do anything with that sword if a ferocious beast were to really show up.

The pair enjoyed a simple breakfast prepared by Uncle Ye's wife before leaving. Borrowing the first rays of light from the sun, they quickly made their way towards the city's South Gate.

Lu Tianzi and Uncle Ye were not the only ones either.

Ivory Rock City was divided into four main districts – the Military District, the Workers District, the Academic District, and the Officials District.

The Officials District, which was where the top brass of the city resided, took up the northernmost section of the city. The central section was divided into the Military District in the west and the Academic District in the east. Taking up the southernmost section of the city was the Workers District, which was also the largest district in Ivory Rock City.

In the past, some people had speculated that the city was designed in such a way so that in the event that the largest and most fortified South Gate actually fell, the residents in the Workers District could act as a cushioning factor against any external forces, buying time for the more important figures in the other three districts to make preparations or to escape.

After all, with the northern side of the city overlooking a cliff, the South Gate was the one that was most exposed to external threats.

Over the years, this rumour had spread among the citizens of Ivory Rock City, fanning great dissent among the worker populace.

However, the respected City Lord Hu had personally come out to quash these vile rumours, confirming that the layout of Ivory Rock City was simply for workers in the Workers District to gain easier access to the wilderness. This was because they were the ones who were the most frequent users of the city gates, and thus it would only make sense to have them located near the largest city gate.

Backed by the strength and prestige that City Lord Hu commanded as an individual, his words were treated as gospel in the city. Since he had already said so, few people in the city would choose to doubt this, and the rumours gradually ceased to exist.

In any case, due to this locational aspect, most of the workers staying in the Workers District preferred to leave by the nearest South Gate as well.

Uncle Ye had been doing the same thing for decades, and thus had already grown familiar with most of the other workers. There were too many workers to really know everyone by heart, but on their way to the South Gate, there were still many who waved to Uncle Ye in greeting.

"Good morning, Uncle Ye! Who is this young man beside you? Did your Yuan'er finally get hitched?" a middle aged man walked over to join them.

"Shut your mouth if you have nothing good to say! My Yuan'er is too good for the good-for-nothing punks we have in the city!" Uncle Ye snapped back irritably.

"Hahaha! You are as overprotective of your precious daughter as always!"

"What do you mean overprotective? I am just stating facts here!"

"All right, all right! But don't overdo it and make Yuan'er miss out on the passions of youth!"

"Passions of youth, my ass! My Yuan'er does not need such nonsense!"

"Oh? What's that?" the man had never really treated the conversation seriously, and his attention was quickly drawn away by a group of people who were clamouring near the South Gate.

"Hmm? Isn't that where the notice board is? Maybe there is a new announcement?" Uncle Ye's curiosity was piqued as well. "Let's go check it out!"

"Of course!" the man immediately took off, obviously not intending to wait for Lu Tianzi and Uncle Ye.

Lu Tianzi and Uncle Ye exchanged glances, and both of them let out a helpless smile before they moved on to join the crowd.

Two guards stood menacingly beside the notice board, and their presence alone was sufficient to dissuade the eager workers from pushing too far forward. But it was a good thing for those who were standing behind, since this was the only reason why their views were not completely blocked off by the ones in front.

Since it was still early in the morning, the crowd was relatively subdued, so Lu Tianzi and Uncle Ye were able to easily make their way near enough to the front to see the notice board.

As expected, there was a new piece of announcement paper pinned to the notice board. There were not many words on it, but everyone who read the notice felt like they had been immediately jolted awake from their early morning's drowsy state!

- Notice from the City Lord Manor -

Thanks to the holy blessings of the heavens, our Holy City, Ivory Rock City, has managed to surpass its previous records this year. For the first time in history, we welcome the birth of the second Holy Guardian in a year.

Due to his unwavering commitment and diligence, Yan Bingren of the Ivory Rock Martial Academy has proven himself worthy of the name Holy Guardian. In the morning five days from the date of notice, City Lord Hu will personally oversee the ceremony of naming Yan Bingren as a Holy Guardian.

Everyone in Ivory Rock City is welcomed to celebrate alongside us in this joyous occasion, and we hope to see you at the Officials District in five days' time.

- End -

When Lu Tianzi was done reading, he could feel the flames of rage reigniting within him.

As a previous student of Ivory Rock Martial Academy, Lu Tianzi had some knowledge of Yan Bingren.

Yan Bingren was the son of a hunter, and had joined the martial academy at the age of 10. He was not an unrivalled genius, but his talent was not too shabby either. This year, he reached the cultivation realm of Intermediate Essence Building realm at the age of 25, and that could be considered as quite capable.

However, due to the 10 years age gap between him and Lu Tianzi, the two never really had many chances to get to know each other better despite being fellow students. On top of that, Lu Tianzi had always been nurtured as the unrivalled genius that he was, and this had unfortunately created an awkward rift between him and the rest of the student body.

Even so, seeing that Yan Bingren was about to be sacrificed as a pawn just like he had been, Lu Tianzi felt a trace of murderous intent broiling within him.

Lu Tianzi understood the fact that indirectly, Yan Bingren had been chosen as a sacrifice because of him. However, he naturally did not feel the least bit guilty about it, and rightly so as well.

Instead, what he felt was a sense of empathy.

Deep inside, Lu Tianzi could feel a fateful connection to Yan Bingren. This man was about to share the same fate as himself, to be sacrificed without an inkling of what was to come.

If Lu Tianzi were to succeed in rescuing him, Yan Bingren would then be the only one who could understand his feelings. In other words, he was the only one who could help Lu Tianzi take revenge on Hu Yuanbo!

He might be unable to do anything to Hu Yuanbo at the moment, but as long as he could help it, Lu Tianzi was not about to let his plan pass smoothly and without hiccups!

Within the city walls, every action he took could end up exposing his own identity, thus he had had to restrain himself far more than he would have liked. However, as long as things were occurring in the wilderness, then he could act more freely and with far less scruples!

On top of that, there was also one more underlying meaning behind this notice.

With this announcement, Lu Tianzi was now certain that Hu Yuanbo had already discovered that he had escaped.

Why else would the annual naming of Holy Guardian suddenly increase to twice in a year?

Considering that it was supposed to be an annual sacrifice to the demons, the only reason would be that Hu Yuanbo was about to sacrifice Yan Bingren to replace Lu Tianzi.

But with this, Lu Tianzi was also able to more or less confirm that he had fallen under the radar of his enemy.

Otherwise, Hu Yuanbo would definitely have chosen to capture him and send him away instead of getting another involved.

That way, Hu Yuanbo could adhere to his terms with the demons and at the same time, rid himself of a possible time bomb who knew of this dark secret. Furthermore, he would also have been able to save Yan Bingren for the following year.

Lu Tianzi did not know if this was due to his performance yesterday, but in any case, this at least gave him some breathing space to continue making use of the safety of the city walls to focus on cultivation. Nevertheless, he would definitely keep his sword on him at all times just in case.

At this time, Uncle Ye was finally done reading.

While his eyes were excellent and able to spot wild herbs from a distance, Uncle Ye had a relatively short attention span when it came to reading, and thus it took him slightly more effort to be done with the announcement.

If the announcement was on some new discovery in herbalism, however, Uncle Ye would probably be done reading even earlier than Lu Tianzi.

"A new Holy Guardian? That's great! This is truly a great year!" Uncle Ye exclaimed, a tinge of pride in his voice.

Lu Tianzi frowned immediately at that statement, but when he paid closer attention to his surroundings, Lu Tianzi realised that Uncle Ye was not the only one expressing his joy after receiving the news.

While some people were busy reading out the contents of the announcement to their illiterate friends, others were all in celebratory mood, discussing about how far the city had progressed!

Lu Tianzi had to take a few deep breaths in order to calm himself down, "Uncle Ye, this news is well and good, but let us carry on with our work for today."

"Hahaha! You are truly eager to learn, being able to prioritise that even now! Good! Let us go then!" Uncle Ye nodded approvingly.

Leaving the crowd clamouring over the news, Lu Tianzi and Uncle Ye swiftly left for the South Gate.

Lu Tianzi still could not help but be nervous when leaving the gate, but it went smoother than expected. As he was in the company of the regular worker Uncle Ye, the guards did not even take a second look even as Lu Tianzi passed through.

The duo then left towards a nearby stream, where they would start the day's search for herbs.

As Lu Tianzi was still inexperienced, he could only shadow Uncle Ye today, attentively listening to the middle aged man as he rambled on about the dos and don'ts of herb picking.

However, these seemingly endless ramblings were actually extremely precious knowledge to the learning Lu Tianzi. He did not dare to be distracted, calling forth all of his focus to take in and absorb everything that Uncle Ye mentioned.

As a martial artist, his entire body was constantly being nourished by the Spiritual Essence within his inner world, and this did not only apply to his bones and muscles.

Under the baptism of his Spiritual Essence, every single cell in his body was growing stronger by the day, and this naturally applied to his organs as well.

Of his organs, his brain was no exception.

At his current level, even though Lu Tianzi might not be able to completely remember one hundred percent of everything that he was exposed to in his life, he could at least retain one hundred percent of what he was focusing on!

While Uncle Ye was excitedly teaching, he never would have expected that this young man before him was absorbing his knowledge and skills like a sponge, rapidly growing to become a herbalist equal to himself!