The Steward Zhang immediately dispatched people to clean up the Wild Wolf Gang. To his surprise, the lair of the Wild Wolf Gang was completely deserted, and the gang seemed to have vanished without a trace, leaving nobody aware of their whereabouts.
Not only the Wild Wolf Gang, but also several other underground forces in Windmill Town, like the Fierce Tiger Gang and the Blood Saber Association, had all disappeared.
The Steward Zhang found the situation a bit suspicious and sent people to investigate while also strengthening the security of Han Mansion.
"These small forces like the Wild Wolf Gang and the Blood Saber Association couldn't possibly dare to make a move against Han Mansion unless they're tired of living. There must be someone else supporting them behind the scenes."
Upon hearing the news, Han Yaozu speculated and instructed Steward Zhang to personally investigate the people behind the Wild Wolf Gang.
The Wild Wolf Gang and the Blood Saber Association are merely clowns; the real issue lies with the people behind them. What exactly are their plans against Han Mansion? That's the real concern.
Unknown to others, events occurred outside the west courtyard gate, but Lu Yu received a new task.
[New Task Acquired - Increase Vigilance: Recently, suspicious individuals have appeared in the woods outside the west courtyard of Han Mansion. As the Protector, vigilance should be heightened to discover intruders at the first opportunity and raise the alarm. Task reward: 150 experience points]
Shortly after receiving the system prompt, Lu Yu got orders from the inner courtyard mandating that all Protectors should enhance security, forming teams to intensify patrols.
Lu Yu was assigned to a team responsible for patrolling the outer wall of the west courtyard, with the patrol area stretching from the Protector dormitory's west side to the martial training ground, and then to the west courtyard gate.
When he received the task, he felt that something significant was about to happen.
Inside Han Mansion, Third Master Han was enraged when he learned from a subordinate about Steward Zhang's whereabouts, crushing the armrest of his seat.
"The murderer who killed my Fan'er has not been found, yet this Steward Zhang dares to meddle in trivial matters like the Wild Wolf Gang?"
"Fan'er, you died so tragically. Rest assured, your father will find the killer and dismember him!"
After speaking, Third Master Han looked towards Yang Xiu standing beside him and said, "Yang Xiu, you were closest to Fan'er, so I'm entrusting you with the task of finding his killer. Don't let me down!"
"I will do everything in my power to find the murderer of the young master and ensure you won't be disappointed," Yang Xiu said calmly with a clenched fist.
"You may leave."
"I take my leave now."
Exiting the hall, Yang Xiu glanced at the sky and a smile crept upon his lips.
The patrol duties commenced as soon as the inner courtyard issued the orders, and Lu Yu was patrolling alongside some unfamiliar Protectors.
Brandishing sabers, the group formed a line to patrol their designated area.
After a whole day, there was no time for training, nor did they spot any anomalies, which led to complaints among the team members.
Following the shift change and having had dinner, Lu Yu rested in his room.
Looking at his attribute panel, he noticed the experience bar for the cultivation technique was nearly halfway full. If he hadn't used experience points to upgrade "Eight Steps to Catch Cicada" earlier, he could upgrade it now.
However, if he hadn't used experience points to enhance "Eight Steps to Catch Cicada" and relied solely on daily Qi Blood consumption for training, he probably wouldn't have leveled up by now.
Nonetheless, completing this new task along with the patrol assignment might accumulate enough experience points to upgrade the cultivation technique.
Another matter that greatly concerned Lu Yu was that once his Qi Blood reached 49 points, he felt he had hit a ceiling.
The Body Refining Pill had completely lost its effect, and continued training didn't result in any Qi Blood growth, as if it had been stalled at 49 points.
Earlier, he had a brief duel with a Protector at the third level of Body Refinement, whose strength was slightly weaker and Qi Blood lower than his own.
Moreover, the opponent admitted that his Qi Blood was approaching the fourth level of Body Refinement.
This implied that from 49 to 50, would be an advancement from the third to fourth level of Body Refinement.
But he himself was only at the second level. Could it be that the inability to advance the Qi Blood stemmed from not leveling up in rank?
Lu Yu glanced at his realm, and what he saw surprised him.
The experience bar for rank, which had always displayed 0, was now showing slight progress.
He had only accumulated 12 points of experience, still 488 points away from leveling up.
Lu Yu remembered he had never consciously added experience points for rank, which meant that rank experience was augmented through other means.
Upon seeing his 49 points of Qi Blood, he speculated that perhaps achieving the extreme limits of Qi Blood allowed training to contribute to rank experience.
"That's highly probable," Lu Yu thought.
"Now I know three methods to increase rank: Upgrade directly using experience points, indirectly upgrade rank by enhancing cultivation techniques, or train Qi Blood to its limit and continue training to boost rank."
"Wonder if there's a fourth method."
Lu Yu pondered if there might be pills capable of directly enhancing rank.
After all, obtaining experience points was heavily restricted, with many areas requiring them, making it impossible to rely solely on daily tasks and seldomly triggered random tasks to gather enough experience.
Rank was indeed a major consumer of experience points.
It would be great if there were pills that could directly boost rank.
Just as Lu Yu considered searching the store for pills capable of directly elevating rank, one of his patrol teammates knocked on his door.
"Lu Yu, it's time to switch shifts."
"Okay, I'll be out in a moment."
Hearing the voice, Lu Yu swiftly got up, grabbed the saber on his table, and headed out.
Night had unknowingly fallen, coupled with strong winds. Windmill Town experienced substantial temperature fluctuations between day and night, and ordinary people felt a chill venturing out at night with only a single layer of clothing.
Lu Yu followed the others heading towards the west courtyard gate, with the flags in the martial training ground flapping loudly in the night breeze.
The thin protector uniform couldn't keep the night wind from entering, but Lu Yu found the breeze quite refreshing, blowing away the afternoon heat.
His Qi Blood was much stronger than that of ordinary people, so he naturally wasn't afraid of the night wind.
However, the strong wind made the flags flutter, greatly affecting the protectors' ability to hear the surroundings while patrolling.
In the woods outside the west courtyard, many figures in black lay silently in ambush, watching the protectors patrolling on the road without making a sound.
Soon, the protectors disappeared from their sight, but they continued hiding in the woods without any movement.
Suddenly, a bright flame lit up in the distance, and a figure in black murmured, "Act now."
...
"Fire! Fire! Quick, put it out."
The shout came from the inner courtyard, and Lu Yu stood by the wall outside the west courtyard, seeing the flames rising high.
Immediately afterwards, he saw many protectors being called into the inner courtyard to extinguish the fire, leaving few protectors in the outer courtyard.
Lu Yu and the others were stunned, hesitating about whether to also go inside to help with the fire, but their task was to patrol, and no one had called them in.
If they leave their posts without permission, what happens when they're blamed by the superiors?
But if everyone goes to fight the fire and he doesn't, then what if he's blamed for that?
Everyone was deeply conflicted.
Lu Yu looked at the flames, feeling something was off.
The fire didn't seem large enough to call so many people; was there more to this situation?
Soon, a flash of insight hit him; things weren't as they seemed.
"Be careful!" he shouted to the others.
By the time he reacted, it was too late. A group of figures in black had already climbed over the wall into Han's residence, with several having stealthily approached from behind.
When Lu Yu warned them, some had already been ambushed, struck multiple times, lying on the ground, bleeding heavily, their fate uncertain.
Clang clang clang~ Those who reacted engaged in combat with the figures in black. Lu Yu used his blade to fend off their sharp weapons, unable to counterattack for the moment.
Seeing himself surrounded, a voice came from the side.
"Forget them, rush into the inner courtyard first, create chaos there."
The figures in black who had ambushed the protectors heard this and quickly followed their group, charging into the inner courtyard, leaving a few behind to fight the surviving patrol protectors.
Lu Yu understood, the fire was just a distraction, paving the way for the figures in black to invade.
He wanted to take out the whistle and sound the alert, fulfilling his task, but he hadn't learned sword techniques; under their pressure, he couldn't find an opening.
He had to rely on the strength gained from his powerful Qi Blood and engage them directly.
Under the attack of the figures in black, Lu Yu was suppressed, at a disadvantage. Others were in even worse condition, some struck multiple times, barely holding on.
When they spare hands to surround him, he'll face certain death.
The sword wasn't as effective as fists, but fists couldn't block blades, so Lu Yu could only defend and keep retreating.
He glimpsed someone falling, their throat slit by a figure in black, and steeled himself, ready to gamble!
Stopping his retreat, he suddenly propelled himself off the ground, swiftly closing in on the figure in black.
The person saw Lu Yu quickly approaching, startled but remained calm, as the closer they got the more it tested sword technique skills.
He realized, Lu Yu's sword skills were lacking, perhaps hadn't learned them at all.
Clang! As weapons met, sparks flew, the figure in black stalled, sensing something was off; why did the force on the sword feel lighter?
Whizz~ Lu Yu's knife flew out.
Buzz~ The knife embedded in the ground, trembling.
Thud~ The figure in black fell, their sword dropped nearby.
In terms of swordsmanship, Lu Yu was certainly not the match for the figure in black, but in hand-to-hand combat, especially when the blades were ineffective up close, Lu Yu could overpower them.
By using the Eight Steps Chase Cicada to close in, ditching the sword for fists, taking advantage of the close quarters unsuitable for blade use, Lu Yu knocked the sword from their hands with a few strikes and took them down.
After knocking down the figure in black, he instinctively followed up with a "Hungry Tiger Pouncing" move, breaking the figure's throat.
[Killed a third-level Body Refinement martial cultivator; gained 78 experience points]
Receiving the notification, Lu Yu was thrilled, but his hands never paused; picking up the fallen knife, he charged at the nearest figure in black.
Meanwhile, he used his mind to extract the whistle from his backpack, positioning it directly in front of his face.
With one bite, he clamped onto the whistle appearing mid-air, blowing with all his might.
If others blow the whistle, his task would fail!
Squeeee!
The whistle echoed throughout Han's residence.
Han Yaozu, dealing with affairs in his study, abruptly stood up, "The whistle sound from the outer courtyard!".
The leader of the figures in black yelled, "Damn it, we've been exposed! Everyone, rush!"