After the expedition to the tomb, Mu Rong Shu and I returned home, gave most of what we had collected from it to Mu Rong Lao to sell it off when we did our usual meeting in my humble antique store. While managing the store, I also spent a good few hours a day training.
I needed to improve my summoning techniques and become stronger as quickly as possible.
I had made a promise to take back my divine dragon. Obviously, I had no intention of returning to the Zhao family, but that didn't mean I had given up on the spirit I had nurtured for so many years. I was going to retrieve him my way.
But in order to do that, I must first obtain the strength I needed to crush the Zhao family. Right now, with an incomplete war spirit, I couldn't be reckless. Once I became strong enough, I could oppose the Zhao family and take back everything that was mine, while refusing to associate myself with them. Even with the demise of my brother, who had his cultivation crippled, the Zhao family was still a strong force in the country.
They didn't become one of the most powerful factions in the nation by doing nothing. They literally had their own private army, not to mention immense wealth and influence. Even the Mu Rong family was no match for them in that aspect, but the only reason why they hadn't touched the family I had married into was because they knew how costly the battle would be if they were to attempt to attack us.
One did not simply provoke a clan of assassins – and the most powerful family of assassins at that – no matter what reasons they might have. It just wasn't worth it. Not to mention, they were probably worried about accidentally killing me off during the conflict, which would defeat the whole purpose of wanting me back in the first place.
Nah, they would learn the errors of their ways…and they would call upon the other cousins to succeed as the heir to the Zhao family. I looked forward to that. Once they named one of my cousins as heir, I would challenge him and humiliate him in front of everybody. The heir to the Zhao family, destroyed in public by someone they disowned and cast off…someone they tried to kill.
If that wasn't tragic irony, I didn't know what was.
Of course, I was still far from achieving my goal. I could perhaps crush any one of my cousins under my heel, but the problem was after that. The Zhao family would undoubtedly bring down the full might of their wrath upon me for destroying their image and tainting their reputation. They wouldn't simply let me go.
They would definitely retaliate. And I needed strength to withstand that – strength that didn't require the Mu Rong family. I obviously couldn't drag people who weren't involved into my own personal feud. I couldn't ask people to die for me.
So I needed power and resources that were enough for me to topple the Zhao family without the Mu Rong family's help.
It was with this goal in mind that I fervently consolidated my cultivation by assimilating the qi and esoteric energies that I had absorbed when the spear went inside my body. I also practiced the Nine Yang Divine Flame technique, but it wasn't a good fit for me. I didn't understand why. I felt a deep sense of connection with it, yet it wouldn't gel properly.
Oh, well. I guess I would find out sooner or later. For now, I focused more on completing my war spirit. It took me a few weeks, but I finally succeeded.
And a couple of days after that, when I opened my antique store for business, I found myself confronted by an unexpected visitor.
"You bastard!"
Mu Rong Qiu stomped into my store, pointing accusingly at me. I stared at him blankly before frowning.
"What's the matter, cousin-in-law?"
"Don't play all innocent!" Mu Rong Qiu snapped.
Ever since I had cut off his arm, and his father had been crippled by Mu Rong Lao, he held a grudge against me. I wasn't surprised to see that he had replaced his missing arm with a bionic. A cultivation artifact that had been crafted by gifted artisans to imitate a lifelike hand as much as possible, and also serving as a powerful weapon in its own right. If anything, the prosthetic actually made Mu Rong Qiu stronger than before. A more dangerous opponent. His parents spared no expense in buying such an expensive prosthetic for him, splashing millions of yuan on getting it tailored specifically for him, and then arranging for a specialized surgery. They really had a lot money to spend.
After rehabilitation, Mu Rong Qiu had finally gotten used to his new arm, and I could tell he was itching for an excuse to use it on me.
"Look, dude, if you aren't going to tell me what your problem is, then leave. You are disturbing my business."
"Shut up!" Mu Rong Qiu cut me off. "You greedy, corrupted thief! How dare you steal from the family's treasury?!"
"Say what?" I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. "I didn't steal anything."
"Stop lying! I have proof!" Mu Rong Qiu took out a document that listed fund transfers. "You received several dozen million yuan from the family's money! You've been pilfering from our family wealth for so long! I have other records showing similar transactions!"
He was taking out more documents and throwing them at me. I picked them up and recognized the transfers.
"Yeah, of course. Granddad gave them to me. They are percentages of profits owed to me after he sold off the relics I obtained for him from tombs."
"DON'T LIE!" Mu Rong Qiu bellowed, slamming his bionic arm against a glass case and shattering it. I winced when I saw the precious pottery inside break from the impact. Fucker was trashing my shop again. He flung his arm out, almost breaking another antique, but I stopped his limb from completing the blow.
"I'm not lying. If you don't believe me, you can ask granddad yourself."
"Granddad will just cover for you! He's involved in this corruption as well!"
"Look, dude." I reached from behind my counter and took out several of the relics that Mu Rong Lao had yet to sell. He had left a few of them with me for safekeeping, and I put them in the antiques store just in case a cultivator came by and wanted to purchase them. "This is evidence of the stuff I got from tombs. You can bring an appraiser to validate their authenticity if you don't believe me. But stop breaking the items in my store or I'll have to ask you to pay again."
"Shut up! You expect me to believe you?!" Mu Rong Qiu roared. "You're trash! Just trash! There's no way you'll be able to explore a tomb and return alive! It's impossible for trash like you to recover any relics from a tomb! You should stop tricking granddad! Just because h's growing old and senile doesn't mean you should take advantage of it!"
"Before you throw out all these accusations, you should find proof." I held up the documents. "These are all legitimate transactions, with actual clients and buyers. I have evidence that they are valid transfers. So stop slandering me. Besides…if I'm trash, what are you, who lost to me? Shit?"
"COURTING DEATH!"
Mu Rong Qiu exploded. He then threw a punch with his bionic arm, unleashing a massive blast of qi that shattered very glass case in my shop and blew me back. I ducked under his next blow, but the raw strength of his blow demolished the wall behind me.
"Ha ha ha!" My opponent cackled, throwing more punches at me. "With this new arm, I'm much stronger than before! You won't be able to withstand a single hit from it! TRASH!"
This guy was really deluded.
With a sigh, I summoned my war spirit. For the first time, he was complete. A majestic warrior clad in armor of auric gold, he wielded his trademark spear. Even Mu Rong Qiu recognized him and he stumbled back in shock, his jaw dropping.
"How…how…?!"
"Like I said, I've been recovering relics from tombs," I explained impatiently, folding my arms. "Some of them have been very useful to my cultivation…and helped me complete my summoned war spirit."
"No…no! That's not what I mean!" Mu Rong Qiu pointed a trembling finger with his remaining organic arm. "Why do you…why do you have Lu Bu as your summoned spirit?!"
I simply smiled. "I just do."
Lu Bu, without waiting for my instructions, stepped forward. Mu Rong Qiu howled before he lunged at the war spirit, throwing his bionic arm out. All the qi he had stocked up inside his bionic arm exploded outward at once, taking the form of black shadows that raged around him, corroding the surroundings and causing more damage to my poor antique shop.
His attacks and techniques did absolutely nothing.
Swinging his spear, Lu Bu destroyed the shadows that had erupted from Mu Rong Qiu's bonic arm in one blow. That single blow was also enough to cleave through the poor guy, sending blood spurting out of his mouth and wound. From collarbone to hip, a single line of red split open and blood gushed out. In a gurgle of pain, Mu Rong Qiu toppled over.
"Oh? He's still alive?" I was actually impressed. Perhaps I had subconsciously held back. Taking a life wasn't something that could be done so easily. I would have to face the consequences.
Even so, I was sick and tired of this idiot always finding trouble with me. This wasn't the first time he attacked me, and I vowed that it would be the last.
Before Lu Bu could deliver the finishing blow, however, someone dove in, placing himself between the war spirit and Mu Rong Qiu. My summoned spirit hesitated, awaiting my orders.
"P…please."
To my surprise, it was Mu Rong Chun, Mu Rong Qiu's father. He prostrated before me, banging his forehead against the ground and pleading.
"Please spare my son!"
Having been crippled by his own father during the Mu Rong family tournament, there was nothing Mu Rong Chun could have done to protect his son. Even if he hadn't been crippled, I doubted he would have been able to withstand a few blows from my fully completed Lu Bu.
"I'll make sure he never bothers you again! I'll pay for all the damages to your shop! So please…!"
"There won't be a second time," I said coldly.
"T…thank you, nephew-in-law!" Mu Rong Chun bowed again. He helped up Mu Rong Qiu and then slammed his son's head against the floor, trying to have the idiot apologize to me. "You too! Apologize!"
"S…sorry!" Mu Rong Qiu stammered. He stared at Lu Bu in fear, and from then on I understood that he would never be a problem again.
Even if he didn't respect me, there was no way he wouldn't be afraid of Lu Bu.
"I…I have eyes but I can't see Mount Tai! I…I'm the trash! I can't believe I was insulting you! I'll slap myself!"
He began slapping himself before pressing his forehead against the ground. Even though more blood spilled out of his grievous wound and pooled below him, he maintained his apologetic posture. I shook my head.
"Go get yourself treated before you die in my shop."
"R…right away! Thank you for your mercy!"
Mu Rong Chun hauled his son up and they both fled. As they exited my shop, they ran into Mu Rong Lao, who had evidently been watching the whole thing.
"By the way," the patriarch of the Mu Rong family said as the two of them passed by. "Huan Shi was telling the truth. He really has been collecting relics from tombs for me to sell off. That bionic arm? How do you think we would have afforded it if we didn't get money from selling those relics that Huan Shi retrieved from the Mu Rong family? Perhaps instead of attacking him, you should be grateful to him."
"Y…yes. I won't just compensate for the damages. I'll give him something in return!" Mu Rong Chun promised, bowing his head several times.
Mu Rong Lao watched them leave for the hospital, then he turned back to me. "Sorry you'll have to deal with that. And thank you for not killing off Xiao Qiu."
"I don't think he'll be a problem again," I said, glancing at Lu Bu, who was standing stoically several meters away. A smile crept across my face. "The moment he learned the true identity of my war spirit, he practically pissed himself."