The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

The scene was so disturbing that the three of them left.

On the way back, Lu Xiaosan asked about what had just happened again.

The two women were vague about helping him bathe, but they were very clear about the origins of the two soldiers.

Lu Xiaosan's eyes lit up. "That would be wonderful if the winner could travel to Qiantang under the protection of the Imperial Guards!"

"Don't even think they'll give you a ride. The imperial court will strictly check the identities of those traveling together. Only legitimate participants will be protected by the Imperial Guards," Sweet Cake said.

Lu Xiaosan rolled his eyes at her, "Tch, don't underestimate me. I was planning to participate in the Kaiyuan Martial Arts Tournament anyway!"

"!"

"you sure?"

Lu Xiaosan's eyes were firm and confident. "Of course! How could I let go of such an opportunity to make a name for myself?"

Sweet Cake couldn't help but mock, "With your abilities, you'd be crushed into mush once you're on stage."

Wen Ying smiled and said, "I have high hopes for Brother Lu, I believe in him."

Lu Xiaosan whistled leisurely, "Little Golden Retriever knows how to judge people, unlike you, who only knows how to be sarcastic."

Sweet Cake snorted, "So, you're planning to represent Shangyang Sect in the competition?"

“Not only me, but Little Beauty and I will also represent Shangyang Sect in the competition,” Lu Xiaosan said with a smile.

Seeing his joking remark, Sweet Cake couldn't help but say seriously, "Do you know what kind of opponents those from Xuanwu Gate in Chang'an were?"

"Tell me about it," Lu Xiaosan asked curiously.

"The Xuanwu Sect is led by General Heng Jiuzhou of the Left Martial Guard, and includes three newly promoted young leaders, and moreover..."

"Heng Jiuzhou? I know him. The day you abandoned me to save that pretty girl. He was the one who came to help me. Hey, we're from the same hometown, it's no big deal," Lu Xiaosan excitedly interjected.

"Abandoned? You two have such a thing between you?" Wen Ying asked cautiously.

Lu Xiaosan beamed with joy, "Yes, let me tell you, that day..."

Sweet Cake blushed as she listened. Although she had no choice at the time, she still felt that she hadn't acted quite right.

If Lu Xiaosan had died that night, it would have been fine, but now that he's alive, he's become a persistent knot in her heart. What's worse, he plans to talk to Miss Wen about it, which is something she absolutely cannot accept.

"Enough! If you want to participate, then hurry up and go. The competition should start tomorrow. I hope you won't regret it." Sweet Cake clenched her fist and interrupted coldly.

"Really? Then... take good care of the little golden retriever for me, I'm off." Lu Xiaosan waved his hand and hurriedly headed towards Luocheng.

"Brother Lu! Brother Lu!" Wen Ying called out twice from behind, but received no response.

She pouted and complained, "Honestly, it's always like this."

Wen Ying turned to her and asked, "Sweet Cake Girl, is Xuanwu Gate really as dangerous as you say?"

Sweetie slowly raised her head to look at Wen Ying, and a smile gradually returned to her face. "His safety is not important. What's important is your safety when we're alone together." After saying that, she couldn't help but walk towards Wen Ying again.

Wen Ying was startled again upon hearing this, and while backing away, she said, "You...you...can you please stop doing this...we are clearly...ah!"

Luoyang's Immortal Pavilion:

Lu Xiaosan saw Ning Konglou, dressed in a green robe, lying on the roof of the Zhexian Tower drinking from afar.

Because the blue pearl was still on him, he didn't hesitate and flew towards the rooftop with the prayer beads in his hand.

Ning Konglou was not surprised to see him arrive. As before, he drank his wine and gazed into the distance. He seemed to have something on his mind, but his face remained expressionless.

"Blue Pearl, take them all with you now." After saying that, he took another big gulp of wine.

Lu Xiaosan spat and immediately rejected the idea, explaining the purpose of his visit.

"You said that the two of you want to participate in the martial arts tournament?" Ning Konglou asked, slightly surprised.

“That’s right. It’s a win-win situation. We can go down in history and arrive safely. How can we miss it?” Lu Xiaosan said proudly, hands on his hips.

Ning Konglou, just like Tian Gao before him, ruthlessly mocked, "Not only do you not value your own life, but you also risk other people's. Hiccup...!" He then took another small sip of wine.

"That's not your concern. You just need to help us register," Lu Xiaosan said.

"Hmph, do you know what kind of opponents and teammates you have..." Ning Konglou suddenly paused, as if he had thought of something.

He gently stroked his chin thoughtfully, a faint smile appearing on his cold face, before abruptly asking, "Do you hate me?"

"What? Why are you asking this? Of course I hate you! You tricked us into coming here, forcibly took our precious pearl, and even made us brothers work as servants here. How can I not hate you?" Lu Xiaosan said.

"Good, very good. In that case, I can help you participate in the competition." After saying that, he shook the wine gourd in his hand and tossed it to Lu Xiaosan. "Go fill it up with wine and wait for me to come back at the Zhexian Tower."

Then, with a flick of his wrists, he sent Lu Xiaosan back downstairs, and then he himself stepped onto the green cloud and headed towards the palace.

Lu Xiaosan came to the kitchen with doubts, helping Chang'an with his work while trying to persuade him to participate in the competition.

Chang'an laughed and said, "Okay, I'll go as long as my brother goes, as long as... our teammates don't mind."

"It's alright. Our main goal is to reach Qiantang safely. It would be best if we could make a name for ourselves in history," Lu Xiaosan said.

Chang'an nodded blankly, as if he had something on his mind. After a long while, he asked softly, "Brother, do we really have to go to Qiantang?"

Lu Xiaosan was a little angry. "What? Have you wavered? Don't you also want to find out the truth about your father's death, and even more so, why he wanted you to go to Qiantang? Besides, I'm just like you now, I also want to find out about my own background and my parents."

Chang'an lowered his head and murmured, "The murder of my father... must I avenge him?"

Lu Xiaosan straightened Chang'an's body, looked firmly into his eyes, and said, "The hatred for killing one's father is irreconcilable. No matter the cost, it must be avenged. Do you understand?"

Chang'an's expression gradually changed from troubled to serious. "Understood. The hatred for killing one's father is irreconcilable!"

Lu Xiaosan breathed a sigh of relief, then said in a somewhat joking tone, "You wouldn't have become addicted to life in this brothel, would you?"

Chang'an remained serious, "No, although the beautiful ladies here are all very kind to me, I can still see the sadness brought about by the class gap."

"No matter how lavishly the older sisters dress, or how shabbyly the officials are dressed, in the end, it's still the older sisters who have to obediently serve them..."

"Furthermore, along the way, my elder brother endured countless humiliations and lived a life of hardship to keep me from starving. Therefore, I will never let my beloved and I live that kind of life again."

Chang'an's words were extremely sincere; he was determined to change the current situation.

Chang'an raised his head again, his eyes filled with a mixture of anticipation and determination. "We will all become very powerful people in the future, great figures who are admired and respected by everyone. We won't have to suffer like this anymore, am I right, brother?"

Lu Xiaosan was slightly taken aback, then laughed arrogantly: "Of course, we'll win the competition first, and then go to Qiantang to find out the truth. These miserable days will never come again."

The two continued singing and dancing like this for a long time, until Ning Konglou returned from outside.

Ning Konglou held up two contracts and said to the two of them, "If you want to participate in the competition, you must first sign these two life-or-death contracts."

"Bring me a pen!" Lu Xiaosan and Chang'an said simultaneously without hesitation.

Ning Konglou thought the two would be afraid, but to his surprise, they didn't react at all. He thought to himself that these two would surely achieve great things in the future.

"Bring me a pen," Ning Konglou said calmly.

A moment later, a graceful and beautiful noblewoman came in from outside, holding a pen; it was Fu Rou.

She walked up to Lu Xiaosan, thinking she was going to hand her a pen, but instead grabbed Lu Xiaosan's collar and said in an almost threatening voice, "Do you know who Shangyang Sect is going to face this time? Are you in such a hurry to participate?"

“I know, Heng Jiuzhou brought three twenty-year-olds, all of whom are from my hometown! Hehe.” Lu Xiaosan said with a relaxed smile.

Fu Rou sneered twice, "Youngster? Have you ever seen a youngster participate in a competition and break up three teams and cripple eight people?"

“These three young men are known in the martial arts world as the Three Tyrants, and the strongest one of them isn’t even from your hometown. He could cripple you and your brother in the blink of an eye. Even so, do you still insist on participating?” Fu Rou glared at Lu Xiao San and said.

"Don't worry, only those of similar strength would lose control and cripple someone. People as weak as you have nothing to worry about," Ning Konglou said calmly.

"Shut up, Ning Konglou!" Fu Rou said through gritted teeth, then turned to Lu Xiaosan, suppressing her anger, and said, "How about it? Think about it again."

Lu Xiaosan hissed and pinched his chin, saying, "Then tell me in more detail how powerful these three tyrants are."

Seeing that there was room for negotiation, Fu Rou clapped her hands excitedly, "Great! Among these three overlords, Raymond is the first to be targeted."

Fu Rou smiled and said, "Raymond is extremely strong and should be a very popular person, but he has been scorned by people recently because he did something unethical."

"What...what did he do?" Lu Xiaosan asked, puzzled.

"He was the chosen one, and also the youngest Class A expert."

"When he first participated in the competition at the age of seventeen, he led the Chunhu School all the way to the very end..."

"It's a pity that although his individual strength was extremely strong, this is ultimately a team battle. The Spring Lake Sect ultimately fell on the road to the finals. The final battle between him and Helai that everyone was looking forward to did not take place."

Lu Xiaosan nodded, "But their big battle will take place in this year's semi-finals... Wait, didn't you say he was from the Chunhu Sect? How come he's fighting for the Xuanwu Sect now?"

Fu Rou smiled coldly, "This is what I wanted to say. Raymond, in pursuit of honor, needed better teammates, so he chose to join the Xuanwu Sect."

Lu Xiaosan feigned surprise: "Oh dear! That's a truly heinous crime, deserving of death!"

Fu Rou smiled charmingly, "Hmph, the Kaiyuan Martial Arts Tournament allows participants to change teams. It's just that it's too unfair of him to do this, given how high hopes are placed on him from Qiantang."

She then added with a cold laugh, "Of course, the main reason is that Raymond chose a different path from Helai."

“So those who like Helai will naturally hate him,” Lu Xiaosan said.

“And quite a few people like Helai,” Furou said.

Lu Xiaosan clicked his tongue in amazement, then suddenly realized, "But after Raymond left, wouldn't the Spring Lake Sect have become a disorganized mess? How did they still manage to make it to the finals?"

Fu Rou shrugged. "After Raymond left, the Spring Lake Sect nurtured another guy with great potential. Plus, the Spring Lake Sect has been really lucky this year, with all the opponents they've encountered being relatively weak, so, hehehe."

"So that means the Spring Lake Sect has absolutely no chance of winning against either the Xuanwu Sect or the Shangyang Sect in the future?" Lu Xiaosan sighed.

"So this semi-final will be even more important than the final! Raymond will definitely do everything he can to win. And you, not only are you not from his hometown, but you're also the biggest weak point in this team. So then... heh heh...!"

Fu Rou deliberately scared him like this in the hope of dissuading him from participating in the competition.

Lu Xiaosan simply nodded twice and asked, "What about the other two? They're not from my hometown either?"

Fu Rou patiently continued, "The remaining two are originally from the Xuanwu Sect. Although they are not as dazzling as Raymond, their strength is also very formidable."

"The second person among the Three Overlords is a woman named Lin Yu. Although her strength is not up to Grade A, her speed can even surpass that of Grade A experts who strengthen their bodies with waves."

"Xu Tianzhong, the last man of the Three Heavenly Tyrants, lived up to his name. When he roared, it was like a bell from the heavens, capable of shattering all armor in the world."

Fu Rou took a deep breath, quite satisfied with her embellished words, and asked with a smile, "These three, plus the Left Martial Guard General, that's the opponent you'll be facing. So? Still want to participate?"

Lu Xiaosan and Chang'an exchanged a glance, then simultaneously tilted their heads and exclaimed arrogantly, "That's it?"