You, a tyrannical ruler, roam the heavens; you cannot understand my joy.

Inside the imperial study, Lu Zuo calmly straightened the slightly loose collar of his dragon robe.

Having a talented, beautiful, and sensible female secretary can certainly bring joy and relaxation when handling official business...

Not far away, Li Qingzhao stood with her back to him, facing a bronze mirror. Her slender fingers deftly gathered her slightly disheveled hair, and her cheeks still bore the faint blush of her previous relationship.

Sensing Lu Zuo's gaze, she turned her head in the mirror, her eyes sparkling, giving him a charming wink that was a mix of shyness and boldness.

"Your Majesty, Hong Qigong, the leader of the Beggars' Sect, requests an audience."

"Announce."

......

A moment later, Hong Qigong strode in, still looking as unkempt as ever, but with a more solemn expression.

He clasped his hands in a salute and said in a loud voice, "Your Majesty, the men you requested have been brought by Old Beggar. They are the most reliable and capable men in the gang, and they have been settled outside the city."

A glint flashed in Lu Zuo's eyes, and he nodded slightly: "Very good, I want to meet them in person."

.....

Half an hour later, inside the abandoned City God Temple in the west of the city.

Seven or eight elite members of the Beggars' Sect, led by the law enforcement elder Lu Mang, immediately knelt down upon seeing Hong Qigong accompanied by a distinguished young man: "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

"Rise, all of you. This is not the imperial court; there is no need for formalities."

Lu Zuoxu helped him up, his gaze sharp as lightning sweeping over the crowd.

These men were all shrewd and had sharp eyes; they were clearly experienced and skilled martial artists.

He hastily rose, stood respectfully with his hands at his sides, and was secretly alarmed.

The young official appeared to stand there casually, yet he possessed an imposing and unyielding aura. When his gaze swept over him, even this seasoned veteran felt an invisible pressure.

Elder Lu.

Lu Zuo cut to the chase: "Chief Hong must have already informed you. I intend to establish a pair of eyes and ears to monitor the entire country, especially the slightest movement inside and outside Lin'an City."

"You've been in the underworld for a long time and are well-informed. In your opinion, how should this matter be handled in a way that is both secretive and efficient?"

Lu Mang took a deep breath, pondered for a moment, and replied, "Your Majesty, I have discussed this with my brothers and we have some preliminary thoughts."

"Firstly, they are deeply rooted in the streets and alleys. The Beggars' Clan members are found in restaurants, teahouses, docks, inns, brothels, and entertainment venues, and have eyes and ears in all walks of life."

"Based on this, a network of informants can be built at the grassroots level, dedicated to gathering information on rumors in the streets and monitoring the movements of ordinary officials."

"This network prioritizes breadth over quality, but it needs to be quick to respond."

"Secondly, elite infiltration. Select astute and highly skilled key personnel to infiltrate various princely residences, the mansions of important officials, and even key government offices."

"They might serve as servants, cultivate relationships with low- to mid-level officials, or even... gain control over officials with whom they could have incriminating evidence."

"This line of work seeks stability and depth, with the goal of obtaining core secrets for His Majesty."

Thirdly, message transmission.

"Openly, one can use beggars' codes or changes in shop names as means of communication."

"For classified information, it is necessary to train specialized personnel to establish secure channels by using their identities as cover."

"There are some secret communication methods in the martial arts world that can be improved and used."

Lu Zuo listened quietly, nodding inwardly.

This reckless man is indeed worthy of an elder of the Beggars' Sect. His plan is pragmatic and shrewd, demonstrating a deep understanding of the essence of intelligence work. It has both broad coverage and deep penetration, while also emphasizing confidentiality.

It seems Hong Qigong really chose the right person...

"The strategy is very much to my liking."

Lu Zuo praised, "I will fully support you in terms of manpower, funds, and necessary cover."

"I only ask for two things: loyalty and secrecy."

"This matter concerns the fate of the nation, as well as your own lives and property. I hope you will remember this."

Lu Mang and the others felt a chill run down their spines and replied in unison, "We will obey Your Majesty's decree, even at the cost of our lives!"

"it is good."

Lu Zuo's gaze sharpened: "As for the name of this team, I think it should be called 'Heavenly Net and Earthly Trap'."

"Reckless! I will now give the 'Heavenly Net' its first task."

Lu Zuo's voice lowered, yet carried a chilling killing intent: "Keep a close watch on Qin Hui, the Vice Chancellor!"

Lu Mang's eyes narrowed, and he listened intently, holding his breath.

"I order you to use all means to investigate two matters."

"First, among the civil and military officials in the court, who are Qin Hui's confidants and cronies, how do they collude, and what interests do they have?"

"Second, is there any conclusive evidence that Qin Hui and his cronies were corrupt, abused their power, or formed cliques for personal gain?"

The temple was completely silent, save for the mournful sound of the night wind blowing through the broken windows.

Lu Mang felt a heavy pressure, and a surge of excitement. Such a high-profile target right off the bat?

This emperor is indeed going to take action against the biggest pro-peace faction in the court!

Lu Mang clasped his hands in a deep fist salute: "This humble subject understands."

The reason why Lu Zuo hasn't taken action against Qin Hui yet is mainly because he's new here and doesn't know much about the situation, nor does he know who Qin Hui's faction is, and he's afraid that some might have slipped through the net.

If you're going to do it, do it thoroughly and cleanly!

Uproot Qin Hui and his faction!

puff!

Just then, something unexpected happened!

Hong Qigong, who was standing beside Lu Zuo, suddenly trembled, and his face instantly changed from a normal rosy color to a terrifying golden paper color. He opened his mouth and spat out a jet of dark red blood.

Immediately, his breath weakened rapidly like a punctured balloon, his eyes rolled back, and he fell straight backward!

"Boss!"

"Seventh Master!"

The expressions of everyone inside the temple changed drastically, and exclamations of surprise arose from all sides.

Lu Mang, who was closest, rushed forward and barely managed to support Hong Qigong's limp body. He felt that Hong Qigong's body was burning hot and his pulse was erratic and weak, which was a sign of a deep coma!

"Seventh Master! What's wrong?"

Lu Mang hurriedly tried to use his internal energy to protect Hong Qigong's heart meridian, but felt a cold and vicious aura running rampant in his body, which was extremely difficult to suppress.

Lu Zuo's pupils suddenly contracted, and he took a step forward, his fingers already touching Hong Qigong's wrist.

He felt a sinister and persistent foreign energy raging through Hong Qigong's meridians, constantly eroding his life force. This was no ordinary injury!

Hong Qigong's skills were so profound that he was immune to both heat and cold. How could he suddenly vomit blood and faint for no reason?

This is clearly a very powerful ambush!

Is it poison?

Or is it some kind of strange and mysterious technique?

Just as Lu Zuo's mind raced and his face turned ashen,

Hahahaha!

A burst of arrogant and rampant laughter, like the hooting of an owl, came from outside the dilapidated temple gate, growing louder as it approached, sounding particularly jarring in the silent wilderness.

"Old beggar, no matter how profound your skills, if you're struck by the Buddha's Vajra Dharani, when the time comes, your internal organs will rot and your meridians will be shattered!"

"Today is your death day!"

Before the words were finished, three Tantric monks dressed in crimson robes and wearing rooster-crest hats appeared in the dim moonlight outside the temple gate.

The leader was a tall man with a dark complexion, sinister eyes, and a cruel sneer on his lips; he was the one who had spoken earlier.

The two men behind him, one fat and one thin, both had prominent temples, clearly indicating that they possessed considerable internal strength.

Lu Mang gently laid Hong Qigong down, then abruptly stood up, his eyes bloodshot, and angrily pointed at the leading monk: "It was you!"

"Was it you wicked monks who poisoned Master Qi?!"

The dark-faced monk snorted coldly, his tone full of disdain: "So what if it is?"

"That old beggar got what he deserved!"

"Today, you wretched beggars will accompany him to the Western Paradise to see Buddha!"

"You wicked monk, prepare to die!"

Driven by reckless rage, he disregarded the opponent's strength and charged forward with a roar. He unleashed the "Regretful Dragon" move in a fit of anger, his palm strike fierce and aimed straight for the black-faced monk's chest!

As the Beggars' Sect's law enforcement elder, he had already received the true teachings of Hong Qigong's Dragon Subduing Palm technique, and its power was even more astonishing when he was enraged.

However, when the dark-faced monk saw the palm strike coming, he neither dodged nor avoided it; instead, a hint of mockery flashed in his eyes.

Just as the reckless palm strike was about to hit him, the black-faced monk twisted his body strangely, sliding away half a step like an eel, avoiding the direct impact of the palm strike.

At the same time, his right hand's five fingers were bent and spread, with a faint black aura emanating from the fingertips, and he quickly and recklessly twisted his wrist back like a ghost!

Its speed and unpredictable moves far exceeded Lu Mang's expectations!

Lu Mang never expected that the opponent's movements would be so strange and the moves so vicious. His wrist was about to be firmly gripped, and if it were to be tainted by that black energy, the consequences would be unimaginable!

His old strength was exhausted and his new strength had not yet been generated. He had no time to change his move, and a chill ran through him!

In the blink of an eye!

A figure moved faster than a reckless thought!

Lu Zuo had been observing coldly and with his mind highly focused. He had already noticed the strange and vicious moves of the black-faced monk when he made the slightest movement.

Seeing Lu Mang in danger, he didn't think twice. He stomped his left foot on the ground and shot out like an arrow. He grabbed Lu Mang by the back of his collar with his left hand and pulled him backward!

At the same time, his right palm struck out!

This is the first move of the fully perfected Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms...

The dragon that soars too high will regret it!

This palm strike, though delivered later, arrived first!

Instead of the reckless, angry roar, there was an indescribable calmness and domineering presence!

The palm strike was concentrated and did not dissipate, as if the air was compressed, emitting a deep hum, with a long aftereffect and containing endless variations, directly targeting the spot where the black-faced monk was sure to save!

The black-faced monk thought he had it all figured out, but suddenly felt a chilling palm wind pressing down on him, and his expression changed drastically!

He felt that the power contained in this palm was far greater than that of Lu Mang, so he had no choice but to give up capturing Lu Mang and forcefully change the move that was aimed at Lu Mang into a block. He crossed his palms and used all his strength to take Lu Zuo's palm head-on!

Bang!

The two palms clashed together, producing a loud, muffled thunderous sound!

The force of the air was so strong that it stirred up dust inside the temple, and even made the dilapidated statues sway.

The black-faced monk felt an overwhelming, extremely powerful force surging towards him. His esoteric Buddhist energy, which he had painstakingly cultivated for many years, melted away like ice and snow in the face of this force, becoming utterly vulnerable!

His arms were in excruciating pain, as if they were about to break. His chest felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer, and his blood and qi were churning wildly!

Immediately, he flew backward like a kite with a broken string, tracing a tragic arc.

The two monks behind him, one fat and one thin, were shocked and rushed forward to catch him.

The three staggered back several feet before barely managing to regain their balance. The dark-faced monk's face was ashen, and his breathing was disordered, clearly indicating that he had suffered severe internal injuries.

He clutched his chest, staring intently at the young figure at the temple entrance with utter horror.

"Extremely Yang and powerful... the Dragon Subduing Palm technique?"

"Who...who exactly are you?"

"When did the Beggars' Sect produce a master of your caliber?"

At this moment,

The temple was deathly silent.

Lu Mang and the other Beggars' Sect experts stared dumbfounded at the figure outside the temple gate, their hearts filled with turbulent emotions.

At this moment,

The temple was deathly silent.

Lu Mang and the other Beggars' Sect experts stared dumbfounded at the figure outside the temple gate, their hearts filled with turbulent emotions.

The gang leader did indeed say that His Majesty was a genius, having already mastered the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms...

But... but this power is just too terrifying, isn't it?

That black-faced demon monk's martial arts were strange; even Elder Lu was almost caught off guard. Yet His Majesty struck first, severely injuring the opponent with a single palm strike.

What profound and refined internal energy must that possess?!

Lu Zuo didn't bother to answer the dark-faced monk's surprised question.

His eyes were cold as he stepped out of the temple and glanced at the three Tantric monks who were supporting each other and looked terrified.

"Antidote."

The dark-faced monk coughed up blood, his eyes flickering, seemingly still trying to struggle. A cold glint flashed in Lu Zuo's eyes, and his figure darted forward like a ghost. Everyone only saw a blur before their eyes, followed by two crisp "crack" sounds and a shrill scream!

The other two monks didn't even have time to react before Lu Zuo snapped their arms, which were holding weapons, with lightning speed, and the weapons clattered to the ground.

"Hand it over, or die."

"In...in my arms! I'll give it to you!"

The black-faced monk was utterly terrified by this ruthless and decisive method, and tremblingly pulled out a small purple porcelain bottle from his robes.

Lu Zuo took the porcelain bottle, uncorked it, and poured out two vermilion pills with a pungent and spicy smell.

His gaze was sharp as a knife, fixed on the dark-faced monk: "You, eat one first."

The dark-faced monk's face turned deathly pale, his eyes darted around in panic, and his lips trembled as he stammered, "This...this antidote is precious; one pill is enough. Why..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lu Zuo already understood.

This antidote is a scam!

Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Zuo pointed his fingers like a sword and swiftly struck the forehead of the fat monk with the missing arm beside him!

The fat monk didn't utter a sound; his eyes were wide open, and he collapsed to the ground, dead.

Clean and efficient, ruthless and merciless!

The remaining black-faced monk and the skinny monk were so frightened that they almost fell to the ground.

"The last chance, the real cure."

"Yes, yes, yes! It's really here!"

The dark-faced monk almost cried, frantically pulling out a small white jade bottle from his body and pouring out some white powder.

"This is...this is the real 'Qingxin San' (a traditional Chinese medicine formula), what was just now was...a fake medicine that exacerbated the poisoning..."

Lu Zuo took the jade bottle and said coldly, "You two, each take some."

The two dared not disobey and, trembling, dipped their fingers in the powder and swallowed it.

After a while, seeing that the two were not in any abnormal condition and their breathing seemed to have stabilized a bit, Lu Zuo then tossed the jade bottle to Lu Mang, who was still in shock behind him.

"Reckless! Give it to Chief Hong."

Lu Mang took the jade bottle, looked at the weak Hong Gang Leader on the ground, and then at the young emperor whose expression was terrifyingly calm. He felt a chill run down his spine.

His Majesty is so shrewd and ruthless in handling affairs!

If His Majesty hadn't been there, in my haste, I probably would have fed the fake medicine in that purple bottle to Seventh Master without a second thought, and the consequences would have been...

He dared not think any further and quickly did as instructed, carefully feeding the white powder into Hong Qigong's mouth.

As the powder entered his throat, the terrifying golden color on Hong Qigong's face faded slowly at a visible rate. Although he was still not awake, his breathing became noticeably more steady and longer.

Lu Mang finally breathed a long sigh of relief, his gaze towards Lu Zuo filled with gratitude and awe.

Lu Zuo then turned his gaze back to the two monks, whose faces were ashen. "Why did you resort to such a vicious attack on Chief Hong?"

The dark-faced monk, now devoid of any arrogance, collapsed to the ground, his voice trembling as he confessed, "One year ago..."

"When Chief Hong was traveling in the Western Regions, he... at the foot of the snow-capped mountains, rescued a little girl from our fellow disciples..."

"That girl is... a runaway slave from under the Living Buddha's tutelage, which wouldn't have been a problem... but..."

"But when she escaped, she stole a copy of the secret manual of my supreme esoteric Buddhist technique, the 'Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill'!"

"We are acting on the orders of the Living Buddha to retrieve the secret manual..."

"But after that girl was rescued by Chief Hong, she disappeared without a trace... We couldn't find her, so we had no choice but to... we had no choice but to target Chief Hong, hoping to force him to reveal the girl's whereabouts and retrieve the secret manual..."

Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill?

Lu Zuo's heart skipped a beat! An overwhelming surge of joy instantly welled up inside him!

How could he not know this supreme protective power of Tantric Buddhism?

Legend has it that this skill is incredibly powerful, increasing the strength of a dragon and an elephant with each level of cultivation, and reaching the tenth level grants a palm strike of a thousand catties, making it as easy as child's play to split stone tablets!

More importantly, this skill seems to rely heavily on innate talent and is slow to master, so very few people can reach a high level of proficiency.

but……

Is this a problem for someone like me who has a cheat code?

Not at all!

Once you obtain the manual, you can instantly push it to the Great Perfection level using your cultivation points!

The tenth floor?

That's the beginning!

Once you obtain the manual, you can instantly push it to the unprecedented thirteenth perfect level with your cultivation points!

At that time, with the combined power of the thirteen dragons and thirteen elephants, along with his already mastered many unique skills...

Who in this world can stop us?

Thinking of this, Lu Zuo looked at the two Tantric monks.

"I've heard of a technique called the 'Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill,' which claims to grant strength equivalent to a thousand pounds. Have you two... learned it?"

The dark-faced monk, enduring excruciating internal pain, replied, "This skill is the supreme protective divine skill of my esoteric sect, incomparably profound... It cannot be taught in its entirety to anyone who is not a core true disciple..."

Did you only get the first seven levels of the mantra?

I don't know the subsequent cultivation methods?

"Write down from memory all the incantations and energy circulation diagrams of the first seven levels of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill that you know, as well as other martial arts of your Tantric sect, including body techniques and palm techniques."

Upon hearing this, the two monks' eyes instantly blazed with a strong will to survive.

"My lord! If this humble monk surrenders his martial arts techniques, could you... could you spare our lives?"

Lu Zuo nodded: "Okay."

At this moment, the two monks only wanted to survive, and they no longer cared about the sect's precepts.

……

Soon, on the tattered yellow paper that the monks had found, the two monks wrote down and drew out as much detail as possible the incantations and meridian diagrams they knew.

In order to survive, they dared not obviously cheat, but they secretly made extremely subtle alterations to several key points of luck and visualization details, attempting to sow the seeds of future trouble.

Lu Zuo took the stack of papers with the ink still wet and quickly scanned them.

With his current martial arts cultivation as a grandmaster, although he had never been exposed to esoteric martial arts, he could see at a glance that the circulation of energy in the technique was quite unique and should be a genuine transmission.

However, in two or three minor places, the flow of qi and blood is slightly sluggish, which subtly contradicts the overall essence.

Ha, they did keep something in reserve.

pity……

This alteration is meaningless.

next second!

Lu Zuo's figure flickered, approaching like a ghost!

Bang!

Immediately, a palm was placed on the top of the black-faced monk's head.

The immense force instantly penetrated to the bone, destroying all life.

The hope in his eyes instantly turned into endless terror and disbelief, and then he lost his composure and collapsed to the ground.

The skinny monk was terrified and turned to run away, but Lu Zuo arrived first, pointing his fingers like a sword and accurately striking the acupoint on the monk's back.

Thump...

The thin monk collapsed forward, blood gushing from his mouth and nose. He struggled to turn his head, staring intently at Lu Zuo, as if to question why he had broken his promise.

"I'm sorry, I was just kidding."

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