“Bang!” An explosive sound could be heard as Chu Li was sent flying toward a window with bronze casements.

　　 To stop Chu Li from crashing into the window, one of the elders stretched out a hand and sent Chu Li flying toward himself instead.

　　 “Don’t touch him!” Xu Zhenshan shouted.

　　 The elder then lowered his hand, and Chu Li landed on the ground on his back.

　　 Xu Zhenshan reached out a hand to examine Chu Li’s pulse before touching his chest and his forehead briefly. Then, as he lifted his gaze and looked at the other three elders, he shook his head and said, “He has breathed his last.”

　　 “He’s dead?” The three of them frowned.

　　 Xu Zhenshan withdrew his hand and gestured for them to examine him.

　　 After they had each taken their turn to examine him, they shook their heads and sighed.

　　 “This young fellow was a genius at cultivation. It’s such a tragedy for him to die like this!” a tall and sturdy elder with white beard and eyebrows said with a sigh. “Although he’s been somewhat anxious to achieve quick success, his soul is unusually strong. This is my first time hearing of someone capable of touching an Enlightened Master’s golden body within such a short amount of time.”

　　 “Well, he did suffer a blow from an Enlightened Master,” a tall and thin elder beside him said and huffed. “It’s not easy to withstand an Enlightened Master’s energy. No one in this world has ever survived a blow from an Enlightened Master!”

　　 “He was seeking his death,” a round-faced elder said while he shook his head. “Didn’t he know that an Enlightened Master’s golden body contains the Enlightened Master’s energy? He’s an intelligent person, so he should have known that he would be committing suicide by touching it. Nonetheless, this is quite a unique method to commit suicide!”

　　 The other three men nodded.

　　 Everyone here should have been aware that there was still inner energy flowing within an Enlightened Master’s golden body. Thus, anyone who touched it would have to suffer a blow from an Enlightened Master’s energy, which would certainly have a fatal impact on the person. However, Lu Xuzhou had gone ahead and touched it anyway, so it seemed like he had indeed been seeking his death.

　　 “What a pity!” Xu Zhenshan sighed. “He was truly a genius at cultivation.”

　　 “There have been countless other cultivation geniuses who have died in this world,” the tall and thin elder muttered with a scoff. “He was the one who had a death wish, so none of us could have stopped him anyway! Nevertheless, this is a unique way of dying indeed. How should we handle his funeral arrangements?”

　　 “We’ll have to send his body out of the Inner Mausoleum to be buried outside Adjacent Town,” Xu Zhenshan replied while he shook his head. “Whoever touches an Enlightened Master’s golden body is forbidden from entering the Inner Mausoleum ever again. This is a strict rule. Although he’s dead, he should not be excused from being punished, so we can’t allow him to be buried in the Inner Mausoleum.”

　　 “… Hmm, okay. I’ve noticed that he’s been longing to go back as well,” the round-faced elder said with a sigh. “I guess it makes sense. After all, he was still quite young — unlike us, we’re a bunch of old people here. How could he stand the idea of staying in the Inner Mausoleum for the rest of his life?”

　　 The four elders were feeling somewhat emotional.

　　 After that, Xu Zhenshan carried Chu Li’s stiffening corpse out of Chong Wen Hall. When Zhao Xuan came over and saw Chu Li’s dead body, a look of pity appeared on his face.

　　 Zhao Xuan had thought very highly of Chu Li and felt that this Young Lu had high hopes of becoming an Enlightened Master. Unfortunately, he had died so soon. They had not even gotten to know each other better.

　　 “Elder Zhao, a dead person cannot be brought back to life. Although no miraculous pills and medicine can revive him since he has died after suffering a blow from an Enlightened Master, you should keep him in Jing Tian Pavilion first in case something unexpected happens. Seven days later, send his body out of the Inner Mausoleum to be buried outside of Adjacent Town.”

　　 “Understood.” Zhao Xuan nodded.

　　 Hence, he picked Chu Li up and brought him into a hall inside Jing Tian Pavilion.

　　 As the air in this hall was unusually cold, dead bodies would not decay when they were kept here.

　　 Seven days later, when Zhao Xuan came over, he found that Chu Li’s body had become as stiff as stone and it did not exhibit any strange signs. Therefore, he brought the body out of the Imperial Mausoleum and came straight to a cemetery outside of Adjacent Town. After Zhao Xuan had found a coffin for Chu Li and had placed his body in it, the elderly man buried the coffin. He then planted three pine trees at the head of the grave and erected a gravestone for Lu Xuzhou.

　　 Once he was done burying Chu Li, Zhao Xuan drank some wine before he poured a cup of wine in front of the gravestone. As he did that, he could not help but shake his head and sigh for a while before he glided away at last.

　　 …

　　 At dawn, Xiao Qi walked out of her room and came to the courtyard looking exhausted.

　　 It was very quiet in the courtyard. Aside from the melodious sound of birds chirping, she had heard no other noise around her.

　　 She was not used to not having Chu Li around. She would usually feel calm and at peace even if Chu Li was just sitting on his bed cultivating and meditating in his room.

　　 She knew that Chu Li had assumed Lu Xuzhou’s identity and entered the Inner Mausoleum to find out the secrets within that place. Chu Li wanted to know himself and his enemy better so that he would be able to deal with the emperor later.

　　 However, seven days had passed and he had not once returned. This was an extremely rare situation.

　　 As Xiao Qi was a highly intuitive person, she could sense that something bad had happened to Chu Li. Over the past seven days, she had been in a constant state of restlessness and she had felt a heavy sense of foreboding. Unfortunately, the Inner Mausoleum was not a place she could easily access, so there was no way for her to find out what was going on in there.

　　 She had been having difficulty sleeping again last night since an image of Chu Li dying kept appearing in her mind as soon as she closed her eyes. Thus, she got up and tried to meditate in order to get rid of those distracting thoughts. However, the idea of Chu Li having encountered an accident kept coming back to bother her from time to time. In the end, she could not control her mind to drive away those distracting thoughts through meditation.

　　 Having a feeling that things were not going well for Chu Li, Xiao Qi could not stop herself from sending someone to find out what had happened to Lu Xuzhou.

　　 “Thud, thud!” The sound of someone knocking on the door came from outside.

　　 “Come in!” Xiao Qi put on a white veil to conceal her beautiful face.

　　 The main door of the residence was pushed open. Soon, a good-looking servant came in and said in a low voice, “Madam, I have found out what has happened to Lu Xuzhou.”

　　 “Where is he?” Xiao Qi calmly asked while she looked at the servant.

　　 This servant worked at a restaurant in Adjacent Town and he was quite a loyal spy of hers.

　　 The servant replied with a hushed voice, “He’s dead. A protector with the surname Zhao from the Inner Mausoleum has bought a coffin and buried him in the cemetery outside this town.”

　　 “Dead!” Xiao Qi repeated with a gleam in her eyes.

　　 The servant nodded. “This was what Old Man Li from the coffin shop told me. He saw Lu Xuzhou’s body with his own eyes. He also said that Lu Xuzhou has been dead for seven days but his body hasn’t started rotting yet, although it’ll probably happen soon.”

　　 Xiao Qi calmly nodded and replied, “Okay, I see. You may leave now.”

　　 She then took out a silver ingot from inside her sleeve and tossed it to the servant.

　　 The servant hurriedly thanked her before he quietly went out of the residence before closing the main door behind him.

　　 Xiao Qi waited until he had left before slowly she slowly raised her feet while she held onto the stone table for support. She could feel her slim body going weak as it trembled slightly.

　　 She took in a deep breath and tried to calm herself but failed to do so. One word lingered in her mind. ‘Dead… Dead… Dead…”

　　 She could not bring herself to believe what she had just heard.

　　 Deep in her mind, she was very confident in Chu Li and she believed that he would not die even if everyone else was dead. His martial arts skills were top-notch while his intelligence surpassed that of most people. He would always have a way to escape from the most difficult and challenging situations, so he would never die even if he had to go up against an Enlightened Master.

　　 However, after having lived through these past seven days with a constant sense of foreboding, she had no choice but to believe it when she heard this news.

　　 She did not want to accept it, and neither was she willing to believe it.

　　 There were too many things Chu Li had not yet accomplished, even though he had been working so hard to achieve them. He had not managed to kill King An, to become an Enlightened Master, to explore the world, to consummate his marriage with her, to have his own children, and to experience the joy of having a family.

　　 He had always been up to his neck in work and had been busy rushing about for the benefit of the High Duke’s Public House as well as for her own and her sister’s sake. However, he had nothing and no one to call his own; he had never truly stopped to enjoy anything at all!

　　 She did not believe that Chu Li would really leave her one day and that a time would come when she would not be able to see him anymore!

　　 She clutched her chest, feeling as though a sword was being twisted around in her torso.

　　 “Puff!” She opened her mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood. Her white veil was stained red.

　　 As she pulled off the white veil and flung it aside, she opened her mouth again but she could not make a sound. Xiao Qi felt as though an excruciating pain was tearing her apart, yet she could not let out even a groan. Eventually, the colors and noises of her surroundings faded away.

　　 Suddenly, Chu Li’s figure appeared before her. It looked as if Chu Li was currently sitting beside the stone table, slowing lifting a teacup to take a sip from it while he smiled at her.

　　 “Puff!” She sprayed another mouthful of blood as she swayed unsteadily.

　　 Then, Xiao Qi forcefully shook her head all of a sudden — she refused to believe this news. She wanted to see it for herself. Perhaps the person who had died was not Chu Li but the real Lu Xuzhou.