High Martial: I Can Copy All Root Bones!

Northern Song Country.

Centered on the Imperial Palace, an endless expanse of cities and towns stretched out in every direction.

It crisscrossed the land for dozens of miles.

This was the political and cultural heart of the Song Country, the Capital Region.

The largest city in the Song Country, the Capital City.

Now, every prefecture in the Song Country had been plunged into the chaos of war, leaving the people displaced and homeless.

But the people of the Capital Region still lived affluent lives. It was early morning, and many residents were strolling the streets in groups, carrying birdcages to air their birds.

In the street corners, people were pitting crickets against each other, holding cockfights, and even staging turtle fights.

It was a scene of peace and prosperity.

And yet, a dozen or so miles away, at the southern gate of the Capital Region...

The city wall, hundreds of feet high, was like a natural chasm, barring countless people from entry.

Atop the wall, the Capital Guard Army stood guard around the clock, ensuring not even a mosquito could fly into the Capital City.

Below the wall, a sea of people who had traveled from afar had already gathered, but not a single one was allowed into the city.

Among them were even some formidable Martial Arts Families.

They were not allowed into the city, but they did not want to be swept up in the war. What were they to do?

The common folk could only pitch tents beneath the city wall and eke out an existence just outside the Capital City.

At first, the Capital Guard Army would send troops to drive them away.

But after the southern part of Yunyang Prefecture was carved up by the Profound Nether Sect and the Saint Demon Sect, the number of people gathered outside the Capital City had exceeded ten million.

The Capital Guard Army was now powerless to drive them away, so the people beneath the wall survived as best they could, living just outside the city.

Outside the wall, in a section close to the fortifications, an area had been clearly cordoned off, distinct from the dwellings of the common refugees.

If Lu Changfeng were here, he would have recognized it as the temporary encampment of Feng City’s Wang Family.

Everyone coming and going within the encampment was a member of the Wang Family from Feng City.

A slender figure walked out from the encampment with a slight frown. Seeing the crude environment outside, her frown deepened.

This woman was none other than Wang Yue, who had fled to the Capital Region with her family.

However, the Wang Family’s luck was not good. After they arrived in the Capital Region, the gates to the Capital City were closed.

No matter where you came from, you were not allowed into the Capital City!

If your Martial Arts were strong enough, you could scale the hundred-foot walls and evade the Capital Guard Army to get inside, but your family couldn’t. You would have no choice but to remain outside with them.

Besides, the Capital Guard Army was not to be trifled with. Without the cultivation of the Bone Refining Fourth or Fifth Layer, rushing up there recklessly was a death sentence.

Currently, the Wang Family only had one ancestor at the Bone Refining Fifth Layer who had managed to enter the Capital City.

He spent his days rushing about the city, seeking an opportunity to get the rest of the Wang Family inside.

But half a year had passed. The Wang Family had spent a considerable fortune, yet there was still no word on when they might be allowed into the city.

The Wang Family was the number one family in Feng City, but in the Capital Region, they were nothing.

Without even a single Rebirth Realm expert, the upper echelons of the Capital Region couldn’t even be bothered to give the Wang Family a second glance.

Wang Yue’s father, Wang Shou, was still with her, living like a refugee beneath the city wall.

Now that Feng City was the center of the conflict in Yunyang Prefecture, it was even more impossible for the Wang Family to return.

The future of the Wang Family was like a duckweed floating in a storm, its fate uncertain.

"Yue’Er, do you blame your father in your heart?" Wang Shou’s voice came from the side.

Wang Yue turned and saw her once imposing father, now with graying temples and a haggard face.

Securing this spot near the wall for the Wang Family had already cost Wang Shou a great deal of effort.

The closer to the wall, the safer it was. Those roving bandits didn’t dare cause too much trouble under the city walls.

In the areas farther from the wall, many people were killed and robbed every day.

Wang Shou himself was not afraid, but he had to think of the younger generation of the family.

And safe places were not decided by first come, first served, but by the strength of one’s fist!

There was more than one second or third-rate Martial Arts Power that had come to the Capital Region.

To be able to maintain the Wang Family’s encampment in this position among so many Martial Arts Powers, Wang Shou had already done very well.

"Father, you’re overthinking things. How could I blame you?" Wang Yue shook her head.

"Who could have imagined that the kid from back then would become the renowned Law Enforcement Demon Sect of the Saint Demon Sect?" Wang Shou lamented.

Lu Changfeng’s reputation, following the Saint Demon Sect’s actions in Yunyang Prefecture, had naturally spread throughout Yunyang Prefecture and beyond.

Recently, every aspect of the Saint Demon Sect, from top to bottom, had been thoroughly investigated by the various powers in the Capital Region.

"He’s the Hua Family’s son-in-law now. There’s nothing possible between us anymore. Why bring him up, Father?" Wang Yue said coldly.

Wang Shou shook his head. "No. If one day, and I’m just saying if, with this connection, you might..."

"Don’t say it!" Wang Yue suddenly shouted sharply.

Wang Shou was taken aback, but he silently closed his mouth.

Wang Yue strode out of the encampment. "I’m going out to clear my head!"

"What is there to see in this refugee camp? Come back quickly," Wang Shou said with a frown.

Wang Yue didn’t reply, her mind fixed on that particular figure as an intense feeling of indignation swelled within her.

Gradually, Wang Yue’s pace quickened.

BAM!

Wang Yue seemed to have run into a wall. She staggered, then fell to the ground, landing on her backside.

Wang Yue looked up, about to let loose a stream of curses.

Suddenly, she realized something was wrong.

The crowd around her was rapidly backing away.

"The Demon Sect Saint Master!"

"It’s him!"

"It’s definitely him! I just saw the portraits of him that have been circulating around the Capital Region!"

Wang Yue’s gaze gradually focused. She realized she had bumped into a man in a purple robe.

His features were incredibly sharp, his gaze cold, and his aura domineering. The purple robe suited him perfectly.

On the man’s shoulder perched a small, fiery-red beast. The little beast’s disdainful gaze was identical to the man’s, and it was now staring at her alongside him.

’How could he be here? This is impossible, isn’t it?’ Wang Yue realized what was happening and grew flustered.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that to the purple-robed man’s left was a white-haired Martial Artist, and to his right was a man wearing a White Tiger mask. The feet of these two Martial Artists were actually floating slightly off the ground.

Coming from a Martial Arts Family, Wang Yue naturally understood that this was the sign of the Rebirth Realm.

Wang Yue couldn’t help but tremble, a cold sweat breaking out on her back. All sound from the surroundings had vanished; everyone who recognized the man’s identity had already fled into the distance.

’Is my luck really this bad?’

’I just come out for a walk and I run into the Demon Sect Saint Master? This is right under the walls of the Capital Region! What is he doing here?!’

’Why is he still staring at me? Is he going to kill me? I’m just a nobody!’ Wang Yue screamed internally. Suddenly, the image of a certain Retainer flashed through her mind.

’If I tell him I know him, will he spare me?’

"Saint Master, should we kill her?" Bai Touweng turned to look at Lu Changfeng.

He found Lu Changfeng’s current behavior a bit strange.

’She’s just an ordinary woman. Why is he staring at her for so long?’

"No. Let her go."

Lu Changfeng spoke softly, and on the ground, Wang Yue breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Changfeng continued walking, passing by her and heading toward the city wall.

Only after Lu Changfeng was completely gone did Wang Yue’s tense body finally relax, and she began to gasp for air.

The sound of footsteps rose around her again.

Wang Yue looked up to see the nearby ’refugees’ closing in again. They all knew what the appearance of the Demon Sect Saint Master here signified. Driven by a desire to see how things would unfold, or perhaps by the resentment of being shut out, the ’refugees’ curiously followed him, hoping to witness the spectacle they imagined.

Wang Yue also stood up involuntarily, blended into the crowd of refugees, and secretly followed along.

At the southern gate of the Capital Region, beneath the city wall, no living thing was permitted within a three-hundred-meter radius.

Beyond three hundred meters, the refugee camps pressed right up against the dangerous warning line.

Once, a child’s pinwheel fell inside the warning line, and the Capital Guard Army had mercilessly drawn their bows and shot the child dead.

Today, this line that no refugee dared to cross was crossed by three people.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Arrows shot down from the city wall toward Lu Changfeng.

Bai Touweng waved his palm, creating a gust of wind that easily batted all the arrows away.

"Hm? Has some Martial Arts Family finally lost its patience?" Atop the wall, a Gate Captain at the Bone Refining Realm lazily got to his feet.

"There have been some rumors outside the city lately. This is a good chance to make an example of someone."

He raised a giant longbow and aimed it down at the city.

As he centered his aim on the purple-robed man in the middle, targeting his head, he also got a clear look at his face.

The Captain’s hand trembled.

"This is..."

"Light the beacon! Ring the alarm bells! All nine of them!"

By now, Lu Changfeng had already gently tossed out the Fire Qilin.

"I’ve raised you for so long. It’s time you did some work for me."

"Clear a path for me. All the way to the Imperial Palace."

While still in mid-air, the Ancient Fire Qilin abruptly returned to its true twenty-meter-long Qilin form, its entire body wreathed in crimson flames!

ROAR!!

The Ancient Fire Qilin opened its mouth and spewed a torrent of flame a hundred meters long!

The fire swept from one end of the city wall to the other!

Screams echoed continuously from the wall. Some powerful Martial Artists tried to flee, but the breadth of the flames spat out by the Fire Qilin was too great!

Before they could get far, the flames overtook them, turning them completely to ash.

This was a true Ancient Demon Race member, a Qilin Divine Beast that was among the most powerful even in the Ancient Era!

A Demon Race expert that had survived to this day on its own power!

After incinerating the soldiers on the wall, the Fire Qilin concentrated its flames, blasting them at the very center of the fortifications.

ROAR! The flames spewing from its mouth grew stronger and stronger!

After reaching a certain limit, the southern gate—which had guarded the Song Country Capital for countless years and had been reinforced who knows how many times—was finally pierced by the flames from the mouth of this Ancient Demon Race beast!

BOOM!!

After a tremendous explosion, a hole was blasted through the city wall.

The Ancient Fire Qilin zipped through the massive hole.

It began to wreak havoc within the Imperial City.

"It’s time for the people of this Capital City, who have known peace for a thousand years, to experience the pain of war," Lu Changfeng said softly.

Bai Touweng swallowed hard. Looking at the brutally destroyed city wall, he was completely awed by the Ancient Qilin’s power.

"With such a Divine Beast, Saint Master, who in this world can stand against you?" Bai Touweng couldn’t help but say.

"Let’s go. We’ll enter the city and watch this rare spectacle," Lu Changfeng said, taking the lead and stepping through the ruins of the wall.

The ashes on the ground were still scorching hot, retaining the intense heat left behind by the Qilin’s fire.