Level Up in Martial World

"Sister Yun'er, about me joining the Xia family..."

"Oh yes, brother Fei, you can join the family, but there is a condition." Xia Yun'er said as she put her head down, acting cute.

"What condition?" Fe Cai frowned when he heard this.

"You have to marry a woman of our family and change your family name."

When Fe Cai heard that he needed to change his family name, he tightened his fist hidden by his sleeve; however, he needed the resources really badly right now.

"Alright." Fe Cai agreed with an expressionless face.

"This woman should be useful to me for now, so it is best for me to have a good relationship with her." He thought as he looked at the blushing Xia Yun'er.

"How interesting this guy is talented enough, but he doesn't qualify as my husband. His status isn't enough. But why did my father tell me to make him fall in love with me?" A glint passed through her eyes as she acted shy towards Fe Cai.

"As for Lu Zhen, he will be dead soon. It was true that he defeated a half-step third-stage martial artist. Since he was able to beat my guard, who was a peak martial trainee," she thought to herself as she wrote a note on a small piece of paper.

"Send it to the family," Xia Yun'er instructed her injured guard with a cold gaze.

"Yes, young miss," he barely managed to say, breathing heavily with despair in his eyes. Although he had recovered considerably, he was still mutilated and would be forever scarred.

She placed the paper in his pocket, and the guard hurried away towards the Xia family.

"I hope you can survive, Lu Zhen," she thought with an evil smirk on her face.

"What did you send, Yun'er?" Fe Cai asked, curious.

"Oh, it's nothing, Brother Fei. Since my guard was injured, I sent him to get medicinal aid and sent a letter to ensure he will be given the best treatment," Xia Yun'er through her teeth. How can she care about a mere guard?

"How about we go now, Brother Fei?"

Fe Cai simply nodded as they both walked away towards the Xia family, their hands slowly joining.

"Kid, guide Yu Bai well," Lu Zhen instructed as he looked at Xiao Yun, who was in the front seat, giving directions to Old Bai.

He leaned back in his seat and tried to summon his system with a thought, but no prompt appeared.

"Oh, I forgot the system was shut down," Lu Zhen realised with some disappointment.

As he patiently waited in the carriage, a sense of unease began to build within him.

"Did I forget something?" Lu Zhen thought to himself as he looked around, but everything seemed normal, with Xiao Yun guiding Old Bai and the old man sitting opposite to him.

Lu Zhen carefully used his five senses outside of the carriage to detect any anomalies, but he couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary.

"Wait." Suddenly, Lu Zhen's eyes widened as he rolled up his right sleeve, revealing the tattoo of the butterfly, which had previously been pitch black but was now glowing with a red light.

"What is this thing reacting to?" Lu Zhen wondered aloud.

Since he had stolen the tattoo from that white-haired girl and essentially made it his own through refinement, he had never experienced such a reaction from it. Even his appraisal skill had only shown one use for it, leaving many aspects of its power unknown to him.

His eyes widened further with realisation as he felt a familiar sensation, as if time itself was slowing down around him.

The old man sitting opposite him had become a statue, and Lu Zhen couldn't even hear the old man's heart beating. He remained as still as a stone.

Yu Bai and Xiao Yun were also frozen in the same eerie stillness.

Even the horses pulling the carriage had stopped mid-stride, frozen in a strange running position as the carriage itself came to a halt.

Then, Lu Zhen felt the touch of a small, icy-cold hand on his shoulder. It sent chills down his spine.

Almost instinctively, without looking back, he executed a powerful back-kick, breaking the carriages apart, and attempted to make his escape.

However, almost instantly, he sensed those small, icy hands closing around him from behind.

Lu Zhen let out a sigh as he stepped back, slowly turning back.

"Yo, little girl, how are you doing?" Lu Zhen addressed the white-haired girl, who still wore the same dress as before and had deep, dark-colored eyes, although they couldn't compare to his tattoo.

Frowning slightly, he noticed a small bird on the girl's shoulder now.

The girl remained silent, staring deeply at Lu Zhen.

Lu Zhen stared right back at her, meeting her pitch-black eyes with an expressionless face.

Time passed, and an awkward silence enveloped Lu Zhen and the girl as they engaged in their intense stare-down.

Suddenly, the bird on the girl's shoulder seemed to lose its patience and chirped loudly.

"So, you're the one with the ancient warrior physique," the bird spoke with a hoarse voice, opening its beak.

Lu Zhen was stunned by this revelation.

"You can speak?" he blurted out, though the bird's ability was not entirely surprising after witnessing the girl's earlier revival when he first met her.

"Answer my question."

"So what if I am?" Lu Zhen cautiously responded, adopting a fighting stance.

"I would have previously taken over your body, but since you possess the ancient warrior psyche, I have a deal to propose," the bird spoke casually, looking at Lu Zhen with sparkling eyes.

"What kind of deal?" Lu Zhen's expression seemed to relax.

"But before that, I need to determine if you're qualified or not…"

Suddenly, Lu Zhen's instincts flared with danger. He quickly sidestepped to the left.

In his previous position, an ice spear was shot, passing through and hitting a tree. It penetrated the tree within seconds and continued on its path, unobstructed.

Lu Zhen's eyes widened as he watched the ice spear move along. Its momentum didn't slow down in the slightest as it pierced through trees along its path until it disappeared from his sight.

"This could cut through my skin like butter."

However before he could even think he suddenly felt the temperature rising as his body felt heavy for some reason.

Lu Zhen instinctively looked up which made his eyes widened with pure horror.

"That's a f*cking meteor..."