Level Up in Martial World

The book bore a small symbol: that of a small bird, which was the emblem of the Xia family.

Lu Zhen's eyes widened upon seeing the symbol. "Mother, where did you get this book from?"

"Oh, I obtained it from the corpse of an anonymous individual," Mother Lu replied with a smirk, her eyes gleaming with a hint of murderous intent.

Lu Zhen nodded in understanding as he observed her closely. "Mother, do you have a feud with the Xia family?" he asked.

"Of course, I do. That's why I didn't reprimand you when I heard from Yu Bai that you had killed their family's young master and kidnapped the young genius of the family," she chuckled.

"If it were any other family, I might have, but not the Xia family," she added, her eyes burning with hatred.

Lu Zhen had a perplexed expression as he observed the intensity of his mother's animosity.

"Do you know why I had to marry your father?" She continued, and Lu Zhen shook his head.

"You see, I was injured by the ancestor of the Xia family when I was living a secluded life in a village. I had been fighting for rare treasure in the forest and had accumulated a huge amount of resources from it. However, my location somehow got exposed, and I was relentlessly pursued by the Xia family, who wanted the resources I possessed."

Her eyes burned with even more hatred as she continued the story.

"They burned down the entire village, which included innocent children, and took away half of my resources."

When Lu Zhen heard the last part of his mother's tale, he could see her eyes burning even more fiercely with fury.

"Although I managed to escape with half of my resources, I was injured in the process. However, I did succeed in killing the new patriarch of the Xia family and two third-stage martial realm elders. I also found these five martial cultivation techniques in the patriarch's storage bag."

"But because of my injuries, I had to make a deal with the Ancestor of the Lu family, who had some connections with our bloodline family. We signed an agreement, and the rest is history," she said, leaning back comfortably in her chair, which resembled a throne.

"So, will you give these cultivation techniques to the little girl or not? It allows the person to harness wind qi."

"Alright, I will be going then," Lu Zhen nodded as he left the palace.

He was in a hurry to train himself. While he was confident that he could win the tournament, there were always variables, and he wasn't interested in being less prepared and dying with regrets because he didn't give his all in training.

Lu Zhen still moved at full speed as his figure became blurry.

"Big brother Lu Zhen." Suddenly, he heard the voice of Lu Qing, which made him stop in his tracks. He turned around to see the two twins.

"Master," they both bowed and whispered in a barely audible tone.

Lu Zhen nodded upon seeing them.

"I have a task for you guys," Lu Zhen said, carefully observing their expressions.

They both had understanding expressions on their faces.

"The task is to build an organisation for me. This organisation will consist entirely of orphaned children who have lost their homes in their villages due to bandits and other reasons." When Lu Zhi and Lu Qing heard this, their faces registered shock.

"Don't worry about the other families, Li Nan," Lu Zhen said.

A girl maternalizes in a ninja-like black dress seemingly maternalizing from the shadows of Lu Zhen.

When the twins saw Li Nan, their eyes widened in astonishment.

"She is a third-stage martial artist, and you will be going out into the wilderness to search for orphaned children." Lu Zhen wasn't delusional enough to think that recruiting talented children within the city would go unnoticed.

It could potentially offend many individuals in the process, especially since the orphan trade in the city was quite popular for creating deadly soldiers and assassins like Li Nan. This wouldn't align with his plan. While he wasn't afraid of trouble, he preferred to avoid unnecessary difficulties when he had a simpler solution.

Most of the families in the city only recruited people from within its walls, deeming it sufficient. They didn't want to bother going outside the city to procure more slaves. Such efforts were beneath them, and the cost and effectiveness might not justify the trouble, as these slaves would still require extensive training and numerous resources.

As for the possibility of Li Nan leaking information to his father, Lu Zhen didn't care much. The organization he was building had a different purpose, and even if he wanted to keep it completely hidden, he couldn't afford to do so. Building it himself would take up valuable training time.

However, he had a plan to gain control over Li Nan after her return, which made him smirk with evil intent in his mind.

"Yes, young master," the twins said, bowing with surprised expressions.

Lu Zhi couldn't help but feel shocked. He had initially assumed Lu Zhen to be a fool who only knew how to drink. Jealousy began to grow within him, wondering if Lu Zhen possessed some hidden treasures that allowed him to defeat a half-step third-stage martial artist.

On the other hand, Lu Qing maintained a satisfied expression. As long as she could save her life and potentially gain resources to grow stronger, she was content. She had a simpler outlook on things compared to Lu Zhi and wasn't interested in the complexities he was pondering.

Lu Zhen looked at the twins, bowing with a mysterious smile on his face.

"Lu Zhi I will be meeting you in three days." Lu Zhen said as he left, leaving the two twins stunned as he went back to his place.

"Brother, why did he invite you?" Lu Qing asked with a mischievous smile on her face.

"This little girl." Lu Zhi shook his head as he flicked her on the head with his finger.

"Oww! What did you do that for?" She said as she touched her head as if she were really hurt.

"You should focus on cultivation, as you are finally going to become a martial artist, instead of listening to stories." Lu Zhi shook his head as his mind was consumed by questions, and he was a little afraid of what Lu Zhen was trying to do.

Meanwhile, Lu Zhen returned to the palace.

"How interesting." Lu Zhen rolled up his right-hand sleeve and deeply looked at the tattoo of the butterfly.

"You might finally be of some use as I will have two lambs to experiment on." He thought to himself as he returned to his training room.