After being reborn, all I want to do is run away.

Chapter 380 No choice

"Senior Brother Lu, what brings you here?" Shen Xu asked with some confusion as he saw Lu Qingshan walk straight in front of him.

“Someone told me you were waiting for me, so I came,” Lu Qingshan replied with a smile.

"To recognize me and to learn from other Sword Alliance disciples that I'm looking for you, I think that person must be incredibly powerful in Heavenly Sword City." Shen Xu poured Lu Qingshan a cup of tea.

"In your eyes, Junior Brother Shen, I am certainly not a person of great supernatural power, but you can easily manipulate me."

Lu Qingshan downed the tea in his cup in one gulp, then said with a smile, "Junior Brother Shen, drinking tea is no fun. Waiter! Bring me a pot of Spring Dew Wine."

"Okay!" the busy shop assistant replied readily.

"Senior Brother Lu, you still have patrol duties. Drinking isn't a good idea!" Shen Xu advised.

"Don't worry, mortal wine can't get me drunk, and it won't delay things."

Seeing that Lu Qingshan seemed preoccupied, Shen Xu stopped trying to persuade him. "I have other things to do later, so I'll keep you company with tea instead of wine, Senior Brother Lu."

"Junior Brother Shen, I'm already very grateful that you're willing to listen to my complaints. How could I ask for anything else? If it weren't for you, I don't know what I would be doing now!" Lu Qingshan smiled bitterly.

Seeing Lu Qingshan deep in thought, Shen Xu asked, "May I ask what Senior Brother Lu's ultimate goal in cultivation is?"

Before Lu Qingshan could answer, a waiter from the restaurant approached the two men with a beautifully decorated wine pot and said with a smile, "Esteemed guests, this is your Spring Dew Wine. Also, our manager said that the wine is on the house today, so please don't refuse."

"Tell your manager not to do anything unnecessary!" Lu Qingshan said coldly.

"Sorry! I've disturbed you both." After saying this, the waiter bowed and retreated timidly.

"I heard that Junior Brother Shen said something like this during the outer sect competition of the Green Bamboo Sword Sect: 'How can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan!' At the time, although I thought you were a bit arrogant, Junior Brother Shen, I still liked this sentence very much."

The Green Bamboo Sword Sect is too small for me; I feel that my life should soar like a swan in the sky.

But after coming to the Sword Alliance, I realized how insignificant I am. Not everyone is as amazingly talented as Junior Brother Shen. Lu Qingshan poured himself a glass of wine and then poured it straight down his throat.

However, Lu Qingshan had obviously never drunk alcohol before, and soon his face contorted with rage at the taste of the Spring Dew Wine.

"You ask me what my ultimate goal in cultivation is. I'm not afraid to tell you, but my goal is actually very simple: I just want to stand at the highest point and see the most beautiful scenery."

Wang Ya can't help me, but the Qin family can.

"Junior Brother Shen, I know you're here today because of what happened between me and Wang Ya, but I have no other choice." Lu Qingshan frowned again and downed his drink in one gulp.

Shen Xu looked at Lu Qingshan in front of him and couldn't help but sigh softly, "Senior Brother Lu, do you want to know what my ultimate goal in cultivation is?"

"Appreciate further details!"

"Actually, it's very simple. I don't have the same lofty ambitions as you, Senior Brother Lu. I just want the people around me to live a better life. Some things you only realize how precious they are after you lose them."

I understand your struggle, Senior Brother Lu, and I know that you will regret it no matter which option you choose. So I don't intend to interfere with your choice or offer you any advice on life.

However, I hope you can personally explain your choice to Senior Sister Wang. Your father has already proposed marriage to the Wang family, and they have agreed. If you don't resolve things with Senior Sister Wang, it will be a catastrophe for you and even for your Lu family.

"What did you say!" Lu Qingshan immediately stood up, then slowly sat down again.

"Junior Brother Shen, you must help me!" Lu Qingshan pleaded in his eyes.

"The key is how you choose; there are some choices I can't help you with."

"Does everyone know about this?" Lu Qingshan asked hesitantly.

"Your marriage to Senior Sister Wang is the Grand Elder's dying wish. However, since Senior Sister Wang wants both families to announce this together after you return, only your two families and a few elders of the sect know about this marriage."

"The Grand Elder... has passed away?" Lu Qingshan asked in disbelief, then fell into deep self-blame and pain.

"If I give up the marriage with the Qin family, will you help me, Junior Brother Shen?"

"I'll do my best."

"What if I don't want to give up!"

"Others should not be implicated."

"Junior Brother Shen, thank you!" Lu Qingshan stood up, bowed, and then walked out of the restaurant.

Shen Xu looked at the wine pot in front of him, poured out a little and tasted it, but it was far less spicy than the white wine on Blue Star.

After paying with a Nourishing Essence Pill, Shen Xu left the restaurant. The light mist slowly dissipated from the seats next to him and Lu Qingshan, a scene that made a middle-aged man next to him frown.

……

When Shen Xu arrived at the place they had agreed upon, he found that Li Xiaoyi and the others were not there. It was unlikely that he could enter the Jia-class auction venue on his own, since it was now the most heavily guarded place in the entire Tianjian City.

He was on the second floor of a viewing pavilion. Looking around, the vast area surrounding the venue was deserted, with not a single person in sight.

Within this limited field of vision, he had already spotted several patrol teams composed of Yuan Dan realm cultivators, moving back and forth around the venue in an orderly manner.

They moved with steady steps, taking root firmly to the ground, their movements silent and seemingly blending into their surroundings. Yet, the powerful aura emanating from them exuded an awe-inspiring and unassailable majesty, making people hesitant to offend them, resulting in an unusually quiet and solemn atmosphere throughout the area.

At the same time, looking up at the sky above the venue, a faint light curtain flashed by from time to time, as beautiful and mysterious as a dream bubble, while also blurring all the scenery in the venue.

Shen Xu knew that behind this beauty lay a deadly intent; it was a barrier set up above the venue, and anyone who tried to force their way in would be instantly killed.

Even the birds flying around seemed to sense the danger and chose to avoid the area.

Moreover, when he tried to get closer, he would feel a faint sense of being watched, which he felt meant that there must be a Transcendent Realm cultivator scanning the area around the venue with their divine sense.

But the thought that the highlight of the auction, which the Sword Alliance took so seriously, was actually a wooden carving he had just made casually made made him want to laugh.

As expected of a mythical auspicious beast, the Qiling White Crane was able to drive up the price of the wooden carving to this level if any one of his previous actions had gone wrong.

He originally planned to do this business long-term. He could have stopped when Guanbi bought the wood carvings. Each wood carving cost 10,000 Nourishing Yuan Pills, and he could have sold two or three a year to cover his expenses.

However, Li Xiaoyi's help aroused his greed, the holding of the Four Directions Auction gave him a golden opportunity, and the intervention of the Four Directions Sword Alliance made things completely out of his control.

But things have come to this point, and even if he pulls out a second wooden sword, the Sword Alliance will not let him go. He has no choice but to do this one-off deal with the Sword Alliance.