The two external members were stunned. They scrutinized him and their eyebrows frowned.

  One of them asked while clutching the hilt of their swords, “Who are you, Senior?”

  Lu Zheng chuckled. He replied, “Don’t be on guard. I am your Senior. I just came out of my reclusion and I have always preferred to hide myself in public. I simply had to leave my home since a war broke out.

  Elder Lu Bao can attest to this. You can ask him.”

  One of them calmed down but the one who asked did not. He was still a bit suspicious.

  He asked, “What is your name, Senior?”

  Lu Zheng smiled.

  I have not met them before, so they must not know about me.

  He said, “Senior Lu Zheng. Nice to meet you.”

  He cupped his fists to greet them.

  They cupped their fists in return, still feeling a bit suspicious.

  Lu Zheng had to calm them down.

  “Come on. Why are you two still being suspicious of me? I can’t just be your enemy, right? I mean, who still has the power to be the enemy of our clan after we have annihilated the despicable Azure Tide Clan?”

  Seeing the easy-going Lu Zheng chatting with them, they relaxed a bit.

  One of them thought. Indeed, if he is really from the Azure Tide Clan, he would not be able to betray them and try to deceive us.

  The other thought. He might really be from the Scorching Blade Clan. After all, if he wanted to disguise himself as a member of the clan, he might only be jeopardizing himself more.

  One of them said, “Well, we have just been informed that we must gather at the Clan quarters immediately.”

  Lu Zheng was surprised. He asked, “Why is that?”

  The other shrugged and replied, “We did not know, either. But we heard a rumor that a certain member of the Azure Tide Clan returned and annihilated quite a lot of our members. Not even a silhouette of him has been spotted.

  We assumed he must be an internal member of their clan.”

  When he finally finished saying, they were a bit startled. They stared deeply at Lu Zheng.

  Lu Zheng felt their suspicious stare again and chuckled. “Come on, don’t look at me like that. Have you heard of any internal members of the Azure Tide Clan as young as me? Also, if he is able to annihilate our members and we can assume the internal members are included, do you think I’ll be able to achieve it?

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  After all, I just became an internal member of our clan and Elder Lu Bao did it secretly after discovering my talent in cultivation with an aim of surprising the clan itself.”

  Although his reasoning was a bit ridiculous, they felt it was convincing. Hence, they lowered their guard.

  Lu Zheng continued, “Trust me. I’m not lying.”

  One of them thought. That’s what liars say, though…

  Nevertheless, they decided to trust Lu Zheng, at least. If Lu Zheng was lying, given his age, he would not be stronger than them and they would be able to defend themselves, at least.

  Of course, the probability of Lu Zheng being the culprit of the massacre of their clans, which included the internal members of their clan, was immediately dismissed due to his age and personality.

  Lu Zheng waved his hand and said, “Alright, you can go now. I’ll inform others, then. By the way, is everyone included? Even the guards in the exit? What if the culprit managed to leave?”

  They were stunned. They soon shook their heads as one of them replied.

  “According to what we have heard, the culprit is on the rampage. Perhaps, he might be in the Clan quarters right now, aiming to take revenge. That should also be why we are called. Even the guards in the exit, too.”

  Lu Zheng’s eyes flashed.

  He thought. This is my chance.

  He smiled. “Alright. But, I just can’t help but shake the feeling that the culprit might take the chance to leave. How about this? I’ll be guarding the exit here. You can inform the Clan Elders, especially Elder Lu Bao, in case he might be wondering where I am.”

  They were startled. They turned towards each other and finally nodded.

  They faced him and one of them replied, “That will do. We will inform the Clan Elder, then. Although we received information from our fellow external members, saying that if we come across by our fellow external members, even internal members, we must inform them to strictly head to the Clan quarters, you can do as you please.

  Of course, we will still inform the Clan Elders… It’s just that it’s not Elder Lu Bao.”

  Lu Zheng smiled. Inwardly, he was grinning from ear to ear.

  He replied, “Thank you. Don’t worry. They’ll inform Elder Lu Bao soon. I guess, I have to be prepared for Teacher’s punishment.”

  The two external members chuckled and nodded.

  They said, “Okay, Senior. We will leave now. Farewell.”

  They cupped their fists and Lu Zheng followed suit.

  They passed by him after nodding with a smile, to which Lu Zheng reciprocated.

  After their backs faced against Lu Zheng, the latter’s face turned solemn. His smile faded.

  He mumbled. “I guess, I have to avoid any of them at this point as I’ll leave the city.”

  Lu Zheng continued to walk forward, still trying to be vigilant.

  After all, despite knowing that his journey seemed easy from this moment, for all he had to do was to avoid them and slowly arrived at the exit and left the city, he could not help but shake the feeling there was something wrong.

  As though it’s not the end yet. He thought.

  In the end, he would not be able to fight against the stress—overthinking about the future—so he decided to keep his guard up as he tried to leave the city.

  With his left hand clutching the hilt of the sword on his left waist, keeping his stances of the Azure Tide Sword Art in case he might be ambushed, while walking in a rather concealing path, he proceeded to the exit.

  Although it might slow him down, taking as much as fifteen minutes to reach the exit, he knew he had to prioritize his survival first.