They were also trying to find someone to rescue themselves, using their social network to ask friends for help, or requesting that the higher-ups of the Iron Tomb dispatch powerful warriors for a rescue.

As a faction that survived the combined siege of all players, the Iron Tomb certainly possesses Core Formation Realm level high-tier combat power, though these high-level warriors rarely make a move.

Not to mention, just among the Core Formation Realm villains who have thrown their lot in with the Iron Tomb, there are more than a handful.

Those villains are mercenary; if you can offer benefits that move them, they might even force their way into Beifeng City to rescue the others.

Creak~ Fu Mingcheng pushed the door open and walked into the room. Looking at the three individuals tied to the pillar, he realized that only one of them was weaker than himself and quietly exited the room.

Although their powers were weakened, who knew if the three had any means to lift their negative status. If he were taken hostage, it would be a huge loss.

It's better to wait for the professionals to come over. Moreover, Zeng Wentao handed over not only his position but also many issues to him, those issues that Zeng Wentao had left within Jianghu Intermediary, all needing his resolution.

Lu Yu glanced at the darkening sky, returning to the Divine Weapon Pavilion's disciple dormitory in Beifeng City. It wasn't that he couldn't afford a high-class hotel, but he was accustomed to residing here.

Besides, he did not plan to stay in Beifeng City tonight; he intended to speed up his cultivation.

Facing Yang Wu, he realized that his strength was still highly inadequate. His strongest strike could not harm a Martial Cultivator of Yang Wu's level. Losing the trump card of black spirit power, he felt a sense of urgency.

He needed a new trump card, at least one that could contend with Core Formation Realm powerhouses. He glanced at his right index finger.

The black jade-transformed index finger bone had not been restored during cultivation in the polar ice and fire secret realm, still maintaining its original three-segment appearance.

Divine Techniques are a potent force, capable of affecting Core Formation Realm Martial Cultivators, perhaps even causing irreversible effects.

Maybe purely in terms of power, Divine Techniques aren't strong. A casual strike from a Core Formation Realm Martial Cultivator can crumble mountains and split the earth, while Lu Yu's full-force Great Annihilation Finger can only poke a hole in the ground.

But the power accompanying Divine Techniques is out of reach for Core Formation Realm Martial Cultivators. Relying on this special power, one can deal with the Core Formation Realm.

Lu Yu took out the Divine Weapon Pavilion disciple token, teleporting into the Divine Weapon Pavilion Secret Realm. Armed with a large amount of Spirit Stones, Lu Yu arrived at the practice hall in the Southern Heaven Hall area.

He rented an Earth-grade training room and threw 1,000 Spirit Stones into the spirit fusion pool, adjusting the Spiritual Qi concentration in the Earth-grade training room to 50 times the normal level.

The air in the Earth-grade training room was thick with Spiritual Qi, almost liquefying, with various spiritual lights flashing.

Lu Yu closed his eyes, focusing entirely on cultivating the Ice and Fire Sevenfold Heaven Cultivation Technique. Spiritual Qi, guided by the technique, surged into Lu Yu's body, forming a vortex centered around Lu Yu in the room.

As Lu Yu cultivated, the Spirit Stones in the spirit fusion pool vanished quickly, and each minute his Spiritual Power's upper limit increased.

An hour later, all the Spirit Stones in the spirit fusion pool had disappeared, and the Spiritual Qi concentration in the training room dropped rapidly, drastically slowing Lu Yu's cultivation speed.

He opened his eyes to check his attribute panel, having gained an extra 300 points in Spiritual Power capacity. The cultivation speed in the Earth-grade training room was indeed terrifying.

He continued, burning money to accelerate his cultivation.

His Nine-step Vajra Body had been enhanced to the fifth step during training in the polar ice and fire secret realm, the realm elevated to the Qi Sea Realm third layer.

Though the realm was high, his Spiritual Power cultivation was lacking; without sufficient cultivation, he couldn't break through to the Qi Sea Realm fourth layer. The Qi Sea Realm placed more emphasis on the strength of Spiritual Power cultivation.

Because the main cultivation in the Qi Sea Realm is continuously accumulating Spiritual Power, transforming it qualitatively, and quantitatively enhancing Spiritual Power to achieve qualitative transformation.

Lu Yu began his secluded training in the Divine Weapon Pavilion Secret Realm. Meanwhile, Jianghu Intermediary also gathered information on the Iron Tomb from Zhang Liang, Lu Hongwei, and Li Zhiqing, starting to investigate the Iron Tomb's activities.

At the same time, the three were taken away by professionals sent by Jianghu Intermediary No. 3, with Fu Mingcheng unaware of their destination.

Lin Feng received orders from the higher-ups to re-establish contact with Lu Yu and investigate how Lu Yu entered the Martial World from Earth, as well as to acquire resources from Lu Yu.

In a sparsely populated small town, several infantry fighting vehicles drove in, and a few unarmed soldiers disembarked, entering a house that appeared dilapidated and uninhabited.

Lu Hongwei, just having logged out of the game, opened his eyes to see the soldiers entering the door, offering a helpless smile.

He obediently extended his hands, and a pair of Silence Shackles were placed on them, as he was escorted into the infantry fighting vehicle. The Martial World login device from his body was also separately stored in an alloy safe.

Several infantry fighting vehicles left the town, which fell silent. As night engulfed it, only the streetlights by the roadside lit up, and not a soul was seen throughout the town.

The town's residents had long since relocated to a shelter, leaving it uninhabited.

Jianghu Intermediary No. 3 was an agent embedded by the authorities in the expansive intelligence network of Jianghu Intermediary, enabling them to grasp the movements of numerous players through this network.

Of course, Lu Yu was unaware of all this, and Fu Mingcheng only knew that the three from the Iron Tomb had been taken away by people sent by Jianghu Intermediary No. 3.

...

"The mission failed; the three people's identities were exposed and taken away by the authorities." Suddenly, a voice sounded in a dimly lit meeting room.

"What exactly is going on with Lu Yu? Didn't the last intelligence report say he died in the battle at Blue Ocean City's western suburb? Why is he appearing in the Martial World again? A ghost? A spirit?" A voice filled with doubt emerged.

"Capture him to uncover these mysteries, dispatch the Executioners." A voice, indistinguishable in gender, responded.

As the voice sounded, there was silence, until an old voice inquired, "Deploying Executioners over Lu Yu seems somewhat overkill. Let's first send those villains who are aligned with the Iron Tomb."

"That's his orders; he doesn't want to wait any longer." That neutral voice rang out again.

"Who exactly is he?" Out of nowhere, a rough voice asked, "I suspect there isn't actually such a person, only a figment created by Faceless to consolidate power, because in everything there must be evidence."

Other members remained silent, curious as well about who "he" might be, as aside from the Iron Tomb's founding figures like Faceless and Old Man, no one had ever interacted with "him".

Faceless and Old Man also mentioned that they had never encountered "him", though the Iron Tomb was definitely spearheaded by this person during its founding.

Faceless, Old Man and others came together to form the Iron Tomb under "his" lead, and even received the initial funding for Iron Tomb from "him".

Some unique items imbued with special powers were obtained in the real world, such as the black decayed wood Lu Hongwei used to fend off Lu Yu.

But subsequent members who joined Iron Tomb refused to believe there was some mysterious "he" overseeing everyone above, preferring the notion of "him" being a fictive construct by the Iron Tomb's elders to consolidate authority.

"I don't know who he is either, but you all should be aware that the Executioners were gifted to us by 'him', the control remains in 'his' hands, and the Iron Tomb was established by 'him'. Our job is merely to complete the tasks 'he' lays out for us." The neutral voice of Faceless resonated.

Bang~ a desk-slapping sound emerged, as the rough voice exclaimed, "Ha! Playacting, if he has guts, he should come out in the open, what's the point in hiding in the shadows?"

The old voice interjected, "Alright, enough quarreling. For now, dispatch the Eight Wicked Men. Awakening the Executioners takes time anyway. If the Eight solve this, the Executioners need not be activated."

"Approve."

"In agreement!"

"I have no objections, I just want to see who's behind all of this!"

"No objections."

...

The meeting concluded, with the sparse lights in the meeting room extinguishing and disappearing.

From start to finish, there was no one in the meeting room, only a few walkie-talkies placed in front of various seats, with dust settled on chairs, the meeting table, and the walkie-talkies, the air in the entire meeting room was extremely musty, with no ventilation ever occurring.

This place had not been opened for a long time due to the absence of new members joining.

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