My starting summon is a small skeleton

The Ninth Apostle had included among the items given to Lu Wu.

Apart from the intelligence report on Dudu, there were other confidential reports and some items that might be useful to Lu Wu, plundered from the Eighth Apostle's treasury.

After finishing reading the information on Dudu, Lu Wu casually read through the other related reports.

The perusal of these reports caused a slight furrow in Lu Wu's brow.

Through the reports, Lu Wu discovered that the Eighth Apostle had someone supporting him from behind.

The Zero Organization's backing was a tangled web of complex relationships.

Whether it was the Ninth or Eighth Apostle,

Their positions as bigwigs in District 1 were secured not just by their personal power but also by the organizational support behind them.

Take the Eighth Apostle, for example, behind him was a heavy hitter,

The very Fourth Apostle he had mentioned before, when begging Lu Wu for mercy.

By killing him, Lu Wu had touched the interests and challenged the authority of the Fourth Apostle.

Meaning, setting District 1's matters aside, his own side was bound to encounter trouble soon.

This made Lu Wu's brows furrow involuntarily.

At this moment, the Ninth Apostle casually mentioned, "The Fourth Apostle is Feng Xiu!"

Lu Wu was taken aback, then the corner of his mouth lifted, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"So it's him, then there probably isn't anything to worry about for the time being."

After all, Feng Xiu had been struck by Moon Shadow's sword and was in pretty bad shape.

At this time, his attention should be on recovering in two months.

Even if he received news of the Eighth Apostle's death, he likely wouldn't have time to deal with it.

He would have to wait until his injuries were sufficiently healed before he could take action.

"However, this seems to have given me another reason to kill him."

Lu Wu's eyes narrowed.

If Feng Xiu were to survive and recover, then start investigating the situation surrounding the Eighth Apostle, he would inevitably cause major trouble for Lu Wu.

This made Lu Wu even more determined to sabotage Feng Xiu's healing process, to ensure he was fully put to rest.

"By the way,"

Lu Wu said, suddenly remembering something, and turned to look at the Ninth Apostle: "Aunt Nine, the Eighth Apostle has Feng Xiu behind him, but who backs you..."

"The leader!"

"Huh?"

The Ninth Apostle repeated, "My backer is the chief of the Zero Organization."

This brief statement made Lu Wu involuntarily gasp, "The leader of the Zero Organization?"

But soon, Lu Wu felt something was off.

If the Ninth Apostle was backed by the leader, she should have a strong support, but why did he sense that the Eighth Apostle didn't treat her with much respect?

The Ninth Apostle saw Lu Wu's confusion and provided an explanation.

"Because the leader has been absent for a very long time."

"???"

"Our organization's leader hasn't shown his face for over twenty years, and a large reason why the Zero Organization is what it is today is due to this."

"Hasn't shown his face for over twenty years?"

Lu Wu was dumbfounded.

A leader of an organization who hasn't appeared for over twenty years still manages to retain his position

And his subordinates still control territory in District 1. Were the other districts just too weak, or was the leader's influence extremely terrifying?

"This incident... it won't cause trouble for Aunt Nine, right?"

"Not likely, as long as there's no one who can prove the leader is dead, no one will dare to touch me.

Even if the Eighth had captured me before, Feng Xiu would have made him release me."

Lu Wu found this hard to believe.

Could a person who possibly had been gone for over twenty years still wield such influence?

"You don't understand the leader.

Or rather, many people nowadays don't understand the leader.

Only the Five Ambassadors and those of us who are the leader's direct subordinates know what kind of person the leader is."

"Can you tell me about it?"

Lu Wu was interested in this legendary figure, the chief of the Zero Organization.

The Ninth Apostle didn't seem opposed to discussing it.

She gave Lu Wu a brief introduction to the leader of the Zero Organization.

She said that he was a man from before the great catastrophe.

The original and mightiest Summoner.

Nearly a hundred years ago, he was already of Epic Level, and it is said that he might have even surpassed the epic realm.

A large part of humanity's success in reclaiming dominance over Summoned Beasts was due to his efforts.

In the Ninth Apostle's description, he seemed like a godlike figure.

Lu Wu held deep skepticism,

Feeling that the Ninth Apostle might have embellished the story, but he didn't voice his doubts.

Instead, he took the opportunity to dig deeper into the background of the leader.

But the more he dug, the less he found; the Ninth Apostle knew not much more about the leader.

After listening for a while, Lu Wu ended up with only a few unsubstantial pieces of intelligence.

One was that the leader had been missing for over twenty years.

Another was that although missing, he still had a terrifying influence within the Zero Organization, but beyond that, not much else.

In effect, Lu Wu listened in vain.

...

"Although I listened in vain.

There are some gains after all, according to Aunt Nine, currently, by aligning with her, I am tagged under the leader's lineage.

Plus, considering Feng Xiu's current situation, the matter of taking down the Eighth Apostle shouldn't raise any questions within the Zero Organization, except perhaps from those of the leader's faction."

This was good news for Lu Wu.

With his mood slightly relaxed, Lu Wu proceeded to examine the items the Ninth Apostle had passed on to him.

He had pretty much finished going through the intelligence information; what remained were the items from the Eighth Apostle's treasury.

In this regard, the Ninth Apostle had almost brought Lu Wu every unbewitched item from the Eighth Apostle's treasury.

It must be said, the Eighth Apostle had a rich foundation to begin with.

Among the items that ended up in Lu Wu's hands were 37 of Legendary Quality.

Twelve of those were various fruits and potions.

And there were three Epic Level items.

But they were all materials.

Furthermore, they were all of a vigorous nature.

...

Item: Burning Heart

Quality: Epic

Description: Material extracted from the depths of the Fire Attribute Secret Realm, can be used to practice Fire Attribute Skills or enhance Fire Attribute Divine Artifacts.

...

Item: Thunder Juice

Quality: Epic

Description: Extract from the Thunder Abyss, can be taken orally, used in crafting.

PS: Before taking orally, please be sure to have a coffin ready.

...

Item: Bright Wings

Quality: Epic

Description: The core wings of an Epic Level Summoned Beast, possessing strong lethal power against Evil Cultivators and those with the Undead Attribute.

...

Lu Wu's eyes turned red immediately when he looked at the attributes of these three items.

Initially, after being beaten and suffering so much at the Cimu family, he had only managed to get his hands on an Epic item.

But now, by killing just the Eighth Apostle, he somehow ended up with three such Epic items at once.

How could Lu Wu not be thrilled?

"Indeed, committing murder and arson nets a golden belt; when it comes to wealth, it must be these kinds of Evil Organizations."

Lu Wu had already thought of how to use these three items the moment he saw their attributes.

First up was the "Burning Heart," which could restore the Essence of "Flowing Blade Fire," allowing the Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword to absorb once again.

As for the "Thunder Juice" and "Bright Wings," Lu Wu decided to give them to Little Skeleton.

To be precise, to Little Skeleton's Bone Staff.

Its third form, the Warhammer Form, caused significant damage to Evil Cultivators and was very useful to Lu Wu; now that he had the chance, of course, he would strengthen it.

"In this case, for the coming period, my focus should be on powering up the 'Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword' and the 'Bone Staff.'

Additionally, I've acquired a fair number of skills in my previous battles.

The 47th Apostle's 'Soldier Enhancement,' 'King's Will,' 'Undead Pressure,' and so on...

The Eighth Apostle's 'Ghost God Slash,' 'Grasshopper Swordsmanship'...

And skills like the Enchanting Demon Queen from Aunt Nine's House's 'Charming Eye,' 'Desire Blood Boiling,' and so on.

After integrating all these skills into 'Lu Family Swordsmanship,' the mastery of 'All Things' should be further enhanced, and with a bit of luck, maybe I could directly break through to King 3 Stars."

Lu Wu was different from others.

His foundations were incredibly profound.

After all, someone kindhearted from the Cimu family had previously spent the majority of his life's savings on him.

Just considering energy alone, Lu Wu was already at the standard of King-level Three Stars, and that was before the power in his heart had been fully digested.

If he included it, Lu Wu's energy could be considered on the verge of the Epic standard.

And his combat power was first-tier, just below Epic.

With such profound foundations and a clear method to enhance his power, it would be much easier for Lu Wu to become stronger than others.

If he was successful, Lu Wu could more or less digest his current gains within a month.

By that time, his power would have further increased.

And by then, Feng Xiu's operations would also be ready to commence.

At that point, Lu Wu would also be able to seize the opportunity to join in the fray.

Having determined what he had to do and could do next, Lu Wu then began to devote all his energy into these tasks.

Starting with the Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword.

With Lu Wu's help,

the Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword successfully absorbed the energy of the Kusanagi Sword.

Leveraging the energy of the Kusanagi Sword, the power of the Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword advanced further, just a step away from reaching King Level 2 Star.

And looking at the Kusanagi Sword, which had its energy absorbed by the Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword,

the blade entered a dormant state after such absorption.

From here on, it would either take several decades or even a hundred years of slumber to recover its Essence, and as it originally took several decades to smooth over the mark of the Eighth Apostle and find a new master to regain its strength.

This is the difference between Divine Artifact Summoned Beasts and Ordinary Summoned Beasts.

Ordinary Summoned Beasts have only one master in their lifetime and do not switch, but Divine Artifacts are different; they go through several decades or even hundreds of years of sleep after their master's death, during which they wear away their original master's mark.

Then, they find a new master and continue to grow.

But regardless of how the Kusanagi Sword recovers its Essence, those decades of cycles lie ahead.

This thing basically had no fate with Lu Wu.

If nothing unexpected happened, Lu Wu would have no chance to reuse it.

But Flowing Blade Fire could be reused.

After absorbing the Kusanagi Sword, Lu Wu began to focus on restoring Flowing Blade Fire.

This kind of thing was not difficult for Lu Wu.

After all, he was a Genius Cultivator.

Although this identity had been offline for a while, his skills were still there.

Lu Wu, while digesting various skills, while planning Little Skeleton's Bone Staff enhancement, while pondering the whim projects of recent times, and while messing with Flowing Blade Fire in such a multitasking state,

Only took a week to restore Flowing Blade Fire in the Cultivation Room in District 11.

The efficiency was terrifying.

"It has recovered. Not only has the old man recovered, but it is even stronger than before.

Now, the old man is the strongest Divine Artifact!"

Inside the Cultivation Room of the Zero Organization in District 11.

Flowing Blade Fire, having absorbed the Burning Heart and restored its essence, let out a voice that was aged yet full of sharpness.

A tide of an Epic Level aura surged forth.

At this moment, Flowing Blade Fire was like a Divine Sword reigning supreme over the world.

However, its prestige did not last long; with a gentle utterance of the word "explode" from Lu Wu, he directly stunned the poor Divine Sword.

This sword, that had slept for who knows how long,

Had barely woken up before suffering a grievous blow.

Then the Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword, drooling at the side, pounced and began to crazily absorb it.

With this, Lu Wu had completed one project.

Leaving this Cultivation Room to the Heavenly Cluster Cloud Sword to absorb, Lu Wu then turned and went to another Cultivation Room to launch a charge on the second project.

Lu Wu, in his second week of taking down District 11,

Also landed his second project.

However, his second project was not Little Skeleton's Bone Staff enhancement.

This project proved to be far more difficult than Lu Wu had anticipated.

And it was not just difficult but also severely lacking materials.

If he used only the current Thunder Juice and Bright Wings, it would cause Little Skeleton's Bone Staff to collapse, so Lu Wu had to put Little Skeleton's Bone Staff enhancement plan on hold for now.

And the second project he was researching was one specifically for Evil Cultivators.

This project was something that had come to him on a whim recently.

However, though it was a whim, should this project succeed, it would be of immense help to Lu Wu.

So Lu Wu, in the past week, had spent a great deal of effort, pausing all other ventures to focus solely on this project.

Diligence is rewarded, and Lu Wu finally succeeded in completing the project.

Now it was only missing clinical trials.

For the clinical trials, Lu Wu chose 72, this timid fellow.

"Sir, could you switch to someone else? I'm scared!"

Inside a research lab in District 11.

Apostle 72 sat on the bed, cowering, looking at Lu Wu with terror.

Lu Wu, holding an injection syringe, reassured as he approached 72: "Don't worry, there's nothing to fear, I'm just going to give you a shot.

After you sleep, once you wake up, everything will be fine.

You'll feel like you are reborn from the brink of death."

"But I'm still scared. Maybe we should just forget it..."

"Forget your head, come here for me!"

Seeing he couldn't persuade him, Lu Wu resorted to force, grabbed hold of 72, treating him like a piglet, and violently jabbed the needle down...