Chapter 120: Luo the Blade

In summer, just as dawn was breaking, a slaughterhouse in Jade Capital was already surrounded by a crowd. Many people stood on tiptoe, gazing into the distance as though waiting for someone.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the crowd.

“Master Luo is here!”

“Make way!”

The bustling crowd immediately parted, opening a path.

A middle-aged man of about forty, wearing a bamboo hat and possessing an utterly ordinary face, walked through the opening.

“Master Luo, you’ve arrived!”

“Shall we follow the usual arrangements?”

The slaughterhouse owner, a middle-aged man named Lu, hurried forward to greet him.

Ever since Master Luo had begun coming here, the slaughterhouse had become far livelier. It had also attracted many major customers, and its profits had far surpassed what they had been before.

For that reason, the owner was always especially courteous to this somewhat mysterious Master Luo.

Ignoring his eagerness, Master Luo removed his bamboo hat and unhurriedly washed his hands before saying, “Yes. The usual arrangements.”

He gestured for the slaughterhouse workers to bring the demon beasts to be butchered before him.

“Master Luo, as you instructed, all sixteen second- and third-rank demon beasts have been placed here.”

“As for the other demon beasts, choose whichever ones you wish to butcher.”

Pointing toward the demon beasts, Manager Lu personally introduced them.

According to Master Luo’s rules, he came here once every five days to butcher and dismember demon beasts.

The higher-ranked demon beasts were always given priority. Whether he dealt with the others depended entirely on his mood.

When Master Luo had first arrived two months earlier, Manager Lu had been puzzled by these rules.

But after several collaborations and witnessing Master Luo’s abilities, he no longer had the slightest doubt about them.

A man with such extraordinary skill was entitled to a few peculiarities. They were something one simply had to tolerate.

“Master Luo, butcher mine!”

“Mine!”

Seeing Master Luo select the demon beasts, some of the people who had left their beasts here for him to butcher began shouting loudly.

All of them hoped that Master Luo would choose their demon beast and personally butcher and dismember it.

Others remained calm and unconcerned, merely watching Master Luo’s every movement with intense concentration, apparently hoping to learn his craft by observation.

Ignoring the shouting and caring nothing for whether others tried to imitate his techniques, Lu Sheng—Master Luo himself—walked before the demon beasts. His eyes swept over them one by one, and he selected the ten that would bring him the greatest amount of merit.

“These will do.”

“As for the rest, handle them yourselves.”

He took out a dark, soot-black stone knife and walked toward one of the demon beasts.

“Look! Master Luo is about to use his knife!”

“The knife in his hand is a profound weapon made from obsidian. It’s sharp enough to kill a third-rank demon beast, yet it won’t leave even the slightest trace of foreign odor on the meat!”

Pointing at the stone knife in Lu Sheng’s hand, several people showed off their knowledge to those around them.

Butchering demon beasts with an obsidian profound weapon was one of the main reasons Master Luo attracted so many customers.

After all, many martial artists who had awakened their sensory apertures possessed exceedingly sensitive palates. Butcher knives that had been used on countless demon beasts and were stained with who knew how much blood would always leave behind a strange odor after the beasts were butchered and dismembered. Even with careful handling, that odor would remain once the meat was prepared as food.

Yet under Master Luo’s obsidian knife, the meat never acquired the slightest such odor.

Moreover, whenever Master Luo encountered knife or sword wounds on a demon beast, he would separate the meat from those areas and prevent it from coming into contact with the rest.

In the past, no one would likely have cared about such details.

But after a renowned chef prepared meat butchered by Master Luo, he not only replaced his own kitchen knives with obsidian implements, but also refused to accept any meat delivered to him unless it had been butchered with obsidian tools.

That quickly drew widespread attention.

Although this practice sparked a brief craze for obsidian knives among the chefs and slaughterers of Jade Capital, people discovered after using them several times that those obsidian tools would also acquire faint traces of foreign odor.

Only the knives used by Master Luo never left behind the slightest trace.

“Perhaps the knife Master Luo uses only appears to be the same each time. In truth, he uses a different one on every occasion…”

“That must be why no odor is ever left behind!”

Some who knew the inside story—or who had come specifically for that reason—stared at Lu Sheng’s stone knife and speculated among themselves.

However, because obsidian tools were extremely expensive, especially those refined into profound weapons, their theory gained little acceptance.

Someone else offered, “I think it’s more likely that Master Luo possesses some secret method for cleaning his knives. That’s why they never leave behind any odor.”

This was not only the prevailing theory among the crowd; it had even attracted the attention of the Hundred Herb Sect.

After all, obsidian tools had traditionally been used mainly for surgery and were more commonly prepared for physicians.

If one had to name the profession that used the most obsidian in the world, it would undoubtedly be the medical profession.

As a sect composed of physicians, apothecaries, and alchemists, the Hundred Herb Sect was deeply interested in the matter. According to certain rumors, they had even begun researching methods of cleaning obsidian tools so that they would never retain the slightest odor.

A spray of blood burst forth.

The surrounding discussion did not affect Lu Sheng in the least. Holding the stone knife in one hand, he killed the demon beast with a single stroke, then slapped its body to drain the blood within.

At the same time, he activated his ability to see through things, examining the demon beast’s entire body.

After meticulous calculation, Lu Sheng kept his stone knife moving. Following the various internal patterns of the beast, he completely dismembered its enormous body in the space of a few moments.

The different cuts of meat, bones, internal organs, hide, horns, and other materials were all arranged neatly to one side.

That was the true reason so many people sought him out to butcher and dismember their demon beasts.

“One-Stroke Luo! He truly is One-Stroke Luo!”

“Master Luo’s skill at dismembering demon beasts is simply peerless!”

“No matter what kind of demon beast it is, a single stroke is all it takes for him to finish the job!”

Looking at the removed hide and the various materials arranged in perfect order beside it, many spectators could not help praising him aloud.

Unlike the bloody and violent methods of many slaughterers, who might even damage valuable materials while butchering demon beasts, Lu Sheng had already seen through the structure of every beast he worked on. As he wielded his stone knife, he moved with effortless precision.

To outside observers, his movements were nothing short of elegant.

That was why, while people at most slaughterhouses disliked watching the work, crowds would gather at this slaughterhouse whenever he butchered demon beasts—watching with fascination and discussing the process with relish.