Dear Lingshi

Lu Yunsheng was delighted when he heard this, thinking that it was no wonder that the city lord came over and patted him on the shoulder before leaving last night. It turned out that everyone had seen his behavior.

Thinking of this, Lu Yunsheng also hurriedly clasped his fists, bowed to the captain, and said, "Such a small matter is not worth mentioning. Lu Yunsheng thanks the city lord for his kindness."

"Haha, Mr. Lu, you don't have to be polite. The city lord is clear about rewards and punishments. This is what you deserve." The captain said politely to Lu Yunsheng, and then turned to the men holding the plaque behind him and said, "Hurry up and help Mr. Lu hang up this plaque."

As soon as the captain finished speaking, these people immediately took action and carefully hung the two plaques on the doorposts on both sides of Duobao Pavilion.

At the captain's instruction, the city defense soldiers removed the red cloth.

Only then did everyone see that the two plaques had eight majestic gold-plated characters inscribed on them: "Candle Shining on the South Mountain" and "Making Torches into Yang".

The captain smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, as far as I know, when the city lord wrote to you, he only wrote the four words 'Zhu Zhao Nanshan' at first. Later, the city lord thought for a moment and wrote 'Zao Ju Cheng Yang'. It can be seen that the city lord thinks highly of you."

"By the way! Mr. Lu, the city lord's reward is more than that." While talking to Lu Yunsheng, the captain raised his hand and motioned the people behind him to come forward.

I saw a large group of people walking on the street of Huoluo Street. They walked in pairs, carrying the corpses of monsters and walked towards Duobao Pavilion.

Seeing this, the captain shouted to the people watching, "Last night, Lu Yunsheng from Duobao Pavilion killed countless monsters and boosted the morale of the battlefield. His contribution was great. The city lord personally wrote two plaques and awarded him two thousand low-grade spirit stones, one hundred Qi training monster corpses, and one foundation building monster corpse."

"By the way, Mr. Lu, I have one more thing to tell you. The city lord will hold a celebration banquet in the city lord's mansion at sunset tonight. I specially invite Mr. Lu, Senior Lu Hu, and Senior Bai Yushuo to attend." As the captain spoke, he took out three invitations and handed them to the three people.

"Thank you, Lord City Lord, and thank you, Captain!" Lu Yunsheng said with a fist salute.

"You're welcome. The matter is settled. I've got your message. See you, Mr. Lu!" After the captain said this, he clasped his fists towards the three of them and turned to leave.

"Captain, please stay!" Lu Yunsheng called him and took out a hundred low-grade spirit stones and handed them over. "This is a small gift from me. It's not easy for you brothers to come here, so consider it as me treating you all to tea."

The captain put away the spirit stone and said with a smile: "I thank Mr. Lu on behalf of all the brothers."

After seeing the captain and his group off, the crowd watching the excitement gradually dispersed.

Lu Yunsheng returned to the hall and sat on the chair with a worried look on his face.

"Boss Lu, shouldn't you be happy after receiving the award from the city lord? Why do you look so sad?" Bai Yushu asked with a smile when she saw Lu Yunsheng's expression.

Lu Yunsheng looked at Bai Yushu and replied, "Don't make fun of me. I was thinking that we now have thirteen stores, but we are still short of ten shopkeepers. If we can't find someone to take care of them, those stores will not be able to operate."

Bai Yushu smiled when he heard this: "That's easy. We can just recruit some people from all over the city."

Lu Yunsheng said, "I've thought of this method, but I don't trust the people I recruit!"

"Leave it to me. My Bai family's Zhenfu Hall has opened several stores in Xianyou City. I have some experience in how to manage these people."

Lu Yunsheng was delighted when he heard this, and said to Bai Yushu: "Then I'll leave it to you!"

Sunset. Lu Yunsheng and the other two came to the City Lord's Mansion. Looking at the magnificent City Lord's Mansion, Uncle Hu said with emotion: "In the past, ordinary people like us didn't even have the qualifications to get close to this City Lord's Mansion. Now we are actually invited to attend the celebration banquet. When the master was alive, we would never dare to dream of this!"

At this time, the front of the City Lord's Mansion was very lively. Many people were queuing up with invitation letters, waiting for the guards to verify their identities.

Lu Yunsheng and the other two also stepped forward and followed the crowd. Not long after, the three of them successfully entered the City Lord's Mansion.

Lu Yunsheng and the other two were led by servants to a large hall. There were already more than a hundred people sitting in the hall in groups of three or four. Lu Yunsheng discovered that all of them were cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Stage.

In the entire hall, I was the only Qi Refining cultivator.

"Young man, you must be Mr. Lu Yunsheng, right?" Suddenly, an old man with a long beard sat down next to Lu Yunsheng and took the initiative to chat with him.

Lu Yunsheng looked at the person who came. He did not recognize him. However, he could not tell the old man's cultivation level. He must be a cultivator in the foundation-building stage.

Thinking of this, Lu Yunsheng politely replied: "I am Lu Yunsheng. Senior and I have never met before. And you..."

"Young man, are you going to ask me how I know you?" The old man interrupted Lu Yunsheng and said directly.

"Yes." Lu Yunsheng responded with curiosity.

"I have also heard about your performance outside the city last night. Moreover, the city lord sent someone to give you two plaques at noon today. This matter has spread like wildfire in Tieshan City. I am afraid that you yourself do not know that you have become a celebrity in our Tieshan City now, right?"

"So that's it!" Lu Yunsheng understood.

The two of them chatted animatedly, and Lu Yunsheng certainly would not refuse the Foundation Establishment cultivator's active approach, although he didn't know what this person's purpose was.

"My friend, look! The patriarchs of the four major families are here too."

When Lu Yunsheng heard this, he looked and saw four monks in luxurious attire walking in from the gate one after another and going straight to the first row. Behind these four people were dozens of monks in the Foundation Establishment stage. What an impressive group of people!

"Senior, do you know what realm these four family heads have reached in their cultivation?"

Upon hearing this, the old man said, "The heads of the four families, Zhang, Wang, Jiang, and Bai, are all at the great perfection of the foundation-building stage. Who knows, one day someone will break through to the golden elixir stage."

At this time, Lu Yunsheng had a preliminary understanding of the four major families in Tieshan City.

Lu Yunsheng suddenly remembered something that had been puzzling him since last night.

Thinking of this, Lu Yunsheng asked the old man, "Senior, there is one thing I can't figure out, and I want to ask you for advice."

"Mr. Lu, you don't have to be polite. Just ask me and I will tell you everything I know."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yunsheng said, "During the battle last night, why didn't you stop the enemy on the city wall, but instead ran out of the city? Wouldn't that cause more casualties?"

The old man laughed and said, "My friend, you don't know that those monsters are fearless. Although the eight-zhang-high city wall of our Tieshan City is more than strong, if we really only defend on the city wall, then within half a day, the corpses of those monsters will pile up on the top of the wall and be flush with our city wall. If that happens, the monsters will attack the city as if it were flat ground. Even if there is a city defense formation, it will not be able to hold out for long. Therefore, only when there is no way to retreat will we choose to go up to the city wall and activate the formation. This is the last line of defense, usually used to delay time and let the old, weak, sick and disabled in the city retreat."