Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 534 Hunting
Dugu Qingli didn't know why Lu Xingzhou was so sure that the Blood Refining Sect could resist the temptation of the Super Grade and not become Gu Yiheng's dog, since he had guessed that Gu Yiheng had contacted the Blood Refining Sect.

What if they're using the preconceived notions of Chunshan Pavilion's enemies to lure you into a trap?

She couldn't trust the integrity of the demonic path at all, and Kenshin was also constantly warning her that the other party had extremely strong malice.

Seeing Lu Xingzhou's indifferent attitude, Dugu Qingli remained silent and decided to trust Lu Xingzhou's judgment.

Wei Miao laughed: "Lord Lu thinks highly of us, huh? Aren't you afraid we'll sell you out in the blink of an eye?"

Lu Xingzhou said calmly, "What benefit would it bring to Sect Master Wei if he sold me out? Even if you didn't need this pledge of loyalty, he would still tempt you with the promise of breaking through to the highest grade. With this pledge of loyalty, he can't give you anything more. Does he expect you to replace the Spring Mountain Pavilion and allow the Blood Refining Path to openly commit atrocities?"

Wei Miao's smile vanished: "Could you, Lord Lu, make such a promise? Let me reiterate, we are no longer on the same path. You have already taken the dominant position. To us, you are no different from Gu Yiheng, or even more dangerous. He may not come to annihilate us, but the Heavenly Yao Saintess by your side, Lord Lu, has proven that it may be you who takes our lives."

Lu Xingzhou chuckled: "He won't come after you because his focus is on me. As long as I'm still alive, he won't have the energy to deal with anything else, not because he thinks highly of you. As for me..."

He paused, then reached out and put his arm around Dugu Qingli's waist: "I'm in a relationship with Saintess Tianyao, what does that have to do with these things? My Qingli hasn't even drawn her sword yet, but you're all full of malice."

Wei Miao stared wide-eyed at Lu Xingzhou holding Dugu Qingli's hand, then at Dugu Qingli's slight pout as if trying to pull away, and was completely dumbfounded.

No, aren't you the male favorite of the Holy Lord of Tianyao?

Was our information wrong? Or was it that the master was making a fuss over the disciple, and the real person was actually the Holy Maiden of Tianyao?
It can't be a master and disciple relationship, right? That's the Holy Lord of Tianyao and the Holy Maiden of Tianyao, do you think this is a brothel?

Dugu Qingli's sword heart clearly felt that Wei Miao's malice vanished almost instantly, replaced by a chaotic feeling like a tangled mess.

Dugu Qingli: "..."

You guys in the Demonic Cultivation Sect are pretty funny, aren't you? What happened to being ruthless and vicious? You even love gossiping.

Before Wei Miao could figure it out, Lu Xingzhou continued, "As for the so-called ruling stance... I am indeed like Gu Yiheng, and I cannot make promises to you about playing the Blood Refining Path on the surface. But I am not going to take you as my subordinates, so what's the use of making such promises?"

Wei Miao's mind was still in a whirl, and his expression conveyed a sense of "Are you kidding me?"

If I really stick with you, what else can I do but follow you?

Lu Xingzhou said calmly, "At least I can make you kill all the members of Chunshan Pavilion, but Gu Yiheng can't. He will only make you consider the overall situation and use your hostility towards Chunshan Pavilion as a means of checks and balances for him."

Wei Miao raised an eyebrow.

"What? You want to share the flesh and blood of Chunshan Pavilion, settle scores and avenge each other, and do your own thing? Why worship emperors or care about marquises? The path to becoming a superior is found in blood for blood. Why do you need handouts? If I want to wipe you out in the future, won't you just cut me down?"

Wei Miao finally burst into laughter, and with a clang, sheathed his sword: "Truly worthy of being a judge of the underworld. Speak, what do you intend for us to do?"

Lu Xingzhou finally smiled and said, "There's no need to do anything else. Just keep an eye on the changes in Chunshan Pavilion's situation. You know better than I do how to oppose them."

A bloodthirsty glint appeared in Wei Miao's eyes.

He understood what Lu Xingzhou meant... This wasn't someone coming to cause trouble, it was someone coming to wipe out the entire family.

Thinking of this, even a bloodthirsty person like Wei Miao suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Looking back at Lu Xingzhou's actions over the past few years, from the Danxia Gang, Fenxiang Tower, Dongjiang Gang, Jinfeng Island, the Demon Clan Holy Mountain, the Huo Family... Lu Xingzhou was never seeking victory, but rather aiming to wipe out entire families once a fight broke out, showing extreme ruthlessness.

He was unaware that there had just been another sect, the Ice Prison Sect, which had also been wiped out in a massacre.

Who exactly is the bloodthirsty maniac...?

The Blood Refining Sect has never backed down from the Spring Mountain Pavilion. They have a long history of feuds and have been fighting for centuries. The reason they have been suppressed and forced to hide is mainly because the Spring Mountain Pavilion is a righteous sect, while the Blood Refining Sect is a demonic sect and cannot be tolerated by the world. The government will help the Spring Mountain Pavilion to suppress them, and righteous heroes from all sides who have nothing better to do will also get involved.

Even so, the Blood Refining Sect often manages to take a bite out of Spring Mountain Pavilion, and its overall strength is quite formidable.

However, in the past six months, Spring Mountain Pavilion has inexplicably grown stronger. Zang Wanchun is a top-tier expert, and the number of powerful figures it has gathered has increased. It has also been actively seeking to form alliances with other forces. The Blood Refining Sect has been struggling to breathe these days and can only rely on the fact that the other side has not found its stronghold to hide and prolong its existence.

If Lu Xingzhou doesn't come, Wei Miao and his team might have to pack up and move elsewhere soon; they can't stay in the vicinity of Chunshan County anymore.

But Lu Xingzhou has arrived… With his reputation as a powerful figure, Wei Miao felt it was worth a gamble. If they could completely destroy Chunshan Pavilion, who cared what the name of Chunshan County was!
Wei Miao became excited just thinking about it, making an unconscious "hoarse" sound in his throat, and licked his lips: "Lord Lu, you just said that the emperor would not promise us to replace Chunshan Pavilion and stand on the stage... you're half right."

Lu Xingzhou raised an eyebrow slightly: "Oh? What else?" "He certainly won't let us replace Chunshan Pavilion, but he promised to support us in establishing a sect elsewhere." Wei Miao chuckled: "Do they think we're fools? Who would believe that?"

Lu Xingzhou paused, then frowned.

Compared to his own words, Wei Miao would definitely believe him more, not the emperor's flowery promises. The demonic madman wasn't stupid.

But Lu Xingzhou felt that Gu Yiheng's words might not necessarily be empty promises. He should know that such promises wouldn't fool this kind of madman of the demonic path, so his saying this meant there was some feasibility to it; he just needed to see Wei Miao's reaction before he could elaborate further.

What makes Gu Yiheng think it's feasible for the demonic path to openly exist? Even imperial power can't push this forward. Leaving aside the constraints of the Tianyao Holy Land, even if Gu Yiheng's plan included destroying the Tianyao Holy Land, would the world tolerate a bloodthirsty demonic path operating openly? It's simply impossible for it to gain a foothold.

Did he tell you where to establish your sect?

"I didn't say anything, because I don't believe it. What's the point of saying anything?" Wei Miao waved his hand. "Does that mean you'd send us to the cursed land to establish a sect? That's laughable."

Lu Xingzhou cupped his hands thoughtfully and said, "This information is useful. Thank you, Sect Leader Wei."

Wei Miao was dumbfounded. Could such a casual, friendly message really be useful?
Forget it, I don't understand you court officials. Wei Miao was too lazy to care, and cupped his hands in return: "Then Wei Miao will wait and see how Lord Lu will turn Chunshan County upside down."

"You really think you can just say that? You haven't made any detailed plans." On the way back, Dugu Qingli asked Lu Xingzhou with some disbelief.

“It’s difficult to plan a detailed strategy for these kinds of madmen. Most of the time, they won’t follow your plan and will end up getting themselves into trouble. Letting them do whatever they want will actually cause the most damage.” Lu Xingzhou looked up at the dark sky and smiled. “Also, I will contact the Blood Refining Sect. Do you think Zang Wanchun knows about this?”

Dugu Qingli thought for a moment: "They should be able to guess."

"Yes... they probably know roughly where the Blood Refining Sect is hiding, but not exactly. So there must be someone monitoring this area, just waiting for us to walk into their trap. They won't want to wait until we enter the city and go directly to the prefect, making the news of the imperial envoy's entry known to everyone. They will definitely try to surround and kill us before our identities are revealed."

"So you came to the Blood Refining Sect to lure Zang Wanchun into making a move?"

"Well, the fact that I'm coming to find the Blood Refining Sect means that I don't have much power of my own, which is why I need to take the risk of relying on the Blood Refining Sect's power... How could Zang Wanchun miss such a good opportunity? I bet there will be a trap waiting for us on the way back. We can also create the illusion that the Blood Refining Sect is in cahoots with them and drag the Blood Refining Sect down with us."

Dugu Qingli thought about it and realized it was true: "Then what should we do?"

"The purpose of a trap is to conceal it. Only when someone doesn't know it's there will they accidentally step into it and get caught. If you know there's a trap, intentionally stepping into it will only destroy the cover above." Lu Xingzhou pulled her hand and flew along. "We have a mole. We can just step on the trap and be done with it."

After flying for several miles, the city ahead was faintly visible under the moonlight.

The surrounding vegetation seemed to grow silently, as if it were alive, and coiled around their ankles without a sound, like ghostly shadows following behind them.

It was truly silent and without any energy reaction; neither of them seemed to have noticed it.

Just as the grass and trees grabbed the two men's ankles, Lu Xingzhou shouted in a low voice, "There's an ambush!"

Various kinds of power erupted from all around, bombarding the prey that appeared to be entangled in grass and trees.

But the next moment, Lu Xingzhou suddenly disappeared, merging into the vast expanse of misty water; the vines that had grabbed Dugu Qingli's ankles only managed to grab a lump of ice, which slid away, and Dugu Qingli had also vanished in a flash.

Even the hidden Zang Wanchun couldn't tell whether the two had anticipated this or whether their combat intuition was so strong that they were able to break free before being entangled.

Their superior control techniques should theoretically be impossible to detect beforehand, so it can probably only be attributed to the combat talent of the two geniuses?

"In any case, there really are only two people! Chase them!" A green shadow flashed across Zang Wanchun's body, and he disappeared, chasing straight in the direction where Lu Xingzhou had vanished.

Behind them followed Spring Mountain Pavilion and other gathered experts, frantically surrounding them from all sides.

Jiang Yuan put away the little wooden doll that had been secretly sending messages to Lu Xingzhou, and followed behind Zang Wanchun with a serious expression, almost laughing her teeth out.

It's not that their spiritual sense is so powerful that it can break through a super-grade sneak attack; there's a traitor here.

The so-called inescapable net was so tightly secured that the fish escaped before the net was even fully opened, and all the arrangements were instantly torn to shreds. Even more ridiculous, because everyone's speed was different, as Lu Xingzhou and Dugu Qingli frantically fled, fewer and fewer people could keep up, until finally only a dozen or so people remained to chase them into the Misty Rain.

(End of this chapter)