Chapter 719 700: Battle of Wits

The night was dark and still as water.

On First Mountain of Jiulong Ridge, all was silent.

Xu Luo was meditating, regulating his breath. He had just stepped into the Great Saint Realm and had much to consolidate. The round of sixteen would begin in a few days, and he still didn't know who his next opponent would be. But it was clear... any Heavenly Brilliance Disciple who had made it this far was no simple opponent.

Although Xu Luo was very confident in his own combat strength, he knew that the Divine Domain was filled with countless prodigies. There would always be a group of people who possessed peerless talent yet lacked renown.

Or perhaps... they were only famous within their own circles. As for the circles below them... they had no interest!

Just like at Celestial Brilliance, Jin Ming seemed to be the undisputed number one of the younger generation. But in reality, among those Heritage Clans, there were definitely hidden geniuses. Perhaps any one of them could kill Jin Ming in an instant!

Xie Yurou had said it, Yuwen Ji had said it, and Xu Luo himself... could have guessed it!

'These Heritage Clans... They're really keeping a low profile!'

'Someone like Huyan Cyan Mountain is, nine times out of ten, just a target they push forward to mislead everyone. A true genius would never appear before the world before they have fully matured.'

Xu Luo circulated the Shadow Shaking Heart Method, channeling a constant stream of power into his Dantian, steadily accumulating it...

DING!

At the crisp sound, Xu Luo's eyes snapped open. He rose... teleported... and burst out the door!

The entire sequence was completed in an instant, with unbelievable speed!

The vast night was filled only with the chirping of nocturnal insects.

Two beams of divine light shot from Xu Luo's eyes as he simultaneously unleashed his Divine Sense, spreading it out in all directions.

After a long while, he had found nothing.

Xu Luo frowned slightly. After a moment of thought, he silently turned around, returned to his room, and looked toward the source of the sound. His gaze froze.

An arrow was embedded in the pillar in the middle of the drawing-room, with a letter tied to it.

Xu Luo walked over, pulled out the arrow, and examined it.

The arrow was just an ordinary arrow, made of cast iron. It felt heavy in his hand, but it would be nearly impossible to kill a Cultivator with it.

Unless there was a huge disparity in realms, an arrow like this fired between those of the same realm probably couldn't even injure the target's physical body.

In all his time in the Divine Domain, Xu Luo had almost never seen such an arrow, one made of cast iron that seemed to come from the mortal world.

Shaking his head slightly, Xu Luo untied the letter from the arrow's shaft and opened it. After reading only a few lines, a flicker of rage flashed in his eyes.

Then, as he continued to read, the expression on his face grew increasingly grim.

Finally, Xu Luo let out a long breath. The letter in his hand turned to ash, but he put the ordinary Cast Iron Arrow away.

A cold smile appeared on Xu Luo's face as he muttered, "The Lu Family... I have no quarrel with you, yet you dare to target me. You truly... have a death wish!"

That said, Xu Luo was also intensely curious. 'Who on earth warned me in the dead of night, and why use this kind of method?'

'This person... must know me well, and they bear me no ill will.'

'Could it be... an elder from the Xie Family?'

'No... If it were an elder from the Xie Family, why would they hide their identity? Wouldn't it be better to just grant me a favor directly?'

'Or could it be... one of the other Heritage Clans?'

Xu Luo's brow furrowed. He felt this guess wasn't plausible either. It was true that many Heritage Clans were showing him goodwill right now, but they would never do something like this so rashly.

'It couldn't be someone from the Medicine Garden, either...'

Xu Luo mumbled to himself, but in the end, he couldn't guess who the other party was at all. He decided to stop thinking about it for now.

'Since I already know about the Lu Family's plot... if I don't do anything, wouldn't I be letting them down?'

...

...

Wanghai was crippled. He had even become a bit crazed, locking himself in his room every day and refusing to go anywhere.

His gouged-out eyes had already been replaced with a new pair.

As for whose eyes they were, that wasn't important. With the Wang Family's status in Celestial Brilliance, obtaining a pair of intact eyes was no problem at all.

His severed tongue, however, was not replaced with someone else's. Wanghai found the idea too disgusting; he wanted to grow a new tongue himself.

So, he still couldn't speak.

The Wang Family was considered a large family in Celestial Brilliance. Although they couldn't compare to the powerful Heritage Clans, they were countless times stronger than the likes of the Lu Family.

The Wang Family was also very united. They didn't discriminate against or abandon Wanghai just because he had become like this.

On the contrary, Wanghai's resource allocation was now much greater than before.

Wang Daoming wanted his great-grandson to pull himself together.

But for now, it seemed that wish would be difficult to fulfill.

Because the blow Wanghai had suffered was simply too great!

A once-peerless prodigy had suffered one setback after another, only to have his eyes gouged out and tongue cut off by the very person he had killed with his own hands. A blow like that would be difficult for anyone to bear.

Wanghai was writing in his room. At this moment, he didn't look mad at all.

In those eyes that were not originally his, a cold light glinted, full of hatred.

Lu Qi...

The two words were written on the paper, their strokes wild and flamboyant, displaying Wanghai's skill in calligraphy.

After writing the two words, however, Wanghai used the Fountain Pen in his hand to draw a large X over the name!

Then, he wrote the two words "Luo Tian" and, similarly, drew a large X over them.

Next, he crumpled up the dozens of sheets of high-quality xuan paper on his desk—all bearing those two names—and, with infinite heat emanating from his hands, burned them directly to ash, which then sifted down through his fingers.

A thick layer of paper ash already covered the floor.

SWISH!

The sound of something tearing through the void suddenly echoed.

A cold glint flashed in Wanghai's icy eyes. He reached out and snatched the arrow flying toward him, his gaze fixing on the letter tied to its shaft.

Glancing up at the small hole that had been shot through the Crystal window, Wanghai didn't go out to investigate.

'Someone who could sneak here without a sound would naturally have a way to evade his search. Besides, they weren't here to kill him.'

Wanghai untied the letter from the arrow's shaft and casually opened it. After only a few glances, his pupils contracted sharply. He frowned, sneered, and crumpled the letter into a ball, about to destroy it.

But then, he opened it again and continued to read. He frowned from time to time, and by the end, his face had turned completely ashen.

He smashed a fist down on the desk in front of him.

BANG!

CRACK!

With a violent crack, the incredibly hard desk was shattered to pieces by his punch!

Wanghai gritted his teeth, the rage in his heart completely uncontrollable. "Lu Qi... It really was you! Back then... I didn't kill the wrong person! That inheritance... you really did get it! Your Lu Family doesn't dare to keep it and actually plans to give it to that bastard Jin Ming first!"

The first sentence of the letter was filled with mockery.

"Wanghai, you are an out-and-out idiot!"

"Do you know... who stole that inheritance from you? Think about it. Why was Lu Qi able to come back from the dead?"

"His strength was originally far beneath yours, so why was he able to harm you so miserably?"

"The reason is simple. That inheritance was obtained by Lu Qi!"

"Don't doubt it, because I happened to overhear this myself from within the Lu Family!"

"You certainly don't believe what I'm saying and even want to destroy this letter, thinking I'm trying to stir up trouble. But please, be patient and keep reading. You will be rewarded!"

It was precisely at this point that Wanghai had wanted to destroy the letter, because he simply didn't believe that the inheritance could have been taken by Lu Qi.

But curiosity got the better of him. By the time he finished reading the letter's contents, he was eighty to ninety percent convinced!

Because Wanghai could guarantee that on that day, besides the people he brought with him, no outsiders knew of that place. Then he recalled the black, ferocious beast... Back then, Lu Qi had died right outside the Grand Array that trapped it.

'That ferocious beast... It seems I trapped it a little too easily!'

'Lu Qi's resurrection... is most likely related to that black, ferocious beast!'

'If one of my own people hadn't already set up all sorts of traps, how could that inheritance have vanished so bizarrely?'

'So... it must have been him!'

'Lu Qi... The Lu Family!'

Wanghai felt as if he understood something. As he carefully re-read the letter's contents, he nearly ground his teeth to dust.

At this moment, Wanghai no longer cared who had sent the letter or what their purpose was. Even if they wanted to provoke a conflict between the Wang and Lu Families, he didn't care.

Because the Wang Family... was already prepared to completely eradicate the Lu Family!

Especially now that the Lu Family was preparing to side with Jin Ming, and even intended to use the inheritance that was originally his as a welcoming gift... This drove Wanghai completely insane.

Afterward, Wanghai appeared in Wang Daoming's room and handed the letter directly to him.

After reading it, Wang Daoming tossed it aside casually. "Utter nonsense!"

Wanghai couldn't speak, but he looked at Wang Daoming with a clear meaning in his eyes: 'You don't believe what the letter says?'

"This is clearly an attempt to provoke a fight to the death between us and the Lu Family!" Wang Daoming sneered. "Do you take me for a three-year-old child?"

Wanghai looked at Wang Daoming, his eyes conveying his meaning: 'Didn't you say we were going to eradicate the Lu Family anyway?'

"I did say we would get rid of the Lu Family, but... not right now." Wang Daoming said, picking the letter back up. He frowned and added, "This matter... is also a bit strange. This kind of provocation tactic... seems a little too crude, don't you think?"

Wanghai nodded emphatically. He completely believed what the letter said: Lu Qi had told his family about the inheritance long ago, and his family had sent people to follow in secret, seizing the inheritance before Wanghai could!

"You know... thinking about it carefully, there's actually a strong possibility!" Wang Daoming mused.

Wanghai nodded emphatically again.

"The Lu Family... Jin Ming..." A cold light flashed in Wang Daoming's eyes. "If the Lu Family... really is going to side with Jin Ming, then dealing with them will indeed be a bit difficult."

"Heh heh... I have to admit, this person has succeeded! I don't care who they are. First, we'll annihilate the Lu Family!"

A cruel light flashed in Wang Daoming's eyes. He gritted his teeth and called out, "Men!"