Luo Feng brought Morosa to the Zhu Clan’s cave mansion, after all, they were both in the “Primal Chaos Armor Sector”, so the distance was close.
“As expected of the Zhu Clan, just the cost of this formation alone is quite high,” Luo Feng said, looking at the grand formation in operation. The power of the formation was the strongest he had seen within Huyang City.
With such a terrifying formation, Assassin Ying Cang wouldn’t be able to kill his way inside.
After more than two decades of cultivation, Luo Feng had made significant advancements, yet even so, he might have hopes of tearing through the formation and killing his way in only by burning Divine Power.
“Nearly all the core members of my Zhu Clan live here; we can’t afford to be careless,” Zhu You explained with a smile as he accompanied Luo Feng, “For this formation, my Zhu Clan also exhausted a great amount of karmic luck.”
Luo Feng nodded. Unlike the five great families, which were only branches, the Zhu Clan was rooted here, so naturally, they fortified their cave mansion as impregnable as a fortress.
Soon, Luo Feng saw a thin old man with green secret patterns on his skin. The old man looked at Luo Feng with a smile, “Lord Luo He.”
“Patriarch Zhu Hu,” Luo Feng said courteously. In terms of renown within Huyang City, Patriarch Zhu Hu was on par with Moli Xiao and Divine Monarch Xue Yun.
“Please,” Patriarch Zhu Hu led the way into a small building.
Zhu Hu, Zhu You, and Luo Feng each took their seats, as exquisite food and fine wine were served.
“It is only today that I have the opportunity to meet with Lord Luo He,” Patriarch Zhu Hu said, looking at Luo Feng with admiration, “Although the god has not been in Huyang City for long, his fame is now the greatest in the city.”
“That’s just an empty reputation,” Luo Feng remarked.
“Lord Wei, you flatter me,” Patriarch Zhu Hu gestured, and a green jade vial flew towards Luo Feng, landing on the table in front of him, “Two million Cosmic Sands, god, you can verify.”
Luo Feng checked it with his Divine Power and indeed, it was exactly two million Cosmic Sands, not a grain less. This made Luo Feng inwardly marvel at the strength of the native forces represented by the Zhu Family, so easily parting with such a massive amount of wealth.
“This is the Sword of the World’s Core,” Luo Feng handed over the Mechanical Stream Secret Treasure ‘Sword of the World’s Core’ to Patriarch Zhu Hu.
Patriarch Zhu Hu briefly checked it before storing it away.
With the transaction complete, the atmosphere became even more congenial.
After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Luo Feng took his leave from Patriarch Zhu Hu, with Zhu You personally seeing him out.
“There’s no need to see me out.”
Outside the main entrance of the Zhu Clan’s cave mansion, Luo Feng, accompanied by Morosa, piloted the Flying Boat and left.
Patriarch Zhu Hu stood in front of the small building, watching the Flying Boat disappear into the distance.
A gentle-looking woman appeared beside him.
“Lord Wei, here’s your Sword of the World’s Core,” Patriarch Zhu Hu handed the sword to the woman, “Lord Wei, have you been able to discern anything real about this Lord Luo He from your secret observations?”
“He gives me a very unique feeling,” the gentle woman said with interest, “I left the Royal Capital to travel around the cities of Yu Kingdom, and I feel that this Lord Luo He is the most stunning person I’ve ever seen.”
Patriarch Zhu Hu was surprised, “The most stunning person?”
“It’s just a feeling,” the gentle woman immediately replied, “I bothered Patriarch Zhu Hu for this transaction. Now that I have acquired the Sword of the World’s Core, I shall take my leave.”
“It’s but a trivial matter,” Patriarch Zhu Hu was still very eager to help. In terms of power, he was no less than Lord Wei. But with Lord Wei’s vastly superior background compared to the five great families, he naturally had to treat her well.
…
In the following days, Luo Feng sold off some of the ‘spoils of war’ he had acquired to various trade associations within Huyang City, exchanging them all for Cosmic Sands.
“I now have 3.3 million Cosmic Sands, and the estimated cost for three body refinement sessions is 3.6 million Cosmic Sands worth of materials. Plus some additional losses during refinement, I should prepare a bit more,” Luo Feng thought, “Still short of over 300 thousand Cosmic Sands. What should I do?”
He was reluctant to sell the two Mechanical Stream Secret Treasures, the Life Blood River and the Myriad Realms Escape Command, just yet.
He also had some Eternal True God Level armor, weapons, Exotic Beast Materials, and so on, which all together were worth about thirty to 400 thousand Cosmic Sands.
He had more than half of the ‘Blood of Ye Beast’ left, which was also worth 500 to 600 thousand Cosmic Sands. But Luo Feng didn’t particularly want to sell that either.
“Short of over 300 thousand Cosmic Sands, I’ll just take on another bounty mission,” Luo Feng nodded lightly. “It’s been so long since I’ve made a move, I’m afraid it won’t deter those ferocious characters.”
“Choose one that deserves to be killed.” Luo Feng began scouring the Flame Wind Association’s Dark Hall for assassination tasks, choosing carefully.
Suddenly—
“Brother Luo He, you must hurry to the Heavenly Flame Sect,” Moli Meng transmitted to Luo Feng.
“What happened to the Heavenly Flame Sect?” Luo Feng was puzzled; the Heavenly Flame Sect was the Artifact Refining Sect created by his good friend ‘Shang Tianyan’.
“Shi Kingdom’s Forces have captured several Formation Masters, and it’s very likely they will also capture Shang Tianyan,” Moli Meng transmitted.
Luo Feng’s heart tightened.
Over these past two decades, Brother Shang had been forthcoming with all the enigmas of body refinement he faced. And through their interactions over so long, Shang Tianyan had become his only good friend in Huyang City.
As for Black Butcher, Moyu Hu, and others, the relationships weren’t as equal, so naturally, they were some distance from ‘good friends’.
“Qingyan, you stay and guard the cave mansion,” Luo Feng instructed, then took Morosa with him on the Flying Boat, quickly leaving the cave mansion.
“What’s going on?” Moyu Qingyan looked on from afar, “The master seems a bit anxious?”
…
Heavenly Flame Sect.
“Brother Luo He.” Shang Tianyan approached with his imposing figure to greet Luo Feng and Morosa as they emerged from the Flying Boat.
“Moli Meng has contacted me and said you were in danger?” Luo Feng said.
Shang Tianyan shook his head, “Just tonight, within Huyang City, eight Formation Masters were captured at the same time by a mysterious force. All of these Formation Masters are eternal true gods, and none could resist.”
“Captured at the same time?” Luo Feng was surprised. It was not easy to capture an eternal true god alive. To do so simultaneously, dividing forces across eight routes with each one succeeding in capturing an eternal true god, indicated a very powerful entity.
“Yes, most of these eight Formation Masters were in their own cave mansions.” Shang Tianyan nodded, “They were all captured alive and taken away, and the city owners’ mansion can’t even track their whereabouts. With this kind of strength and the will to act in such a way, it must be the Shi Kingdom’s Forces.”
“Why did they capture them?” Luo Feng pressed for answers.
Shang Tianyan replied, “The formation of the entire city of Huyang City is vast, formed by a perfect combination of numerous arrays, and many Formation Masters have repaired it over the long years. There were nine who did the repairs and still lived within Huyang City; tonight, eight were captured! I am the last one.”
“They captured eight and let me go.” Shang Tianyan shook his head, “The city owners’ mansion might even suspect that I am colluding with the Shi Kingdom’s Forces.”
Luo Feng understood, “Those eight Formation Masters, all in service to the city owners’ mansion, isn’t the mansion making efforts to rescue them?”
“I have already inquired with the city owners’ mansion.” Shang Tianyan looked up at the night sky, sighing, “Their response was that at the moment the eight Formation Masters were captured, their Karmic Messenger Orders were destroyed, preventing any lock on the whereabouts of the eight Formation Masters.”
“The city owners’ mansion should have the Karmic Mark of these eight Formation Masters, ” Luo Feng said, “With these Karmic Marks, they should be able to deduce the locations of the eight Formation Masters.”
“Merely with the help of Karmic Marks, to deduce locations?” Shang Tianyan shook his head, “That’s a method only the Primal Chaos Overlord would have, isn’t it?”
“Flame Wind Pavilion can do it,” Luo Feng stated.
“For Flame Wind Pavilion to deduce using Karmic Marks, it requires one million Cosmic Sand,” Shang Tianyan shook his head, “The city owners’ mansion wouldn’t be willing to do that. Based on past experiences, once taken away by the Shi Kingdom’s Forces, life and death… are then decided by the Shi Kingdom’s Forces.”
Luo Feng nodded slightly.
“That’s why one must not get involved in their struggles; getting involved means you could be crushed at any moment,” Shang Tianyan shook his head, “But those of us adept in formations were ordered by the city owners’ mansion to repair some of the damaged formations. We have no right to refuse.”
Shang Tianyan looked at Luo Feng, “I have no collusion with the Shi Kingdom, and by not capturing me this time, I guess… they do not want to offend you.”
“Of the nine, only I was spared,” said Shang Tianyan, “Those eight who were captured were all my good friends. We often discussed formations together. I don’t know if they will survive this time.”
******
Inside a Secret Treasure space.
Divine Monarch Xue Yun, Yutian Xu, and Yutian Yi, along with more than ten eternal true gods, were interrogating in separate spaces.
The Shi Kingdom’s Forces had two teams within Huyang City, a weaker team led by Chairman Zan Yun and a stronger team under the command of Divine Monarch Xue Yun! Chairman Zan Yun could only contact Divine Monarch Xue Yun and not the numerous subordinates of Divine Monarch Xue Yun.
“Answer obediently, and you can live. If you don’t tell us, you’ll have to die, and your clan will be destroyed too,” threatened the eternal true gods.
They had many methods of threat, which could make these Formation Masters neither able to live nor die as they wish.
Soon, all the captured Formation Masters confessed.
What they understood was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to the Huyang City Formation.
“Of these eight Formation Masters, one was already on our side, and the other seven have now finally confessed,” Divine Monarch Xue Yun said with a smile.
“How shall we deal with these Formation Masters?” Yutian Xu asked.
“Release five, kill three,” Divine Monarch Xue Yun said carelessly, “First, to let all sides of Huyang City know that serving the city owners’ mansion leads to a bad end. Second, to show them that we, the Shi Kingdom, are merciful after all and will spare some obedient eternal true gods.”
Yutian Xu furrowed his brow, “We should just fulfil our task, in my opinion, kill them all.”
“Do as I say,” Divine Monarch Xue Yun glanced at Yutian Xu and then finalized the list of the five to be spared, including the Formation Master who had sided with them.
That night.
The five surviving Formation Masters were released and sent back.
…
Inside the Heavenly Flame Sect.
Luo Feng and Morosa sat opposite each other, drinking.
Shang Tianyan drank his wine, looking up at the night sky, quite anxious. Suddenly, his expression changed as he took out his Karmic Messenger Order.
“What happened?” asked Luo Feng.
“Three of the eight friends who were captured have just had their karmic ties suddenly severed,” Shang Tianyan looked at his Karmic Messenger Order, “With the karmic ties gone, all three of them are dead. They clearly had no power to resist, yet the Shi Kingdom’s Forces still killed them.”