Neighbor

Decades ago, when Qian Renxue began her infiltration plan for the Heaven Dou Empire, the Spirit Hall began laying its groundwork in the Star Luo Empire.

The pawns they chose were the Zhao Family and Qian Family, who already depended on the Spirit Hall for survival. They used force to threaten the heads and heirs of these two families into planting special toxins within them.

This toxin is a secret technique passed down by the Spirit Hall. If there is no antidote within a year, the poisoned person will feel pain all over their body as if they are being constantly bitten by insects, and will die in despair while suffering endless torment.

Since then, the Zhao and Qian Families have become complete lackeys of the Spirit Hall, unable to refuse any of their orders.

This result greatly surprised Qian Daoliu. If the Spirit Hall hadn't been unable to find the heads of the other families and hadn't been afraid of offending the other Elder of the Spirit Hall, he would have wanted to inject poison into each of them.

The feeling of having one's life controlled by others, despite being Titled Douluo, made the heads of the Zhao and Qian Families deeply resent the Spirit Hall.

They searched for all the top doctors on the continent, but none of them could identify the poison, let alone find a cure.

They even searched for Poison Douluo Dugu Bo and his group, but it was all to no avail.

Originally, when the Chen Family proposed to break away from the control of the Spirit Hall, they were living a good life, and the Spirit Hall would not casually assign them tasks.

But everything changed after that meeting.

Fearing they would escape control, the Spirit Hall deliberately delayed delivering the antidote by a few days, allowing them to suffer the torment of being bitten by countless insects for several days. Then, they used their overwhelming power to tell them that they should not even think about leaving the Spirit Hall.

Since then, they have been caught in a dilemma, being suppressed by the Spirit Hall along with five other families, while also having to pass on intelligence to the Spirit Hall.

"Old Zhao, I've really had enough of this miserable life. You need to think of something, anything is fine."

"Do you think I enjoy living like this? We only have two options now: either find a way to completely break free from the control of the Spirit Hall, or return to the Spirit Hall and become a local lord."

Do you think the poison in our bodies is easy to cure, or do you fear that once our two families return, they will exploit us mercilessly, draining us dry?"

Zhao Gou, the head of the Zhao Family, slammed his hand on the table. The loud noise startled Qian Fu, the head of the Qian Family. The two looked at each other and sighed deeply.

When a Death Warrior came to report that there was more news coming from the String Music Pavilion and they were waiting to retrieve it, the two men's faces grew even more distressed.

The String Music Pavilion is a place of entertainment run by the Qian Family, and it is also where they communicate with the Spirit Hall Empire. Most of the news from there comes from Qian Daoliu's side, which has new orders.

With a bitter expression, Qian Fu personally retrieved the secret letter and casually tossed it onto the table, completely disregarding the tea stains on it.

The two sat at the table, looking at the letters on it, exchanging glances, neither wanting to open them.

In the end, Qian Fu was the first to compromise. Their lives were in the hands of the Spirit Hall Empire, and they simply couldn't refuse.

Without these two titled family heads, the Zhao and Qian Families would absolutely not be able to maintain their current power. Their vast wealth accumulated over thousands of years is simply not something that a few Soul Douluo can hold onto.

"Old Qian, open it. In another month or so, it will be time for us to take the antidote again."

"Sigh~".

Helpless, Zhao Gou picked up the letter and slowly tore off the seal. He only hoped that this time the order from the Spirit Hall Empire wouldn't be too difficult to carry out.

But as he read on, his expression grew increasingly grim, making Qian Fu, who was sitting to the side, feel uneasy. He knew that Zhao Gou had never acted this way before, despite all the previous orders he had given.

"Old Zhao, what's going on? What kind of trouble is Qian Daoliu causing this time?"

"See for yourself, we're in real trouble this time."

Qian Fu took the letter, glanced at it quickly, and his hands trembled uncontrollably, causing the letter to fall to the ground in the wind.

He looked at Zhao Gou in horror, his eyes filled with fear. He simply couldn't believe that the Spirit Hall Empire would give them this mission. Wasn't this forcing them to their deaths?

"Old Zhao, what should we do?"

"What else can we do? Qian Daoliu told us to join the Star Crown Sect, so we have no choice but to join the Star Crown Sect."

"But he also wants us to pass on information from inside the Star Crown Sect. How are we supposed to do that? There are many Titled Douluo inside, and we can't just inquire about things at will."

"We can only take it one step at a time."

The two sighed deeply. Douluo Continent was a world where the strong preyed on the weak, and the weak either obeyed the orders of the strong or died.

Once a commoner becomes Soul Master, they are no longer a commoner. No one truly speaks up for the common people. The same is true for the Spirit Hall Empire; it's all about profit.

Zhao Gou and Qian Fu personally wrote the visiting cards and sent their heirs to respectfully present them to the Star Crown Sect.

However, the Star Crown Sect was not interested in the two families' allegiance, as there were far too many forces that wanted to align themselves with them.

Many sects and families with centuries-old connections have been tossed about by the impact of the Heaven Dou forces, and none of these forces have been accepted into their fold.

Out of respect for the two Titled Douluo, the Star Crown Sect did not refuse them outright. Instead, they told them that they were not allowed to enter the Starfall Mountain territory, but they could choose a mountain peak in the Southwest Mountain Range to set up camp.

The Southwest Mountain Range are barren of resources, and only sects like the Star Crown Sect, which do not rely heavily on resources, can survive here. They originally intended to use this to persuade the Zhao and Qian Families to leave, but they did not expect that the Zhao and Qian families would actually move their clan territory here.

Three months had passed by the time the news reached Xu Mingxi's ears. He looked at the intelligence sent by the sect in his hand and was very puzzled.

The Seven Great Families behind this Soul Arena are really interesting. They've actually divided into four teams. What exactly do the Zhao and Qian Families mean by this?

"Mingjie, what do you think? Do you think they are stationed in the mountains near Starfall Mountain and intend to harm my Star Crown Sect?"

"Brother, even if they want to make a move, so what? With our strength, we can wipe them out quickly."

The only concern is that they might be advance troops sent by other forces. These seven families used to be lackeys of the Spirit Hall Empire; who knows what they're thinking?

"That's true. You should send a message to the Second Elder and the others, telling them to keep a close eye on these two families and to take action to eliminate them if necessary."

"Yes."

If it weren't for the Spirit Hall Empire and Sea God Island eyeing them covetously from the outside, the Star Luo Empire needing to unite internally, and the Star Crown Sect lacking evidence, they would have already taken action to eliminate these two strangely behaving families.

For now, Xu Mingxi can only have the sect be on high alert, leaving enough forces to deal with the two families and any sudden attacks from the Spirit Hall Empire when carrying out the hunting operation.