Planning and Preparations

Dugu Mei's worries finally vanished upon hearing this.

"Good! I'll remember that! In three days, I'll make sure this is handled perfectly!"

She carefully put away the porcelain bottle and tucked it close to her body.

Lu Xia knew that simply wielding the stick without offering a carrot would not do.

He slowly spoke again, beginning to paint her a rosy future.

"Don't worry. I'm not someone like Wu Ya, who kills the donkey once it has finished grinding. After Wu Ya is dealt with, you can take thirty percent of Wu Tian Manor's resources. The poison herbs, pills, and cultivation techniques inside—you can choose whatever you want."

"And this is only the beginning."

"My goal is not merely a tiny Wu Tian Manor. Once I grow strong enough, all Poison Cultivator forces in the Chu Yun Empire will answer to me!"

"Follow me, and your status in the future will be far higher than it is now."

Dugu Mei's heart surged at those words, and her eyes lit up.

This had far more prospects than following the Ten Thousand Scorpions Sect!

At that moment, Lu Xia's grand promises had left her dizzy. Only one thought remained in her heart: cling tightly to this powerful backer! She had to cling tightly!

She took the initiative to move closer to Lu Xia and gently wrapped her arms around his arm.

"Young master, I knew you were no ordinary man! Being able to follow you is a blessing I must have cultivated over several lifetimes!"

As she spoke, she deliberately rubbed the softness of her chest against Lu Xia's arm, her eyes and brows brimming with seductive charm.

"From now on, I'll be relying entirely on you, Young Master. You mustn't find me annoying~"

This woman really knew how to adapt to the wind. She changed faces faster than turning a page.

But... he liked it!

With such a beautiful and sensible subordinate around, she was pleasing to the eye as well. What was there not to like?

Of course, he would not truly trust her so easily.

A Poison Cultivator's words were worth no more than a passing listen. If he truly believed them, he would not even know how he died.

Lu Xia looked at her with a faint smile and reached out, lightly lifting her chin with one finger.

"If Master's Wife says so, I might take it seriously."

"Everything I said came from the bottom of my heart!"

Dugu Mei leaned into his arms and looked up at him, her gaze filled with fascination.

"Young Master is so young and so powerful, a hundred times stronger than Wu Ya! It is my honor to be able to follow you."

Her fingers slid downward from Lu Xia's chest, her voice carrying a note of temptation.

"Young Master, it's still early... Why not stay tonight? Let me... serve you properly?"

As she spoke, she reached out to undo Lu Xia's clothes, intending to win over this genius with limitless potential tonight.

Lu Xia caught her wrist and stopped her.

He lowered his head to look at the beauty in his arms and said with a faint smile:

"Master's Wife, business comes first. Once Wu Ya is dealt with, there will be plenty of time."

"For now, you should think carefully about how to slip the Poison God in without anyone noticing."

Dugu Mei's heart jolted, and she immediately put away those little thoughts.

"Yes, Young Master is right to reprimand me."

She obediently withdrew her hand. "I will certainly handle this well and never delay your important plans."

Lu Xia released her wrist and nodded in satisfaction.

"Very good."

He rose to his feet and straightened his clothes.

"I'll leave first. At midnight three days from now, I'll wait outside Wu Ya's cave residence for your signal. Don't disappoint me, Master's Wife."

With that, his figure flashed and silently vanished from the room, as though he had never been there.

Dugu Mei remained seated where she was, staring in the direction he had disappeared. She touched her wrist, and a complicated expression appeared on her face.

There was shock, awe, and a trace of anticipation.

"An eighteen-year-old Dou Emperor... What an incredible little fellow..."

She murmured softly, a bewitching smile curling across her lips.

She had to win over a man like that!

She lowered her head to look at the porcelain bottle, her gaze turning resolute.

After leaving Dugu Mei's courtyard, Lu Xia did not pause in the slightest. His figure merged into the night like a ghost, and within a few breaths, he returned to the cave residence where he cultivated in seclusion.

The dim green light inside the cave reflected off the handsome young man's face, making his eyes seem even deeper.

Lu Xia sat cross-legged on the stone bed. Rather than cultivating immediately, he closed his eyes and reviewed the entire plan.

Dugu Mei was a useful chess piece, but she could never be fully trusted.

Poison Cultivators were the most profit-seeking and danger-avoiding of people, fickle and unreliable.

Today, she could betray Wu Ya and the Ten Thousand Scorpions Sect because of the Dou Emperor strength he had displayed and the promises he had offered. Tomorrow, she might turn around and bite him for even greater benefits.

Placing victory or defeat entirely in someone else's hands was not his style.

If the poisoning succeeded, that would naturally be best. Silently disposing of Wu Ya would save him considerable trouble.

But if the poisoning failed, or Dugu Mei suddenly turned against him, then he could only choose to kill by force!

"If I kill him by force..."

Lu Xia opened his eyes and sensed the abundant Dou Qi within his body.

He was now at the Dou Emperor Peak, no weaker than Wu Ya, an established Dou Emperor expert.

Combined with the primordial Poison Dao divine abilities inherited from Lü Yue, Wu Ya would not be his opponent if they truly fought.

The troublesome part was that Wu Ya had managed Wu Tian Manor for decades, so he surely possessed quite a few hidden cards.

If the disturbance grew too great and drew the elders of Wu Tian Manor, it would only create unnecessary complications.

"However, it's not as if I came unprepared."

With a thought from Lu Xia, a pitch-black pill appeared in his palm.

Threads of black vapor coiled around the pill's surface, giving off a terrifying aura that made one's heart tremble!

Plague Pill.

This was a killing move he had spent several months refining, gathering a hundred deadly poisons from Heavenly Centipede Ravine and using an ancient pill formula from the Myriad Poisons Pill Scripture.

Once detonated, everything within a hundred zhang would turn into a hell of deadly poison. Even a Dou Emperor expert who touched the slightest trace of it would suffer scattered Dou Qi and severely diminished cultivation.

This was one of the trump cards he had prepared for Wu Ya.

"With these trump cards, even if I have to kill him by force, I have a ninety percent chance of success!"

Lu Xia put away the Plague Pill, closed his eyes again, and circulated the Nine Revolutions Poison Art.

Poison mist surged through the cave like a tide, slowly revolving around his body. With every cycle, the poison-attributed Dou Qi within him became a little more refined.

Three days were enough for him to adjust himself to peak condition.

Three days later, Wu Ya had to die!

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

During those three days, Lu Xia never left his residence. He remained in secluded cultivation within his cave, polishing his condition to perfection.

No unusual news came from Dugu Mei's side either. The entirety of Wu Tian Manor remained calm and peaceful.

The calmer it was, the more it indicated that a storm was about to arrive.

Wu Ya's cave residence was brightly lit.

A bronze pill furnace as tall as a person stood in the center of the cave, its body carved with ferocious Heavenly Centipede patterns.

At that moment, the pill furnace was wrapped in Dou Qi flames and emitted a low, trembling hum, as though something inside was about to burst free.

Wu Ya sat cross-legged before the pill furnace, his eyes tightly shut and his hands forming seals. Dou Emperor-level Dou Qi surged endlessly, pouring continuously into the furnace.

Sweat covered his forehead, and his face was somewhat pale. He had clearly reached the most critical moment.